Chapter 8: Chapter VII: Slime hunter.

The duo landed in the middle of a clearing. Isaac quickly realized he had massively underestimated the size of these woods. Each tree looked like the colossal redwoods back on Earth, stood close to a hundred meters tall and was thick enough that you would need multiple people to surround it. The same fog that covered the city assailed the forest, which made it hard to see past a few dozen meters. Eventually, it all seemed to blend into one massive sea of brown and green.

Disrupting this sea were a myriad of blobs of different colors bouncing around, getting stuck to different surfaces as they slowly melted them. Slimes. The man quickly realized they were the eight colors the people of this world used to identify magic. Most of them ignored the pair, but some did attempt to approach. A single flap of Tyrannia’s wings sent them flying, though, which quickly discouraged the rest from trying again.

“That’s...weak.”

“Would you rather learn to fight with something that can actually kill you?”

“I guess not.”

“Smart man. Now, focus on your left eye. Blink it twice when you do.”

Isaac tried doing it as she said a couple of times, following around a yellow slime with his gaze, managing to get it down by the third time. He was kind of expecting something like a status screen to pop out, but nothing of the sort appeared. Rather, it felt like somehow, the man could sense the energy flailing around inside the creature. It was minuscule, especially compared to Tyrannia, but it was there. Most of the slimes had an equally depreciable amount of what the prophet was assuming was mana or something similar.

“Is this purple magic?"

“No. One of the abilities of my sigil. As I’ve stated before, magic will come to you naturally in a few days."

“I see. I’m assuming this level of energy means they are not strong?”

“Indeed. Do not underestimate someone without mana though. A knife to your neck will hurt you no matter how much difference in power there is between you and your assailant.”

“Right. Don’t get caught off guard, got it. Now what?”

“Go punch a slime.”

“Huh?”

“Go on, punch a slime.” Tyrannia insisted.

“...okay?”

Following her orders, Isaac approached the nearest brown blob. It was about the size of a German Shepherd. Using the scrying magic, as she had taught him seconds ago, the words “Rock Slime” popped into his head, and he could see the small trails of brown energy coming out of the thing. The man had been on more than his fair share of fights during his younger years, so he was confident on his ability to at leach throw a punch or two.

He took a deep breath, then charged at the creature.

His fist collided with the slime, but it felt like hitting jelly. The monster flew back a few meters, then safely landed on what Isaac was assuming were their ‘feet.’

 “Again.”

The prophet chased behind the organism. He took a step forward, then another. Something crashed against his stomach before he could take the third one. Isaac fell backwards, dumbfounded. The brown slime had somehow moved fast enough for him not to be able to react.

He quickly scrambled to his feet and tried again, but he was meet with the same lighting fast counter attack. The creature bounced around leisurely, almost as if taunting him. Frustration rose from within Isaac’s insides when he noticed one simple truth. He was getting his ass handed by a slime. This was supposed to be his chance to be someone else, to be a hero and yet...

No, he couldn’t let himself think like that. Tyrannia wanted to show his this for his own good. She wanted to show Isaac how truly powerless they were for now. One day he would be the man he promised himself he would be. But he would have to work for it.

Isaac suddenly understood one simple thing about this world. The Scourge of Phitia, the magic slavery, the arena...Fantasy planet or not, this was a harsh place. Slimes were supposed to be among the weakest monsters, if not the weakest, yet civilians could easily die if they did not tread carefully around them. This was his new reality. One bad step and he would die.

The man sighed, took a deep breath, and calmed down.

Focus, Isaac.

The prophet took another step towards the blob. Then another one. From his two attempts, he could more or less deduce its attack range; around one meter around itself. Isaac stood mere inches outside its reach. Then, protecting his vitals, entered his combat radius. This time, he could see what had hit him. The slime quickly contorted, changing shapes, then launched a tentacle-like appendage in Isaac’s direction. He managed to sidestep the arm before it reached him. Quickly spinning on his feet, he grabbed the limb as he rotated, smashing the slime against the ground with an overhead swing.

The creature bounced, but he could tell that had hurt much more than his punch had.

“Again.” Tyrannia’s voice echoed through the clearing for a second time.

He repeated the same tactic, and to his surprise, it didn’t work. Slimes were either smart, or instinctively quick learners, as the creature bounced back as soon as Isaac stepped onto its attack range. Half a dozen more appendages sprouted from the creature, all of them imitating human weaponry. Axes, polearms, spears...It was visually impressive, but the man highly doubted they would have hit any harder than the tentacle was. He made his decision in a split second.

He chased after the slime, while it was busy forming its new limbs, bracing himself for another hit. He knew that if he gave it time to recover, he would not be able to approach again. As expected, he took a couple of strikes from the slime arms, but he closed the distance fast enough for it not to be able to defend against his haymaker. The monster went flying again, but its luck had run out. It fell right on top of a rotten branch; impaling itself instantly.

After a few seconds of struggle, the slime slowly lost its form, and moments later it was nothing more than a pile of brown liquid laying on the ground. Isaac breathed a sigh of relief once he realized it wouldn’t get back up.

The slow clapping of Tyrannia behind him brought him back to his senses.

“Good job.”

“Ha, ha. Very funny.”

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“No, no, I mean it.” She quickly clarified. “This was a common test for militias back in my day. The fact that you managed to pass it puts you at the level of a foot soldier.”

“Huh, really?”

“Yes. It is more of a test of mental fortitude than one of skill. Lots of soldiers end up just rushing in after a few tries with no plan. Others don’t even attempt it after they get grounded once, too ashamed to get back up. This simple trial separates those who have the makings of a fighter and those who are mere cannon fodder. I expected you to do much worse. Have you ever fought before?”

“When I was young, yeah.”

“Good. That will be useful.”

“Now what?”

“What do you mean, ‘now what’?” she asked as she approached one of the slimes and picked it up. This one was green. “We are going to do this over and over again. You might have the heart of a warrior, but you clearly lack the skills. That punch was shoddy at best.”

Tyrannia proceeded to, with the perfect form of an ace baseball pitcher, throw the poor creature at Isaac with all of her strength.

“Oh shit-” he ducked under the monster before it could hit him square in the face.

“Now go on. I can sense almost a hundred slimes in this area. I want them all gone by the time the sun rises again.”

 

---

 

“I. Hate. Slimes.”

“Only ten more to go.”

Isaac sighed. “I know”

They had spent the last few hours killing these little critters, to the point that the man almost felt bad for them. At some point Tyrannia had joined in on the bashing. She claimed it was to ‘shake the rust off’, but he had his doubts. She seemed too entertained by the idea of throwing slimes around.

Still, watching her fight was one hell of a lesson in an on itself. Even a novice like Isaac could tell the difference between his attacks and hers. Every single one of her movements was elegant, trained, and poised. Every kick and punch she threw had a reason to exist. Every single one of her strikes had power behind it, so much so that even the slimes had trouble shrugging them off. Oftentimes she would use her wings in combat, either generating gusts of wind with a single flap, as shields and powerful barriers to protect herself, or even as extra limbs to fight with. The result with the latter was that she could have the equivalent of eight fists thrown your way in a mere second. Probably more, considering one direct hit of her feathered appendages seemed to hit harder than her normal punches.

She was leagues above the man in terms of combat capabilities, that was for sure.

However, he did notice that she didn’t take more than three or four of them at that time. Now that was still impressive, especially to someone like him, who got his ass handed by a single one, but it did help drive home one simple point. Tyrannia, as powerful and majestic as once had been, was weak. Weak enough that a simple squad of soldiers would give her trouble.

At this point Isaac knew he was repeating himself, but one single wrong step and they would both be dead.

“What are you thinking about?” the goddess asked as she approached the man with measured steps. Despite all the fighting, she was barely breathing, rougher than usual. With some surprise, Isaac realized he was actually on the same boat. They had been fighting for hours, but he felt like he could keep going without problems.

“Nothing. Just on how hard is this whole thing going to be.”

“Having second thoughts?”

“No.” Isaac instantly replied. He did notice it was the second time she asked something of that sort. “What time is it?”

The woman looked at the skies for a few seconds before replying. “Hmm...Five in the morning?”

“Huh, I’m not tired at all.”

“I enhanced your new body as much as I could manage. Sleep is still necessary, but you can go a few days without it. Same with food or water. You also recover quicker and have better memory. I had forgotten to ask before, but how does it feel?”

“It feels rather...I don’t know how to explain it. Feels like it is my body, like I have always been this way.”

“Good. That-”

A sudden ruckus halted their conversation. The duo quickly rushed towards the source of the sound, making sure that they were quiet enough that they could slip away undetected if they had to. After a couple of minutes of walking, they eventually made it to another, smaller clearing a few dozen meters away from the main one.

“The slimes are...fighting each other? Is that normal?” I asked.

Tyrannia shrugged. “It is my first time witnessing slimes doing so, but monsters attacking one another are not unheard of. Either way, this works for us.”

“How so?”

“I am going to teach you to soulbind entities. Follow me.”

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