'Fuck!! I just had to go jinx it, me and my big, misfortunate mouth....Although I never said it out loud either. I'm misfortunate either way!!
As I was suddenly being dragged back across the ground, further and further away from the exit, my eyes widened in horror.
If I returned back now, I would definitely die! That was all that ran rampant in my head.
"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! " I clawed my hands and fingers forward into the ground, trying to desperately fight back against the pull but to no avail.
My body was weak and heavily wounded, depleted of all energy. My bare finger couldn't even scrape the hard, fine, obsidian ground, and I only ended up shredding and blistering my tips.
I jerked my head towards the direction I was getting pulled at, and instinctively turned around at once to face the ghastly horror that awaited me.
For a good reason, I began to imagine how I would die...again.
Gut? Decapitate me? Or worse?
'What could be worse than that?! '
Scratch that. I can think of a few...
My body came to a stop with me staring wide eyed and warily at what waited for me, and the moment I stopped, i shrieked again at the monstrosity.
"Argh!!" I held my breath sharply and shut my lips
'Bloddy fucking hell! What is that?!'
Just then, I heard a familiar synthetic voice.
[It's the Slime's true body.] Meta was as deadpan, and always knew when to chip in as always—
Is that what she expects me to say?!
'And where the fuck have you been?! No, forget that. Did you say it's real body? ' I shook my head internally and said.
Indeed the Slime really did somehow survive. But it was also... different. Very different. Disturbingly different.
I stared with horror filled eyes at the molten silvery blood of an unrefined proportion looming over me, then lowered my eye suspiciosly.
'Something is wrong. ' I quickly noticed and activated my Appraisal skill.
...
[Name: Silver Slime
Type: Monster
Status: Drastically Weakend]
...
I ignored the new function of Appraisal and turned to the main part.
Drastically weakend...
[It's core has been damaged, and barely survived your attack. Slimes have special characteristics, and one of them is teir ability to instantly multiply and reproduce. A Demon Slime takes that ability to newer levels and can replicate a clone of itself to survive an attack at the sacrifice of splitting its core in two.] Meta briefly explained, and I managed to get a rough idea of what happened.
That was why I didn't get a official message that I destroyed the Silver Sentinel. It split its core and converged it's main aspect to a main body before narrowly escaping.
The unshapely silver blob of slime was constantly wiggling, trying desperately to take a form or a shape. It stood over me, looking like it'll become a flat puddle of silver juice in any second from now, and clumps of its body was already beginning to split off and fall off to the ground.
Some parts were even dripping, and appeared thinner than the rest of its eerie body.
But all of this just gave me confidence, and half a sinister smile made it to my lips.
'Oh, so you're saying it'll die in time then? Hehe. ' Guess I didn't have to do much of anything then.
Hurry up and die so I can receive my experience points!!
As I silently prayed in my heart, earnestly for the monster which had caused me so much pain and suffering to drop dead as karma, the Silver Slime suddenly lunged forward at me.
"What...!!"
Before I could voice even a simple curse, I was enveloped in its gooey like body, as my senses were immediately blocked.
My whole face was enveloped in a viscous and slimey film, and the diabolical monster invaded all of my orifices, sending my racing heart into deeper turmoil.
"Guark-!!"
I gasped for breath, terrified to the bone.
This time, I really, really, felt like I would die. I was suffocating, and my vision was covered. I couldn't see anything, smell anything or sense anything, and my heart pounded as if threatening to live my chest.
It went into my mout and nose, my ears and eyes, and even penetrated into my skin causing it to tingle and sizzle.
I felt my skin burn and my body convulse strongly as the split moment of torture seemed to drag on for a painful eternity. The inside of my body burned with heat that seemed to seem from the deepest depths of my soul and filled my being with warmth.
It wasn't exactly painful or horrendous, but the total share experience of all that was happening to me was terrifying enough to make me want to almost pass out from fear and suffocation. I grasped with my finger and hands at the thin viscous film covering my face and gagging my mouth, but to no avail.
As the diabolical monster continued to suffocate me and invade my body, I suddenly felt the spreading heat inside of me disperse. And the next second, the damned slime finally decided it was enough of putting me through this hell and extricated from my body.
I coughed up the slime, as the thin film that covered my face, nose, and mouth dissolve, leaving me in disarray and gasping for breath on the ground.
The first thing I did was to heave for breath.
Goddammit...feels like I was drowning just a second ago.
I held my chest and coughed furiously against the ground. No matter how much I spat out, I could still almost taste the stickiness of the slime, and feel it still linger in my lungs and inside.
I raised my head weakly as I coughed and stared hatefully at the shifting blob before me. It's size was much smaller now, and about the size of a shapeless soccer ball.
But why didn't it kill me?
I was still recovering from my state of panic, but I still managed to retain some level of constructive reasoning. The Silver Slime had a diabolical chance to end me. In fact, a few seconds longer and I would have probably died from suffocation.
Just as I thought that, my head buzzed and I heard a ding only I could hear.
...
[Initiating bonding ritual.]
...
A bright gold light soon spread out against the floor underneath me before my vision.
"Wh... what?" I blinked my still hazy eyes In bewilderment and watched a complex illusionary magic circle made of the gold light form and unravel under me.
'Did...the system just say bonding? ' I thought and barely raised my head to stare at the Slime that was still struggling to hold it's form.
My eyes slowly fluttered as the next moment a bright golden radiance filled my vision. A transient warmth burned mildly inside my body as all of a sudden I felt a strange tingle in my chest.
The strange happening was over as suddenly as it came, the spreading gold radiance ceased, and the circle of light dissolved and dissipated just as it apperead. still alive.
The first thing I did was gasp.
I was still alive...
But I felt even more exhausted than before.
"Meta, what just happened?" As I asked Meta while massaging my throat that was strangely sore, I tried to get up but immediately fell back down against my backside.
My heart was still racing and pounding so I took some breath to try to regain some calm. Just then, a blurred figure crossed the edge of my vision and I was alerted.
I turned to see a dark silver blob of slime bounce next to me and froze. Just then Meta said.
[You have formed a Familiar contract with the Silver Slime.]
At the same time, a blue interface appeared before me with a system prompt.
...
[Contract ritual has been fulfilled. Congratulations, you now have a Familiar!]
...
"Don't bullshit!" I spat out at the sick joke.
What the fuck is that supposed to mean? What's a Familiar? With the fucking slime that just vandalized me?! No! I refuse! I don't want it! Give me back my purity!!
"Hey, Meta. Explain!" Recovering from the shock, I demanded pensively.
[There are a few conjectures. One, the Silver Slime, in order to sustain its existence and power had to form a bonding contract which allows the sharing of existences and life force with another existence, which in this case is you. It was either that, or it would turn to devouring you for nutrients to sustain itself.]
That's kind of scary.
I looked at the dark silvery gelatinous slime that was like a spherical and round blob. The previously terrifying monster whose body was falling apart piece by piece now looked so tame, small and surprisingly cute.
But all of that was just a visage, and I knew it.
...
[{Appraisal}Level 2 has been activated]
___
___
[Name: --
[Race: Demon Slime (Evolved from the Silver Slime)
[Type: Monster
[Status: Satisfied, and oddly tame...]