Darkness
Mike was in complete darkness unsure if he was dead or alive as he could not feel anything around him just nothing at all. It was scary but Mike comforted himself by thinking that he is not dead. Still, that comfort was unfounded, and Mike could do nothing not even connecting to the system or Abbey or Sarenthia no matter how hard he tried there was nothing. That was until he felt something strange trying to reach out to him that Mike took to be either Abbey or Sarenthia so he reached out to it. Soon a connection was established.
"Hello?" Mike asks out loud
"Hello?" Mikes voice rings out asking him
"Who are you?" Mike asks trying to get an answer
"Who are you?" Mike's voice asks back
"Can you only speak by using what I say?" Mike asks getting an idea that this might be a problem
There was a race of creatures that could only mimic things that they heard so it was hard for them to speak as they could only repeat things they heard before whether it be noises or voices. This was probably a similar situation that Mike was in so he decided to test it out to see if he was correct.
...
Synthia was flustered at what to do. While Mike was talking to whatever it was that connected to Synthia was seeing Mike inside the slime while he looked to be unconscious. However, there were a few factors that were making her flustered right now with the fact that Mike's clothes were being taken off while in here.
Mike's clothes were being taken off for some reason while inside the slime but it was only taking off the top half of his clothes for now while his upper body started bleeding all of a sudden after his top clothes were taken off. That enough was to make this paladin completely flustered.
Synthia like most paladins would take oaths to their gods which would lead to them following them to the best of their abilities and by breaking a part of their oath or doing something terribly egregious then they become fallen paladins like Synthia right now. Still, why is this relevant? Well, most of the time paladins most of the time are not supposed to engage in any form of intimate actions unless they were to be married or something similar.
So Synthia was having a miniature meltdown seeing Mike almost be forcefully stripped in front of her causing her to freeze up. Still, while Synthia was not able to move Sarenthia was so she tried flying inside the slime to try and free Mike but she can't move at all so she tries expending some energy to heat the blade. It works but all it does is make the slime spit out Sarenthia who falls to the floor with a clang.
Then the slime begins to retreat down the way that Mike and Synthia came from breaking her stupor only to have her chase after the slime while Sarenthia flies after in this weird chase sequence.
...
Mike who was oblivious to what was going on feels something weird about his body with this connection with whatever it is he is talking to. He could feel that whatever it is was looking at something other than him prompting Mike to be wary and try to limit the connection to just being able to talk and no more. Thankfully he had plenty of experience with mental communication with Sarenthia and Abbey being the two that he talks to in his mind so he had picked up a few things, to say the least.
Still, he did not outright sever the connection since he had no idea how this thing would react to him blocking it off so he had to tread carefully. So Mike starts trying to talk to this thing and giving out some words so that it might be able to talk to him but eventually Mike realizes that while this thing can mimic words that he says it does not really understand their meaning.
"Underneath... tree... follow... bad... Synthia..." Mikes voice rings out back at him just confirming this thing is dumb as a bag of rocks
So Mike decides to just go ahead and take a leap of faith and cut off the connection seeing that he is not getting anywhere with it.
As soon as Mike's connection is severed all of a sudden the voice stops which was something that Mike had been expecting and now that, that is done Mike tries to figure out how to get out and to do so he has to utilize his mana. So with little regard to his physical health and how much this is going to hurt Mike casts [Ice Blast] from both hands.
Now, why was Mike hesitant to cast any spells while inside the slime? Well simply because he was inside it and as a result, he would be taking damage regardless of the spell he cast since everything around him is the same material and can potentially harm him if he acted recklessly. Still, Mike lets loose.
...
Mike has taken 5 freezing damage
Mike has taken 4 freezing damage
Black Slime has taken 6 freezing damage
Black Slime has taken 6 freezing damage
...
Mike took some damage but it was fine as the slime started reacting to its insides being frozen before it spits out Mike whole lands in the sewer sludge with a splash.
...
Mike is now poisoned from consuming toxic substances
...
Some of the literal crap got in his mouth causing Mike to get up before unloading his breakfast into the sewers. Getting up Mike is soon hit by Synthia who was running at full speed after him and she hit like a truck that sends other people to heaven, hell, or another world with the amount of speed she accumulated causing him great amounts of pain.
...
Mike has taken 15 bludgeoning damage
...
'Ow' Mike thinks to himself as he feels the strain of his bones
Synthia was lying on top of him while her helmet flew off as well from the impact of running into him while Sarenthia who was in the blade was hovering above the two of them.
Synthia looks up and both Mike and her gaze into each other's eyes.
"Hey there beautiful," Mike says
This was sudden, to say the least, that Synthia's face turns bright red at Mike's remark prompting her to freeze up stiff.
"Can... you... please... get... off?" Mike asks after a few seconds as Synthia is in a full suit of armor so she was not that light wearing that thing, to say the least.
At that Synthia was broken from her freeze and soon gets off of Mike who was still thoroughly drenched in sewage water and only the Gods know what. Mike really needed a bath right now as he got up and saw that Synthia's helmet which flew off was now in the sewage and she was picking it up and for some reason looking like she was going to put it back on.
"You are really thinking about putting that back on?" Mike asks her as he contemplates whether he should mobilize his [Burning palms] to at least dry his clothes but decides against it as he did say no fire here
So with that Mike is forced to adventure forth in wet clothes. Yippee.
"Look Synthia don't wear the helmet alright," Mike says seeing as she is still thinking about it
She still does not say anything before going to put it on her head but before she can do so Mike touches it and sends it into his inventory space.
"Nice save brother," Abbey chimes in
'Thanks'
"Hey?! What did you do to my helmet?" Synthia asks confused
"Magic storage space," Mike says
2
'Come on it is a half-truth!' Mike cries out internally
"Where is it?!" She asks again clearly not convinced
"Here," Mike says while taking it out of his inventory and it appears in his hand
Synthia does not say anything but just reaches out for her helmet but Mike places it back in the inventory space before she could take it back.
"No one is down here with us so I see no need for you to keep on wearing this stupid thing while down here," Mike says as he turns around and starts walking in the direction that the black slime was going before it spat him out.
"I need that helmet for defense, you moron!" Synthia shouts at him
"And I need to see that beautiful face of yours"
Synthia's face turns crimson again at Mike's comment.
"Okay... how come you are suddenly a smooth talker?" Abbey asks a bit dumbfounded at how often Mike, a nerd, could talk to a girl like this so easily
'I am just playing a role alright, and don't hold any stereotypes for us nerds alright, we have feelings too'
"Still I just brushed aside the whole thing with kissing the hand of a noble's daughter who is a family of vampires, but..."
'But what? Can I not have fun making fun of the opposite gender or tease them?' Mike asks her
"You... you can but I just never expected it from you though..."
'Well I am weird so get used to it alright' Mike replies before cutting the connection and looking back at Synthia who was still back where Mike left her
"You coming? I can't see anything over here?" Mike says prompting Synthia to move and then casts the light in his direction with him taking the lead this time
'Wait a minute if I got my system back then what were the stats of that slime?'
Mike opens up his system to see that there was indeed a status screen from the slime since he did harm it.
[Name: None
Level 16
Race: Slime variant
Health: 428/440
Skills: Nutrient Suck, Absorb, and Non-magical Resistance (Creature has more skills but are not visible due to difference in level)
Attack Methods: Tentacle (30-38 Bludgeoning damage)]
'Oh... crap' Mike thinks seeing this thing's health
Its skills were another thing that Mike was worried about since he would only be given a few skills that he had access to due to being so low leveled. Still, Mike needs to decide in regards to what to do, should he continue to search blindly for someone in this big medieval city or should he just leave this to the professionals.
Mike sighs at this and stops walking drawing a confused look from Synthia as she expected Mike to continue.
"Let's head back Synthia," Mike says as he starts trying to remember the way back up to the surface
"What? Why do you want to go back now?" She asks confused at Mike's 180
When Mike asked for her help he was extremely worried for Daniel, but now it seemed that Mike had changed into someone else.
"Well for one we smell like dragon poop and two if we really were to find my master we could probably do very little to help him or against his captors," Mike says as he finds an exit back to the surface
"Well... you do have a point but still shouldn't you at least try to look for him some more?" Synthia asks
"I can't really look more as I am not strong enough to deal with whoever captured him"
"Fine then what are you going to do then?" Synthia asks
"Well I should try and contact Grand Wizard Grosso as he should be able to help but if that does not work well then I guess I can go to the capital to report what happened there," Mike answers as he starts climbing up some rungs leading up to a sewer exit
"Alright then"
"Also to make up for taking up your time on this wild goose chase let me start by paying for a hot bath for you and also getting your armor cleaned at the very least," Mike offers as he feels quite embarrassed that Synthia had to go through all this trouble for nothing
"Um... sure, but can I have my helmet back please?" She asks as they exit out in an alleyway somewhere in the city
"Nope" he replies as he walks to the end of the alleyway
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Sorry for not posting anything the past few days as I have started a new job and was busy with that but don't worry I was just getting used to it and will be posting regularly again, so here and hope you enjoyed the chapter.