Dragged Into Another World Because of My Otaku Friend-Chapter 32: Fricking Idiot

We continued through the forest, mowing down every goblin and slime we encountered. It seemed like this place was exclusively populated by those two monsters. Not exactly exciting, but great for grinding levels and testing out our skills.

After nearly fainting from MP deficiency earlier, I decided to lay off the advanced spell magic for a while. Instead, I focused on practicing my shooting with the gunblade. Let’s just say... it was rough. I accidentally shot Bob in the butt. The man howled like a wild boar, spinning around with eyes full of vengeance.

"MY PANTS!" he roared.

Luckily, Mina-chan healed the damage,well, the physical one at least.The hole in his pants? Huge. At least it gave him extra ventilation.

Despite the rocky start, I eventually got the hang of it. About half of my shots started hitting their mark, even if they were only arms, legs, or goblin bellies. Still, progress is progress. If I wanted to stay relevant in the future, I had to polish my shooting.

After several more skirmishes, including a few tougher elite goblin packs, we struck gold. We got two Rare-rarity [Summon Elite Goblin] cards! Meanwhile, the slimes dropped single-use Uncommon-rarity [Mana Potion] that were way better than the overpriced one back in town.

Today was a good day, except maybe for Bob’s pants.

Gulp gulp gulp.

Both of us downed our water like. After four straight hours of monster-slaying, we were dead tired. We sat down on the forest floor on the mat. If people saw this, they must mistaken us for having picnic instead of monster hunting.

Bob munched loudly on a sandwich like he hadn’t eaten in weeks, while I gnawed on a piece of flavored bread that tasted like strawberry. Talking about strawberry, suddenly I remembered the ’date’ with Maya. Will she get angry if I refused?

While chewing, we both opened our status screens. Our Bond Level had only gone up by a quarter bar, and we’d earned 850BP, bringing up a grand total of 1850 BP. Either this system was stingy or goblins and slimes were just that worthless.

Still, better than nothing. We’d amassed a mountain of common cards, a handful of uncommon ones, and even snagged a few rares. What we were going to do with all of them? No idea. For now, we just hoarded them.

"You want to keep hunting or call it a day?" I asked Bob, wiping sweat from my brow with a towel. Honestly though? It felt good. A solid workout. Maybe I’d even burn off the fat and cholesterol I’d been cultivating during my sedentary lifestyle.

"Let’s make it to 2000BP, then we’re heading back," Bob said, fists clenched and eyes gleaming.

"But first, let’s equip this title card."

He flicked open his inbox and tapped on [Goblin Slayer], a common title card we earned for obliterating a hundred goblins like exterminators. It granted bonus damage against goblins, which was great, because apparently goblins were the majority in this forest and it made our BP farming easier.

As we stretched, stood up, and prepared for yet another round of hunting, a high-pitched screech cut through the trees.

Then came the rustle.

Then the shadows.

And finally, them.

A new goblin squad appeared from the tree shade. An elite goblin followed, teeth bared with spiked club on its hand. But the real surprise?

A massive slime emerged behind them.

It jiggled like a blob of rage pudding, and brought along its own army of slimes.

It looked like the tutorial monsters had formed a union.

"Well, well," I muttered, already reaching up. "So the hunted become the hunters, huh?" I raised my right hand and shouted,

"Indra!"

With a dramatic voice, I summoned my gunblade.

"Well, it saves us the energy of searching for them," Bob said, cracking his neck.

"Be careful, Bob. We don’t know what that big slimy creature is capable of," I warned.

"It’s nothing. Just a bigger slime. A slime is still a slime," he replied, waving his hand dismissively. He then summoned the Gaia Sword.

I really dislike his carefree attitude.

I crouched on one knee and began shooting at the goblins. The damage was decent, each small fry went down after two or three shots.

While I was focused on the goblins, Bob charged straight toward the elite slime and dashed across it with [Dash Slash]. A wide gash tore through the slime’s body.

"Easy peasy, lemon squeezy," he bragged.

But then Mina, the fairy, darted in front of him, frantically waving her tiny arms, her face frozen in fear.

"Relax, what are you trying to say, Mina-chan?" Bob asked, clearly unfazed.

Mina, clearly annoyed, shoved Bob’s head, forcing him to turn around. His eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when he saw the elite slime regenerating the deep cut.

"How is it regenerating?! I could just one-hit kill on other slimes before!" Bob shouted in disbelief.

Suddenly, the elite slime lashed out a tendril from its body. It moved with surprising speed, and Bob barely dodged it, saved only by the passive skill [Nimbleness].

"Uhh, Alan! I think I need a little help here!" he screamed.

I was busy handling the goblins. From a distance, I could take them down with shots, and when they got too close, I slashed them with my blade. This weapon was turning out to be pretty solid.

"What? I’m a little busy too! Didn’t you say you had it handled?"

"This freaking giant gooey ball is weird, man! It can regenerates!"

The elite slime attacked again. This time, three tendrils shot out like whips. Bob managed to slice through two of them, but the third struck his left leg, tearing into his hip. He let out a cry of pain.

Mina quickly tried to cast [Soothing Spore], but another tendril shot toward her. She froze mid-air, until, at the last second, Bob threw himself in front of her. The tendril pierced through his right hand. He screamed again, and this time, the elite slime latched onto him and began pulling him toward its body, dragging him across the forest floor.

"Alan!! Help me! I’m gonna get eaten by a freaking slime!" he screamed.

I turned and saw Bob being dragged, his right arm stretched as he struggled to break free.

I rushed toward him, but before I could reach him, a group of goblins blocked my path. I didn’t hesitate. I activated [Dash Slash] and tore through them in a clean arc, five down in one move.

By the time I reached Bob, his body was already half-submerged in the slime. Only his head remained above the goo, his eyes wide with panic. Mina was desperately punching the slime, but her tiny fists had no effect.

"Use fire magic, dude! Slimes are weak to fire!" Bob shouted, muffled by the goo creeping up his face.

I was about to use Hellfire Burst, but that skill drained a ton of MP, and I was already below half. If I burned it now, we’d be in deep trouble, surrounded by monsters with barely any magic left. Then it hit me, I had the [Firebolt] skill from the mage class.

I prepared to cast it, but suddenly a realization slammed into me, I’d never used this skill before, and I didn’t know the chant. Sweat started dripping down my forehead.

"Bob! I don’t know the chant for Firebolt! I can’t cast it without the words!" I shouted, panic rising as I glanced at Bob’s head almost swallowed by the slime.

"Just say the spell name, you fricking idiot! I never chant when I use spells!" Bob snapped back.

"...."

I blinked.

Wait... who’s the idiot now?

Of course, he only tells me the truth now when his life’s on the line. Otherwise, he’d let me look like some chanting moron everytime I cast a spell.

I was irritated and angry.

I pointed my gunblade at the slime and shouted as loud as I could,

"Firebolt!!"

A red magical array appeared at the tip of my gunblade, then a massive circle of flame, about the size of a car, shot out toward the slime.

Boom!

A huge explosion erupted. The shockwave knocked smaller monsters off their feet and sent them flying. Nearby trees nearly uprooted, and a thick mushroom-shaped cloud of smoke rose high into the sky, like a mini atomic bomb had gone off.

From the smoke, Bob emerged, covered in dust and soot but otherwise unharmed. He stormed toward me with an angry scowl, getting right up in my face and shouting, "You want me to become ash too?!"

Saliva splattered onto my cheek.

"Yeah, why not? You’ve been lying to me this whole time. Lucky it didn’t get worse than this!" I snapped back, annoyed.

Mina buzzed between our faces, pushing us apart. Then she pointed at the elite goblin and the other monsters still standing.

"Great. I need punching bags to relieve my rage," Bob muttered.

We tore into the monsters ferociously. If this were a movie, it’d definitely be rated R-18.

After the fight, we were both gasping for breath. The battlefield was littered with monster corpses, some sliced into pieces, others charred and smoking. The smell of burning hung thick in the air. I collapsed onto the ground, trying to catch my breath.

"Hey, Alan... I want to apologize, man. I thought it was just a joke. Sorry for making you upset." Bob walked up and extended his right hand for a shake.

I sighed, looked at him, and took his hand. He yanked me up.

"Next time you pull something like that, I’m kicking you out of the apartment when we get back," I warned.

"Okay, okay... I promise," Bob raised both hands in surrender.

"I promise to do it again later," he added with a cheeky grin before running off.

That guy. I chased after him, with Mina buzzing right behind.

Two friends, racing through a forest full with monster remains, it would make a killer retro album cover.

---

On one of the secluded streets of Lily Town, a shadow moved erratically. Dragging one foot heavily, the figure disappeared deeper into the dark corner of the alley.

His eyes were lifeless, void of any spark, and he muttered the same word over and over again, barely audible in the silence:

"Liii...ssssaaaaa..."