The way Troll stopped Brooks Vessilja’s scheme was simple.
He got personally involved.
There was no other reliable way to ensure the slime’s safety.
Most of the other viewers were probably on the Monster Continent, and even if they were on the Derxia Continent, they wouldn’t know the location of the Magic Tower or have any means to instantly teleport if the slime were in danger.
'If another viewer were to show up, it would be total chaos.'
Even if someone did arrive, they'd likely only care about the slime and not consider how it would affect the humans around.
That could make people start to see the slime as a threat.
Before becoming a lich, Troll had been experimenting with warp magic and used it to travel to his secret workshop.
After becoming a lich, he refined the warp magic even further.
If it was a familiar coordinate like the Magic Tower, he could teleport there immediately.
Having already calculated the warp coordinates in advance, Troll monitored the situation through the broadcast screen.
‘Brooks...............’
And just like the time Brooks Vessilja had betrayed him before, Troll grew enraged watching him try to make the slime disappear by staging another magical accident.
Before Brooks could pull off his trick, Troll made his move.
Using his modified warp magic, he first sent only his hand through, not only breaking Brooks’ spell but also causing a mana backlash.
He then tried out a new spell he’d developed after becoming a lich—an intent transmission spell inspired by the system’s voice.
He planned to use telepathy on the slime.
Since it was his first time trying it on a monster, he wanted to make physical contact to get a feel for it.
Squelch!
‘So this is what Squishy feels like! It’s way better than I expected. Now I get why everyone on the broadcast keeps touching it.’
He got a little distracted by how nice the slime felt and kneaded it several times absentmindedly, but in the end, Troll successfully transmitted his thoughts to the slime.
To confirm it worked, he saw that the slime’s broadcast had been turned off.
He then revealed himself, lifted the slime onto his skeletal hand, and began acting while continuing to use telepathy.
[Squishy, please stay still from now on. That way, everyone will be safe.]
—I sensed rare mana and came to check it out. Never thought that energy belonged to a slime. And to think the Saintess and Paladin would both be here too.
He made it clear he wasn’t directly connected to the slime and that he wasn’t targeting the Saintess or Paladin.
—Hmmm, the more I look, the stranger it is. How can a slime have this kind of mana?
Though the slime’s mana wasn’t particularly unique, he added that detail to make his presence as a lich more convincing.
“G-Give back Jiggly, Lich!”
Amelia shouted at Troll with a trembling voice.
The overwhelming aura of death he gave off was intimidating, but she couldn’t just let the slime be taken.
—Jiggly? Hahaha! So the Saintess gave the slime a name and is even raising it? Now I’m even more interested.
Troll planned to take the slime and escape.
Even if he interfered with Brooks Vessilja now, the man might just try to frame it as another accident and trap him again.
So instead, he thought it would be safer to bring the slime to his secret workshop.
“Lich! Why are you here!?”
Paulen asked, still on high alert.
—Hmm? Are you deaf? I said I felt a rare mana and came to investigate. Didn’t you see me personally save the slime from an explosion? Yes, clearly.........
Troll pointed at Brooks Vessilja with his free skeletal hand.
—You’re the one who tried to get rid of this slime.
Brooks Vessilja was startled to suddenly be accused as the culprit and began to panic.
“W-Wait! I was just trying to find out what kind of slime it was! That was just a magic accident! An accident!”
Troll could have pressed further and pinned the blame entirely on Brooks.
But if he did that, relations between the Magic Tower and the Church would worsen, and the fallout could affect not only his descendants but even his still-living cousin.
So instead...
—That beard. It’s irritating.
“W-What did you say?”
Troll picked a petty reason and cast a spell.
From the fingertip pointing at Brooks, a small magic circle formed and shot out a dark crimson light.
“What!?”
Paulen couldn’t move hastily while protecting Amelia and Gracie, and Brooks tried to quickly cast a barrier, but the crimson light from Troll’s finger hit him faster than he could react.
“Aaaaaargh!”
“M-Master Vessilja!”
It was a searing pain that burned through his entire body.
Even stronger than the pain of mana backlash.
The pain focused especially around his chin and philtrum, engulfing Brooks.
For a moment, both Brooks and the others thought the lich had tried to kill the Tower Master.
But the pain from Troll’s spell only lasted a few seconds.
At most, it was about three seconds.
The crimson light vanished after that short burst, and the pain Brooks felt disappeared just as quickly.
“Gasp! Gasp! Gasp!”
‘I-I’m still alive?’
He hadn’t properly blocked the lich’s spell.
He was sure this was the end of his life, but somehow, he was still breathing.
“M-Master Vessilja, a-are you okay?”
“Y-Yeah, I’m fin—”
Thud.
It happened the moment he replied to Gracie.
Along with the sound of something soft falling all at once, Brooks Vessilja felt a refreshing chill on his chin—something he hadn't experienced in decades.
“Wha…?”
Instinctively, Brooks brought his hand to his mouth.
He could feel the warmth of his hand directly against his chin.
There was nothing stopping it.
He couldn’t feel the texture of the beard he had grown and meticulously maintained for decades.
Brooks slowly tilted his head downward.
“A-Aah……”
And then he saw it.
His long beard, lying on the floor.
Like a lantern slide of memories flashing by, all his moments with his beard began running through his mind.
The pain of hair loss.
The reality he didn’t want to accept.
Those joyless days.
At first, it may have been compromise, but back then, growing a beard had been a struggle to survive.
His beard was the only remaining hope of ‘hair’ on his body.
The longer it got, the more it compensated for the void left above.
His affection for his once-flowing hair was eventually redirected to his beard.
He monitored its condition daily and kept it impeccably clean.
He took pride in comparing it to other wizards’ beards and always felt superior.
That very beard now lay completely detached, sprawled across the floor.
“Noooooooooooo! My beard! M-My beeeeeeeeeaaaaaaard!”
Brooks Vessilja’s heart-wrenching cry rang out through the room.
—Puhahahahaha! That looks fantastic! Now your face is smooth on the bottom too—not just the top!
To Troll, that scream brought immense satisfaction.
The spell he had used on Brooks Vessilja had been specially prepared.
Ever since seeing him on the slime’s broadcast screen, he had prepared a spell specifically designed to make their next encounter one of utter despair.
Naturally, it didn’t stop at just cutting the beard off.
—That beard of yours? It will never grow again!
“W-What did you say!? A-Aaaaarrghhhh!”
Thump!
Unable to handle the shock of Troll’s declaration, Brooks foamed at the mouth and passed out cold.
“M-Master Vessilja!”
—Puhahahaha! What a hilarious sight!
With that parting laugh, Troll tried to vanish again into the black space he had opened.
“No! Jiggly!”
Thinking that the lich really would disappear with the slime, Amelia reached out her hand and invoked holy magic.
It wasn’t for healing—it was a holy art meant to strike down the wicked.
Until now, she had only used it in practice, never in real battle—Holy Sword.
Five swords of light appeared in midair and flew toward Troll.
Shushushushushung!
But with just a single wave of his hand, a black barrier rose up.
Clangclangclangclangclang!
The five swords of light couldn’t pierce the barrier and vanished in the air.
‘She’s definitely weaker than Presia.’
Troll thought that although her divine power was sufficient, she lacked real combat experience, making her slow to cast and poor at reading the situation.
That immaturity showed in how the Paladin remained passive, focusing on protecting the Saint rather than engaging him.
Even now, Paulen held his ground, bracing defensively instead of attacking, wary that Troll might immediately counter.
So Troll decided to keep up the act a little longer.
—Oh ho, so this slime is that precious to you? Very well. I shall show you mercy.
Squish squish.
He began kneading the slime again as he spoke.
—Once I lose interest, I’ll let the slime go.
“What?”
“Is that… true?”
Amelia and the Paladin were stunned.
A lich—a monster from legend, the corrupted form of a fallen mage—was speaking with goodwill?
—Of course, I’ll just drop it off wherever seems convenient! Hahaha! Good luck finding it!
“Of…!”
Only then did Amelia and Paulen realize the truth.
The lich wasn’t being kind—he was toying with them.
Leaving those words behind, Troll finally disappeared into the black space he had created.
“Damn it!”
“Jigglyyyyyyyy!”
Paulen clenched his fists in frustration, and Amelia cried out the slime’s name in anguish.
***
Back in his secret workshop with the slime, Troll sent a telepathic message.
[Squishy, I’m about to create a secret room. I’ll give you the keyword—come on in.]
‘A secret room.’
It was one of the features of the broadcast system.
It was a feature where a room would only appear in the broadcast list if a specific keyword was entered into the search bar.
Most monsters, even if they had this function, never used it.
Because honestly, they had nothing to hide!
A monster who continued broadcasting wouldn’t care about hiding from others or bother creating a secret room in the first place.
Even if they learned about it from the system’s voice initially, they usually forgot about the feature over time because it seemed unnecessary and too much hassle to share the keyword individually.
Following Troll’s instructions, the slime typed the keyword into the room search function.
‘Natural Mage is the Best!’
A secret room created by Troll appeared in the search window.
The slime entered the room and immediately used the chat.
[Squishy]▶ Where is this?
▷ This is my workshop.
[Squishy]▶ Workshop?
▷Just think of it as my house.
[Squishy]▶Troll’s house!
Bouncing with excitement, the slime curiously looked around the secret workshop.
Though it was dark, that wasn’t a problem for the slime.
After exploring for a bit, the slime stopped bouncing and typed in the chat again.
[Squishy]▶ When are we going back?
After being asked by Troll via telepathy to stay still, the slime quietly complied.
To be honest, the slime didn’t fully understand what had just happened.
But since Troll had helped it in the past, and since Amelia, Paulen, and Gracie hadn’t been hurt, the slime chose not to act on its own.
At the end, it had heard Troll mention that he would release it eventually, so the slime asked innocently.
When would it return to Amelia and Paulen?
To that, Troll replied:
▷Squishy, I’m sorry. Your life is in danger right now, so you can’t go back immediately.