Look, I'm not saying I'm bored or anything, but I'm incredibly bored at the moment! Perhaps it's the monotony of walking throughout a calming forest with nothing actually attacking us, or the incoherent ramblings of the old woman who we're currently protecting!
Come on, can you really blame me? I've got nothing to do other than... well, be bored half to death listening to these monotonous stories! Ai looks almost as annoyed as me... no, actually, way more than me. Like, several times more. She's really scary at times, honestly.
But I digress.
We've almost made it to our destination! Some... strange, far-off place in the forest. You know, with all her ramblings, she hasn't really told us anything about what it is.
"Hey... what exactly is this place we're trying to get to?" Might as well try and find out if there's anything off with it.
"Hm? Oh, it's just a small segment of the forest which the herb I need grows in."
"Yeah, but is there anything... how do I put this? Different about it?"
"..." She went silent for a moment, thinking, "Nope! Just the same as any other part of the forest. Don't worry about it, kiddo."
Ai narrowed her eyes hearing this, but the old woman seemed trustworthy enough! Or... maybe I'm not the best at seeing what a person is like on the inside.
"If you say so."
We walked for a bit longer after that little conversation if you could call it that. Eventually, the woman stopped telling her stories and said something else for once.
"Ah! We've made it!" Saying this, she picked up her speed, practically running ahead of us both.
"H-hey! Wait up!" Surprised by this, I stuttered a small bit, running after her... Though, I could have sworn I heard a certain Beastman behind me saying 'Wait' or something...
{Entered sub-section of the Dreitle Forest, 'The Necromancer's Trap.' Be warned, your chance of survival is low.}
Excuse... me?
All around me came undead beasts of all sorts of varieties, skeletal beasts, some human-like, some that resembled beasts. As well, beings with rotting flesh and vacant eyes surrounded me, too.
"Um... I can't help but think that I've made a big mistake." I muttered to myself, silently contemplating my recent choices.
"How right you are, kid!" A higher-pitched voice appeared next to a tree as a person left its shadows. A tall woman wearing a fancy dark robe, fitting for who I assume is a necromancer coming from the... well, undead monsters currently surrounding me and Ai.
Hm? Oh, Ai ran after me before all these monsters crawled up from the ground, luckily enough. She looked incredibly irritated at the moment... Maybe I should have listened to her earlier before running off after the old woman. Hey, where are they, anyway?
"Oh, hello," I waved, "See, I'm pretty sure you've made a huge mistake! You must have mistaken us for some other people you wanted... to gruesomely murder, I assume."
So, I know that's most definitely not the truth, but maybe some witty words will help her choose not to attack us! Hopefully! Probably not, though.
"No, no, I don't believe I have. You're the two total idiots who actually believed my subordinate, right? Don't try and joke your way out of this." A wicked smile was placed upon her face, ruining the subtle beauty she would have if it weren't for how terrifying she was right now.
"Hm, it was worth a try, at least." I shrugged, hiding how scared I was at the moment... hey, could you blame me? Look at this! I'm surrounded by a ton of undead monsters who I don't even know how to beat! I've really gotten us in quite the situation... But I've got a bit of a plan
"Look, I'm a busy guy, so I'm not gonna try and delay the inevitability of you attacking us or anything, so go on and attack us already!" Hopefully, my bluff would work.
"Huh? Really? Usually, most F-rank adventurers like you two would be shivering in fear by now..." And I took this time to appraise her and some of these monsters, pretty smart move by me, huh? Pretending to not stall by lying about not stalling while actually stalling! Absolutely genius!
Hm, let's see here... Alright, phew, none of these monsters have stats above like eight, but her on the other hand... she's pretty strong. Physically, well, no. She clearly paid no mind to her physical stats and only cared about intelligence and wisdom which are both over forty... Shoot, that's super high!
However, with Ai here, we might stand a chance.
"Well, if you say so!" And such, the small undead army started to approach.
At that moment, seconds before they all would attack us, Ai jumped back and my body increased in size, completely enveloping all of the surrounding monsters.
Allow me to explain.
See, Body Manipulation recently rose to level five while I was practicing with it yesterday! And with it, came the ability to control the size and volume of my body! And, since the outside of a slime's body works like a selectively permeable cell membrane, only taking in some things, the monsters all slid into the soft inners of me! Sounds gross when I say it, though... Anyways! I activate Gluttony and the monsters soon disintegrate into nothing, increasing my strength a good bit!
Huh! Oh! I got some new skills too! But I'll check out those later.
Seriously, the look of astonishment on the woman's face is hilarious. How funny, she was so cocky just seconds before this too! Hah-Hah-Hah!
I shrunk back into my original form.
"What in the world was that?!"
"A skill, what else would it be?"
"No, no! You just... completely destroyed all of my monsters! How the hell is that fair?!"
"Well, you did try and kill us."
Without any idea what to say, she clenched her teeth... and ran away. That was dealt with relatively easily, at least... Bit embarrassing I was super scared about that all, huh?
"Aren't you going to go after her...?" Ai, who's usually very quiet, spoke up.
"Oh, she's probably trembling in her boots! Not like she could cause any trouble with all her monsters dead."
"No, I mean... I saw a wanted poster with her face on it. The reward was five gold."
Five... gold? We only have like... one, right? That's like five times the amount I have!
"... Good point."
[Chapter 29, end]