The biggest problem for the adventurers currently in Chilture is that there are two Orc Champions among the orc horde.
What if an Orc Champion attacked while they were busy fighting regular orcs?
A C-rank adventurer could easily die from a single blow.
If that happened, the number of adventurers would gradually dwindle, and eventually Chilture would be overrun by the orc horde.
In other words, the most important thing in this battle was to stop the Orc Champions from joining the fight.
If Claire’s words were true, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the slime was the strongest force in Chilture right now.
If the slime could hold off the Orc Champions, they stood a real chance of winning.
That’s why the adventurers came up with this strategy.
First, the slime would charge in and attack the Orc Champions.
That way, their attention would naturally focus on the slime.
As long as the slime could keep the two Orc Champions occupied until the adventurers defeated the remaining orcs, they could then all join forces to take down the Orc Champions together.
They already knew from the last attack that the slime was incredibly fast, so they believed it would be possible.
And then.
When the adventurers saw the slime carry out the plan, they were stunned.
Bo~yoing!
Thuuuuud!
When the slime was jumping on the orcs’ heads to move forward, they prayed.
‘Good! Just keep stalling the Orc Champions like that!’ was their shared hope.
But no one had expected the slime to literally tackle an Orc Champion and send it flying.
At this point, the slime’s power was far beyond what the adventurers had imagined.
Only Claire wasn’t surprised at the sight.
“Yep, Tongtong really is strong.”
"! Get it together! While Tongtong holds the Orc Champions back, we’ll take out the others!"
At Forbin’s shout, the adventurers snapped back to their senses, tightened their grips on their weapons, and turned to face the approaching orc horde.
***
‘Blocked it!’
Startled that its tackle had been stopped, the slime stared at the Orc Champion who had blocked its attack.
‘Strong!’
This one was different from the monsters it had fought so far.
Aside from Troll, this was the strongest monster the slime had ever faced.
‘I’ll do my best!’
Determined to try even harder, the slime’s fighting spirit burned.
Meanwhile.
Orc Champion B, who had just witnessed its comrade being sent flying, stared at the slime with wide eyes.
‘This slime is dangerous! Where did this thing come from?’
Even though it was just a slime, Orc Champion B wasn’t stupid enough to underestimate it after seeing its companion get launched.
Orc Champion B immediately swung its sword.
A heavy greatsword came crashing down toward the slime.
Boing!
But the slime easily dodged the attack.
For the slime, who had dodged Paulen’s sword and Troll’s magic, this attack was nothing.
In fact, the slime used Orc Champion B’s attack to its advantage.
Pop!
The slime extended two tentacles.
It wrapped the left tentacle around Orc Champion B’s wrist and pulled itself up to land on its forearm.
Sliiiide!
Then it extended its right tentacle and wrapped it around Orc Champion B’s neck.
-Grrrk!
Choked out of nowhere, Orc Champion B panicked, dropped its sword, and tried to grab the slime on its forearm.
Boing!
But the slime released the tentacle from its wrist and jumped from the forearm to the shoulder with just one bounce.
‘Punch!’
Then, it transformed its left tentacle into a fist and began pounding Orc Champion B’s face with all its strength.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
-Gaaah! Grrk! Aaaargh!
An Orc Champion had strength, skill, and toughness far beyond regular orcs.
But even that toughness couldn’t withstand the slime’s fierce tentacle punches.
The workouts that had started thanks to Paulen.
The training that never stopped even while in Troll’s secret workshop.
Thanks to that, the slime’s tentacle muscles had grown stronger every day!
The power it had gained through all that effort couldn’t be ignored.
Wow, listen to that sound.
▶ That’s gotta hurt so bad.
[Squishy Queen] ▶ That’s it, my kin! You’re doing great!
▶ Lol, isn’t this one just happy no matter what the slime does?
[Just Slam First] ▶ Aaaargh! You should be body slamming! Why the tentacles all of a sudden? Use what I taught you!
▶ Ah~ it did at the start tho lolol
▶ It’s still kinda the same since it’s using tentacles, right? (I honestly don’t know)
[Just Slam First] ▶ Aaaagh! You slime noobs!
▶ Honestly, body slamming is outdated these days. It’s the era of fists now!
[Just Slam First] ▶ Hey!!!!
Except for a few, most of the viewers were enjoying seeing the slime use a new attack with its tentacles instead of the usual body slam.
-You damn slime!
At that moment, Orc Champion A, who had been knocked away earlier, returned and reached out for the slime on Orc Champion B’s shoulder.
Boing!
The slime stopped punching and jumped down to dodge Orc Champion A’s hand.
-Hey! Get your act together!
-Grrk! Why is this slime so strong!
▶ Lol, do those guys not know about Squishy?
▶ Didn’t he tell his underlings about Squishy?
[Smooth Wind King] ▶ ? Why would I tell them? They should figure it out on their own.
▶ Woo woo, sreggie~ (intentional typo)
▶ Even messing with his own underlings lolol
No one among his troops watches Squishy’s streams anyway~.
Orc Champions A and B thought.
The first thing they had to deal with was the slime.
Humans wouldn’t pose a real threat to them anyway.
If they ignored it and focused on fighting the humans, it would be dangerous if the slime joined in midway.
-Uoooooh!
-Die!
Vwoooong!
After deciding on this, Orc Champions A and B swung their swords at the slime.
The slime pulled in its tentacles and dodged the blades.
The Orc Champions kept swinging their swords endlessly, trying to land a hit on the slime no matter what.
However.
-Grrrk! Why is it dodging so well!
-Just one hit! Just one!
‘So easy to dodge!’
Even if these Orc Champions were far more skillful than normal orcs, their technique still fell short by the slime’s standards, who had sparred regularly with a paladin.
On top of that, their speed was even slower than Troll’s magic.
In fact, because they were trying to attack together, it was even easier for the slime to dodge.
If they had perfect timing and coordination, it would be a different story. But the Orc Champions were just wildly swinging to somehow cut the slime, and their attacks didn’t sync at all.
They kept worrying about not clashing swords with each other, which made their timing even worse and threw them off.
This was bound to happen since the Orc Champions usually fought alone and never practiced coordinating attacks together.
▶ How can they not land even one hit lololol.
[Thread-Lady] ▶ Watching Squishy dodge around like that is so cute~.
[Smooth Wind King] Aaah! You think you can hit like that? So frustrating! Just quit! Quit!
▶ He doesn’t cheer for his own men at all lololol.
▶ No wonder he’s a professional troll lol.
[Smooth Wind King] ▶ Why would I cheer for useless guys?
▶ Kyaaaah! Mom! I wanna be a troll when I grow up! Mom! I wanna be a troll when I grow up!
As the slime kept dodging, Orc Champion B was overcome with rage.
It drove him crazy that he had taken so many punches to the face yet hadn’t managed to land a single hit.
That’s why Orc Champion B came up with a plan.
-Uaaaaaah!
Boom!
Orc Champion B slammed his greatsword into the ground, not caring if the slime dodged or not.
A swing filled with the full strength of an A-rank monster.
The moment the sword struck the ground, it left a huge crater, and debris shot up everywhere from the impact.
One piece even hit Orc Champion A in the face.
-!
Even as his comrade shouted next to him, Orc Champion B didn’t care at all.
He focused solely on the slime.
To dodge the attack just now, the slime had to jump higher and use more force.
‘Now!’
-Dieeeee!
Orc Champion B quickly pulled back his sword and swung it horizontally with all his might at the slime still midair.
This time he would hit it.
He would kill the slime that had punched his face so many times.
Orc Champion B swung his attack with that determination.
Pop!
The slime extended a tentacle to the blade.
Whoosh!
Then, like performing a tumbling move, it twisted and dodged.
It was the same evasive maneuver it had used when sparring with Paulen.
-What?!
When the dodge succeeded and left a huge opening in the opponent’s stance.
It was finally time to counterattack.
Bo~yoing!
Smaaash!
-Gahhh!
The slime landed on the ground and immediately launched a bouncing tackle that slammed straight into Orc Champion B’s solar plexus.
If it had been Paulen, he would have swung his sword before the slime’s attack to disrupt its flow.
If it had been Troll, he would have blocked it with a barrier even if attacked.
But the Orc Champion wasn’t on that level.
-Guh! Ugh! Gaaah! U..........!
Hit directly by the slime’s tackle, Orc Champion B flew backward and barely clung to life.
With his solar plexus crushed, he couldn’t breathe properly.
To make matters worse, his broken ribs were now stabbing his insides.
Even though A-rank monsters had strong recovery abilities, this was not an injury he could just get up from and keep fighting.
[Just Slam First] ▶ Yes! That’s it! That was the ultimate body slam! Squishy! A body slam is always better than a punch!
[Noblesse Fire] Wouldn’t a single breath attack be way stronger than that?
[Just Slam First] ▶ Shut up, you fat lazy lizard that just sits around!
[Noblesse Fire] ▶ What? You little mutt, did you just pick a fight with me?!
[Gothic Luxury Bone] ▶ Tsk tsk tsk, these shut-in basement dragons always act like that.
▶ Lolol you outdated old man, take a hint and leave.
[Squishy Queen] ▶ Silence, all of you! Focus on the glorious deeds of my kin!
-!
Seeing his comrade get taken down, Orc Champion A panicked.
The sight of Orc Champion B lying defeated looked like a vision of his own future.
But he absolutely didn’t want that to happen.
He didn’t want to be beaten.
He didn’t want to lose.
He didn’t want to die.
-Uaaaaaaah!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
‘I— I didn’t come all this way for this!’
In a panic, Orc Champion A wildly swung his sword at the ground.
It wasn’t even to hit the slime.
It was just a desperate act, letting his emotions take over.
But ironically, that action helped him.
Smack!
‘Ow!’
When his sword struck the ground, some debris randomly flew and hit the slime as it tried to jump back.
..........! Uaaaaah!
The moment the slime was hit by the debris, Orc Champion A threw down his sword and charged at it with all his strength.
Shocked by the hit, the slime couldn’t react in time to Orc Champion A’s movement.
Orc Champion A grabbed the slime with both hands and squeezed it tightly.
Crunch!
-Die! Die like this!
Thinking that if he didn’t crush the slime now, he would die instead, Orc Champion A gave it everything he had.
His hands started to squeeze the slime tighter and tighter.
But the slime, having grown stronger from countless nutritious meals and continuous training, wasn’t so easy to crush.
As he was being squeezed, the slime gathered all his strength to withstand Orc Champion A’s grip.
And then, for a brief moment.
When the orc’s crushing grip weakened for just an instant.
Pop!
‘Muuuuscleee!’
The slime extended its tentacles and began to push away Orc Champion A’s hands.