Ch 51 – Slime

"M-monster!" a group of mercenaries shouts, their eyes wide and their legs trembling in fear, looking at the young boy sitting atop a pile of dead or bleeding bodies draped in the color of blood, his crimson eyes glancing at them with a nonchalant stare while a small smile forms on his face. A chill runs up their spine from his mere glance alone and he dealt the final nail in the coffin without mercy.

"Boo," Braun said, flashing a toothy grin at them as his killing intent activates, a shadowy crimson haze formed behind him causing the new opponents to shriek and run away to the kingdom of Iyagon in the far distance.

Chuckling, Braun watches the blood covering his body seep inwards to his flesh, skin, muscles, and bones and felt his body getting stronger permanently, the nutrients within the fresh blood augmenting his body to a great degree.

Standing up with a single pat to the ground using his right palm, he shoots high into the air and lands back on the fleshy mountain he was on with a front flip, slicking his hair back, he watches a series of screens flash in his unobstructed vision in full view.

[Deus Ex Machina – Level 2]

[Heart of the Cards – Level 3]

[Auto-Dodge – Level 3]

[Aim-Bot – Level 3]

[Swiftness – Level 3]

[Extrasensory Perception – Level 3]

[Killing Intent – Level 3]

[Blood Augmentation – Level 2]

[Weapons Mastery – Level 2]

[Teleportation – Level 2]

[Deflection – Level 2]

[Reflect – Level 2]

[Body Manipulation – Level 1]

[Water Walking – Level 1]

'That's a great haul for less than an hour of work.' Braun thought, glancing around him showing the green meadows and hills coated in a river of blood that formed from the people that challenged him into a duel to the death, an easy manipulative trick that he did using greed and irrational thoughts of the human psyche, enhancing it to an unnatural degree that forced them to fight him thinking that they did it on their own accord.

Closing his eyes, he connects to his newly acquired ability and connects it with his body.

Within an instant, his four limbs transform into a writing mass of tentacles and he floats into the air using his tentacles as footing. Closing his eyes, the ends of his writing tentacles turn into gigantic maws of monstrous appearance that start to devour the bodies of the humans below him, their bodies turning into pure nutrition for him as the fleshy tendrils pulsate showing the transfer of nutrition into his main body.

After a while, he was left there alone with the green fields of grass returning to normal, the only indication of something happening here was the smell of iron surrounding the air giving it an unnatural vibe as if the grim reaper of death has just traveled to this place and left.

[Name: Freidrich Braun] [Title: Secret Esper Agent]

[Race: Human]

[Class: Esper]

[Body: 75]

[Mind: 150 (75)]

[Spirit: 75]

[Abilities: OFA(100%), Psychic Force Manipulation, Deus Ex Machina, Trading(Level 10)]

[Points: 0]

Letting out a burp from his mouth, Braun turns his head around towards the dirt path of Iyagon leading towards one of the entrances to the kingdom, and still didn't see any cart in sight.

'Running it is.' Braun thought, his eyes flashing crimson while his body gets covered by a crimson glow, crouching down on all fours, he raises his buttocks to the air while the whole world around him seemingly slows down that even the swaying of grass around him stood still.

And with a single boom, a wave of air erupts from the place he was standing while dents were formed on the ground below, and a crimson blur runs through the dirt path in the distance into the unknown away from Iyagon.

'Northwest would be the nameless forest that was given the unofficial name Monster Forest by the residents and players of Laeborg where they can capture monsters for themselves using the magical device called Capture Cards that only works on monsters and not humans. Perhaps I could see how the card is made and remake it later on.' Braun thought, the mental map ingrained into his mind showing in crystal clear quality as if he took a photo of it with the greatest camera ever known.

'I could just get a slime for myself outside the field and could use it to get more abilities inside Laeborg by inciting them to fight me in a perilous battle.' Braun thought, making a quick plan on the go while moving at the speed of sound, leaving multiple light dents on the dirt path he was running on while the distance in his mind gets closer and closer to the forest.

And soon, just as he expected, a forest with trees more than 50 meters in height on average was seen, having a pine-like structure for the sky of leaves as the whole forest was enveloped in darkness and the few rays of light that shines through brings a sense of hope to the dark lands hiding within the Monster Forest.

Stopping his movement, his Extrasensory Perception activates passively and he was able to sense the slimes hiding around the fields of grass around him.

Walking to his right, he goes up the hill of green flowing grass and halts right beside a giant log on the ground covered in moss.

"Hey buddy, you can come out," Braun said, crouching down and knocking lightly on the wooden log, releasing a tapping sound from it, alerting the slime residing within it.

Slowly, he watches a blob of blue slime peek through the holes from the hollow log and sees its gelatinous body.

Grabbing it slowly, he shows it an amicable smile as the slime writhed in joy, extending a blue tentacle towards him and he carefully grabs it like a fragile animal.

"You okay buddy?" Braun said, patting the slime as it slowly surrounds his whole right hand, its body bobbing up and down in joy at the unexpected company.

"Hehe, you're kinda cute," Braun said, sitting down on the log as he watches the slime crawl up to his lap.

Playing with it, the slime crawls all over his body with its surprisingly sticky non-sticky body, from his lap to his chest and on top of his head, the slime continues to reside on top of him like he was his throne.

"So, do you want to be my partner?" Braun said, a grin plastered right on his face as the slime squirmed around indicating its answer, and the answer was a resounding yes from the slime. Widening his grin, his charisma once more shows its absurd effects that it even worked on a dumb poopy brain blue slime.

"Nice!" Braun said, standing up from his sitting position while the wind blows around them, his hair fluttering with the wind while the slime squirms on top of his hair from the fresh breeze.

Groaning, Braun slowly walks down the grassy hill back to the dirt path while the slime on top of him bobs up and down with the rhythm of his steps, up down up down.

Humming a tune that the slime attentively listens to, he casually starts to walk towards the Monster Forest in the distance while his body slowly starts to change, the inner workings of the slime atop him reveal their very nature like an open book, and both of his arms starts to change from fleshy into slimy.

Glancing down at his slimy arms, he cracks his neck and takes a deep breath when he was right in front of the edge of the Monster Forest.

Encapsulating the slime atop him in a telekinetic barrier to not let it fall, he swings his right arm towards the air and watches it elongate right to the branch of the 100-meter tree on his right side, doing the same with his left arm, he remembers his time in Eldia and decides to do this for old time's sake.

Walking back further to elongate his arms, he felt his arms nearing their stretchable limit and with the sound of rubber whipping forward, he launches high into the air while his crimson eyes dilate to show the whole world around him in full view.

As if both past and present blend into one another, Braun swings through the large forest just like a century ago, from one branch to another, he moves from tens of trees each second without fail as if he has mastered this maneuver since long before.

And due to his invisibility, not a single monster below him noticed his presence and at the speed he was going, no normal monster would be able to keep up with him even if it was flying.

Feeling the slime squirm on his head in exhilaration, he smirks and continues to swing from a tree to another tree, then another and another.

His arms were like the cables and hooks of his old ODM gear, just that the difficulty was a lot harder considering he has no gas to propel him forwards at ridiculous speeds but with his mastery over his body and mind, moving like a shadow was no problem for Braun.

And after a few minutes, he finally sees the clear meadows of grass in the far distance illuminated by the sun's rays of yellow light, and as he looks down, he even sees players roaming around the forest while cards were buckled to their waist.

Looking at the cards with dilated eyes, his vision zooms in on them and he analyzes the card's structure within a split instant, and he finally confirms his suspicions, those cards were made up of the essence of victory.

What is the essence of victory you may ask? Well, it's simply the essence of victory you dumb bitch. What else could it be?! It's literally on its name, the essence of victory.

'So, it seems like V is really using the essence of victory as a source of power, an oddball considering the other crystalline entities use mental energy for their growth. Oh well, I should be able to control that essence for myself soon and funnel it all in to strengthen Deus Ex Machina and challenge the Undefeated King to a duel, and perhaps even change up my plans to end my adventure in this subdimension one fell swoop.' Braun thought while he continues to swing from one tree to another, finally passing through the last tree and onto the wide, open field outside the kingdom of Laeborg.

Letting go of his grip from the branches his two hands were holding on, he flings forward right into the field of grass in front of him at a rapid pace.

But with masterful movements, his body halts in midair just as it was about to hit the ground from the telekinetic hold that grabbed his body, the activation of his power indicated by the crimson glow in his eyes.

Dropping down to the ground slowly and gently, the invisible field around him turns off and his full body was shown lying down on the soft carpet of grass below him, a strand of grass even tickles the inside of his nostrils.

Standing up, he undid the telekinetic barrier around the slime and retracts both of his hands back to normal, its slimy appearance returning back into flesh and bones along with its size going back to its previous length.

"We're finally here buddy," Braun said, turning his head around to look at the grand kingdom in the distance that is miles ahead compared to the kingdom of Iyagon.

From an outside view alone, its walls, houses, paths, and buildings were of higher quality even though most of the inside of the kingdom was obstructed by the walls surrounding it.

But most of all, the people around him running around and even fighting against one another using monsters summoned from cards that transformed into light was what intrigued him.

'It's time to finally explore this kingdom and gain new abilities for myself.' Braun thought, his mind remaining cold and calculating while his understanding of how V's power works became clearer and clearer each second.

AN: This is 2039 words, you're welcome.

Writing is hard, so send me some powerstones.

(June 14, 2022 – 192nd day of writing)