บท 249: Butterfly hall*
Rage floods through me. An unquenchable ire is awoken in my heart with the deeply scarring sight before.
"Look over there! A slime. Must have been hiding out of fear and thought it was over now. Too bad, all your little monster friends are dead!"
That is it!
I launch myself at the adventurers like a cannonball that was shot from the barrel of a cannon. The adventurers seem unimpressed.
A swordsman, the standing adventurer closest to me, brandishes his sword and stabs at my core. The tip of the sword penetrates the springy exterior of my gelatinous body. My newly evolved omni resistance only offers a bit of protection before it is broken past.
Every rational instinct tells me to worry about my core. My mind feels like it's high on 200 buckets of pure coffee. I disregard all that.
Running away is a slime's nature. It is what a slime must do to survive.
However, I am no slime! I am a human reborn in the body of a slime! I will not run! I am Darwin!
I crazily launch my omni dissolving and begin to dissolve the sword. It's a well made steel sword but the moment I launch my skill, the sword begins to froth. To assist with the dissolving, I use my alchemy to break down the inner structure of the steel.
With both of those skills active at full capacity, the sword is gone before it reaches my core. The swordsman just stares incredulously. Then, his hand enters into my gelatinous body as I begin to envelop him.
He screams as if he is being skinned alive. Well, technically he is. I'm dissolving him and the first thing to suffer damage is the outer skin.
Still this is too slow and the swordsman is struggling wildly, trying to grab my core. I use alchemy to change the buckles of his leather armor into spikes and use those to stab him to death.
Another two swordsmen have approached and stab towards my core. I shift my body to move the still dissolving corpse between my core and the blade tips. The corpse is stabbed and both blades stop. The resistance from my body was enough to weaken their attacks and the corpse absorbed most of the damage.
Since their swords are now within my body, they too begin to be dissolved. By the time the two swordsmen pull back their weapons only the hilts are left. I drop the corpse and launch myself at the two swordsmen. They scream and instinctively swing their swords to keep me away.
They realize that their hilts without blades can't do shit to me when I crash into both of them. The other adventurers attack and I use the bodies of those two swordsmen to block. Once they are dead and the opportunity presents itself, I latch onto another opponent and the fight continues.
My somewhat suicidal strategy is super effective. By attaching less importance to keeping my core save and instead attacking the enemy, I am winning an otherwise hopeless battle. So what if I am dancing one the edge between life and death? I am Darwin, and I will not run!
Soon, the last adventurer falls. I have prevailed! But at what cost? I'm hurt, half dead even. All my friends are dead.
Wait! No! Cruella might have made it out! And I don't see any gelatinous remains so Veronica should also have gotten away!
As the dying sparks of hope in my heart are relit into a blazing flame I move my hurt body to the passage leading to the drake's layer. Moving quickly is impossible but I am regenerating. Like my speed of movement, the regeneration from my skill is pitiful. I soldier on using more willpower than physical strength.
"Da-Darwin- i-is tha-t y-ou?"
Strange words appear in my mind. It's the unique way slimes communicate but all wishy washy. Veronica?
The sight that enters my gaze makes every fiber of my body tense up. Veronica is lying against the dungeon wall. Or at least it should be Veronica. Instead of her usual human shape she has been reduced to a gelatinous ball that seems to continuously fight to keep itself together.
I quickly spot the problem. Veronica's core has been heavily damaged, to the point where it could shatter at any moment. She is dying!
Bone deep despair assaults me. Veronica was like a mother to me! And yet I am watching her die, unable to render any help.
"Dar-win, Cru th-ey t-t-t-ook he-r."
"She's still alive?!! Who are they? I'll save her!!!"
"Do-n't-! T-h-th-ey ar-e but-ter-f-f-ly ha-…."
No!! The gelatinous ball suddenly loses all its cohesion and as if a bucket of fluid was dumped on the floor, Veronica splatters over the floor as her core shatters completely. She's dead. Dead. Forever.
Butterfly. Butterfly. Butterfly. I swear on everything I am, I will find you and I will. Make. You. Pay. BUTTERFLY!!!!!
However, I am weak. The terrible hopelessness of reality hits me like a truck.
No! I will not yield to fate! I'll get stronger! I'll conquer this dungeon, I'll conquer every dungeon, I'll evolve until I am strong! No, I'll evolve until I am the strongest!
I begin to frantically gobble down Veronica's remains. I need energy, a slimes recovery is greatly boosted when a certain intake of energy is present. I won't let this shitty dungeon absorb Veronica!
After I finish consuming all of Veronica's remains, I feel hungry, incredibly hungry. I need to consume more!
Yes, that over there. It's the drake's corpse! Become my energy!
Status Darwin Lv. 4 Hungering omni slime
Mp 10+53+386
Strength 1+53+1
Constitution 7+53+68
Speed 1+53
Magic ability 3+53+39
Skills:
Omni dissolving
Omni resistance lv.3; omni morphing lv.1; omni magic lv. 1; inner storage lv.1; weak regeneration lv.3; HUNGER lv.1
Appraisal lv. 2; synthesis lv. 1; diagnosis lv. 2; alchemy lv.7
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