I dodged the first cube, immediately followed up by the second and third. A hundred cubes was a bit beyond my current capabilities though. Dying in battle might seem like a glorious fate for some, but I had plans to employ. Therefore, I had no qualms in ducking underneath a hurtling cube and sliding as fast as I could.
Yet even though I’d avoided the initial wave, that meant nothing when I was still surrounded by a sea of cubes. Everywhere I looked, there were more cubes gradually closing in. And looming over them all was the monster, starring impassionately like a god ordering the execution of its subjects.
Except I wasn’t one of its subjects and I wasn’t about to die at the whimsy appendages of a monster. I’d just gained MP, hadn’t I? Nothing beats learning on the fly to see just how strong I am.
Abandoning my usual strategy of fleeing, I charged towards the biggest slime, figuring the greater body mass would diminish my chances of missing. It may have just been my imagination, but I liked to think the slime I was targeting looked surprised. Anyhow, it jumped backwards, and I landed just short of it.
Capitalizing on the space, I recalled when I’d consumed the larvae. I remembered every grisly detail of it, from the juices that oozed out of the creature to the feeling of the rotting larvae on my appendages. But most of all, I found the sensation I’d experienced when absorbing the monster and expanded on that.
My spider-like appendages shot out from within the confines of my body and collided into the larger slime. It let out an inhuman shriek and tumbled backward. A gaping dent was noticeable in the previously pristine surface and with no small amounts of disgust, I realized the missing glob of slime was attached to my ‘legs.’ My limbs, not of any intent of mine, started moving towards my body.
Shit, don’t you dare!
Of course, my body deigned to give me a response and shoved the glob of slime inside. A subtle twitch ran its course, but luckily, nowhere near as intense as my first time. Regardless, it was annoying how my body’s natural response to everything seemed to be to eat it.
Did I get any Endurance Points from that? I was opening the stats screen when, behind me, several cubes began their onslaught. Make no mistake, if I’d been a human, I would have perished. As it was, I spotted them approaching and acted accordingly, diving to safety. They didn’t let up, though, continuing to press forward.
My initial attack had shocked the slimes into a state of uncertainty, but now they were remembering their massive advantage in numbers. They crept forward, able to afford that luxury. Meanwhile, I was running out of time. I glanced at the monster, noting that it hadn’t budged since it ordered the slimes to kill me. As I watched, a stray bolt of lightning popped another orb of slime. Seeing the steaming liquid fall on top of and disintegrate a bundle of cubes, I got an idea.
As I was now, I didn’t have a prayer of a chance of surviving. My offensive repertoire was scarce and my defenses were nearly as bad. But I had one shining grace, something the voice had said as a throw-off line.
Quick! What Skills can I get for 10 Skill Points?? I dodged another cube, jabbing my legs into their body. Lifting my squirming hostage, I waved it back and forth, trying to deter the others from attacking.
You have the option of getting:
* [Infirm Regeneration] Level 5
* [Analysis]
* [Body Manipulation]
* [Super-Sensory Perception]
One of the larger cubes summoned a gust of wind over its body and threw it at me. Midair, it transitioned from a mostly harmless breeze into a razor-thin sheet of air.
I lifted my hostage in front of me and the blade of wind sheared through the defenseless slime, cutting it in half. Suddenly, I was holding onto a dripping mess of rapidly dissolving goo. A chill ran through my body; that could just as easily have been me.
Scanning through the list as fast as possible, I discarded [Infirm Regeneration] Level 5. It wouldn’t necessarily help me win this battle, with no offensive capabilities, simply delaying the inevitable. [Analysis] and [Super-Sensory Perception] both sounded like they could serve me well in the future, but not the most helpful for my immediate situation. Which left…
Hoping I wasn’t making a mistake, I selected the [Body Manipulation].
Ding!
You have used 10 Skill Points to achieve [Body Manipulation]
Species: Gelatinous Cube (Level 1)
Subspecies: Insectroid Slime
Stats:
Magic Point (MP) : 15/15
Health Point (HP) : 7/10
Strength Point (SP) : 9/10
Endurance Point (EP) : 6/10
Agility Point (AP) : 4/5
Species Skills:
* [Subsumption] Level 1
* [Infirm Regeneration] Level 1
Skills:
* [Body Manipulation] Level 1
* [0 Skill Points]
* [Available Skill Slots:4]
The first thing I noticed was the grim nature of my stats. They weren’t looking so well, with my Endurance being on the cusp of dropping below what I was comfortable with. The next item that caught my attention was the fact my MP had gone up.
So more Skills equals more Magic Points? That makes sense, I guess. But how do I increase my other stats? I—woah!
I narrowly avoided another slash of wind that cleaved a jagged scratch into the ground. Finding the perpetrator, I wasn’t all that surprised to find it wasn’t alone. There were dozens of slimes clumped together, who all had identical orbs of swirling wind hovering around them.
Must be a common Skill. I thought, forced to dive behind a pair of cubes. The cubes in question quickly whirled around and started their own attacks, striking me with their bodies. Their malleable substance meant it didn’t do any significant damage, but my weightlessness ensured I kept getting knocked backwards.
Time to test this new Skill out. In truth, I had no idea how to activate a Skill. My ‘legs’ were an instinctive, biological response to sources of energy that I’d turned into a weapon. Do I have to think of the Skill’s name? Every time I use it? That seems counterproductive.
Time was ticking down, though, so I gave it a shot. [Body Manipulation]!
I experienced the effects before I even finished announcing the Skill. The most peculiar sensation rippled across my sides, like a gentle stream of honey coating my body. I felt so much more fluid than before, much less constricted; almost akin to wearing armor your entire life, and only realizing how much lighter you were after taking it off for the first time.
Spotting another incoming volley of spells, I jumped. Unlike my previous attempts, I practically flew across multiple rows of cubes before landing neatly behind the aggressors. Before they could react, I stabbed the closest one with my legs and threw it at the rest, plunging the attackers into chaos as they tried to deal with this newest development.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Already, I was seeing what [Body Manipulation] entailed and the enormous amounts of potential it had. I could now encapsulate the archetype of a slime, the single greatest advantage of being composed of a substance with low viscosity: changing into whatever shape I wanted.
I took a tiny portion of my body and extended it into a node. Then I sharpened the end until I had what amounted to a mini scythe sticking out of my body. Lunging forward, I slashed through a random cube and relished in how easily this makeshift weapon cut through it. I didn’t even need to exert much force before I’d come out the other side of the cube.
I didn’t waste a second. Even before my first victim finished crumbling away, I was onto the next, cutting it down. The cubes tried to launch a desperate counterattack, but most of them could only throw themselves at me. Not a very effective tactic when all I had to do was slash my scythe in a wide arc and take them all down.
I was plowing through the cubes, destroying swathes of them at a time. None of the cubes held a candle to my killing capabilities, nor did they seem to possess the higher cognitive brain power required to form effective strategies.
Of course, there were instances when the sheer number of the cubes was enough to overwhelm me. I threw myself back just as a tower of cubes collapsed where I’d been a split second earlier. Gathering more of my slime to use, I generated a second scythe. Sliding closer to the pile of cubes, I started hacking and dicing, even while they tried futilely to escape. All they did was trap themselves further underneath one another, leaving them as easy prey for my attacks.
I must have killed almost a hundred slimes. At this point, it was all blurring together. A part of me felt bad now that it was clear I was overwhelmingly superior to them in terms of battle; this wasn’t even a fight, it had turned into an execution. Whenever that pesky voice popped up though, I quieted it by reminding it that the slimes had been preparing to do the same to me. If not for [Body Manipulation], it would have been me getting slaughtered.
Right now, it's just tiring to kill them all. I’ll make a path to the edge of the pit and jump out. No sense in needlessly participating in this death match. I looked around, taking full advantage of my 360 vision. From my current location, the path of least distance to the walls of the pit was to my right. Shifting my scythes, I angled myself and started carving a path through another batch of slimes.
Even though slimes were considered the weakest of the monsters, I couldn’t shake the nagging doubt that I was winning a little too easily. Whatever their status on the power hierarchy was, they were still monsters who kept a firm grasp over the dungeons and woods. Once in a merchant village, I overheard an adventurer say this to a group of rowdy children when they’d proclaimed that slimes weren’t a challenge.
“Listen well, young ones. While it may be true that an individual slime is not a challenge for most seasoned adventurers, what happens when that number goes up to 3? 5? 15? What makes slimes so uniquely terrifying, what enables them to remain such a prominent figure among monsters, is their sheer tenacity. You won’t find another creature that can take everything you throw at it and always come back. And slimes are never alone; when there’s one, you can be sure there are more right behind it. So the next time you say slimes aren’t a challenge, I want you to destroy your dreams of adventuring. If you can’t understand the basic rules of adventuring, you aren’t ready. And the Gods know I hope you never need to find out the hard way.”
Maybe it was because I was a slime myself, and that balanced out whatever advantages the other slimes possessed? Regardless, I kept the adventurer’s words in my mind as I continued making my way towards the edge of the pit.
I was nearly halfway there when a glimmer of red light from behind caught my attention. A blazing heat washed over me. Rotating my primary line of sight, I saw a tunnel of flickering golden and red fire encompassing my vision; in the center was a shining orange spark, emanating from a Gelatinous Cube.
The heat racked up in intensity and I came to the horrifying conclusion that it was actually disrupting the cohesiveness of the bonds holding my slime body together. Already, I could feel my connection over my body fading and my scythes gradually losing their form. If this kept up, I would burn to death.
Before the fire tunnel reached me, I summoned the last dregs of [Body Manipulation], discarding the scythes all together. Jumping as high as possible, I just barely cleared the roaring flames. From my position above, I watched the fire devour all the slimes in its path indiscriminately. They didn’t even let out a noise as they burnt to a crisp.
Gravity regained its hold on me, and I plummeted down to earth. The instant I landed, the whirling monsoon of fire changed directions to follow me. I made the leap again, but I only got half the distance as before and fumbled the landing.
What the hell? Moving my primary sight downward, something inside of me curdled. Maybe it was my confidence. Half of my body was reduced to slags, melting away before my eyes. In a matter of seconds, I’d probably lost ¾ of my complete body mass.
This…isn’t good. An insistent, scorching sensation forming on my back reminded me of the immediate dangers. Now that I knew how effective fire was against slimes, I abandoned any thoughts of fighting the flames. Instead, I booked it, pushing cubes out of my way to avoid the fire.
I attempted to summon another scythe and my body reacted, using excess slime to generate something that resembled a scythe, albeit a tiny one. It held its shape for a second before wiggling and falling apart. I tried again, but this time, an intense tugging began inside of me, bordering on pain. It felt like I was slowly getting ripped apart. I pushed through the dull ache to be met with a blinding agony that instantly made me drop any attempts.
Whether it was because of the fire or because I’d lost too much body mass, my greatest offensive weapon was disabled. With a single fiery attack, the tide had changed again.
Spinning around, I counted three-four-seven-too many-orange glimmers. Despair threatened to consume me. I searched for Amara’s voice to pick me back up, to encourage me to continue fighting. Of course I found nothing.
She’s dead, you idiot. Nothing is going to change that. They’re all dead. Will you join them, before you fulfill your duty?
I didn’t have anyone to count on. From now on, I need to survive under my own power. And I will survive. I will break free from this dungeon and track the bandits down, and make them feel the same pain they inflicted on my village. That is my responsibility, and I will dedicate every waking moment of my life to ensure it.
There were seconds left. I employed the full use of my slime vision to scour every inch of the pit, every minute detail that may have slipped past my first study. As expected, there was only one exit point I could reach now.
Manipulating all the particles of slime I had left, I jumped while leaving a part of me attached to the ground. I stretched as far up as possible, hoping I’d timed it correctly.
Dozens of streams of fire shot towards me. The instant I saw the first glimmer of orange morph into flames, I pulled on the part of me attached to the ground and yanked myself back down. A tsunami of flames filled the space I’d been in, lighting the entire pit in a ruby-like glow. Even on the ground the heat affected me; I felt fragments of slime harden and crumble to bits.
Pushing through the pain, I moved forward, bulldozing through any cubes that were unfortunate enough to be in my way. Generating spikes on my surface to help smash through cubes, I carved another path towards the alpha monster, using my body as a weapon.
Warning! Endurance Points at 0!
Stats:
Magic Point (MP) : 6/15
Health Point (HP) : 5/10
Strength Point (SP) : 6/10
Endurance Point (EP) : 0/10
Agility Point (AP) : 2/5
Agility, Magic, and especially Health were all taking heavy hits. I couldn’t stop now, though. I continued forcing through the sea of slimes, chunks of goo splattering against my body. By now, the alpha monster seemed to realize what I was doing, and the lightning intensified, almost like it was asking me if I was crazy. It mocked me for trying to approach it, when it was glaringly obvious I wouldn’t win.
That’s what you think!
Reaching the alpha monster, a gigantic shadow passed over me. Shifting my gaze up, I rolled to the side, barely avoiding a splattering of acid. I didn’t stop moving, though, maintaining a steady course for the monster.
Warning! Health Points at critical low!
Stats:
Magic Point (MP) : 6/15
Health Point (HP) : 3/10
Strength Point (SP) : 6/10
Endurance Point (EP) : 0/10
Agility Point (AP) : 2/5
My body was decomposing as I got closer to my target; I was receiving just as much damage as I was inflicting against the slimes. Each time I plowed through a cube, I was ripping myself apart simultaneously.
It’s a game of attrition now.
I pulverized through the last cube and now there was only a small stretch of land between me and my destination. I checked my stats.
Health Point (HP) : 2/10
I soldiered through, dragging my limp body towards the giant hole the apex monster had crawled out of. From above, it shrieked, the noise drilling into my brain, but just like I’d suspected, it couldn’t do much else. Its spider-like legs made it difficult for it to completely lower itself, and both the lightning and the exploding balls of acid’s reach didn’t extend to under the monster.
Thus, I crawled away from the scene of a massacre, beaten half to death and a battered slime, descending into the shadows as lightning crackled behind me.