The fires I manifested were extinguished by the tremendous energy floating into the centre; The large sphere of black ooze floating in the middle of the cavern gained more power as it kept absorbing more of its initial components. There was no way I couldn't have noticed this much mana just lying around. However, when I scanned the place with my sixth sense, I faintly saw a familiar substance that wasn't quite exactly mana.

'Shit... A soul? Did that fucker remain dormant until I arrived?' I thought, figuring out the nature of the cavern's abnormal condition.

Even with the knowledge I obtained, the problem still lied in the massive amounts of mana that thing had. It had 5x more mana than I did and the absorption rate was terrifyingly out of this world, I could even feel it trying to suck mana out of me aswell.

The ooze was starting to complete itself. I had to do something before it took its form, so I covered my hand in a large blade of mana and applied the wolf spirit's soul steal ability on it. Wasting no time, I began running right at the giant figure with a sprint. I was very close to cutting it, but it had finished gathering the goo from the cavern and exploded with energy, which threw me into the stone wall.

"AGHH!"

I didn't have time to put up a shield before the slime blew me off, but thanks to my advanced endurance, I was able to devoid most of the damage. I lunged off from the wall quickly and rooted mana into the stone floor, setting up a string system underground.

Raising my head, I saw the huge slightly solidified slime far infront of me. It was physically twice the size of the colossal skeleton, but its mana size, all packed together, was three times the proportion of its physical form.

For the first time I entered into this cave system, I felt true fear. My hands were shaking at the thought of it consuming me.

The slime, utilizing its strength, shot a big goo ball at me. Its speed was like a slow bullet, but it was still fast enough to obliterate a tree trunk. I raised a mana shield infront of me as quickly as I could, but it was demolished as soon as the shot reached it. Luckily, the goo was somewhat slowed down, however, it still covered my frontal body.

"FUUUUAAAAACK!!" I screamed as the goo burnt me. My slime shell was powerful after absorbing the 7 slimes that attacked earlier, but it was no match against the slime boss' attack. The acidic properties were far overwhelming when compared to the mother slime.

As fast as possible, I wiped the burning goo off of me with the mana erupting out of me. It splattered to the ground, but the sensation of pain still lasted. My skin had burning marks on it when I looked and the cloth around my waist melted off from the front.

Without water, I didn't stand a chance against the monster. Even if I did have water, would it be able to defend me against the might of the slime boss?

There wasn't any time to think, I had to escape!

I looked at the hole not too far from my position. The best way to make a run for it is with distraction.

I formed a fireball the size of myself and threw it towards the slime. After throwing it, I ran as fast as possible to my escape route only to be stopped in my tracks. A thick line of goo vertically passed infront of me and hit the wall, like a sword being swung right before me. The sludge began melting the wall it hit and the ground it traversed. I directed my glance at the slime who didn't even have any signs of a fireball being taken straight on.

My situation was worse than I anticipated; the slime didn't have any intentions of letting me just go after attacking its cavern. My only option now was to fight or die.

I turned around and faced it, my glance being sharp when compared to before. I was not going to be at the mercy of the slime, my life was on the line.

I began analyzing the situation. If I used everything I had in my arsenal, I would last for 10 minutes maximum. The colossal skeleton is too big to fit through the hole. The smaller skeletons are a joke when using them against the slime boss, even if they somehow got up here. My only good tactic would be to use the underground mana system I initiated earlier. My control of earth improved a lot after the battle with the 7 slimes.

I reached out my sixth sense so it would cover the entire cavern. Since using my sixth sense required focus I wasn't able to move around much, but I already had my defenses covered.

Another slow bullet of goo came at me. I stomped once on the ground with my right leg and a boulder popped out of the ground in the same trajectory as the attack. The goo shattered the stone in half, but it was also stopped in its tracks. With a defensive formation like this, I was able to block the flying attacks for as long as my mana lasted.

I stomped the ground again and three boulders, the same size as the goo bullet, came out of the ground. The insides of the boulders were filled with my mana so I shot them at the slime as soon as they were in a good position. My mana output was increased twofold so that the stone chunks I threw would be fast enough to pierce, but it mattered not. As soon as the boulders hit the slime's shell, they shattered.

The shell was too hard to crack, so I had to think of another elaborate way to attack. My best chances were to use the same tactic that I used against the mother slime, but the boss slime was too large for an expansion of air. There was also the risk of closing in the distance between us. If I somehow managed to penetrate the shell, then I would be able to release all my energy to destroy its insides.

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Thinking back on it, the situation seemed to be the same when I battled against the mother slime. It kept spitting goo at me and I used water to block the attacks, just like I use rocks at the moment. I had a good feeling about this and decided to advance forward, hoping that it would all end just like before.

I willed my command into the ground and inserted half of my entire mana storage to pull out a giant boulder from the ground. The cavern shook a bit before a huge rock ascended from the ground.

Veins started appearing on my forehead as I pushed my limits. Using up so much mana in an instant took a lot of concentration and soul strength, but in the end I managed to pull up the giant rock from the ground and hurl it towards the boss slime as a distraction. There was also some hope that the boulder would damage the slime, even if only a little bit.

After the chunk of rock was thrown, I enchanted my whole body with mana. The power rushing through my muscles felt unreal in terms of strength. My speed was enhanced several times aswell, seeing as how I was able to sprint really quickly to the side from behind the boulder. Clearly such a thing has never happened to me before, but I wasn't in the mood to gawk over how much potential this could mean for my future.

I left my mana roots behind as I strided deeper into the enemy's territory. It was good that the slime was all packed up in a nice round form, otherwise I would have problems dealing with its acidic ooze if it was all over the floor. Speaking of acids, I wondered why the slime didn't corrode through the ground onto the lower floor of the cavern. It could be the results of the hard shell that the slime exercised.

My sixth sense was still in focus when I ran towards the slime; I saw the boulder almost hit the slime, until it was cut in half by a round cleave coming from all of the slime's sides. The ring of deadly ooze horizontally flew towards me aswell, but I dodged at the last second by bending my spine back. I would of almost snapped in half if it wasn't for the mana supporting me.

I quickly pulled myself back up with the strength of my legs and continued advancing. Even if the distraction was long gone, I had diminished some of the slime's energy with the boulder. Its vitality was strong as ever despite my best efforts, but I was certain that with my strategy and my willpower, I could defeat it.

The huge embodiment of black goo stood before me when I reached it. 

'Strength of the ogre!' 

I applied a buff onto my right hand, boosting my physical prowess. The slime wasn't able to shoot out an attack that fast since it just launched one and my speed allowed me to reach it much faster than expected. 

My fist slammed onto the slime's shell, but it wasn't able to penetrate it. Instead, ripples traversed across its body and its whole body wobbled as a proof of my enhancements. Although I wasn't able to get through the shell, it was not that big of a deal since the attack was just a test of power.

For my true reason of charging head on was to hit the slime with my leg. My right foot, which was internally applied with almost all the mana I had, went in for a sidekick. I figured that the energy expansion plan wouldn't work out due to the slime's much more enduring ooze, so I realised that chipping away parts of itself would allow me to decrease its size and resistance all together.

My kick almost reached the shell, until the slime suddenly opened up. I could do nothing but watch as the monster's mouth formed from the gap between its two slimy ends opening up. It was hard to take in the information and I subconsciously wanted to deny it, since if it was true, it would mean my loss.

'I failed...?' I thought as I did a whole turn due to the force the kick had behind it. I was all out of energy and I could only watch as the slime ate me whole.

It hurt.

The burning sensation.

The acidic ooze melting through my skin.

I was right at the centre of the slime where its mana source was the strongest, which meant stronger acid.

If I could scream, I would of. The moment I opened my mouth the ooze flowed in and melted my flesh tissue and bone.

I couldn't cry either with my eyes melting off.

Struggling wasn't an option.

I wasn't able to do anything, my destruction was nearing me. For the first time, I felt death approach me.

I gave up, there wasn't anything else I could do, but the spirits residing in my soul called out. They didn't want their host to die.

'What? We can't win against this monster. Damn, if I wasn't such an arrogant idiot, I would of went about my business and moved somewhere else instead of this shitty cavern. Fuck. Death by a slime, presumably the weakest monster class, such an embarrasment.' I thought to myself. It felt like time had stopped in the face of complete annihilation.

'Am I really this weak? Even after obtaining the means of empowering myself, I still couldn't use it to its full extent. Surely, I'm not as weak as I seem to be, after all, how am I still conscious in this sea of torment. Perhaps its due to the fruition of my soul cultivation.'

After reminiscing about the time when I upgraded myself, I got an idea. If souls can integrate with mana, can't souls integrate with eachother aswell?

Being near death, there wasn't much of a choice but to try it out. With all that was left of me, I reached out to the soul of the slime. I expressed my intense will to survive and it responded to me. 

Suddenly, an explosion of my soul erupted from inside the slime. The integration sequence had begun.

Spirits that I kept inside of me leaped out aswell and danced around inside the slime. The upper cavern became a place dedicated to the will of all our souls, battling for supremacy. Who fared the stronger power out of all of us, whose consciousness was stronger and who was the one with the strongest willpower to rule over all the others.

I still felt weak, anxious and uncertain. I couldn't quite comprehend what was happening. Getting into all these crazy situations showed me what kind of a lie of an existence I lived in. However, it also showed me the power that I was able to offer. The power that I, as a human, am able to bring out. 

The moment I realised how much potential I have, I determined myself stronger than others.

'What the fuck have I survived for this long if not for the future?!'

Another burst of power erupted out of me. My consciousness exceeded every spirit within my area of influence, including the slime boss'. I screamed with all my willpower and demanded victory, I demanded that all other vow their obedience under my soul. The simple animals, monster or not, couldn't fight back and slowly surrendered. 

All while I was fighting the spirits with my consciousness, my soul was integrating with them. Taking them in, one by one, I was able to feel the increase of dominance both spiritually and mindfully.

Not knowing how much time had passed, I finally awoke to my true self. My body was almost completely liquefied, but my heart and brain were still intact. My limbs were gone and I wasn't able to see anything with my eyes melted off, but I could feel everything around me. 

I was still inside the large slime, but I had integrated with its soul. The slime itself was now a part of me. At the moment, it was the only thing keeping my human embodiment alive.