Afterward, Zoe didn't slack off and continued his training.
The upgrade to [High-speed Regeneration] allowed Zoe to endure two blasts of Dragon Flame in a row, significantly boosting his training efficiency.
Just as the bearman's corpse was about to be completely exhausted, his skill [Devour Lv.1 (D-grade, Beginner)] finally upgraded to [Devour Lv.2 (D-grade, Mastered)], granting him 1 point of Constitution.
[Devour] allowed Zoe to envelop his prey to the greatest extent possible, before corroding and digesting it.
The upgraded [Devour Lv.2] allowed him to spread his body over a wider area, corroding and digesting prey on a larger scale.
It was an incredibly practical skill for a slime, but he couldn't keep reincarnating as a slime forever.
He didn't even know if this skill would be usable if he reincarnated as a different species next time.
By now, night had completely fallen outside. Zoe retreated back to his familiar crevice, only to find he could no longer fit inside.
“My body has grown too much.”
Zoe manipulated his shape to compress himself and squeezed into the comforting gap, awaiting the next day in deep sleep.
On his third day after reincarnating as a slime, Zoe continued his routine: hunting in the morning and training in the afternoon.
However, this time he couldn't find any goblins.
“Did they sense something?”
While goblins couldn't match the intelligence of humans, they still possessed low-tier intelligence. They were far smarter than ordinary monsters, so he couldn't afford to be careless.
If he weren't lacking confidence in his strength, Zoe would have already wiped out the nearby goblin nest.
Zoe looked at his status panel. His total Mana had now risen to 193.
“With such a pathetic pool of Mana—not even enough to cast a single full Dragon Flame—how am I supposed to take out a goblin nest?”
Though the goblins' unusual behavior was concerning, his daily, all-important Dragon Flame training could not be delayed under any circumstances.
Zoe slithered through the shadows of the forest, searching for prey.
Without goblins to act as bait, finding a suitable prey rich in Mana in such a vast forest was no simple task.
As Zoe stealthily made his way through the shadows of the forest, a sharp blade of dark energy slashed out from the darkness!
Zoe's gelatinous body was instantly sliced open, and the sheer impact of the blow sent him flying backward.
“A dark-attribute attack!”
Zoe immediately identified the nature of the attack.
A High Slime possessed incredibly high physical resistance, but elemental and attribute attacks targeted his weak spot.
[High-speed Regeneration] rapidly healed Zoe's body, though this single strike cost him 10 points of Mana in return.
Zoe landed on the ground and quickly locked onto the origin of the shadow.
To think he had been ambushed without sensing a thing... What on earth was it?
A slender figure emerged from the shadows. Its body was covered in pitch-black fur, and its four paws stepped silently within the darkness, appearing entirely integrated with the shadows.
Equipped with razor-sharp fangs and claws, its entire black body had only one contrasting feature—the whites of its eyes.
“A Hera shadow wolf!”
Identifying the species of the magical beast, Zoe's heart sank.
At this moment, he finally realized exactly where he was located.
The Great Hera Forest in the center of the Hera Plains—a paradise for monsters and a graveyard for countless adventurers.
In his past life, he had only adventured around the eastern outskirts of the Hera Plains.
The Hera shadow wolf was a monster that inhabited the central forests of the Hera Plains. Known as the killers of the shadows, they could end an adventurer's life without warning.
Most importantly, Hera shadow wolves always hunted and moved in packs; they never appeared alone.
When one shadow wolf initiated an attack, it usually meant there were no fewer than ten others lurking in the surrounding darkness.
‘Keep calm. Judging by the strength of the monsters I've encountered so far...’
‘Even if this is the Great Hera Forest, it should only be near the eastern edge.’
‘The shadow wolves appearing here shouldn't be too high of a level.’
Zoe warily eyed the surrounding shadows, but the shadow wolf right in front of him had clearly lost its patience. It transformed into a black blur, lunging out of the darkness.
Be it its slashing claws or its gaping fangs, both were enveloped in dark magic. It certainly couldn't be treated as a standard physical attack.
“Acid Bullet!”
The Acid Bullet fired, costing Zoe 3 points of Mana.
The shadow wolf's black pupils contracted as it nimbly slashed with its dark-magic-infused claw.
The acid was instantly slapped away by the wolf's claw, leaving only minor corrosion on its paw.
But what Zoe targeted was the brief lag right after the swing, and the opening exposed by the raised claw.
With his body flattened, he unleashed the skill [Tackle], launching himself forward like a compressed spring to slam into the shadow wolf's soft belly.
Directly after, [Devour Lv.2] activated.
His deep-blue body suddenly flattened out, wrapping and draping over the shadow wolf's frame.
[Corrode Lv.1] + [Digest Lv.2].
The shadow wolf's fur quickly dissolved amidst bubbling foam, followed shortly by its flesh.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
Before Zoe could celebrate, several more blades of dark magic shot out from the shadows.
Zoe retracted his body to dodge the blades of dark magic, but several still managed to strike him.
Withstanding the pain, he utilized [High-speed Regeneration Lv.2] to control the extent of his healing; to conserve Mana, he only allowed the wounds to partially heal.
Even so, it still cost Zoe 15 points of Mana.
Sending only a single shadow wolf out to tie him down, while the rest hid in the shadows to launch sneak attacks with dark magic blades.
“They really are just like the legends say.”
[Killed Hera Shadow Wolf Lv.5, EXP +50]
Zoe tore off the upper half of the shadow wolf's body, enveloping it within himself to digest it quickly and restore his Mana.
[Mana +1, Mana +1...]
At the same time, he dashed toward the shadows on one side. Ignoring the onslaught of claws and fangs, he rammed straight into another shadow wolf.
The shadow wolf was instantly knocked over, and Zoe seized the opportunity to wrap himself around it.
In the blink of an eye, his corrosive slime dissolved its fur and skin. The shadow wolf's wails of agony were instantly muffled, swallowed by the slime enveloping its head.
Enveloped in dark magic, its claws flailed wildly, tearing at Zoe's body.
Simultaneously, several more blades of dark magic slashed out from the surrounding shadows.
“Do they not care about the lives of their packmates at all?!”
In his current state, Zoe didn't dare to take the hits head-on. He leapt off the shadow wolf and darted into a nearby bush.
Behind him, the shadow wolf, corroded to the bone, collapsed to the ground, twitched a few times, and then went still.
[Killed Hera Shadow Wolf Lv.5, EXP +50]
Having jumped into the bushes, Zoe felt the slime of his body lose its vitality, dripping away like blood.
Zoe was forced to activate [High-speed Regeneration]. His Mana plummeted rapidly, but his body healed at high speed.
Not daring to linger in the same spot, he flattened his body, hoping the bushes would shield him from their sight.
However, the shadows would always be the shadow wolves' domain.
Accompanying a low growl, a shadow wolf lunged out from the flank, biting down hard onto Zoe.
Wincing in pain, Zoe immediately wrapped his entire body around the shadow wolf's head.
Without even needing to look back, Zoe knew that several more dark magic attacks were likely flying his way.
“Acid Bullet!”
Enduring a portion of the incoming dark magic blades, Zoe spun around and locked onto one of the shadow wolves.
In that split second, Zoe felt as though he were possessed by a god of archery. He could faintly see an invisible trajectory. With pinpoint accuracy, his Acid Bullet shot through the gaps in the tree branches, striking a shadow wolf dead in the eye.
[You have learned the skill Precision (E-grade)]
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