Once again, I was given no time to think about what just happened. While I was no longer connected to the dungeon’s core, as I just destroyed it, I had no more need of it to detect my incoming visitors. For a moment I wondered why they had not been any closer, but that was another item on my increasingly long list of topics to contemplate later. What I needed to do at the moment was survive. Still, with that rush of energy from a few seconds ago, I felt much more certain of my chances.

Then I saw my opponents.

A multitude of blobs with various colors flooded into the cavern from a tunnel that I had not noticed until now. Red, blue, green, and brown were the predominant hues. They all bounced in an enraged sea towards me. I wondered for a split second if these slimes, for they were clearly slimes, were acting on a sort of final attack order. It must be the case since the core is no longer here to direct them. Or maybe-?

The first wave hit me in that moment, with everything they got. A burst of elemental mana surged from each slime to attack me. Pebbles from the brown ones; tiny wind blades from the green ones; compacted balls of water from the blue ones; and small gouts of flame from the red ones. They were elemental slimes. Lovely.

Yet, despite their ferocious onslaught, I felt...nothing. Both emotionally and physically. Their attacks landed on my viscous body, but all that they did was shift my...mass, around a bit. I could not tell if I was taking any damage, but I certainly did not feel any danger. No threat. Nothing. Perhaps…?

Deciding that I should retaliate before the situation turns for the worse, I let my mind sink into my body’s instincts once more and attacked. A tentacle made from my body lashed out at the closest elemental slime, a fire slime. It tried to burn me with its fiery mana, but my tentacle would not be denied. Quicker than I would have ever expected, I struck that slime with enough force to burst it like a water balloon. Energy flowed into me upon its death, a trickle compared to what I experienced after breaking the dungeon core, but energy all the same. I just killed a creature for the first time. It was...easy.

I turned my attention to the rest of the slimes, which increased in number during those few seconds I just took for myself. It must be that the entirety of the dungeon occupants were out to finish me. I did not mind. If that first slime was anything to go by, I had nothing to fear even from their group assault. None of them could be my match.

I was reborn as a dungeon boss. These minor mobs will all die here.

***

A quiet snuffling caught my awareness. Right, I nearly forgot about the dungeon fairy, which I could actually see now. I turned away from the scarred battlefield to examine its horrified face. I did not blame it. The results of my first real fight in this world was...not pretty.

Gelatinous masses of various colors decorated the earthen floor and rock walls. The scene looked like one from the nightmare of a clown. If I were still human at the time, witnessing the massacre that generated such a mess, I would have been traumatised for the remainder of my life. Alas, I was no longer human. I briefly wondered, in a sudden flash of insight, if my new body was responsible for the nullification of any emotion. When did I fully transition? Was the void just a part of the process of my creation? Or was that truly the abyss that separated life from death? I had no way to tell. Instead of pondering a potential existential crisis, I decided to make better use of my time by focusing on the distraught dungeon fairy.

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Time...I suppose I no longer needed an attachment to it.

(Y-y-you killed my bond…) the fairy uttered. I was not certain if she, and I can only assume it was a she, was expecting a response from me. I do not know how such creatures handle traumatic events. So far it appears that they react similarly to humans...though I cannot say if this holds true across their species. Either way, I saw an opportunity to learn here. Focusing my thoughts towards it, I tried to establish communication.

The fairy looked directly at me. It would seem that it was able to hear my words. Good. I made sure to remember that sensation, to replicate it in the future.

(You...are sentient?) It asked with an expression of horror. How intriguing.

I responded. I had no desire to engage in dialogue with the creature that advocated for my death. An interrogation was more to my liking. Still, this particular inquiry ought to be addressed before anything else. It might be the key to understanding my current existence.

(No! You’re supposed to be a mindless mob! Maybe a little more intelligent than the average monster Malevin created, as a boss, but definitely not fully sentient!) The fairy was almost in hysterics at this point. (Oh no, no no no...you can’t be...I know what you are…!) Going beyond hysterical, the fairy began to hyperventilate. It could not finish its sentence before an oppressive aura filled the area. If it was horrified before...it was absolutely terrified now. The aura appeared to lock her down and prevent her from speaking further. I watched as her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she collapsed. Hm.

I...wanted to be shocked. Alas, my absent emotions prevented even that. I also did not suffer any negative effects from the aura, I could only tell that it was around. As quickly as it arrived, it vanished, leaving me with an unconscious fairy to deal with. From that incident I learned quite a few things.

One, my presence here is not normal. What was supposed to be an ordinary boss monster has instead become something...more. Something like me. Two, something like me is not supposed to exist. Or, at the very least, I am an entity that rarely ever occurs...and not in a good way. A frightening way. Three, the information about whatever I am is important enough that something prevented it from being spoken. Not only that, but the aura of that something felt...familiar.

With no way to use any of what I learned to my advantage in the moment, I did the only thing that seemed to make sense. I extended a tentacle to wrap around the comatose fairy, brought it towards my main body...and consumed her. If it could not tell me what I am and why my sentience was so significant, then it had no more use to me. I refused to offer leniency to anyone wishing to do me harm, whatever their reasons may be. Since she and her bond, Malevin if I understood from her remaining moments in this coil, had planned to eliminate me, then I would only return the sentiment. I would eradicate everything that they have created and be done with it.

As I will do with any other that stands in my way.