“Huh-? Ode?”

<Hey!>

Why does he come back now of all times?

<You found another variant? Good work~!>

“What? What do you mean?”

…

He went a little quiet after that. I hastily created a new arm, since my old one was burnt off.

<Well that thing in front of you is a variant. Number eighteen, Levin.>

I sat up as the lightning bolt began charging again. I quickly got onto my feet and started running around the lake. The lightning shot out and chased behind me, destroying and shattering the ground that I had just stepped on. I slammed by foot into the ground stopping myself in my tracks as the bolt ran out.

“Risible now!”

We dashed in toward the vortex.

Seven new bolts started forming and discharged out toward us. Risible snapped causing the air flow to change, which slammed the bolts of lightning into the ground on his side. I barely dodged each bolt on my side by a few inches. The lake’s water started pulsing as the blue and white blur shot out from the center, it now hovered up in the air before it started shifting into a human form.

The streak in his hair was a mix of light-blue and white and it was kind of lightning shaped. His clothing consisted of a racing-like suit with a vest over it, he had goggles resting on his forehead. He also had a small cloak-like thing with a hood on his back, and he had these light-blue and white colors glowing in his eyes as lightning pulsated throughout his body.

<Shit, Cyn he lost control of his powers.>

“What do you mean?”

<Levin is inexperienced unlike all the other variants, this mainly links to his personality being introverted. Since he was alone after the ‘Rupture’ his emotions got the better of him and he lost control of his powers.>

The wind around us heavily picked up, lightning started erupting from the dark clouds in the sky. They shot straight into the vortex and circled around Levin, three more bolts started charging again. This time they looked way stronger, their color swapped to this platinum blue as they shot out at a high velocity toward me. 

Suddenly they stopped in their tracks. A wall of wind was holding them back roughly ten feet in front of me. The gusts grew to an immensely strong size that circled the vortex, the wind slammed inward completely annihilating the electrical vortex and squeezing Levin’s body together.

I looked across the lake to see Risible with his arms thrown out in a crossed shape, they were overlapping and his hands were partially closed. He then started walking toward Levin. These steps made of wind formed under him as he climbed up to where Levin was being held, he stood in front of him as electricity continued to shoot off. 

Levin’s eyes still glowed a light-blue and white color, white and blue sparks emitting from his body. Risible sighed before raising his right hand up.

“Sorry.”

His hand slammed down between Levin’s shoulder and neck with a strong force. Levin’s eyes went dark and he started falling back as Risible grabbed the collar of his suit and held him by it.

“He’s yours now.”

Risible tossed him up in the air, his body started falling down toward me. I quickly extended my slime and absorbed him before he hit the ground. The lake was eerily quiet now that the lightning had stopped.

⊰───────•✦•───────⊱⊰───────•✦•───────⊱⊰───────•✦•───────⊱

A quick flash appeared in the darkened sky of the Lacuna before Levin unconsciously went flying down toward the platform.

Ode quickly got up and caught him.

Levin’s eyes started to open, his eyes were now readjusted to light-blue and white pupils instead of the pure coloring. He looked up and saw Ode before he jumped at him, hugging him tightly before sobbing.

“Wha- hey it’s okay…”

Ode lightly tapped his back, the hug was slightly awkward and you could tell Ode was uncomfortable.

Six looked over and saw what was happening between them.

“Yo, Levin.”

Levin turned toward him and smiled brightly before trying to run over to him, Six lifted his foot which Levin’s face ran straight into. Six then slammed his foot toward the ground.

“Please don’t touch me.”

“Y-yes sir.”

Levin said with his face to the floor, his body twitching slightly.

“Heeey~ Levin! Good to have you back man.”

He looked up and saw Four waving at him.

“F-Four!”

He then tried getting up and going to hug Four as well. Levin wrapped his arms around Four, and Four rubbed his head somewhat gently.

“How’ve you been~?”

“Well… I was alone… a-and there was a monster… um… and-”

“It’s fine, tell me about it another time alright?”

Four pulled Levin back and patted his shoulder while giving him a somewhat forced smile.

“Y-yeah!”

Levin’s eyes gleamed brightly.

⊰───────•✦•───────⊱⊰───────•✦•───────⊱⊰───────•✦•───────⊱

I stretched and walked over to my amputated arm, I picked it up and reabsorbed it into my body. I then turned toward the center of the lake again where Risible was.

“We should probably head back now right? We need to get Esther that treatment as soon as possible.”

Risible dropped down onto the ground and rolled his arm around.

“Alright let's go.”

After a few minutes we got back to the Healer’s clinic, we stepped through the front door. But it was eerily quiet…

“Hello?”

We walked around the deserted halls until we got to the room where Esther was staying.

The Healer was standing there talking with a few knights, it seems he ratted us out. Like I said to him before though. He shouldn’t try anything.

Knock Knock

“Heeey~ Mr. Healer~!”

The Healer jolted and turned around to see Risible and I standing in his doorway.

“So~ you're going to heal her right?”

I smiled at him, my smile turning into a more sadistic-like grin.

He took a step back and the guards walked toward us, they gave a menacing appearance and tried to scare us but we weren’t fazed.

“Cyn I can eat them right?”

“Yeah, go for it.”

Risible’s body expanded, he consumed the two knights whole, their screams echoing across the room as they were dissolved into nothingness.

“Now for you~...”

I walked toward the Healer, one step in front of the other. The Healer fell back as his eyes widened in horror.

“I told you to keep your end of the deal… Now you’ll see what happens when you don’t listen~”

My jaw started splitting, making this slit go across my face as I warped it. The screams of the Healer rang in the corner of the room as I slowly dismembered and ate his body.

I think I taught him a nice lesson~

“Stratum.”

————————————

Name: Cynical

Species: Regulus Slime

Level: 103

Rank: A

EXP: 302,416/952,831

————————————

[Titles]

‘World Ender’

‘Monster in Human Clothing’

‘Otherworlder’

‘Magician’s Crusade’

‘Darkest Monster’

————————————

[Stat Points]

Strength: 281

Speed: 276

Perception: 291

Health: 250,000

Mana: 513

Intelligence: 158

Wisdom: 118

Luck: 67

Remaining Points: 49

————————————

[Skills]

||Passive:||

-Quick Learner, MAXED; 

-Sentient Mind, MAXED; 

-Chantless, MAXED; 

-Language Master, Lvl 19; 

-Integral Requisite, Lvl 6;

||Active:||

-Spell Creation, Lvl 19; 

-Storage, Lvl 15; 

-Sword Bolt, Lvl 7; 

-Fireball, Lvl 16; 

-Stealth, Lvl 15; 

-Mana Control, Lvl 13; 

-Heaven’s Barrier, Lvl 0; 

-Water Shot, Lvl 6; 

-Vocalize, Lvl 5; 

-Teleport, Lvl 14; 

-Flight, Lvl 12; 

-Transfer, Lvl 4; 

-Down Fall, Lvl 1;

-Glimpse, Lvl 2;

-Search, Lvl 3;

-Map, Lvl 4;

-Fire Wall, Lvl 1;

-Variant Break (7/999); 

————————————

Once I opened my status window I also got a barrage of notifications, I think I had some sort of silent mode on now since I only got them when my window opened.

I moved my stats to the side so I could look through each notification.

||Skill Acquired: Down Fall, Lvl 1||

||Skill Acquired: Glimpse, Lvl 1 → Lvl 2||

||Skill Acquired: Search, Lvl 1 → Lvl 3||

||Skill Acquired: Map, Lvl 1 → Lvl 4||

||Skill Acquired: Fire Wall, Lvl 1||

||NOTICE: Variant ‘99’ has been recaptured!||

||NOTICE: Variant ‘58’ has been recaptured!||

||NOTICE: Variant ‘18’ has been recaptured!||

||NOTICE: [Integral Requisite] wants to absorb and use the skill [High Heal] from the last absorbed corpse.||

What?

So now that I have [Integral Requisite] I can absorb skills as well?

That’s a pretty sweet deal~

“Go for it.”

Risible turned toward me as my right arm started lighting up with sigils. It was similar in a sense to me using the gears that are a part of [Spell Creation].

I walked over to Esther and held my hand out.

“High Heal.”

Mana started pouring out of my body as it wrapped and sunk into hers. I could hear her breathing growing lighter as her body started to relax.

As the spell finished I felt my mana hit one. My legs buckled on me and I fell onto my knees. That’s exactly the reaction I was trying to avoid…

It’s not that we exactly needed the healer at first. I did try making a [High Heal] spell, however, I would have had to visualize every piece of it with complete accuracy. I don’t have the best understanding of anatomy, so for me to try imagining a spell healing everything properly inside of her body. It would have been a major risk for us to take when we could just visit a healer who already had the composition for it.

I sighed lightly as I laid my head down at the foot of the bed.

“Well… I guess we’re good for now.”

I closed my eyes and passed out while Risible started walking to the other side of the room.

“Hey Ode.”

<Hm? Yeah?>

“Do you have any ways for us to get off of this continent, the ports are cluttered with knights that are doing checks.”

<You could try being a stow away… there aren’t many options when it comes to swapping across continents. Your best bet would have been Atlas if he was here~>

Ode sighed as Risible rubbed his eyes gently.

“We’ll just have to try finding something tomorrow then once both of them are back to full health. Night Ode.”

<Night.>

…

“Damn… I wish I had a cold beer right now.”

Risible pouted lightly as he laid down on one of the beds. He looked up toward the ceiling as his hands rested behind his head, he closed his eyes with a slight yawn.