Layman
Melted into his throne, Layman was listening idly to the pleas of his subjects, doing everything within his power to see to their needs. His days mostly consisted of this, seeing to others. A farcry from before this nation began to form. The slime had managed to sneak away from his duties the other day under a guise that he needed to keep his skills up. Thankfully that had led to him discovering Yolen, the being who claimed that he was the soveriegn of all mana. Though Layman didn't fully believe Yolen, he had to admit that he was powerful and could be a great help to Altheron. Yolen's insistence on remaining neutral was a cause for Layman's concern, if he didn't wish to side with Altheron, who did he wish to side with? Another concern was Yolen's apparent ability to control undead, Nox now seemed to get agitated whenever anyone mentioned Yolen, and began looking over his shoulder and wringing his hands. Layman could still order Nox to do as he wished, but there were rumours starting, of how Nox would betray Altheron.
Layman had gotten a good look at the status of Yolen and he had been shocked by the number of skills that were beyond powerful, discounting the Undead King skill that seemed to heavily mirror his own Demon Lord skill. The two skills appeared to be variants of one another, though Layman's own appeared to be a more powerful variant, requiring more mana per activation. Another thing that had caught Layman's attention were the Fallen's literally limitless MP reserves, something that he'd never expected to see.
"My King, there is a problem," the submissive yet powerful voice of Molkoh, Layman's second in command pulled the slime from his introspection.
"Leave us," Layman called out to those gathered in the main chamber. Almost as soon as he said it, the large black chamber was empty except for the two of them. "You may speak."
The minotaur let out an anxious breath. "The scouts from Helios that we invited to see our city last week have returned with more than four times their original number. We sent Parsow in to recieve whatever message that they intended to give, but he didn't return. An hour later a pyre was lit and Vurpil said that she could smell Orc-flesh on the wind."
Layman let himself digest the information. It was clear what it meant, Helios wasn't taking Altheron seriously, clearly Goh thought of them as no more than a group of rogue monsters. Yolen either hadn't yet done what he had promised, or hadn't succeeded. In either case, Layman needed to deal with this situation as reasonably as possible.
"We will go to the camp, and I will speak with the elves personally."
The minotaur nodded, but Layman's Mana Sonar caught a shiver of fear running down his subordonate's spine. He was right to be scared, scared of what Layman would do if the elves didn't back down.
Soon, the two of them reached the crest of the hill upon which the scout team had spotted the elves. Sure enough, there was a garrison gathered around two hundred metres away on the grassy planes at the bottom of the hill. Layman let his Mana Sonar focus on the camp down below. Without eyes like most other races, Layman had used his job to give himself another mode of sight, this Mana Sonar. To his sight, with world around him suddenly became crisp and vibrant as the skill echoed outwards. When it hit the camp, it was almost as if Layman was stood there amongst the soldiers. He could see into each tent, behind every barricade that they had placed. There was no sign of Parsow, but Layman's sense did fall upon a pyre with a charred husk upon it. He didn't assume it was Parsow as the others would, but he realised that it was when the Sonar hit the commander of the garrison. Upon the elf's wrist was the band that Layman had granted Parsow as part of their contract.
An unbridled anger surged from deep within the crimson slime. To those on the outside of this slime's internal monologue, there was no motion, nothing to suggest the slime had thought at all, but the members of this scouting group gathered around knew differently.
Layman's form changed, the pile of amorphous slime began to lift, forming limbs of blood-red jelly, veins of multiple colours running throughout his form. From within his form, a violet set of veins flashed and the deep red slime on his newly formed arms and legs hardened to a dark crimson stone. Then another set of lines glowed purple and suddenly the slime was clad in deep black armour.
"I will speak with the commander," said Layman, matter-of-fact. Then, though you couldn't see for the helm and full armour that he wore, another series of veins lit up and the smile leapt into the air, soaring high over the grassy plains.
These veins that lit up were not veins at all, but tattoos bound to certain 'layers' of Layman's surface as part of his pre-ascension job of Enscribed Warrior. Each tattoo represented a skill that the slime had given himself, though the time required was extortionate for each one and the chance of failure incredibly high, he'd managed to create many skills for himself.
Just as he was about to plummet down to the ground, Layman activated his Untraceable skill and landed without even disturbing the ground or making a sound.
The tent ahead of him was the commander's tent and Layman could sense him within, still wearing the bracelet that he'd gifted Parsow. Rage, pure and unbridled churned within the burgeoning nation's King as he pushed aside the tent flaps and stepped within.
The commander was an elf with yellowish blonde hair wearing a set of plate armour as he sat at an oaken desk signing reports with a quill. As the commander dipped the quill into his ink-pot again, Layman deactivated the Untraceable skill. Immediately the commander's perception detected the slime clad in deep black plate. To most eyes, the reactions of the commander would have been lightning quick, but Layman had come to realise that his stats were far above even that of most Ascended.
The commander moved sluggishly towards his sword that was propped up against his chair as he sprung up, his feet sliding into a ready stance. All of this happened, to Layman's eyes, as if the commander was moving through glue. He took four steps to cross the makeshift command room and grab the commander by the neck, all the while, the man hadn't even managed a yell.
Layman let his focus ease as he crushed the man's throat enough that the cry for help he was about to attempt became a strangled yelp.
"What are you doing here?" Layman asked the elf, trying his best not to snap the man's neck here and now. He let up slightly on his vice grip, just enough that the man could croak a response.
The elf scowled down at him and spoke, "We're here to exterminate the monster threat in our great nation." Then the elf surprised Layman by spitting on him in rebuke.
Layman had had enough, "A lie would've saved your men." Then he snapped the man's neck.
YOU HAVE SLAIN - ELVEN COMMANDER
The body dropped to the ground and Layman gently pulled Parsow's bracelet from the man's wrist. He activated the Storage skill and the bracelet became a deep violet light, verging on black, then vanished. He would bring it back to her husband and children.
Then he prepared to activate a skill he'd only ever used once. It was the single most destructive thing that he was capable of, but it drained his entire MP reserve when he used it. The last time, he'd been sick for days afterwards, this time would be no different, but it needed to be done.
Just as he was about to activate Annihilation, there was a huge crash and the ground beneath Layman shook. He didn't need to turn, like many other races did, to see what had made the crash, or exit the tent to see. His Mana Sonar did that for him. As cries of alarm and the clanging of weapons at the ready began, Layman could sense the Fallen that he had sent out to talk to the world leaders, dying in a crater in the middle of this camp.