[SS] Chapter 12: Round 2. Fight!

I immediately felt that absolute sheer terror and panic roll through me again. The memories of dying overlapping. First from a bullet near the heart and the second to a wolf tearing me apart. The feeling of pain, of numbness, of death. Of that moment of infinite oblivion right after where you feel yourself become nothing. Only to barely be brought back from the brink. Souls may move on and continue onward but a person is not a soul alone.

I slapped myself with a spirit hand, splattering a few drops of me away. It made my mana channels screech in pain.

I had to snap out of it. There were apparently two wolves right outside my cave and if I had to bet anything, I’d say it was theirs before I moved in. Alright, alright think. What would two normal wolves do when they find their home has seemingly been stolen and encased in wood? Uhhhhh. Wolves were smart but they were still animals so they’d, eventually leave?

More howls but not more wolves. They were well and truly pissed and that made sense. Then I heard scratching. Okay, okay, alright. Just, they’re just testing the walls. That makes sense. Right?

I heard a thump, soon followed by another.

…Noooo. Noooo they didn’t.

A scratching on my door made me realize they did. They climbed up and over my wall like it was nothing. Stupid! Why didn’t I put something like, I don’t know, razor wire down!? And what kind of wolves just decide to go over an eight foot wall?! WHY?!

Alright, alright this is fine. I just need to beat them like I did the last one. With my [Spirit Han- oh fucking christ. I tried to form two spirit hands and I felt like the spell nearly popped. Right, like an extra stupid idiot, I decided to exhaust my magical muscles till I couldn’t defend myself. Amazing. Alright, alright, how do I deal with this? How on earth do I deal with this? I have to beat two wolves without any magic. That leaves [Astra Manipulation], [Melt], [Absorb]. Wait no, I think, I have a plan. But I’d better do it fast before they get through that door.

I hadn’t even been here two days yet. But I had been here for one. Which meant I had an ability I could use.

I took a deep breathe and prepared for the second fight for my life.

.

.

.

Two wolves were scratching against a door. They had come home from a long day of hunting and were enraged to see it had been stolen and blocked off. Not well enough. With ease, they ran up the side of the walls and to their fury, found another barrier. They attacked, trying to tear down the obstacle. They would kill whatever had tried to take their territory away from them.

As they were attacking, a blue slime came out from under the door, slipping through it. They both attacked immediately, ripping it to shreds even as the slime weakly fought back and stung their mouths.

They raised their heads and howled, satisfied that they had killed the intruder. They turned back to the door only for one of the wolves to start yipping and screeching like crazy. The other turned in alarm to see another blue slime, this one on their partner’s face.

.

.

.

The crown was, interesting but I had no time for that. As soon as I summoned it, I had activated minion authority and made a blue slime minion. I sent it out through the crack to provide a distraction. They killed it in moments, almost too fast for me to use. That was a painful sight for me to see.

My options of attack hadn’t changed. I still only had basic, simple attacks. Less now. But I understood myself and wolves better. For starters, I knew I was strong. Not durable but strong. I could ‘Punch’ ie, slam into something with the force of a boxer. Secondly, my [Melt] and [Absorb] might not be strong.

But neither were eyes.

As soon as the wolves were distracted I jumped onto one of their faces and specifically aimed for their eyes. It seemed that eyes were something of a constant for me. Slimes couldn’t see, but I had true sight. My magic’s most immediate uses, if I hadn’t overworked myself, were blinding people. And my [Melt] [Absorb] combo was too slow for regular flesh but just fine for weak eyes. I was going to somehow be blinded one day and I was not gonna be happy about it.

My plan worked like a charm. The Wolf let out a truly horrible screeching and I hopped away just as it tried to slash at me. Its partner was already running towards it but the wolf was in a state of panic. I was very familiar with that. Not only was it blind but my leap was like a full force kick from an adult. Not enough to truly hurt it but that was probably incredibly disorientating. Its partner approached and caught a claw across its body for the trouble.

I landed not far away and the sound caused both to turn towards me. I was out of useful skills but…

Both wolves ran at me. I could see their anger and fury. Could see their eyes practically glow with hostility and murderous intent. Could see their open maws ready to end me again. Their hot breaths in the cold night air as my life flashed before my eyes.

I was out of useful skills but… not out of useful abilities.

Both wolves fell into my spike trap. Their cries were sharp but short. I looked down. Dead.

I couldn’t believe it. My slimy heart was beating a mile a minute in pure adrenaline induced fear and horror. But a new emotion was swelling up in me. Victory. Sharp, ecstatic, and pure. The feeling of euphoria from defeating your demons and coming out on top.

“BLURRRRBBB!”

A slime’s exhilaration of winning needed work but at the end of the day, I was alive. I had been handed shit for, for what felt like forever. Just reacting, over and over and over again. Along for the ride. Making choices where necessary but only that. Even the Dungeon was only a reaction of panic. I knew wolves or even dogs could climb the wall I made and still, I had wasted all that mana on it. Same with, well, everything else.

But now? Now I had made a plan and acted on it. If anything had gone wrong, I’d be the one dead for good this time. But I wasn’t. I had made a plan, I had won, and now I was alive.

I opened up my status and looked at my name. I was tired of all this nonsense. All of this bullshit. None of this was me. It was time to do things my way.

[Name selected: Slimy Slime.]

The Era of the Slime was coming.