Chapter 188: Ohhh~ A Slime King! Please Tell Me You Taste as Good as You Look! — Part 2.

Maddy used her Thumping Locomotion, leaping to the right with a violent bang. The beam scorched the earth where she had stood, turning the cobblestones into glass. While mid air, she gripped her round shield and threw it with Charging Strength.

"Go, my trusty plate! Come back with a plate full of jelly!"

The shield whistled through the air, glowing with mana. It slammed into the Sovereign’s right arm. Maddy’s power was so great that the metal rim ripped through the gold jelly like a hot wire through butter. But then, the shield slowed down. The slime was too thick, too sticky. It stopped halfway through the massive arm, trapped in the golden sludge.

"Oh no! My shield is stuck!"

Maddy landed and pulled on her invisible silk thread, trying to yank the shield back. But the Sovereign Slime just let out a wet, gurgling chuckle. It swung its other massive arm back, the fist growing larger and harder as it prepared a punch that could flatten a house. At the same time, the small slimes she just cut were already reforming at her heels.

"Sticky, strong, and smart!" 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Maddy grinned, her "Golden Captain" instincts taking over. She dropped the silk thread and lowered her center of gravity, her Explosive Glands beginning to heat up.

"But even the stickiest dough can be broken if you know the right technique!"

Her boots cracked the pavement as she loaded her Charging Strength into a vertical leap. With a bang that sounded like a kitchen pressure swept over high heat, she soared straight into the air.

The Sovereign Slime’s massive, hardened fist came whistling through the space she had occupied a millisecond prior. The Alpha was committed to the strike; the sheer momentum of its house-flattening punch couldn’t be halted.

CRASH!

The golden fist slammed into the cobblestones. The shockwave didn’t just rattle the nearby buildings; it obliterated the army of smaller slimes that had been nipping at Maddy’s heels. Fire, Ice, Water, and Lightning and Blood and Poison subordinates were instantly squashed by their own creator’s weight, popping into harmless golden mist under the force of the "friendly fire."

Maddy soared high above the golden monster, her eyes tracking every ripple in its gelatinous body. The Alpha’s arm was still stuck to the ground, its massive fist buried in the crater it had just created.

"You’re a bit too sticky for your own good!" Maddy shouted. "If the dough is too tough, you just have to use a heavier blade!"

She gripped her short sword with both hands, channeling her Charging Strength into her shoulders. Her mind flashed to the heavy cleaver her mother used to chop through frozen bone in the winter.

"Rough Chop!"

She dropped like a falling star. The blade hit the right arm with the force of a landslide. The Blast Shockwave from her Bomb Boar trait erupted on contact, the explosion tearing through the golden slime. The massive arm was severed completely, and her shield snapped free, returning to her hand with a sharp whistle.

[System Notice]

[Congratulations! You have acquired a skill: Rough Chop]

[Rough Chop: Execute a heavy, downward strike that trades finesse for raw force. Capable of breaking through clustered enemies and creating stagger effects. Effect scales with the user’s strength, weapon mass, and commitment to the swing.]

The Sovereign Slime let out a shriek of rage. Instead of bleeding, the severed arm began to shake. Within seconds, the large chunk of gold jelly split into hundreds of tiny, aggressive slimes. They flooded the square.

"Oh, come on!"

Maddy huffed, her chest heaving. Even with her Demonic Ogre Stamina, the constant jumping and high speed slashing were starting to burn.

"Do you have any idea how stressful this is? You’re making a mother way too worked up!"

The Sovereign Slime didn’t wait for her to recover or finish her nagging. It grew new arm instantly, larger and denser than before. It used them like massive springs, launching its house sized body into the air. The shadow of the Alpha fell over Maddy, turning the afternoon sun into midnight.

"Oh... great. I’m about to get sucked into a pool of golden jelly..."

Maddy looked up at the golden sky falling toward her. She could have used her wings to fly away, or her digging skills to go underground. But she shook her head, her stubborn "Golden Captain" pride taking over.

"No! I’m an adventurer today! I’m going to block it like a real warrior!"

She planted her feet, bracing her battered round shield above her head. She activated Mineral Hardening in her arms, her muscles turning as solid as the mountains.

CRASH!

The Sovereign Slime slammed into her. The shield held, but the monster was liquid. It didn’t bounce off; it flowed. The golden jelly wrapped around the edges of her shield like a closing trap. Within seconds, Maddy was pulled off her feet. She was sucked into the massive, translucent body of the Alpha.

She floated inside the golden abyss, her world turning into a thick, sweet smelling soup. She tried to laugh, but the sound came out as bubbly gargles.

"Gurgle... l-looks like... gurgle... I’m the filling now!"

Her Static Discharge began to flicker, sending sparks through the slime. Under normal circumstances, a slime would pop, but the Sovereign was too dense. Instead, the sparks began to cook the jelly from the inside out. The smell of caramel and warm sugar filled Maddy’s nose.

Her eyes widened. The dream she had since she was a child, to finally taste a slime that looked like a real treat was right in front of her. She opened her mouth and took a massive, hungry bite of the golden interior.

"Mmm! Gurgle! It tastes like... royal honey!"

She began to eat her way through the monster’s heart. She tore away chunks of the "royal" gelatin, chewing and swallowing with frantic joy. The Sovereign Slime began to convulse. Its intelligent mind realized with horror that the predator it had swallowed was now eating it from the inside out.