- Shari -

We arranged everything as best as we could.

I myself prepared something special that should become very handy, if necessary.

It took quite a bit to make up my mind enough to get ready, but ultimately I don't believe I have much of a choice.

Elin's claim regarding this bounty is rather believable.

At least we've already got a visit, that supports her quite much.

So I need to come to terms with myself about killing him.

The main problem I have with that is the way we are going to do it.

Coming for him in the middle of the night to end his life like assassins feels wrong.

It is different from defending myself from someone who tries to kill me.

At least it feels like this.

And so I am emotionally conflicted when it finally gets dark and we get started.

Wrapped in our coats, we move through the darkness to our destination.

At least, I don't need to worry about finding our way, as Elin knows just too well where our target is located.

I mentioned before that Ekoras is not known to be free from criminal influences.

Most are apparently controlled by Cid at the moment.

However, this means that the official controls aren't too strict in the area.

In general, the only time people are controlled is when they're entering.

Which, as I now realize, might be more about having a hunch about what is brought into town, to retain their monopoly.

Damned gate guards!

Yet, this is the reason why the night watch is rather limited.

If the underworld in this town is as influential as I suspect this could even be intentional so they can do as they please at night.

But because this is like it is, we have it easier to traverse the town.

The few guards out aren't watching too close and we can walk past them without having to fear getting discovered.

Also, it helps that Elin seems fairly proficient in slipping past them so that we get through.

The last point would be that the townsfolk of Ekoras has the habit of not watching out of the window after it got dark.

Who knows, they might see something they aren't supposed to see and like this could get involved.

Eventually, we arrive at the building without drawing unwanted attention.

Noteworthy is that this part of the town mostly consists of storage halls.

And this seems to include our target location.

That is to say, it's no storage.

Rather, it's a large complex, three stories in height.

From the view to it, it was once a storage hall but has been heavily rebuilt and gained windows, stairs, and a proper interior.

Yet due to its background, there is no other building bordering, different from the usual architecture in the residential areas.

We are still in the city, so other buildings are close by but you can approach the hall's walls from all sides.

But this is a gang outpost, so there are no windows on the first floor to prevent any sight of the nefarious acts happening in there and the front door should be heavily guarded.

However, we don't need to go through the front door.

After we gather at the wall it begins.

"Umh, can you do it? You are not so used to crawling with your body." (Liqu)

Honestly, I avoided thinking about this part until now.

At best this will be an unpleasant, totally inhuman experience.

Nonetheless, I cannot chicken out here.

Because of this, I force myself to nod.

Liqu lets her clothes fall and completely reveals her slimy nature.

I'm already used to this sight, but together with the fact that we are in a populated area, I'm getting slightly nervous.

She throws herself against the wall and slowly drifts upwards, clinging tightly to the surface.

Totally foreign!

And now I have to do the same.

"If my clothes are gone when I come back you will bear the consequences, Elin!" (Shari)

Having no other choice I let go of them.

In a blink, I feel kinda exposed yet at the same time there is an abundance of information, caused by my revealed surface and the all-around view it brings.

In a strange way, this helps.

At least it does distract me a little from freaking out.

If I just wouldn't be aware because of this of Elin's curious gaze at me.

"Done with staring? Then you can start to do your job!" (Shari)

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Elin is not supposed to approach the front directly but just has to stick close to the exit.

If a commotion starts in there, the guards will come running and, knowing Liqu, a short time later flee in a panic.

In this state, they won't be able to properly defend against Elin's ambush who will lie in wait.

But now to the bad part.

I start small and touch the wall with only one hand at first.

I may be wasting time here in a critical situation, but I think that should be forgivable, as I'm feeling absolute horror at the moment.

Mustering all of my courage I increase the pressure and my hand and soon my arm collapse against the surface.

There is that strong urge to immediately pull back and reshape it again into form, but I cannot do this.

Instead, I have to step forward and hug the wall.

The other arm collapses as fast as the first one and for the first time, I completely feel how it is not to have them.

This feeling of aversion does just increase when I need to push forward and also my legs spread on the surface.

My eyes start tearing up with slime while I come even closer and lose all my features, but this becomes soon irrelevant when also my head touches the wall.

At first, my mass reluctantly squeezes against it, but when the rest follows the mass naturally spreads and encompasses my head, which just like this is gone as well.

Losing my eyes might be the most troublesome about this.

However, something else is bothering me even more.

I am a blob!

This is the terrible truth I have to face here.

There was just no other way to get up.

And this is the first time I am forced to be this aware of this very fact.

I have just lost all my appendages, sensory organs, or any other features which have even remotely to do with being human.

The look on my face I must have had directly before it collapsed was surely sheer terror.

At least this is what Elin's disturbed face tells me.

And with this, I become aware of how well I still can perceive the outer world.

My hearing works.

Somewhat different, but the nightly sounds still get processed by me.

But much more present this roundabout view.

I had it since my transformation, but it was never this strong.

What was before just a faint hunch of the movement and shape around me is now a concrete impression.

Not the same intensity you have when directly looking at things, but a shallow overview.

Yet this in all directions at the same time is quite much.

Regarding the other things I perceive:

I won't speak about the detailed information I gather from the surface I cover.

However, I notice that I somehow cling to the wall.

My legs already collapsed, so I cannot stand on them.

Nonetheless, I am still upright.

There is clearly an adhesive effect to my matter.

The core is properly located in the middle.

The same goes for my dagger and the one gold coin I secured since I was a little paranoid about leaving it with Elin.

Also, there is a special something I took with me.

I totally became a living storage by now.

It needs a moment to overcome my panicking mind and get clear again.

It's a wonder I was able to hold on to everything in this state.

I am not completely calm yet but must keep going.

My human mind wants to extend a non-existing arm to reach upwards, but then there is another instinct.

It simply tells me to push.

And so I do.

I start to move.

It is a weird feeling to notice how the movement comes from inside me.

The matter which clings just stays where it is, while from behind the one which isn't needed for this anymore gets pulled in.

From inside me, it is pushed up and forms eventually new clinging matter.

So the old one can be replaced again to push even higher.

This is a continuous procedure, in which my body is in constant change.

I feel so weird!

I am still able to perceive stuff, as this really works instinctively and doesn't require much mental effort.

Just like walking.

Yes, this is the natural movement for slimes.

And we all know how much I hate this!!!

My perception tells me that Liqu stopped for a moment.

I am sure she can't get enough of this sight that I offer her and is just vexed that she has no eyes to observe it in more detail right now.

However, she catches herself fast there above me and starts to act.

Short under the window of the second floor, she stops.

"Zsch"

Dissolving!

It isn't loud, but very concentrated.

She just uses it to burn a little hole in the structure, which one won't be able to notice easily.

Much less to identify as the entrance point of a slime.

I am close below her, then rather fast she just rushes inside and all of her mass follows swiftly.

This is fascinating if you consider that there might be enough to blow the building from the inside if it would extend at once.

Might this be a technique?

Yet now is not the time to contemplate this, Shari!

But now I am closing in on her last position.

Wait! I won't have to...

Yes, sure I do.

Fighting extreme disgust over myself I take position over the hole.

I let mass dwell inside and soon become aware that my core together with its shell won't fit.

So I have to let go of a good part of the hardened mass which becomes normal matter again.

And with this, I let my core float inside, altogether with all the mass behind it.

I just pumped myself as a liquid through a hole!

Apart from the point that I still have to kill someone this day can't get any worse!

The way through isn't far and as soon I am inside I reassemble myself.

Liqu is already done and my motivation to do the same makes me very fast at it.

Having the concrete image in my head slime pulls itself together, protrudes, and elongates, and soon I can feel something like appendages.

Using my former human mindset regarding human movement they adapt this and like this start to feel like arms and legs.

So I find myself kneeling on the ground, stabilizing my body on my arms.

After this mentally hard experience I am a bit out of it, but manage to stand back up.

My eyes form back into place and I can see again.

I know these borderless things lack the expressions of human ones, so it's not really possible to read them.

But even like this, judging from Liqu's look I guess the meaning of that glare went through.

It says:

"Not a word"!