Main Dish (2)
The man reflected in my eyes looked utterly insignificant. Even though he had seemed like an insurmountable wall when he drove me to a meaningless death, the figure now writhing in agony on the floor was nothing more than a frail human being. Just like my past self. Just like all the others who had died at his hands before me. There was not a single difference to be found.
Finally regaining his senses amid the horrific pain, he staggered to his feet while staunching the bleeding from his severed hand. His eyes, filled with a mixture of intense rage and fear of death, locked onto me.
“You… what the hell are you? Why are you wearing Si-yeon’s face? What did you do to her?!”
He shouted with eyes blazing with murderous intent. It was the desperate flailing of someone cornered, trying to forget their fear. I could understand his reaction. A comrade he thought was dead had returned unharmed and attacked him. Even imagining it sent chills down my spine. If I had been in his position, I would have been just as horrified.
So here was the question. How could the woman’s body, which had completely melted and vanished inside me, be standing here now? The answer was simple. This too was one of the abilities I had gained through this body’s transformation skill. Among the three skills I had used so far, I could confidently say this one was the most useful.
It allowed me to dissolve a target with the Dissolve skill and reshape my own body to match that target’s appearance and properties almost perfectly. The earlier transformation of my hand into a sharp blade had also been thanks to this power. Before they arrived, I had hunted plenty of ant monsters to obtain their pheromones, so their physical data was already stored. All that remained was to implement the change with the entity’s guidance.
There had been some trial and error, but I eventually succeeded in giving the blade the sharp properties of an ant’s jaw while keeping its sword shape. The current body was no different. Transforming the entire body simply required a higher stat threshold than before. If I hadn’t leveled up by devouring the old man and woman, it would have been quite difficult.
Once I raised my Wisdom and Mana stats to the appropriate levels, the result was a resounding success. I hadn’t expected the transformation to be this flawless, so even after completing it I couldn’t hide my surprise for a while.
Though I couldn’t see my own face in this state, judging from the appearance I had seen before, the woman looked to be in her early twenties. Slowly lowering my gaze, I saw the clothes she had worn in life. Two massive hills also blocked my view. The space that had once been clearly visible when I was male was now obstructed, and the instinctive sense of wrongness pierced my mind.
Once I acknowledged it, the empty sensation below and the unfamiliar feel of the skirt were enough to deal a heavy blow to my psyche. The decisive strike came from the strange texture of the underwear against my skin, plunging me into deep self-loathing.
Swollen breasts, wide hips, soft skin, and a clearly defined feminine silhouette. It was unmistakably the body of a mature woman. If the entity hadn’t approached and spoken to me, I might have remained frozen in that state for a long time.
[You’re going to be living in that body from now on anyway. Why are you so shocked? Getting used to it quickly would be better for your mental health!]
The words were meant as comfort, yet they felt more like a cruel finishing blow. Still, thanks to them I managed to pull myself together. That was right. Even my original form was that of a young girl. Since I wasn’t going to spend my life as an ordinary slime, I needed to get used to a female body as well. That didn’t stop the deep self-loathing, of course.
Returning from my memories, I faced reality once more. He was still glaring at me with his remaining hand gripping a sword, his face pale. He seemed to be waiting for an answer to his question. I had no obligation to reply, but a sudden mischievous idea struck me.
“What nonsense are you spouting, Leader? Can’t you tell just by looking? It’s me. Me! …Did the shock scramble your brain? Hehe.”
I wore an innocent smile and gesture, mimicking her speech patterns so perfectly that I truly looked like a woman. Only the final line broke the illusion. With a wicked grin, I licked the blood from my transformed hand, radiating an intense sense of wrongness.
“Y-you… you… you!!!!”
His trembling body convulsed even more violently at my words. Shock, terror, rage, and fear. Those negative emotions had clearly been amplified by my provocation. Their final form was a deep murderous intent directed at the target before him.
Swish!
“!………”
By the time I came to my senses, my head was already flying through the air. I hadn’t been able to read the trajectory at all. All I had seen was him swinging his sword forward an instant before. The speed was truly beyond imagination.
So this is his warrior ability, Quick Blade. It really is insanely fast.
That was my only impression after experiencing it head-on. I had already heard about his ability from the office staff before entering the dungeon. A lightning-fast sword strike impossible for the human eye to follow. It sounded like an invincible power, yet its weakness was surprisingly clear. While the speed was tremendous, the force behind it was weak. During the first raid, he had struggled considerably against the hard jaws of the ants, the dungeon’s main monsters. However, against soft human skin, the blade cut effortlessly.
Recalling the memory, he had probably used this same ability when he ambushed me and severed my tendons last time. Otherwise, accurately cutting the tendons in such a short time would have been nearly impossible. In any case, even if his party was weak, he was still a party leader and possessed a certain level of skill. Among other leaders of similar caliber, he would likely rank within the top ten.
“How’s that, you monster bastard!! Acting all high and mighty when you’re nothing!!”
Believing his attack had landed, he wore a twisted smile and poured out his rage. If I had been an ordinary living being, I would surely have died the moment my head was severed. But my completely transformed body had already transcended such common sense.
My head slowly regenerated from the cut surface. The severed part had already melted away and rejoined the main body. The man watching this right in front of him gradually stiffened, his face turning deathly pale. The joy of having slain a monster vanished without a trace, replaced only by terror and despair.
“How cruel… To think you could so easily behead your own subordinate. It feels strange for me to say this, but you’re truly irredeemable trash.”
Once my vocal cords and mouth had regenerated, I spoke to him. Honestly, I hadn’t expected him to launch an attack without the slightest hesitation. No matter what, the person before him had been his comrade until moments ago. Yet he had struck so readily. Objectively speaking, his actions weren’t wrong. The being in front of him was an unknown entity disguised as his comrade. Of course he should cut it down. Still, since the appearance was at least that of his comrade, a moment of hesitation would have been normal. But there had been none in his eyes, expression, or movements. One could interpret that as cold rationality, yet considering everything he had shown so far, it was clear he had never possessed even a shred of camaraderie from the beginning. In other words, this man had viewed his party members as nothing more than expendable tools from the start.
“A selfish nature that only cares about yourself. And incompetence so profound that even the slightest trace of leadership talent is nowhere to be found. Ah, there is one thing worth noting, though. Your filthy, ugly greed. You’re not even fit to be called human. You’re lower than a beast. …Am I wrong, Leader?”
Based on everything I had observed, I spoke with sharp sarcasm. At the end, I switched to the woman’s original tone and whispered the question softly. It was an undeniable, perfect provocation.
“Ugh…!!!! Aaaaaaaaah!!!”
Completely losing his reason, he wildly swung his sword forward, spamming his ability without restraint. Yet as previous examples had proven, his desperate flailing achieved nothing. Even as his arm was severed and parts of his body fell away, my form instantly regenerated. The process consumed neither mana nor stamina. The only inconvenience was temporary difficulty moving while regeneration occurred, which posed no real hindrance. In short, a body that could endlessly regenerate as long as a fragment remained was the perfect counter to his speed-focused ability. Since this slime body lacked nerves to feel pain, the advantage was further maximized.
I advanced slowly, pushing straight through the storm of countless sword strikes. As I drew closer, his resistance grew more frantic, but I paid it no mind. His attacks, rapidly draining his stamina, began to slow. They finally stopped only after my transformed hand pierced through his abdomen. The spot was exactly where he had stabbed me just before I fell from the cliff.
“…Kuh…! Damn it!!!”
His face, contorted in agony, was covered in deep despair. Having already exhausted his strength to the limit, he no longer had the energy to resist. Once his struggles ceased, I dissolved part of my body and swallowed him whole. Before long, everything except part of his upper body—his hands, feet, and nearly his entire torso—had been consumed by me. The man, now with his limbs sealed, looked terrified, as though he could foresee what was about to happen. Watching his eyes tremble with that fear, I wore a wicked smile tinged with madness.
Now that I had captured my prey, it was time to cook it deliciously.