The blessing of slime on this wonderful world

I am not a bad slime.

Woah woah woah woah woah! Just what kind of spell is this!? There are more magic circles above me than I have seen in my entire life!

<Master, this is the first time you are seeing->

'Yes, yes I know,' I said irritatedly. 'I just wanted to make that comparison. But tell me, Great Sage, what are the chances of this puffing me out of existence?' I couldn't help but jump around impatiently. There was no escaping it; even if I hopped or ran like my life was on the line, which it totally was, its area of effect was too large. 'Can I just 'eat' the blast and nullify it completely with Predator?' 

<No, the expected strength of magic exceeds the Predator's speed of consumption. There is no way to avoid getting hit.> Great Sage concluded in her usual monotonous voice. <But->

'I knew it. This is the end of me!' I couldn't help but shout out loud. 'Just as I thought my great isekai adventure was finally getting interesting, things had to go south and end up badly.' 

"EXPLOSION!" 

"AHHH!!"

'It hurts, it hurts, it hurts! I can't take it it's too hot! With an explosion like this, it won't take more than a second for me to get vaporized, Ah! s-someone... someone help me!' I called out with all my might, even though deep in my heart, I knew that all my pleas for help were futile, that there didn't exist a soul in this world capable and daring enough to jump in the cannon's mouth and rescue me. I knew it, but still, I clung to hope. I didn't want to give up. I-I... 'seem to be alright? How long is this gonna take? Is this a tease or something, or am I already dead?' 

<Just in the brain.>

'...'

<Due to your skill Thermal Fluctuation Resistance, Fire-based attacks and explosions do not affect you.>

'Ah, I see. That makes sense.' The explosion ended and the area within a few meters around me was now covered with smoke and ash. Letting out a breath I didn't realize I had held, or at least felt like I had held, I slowly hopped out of the small crater, feeling stupid. 

'Let's just move on.'

I looked around and saw the red magician girl collapsed on the ground, and the ordinary guy rushing by her side and picking her up. The useless girl was sitting on her knees, crying, while the masochistic knight was um... how did she end up getting tied in ropes!? 

"H-how is that slime still alive!?" a surprised scream sliced through the air as I hopped above and in sight. "Did you miss your mark, Megumin?" The ordinary guy shook the magician panickedly. 

"N-no," the exhausted words escaped her lips. "I-I am sure I-I had a c-clear hit on i-it." 

"But then how..." 

"Maybe the slime endured the explosion." The masochistic knight rolled over to the side and said. "And it looks totally unharmed. It must be one tough guy," she said with a serious expression, blushingly. 

"L-look! It's coming towards us." The useless girl stopped crying and gestured for them to run.

Judging by the way they are reacting to me, it looks like this Megumin girl's explosion is the best they had. I must admit, it was very impressive. If not for my immunity to fire, who knows what would have happened to me. Too bad, the downside is being completely useless for the rest of the day. 

The four of them grouped together and prepared to leave. 

These guys are scared as hell, but I understand: a random slime appears out of nowhere and is capable of withstanding their trump card like it's nothing. If I were in their shoes, I would be scared too. But they can't escape now. Weird as they may be, these guys have managed to pique my interest. I won't let such amusing characters slip away so easily. 

Tremble Tremble

Suddenly, the ground beneath us began to shake. To my far left, dust clouds appeared above the forest and covered the horizon, ripping apart trees and everything else beneath.

"What the hell is that?" shouted Kazuma as their eyes focused on the source, which was still too far away. 

As seconds passed by, the tremors grew more intense and eventually, the cause of the incident was clearly evident. 

"It's a horde of trolls!?" exclaimed Megumin. "Since when did trolls start running in groups?" 

"We have no time to think about that right now!" shouted Kazuma as he threw Megumin on his shoulders. "If you don't want to be crushed like a pancake, run with all your might!" With that, he sprinted in the direction opposite to the incoming doom. 

"I-I am coming too!"

"Wait, that's the wrong direction!" exclaimed Aqua as she ran behind them, pointing towards their left. "The town is that way!"

...

..

.

3rd pov-

A few hours later-

"A-are we really safe here?" asked Kazuma. "They won't come here, right?"

The four of them lay against the walls of a cave, breathing hard and unable to move. After some time, one of them finally gathered enough strength to stand up and walked to the entrance of the cave. "We are completely alone," said Darkness, scanning the surroundings. "There's no sign of trolls, or any other monsters that may be a danger to us." 

"Finally!" exclaimed Megumin with a sigh of relief. "Looks like we can rest peacefully for a while. I am tired of being chased by deadly monsters already. Ouch! Why did you hit me for?" 

"Don't act as if you have been doing anything else other than lying on my back!" shouted Kazuman, "You barely even lifted a finger!"   

"Hey, you don't know how hard it was for me! I-" 

"Talk about lame," an unknown voice echoed in the cave. "It seems the only thing you guys are good at is running away." 

Suddenly, there was complete silence. All eyes darted towards the source of this unknown voice, and all eyes looked in surprise. "It's the slime!!" all mouths shouted in unison and all legs stepped behind and trembled. 

"Hey now," continued the slime. "You don't need to be afraid of me. Let me introduce myself—Hello there. I am Rimuru the slime, and I am not a bad slime."

Author's note: As always, share your opinion in the comments below and upvote if you liked the chapter. If you are interested in chatting with me or beta reading you can join my discord. The link is in the profile. Thanks for reading.