Chapter 3: 3. A Familial Slaughter (Part 1)

It was difficult to comprehend the sheer amount of Gelatinous Cube that was crowded in the pit. It went to where I could barely discern splotches of the brown ground underneath the sea of green. A low hum filled the cavern, emanating from the mass of cubes. 

 

Are they singing? I still lacked significant information about my species, other than that it was most likely a subspecies of Slimes. And even that was based on guesswork and what I’ve been able to glean from other people about the most populous category of monsters. Inching closer to the edge, I peered into the pit. It looked like a steep fall, and I did not want to be swallowed up by the sea of monsters. 

 

There wasn’t anything stopping me from leaving, so I turned around and slid my way to the tunnel. Much to my chagrin, now that whatever mysterious force from before stopped affecting me, my speed had drastically dropped. At this rate, it would take me an hour to return to my egg.

 

If I had teeth, I would gnash them right now. I have to figure out a way to prevent my body from getting taken over again. Is there a range of the voice’s control? I can’t just get as far away as possible and hope for the best. I need to know for certain. But how?

 

My reverie was interrupted when I heard the unmistakable sound of slime rubbing against rock. Halting in my tracks, I tried to discern the source of the sound. A chill ran through my body when it realized it was coming from the same tunnel I was in.

 

There’s another cube using this tunnel? Does that mean they hatched in the same place as me? I raised my imaginary hackles at the thought of a possibly antagonistic entity nearby when I emerged from the egg. How close did I come to avoiding death?

 

The sound grew louder; it was only a matter of seconds before it spotted me. I wasn’t sure if I could survive an encounter with another of my kind. My endurance still wasn’t back up to max and my stats didn’t fill me with confidence. 

 

I spun around and began pumping it, sliding as fast as possible. Even so, the other slime must have more Agility Points than I do because it was quickly gaining ground. 

 

Exiting the tunnel, I made a beeline to my left, hoping the other slime would streak past and fall into the pit. Unfortunately, I miscalculated the difference in speed between us. 

 

I’d barely swiveled and was in the process of turning when the other cube smacked into the side of my body. I careened completely off course, flying into the air; for one brilliant second, I was hovering about the sea of slimes, staring down at them like they were my subjects and I was their glorious leader. Then the moment passed, and I was spinning into the pit. 

 

The impact reverberated through my body and sent the gelatin material that I was composed of shaking. Fear gripped my heart; what if the force of the landing was too much for whatever kept me together? An image of me splattering into thousands of little globs of slime flashed through my mind and I shuddered.

 

Luckily, the vibrations eventually settled, and I righted myself. It didn’t hurt, but I still felt unsettled. Of course, there was something else I needed to check to confirm the fall hadn’t damaged me too much.

 

Stats?

 

Health Point (HP) : 10/10

 

Strength Point (SP) : 10/10

 

Endurance Point (EP) : 3/10

 

Agility Point (AP) : 4/5

 

How much of the changes were from the fall and how much were from me traveling as fast as possible? Endurance is probably from both, and Agility is definitely because of sprinting. Still, 5 Endurance Points are a lot to lose. If my Endurance Points reach 0, my Health starts to lower, right? 

 

I may need to experiment with my stats a little. I wouldn’t do anything stupid that would result in my death, but it would be helpful to know how much damage I could take before perishing, and how badly I was affected the lower my stats became. Of course, I needed to get out of this hellhole first.

 

I was completely surrounded; no matter where I looked, I saw green. I plodded forward, attempting to garner a better angle from which to find an exit route. As I carefully avoided touching any of the cubes, a Herculean feat considering the proximity, I couldn’t help but notice the minute differences between us. The vast majority was marginally larger than me, and they even appeared to emanate a dim glow. Was it because they were older than me and had higher stats?

 

Something inside of me prickled at the idea that I was the weakest of all the monsters here. Slimes were unanimously agreed to be the easiest monster class to take down. How weak was I if I was the underdog of the slimes?

 

I’ll leave and I will become stronger. I vowed. After studying the cubes, I figured out a pattern. They bobbed back and forth but otherwise, remained stationary. As long as I take my time, I should be able to maneuver my way through the slimes, even with my less than impressive command over my body.

 

One of the cubes shifted an inch to the left, and I took my chance. Swerving past the first cube, I was cruising through the crowd. Pushing a dozen cubes, I took a momentary rest. After several seconds, the cubes made another opening and I lunged forward—

 

—only for a cube to slide into the empty space. I bounced against its larger exterior and fell backwards. It took some time for the fact that nothing happened, even though I touched a cube, to sink in through the haze of befuddlement. Even when it did finally register, it was overshadowed by the anger coursing through me.

 

It was petty. But after trying so hard with this damned body of mine and having victory taken away by a single slime, it was infuriating to witness. 

 

Forcing the anger down, I comforted myself with the fact that there were no consequences of touching other cubes and renewed my attempt of escaping. However, my newest try was brought short when I noticed all the cubes acting erratically. While before they’d seemed content to stay in place, now they were bouncing off one another. 

 

I grimaced as I got pushed and jostled around, my smaller body standing no chance compared to the larger slimes. My window of fleeing had completely closed and I was just going along with the ride for now. It only took a moment to realize that the cubes were actually heading in a specific direction, and another to notice a humongous hole in the wall. 

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It stretched from the ground level all the way up to the ceiling, and was twice the width of the already monstrously large crystal. The last thing I wanted was to see what manner of creature demanded an opening of that size, but I had a feeling I didn’t have a say in the matter. Still, I continued resisting against the other slimes pushing me closer to the gaping hole.

 

I was expecting to hear the creature long before it appeared. I was wrong.

 

At first, I thought a tree had somehow crashed into the ground. Then the tree bent, and I grasped the gravitas of the situation. 

 

What I’d thought was a tree turned out to be a leg. One of many. Seven more similarly sized appendages followed the first, seemingly pulling along an extremely heavy weight. And then I saw it.

 

Although the ceiling of the cavern towered over the pine trees in the forests around my village, the monster scraped the top of it with ease, dislodging chunks of rock that crushed some poor slimes. However, I barely took heed of that; instead, I was paralyzed by the sheer mass of the monster. 

 

Seven legs resembling a spider’s. Three legs were attached to either side, with the last two on either end. Each leg looked like they were seconds away from falling apart, only held together by copious amounts of green slime swarming every individual joint. All the appendages tied together into a circular ring of flesh and muscle, which acted as the main body of the monster. The chief attraction, though, was the upper half.

 

The cube was like my body, except magnified by a thousand times and a blood-red shade. It floated slightly over the ring at a strange angle, with one vertice of the cube pointed downwards. Four thick rib cages sprouted from the ring and encircled the slime cube, meeting just above the topmost vertice. Crimson lightning occasionally arced from one of the six square faces of the cube, hitting the rib cages and sending currents of electricity running down the length of the bone. The cube also looked alive in a sense that none of the others, not even I, did. 

 

If I squinted, I could see underneath the surface of the cube was a turbulent storm. One that continually flashed and darkened, almost like it was reacting to the creature’s emotions and thoughts. I theorized the swirling tempest could have also been the source of the lightning.

 

Hanging in the air at sporadic locations all around the cube were perfect spheres of green slime. As I watched in dull terror, lightning struck one of them and the cube exploded. Smoldering slime showered over the tiny cubes and the instant it touched them, they blew apart in a horrifying display of viscosity. 

 

This inexplicably larger-than-life creature had a gravity to it that drew me in despite my best efforts. I tried to make my body stick to the ground, but no matter what I did, the slime always slid off like droplets on metal. Nerve-wracking panic beat into me. There’s no way in hell I can beat this!

 

A̴w̶a̸k̷e̶n̴,̶ ̴m̷y̶ ̷c̶h̷i̸l̴d̸r̶e̶n̷ ̷

 

Something swelled within me and I gagged; it felt like a multiple-legged creature had found solace in my stomach and was crawling up my throat. The feeling entered my mouth and it slipped through my ‘lips.’

 

Ding!

 

Magical Point (MP) : 10/10

 

Health Point (HP) : 10/10

 

Strength Point (SP) : 10/10

 

Endurance Point (EP) : 3/10

 

Agility Point (AP) : 4/5

 

I zeroed in on the latest addition. Magical Point? As in, letting me use magic? I barely held back the urge to zoom around. As a completely average commoner, I’d forgone the dream of being able to use magic long ago, but with this? Maybe my childhood dreams could be revitalized. 10 points is low. Fits right in with my other stats though.

 

W̵̖͑̇h̸͓̋͐ạ̵̘̐t̸̫́̉͝ ̶͓́̔͜i̴̛̺̦͋s̶̭͍͘͝ ̵̌̍ͅt̸̛̙̖̖ẖ̶̉́̅i̶̻̊͂̄s̸͚͎̈̀̕?̴̻̽

 

Fuck! I’d almost forgotten about the behemoth. It was nigh-impossible to tell—lack of features strikes again!—but I got the sinking feeling the monster was focused on me. I sidled behind a nearby cube, only for it to bolt out of my reach. 

 

W-what!? As if on cue, all the slimes in my immediate proximity scooted backwards, leaving a circular patch of land with me in the center. It was like they’d suddenly all received a message and—oh, crap, they did, didn’t they? And since I didn’t react, the monster obviously knows something is wrong with me.

 

What followed was the most heart-palpitating, fear-inducing 70 seconds of my life as I waited for the creature to deliver judgment. I didn’t let myself hope for even a second that it would spare me; instead, I spent every valuable second scrounging for a way to escape.

 

The monster leaned forward, an unbearably loud grating noise filling the cavern. The cube darkened and at that moment, I knew my fate had been decided.

 

K̶̙͉̋̈́i̷̺͎͑̃l̴̲̎͘l̷̥͗

 

In unison, all the other cubes jumped at me.

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