Victor had hid himself on the roof of the cave wall above the entrance. A small patrol had entered, the two grotesque goblins from before. Each approaching the room , longswords unsheathed. Looking around frantically and scratching their heads.
Victor knew he couldn’t afford to squander an opportunity like this again. So slithered down the hall and into the opened room.
The basement, was rundown and not properly maintained. He could see clearly now where the dampness had come from. A leaking pipe, not a unclosed tap. He stuck behind the walls, out of the view of the doors and out of their visibility. And looked for something to obscure himself with.
There were lots of trash and boxes, without further thought he looked for a box large enough to fit him, crept inside, closed the box and waited.
His hearing was muffled by his actions, as the box now acted like a minor sound barrier. He could still make it out sounds from the outside, though they were much harder to hear.
He used his
“How’ere gunna explain this one boss?” it was the tall one that spoke up, he recognised his voice.
“Shut your trap!” the smaller goblin fumed .”Inform the dark wizard that the subject was brought in alive and has escaped , i’ll get a patrol ready.”
“Me!?” the tall one inquired.
“Yes! Get on with it boy!” he shouted. “We’re in deep shit no matter how you wanna look at it!”
The goblin passed through the basement door, up a few stairs. Moving much slower when his superior didn’t see him.
Victor started piercing other holes to increase his vision. There was a window on the other side of the room. By the looks of it, it had appeared that the sun was beginning to set. It was a good thing he got away from where he had ‘spawned’. Tomorrow that area would be cleaned up and the Ooze colony with it.
From here on out there was only one he could do fruitfully and that was lie and wait. Until the current situation had piped down.
Where even was he. He thought. A wizard’s tower, the dungeon of that possibly psychotic elf or maybe even one of Dante's seven hells, the fantasy version.
Regardless he was going to sleep if nothing else, it didn’t look like these boxes were often used. He hoped he wasn’t disturbed.
As he drifted on to unnecessary sleep he swore he heard ‘squeaking’ but chalked it off to his imagination playing tricks on him.
----------------------------------------
As he woke, the very first thing he noticed was how dark it was inside, there was no artificial light turned on inside, the basement window had a glimmer of moonlight coming from it. There were no signs of any patrolling activity. His
You have leveled up a skill
Dark vision level 3 ( passive)
He could see things clearer in the darkness now, even outlines of objects obscured with light, and just behind the area from which the moonlight shone, he saw something wagging.
‘A tail’? A very small dog perhaps. That would spell trouble for him if he got sniffed out.
It was too slender to be a dog, and too small to be a cat's. He peaked out of the box, curious as to what creature it was. It was furry but had slender limbs about half as tall as he was, chewing on something. It turned, it's a head. Red eyes staring at him.
A rat!
A giant rat to be precise. He casted observe immediately.
Animal: Giant rat
Hp: 8/8
Weaknesses: Strong chemicals
Effect status: Hungry.
??? additional information locked
He climbed back into the box. It had noticed him. And he started to feel squeamish like how a small child might react. He had tussled briefly with a large panther, fought living zombies and had been choked and slammed by a giant snake man. And here he was put off by a small creature, well large in fact for its species.
Were megafauna common in this world? Why did it have to be a huge rat?
His body wiggled and shivered about the idea of fighting it. He would have to touch it
He had never liked to touch fiddly animals. Snakes, spiders, rats and mice. All a big no no. There was nothing he could do, it would kill him or eat him alive, like a jelly custard cake. Or he would run back into the cave.
He could hear chewing noise on the side of his box. The sound of something that’ shouldn’t be in any mouth being gobbled and spit out. More than one chew session was in effect.
There were alot more!
Oh no
The man-ooze was certain it was the end for him, they had gathered in the masse, and wanted his slimy flesh.
Nasty teeth bit through cardboard. A ghastly rat face stuck itself inside sniffing at the contents of the box and staring at the Ooze with its red eyes. Putting Victor in a state of shock. Victor wanted to scream but he had no mouth to do so. He recoiled backwards. Putting all his weight behind, making the box topple over. The hanging head now nabbing and biting downward at him.
Disease, filth, plague, skin crawling pest’ was all that went through his mind.
At first he was scared but now it had angered him, he didn’t want to catch any of it’s diseases. He ejected his tentacle whip, thickening it akin to a mace. There was barely enough room inside the box but it didn’t stop him from bludgeoning rat skull.
“SQUAEAEAEK!!!” It retracted it’s head. As victor hit it with a fat tentacle.
You have dealt 6 damage to Giant rat
Victor dragged himself out of the box, retreating towards the center of the room where the little moonlight shone. He readied his tentacle whip, lengthening it for extra effect.
He swung it around like that of a lasso. The image of being surrounded in the wild west playing out in his mind.
He could see three pairs of red eyes. Three beasts Circled him and then charged at him like a pack of rabie-infested animals.
He whacked the first Rat, who flew away towards the back of the basement floor.
You have dealt 4 damage to Giant rat
the second had taken a chunk of his slimy flesh with devious bite
You lost -2 hp
9/11 remaining
But he whipped him all the same.
You have dealt 3 damage to Giant rat
The rat jumped backwards, readying himself for the next charge. Victor peered around the room, the third was nowhere to be seen. The second was recovering and the first locked his eyes with him.
It came again. And he had more mass to his tentacle, and brought it down before the first could strike him again.
You have dealt 5 damage to Giant rat
You have defeated Giant Rat
You gained 10 exp
It fell to the ground lifeless. The second now charged at him. And he spun himself like a child’s toy being thrown. Thrashing the oversized rodent.
You have dealt 4 damage to Giant rat
You have defeated Giant Rat
You gained 10 exp
He heard a sudden loud squirm from above. It was the third, who had climbed along a pipe and was jumping mid-air, it lashed its tail at him from above and Subsequently bit him, in the center of his body.
You lost -2 hp
7/11 remaining
You lost -3 hp
4/11 remaining
He lashed out and He whipped the creature in a rage.
You have dealt 12 damage to Giant rat (critical)
You have defeated Giant Rat
You gained 10 exp
Congratulations you have Level up!
You are now level 3
He wasted no time wondering about this tussle. Immediately buffing himself.
‘Status’
Status Information
(Additional status information hidden until necessary)
Race:
Ooze (Slime)
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Hp:
4/12 (-90 hp, racial debuff)
Mp:
1/1
Name
Victor
Class
Dungeon Janitor
Titles
Basic monster +1 str/+1 Dexterity, former human (retain basic mental attributes) +20 WIS + 35 INT
Level
3
Alignment
Chaotic good
Attributes
Strength 6 (Ineffective)
Dexterity 1 (non-existent)
Wisdom 20 ( Former fool)
Intelligence 35 (above the IQ minimum)
Constitution 5 (feeble )
Charisma 0 (uninteresting)
Undistributed stats
5
He felt that the last few moments of being near death didn’t work out very well. He would need to be more survivable, even if his hits were akin to teddy bear punches.
He put four points into constitution and 1 into dexterity. He couldn’t afford to slough around anymore; he needed to be faster.
Con+4
New values:
Con 9( Inept resilience)
Dex+1
New values:
Dex 2( Fumbling )
Hp parameters changed
New value: 12>20 HP
He felt a lot more at ease now, that he would be alot less squishy and more resilient to being assaulted. Though a long road was still ahead of him. It seemed leveling up also boosted his health points by at least a point.
Deciding that time was of the essence he only consumed one dead rat. The bastard that stuck his head in the box and started gnawing at him.
Absorption complete
* 30 exp
* 5 Hp
Immediate dangers were disposed of and his health would slowly regenerate. Victor looked among the room for anything of value. Rummaging and throwing under every cart he could find. There were too many large things around that he could that might have been of some worth. Nothing interesting for his small body to find in the basement. No magic potion to be found, no hidden magic book.
So he left for the stairs above. Slowly climbing up each step. Waiting as he felt awkwardly exerted after each step.
There was another door at the top, the good thing was there was no unnecessary lock outside and so he proceeded without worry.
Victor now found himself in a long and dark hallway. It was lightly lit, and so he stuck to his shadows. Out of his eyes and what movements he observed, consisted of- two or so patrolmen about, even then they seem to be refraining from seriously taking their duty. He assumed they may have been more alert after what happened earlier. Perhaps they were upstarts and this was just an amateur group. Their cautionless behavior would cost them their lives one day.
Victor waited until they left the hallway. Moving from one darkened space towards another he started sneaking in room after room. Burglar roleplay, something he once saw himself doing if he ever found himself homeless in his previous life.
Three doors he had passed in the last few moments. All were locked, no amount of fiddling. No amount of fidgeting and fussing would open. He didn't know what was kept there, must have been important as he saw chemical flasks through the keyhole. Not to mention the noise it might have made if he busted his way in.
‘What was the fantastic version of meth? Moon salts…Moon sugar?’
He had wondered what type of people these were, judging by their lack of professionalism, they may have been raiders of sorts but they did serve that dark lady elf girl, who was part of a council of sorts.
Magical warlords? Their security measures told a different story altogether, he thought.
Passing through another hallway. His ability to smell was very ambient, however something strong caught his senses. Someone had baked or cooked something. And so he set forth. If nothing was worth robbing tonight , then he should atleast feast.
Keeping his body as thin as possible, avoiding a guard, lurking in the shadows Hoping That he wouldn’t be caught he sped off.
As he moved through the second hallway the smell had only become stronger. The hunger had made him move faster. There was food nearby, good food and he Victor, formerly human, currently Ooze would reap the fruit of victory..
And then he laid his ‘eyes’ upon it, a kitchen or as these folks may have said a pantry. It was not unguarded in the slightest. There was a tall fellow sleeping inside, with a long beard, Larger than the goblins, greener than a piece of woodland grass. Probably over 6’3.
‘Orc’ Victor had thought.
This made it clear then, that he found himself in a fantasy-like world.
Their guard duty was subpar and sloppy once again. The guard was snoring back laid back on a chair, feet resting on the kitchen counter. If he played his card’s right he could score big tonight.
There were bags upon bags of unprocessed food such as containers full of rice and wheat, freshly plucked fruits, and newly unearthed vegetables. There were left overs on the table counter. Half-eaten crusted pies, fishbones, unfinished beef stews and sausage link which was missing the rest of its link. Still warm.
Unable to help himself, he crawled on top and started munching on their leftovers. Physically taking the food and stuffing it inside his body. It was weird, he felt it before when he had participated in the disposal of the minotaur, it was like the inside of his body was made of little cell tongues. He could taste everything he put inside of him.
If he could cry he would have. Though it has hardly been a day, he had wondered if he would have a chance to eat real food again, and yet here he was.
The guard shifted and he jumped off the counter, climbing under the table, and moving into a crevice. Hoping he wasn’t seen.
“What?” the green beastman said in an awakened stupor. Flipping the plates which Victor had just cleaned up. “Who the fuck. Those selfish fuckers.”
And then he ran out of the pantry.
Victor took this opportunity to nope out of there at once. Before he left, something caught his eye. Under a counter near the kitchen furnace, came a peculiar smell of something freshly baked. A sweet aroma.
There inside a box, which he opened, lay a marvelous cake. He wanted to eat it. He really wanted to. If only there was a way to store it then he would be happy. He wanted to savor it. It would not make sense to put it inside his body as he would absorb it. Walking around with it would limit his combat ability and probably draw more attention to him . A blue screen popped up out of nowhere and for the first time he wasn’t annoyed by the system.
System recommends using the inventory.
Dimensional Inventory capacity is determined by the user's strength and magic capability.
Current inventory limit 0/1
‘Oh, a pleasant surprise’
He put a throbbing tentacle on it. And wished it away.
‘Uh put it in the inventory?’ he thought aloud.
To his surprise it had vanished within a split second. Safely tucked away in some dimensional space he couldn’t explain.
He made for the exit. Objective secure. But he wasn’t satisfied. They must have been something to help with where he wants to go like a map.
He peered outside the kitchen, and could hear arguing. It was the orc chap, who likely took the issue of missing food to the goblin patrols.
Passing yet another hallway stumbling into newly unvisited rooms.
At first finding himself. In the wizard elf’s room. The Queenpin of this operation. She was fast asleep. Her room was on a balcony, the balcony opened and clean air entered from here. He considered
The next room contained barracks full of what he assumed were soldiers or atleast henchmen. It was absolutely stacked with snoring bodies, he took a hard pass on this room as well.
Down the hallway was a brightly lit room, and out of it appeared the butler general dude. He quickly hid behind a hallway statue so as not to alert him.
Something was wrong, the butler due had started observing his surroundings, peering and even sniffing at the air. He started turning and pulling up pots and decorations.
‘He was perceptive and He was dangerous’.
Victor moved and hid behind a statue of a screaming night. It was a peculiar statue, of someone screaming in agony as they stared at something coming at them. Almost like they were frozen by a spell or something. Now that would be something wouldn't it. Putting up petrified people in your stronghold as statues.
The butler had stopped searching and briskly walked out of the general area.
Victor now lapped towards the brightly lit room from where he came, and another jumpscare left it.
A giant eye with wings started scanning everything under its eye, he once again clinged behind a statue or what might have been a petrified person, morphing his body to match himself with the statues shape as much as possible.
As the thing left by flying out of a window. He entered the room.
He was flabbergasted. It was a everyroom, it was a treasure room, Ornate and gold thingies was stacked on a shelf. Medallions and decoration. These people were in a devious business. He kind of wanted in. it was a war room as well it seemed. In the center stood ten chairs in a circle, a giant map in the center.
What was this a terrorist ring?
Making sure no one was coming, Victor hopped on the table and started looking at the map. It was a world map, he didn’t recognise. This was not earth in any shape or form, that sealed the confirmation for him. He started noticing names which seemed very similar to places back home.
Nova roma, north of here. Winland to the far north. Yamato eastward. Daggaland to the west. There were much more to unpack, he noticed certain things were labeled by their race. Men in flat land, elves in woodland forest dwarven holds under mountains.
He dropped the matter. He needed a local map above all else, something to guide around here. He started scrambling in the cupboards for scrolls and found a few.
He picked one peculiar one which was labeled. Magic school of Malita which was crossed out and next to it Spire of Seraphine was scribbled with a dumb face. It appeared to be a detailed map from and to the surrounding area. There appeared to be quite a few towns in the vicinity. He would have to get around
He grabbed it. And tried stuffing it in his inventory.
Impossible action: Inventory full 1/1
‘Oh yes.’ he would need to work on that.
He internally signed and removed the cake from the inventory. And replaced it with the map.
Then decided. If he couldn’t have no one could. He shaped his tentacle into that of a hammer and started smashing it to bits. Pieces of cake flying across the room.
It was time to leave.
His objective here was to enable his journey to the damned men which was about to begin. Or so he thought.
He had made it past the second hallway into the first. When siren which he was pretty sure was some kind of alarm bird started singing. And a army of footsteps starting scrambling
He had been dumb and sloppy.
Panic set in and he sprinted to the best of his ability through the hallway and back into the basement/ cellar. Just when he thought everything was fine. He was spotted going down.
He looked back. A beast had spotted him, a dog-thing. He didn’t have time to observe or gauge the nature of it. It was a weird creature, full on fur who appeared to be shaped like that of ugly pug with four symmetrical overly tall legs which resembled a frog.
It started barking.
Oh no, no, non, not today frankenstein’s Monster!
“AAARGGHFFF!!!”
“AAARGGHFFF!!!”
‘Freaky’ was his only thought. As it came running after him down into the basement.
He wasn’t going to fight. No fighting would get him caught by the goblin army above. Escaping halfway through the basement. He spotted one of the dead rat’s he killed and flung it at the thing. Which responded by biting it in half and munching on the innards of the rat. Distracting it just for a second. He pulled the lever and the mechanical door flew open.
It started moving again, like a hellhound.
A nasty idea came to mind. He needed to be rid of this thing and get away immediatly. He stood halfway in and halfway out of the doors. He stretched his body as wide as possible. Moved most of his mass outside of the door, moved his tentacle to the otherside of his body and opened the lever again to bring the door to a close.
The door squashed him like a pancake, his other half was trapped with the frog dog ripped his former half apart.
You lost -10 hp
10/20 remaining
You have leveled up a skill.
Ooze manipulation level 3 (passive)
It was hurtful being split apart by it. But Victor couldn’t afford to ponder or be traumatized with it. He had to survive above all else. If there was a chance. He wanted to be human again.
As he strode through the cave entrance.
He had immediately noticed that the oozes were gone. It seemed they had been removed earlier than he expected. Likely the result of the druid girl going nuts.
As he left for the deeper caverns. One thing he could hear from above being shrieked. Was a girl’s voice. The dark lady’s voice.
“MY CAKE!!!!”
‘Welp’ it wasn't his problem anymore.