My Level Zero System

Seeing Kain move to evade, the Slime also gave chase, creating a somewhat peculiar pursuit between a person and a large watery sphere. However, this was a deadly chase.

Kain wasn't foolish enough to run into the inner part of the room; instead, he ran along the wall, where the path was longest to extend the chase time. Also, if one end was blocked, he could switch to the other end to run without making sharp turns.

During this process, Kain no longer used [Thunder Magic] but switched to [Fire Magic], which could somewhat counter a liquid enemy like the Slime.

However, the counter-effect between water and fire works both ways.

Fire strong enough can evaporate water, but water heavy enough can extinguish fire.

This isn't just about their physical properties but also their concepts. Water is smooth and calm, heavy and stable. Fire, meanwhile, is constantly fluctuating, light, and chaotic.

In this battle, this was very clearly demonstrated.

When Kain activated [Fire Magic] and fired towards the Slime, if the attack's range wasn't too large, the Slime would again create a hole for the magic skill to pass through without harming it. But if the attack had a large range, like a [Fire Cannon] fired at its maximum radius, or an attack with comprehensive coverage like [Fire Storm], this Slime would revert to its [Water Bubble] state to resist the fiery power.

Of course, Kain's activations of these magic skills weren't random.

He was testing, checking how this Slime dealt with situations where it needed to switch between different defensive states.

Although Kain had vaguely deduced this with the two previous [Thunder Magic] attacks, he tried it again with [Fire Magic] to be certain.

"I know how to defeat you."

A thought flashed through Kain's mind.

Although this Slime was indeed difficult to deal with, it was still just a monster fighting and hunting by instinct, and its assessment of the situation was the same.

To explain why the Slime divided itself into two distinct defensive forms, Kain modeled it as follows:

The first form, contracting its liquid body. In this form, the Slime used it to deal with "small" attacks that could pass through, and this form consumed almost no energy.

The second form, transforming into [Water Bubble]. In this form, the Slime was almost impossible to kill, and it only used this form when encountering "large" attacks that were not feasible to open a hole for, or attacks with too wide and encompassing a range to avoid. This defensive form, of course, consumed significantly more energy than the first form.

Of course, Kain wouldn't bother calculating how long it could continuously maintain the [Water Bubble] state. Confirming that would be tantamount to engaging in a war of attrition with this monster to the very end. In Kain's eyes, this method was rather foolish.

And if someone were to ask why the monster didn't maintain the [Water Bubble] state continuously, Kain would simply answer that it was reacting purely by instinct and lacked true thought.

It's worth noting that even humans, when moving normally, mostly choose to walk, only running when encountering sudden stimuli or reacting to motivation. Here, the Slime reacted similarly: if it could avoid consuming energy, it would open a hole to do so; only when it couldn't solve the problem by opening a hole would it transform into a [Water Bubble]. That was its natural reaction cycle.

As for the logic of "it must continuously be in [Water Bubble] state because the monster has long stamina," that would be foolish, going against logical principles.

Modeling it was enough, so how would Kain defeat this thing? Especially since he asserted that he wouldn't foolishly engage in a battle of attrition with the monster to see who would fall first.

Kain's answer was... deception.

Yes, precisely, deception.

Instinctive reactions are incredibly precise, but this precision must be built on the premise that the information triggering the instinct is accurate according to its pattern.

Otherwise, the monotony in an instinctive reaction becomes a fatal weakness.

And Kain would feed the Slime "false information."

"Good thing I upgraded [Fire Control]. I might as well test it out this time." Kain thought to himself, a volatile fireball appearing in his hand, which he controlled with ease.

In all previous instances, Kain had never once activated [Fire Burst].

[Fire Burst] is a magic skill that doesn't focus on burning or cutting, but on explosive power. And Kain, as it happened, needed explosive power.

"Activate!"

[Fire Burst].

A fireball shot forth, and under the control of [Fire Control], this fireball split into several more fireballs, arranged horizontally, attacking the Slime.

Previously, when Kain used multiple [Thunder Arrow]s but only attacked the Slime from one direction, the Slime still chose the less energy-consuming defensive form: flattening its liquid body like a sheet of paper, then opening holes for the attack to pass through.

At this moment, the monster's defense would be at its lowest, with its thick, heavy liquid body made fragile by its own action, and, of course, no [Water Bubble].

This monster would only form and maintain this posture at the precise moment the attack passed through, not "waiting in advance," minimizing the chance of being exploited when it was weakest. It could be said that this Slime was programmed to handle situations almost perfectly.

However, Kain only needed one moment.

Seeing Kain launch multiple small attacks, the Slime flattened itself and opened holes. But at the very moment these [Fire Burst] attacks were about to pass through the holes, two small [Fire Burst] orbs collided under the influence of Kain's [Fire Control].

[Fire Burst] needed an impact point to explode. The Slime wouldn't let the attack touch it. So, fine, Kain let his attacks touch each other.

And this caused a chain reaction, detonating all the other [Fire Burst] orbs without Kain even needing to lift a finger. The Slime, in its weakest defensive moment, was incinerated by a burst of exploding [Fire Burst] attacks. And of course, it didn't have time to transform back into its [Water Bubble] form to save itself.

Because Kain had deceived it with false information, causing the Slime's instinct to react incorrectly to the actual situation.

That was how Kain defeated this difficult monster.