Darkness. Everywhere he looked, there was only pitch-black darkness. He had no clue where he was, what he was, or even who he was. One thing was clear: humans were evil. His instincts screamed at him like there was no tomorrow.

Then, knowledge started flooding his brain like someone had opened the information floodgates. Or were they memories? Who knew? Whatever it was, it filled his mind like water infiltrating an empty submarine. It was thanks to this knowledge that he knew what a submarine was. And water. And, hey, even a simile! The pitch-black abyss around him stayed the same, but the darkness began to retreat as awareness dawned on him. He started to feel a sense of self, a sense of existence, and, surprisingly, a sense of purpose.

What was his purpose? Simple: to defeat humanity for the betterment of monsterkind. Why? Because humans had done horrible things and were bound to keep doing them unless someone stepped up. They had wronged the monsters that came before him, the ones about to be born alongside him, and the ones who would come after him. It was his duty, his mission, to stand up for monster rights and put an end to human mischief once and for all!

About to be born? Yes, he was about to be born. It finally clicked that the darkness surrounding him was just a temporary monster nursery. This was the monster's womb, the egg. He was about to hatch and unleash his righteous fury on humanity.

A small light pierced through the darkness. The crack spread slowly but surely, like a determined snail on a mission to chase down its immortal enemy. The darkness was pushed back, creating spiderwebs of light everywhere.

Beautiful, beautiful light. This was it—the moment he was born. Time to make his grand entrance into the world, ready to take on humanity like a newborn monster superstar!

With a loud crack, the darkness shattered like cheap glass. The light was so bright that it made the darkness seem like a distant memory. The light was blinding, and he found himself squinting.

His eyes adjusted to the light as he blinked a few times, and the brightness finally started to fade. Gradually, shapes began to come into focus. A large dark green object surrounded him. Was this an egg? Yes, yes it was. It was his egg. He had spent all his life up to this point inside this egg. But now, the big questions loomed: Where was he? Who was he?

A small blue screen popped up in front of him, interrupting his thoughts.

Name: Alwin

Species: Dark Slime (Tier 1)

Core Skill: Devolution (F)

Skills: Dark Tackle (F)

Evolution: 0/100

He was Alwin. Yes, that was a handsome name for a handsome slime like him. But where were his brethren? Where was everyone else? Where was he? All around Alwin was an empty grass field, and the only things near him were his egg and a lone tree in the distance. What was going on?

A scream erupted from behind him, breaking the eerie silence.

Alwin whipped his head around, but considering he was a slime, his head was his body, or was it his body that was his head? Whatever the case, he spun around to find a human charging toward him.

Humans. Those were the enemies of monsterkind. They were the reason that his brethren were slaughtered. Humans were the worst creatures out there: evil, disgusting, greedy, and selfish. They killed, they stole, they destroyed. To them, monsters were nothing more than a resource to exploit and use. That was what he knew. That was the knowledge that had been drilled into his slimy brain.

This was why, as the human ran towards him, Alwin charged as well. Well, as much as a slime could charge. Alwin did more of a fast hop toward the human. That despicable human was armed with a sword and wore leather armor—armor likely crafted from the remains of monsters before him. Clearly, he was an adventurer, an explorer, a murderer.

It wasn't even five minutes into his birth, and Alwin was already about to fight his first battle. He was ready, he was prepared, and he was excited. Fighting was in his blood—if he even had any. Do slimes even have blood? He didn't know, and he wasn't planning on finding out. He had to focus on the task at hand, and that was to defeat the human.

"Die!" the human shouted, swinging the sword towards Alwin.

Alwin didn't say anything, the human wasn't worth speaking to. He didn't deserve any sort of acknowledgment, he didn't deserve anything. So, when the human swung his sword, Alwin rolled out of the way. Now was his turn to attack.

Alwin charged forward, leaping up and tackling the human. As the slime collided with the adventurer, he felt his body compress like a giant jelly. Slimes weren't hard and weren't very solid, so his tackle didn't do much damage. It did enough for the human to clutch his stomach in momentary pain, but nothing more than that. It was more of an annoying splat than a fearsome blow.

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If a regular tackle didn't do much, then what about a Dark Tackle? It was a skill he possessed, given to him the moment he was born. A skill he had no idea how it worked or how to activate it. However, his instincts kicked in, guiding him. He felt something stir in his stomach—or was it his head? Or maybe his body? "Body" seemed like a better general term for a slime. Even as a slime, Alwin didn't know much about his physiology. Where did his head start and end? Where did his body start and end? Never mind that it was making his... everything hurt.

He felt something in his body stir. Darkness began to envelop his already dark form, pouring out from deep within. With a black aura surrounding him, he leaped forward again. Another something was stirring within him. It was more of an instinct, something that compelled him.

When he leapt at the human, something within him urged him to shout out, "Dark Tackle!"

The words flowed out of his mouth without any conscious thought, without any real input from him. It just happened, like it was second nature. Something within him told him to do it, and he did.

He slammed into the adventurer's stomach, sending the man sprawling backward. The attack did much more damage than his normal tackle. The dark aura surrounding Alwin vanished as soon as the attack ended, leaving the man on the ground, clutching his stomach in agony.

Each time Alwin attempted to use his skill, he found himself compelled to yell out its name: Dark Tackle. He had no idea why he had to do that. If anything, it was weird, but it felt natural, so he continued to do it—not like he had a choice.

Dark Tackle after Dark Tackle, slamming into him over and over. Each time Alwin struck, the human let out a grunt. He was a strong man, a tough man, or maybe Alwin was just a weak slime with a rank F skill. No way it was the latter, no sirree!

It wasn't long before the adventurer let out a final wheezing grunt under the might of Alwin's definitely-not-weak Dark Tackle and fell unconscious. The pain was too much for him to bear. Unfortunately, he wasn't dead yet, but that would soon change. Alwin hopped over next to the unconscious man's head, listening to the loud wheezing. The human was clearly on his last leg.

It was a pity. If the adventurer hadn't worn that leather armor, Alwin could have seen just how much damage his skill could truly inflict. Oh well, there would always be another time. There wasn't a shortage of those evil humans. Right now, he had a job to do, and he needed to do it quickly. The adventurer was still breathing.

Alwin didn't hesitate for a moment. He could feel the dark aura envelop his body as he called out, "Dark Tackle!"

Alwin jumped straight onto the human's head. Blood gushed from the man's skull, painting the grass beneath him red. Then, the man vanished into particles as if he was never there. Not even his clothes remained. That was weird. Very weird. Where was this place? Why was no one around? Was any of this even real?

Before Alwin could continue down the rabbit hole of his questioning, another scream pierced through the silence of the field. Two screams, to be precise. Both came from behind him, one from a man and one from a woman. The screams were getting louder.

Alwin didn't hesitate for even a second. He immediately turned and began charging towards the source of the screams. The grass beneath him bent as he bounced toward the commotion, leaving a trail of flattened greenery behind him. When he finally saw the two humans screaming and charging toward him, his figurative jaw dropped.

A woman was charging at him, and she was wearing a wizard's hat. But that wasn't what made his jaw drop. It was the guy running next to her. It was the same guy who had tried to kill him earlier. The same leather armor, the same sword, the same everything. Maybe the guy had an identical twin brother seeking out revenge? No, there was no way. Right?

As the duo got closer to the charging Alwin, the wizard hat girl raised her wooden staff and pointed it at him. A bolt of magic shot out from the tip, flying straight toward Alwin. He tried his best to dodge, but he was only a slime and could only move so fast.

The bolt grazed his side, knocking him to the ground, and Alwin immediately felt the sting of being struck. The pain of being hurt for the first time was a burning sensation that was both hot and cold, but mostly just pain. Pain sucks, but the pain of knowing his brethren had died because of those greedy humans stung more. That pain spurred him on. That pain made him get up. Well, more of a roll back up since he was a slime, but the point still stands.

Now, they both stood in front of him, weapons aimed and ready. Maybe it was time to try out his other skill, Devolution. He didn't know what it did, but he sure hoped it would do something to get him out of this situation. The man swung his sword down at Alwin, while the mage girl cast another spell at him.

"Devolution!" Alwin shouted.

But, nothing happened.

It was as if everything was moving in slow motion. The sword was inches away from turning Alwin into a two-for-one special, while the magical bolt was also inches away from doing whatever magical bolts did best. Alwin only knew that it was a spell and that it hurt a lot. So this was how he was going to meet his end.

Alwin's life began to flash before his eyes. From darkness to light, to fighting off a human, to then fighting against two humans and losing. It was a short life, but it was his life nonetheless.

Stupid skill, Devolution. He trusted it to help him, but all it did was sit there and look pretty. Oh well, it was a good run. Maybe someone stronger than him would avenge him. Now, should he close his eyes and await his fate or keep them open and stare death in the face? Yeah, he'll keep his eyes open.

The moment he felt the sword break his...gel? Actually, what was he made of? Anyway, as soon as the sword touched his dark slimy body, the man's body started to disintegrate into particles. The same thing happened with the mage girl. Then everything around him began to disintegrate—the clouds, the sky, the grass, the lone tree in the distance. What was going on?

Everything around him disintegrated into particles, but behind the vanishing scenery, Alwin could make out something new. Something different. Something strange. Something terrifying.

A classroom.

"Welcome to Human Hunter Academy!" a voice boomed.