Bear-san Beats the Slime
Finaâs hands were trembling as she grabbed my bear clothes.
She was still an eleven-year-old girl, after all. She must be scared. Besides, she was flying in the sky for the first time. She must be afraid of falling.
I conjured a rope with earth magic and wrapped it around Fina and me.
âYuna Onee-chan?â
âWith this, weâll be together even if we fall.â
âNo, you canât. If I fall, Iâll fall alone.â
âIâm just kidding, itâs just a way to save Fina if sheâs about to fall. Iâll save you no matter what.â
âYuna Onee-chan⦠yes, Iâll do my best.â
âYou two are near the magic tool. Get ready.â
As Kagali-san approached the Slime with Fina and me on board, it stretched out its tentacles like arms, but Kagali-san avoided them and slipped past them. Fina, behind me, lets out a little scream.
âItâs around here.â
Kagali-sanâs ears twitched; just as Kagali-san had said, there was a black box floating inside Slimeâs body.
Theyâre useful ears. I wondered if it was sensing some kind of frequency or magic power.
âThat black thing is a magic tool. Does it really work?
âIt moves when my magic gets close to it. Then, Iâll do as I planned. I will use my magic to drive the magic tool to the surface of Slime, and Fina, the moment the magic tool is outside of Slime, I want you to be careful and hit it, because Slime will immediately try to take the magic tool in.â
âYeah, Iâll try.â
Finaâs hand on my waist tightened.
âItâs okay if you canât do it.â
We just have to think of something else. There must be another way to do it.
âUh-huh.â
âOkay, then, letâs go.â
Kagali-san flew, keeping the magic tool in clear view. I used my ropes of earth magic from my Bear-San puppets to drive the magic tool inside Slimeâs body, which seemed to be moving away from me more like an N-pole to N-pole, S-pole to S-pole magnet than like a willful avoidance.
Kagali-san chased after the magic tool, avoiding Slimeâs attack so I would not lose sight of it.
I drove the magic tool into Slimeâs surface, blocking its escape route from the left and right.
Finaâs magic was still weak, so I had to be close enough so that she could hit it easily.
Kagali-san, perhaps feeling the same way, moves closer to the magic tool to make it easier for Fina to hit the target as if to gauge the timing.
With one last push, my earth magic pushes the magic tool out.
âFina!â
Even before my shout, Finaâs small hand released a fist-sized bear-shaped piece of earth magic.
Fina prepared herself behind my back.
The magic tool pops out from inside the Slime. At the same time, a part of the Slime extends and tries to take the magic tool in.
âHit it!â
Fina shouts.
At the same time that the Slime tried to take in the magic tool, Finaâs bear-shaped earth magic hit the tool.
âWas it no good?â
Fina sounds a little sad.
That was the limit, timing-wise.
Almost as soon as it came out of Slime, it was back inside.
âNo, look at it.â
At Kagali-sanâs words, we looked at the magic tool.
The magic tool, reabsorbed into the Slime, cracked and began to melt. It seems that Slime has entered through the cracks and melted it from the inside.
It seems that the inside of the magic tool was not designed to prevent melting.
ââ¦I did it, Yuna Onee-chan, I did it.â
I turned around to see Finaâs happy expression as if the anxiety she had felt earlier had vanished.
âYeah, it was perfect.â
âWell done.â
âThatâs because Yuna Onee-chan and big Kagali Onee-chan made it easy for me to hit the target.â
Apparently, the slime was late to notice.
âBecause my magic is slow and less powerful.â
âWhat are you talking about? Thatâs enough. But thereâs still more.â
âFina, can you continue?â
âYes, I can.â
After the first success, Fina seems to have gotten the timing right, and broke the magic tools with two or three bear-shaped clay spells.
It was going well.
But why a Bear?
âFina, arenât you getting better at magic?â
âWell, Iâve been practicing with light magic, and I was hoping to have an adventure with Yuna Onee-chan someday.â
Fina said shyly.
âThatâs what you were thinking about.â
âBut Yuna Onee-chan is so strong, Iâm not sure if Iâd be much of a helpâ¦â
Her voice changed from back to a lonely one.
âThatâs not true. If you were a liability, I wouldnât have asked you to go out with me, and even if Fina couldnât use magic, Iâd want her to stay with meâ¦â
Something embarrassing.
ââ¦Yuna Onee-chan.â
âYou guys, weâre not flirting on top of me, are you.â
âWeâre not flirting!â
âThen, do you know whatâs going on? We are approaching the next magic tool.â
âFina, letâs go!â
âUn!â
The magic tool was steadily being destroyed.
At this rate, we can destroy all the magic tools.
Just when I thought so, Kagali-san suddenly changed direction.
âWhoa!â
Fina, who was behind me, lost her balance and fell off.
However, Fina and I were firmly connected by earth magic, so we didnât fall.
It was a good thing we were connected by earth magic.
âAre you two okay?â
âWeâre fine.â
âUn.â
âIâm sorry. We were attacked from an unexpected direction, and it took me a while to respond.â
It was a good thing I had prepared insurance to tie Fina and me together.
Insurance was a must.
And then, as we destroyed a few magic tools, I heard Finaâs labored breathing from behind my back.
âFina?â
âNah, itâs nothing.â
No, it looks like sheâs in pain.
âYou must be out of magic. You shouldnât lie.â
There were still some magic tools left.
I was in my white bear outfit, with more magic output than most people.
Fina had just learned magic and didnât know how to distribute it. Maybe she was putting all her magic power into each blow, one blow at a time, as hard as she could.
If it were a game, there would be a numerical value, so you know how much magic power you have left, but there was no such convenient thing in this world.
You have to know the limit by yourself and use magic power while thinking about it. But it was too much to ask of Fina, who had just learned magic.
She should take a break and recover her magical power.
âKagali-san, to the bear house.â
âNo, itâs okay. I can still do my best.â
âKagali-san, what about the rest of the magic tools?â
Kagali-sanâs ears twitched.
âThree.â
âIâll do my best.â
No need to overdo it here. After Finaâs magic power recovers, there would be no problem to fight.
âYuna Onee-chanâ¦â
ââ¦Just one more time.â
âYeah.â
Kagali-san searches for the magic tool, and I use earth magic to throw the magic tool out of the Slime. Normally, Finaâs magic should have hit the magic tool, but no magic appeared.
Just when I thought it was hopeless.
I heard a sound like a gust of wind, and something passed by me at a tremendous speed.
And before Slime was able to reabsorb the magic tool, something hit the magic tool, before the Slime was able to fully re-absorb it into its body. An arrow pierced the magic tool.
âArrow?â
I looked behind where the arrow flew and saw Mia on the back of the Swaying Bear, holding a bow on top of the cylinder I had made.
Could it be that Mia was the one who shot the arrow?
The Kagali-san carrying us flew to where Mia was.
âFufu, I hit the target!â
Mia was in a good mood.
But seeing her holding the bow while straddling a bear was surreal.
âIs that the arrow you just shot?â
âAs you can see, Fina was in a lot of pain. Carol said Fina was using too much magic, so I asked Swaying Bear to bring us to a place where I could shoot the arrow.â
âFrom here is quite a distance.â
It was not within the reach of a normal arrow.
It was quite a distance away.
âThis bow had a wind magic stone and other various abilities added to it, so it could make the arrow fly farther than an ordinary bow.â
âMy Lady, if you can do that, then tell me quickly.â
âHow can I tell you that? This girl said she wanted to do something for Yuna. But if her magic power has run out, itâs a different story. From here on, itâs my job as the older one.â
Miaâs puffing out her chest, which we donât have.
But she was like a watchful big sister.
âFina, leave the rest to me.â
ââ¦yes.â
Fina nodded sadly, bowing her head.
âDonât look so sad, Fina did her best. You might have wanted to do it all on your own, right up to the end. But leave this part to Mia Onee-chan.â
ââ¦Yes, Mia Onee-chan, please.â
Smiling this time, I asked Mia for help.
âThen, Mia, I can leave it to you, canât I?â
âIâd like to say leave it to me, but I donât have that many arrows in my arsenal. How many more magic tools left?â
âTwo more, I think.â
âThank God. I had three arrows left. I used them when I was attacked by the monsters when I came to this town. And they donât work on armored knights. But itâs cool to have a last turn.â
It would have been cool if she hadnât said it herself. Now that she said it, she messed up.
But I wondered how Mia and the others got here. To reduce the burden on Kagali-san, I left Fina in the hands of Swaying Bear and Mia while Kagali-san and I went to chase down the magic tool.
Knowing the range of her bow and arrow, Mia kept her distance from Slime and fired her arrows at the magic tool.
âThis is the last.â
The arrow pierced the magic tool as it emerged from Slimeâs body.
âItâs really the last one. Youâre sure you didnât miss anything?â
âLast time, all the magical toolâs responses that I could sense are gone. Besides, look at that.â
Kagali-san looked at the edge of Slime.
âItâs splitting?â
The giant Slime collapsed and became a smaller Slime; the Slime went in and out of the town. More and more Slime dispersed.
In other words, the Slime had been liberated.
The magic tool created by someone made them do something they didnât want to do, and they protected the magic tool. If it had been me, I would have gone crazy.
The Slime may be a monster, but I feel sorry for it for once.
So, I would not attack the fleeing Slime.
The rest was a matter between the people who came here and the Slimes.
And this was the end of our battle.
âItâs over~â