It had been nearly a month since Katsumi had been thrown out. Now, he had finally returned to Lithallin.
Well, nearly. He was still at the outskirts of the Western Forest. Soon he would be back inside the capital, and he would finally be able to use the power he had obtained to get revenge.
It had taken him another week to return from the deepest parts of the forest, and in the meantime, he had focused his efforts on improving Purple.
---
Type: Slime
Variant: Purple
Current Mass: 211kg
Aspects:
Viscosity: 12
Speed: 13
Digestion Speed: 10
Glow: 1
Stickiness: 20
Hardening: 61
Range: 18
---
Katsumi had focused on improving the Hardening and Range stats. However, it appeared that [Enhance] had diminishing returns. It took way more stamina than before to improve the Hardening stat even slightly. On the other hand, Purple's Hardening was already so strong that no monster in the forest could even put a scratch on it.
---
Mari was running. Twigs cracked under her feet as her feet slammed into the forest floor.
There had been patrols of guards inside the Western Forest. She had not been prepared for that, and she had been sighted.
She could hear yelling getting louder and louder behind her. There was no way she could outrun a trained soldier. Nevertheless, she kept running.
However, it was the end of the line for her. She heard a whizzing sound, and before she knew it she had fallen face-first into the dirt. An arrow was sticking out of her left calf. An involuntary yelp escaped her mouth.
Marii tried to crawl, but this attempt was futile. She could only watch as several guards and a person who appeared to be their captain approach her.
"Well, look at what we caught! A hero! Captain Rand, you're definitely getting a promotion this time."
"And I thought the higher-ups were crazy for putting us out here. So, young hero from another world, tell me. Why were you running from us? From me? The great Captain Bartholomew Rand of the Guard Force?"
---
Something was definitely off. Lithallin was surprisingly bright. Even from a distance, Katsumi could hear the cries and yells of men, and the clinking of armor.
There was also the fact that the Western Forest was swarming with Guards. Katsumi managed to stay hidden by moving in the tree canopy with his tentacles, but even then he was hesitant to move further out of the forest, lest he be spotted.
Currently, the best course of action was for Katsumi to stay put. The Guard Forces were not hunting for him, so ideally he should just wait for them to leave.
Katsumi had sent a bunch of slimes out in various directions to act as a scouting network. Through the shared vision, he could keep track of guard movements in a large area. Just as he was about to lay back and rest, he noticed something weird through one of his slimes.
A figure, running. And as he watched, the figure fell over, and tried to crawl. Whoever that person was, they were obviously in fear. Several guards were approaching.
Katsumi decided he had to check this out.
---
"A goddamn rebel, huh?" A steel boot kicked Mari in the stomach, sending her flying slightly. She could feel something acidic in her throat. The person who had kicked her was the Captain of the guards, a bearded, brown-haired man, Bartholomew Rand.
"Oi, Cap, there isn't really a need to rough her up that bad, is there?"
"You got a problem with that?"
"No, I mean, Cap, she's not pretty, but she doesn't look half bad either, if you get what I mean…"
The guards looked back at Mari. But this time, there was something else in their gazes…
Mari closed her eyes. She prayed for someone, anyone, to save her.
Nobody came.
The guards were stretching their hands out at her…
Something long and sticky wrapped itself around her waist. She felt a jerk, and the next moment she was flying through the air.
She landed in the arms of a person. What she now could see was a tentacle disengaged from her waist. A tentacle made of a black mist wrapped in purple slime.
Mari looked shakily up at her savior.
"...Hirai-kun?"
"Uh, hi I guess? It's been a while, Kimoto-san. Now, you guards over there, I'm just passing through, but may I please ask what the hell is going on here?"
A thousand questions ran through Mari's mind. What was that tentacle? What was the black mist enveloping him? Why was he here? Just when she was about to ask, she felt something gooey climb up her left leg. A slime. It pulled out the arrow embedded in her flesh, and formed a solid cast over that area.
"Kimoto-san, I'll answer any questions you have later, okay? Now you armored dudes, are you going to stop gawking and answer my questions?"
The guards were in shock. They had never seen anything like the tentacle that Katsumi had used, nor had they ever heard of a skill that generated a black mist. Nevertheless, the guard captain composed himself.
"Listen, brat! I don't know what sort of skill you're using, but you can't hope to match 5 guards! That woman is a criminal, to be captured on the orders of the Emperor himself! Hand her over now, kid, and I'll let you go! Do it! You've been ordered by Batholomew Rand, Captain of the 67th squad of the Lithallin Guard Force!"
"So you think you're stronger than me?"
"Wha… Of course we are. You trying to pick a fight, kid? I'll kill you if you don't back off this instant!"
Katsumi winced. He was actually trying to persuade them to not attack him by intimidating them since he currently had Kimoto as dead weight, but that came out wrong due to his sub-par communication skills. Eh, whatever, he might as well continue the facade to unnerve them.
"Try it."
The next moment, a small tree next to Katsumi was slashed in half.