Episode 40: Interlude – The Erosion of Chaos (Sura-ta’s Perspective)
On this day, I was hunting in the depths of the forest as usual, leading a portion of the slime horde.
As a Large Bloody Slime, I defeated many enemies today as well, having my subordinates carry the meat of strong Demon Beasts.
I wanted to eat it myself, but I held back. This was also for my horde to dominate the forest.
Giving them meat with a lot of 〖Mana〗 would increase the strength of the entire horde.
And so, we would gather more Demon Beast meat and ascend to even greater heights.
It was the same routine as always.
However, when I returned from the hunt, I was shocked along with my subordinates.
“(W-What is happening…!)”
“(It’s a disaster! A disaster!)”
“(The village, it’s burning!)”
“ဟိုင်ယာချာ၊ မီးလောင်ခြင်း!”
The invaders that came into view were humans.
Those who used fire were burning a wide area, and those with weapons were killing the surviving slimes.
“(Guh, to attack while I’m away, how cowardly. Let’s go, you guys! Make those inferior beings remember the power of slimes!)”
““““Sura!”””
Leading the brave slimes, we charged at the wicked humans.
The closest human noticed us and turned an axe towards us.
He raised his weapon towards me at the front, but it was deflected mid-swing.
“(Take this!)”
A stone flew at an incredible speed, hitting the blade of the axe. The human staggered from the sheer force.
It was an attack from Sura-zaemon, the Catapult Slime.
Recently, due to 〖Evolution〗, the power of his stone throws had drastically increased.
“(Here I come!)”
I slammed into the staggering human!
My height reached about the human’s abdomen. Being that large, the power of my body slam was naturally high.
I knocked him to the ground with the momentum, enveloped his upper body, and began to melt his body with 〖Dissolving Liquid〗.
“ဂါယာအာဟ်!!”
How’s that! This is the power of a slime!
The other humans gathered around the screaming man.
However, if we charged at them while they were intimidated by my subordinates’ stone throws, we could easily defeat them.
They would only be slightly melted and would be unable to fight, humans were such weak creatures.
“〖မီးဘော〗!”
“(Hot!)”
While I was melting a human, a fireball suddenly flew and burned my body.
The heat caused my body to necrotize, but the melted parts quickly regenerated. It was a racial 〖Skill〗 of the Large Bloody Slime.
When I melt and absorb with 〖Dissolving Liquid〗, I can also steal 〖Life〗 along with it.
“(You’ve done it now! I’ll kill that one first!)”
““““Suraa!”””
I targeted the human wearing a robe and charged.
Sura-zaemon’s stone throw shot down the fireball that was launched to intercept us.
The human’s eyes widened and he froze.
In that gap, I closed the distance—,
“အိုး ဘုရားသခင်”
“(Gah!)”
I was blown away by a powerful impact.
More than half of my 〖Life〗 was wiped out in one blow.
“(Damn, what was that just now…)”
While enduring the unusually sharp pain, I turned my attention to the attacker.
He was a human with a larger build than the others.
He was holding a spear in one hand, so he must have attacked me with that.
“(I, I couldn’t see his movements… what kind of 〖Stats〗 does he have…!)”
While I was trembling, that human turned towards Sura-zaemon and the others who were throwing stones, and with a sadistic smile, he ran towards them.
He was as fast as the wind.
“(W-Wait… Gyaah!)”
“ခင်ဗျား အလုပ်ကောင်!”
As I tried to chase after the spear user, I was attacked by another human nearby.
If I was in perfect condition, it would be one thing, but since a quarter of my body was necrotized from the previous blow, I couldn’t properly evade.
“(Ouch, you bas—Gwah!)”
I tried to counterattack and jumped at him, but I was struck by a hammer from the side and sent flying.
I was blown away with considerable force, finally stopping after hitting the trees in the forest.
“(Haa, haa. Guh… Damn it…!)”
By taking some distance, I could see the state of the entire village.
The village was already close to being annihilated.
There were hardly any survivors, and the stockpiles of nuts and meat were engulfed in flames.
“(Sura-zaemon!)”
“Su…ra…”
The subordinates I had brought with me were also annihilated at this very moment.
The spear user, who easily finished off the 〖Greater Beast〗 Sura-zaemon, turned back with an ugly smile.
“အမြဲသတ်သလား။”
Perhaps he was looking down on me, thinking he could catch up to me even if I ran, the spear user walked closer.
“(I… I haven’t done anything wrong… why, why is this happening…!)”
My heart was filled with despair and resentment.
I no longer had the energy to run away.
What had I done? I had been working hard for the village all this time.
I had actively attacked Demon Beasts and humans to raise my 〖Soul Accumulation Value (Level)〗. By hunting in the depths, I had obtained food rich in 〖Mana〗!
There were some who had been sacrificed, but I had contributed greatly to the village more than that!
And yet, to have the village I had developed be destroyed so easily, how unfair was that!?
“(Power… if only I had more power…!)”
Just as I thought that.
Something like a cotton ball touched me, softly.
“(What is this?)”
‘────’
“(!? G, aaaaaaaah!)”
~Non-Notification Information Recording Area~
…
Nameless (Seed of Chaos) has made contact with Sura-ta (Large Bloody Slime).
〖Skill: Mind-Body Confusion〗 has been activated.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My body, it’s hot.
An enormous amount of energy was flowing in from the seed within the cotton ball that had attached to my body.
The flesh that had been shaved off by the human attacks was swelling up.
The amount of energy far exceeding the limit was causing my body to expand.
The expansion didn’t stop even after my body returned to its original size.
It was like when I 〖Evolved〗, but there was a crucial difference.
It was the feeling of foreignness. When I had 〖Evolved〗 before, the energy I felt at that time didn’t have this chilling sensation.
“(G, aaaaaah…!)”
I was being given. At the same time, I was also being robbed.
I could tell because the inside of a slime’s body was transparent. Roots were growing from the seed of the cotton ball.
“(S, stop it…!)”
From the roots that had spread throughout my body, something, many of my precious things, were being sucked up.
~Non-Notification Information Recording Area~
Sura-ta (Large Bloody Slime) has failed to resist 〖Mind-Body Confusion〗.
〖Heretical Evolution〗 will be forcibly applied.
An unauthorized operation has been detected. Intervention will be executed.
〔Inelgia〕 is insufficient. Intervention will be canceled.
The race of Sura-ta (Large Bloody Slime) has changed to Corrupted Large Bloody Slime.
〖Stats〗 have changed due to 〖Heretical Evolution〗.
〖Skills〗 have been added.
…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“(Haa, haa, haa)”
The expansion had subsided, but it was hard to breathe.
But strangely, my consciousness was clear.
Now I knew exactly what I had to do.
“အဲဒါっ၊ အဲဒါဘာလဲっ?”
The humans, including the spear user, were confused.
That was irrelevant.
It didn’t matter what the prey that was about to be devoured thought.
“ပထမဦးဆုံး!”
The spear user ran towards me.
I also charged at him.
“〖ရပ်နားပါ〗!”
“Su, ra”
I extended a part of my body towards the spear user, but most of it was blown away by his powerful attack.
However, the roots that had spread throughout my body were different.
The exposed roots entangled the spear user, sealing his movements.
Then, a body slam.
I immediately took the spear user into my body.
“Su, ra”
As a result of the expansion, my body had become large enough to swallow the spear user whole.
I melted the entire body of the spear user, who was struggling in agony, with 〖Dissolving Liquid〗.
His 〖Toughness〗 was high, so I couldn’t kill him easily, but since he couldn’t escape, there was no need to rush. I would eat him slowly.
“Su, ra”
Many roots pierced into the melting flesh of the spear user, absorbing something.
The 〖Life〗 and 〖Mana〗 I obtained were also being returned to me.
“(I’ve fully recovered, huh?)”
The moment the spear user breathed his last, the wounds I had received from him were completely healed.
The other humans were paralyzed with terror, unable to move. This must be the effect of the newly acquired 〖Skill: Chaos Coercion〗.
Good, good. I hate having my meals interrupted, and I also hate having my food run away.
For the sake of my dream of “devouring everything,” I’m glad they stayed put.
“(…Was that it?)”
I feel like I’ve forgotten something important. It’s as if the goal I was aiming for has been replaced with something else…
I think for a bit and remember. That’s right, that’s right, I mustn’t forget.
I wanted to stand at the top of this forest and swallow all life. I wanted to make them my prey.
That is my dream from long ago.
“Sura…”
To start, let’s swallow the nearby humans and slimes.
~Unidentified Information Log~
…
>> Sura-ta’s (Corrupted Large Bloody Slime) 〖Soul Accumulation Value (Level)〗 has reached 55.
>> 〖Heretical Evolution〗 is now possible.
>> Initiating 〖Heretical Evolution〗.
>> Race has changed to Corrupted Fatty Bloody Slime.
>> 〖Stats〗 have changed due to 〖Heretical Evolution〗.
>> 〖Skill〗 has been added.
>> Mental Corruption has exceeded the threshold. Nameless (Seed of Chaos)’s 〖Skill: Amalgamation〗 is activated.
>> Nameless (Seed of Chaos) and Sura-ta’s (Corrupted Large Bloody Slime) 〖Life〗 have been synchronized.
…