The Aftermath
Ulthar’s voice rang out, far too cheerful for the situation. [People will be swarming here any moment now. We’d better get ready to greet them!]
“....??”
My thoughts ground to a halt at the cat’s casual remark. I had just finished my revenge and was finally catching my breath when this creature appeared out of nowhere and dropped that bombshell. I had thought everything was finally settling down, only to be thrown straight into an even bigger disaster. Panic seized me instantly.
The party that had entered the dungeon was completely wiped out. So the “people” Ulthar meant had to be newcomers. And anyone willing to step into a place like this was almost certainly a hunter.
“...Uh. Uh. What do we do? The bodies are still lying around where the fight happened. Are we really going to get caught and wiped out before we can even leave...?”
I lost all composure and kept babbling in a frantic voice. If Ulthar hadn’t snapped me back to attention, I probably would have stayed frozen in that state.
[Quiet!!! Calm down! Why do you always jump straight to the worst-case scenario? Take a breath and think again. What exactly are you right now? And what’s the current state of this place?]
The black cat bounced in place, trying to pull my focus. The motion looked pointless at first, but it oddly helped. Hearing that steady voice, I forced myself to breathe and review the facts.
I was the only survivor inside the cave. There was no evidence left that I had done anything. Most of the party members had been killed by luring ant monsters into them, so nothing looked particularly suspicious. Mass deaths happened all the time in dungeons. A party wiped out by monsters was a perfectly believable story. The fact that they had fallen to such low-level creatures might raise a few eyebrows, but it wasn’t impossible.
Some bodies, including the woman’s, would never be found, but this was a dungeon. People would probably just accept it. My panic began to settle. Most importantly, this slime body was perfect for deceiving others.
Once Ulthar saw I had regained my composure, the cat spoke again with a hint of amusement. [Heh. Looks like you’ve finally grasped the situation. Think about it—who would ever suspect that a single person wiped out an entire party inside a dungeon? It’s far more natural to assume you’re the sole survivor.]
The black cat declared this with complete confidence. It felt a little dubious, but... it wasn’t wrong. I would have thought the same thing in their position.
Apparently satisfied that I was listening, Ulthar continued. [We can’t just be ordinary “survivors.” For both the immediate future and the long term, we need the people coming here to see us as someone who needs protection.]
The cat’s golden eyes gleamed as it made the declaration. I still felt uneasy, but I had no better options. So far, following Ulthar’s lead hadn’t gone badly, so I stayed silent and watched.
Reading my expression as permission to explain, the cat launched into the full plan. As I listened, my face went through a rapid series of changes—first turning to stone, then twisting in horror, and finally draining completely white. The scheme was so outrageous it went beyond shock and straight into terror.
When I finally managed to voice a trembling objection, the cat simply tilted its head with an innocent expression. [Then do you have a better idea? Surely you weren’t planning to walk out of here still wearing that woman’s body? That might get us through the next few minutes, but it’ll cause massive problems later.]
My protests were instantly shut down. The cat was right. The body I currently wore belonged to someone else. Even if I could perfectly copy the appearance, I couldn’t replicate her habits, speech patterns, or memories. I didn’t even know her name. The moment I ran into anyone who actually knew her, the whole act would collapse.
“No, even so, that’s a bit...”
Reality was merciless. When I kept hesitating, Ulthar smiled faintly. [Hmm. I don’t remember the details, but people might arrive here very soon. Do we really have time to keep debating~?]
That merciless tone made me squeeze my eyes shut. It wasn’t a suggestion. It was a threat wearing a polite smile. Cornered, I had only one choice left.
With a deep sigh, I cursed the cat in my head, then activated Transform. The woman’s body collapsed inward, melting into a massive gray slime before slowly reshaping into a human form once more.
According to old myths, humans were created when a god molded clay. What was happening right now felt exactly like that process. Starting from the torso, arms and legs formed with delicate precision. As the internal skeleton took shape, the body’s curves became clear. The translucent slime surface darkened into ordinary human skin.
When the transformation finished, the woman was gone. In her place stood a small girl with ashen hair—the same form I had first seen when I opened my eyes in this world. Only this time, the disguise was flawless. No one would ever guess it was a slime.
Since I had already practiced copying the woman’s body once, turning into a human shape wasn’t difficult. I stared at my new arm in wonder, running my hand over the skin. It felt soft and warm, almost indistinguishable from real flesh. If I hadn’t watched the change happen, I never would have believed it.
“......!”
While examining my skin, I suddenly froze. Because I had just used Transform, my body was completely naked. When I had been in slime form, the transparency had made it less noticeable, but now that I had proper skin, the difference was stark. A little girl’s bare body stood right in front of me. Even though this wasn’t my original body, the sight still sent a wave of mental shock through me.
I instinctively looked up and covered my face with both hands. Heat flooded my cheeks, proving just how detailed the transformation had been. I really hadn’t wanted to discover that fact this way.
Previously, when I had copied the woman’s body, her clothes had come along with it, so the awkwardness had been minimal. This time I had formed the body first, leaving me exposed to every sensation without any buffer. My head spun from the shock, but there was no time to waste. I took a deep breath and used Transform again. Parts of my slime body split off and wrapped around me, hardening into clothing.
Because I had absorbed both the old man and the woman along with their outfits, creating clothes was easy. Following Ulthar’s instructions, I made them look old and ragged—nothing more than something to cover my skin.
The clothes were little better than rags, but once my skin was fully covered, I let out a long sigh of relief. I would have preferred normal clothes, but anything nicer would have broken the story we had prepared.
‘I’m just a girl who was dragged here without knowing why...’
‘I’m just a girl who was dragged here without knowing why...’
‘I’m just a girl who was dragged here without knowing why...’
I repeated the line in my head like a mantra. Even so, the feeling of the rough fabric against my bare skin made my face burn and my body twist uncomfortably.
Once the outer appearance was ready, the last step was positioning. I moved to a corner far from the luggage and sat down with my knees drawn up.
“......”
All preparations were complete. Now I just had to wait for the people who would soon arrive. Yet sitting alone in the quiet cave, pretending to be scared, felt strangely wrong. I tried to act terrified, but it didn’t come naturally. This place no longer felt as frightening as it had when I first entered. I had spent too long inside and grown used to it.
At the same time, a sliver of fear remained. Ulthar had insisted no one would see through the act, but what if someone did?
While I waited with a mix of anxiety and anticipation, they finally appeared.
A group of men and women in neat suits. The only people who would enter a dungeon dressed like that were from the security company in charge of this sector—the investigation team.
I wondered why they had come, but the thought was cut short. My eyes met those of the stern-looking man leading them. His sharp gaze felt like it could see straight through me, and my mind went blank. More accurately, I panicked. I worried that my identity had already been exposed, that something looked off. I should have started crying and running toward them, but it was already too late.
Fortunately, they showed no hostility when they found me. Several of them rushed over and quickly checked my condition. The man I had locked eyes with had already looked away, scanning the rest of the cave. To my surprise, it seemed no one found anything strange about me. They even assumed my lack of reaction was due to fear, which was close enough to the truth that I didn’t mind the misunderstanding.
After that, everything became a blur. A few people exchanged words, then one of them lifted me onto his back and headed straight for the exit. Carried comfortably out of the dungeon, I took a deep breath of fresh air. There had been plenty of twists and turns, but the sunlight and open sky felt so good that tears welled up in my eyes.
Time passed quickly after that, and eventually I arrived at the present moment.