The gigantic slime fear monster opened its mouth wide for a loud roar!
Actually, it has nothing but a mouth and a body, just like a leech or a slug, only that its mouth was 10 feet wide and its body was 50 feet long, able to take up an entire hallway.
But Pavor only marveled at the sight like a proud father. "Good one! Such an adorable roar from a small baby."
The slime monster was indeed just a baby, a larva of the true adult slime Phobodemon. This means it was a newly hatched fear, and someone had manifested it recently inside the castle.
The slime larva seemed to be confused, tilting its roly-poly mouth from the compliment.
Since it sensed no fear from Pavor, it felt a bit wary to attack. Just like a fierce angry puppy that was suddenly met with a kind gentle owner.
"Come here, child. Let me pat your slimy little head."
The way he beckoned somehow felt familiar enough for the slime larva to lower its guard and move closer to be patted by Pavor.
"Auuuuuurrrrrr…." It made a cooing sound that was still pretty disturbing for the regular individual, but was endearing for the former Lord of Dread.
"Good slime." He chuckled.
The holographic screen appeared again, saying:
[Mission accomplished. You have gained 25 Points that you can use in the Store.]
He looked at the maid to see how she would react to this holographic screen, but she didn't seem to notice it. Her eyes were focused on him and the slime larva he was patting, looking terrified and in disbelief.
"What store do you speak of, spirit?" Pavor asked the system.
The holographic screen suddenly showed an array of small boxes with items to buy using points. Things like 'Sword Level 1' or 'Speed Enhancer' were there, which cost hundreds of points.
There were also 'Future Event Hints', 'Event Redo', and 'Event Skip', but those cost thousands to hundreds of thousands of points.
But his eyes were drawn to one of the items merely titled:
'The Secret of the World'
It was the most expensive, costing 1,000,000,000 points.
He tried tapping that one, but the system showed a warning:
[Not enough points. You can gain more points when you complete missions and quests.]
Intrigued, Pavor decided he would try doing more of these 'Missions' that this spirit was giving him just to see what this was all about.
"Give me the next mission then."
[Next Mission: Locate the source of the Phobodemon to get 50 points.]
Phobodemons can continue to manifest no matter how many times heroes defeat or slay them if the source of the fear continues to be in an anxious state because of their phobia. Since Pavor was quite fond of this slime larva, he doesn't want to alert more people that could kill it and more of its kind.
He must locate this source discreetly then.
"Mysophobia." Pavor rubbed his chin. "Do you have that, mortal?"
The maid on the floor blinked and tried to snap out of her confusion. "W-What is that, young master? I am not literate in all the phobias thought in the academies."
Due to the constant attack of Phobodemons, nobles and middle class citizens are required to learn about different fears and how to deal with them as early as the age of 6.
However, most peasants could not afford this education and were usually left in the dark to rely on heroes or fend for themselves from these attacks.
"It's the extreme fear of organisms that may bring disease." Pavor explained. "But if you had mysophobia, you would most likely not want to touch dirty clothes like that. So it could not be you."
He rubbed his chin. "A noble, perhaps?"
There was suddenly a loud crash outside the castle, like a thunderclap. Pavor looked outside and saw that there were three other slime larvae in the gardens, surrounded by knights and attacking them.
A dome of blue light seemed to keep the area of battle secured, so that the slime larvae could not go out.
The one who seems to be keeping this golden shield was a young man with spectacles, floating about 5 feet off the ground. The chain attached to the side of his spectacles had pearls, and there was also a symbol of a coral on top of his turquoise cravat.
He had black hair but it wasn't pure black, almost having a purple-blue sheen to it. His eyes were the same purple-blue glow that was like that of a jellyfish. His suit was aquamarine blue, and he was not wearing any armor because he did not need to. He could easily conjure a defensive aura around himself if he desired using his spellbook.
Pavor recognized him as the same man that was in Xarian Plover's party. His name was Testudo Bulwark, but most just call him 'Tudo'.
"Everyone else get out of the defense shield! The Retaliators will take care of this!" Tudo yelled to the knights who were not doing so well in fighting the slime larva.
Tudo was also a knight like everyone else, one of the youngest, but he was also one of the Retaliators.
The Retaliators were a group of individuals chosen by the gods to retaliate against Phobodemons. They were blessed since birth to hold powers that would help them eradicate evil and be legendary heroes to protect the weak.
Tudo chanted under his breath, his voice too low for anyone to hear, barely a whisper. His mouth moved quickly and his eyes rolled to the back of his head.
Soon, sparks of violet electricity came into ropes… No, barbed wires surrounding the slime larvae.
"AUUUUUUUURGHHHH!!!!"
The slime larvae writhed, having nowhere to go and stuck to be hurt by these electric tentacles inside the blue dome.
And then.....
Whoooosh!
"Thanks for corralling the monsters for me, Tudo!" A raspy female voice came, along with a loud cackle.
She moved quicker than the eyes could see, jumping into the blue dome after scaling the walls. She seemed to come high up a turret and yet she landed on her feet without breaking a sweat.
She was wearing a glove with claws at the end of each finger, as long as knives. There was also a muzzle in her mouth that had long fangs like that of a saber-tooth tiger. Her scarlet hair flowed into the air like a flame, and her crimson armor seemed to be made of material so light that it still allowed her to move with such lightning speed.
"DIE, DIE, DIE!!!!!" She yelled at the slime larvae as she slashed their sebaceous bodies with her claws.
She spinned into the air, cutting chunks of them with each strike. The slime larvae roared in this torture of being restrained with barbed wires of violet electricity and these red claws.
This girl was the aggressive and bloodthirsty Lynx Vanguard. The second strongest Retaliator in the current batch of the Erosith Academy.
She was only second to Xarian, who was the strongest Retaliator among the second year students.
Well, he 'was' because now Pavor would be playing his role.
The Lord of Dread still felt a little annoyed by that notion, as he was no hero. He wanted all Retaliators to suffer and die for hurting his creations.
"Hahahaha! Die you filthy slimes!" She exclaimed.
Just as she would have torn them all apart into a million pieces...
Pavor jumped from the window of the highest tower in the castle, gaining everyone's attention!
"Your Highness!" The maid called out.
"Oh?"
Pavor expected that he would fly, but he didn't. He thought that he would still have that skill even in this mortal body. As he plummeted, however…..
The slime larva that he petted came to catch him, placing him inside its gooey body and breaking his fall!
"Glob, glob." Pavor thanked it with a mouthful of its amoebic substance.
Lynx Vanguard stopped attacking the larvae and Tudo lost focus on his spells, taking down the blue forcefield and barbed wires.
The injured larvae took it as their chance to recover and escape. They re-attached the chunks that were mutilated from their bodies moving like caterpillars using their pseudopods.
They crawled out of the garden, heading straight for the villages.
But as knights of the Kingdom of Erosith, Lynx and Tudo's primary concern was the safety of their prince. After all, he was the one destined to slay the God of Fear and put an end to all these monsters.
"Your Highness, are you alright!? Let me get you out of there!" Lynx exclaimed with her grating voice, trying to claw Pavor out of the larva.
"Stand back, mor— Friend." Pavor caught himself before he slipped. "I can handle this myself."
He easily got out of the slime larva's body, his body wet and covered in its sticky fluids. He raised his hand, gesturing to the two Retaliators to step back.
"It's alright, I planned to slay this one. You two go chase after those three that escaped." He commanded them.
Tudo looked behind them and realized the slime larvae they were attacking were gone. "Curses! We'll defeat them right away before they attack other civilians, Prince Pavor!"
Pavor sighed in relief that the pesky Retaliators were gone, and turned to the slime baby that saved him.
But there was also someone else standing beside it.
A small child. A blind little boy in rags.
He was blind and yet….
Pavor felt like the boy was smiling directly at him. A taunting, mocking smile that he was very familiar with, along with that sweet tone.....
"What are you doing, Pavor?"
He sounds exactly like the one he despised the most.