Chapter 17: Explosive Showdown: Battle Against The Slime King!

Instantly, the Slime King's body changed shape, transforming into a hideous abomination. It's tentacles were huge and long, it's size almost reaching the water veil that loomed above them.

The Slime King roared furiously, a hideous screech coming out of it's none-existent mouth, the sound vibrating off the walls around them.

Zoey grinned upon seeing that the aura around the Slime King had changed to a deep crimson, exactly what she wanted. She wanted to see if the Slime King would be able to withstand a single blast of her max-level [Fireball] Skill.

"Try not to die~" Zoey teased playfully, releasing the fireball and blasting it toward the Slime King.

Before Zoey or the Slime King could react, the fireball flew with incredible speeds, instantly impacting the Slime King's body as it exploded furiously.

The explosion was large, the flames swirled and the dust blew in all directions, causing Zoey to block the dust with a [Goblin Shield] and trying not to get blown away by the powerful force of wind.

"Gah!!" Zoey grit her teeth, holding on as the winds continued to blow furiously around her, the floor beneath her trembling slightly.

Finally as the winds stopped, only an eerie silence lingered. The dust clouds surround her vision, as she couldn't see the Slime King, but one thing was for sure, she couldn't feel it's presence anymore.

"....Wow, that was strong." Zoey commented, a small laugh escaping her lips. "Even an F-Rank skill can become a power-house as long as it reaches the maximum level," A slight shiver crawled up her spine as she realized the limitless possibilities her [A Hundredfold Ascension] Talent was destined to bring her.

Once the dust clouds cleared, the Slime King's body was nothing more than a sizzling, boiling pool of slime.

Zoey walked forward as she noticed a huge purple crystal among the slimey mess, it was much larger than the crystals she would see in the bodies if the weaker slimes.

Zoey gently picked up the crystal, noticing how warm and heavily cracked it was, a chill ran up her spine as she thought:

'If I were to have broken this, would it have immediately counted as failure of the Task?' She asked herself, her body trembling slightly at the thought, silently thanking the heavens that it wasn't the case.

[Congratulations! You Have Defeated The Slime King!]

[You Have Received The Reward: +1 Slime Kings Essence]

[(E)Slime King's Essence]

[Description: The Slime King's Essence, a slimy and unpleasant substance to look at. It houses the Mana of the Slime King, rich and abundant in it's source. The material could be used to craft a powerful Elixer that permanently boosts Mana Regeneration.]

"Woah!" Zoey exclaimed suprised, her eyes widening in awe, "Permanently boost Mana regeneration? This is crazy valuable!" She said, smiling happlily.

"If I could find a really good Alchemist, then I could use them to craft this Elixer!" Although she was very excited, as increased Mana regeneration Potions, Skills, and Items were increasingly valuable.

Even a measly 1% Boost to Mana regeneration could go for millions, that's how valuable Mana regeneration was to a Hunter.

She turned her attention back to the Core of the Slime King, seeing that it started to glow in a soft purple glow. A smile formed on her face as she put the crystal in her [Inventory].

'It must be starting to collect energy for manifesting the portal to get me out of here.' Zoey contemplated, walking to a corner inside the cave and sitting against it.

'That fireball sure took a crap ton of my Mana' Zoey observed, looking at her Mana which was now at 40%, 'I can only cast the full might of the skill once, with my current Mana. Until my Mana capacity has increased, I'll need to use far weaker attacks with the Skill.'

Suddenly, as Zoey was starting to recover her Mana by resting a bit. The large water veil above her shifted slightly, alarmed, Zoey quickly stood up, observing the large veil of water.

Her senses screamed at her to run, and that's what she did, quickly bolting deeper into the cave. Immediately after she fled, Zoey heard a giant splash of water echo in the Slime King's domain.

'Oh crap!!!' Zoey yelled inwardly, a frightened look on her face as she looked back to see a giant wave of water rapidly catch up to her.

She started to run with all her might, quickly burning her Stamina away as she mustered everything to increase her sprinting speed. But it wasn't enough.

'Ack!' Zoey gasped as she felt the cold of the water slam into her back and instantly engulf her into the giant waters. Zoey fought hard in the water to gain control of her body, but the speed at which the water was moving was too much for her body to handle, making her toss and tumble uncontrollably.

Zoey's body hit a wall in the middle of the cave hard, a large crack forming behind her. The water kept her pinned on the wall, her lungs fought hard as she struggled to breathe, all she could do was hold her breath and hold on until the waters calmed down.

After about 30 seconds, the waters finally reached a very low level, only streaming gently on the ground, covering her feet. Zoey weakly fell to the ground, instantly vomiting a mouthful of water as she gasped for air between coughs and gasps.

'What the hell...' Zoey questioned, breathing uncontrollably, her body trembling slightly 'I almost drowned, the forest really is trying everything to get rid of me.' Zoey thought, looking into the Slime King's domain, noticing the waters continue to pour heavily, because of the waterfalls from the outside.

"I need to leave immediately," Zoey thought, weakly standing up and begining to walk deeper into the cave. After a few moments of walking, her shoes soaked by waters beneath her, she noticed a light at the end of the tunnel.

Zoey quickened her pace, quickly reaching the outside of the cave and into the forest once more. Finally relieved, Zoey weakly fell to the ground, panting hard to recover her stamina.

The sounds of slimes bouncing towards her quickly caught her ears, a frustrated grown escaping her lips as she pushed herself off the ground. She stood up, a pissed off expression on her face as her eyes burned with fury.

The slimes infront of her transformed, ready to fight her and avenge their King. Zoey just sighed at this, not in the mood to deal with these slimes at the moment.

"I'm really starting to get pissed off, first my clothes are wet, my health took a great hit, and I haven't had the time to recover my Mana and stamina," Zoey's words grew more frustrated as she started to approach the slimes, a few fireballs forming around her and burning intensely.

"I'm going to use you guys for some stress relief." Zoey said with a small smirk, pointing her hand at the group of slimes infront of her.