The three, Miaru, Mokuri, and their newest member, Tizaku, are casually walking along the forest floor, with no signs of danger.
But.....soon later
"AAAAAHHHH!!!! Why is this happening? Why did you have to challenge that thing?!" yelled Miaru, as all three ran as fast as they could from a 15-foot tall black slime that was chasing them.
"I was just a bit curious! Don't judge me! Plus, I'm pretty sure I could beat that thing in one hit," Tizaku replied.
"Huh! Are you an idiot? Did you even listen to what I said earlier?" Miaru exclaimed.
"Yes, as Miaru explained, the black slime has the ability to take other living or non-living things' abilities, either dead or alive... How is that fair? That is an OP ability, but..." thought Mokuri seriously.
"Come on, I promise I won't get devoured," said Tizaku with pleading eyes.
"NO! Even if you are stronger than it, its devouring ability is a thousand times stronger... Chief Mokuri, what should we do?" Miaru asked.
"We are going to kill that thing, but first... Miaru, does it have a weakness?" Mokuri asked.
"Wait! Are you crazy?" Miaru replied.
"Miaru, just trust the plan I'm about to make," Mokuri said.
"Yeah, Miaru, just trust the plan," Tizaku added.
"Fine! Inside the black slime, there is a core. Break it or remove it, and then it dies. But to do it, you need to get into the slime without getting absorbed, which i say it's impossible" Miaru explained.
"OK, thanks. Now let's initiate the plan. Miaru to the right, Tizaku to the left. Make sure to attack it at long range. At your positions, climb a tree or something to make it easier," Mokuri commanded.
They split up, while Mokuri stopped in his tracks and faced the black slime. For a moment, Mokuri focused some of his mana on his limbs, which created a blazing aura on his arms and legs.
"GUYS! ATTACK!" Mokuri commanded.
"This is stupidly dangerous," Miaru exclaimed. Then, with precise positioning and accuracy, she shot red explosive crystals at it with a slingshot made by the half-dwarf village; it has magic enhancements.
"This is about to get interesting," Tizaku said, blushing with a suspicious grin.
Tizaku only turns one of her right arms into the trial guardian beast form, leaving the rest of her body looking human. She then creates floating electrical spears and throws them hard at the slime.
While the two females continuously fire their attacks, holding the black slime in place, Mokuri launches himself forward with swift movements, dodging the slime's tentacles.
"AAAHHHH!!!"
He leaps high up, then with both hands holding his wooden sword, stabs its jelly-like surface. However, in that second, and without wasting any time, he focuses dark and fire magic onto his sword.
"DARK FLAME! EXPLOSION!" Saying that, the magic combines, creating dark flames that are launched into the slime. Then, both the magic inside and the slime momentarily explode. The explosion can be seen from about 1,000 meters.
The explosion aftermath left a huge dust cloud and pieces of the slime everywhere.
"Not bad," Tizaku said.
"The plan really worked, but is he okay?" Miaru asked.
"Ow! Why is the slime so hot?!" yelled Mokuri.
They finally regrouped after a minute. Then Mokuri grabbed the slime orb and handed it to Miaru, who put it in her pouch.
"Can I ask something? Can I sell this slime orb thing?" Mokuri inquired.
"Yes, it might be worth 500 silver," Miaru replied.
"Oh, really? Hehehe," Mokuri said with a suspicious giggle.
"I can already see the greed from here," Miaru thought.
They began to continue their walk to the city. After a while of walking a 50 kilometres, Tizaku, Miaru, and Mokuri paused; they seemed to sense something ahead.
"Master, do you sense that?" Tizaku asked.
"Yes... it's coming from up ahead," Mokuri replied.
After 30 minutes of running, they reached a village. It was already getting dark, and the village they saw was attacked by a horde of undead skeletons.
"EVERY KNIGHT FIGHT FORWARD! DON'T LET THEM GET TO THE CITY!" said one knight commander with a beard.
The knights moved forward, swinging their swords, fighting but ignoring the need to defend the villagers.
"They are just low-level monsters. Even if we don't manage, we always have this village to sacrifice," the commander thought as they continued to fight.
"I see, so is that kind of attitude," Mokuri thought, but he kind of understood the situation.
"Now both of you wear these masks and go evacuate the villagers; however, don't fight alongside the knights," Mokuri instructed.
"These are just giant leaves," said both Tizaku and Miaru sarcastically.
Mokuri just began to shove both of them while blushing. "Don't make fun of me and just go!"
They both leaped stealthily towards the village, while Mokuri walked to his right into the dark forest.
"This is really annoying.... Just give me a break! I just came out from fighting a black slime," Mokuri thought.
In a patchy area on a cliff where you could easily view the village, stood a mysterious figure in a grey robe, with long black hair and wearing a goat skull mask.
It was already nighttime, and the moon was its only illumination.
"I see, so this is your doing. I could only tell by a glance, though" Mokuri said as he slowly walked out of the darkness and into the light.
The being then turned his back to face him.
"How.... did..... you find... me..... and why.... do.... you have.... a lot of... dark mana?" he said in a fidgety tone.
"After sensing the skeletons, I later found there was another suspicious person, so I came to take a look. But about my dark mana, well, I've been training, and it's still am," Mokuri said.
"Then... I will take it out of you by force." The mysterious being then summons his scythe. With a swipe of his arm, a huge amount of dark magic forms, surrounding him, and then reshapes that magic into a giant humanoid muscular figure.
The darkness, without hesitation, tries to punch Mokuri. He dodges the punch, which instead connects to the ground, breaking it. Mokuri spins and lands on its arm.
He focuses a lot of dark mana into his right fist as he runs, sprinting along the darkness's arm.
"Goodbye." He reaches its face and obliterates its face with a darkness punch. The darkness begins to vanish in defeat, and Mokuri lands behind the mysterious guy.
But as the mysterious guy turns his head, and before he can react, it is too late. Mokuri has already closed the distance, and he realizes Mokuri's hand is on his face. Mokuri whispers in his ear, "Don't worry, I will free you."
Mokuri then plummets the guy's face hard to the ground, breaking the skull mask.
"That's done—"
Mokuri paused and observed his unconscious face. "Damn it, why is he so handsome compared to me?"
"Anyway let's go and meet the others"
Back at the village, Tizaku and Miaru had already executed the last group of villagers, still wearing their leaf masks.
"That's the last of them," Tizaku said.
"We should probably head to Chief Mokuri," Miaru suggested.
Mokuri then appeared with the man he fought on his left shoulder, carrying him like a sack of potatoes.
"Oh, Master, welcome back..."tizaku
... and who is that?" Tizaku asked.
"Just the cause. Anyway, let's get out of here before we get caught," Mokuri replied.
"Is he dead? Did you kill him?" Miaru inquired.
"Don't treat me like a killer; he's just unconscious," Mokuri said.
They ran away in the direction of the city.
As the skeletons crumbled and the knights cheered with victory, the villagers began to emerge from their hiding places. One female child looked intently at the moon.
"Oh, it's him... found you," she thought with a sadistic grin and creepy red eyes.