Is it wrong for slimes to be in dungeons? (revised)

Chapter 35: War Game. Part 1: Final Preparations.

(Rimuru POV)

The harsh sun stared down at us from on high, giving the grass at our feet a certain shine as I stood several meters away from the new members of the Hestia Familia. Lily, Welf, and Mikoto, stared hard at me perparing their weapons uncertainty in their eyes.

I merely shifted myself into a battle ready position with the wooden sword I was borrowing from Sophia.

"Let's begin," I said clearly.

At my word Welf immediately rushed me. He swung his giant metal sword horizontally in order to cut me in two.

I stepped back just out of range of his sword as it wizzed past my stomach, leaving him open for an attack. I kicked at his front leg, but he was able to regain his balance and pull it back just enough for me to miss my mark, not that it mattered, because I quickly planted my foot just in front of his own and pushed forward. Welf instictually backed up but I pushed forward swinging my wooden sword at his neck. He decided to abandon his weapon and brought up his arm guard to block it, but that left him with only on hand left on his great sword.

However, looking past him I could see that mikoto's chant was nearing it's end. I was forced to jump back making some distance from me and Welf.

Welf, for his part had no choice, but to stay where he was. As inbetween as a large glowing purple sword touched the ground inbetween us creating a zone of hypergravity.

Futsunomitama, Mikoto's spell that created a ten meter dome of gravity that is far denser than normal. If I were using my full power it shouldn't be too bad, but currently getting caught in that would be game over.

"Tch," Mikoto clicked her tongue, dispelling the magic, now that it had essentially failed. She could theoretically keep it going as Welf tried to corner me into it but in all likelihood the opposite would happen, with him ending up in the hypergravity spell. He had certainly gotten better in the past few days, but not nearly enough to beat me in a battle of swordsmenship.

They now both rushed me, Lily mean while stayed in the back watching intently, waiting, analyzing, and thinking. A focus more intent than the two currently fighting me. It was almost scary. I frowned but was forced to turn my attention to Welf and Mikoto.

It was certainly tougher to keep them both off of me at the same time, but I managed, and when it came down to it, even in a weakened state, my stamina outstripped their's badly.

It wasn't too long before they began to make mistakes, and I was able to captilize on them, hitting their wrists and forearms.

They began to attempt a retreat to regain stamina, but I didn't allow it, pushing forward hitting them in more significant areas such as their solar plexus and ribcage and before too long they were both sitting on the floor exhausted.

"Let's call it there," I said putting the wooden sword away.

It had been 2 days since I had gotten Lily and had her leave the Soma familia. Today was the day Hestia would be clarifying the details of the war game with Apollo. I had been trainning Mikoto, Welf, and Lily, and they had made some progress, but ultameitly it wouldn't be enough to beat Apollo.

"We can kee-" Mikoto tried to say getting up. But I stopped her.

"It's fine, I about have the gist of things," I said.

Mikoto made a confused face at that, as did Welf and Lily, but I was already moving ahead with the next stage of my training plan. While it was certainly worth while to spar, the fighting would mostly be handled by Bell and hopefully the helpers that would be secured by Hestia.