Cave diving!
Veldora's cave.
The lair of the Storm Dragon.
The most dangerous place in all of the Great Forest of Jura.
"..soul slash? ..no.."
And if one were to visit it now what they would hear would be..
".. spirit severer! ..that sounds like I'm going to cut their soul from their body.. it doesn't match, my attack can't do that"
...the ramblings if a Hobgoblin 12 year old, trying to come up with chuuni names for their attacks.
"...I suck at this."
I really do.
...
...
It's been about two hours since I entered the cave.. honestly this place is gigantic, I remember Rimuru took a month to escape after he ate Veldora and ..yeah I can see why.
The difference from Rimuru though I have a compass ..sorta.
"Veldora's aura ...I just need to follow to the center"
Yeah because he's still here I can just use him as a goal point and don't wast time, and because of my skill of Perfect memory I will have to way mapped so my return will be even quicker!
That being said I'll probably still take a few days and my food is almost done for..
"...I will have to eat monsters won't I? ..ew"
I really didn't want this.. I mean there is a lake here, maybe I could fish? Though there will probably just be monsters in the water too, also I haven't reached the lake yet, so it doesn't even matter.
To be honest I wanted to be able to create a portal from the entrance of the cave to Veldora using [Spacial Dominion] but.. I failed, I mean I started it right but I don't really know what to do after..
This is something I don't like about [Spacial Dominion] ..its way too good! Which makes it complicated! It's like I have the super advanced tool or machine and I don't know how to use it! Actually thinking about it it's not like that it's literally that!
Granted though.. when I learn how to use it.. sure I can do a bunch of things with it and it's really strong.. but I need to learn it first so I can't do anything with most of my skills!
[Spacial Dominion] is made of:
[Space manipulation]
[World phasing]
[Pocket dimension creation]
[True Portal creation]
[All of space Detection]
...from that I can use all but the last two.
Making photos is harder than I thought, and the last one I don't really care how it works? Does it detect alterations in space? Does it detect everything? I tried to activate it once but I didn't really feel any difference.. so I didn't try it again yet, I need a bit of practice I think.
Anyway with that said.. this place is so dark, without [Magic sense] I wouldn't be able to see anything here, I'm glad I got it early..
I am a bit on guard because I'm pretty sure I'm going to be attacked at any moment, but at the same time ...am I really on guard if I am using [Parallel processing] to think of dumb names for my skills?
*Blob*
Eh? Well I guess it doesn't matter because I sure I heard something there..
*Jump.. blob! Squish..*
It's.. jumping, something wet jumping-
"Oh.."
Could.. could it be..
I run towards the sound and then I see it..
*Blob*
"..a slime"
Is it you Rimuru?
Oh I.. I wasn't expecting this!! I am not meant to meet them so early am I? I mean.. I when I noticed I came before Rimuru arrived I was sure it was like.. at least a year prior! I..
Wait no, I shouldn't get ahead of myself.. I should approach and then..
"..hi?"
"..."
...It didn't even move.
"Are you.. sentient?"
It started to crawl away, then jumped a bit up. Ledge.
Ok new plan, go. [Analyze and access]!
I activate the skill and.. it's instantly done what?!
"...you're just.. a random slime"
*Blobs*
"..."
Ok.. that's kinda.. embarrassing isn't it? hehehe.. I uh.. was basically talking to a moving blob in a cave.
"...I did weirder things"
Yeah, I will uh.. not let this get to me, I mean I did weirder things, anyway! As a random slime this guy is basically worthless isn't he?
None of a slime's skills would be compatible to me anyway would they? ..wait maybe-
"...the process of regeneration is natural to a body isn't it?"
Which means.. maybe [Self Regeneration] is possible? I mean it's an intrinsic skill which makes me feel like it shouldn't work but.. the act of regeneration is something everyone, or at least everyone I know, does, so maybe?
I approach the slime, there's only one way to find out..
"...I am about to commit a crime against slime kind ..hopefully Rimuru doesn't mind"
He probably won't.. anyway I pick up the slime and.. it lets me? I feel my hands start to enter it and realize it will try to dissolve me.
Huh, I guess.. even something like this is still a monster, though isn't it only supposed to do that when it's low on magicules? Maybe it was being hunted and healed too much so it needs more magicules to regen.. well t's way too slow though.. so I am fine.
*Splat!*
I throw it against the wall holding back so it doesn't die ...but it still goes splat, spreading all over the wall.. I really need to learn control.. welp there goes my chance to-
*B..blo..bubbling*
...it's still alive? I am surprised, though I think it's dying.. so I need to be quick about this!
[Prodigy sense] analysis! And after a few moments..
[Skill [Self Regeneration] acquired].
...heh, I feel a smile that is a bit smugly creep into my face, I mean.. finally something goes right at my first try! Like.. I was getting worried that I was a second time man or something.. the flying deaths, my skills both when I trained here and back on the village all only "worked" on my second attempt.. it's annoying but eh, finally it worked out.
I still feel sorry for the slime though he didn't make it.. which means food.
"..they did say it was a delicacy.."
I do remember it being played as a joke but.. I get the feeling it wasn't, anyway I stored it on my pocket dimension.. I will try it, if it sucks screw me.
Anyway I am just happy that-
"Ahhh!?"
Suddenly, while i was distracted a huge Bat flew down and slashed my back with its claws, it brought it's wings to hold me still as it goes for the bite but-
"G-GET OFF ME!!!!"
I backhand the Bat so hard it flies back and lands hard on the ground..
"..t..that.. hurt.."
This.. it hurt a lot, I look at my back.. somewhat deep gashes are in it now thanks to those claws.. I am bleeding!
I..I am bleeding! ..w-when I died I tried so hard not to look at it because I thought I might pass out but.. but this..!
"S-shit I.. I need to.."
The bat gets up.. oh and of course back in the air it goes.. this is all my fault! I shouldn't have gotten distracted!
I..I am bleeding and I am going to.. wait not! Remember your objective.. calm down.. concentrate and-
"Huh I am healed?"
I look to see my wounds are.. closing very fast, I mean it's taking a bit but I alm almost fully healed and I don't feel any pain.. oh right, I got [Self Regeneration] now..
I look at the bat, it seems more cautious now.. well at least it won't-
*SCREECH!!*
!!!! O-OW MY EARS!?
This.. this thing send a sonic wave??? Oh yeah it had that skill didn't it? ..well now shit!
"..h-hell no!"
I run, and keep running as it follows me through the sky of the cavern.
I don't like running but I don't really have the tools to beat it right now without using some very specific resources I'm saving, If it at least was grounded I could beat it but I can't.. doesn't mean I'm not going to fight though even if I'm running I'm just looking for-
"That!!"
A large lake stands before me.. I think it's fair to assume the cavern has multiple, so it might not be the one Rimuru passed through.. still though it's perfect for ammo.
I open my pocket dimension in the water getting a lot of it in the process and then open a portal and fires it at high pressure at the bat!
[Skill: [Water pressure propulsion] acquired]
Yes!!
The vampire bat skillfully dodges the jet and then-
*SCREECH!!*
O-OW!! NO!
urg! I was sure this plan would work.. ...ok plan B ..but don't blame me for the brutality.
Using [Spacial hold] I grab a bunch of water making a giant ball of it, I control it so the water is moving in a spiral making waves.
[Skill: [Current movement] acquired]
Good.. now I aim it, then the Bat tenses and preparers to dodge.
"...I don't particularly like this but.. I am going to have to ask you to.."
I drag the ball of water towards the flying bat in the air, it dodges.. however it didn't expect the ball to change its course mid air, using [Spacial hold] i drag the ball into the Bat as it's engulfed inside of it stuck mid air, the water waves don't let it stay still, and then I finish.
"Drown for me."
It struggles.
I watch as it tries to escape.
It attempts a sonic boom but it doesn't have enough air.
It's movements slowly slow down, I see bubbles coming from its mouth it's life slowly vanishing..
...until it stops completely, and I let it's weak dead body fall on the ground.
"..."
[Skill: [Drown bubble] acquired]
"...really?"
It's.. not the time..
[Skills [Water Pressure Propulsion,], [Current Movement],.and [Drown bubble] acquired.] [Combining and upgrading to extra skill [Control Water].]
...Sheesh here I am feeling like trash while getting stronger.
I walk over to the corpse of the Vampire Bat, this.. is a C+ rank monster huh? Though it's a really weird one, I remember that Rimuru too didn't one shot it and got hit like I did.. while he destroyed the Black serpent with one hit..
"..I didn't want to kill you like this, but you forced me"
...strangely enough, though barbaric, I.. don't feel as disgusted by this as I feel I should be, I don't want to think of the reason for that.
I put the corpse in my Pocket dimension, maybe something in it is edible? I doubt it though.. still I have plenty of wood from the outside, ok not plenty but enough, and I have fire too, so why not try? Even if it's disgusting.
Time passes I walk by this lake and into another one, this cave is massive huh?
I look at my hands.. the burned scars didn't heal for some reason, this is kinda annoying ...and scary! please don't tell me it's permanent.. urg.. I don't want to be tainted like this!
"..I already had enough of ...permanent apperance changes"
I keep on waking in the borders of the lake, I sigh and look down at the unmoving water, I see a girl.. 12 or so, her green skin obviously shows what race is from, a hobgoblin or goblina? It's basically the same, she looks a bit tired, her clothes are horrible.. just a long brown cloak and some raggs underneath, her hair is darker than the usual goblins but with a hint of blue.. her eyes are Silvery, which sets her apart from the normal green eyes of her race, her expression troubled like she is looking at something that is hard to accept.. that girl.. is me.
"..it is.. but I.."
I am not ready yet.. I look away, I can't accept this all yet.
"..but I.."
...don't have much time do it? If my plan works I'm going to have a name, which means I'm not going to be able to hide anymore.
"..should I just try.. to live with this?"
But how can I be ok with this? It feels.. or better it should feel wrong, so why!?
"..why doesn't it feel wrong?"
...I can't think about this right now, I need to find a place to rest for a few hours, or was it a whole day or Maybe more? I don't know.. I just tried not to think of anything at the time, my aura flaring scaring away lesser monsters.
...
...
I kept walking until a found a hole in the wall, it's large enough for me to enter and put a bolder in the path, like this I am sealed in and safe.
"...."
...
"..no.. no thoughts distraction.. distraction I need a distraction!"
..this place is bad for me, I have no idea how Rimuru survived here without a single breakdown, but thankfully I have a distraction.. hunger!
"Yes.. food I will.. I will try the slime!"
I take out the slime from my Pocket dimension, I don't even need to open a portal for things this small, they just appear in my hand, impressed? Heh ..yeah I am not too.
The slime itself feels weird in my hands... maybe it's the fact it's dead? I mean in the anime they always talked about how good it felt to hold Rimuru and while it's definitely soft it feels so.. awful to do so, and it's so formless I can't do it properly, must be because it's dead.
Well it's time to eat ..but how? Do I cook it? Or ...do I have to eat it raw?
"...it's so disgusting so slimy"
But is it worse than eating a bat? ..hell no.
I slowly bring it to my mouth and.. slurp it slightly.
"...ew"
It's.. not disgusting even if it feels weird, still it deserves a ew.
"..huh? Slightly sweet?"
Oh yeah they did say it was a delicacy of summer so it makes sense it's sweet, even if only very very slightly, most of its bland, like eating water ..that is slightly sticky.
"I can't believe I am saying this but ..it's.. not horrible"
And this is coming from me and my modern standards taste buds, though my body is different my standards didn't drop! And after eating such bland food for more than two so long weeks, this is like..
"...pure satisfaction"
After tasting this.. I can't live without it, I am way too spoiled by modern food and this is the closest I got so far, I can't believe I am saying this.. but I am a slime sinner by choice, I liked eating it and would do it again.
"..."
It's decided, I declare war on all slime kind, all of you will be my meal, no exceptions.
...Wait doesn't Rimuru become a god though? Yeah it's probably best if I stick to only eating them when I need to, so yeah some exceptions.
"..hehe"
I am finally a bit better ...even if I am just pushing my problems away.
"..I will just.. sleep for now"
Well it was a good enough day, with this i deserve some rest don't I? Just hope the other days here are better.
...
...
...
Two days passed since then, in that time there hasn't been anything of note, besides of course..
The Giant armored lizard that is coming after me!
*Whoop!*
"!? Gah.. get the hell away!"
It's weird face.. uh neck tendrils?? It just tried to smack me!!
It's armor is very tough.. I won't even risk getting close, fighting it unprepared would be stupid ....I could use My Soul Aura, yes I am calling it that for now, to slice him in half ...probably, but I don't want to do that for a simple reason.
"I am prepared!"
As the lizard approaches I turn to it and open a portal to my pocket dimension, from it I fire multiple balls of venom acid I had gotten from the the hornets.
Now this monster is a B- rank monster, and a very defense focused one, while the hornets were technically not a big deal, they are no Army wasp, being only C- rank at most, the acid I'd still very much acid.
The lizard, confident in its defense doesn't even bother to try to dodge and pays heavy for it as it's hit, at first it doesn't take much damage but then-
*LOUD PAINED SCREECH*
..yeah I feel you, these things hurt a lot, yet at the same time it's what you get for going against me.
It keeps on struggling as I pour the acid on a single point in its head, it's suffering a lot.
[Skills: [Acid Resistance] [Poison Resistance] acquired].
...As planned, that looks so painful though, yeah I was using [Prodigy Sense] the whole time, I mean I couldn't pass the opportunity could I?
The lizard stopped moving, seems it's over, I store it in my pocket dimension and keep going, I feel almost nothing for doing that, it's slightly worrying.
...
...
...
So yeah, that was all that happened and all that you missed ...I also killed two more slimes to eat, don't judge me!
...hmm? How did I know what rank the hornets.. those flying deaths are? Well I know some ranks from the anime, like the Armored Lizard and Vampire Bat, so I know the difference between them, so everything I have to do is compare the magicule count with my [Analyze and access] well I did that at first but.. I wonder if [All of creation] can tell me their ranks after I analyze them? I will just have to test it next time I fight ...which is now.
I hear noises, slithering and rocks moving, but I don't need to trust my hearing to know what's coming.. the giant amount of magicules I feel is enough as feel it approaching.
It's head peaks over the boulders in the cave, as it does I see it, by far the strongest monster I have found and will fight so far, it's massive snake body is clad in black scales as white sharp and shiny eyes face me directly opening its mouth in a loud.
*Hissss!!*
The Tempest serpent, what an.. weird coincidence of a name, it's by far the weakest tempest there is though.. at least from the ones I know..
"Rimuru defeated you easily.. I wonder if I can too.. ...god you're scary though"
Luckily for me I was never afraid of snakes, so even a giant one while scary doesn't terrify me, nonetheless I need to beat it to continue...
My analysis finished just as it gets ready to fight and turns out that, yes it does give me the monster's ranking, in this case it's A- ..well my calculation efforts were for nothing then, great.. oh well at least now I know that I for sure am at least A Rank as i have a lot more magicules than it does.
The Tempest serpent wastes no time, it lunges at me, perhaps underestimating me trying to eat me whole ...unfortunately for it though it's attack was easily saw and dodged by me.
"..have you heard of eat a log?"
The snake probably doesn't understand me as it quickly moves to try again slithering from one attack to the other in great efficiency.. impressive but..
"Yeah me neither"
I seriously never did.
A portal opens, a massive one as the snake tries to stop mid attack as it sees it but.. it's way too late, a tree log is fired from it, it flies quickly into its huge open mouth making its head fly back as it gags painfully on the log.
Yeah I was preapering for something like this, I mean I knew the enemies so why not?
..but the snake recovered quickly, it's eyes shine with anger as it activated it's poison breath.. quickly melting the log in its mouth, but as soon as it does that I fire something else into it's mouth.
"..how about eat a campfire?"
..and I do exactly that, the burning campfire flies into its mouth, with this I should get enough time to use my Soul-
*Flossh!!*
The Tempest serpent that was breathing it's Poison breath suddenly had it's venom clouds lit ablaze! Now it's breathing flames everywhere making the once dark cavern a kinda scary but honestly beautiful red and orange mix.
...What the hell!? Why is.. your poison breath flammable? Is it a gas? I mean it can corrode so I assumed it was acid but..
"Ahh!"
I run from the flames.. this is bad it's going to.. wait what's happening to it?
The Serpent's pained hisses and screeches can be hard around me and through the cave, it's body glowing from the inside as.. the flames burn it from the inside, it's a monstrous sight as the creature keeps on its breath killing itself with its own skill as it's ripped apart and brutally burned from the inside out, it's scales give in as its body erupts in a fiery-
*BOOM!*
....leaving pieces of the snake everywhere, the only parts intact are the tail and some minor parts like the horns that flew from its blown up head.
...That was brutal.
"..I.. didn't mean to.."
Ok.. even I in my growing cold state felt kinda bad for it.
[Skills: [Fire nullification] [Pain nullification] [Ignite] acquired].
....my resistances upgraded to immunities, that's how bad this thing suffered huh?
"...I didn't want it to be like this but.."
Still a victory is a victory.. I quickly put most of these things parts in my pocket dimension, like the horns and tail, still there are way too many blown up pieces for me to get them all, also I'm not sure if they're more of them, I am sure there are ..but Rimuru only found this one, so I'm kind of worried that you won't get to eat it because I killed it.. so leave some pieces here for him to eat when he comes around hopefully nothing else eats it before then, I mean it's clearly venomous so I doubt I ran the monster from here could eat it.
With that said my final enemy has been defeated, well my final enemy of the cave.
Continuing on my path I test the [Ignite] skill, it's pretty simple one I use a little bit of magicules and it makes a small fire, probably not a very good attacking skill, I most likely got it from ..well using fire that much, like when I was keeping and throwing the fireplace out of my pocket dimension it seems to have counted as fire manipulation for some reason and what I did to the servant was ignite it's gas Poison acid thing? So I guess I can understand why I got the kill.. Maybe? welp I am not complaining.
With this done I keep on walking, after a good amount of time, I am not sure how long because this cave is really bad for my senses but at this point it must have been almost a day, in my path I see tons of shining crystals.. no doubt Magic steel.
hHm Rimuru would not mind if I.. took some right? And by some I mean a bunch. Like come on its so many surely there isn't a big deal about it, also some of those healing plants too because why not? So yeah I do that.
But when I finish I can feel it my pocket dimension is basically filled, I don't think I can put anything else there.. it kinda annoys me to be honest.
But before I can think of anything else or do anything else I hear a voice or better.. something or someone speaking in my head.
*"Can you hear me, little one?"*
Oh.. ohhhh.. its.. I did it.
The meeting I have been preparing for is at hand, I take a step forward and straighten myself, for I am about to meet him.
"..I can hear you.. Veldora"
Its time to finally meet you face to face