Chapter 4: Gas Burner

There should be some kerosene left from the winter. If I pour it into the hole and set it on fire... No, if the fire spreads to the trees in the yard, it could cause a big fire.

Besides, is it even safe to do something like that in a dungeon? There’s no end to worrying.

Then—

Yuzuma went to the kitchen and rummaged through the cabinets.

"Right, the one we used for the family barbecue... I remember it was here!"

He found a torch gas burner. It’s a device that attaches a torch to a household gas cylinder, allowing it to spray flames like a spray can.

He went back to the yard and walked to the hole. The metal slime was standing there in the hole.

It’s dangerous to get too close. He put one foot into the hole, extended his arm, and aimed the nozzle of the gas burner. Since the opponent is made of metal, it shouldn’t be able to withstand the heat.

He pulled the ignition lever and sprayed the flame. The burner’s fire reached the surface of the metal slime.

The slime noticed the change and immediately jumped back, moving around inside the hole.

"Ah! Damn it, don’t move!"

Yuzuma tried to aim the flame, but the metal slime, avoiding the fire, bounced around and collided with Yuzuma’s leg.

"Ouch!!"

A sharp pain shot through him. Yuzuma crawled out of the hole and writhed in agony, holding his ankle and rolling on the ground.

"Ah—! I’ve had enough. I can’t defeat this thing!!"

I’ll just cover this hole with a board or something and pretend I never saw it. Yuzuma thought this as he dragged his foot and entered the house.

He had a terrible experience. If he hadn’t found that thing, he wouldn’t have been in pain. While grumbling to himself, he lay on the sofa, sulking.

Why do I have to go through this... Even so, he couldn’t stop thinking about the hole.

Did I do it wrong...? Maybe there’s another way, like filling the hole with water to suffocate the slime.

Yuzuma shook his head. For all we know, it might not even breathe. Besides, even if it’s a small hole, it would be quite a task to flood it with water.

Then, what should I do...? Yuzuma thought desperately. For someone who has never been to a dungeon, it’s completely unclear what to do.

"If I can stop its movement..."

At that moment, something flashed in Yuzuma’s mind. Stop? Stop its movement?

"Stop the movement, then take it out." That phrase sounded familiar. It was a catchphrase from a TV commercial for insecticide spray.

It uses a -85°C cooling spray to instantly immobilize moving cockroaches.

If you can stop the movement, the extermination afterward is easy.

This method might work on the metal slime too. Since it can stretch and move despite being metal, it might be close to a liquid metal.

If that’s the case, it should be weak to cold.

Yuzuma stood up, went to his room on the second floor, and opened the closet. He took out a cardboard box filled with miscellaneous items and rummaged through it.

"Here it is! This is it, this one."

He picked up a cooling spray. His parents had bought it for him when he joined the soccer club.

He quit the club after three days, so he never actually used it, but he never imagined it would come in handy like this.

With renewed determination, he went downstairs and picked up the gas burner on the table.

Holding both spray cans, Yuzuma headed to the yard again.

Even if the cooling spray stops the metal slime’s movement, it won’t be enough to defeat it. But what if he heats it with the gas burner afterward?

He remembered hearing something about it somewhere. Metal becomes brittle when it is suddenly cooled and then heated.

He had heard something about thermal expansion on TV, but the details didn’t matter.

Yuzuma stood in front of the hole and took a deep breath.

"If this doesn’t work, I’ll give up. This is my last challenge!"