Penny Slime (2)
The next morning.
-Byuryut! Byuryut!
Seah, having finished getting ready for work, eyed the strange, translucent slime shaped like a penis.
"Is that really something that came out of my body?"
Yeah. It's a Penis Slime.
"Ew. The name's kind of weird, isn't it? How about something cute, like... Byuryut?"
That's way too lazy a name.
Still, Seah had a point. There would only be more and more Penis Slimes from here on out, so each one would need a name to tell them apart.
"Then I'm off to work. You're all right by yourself, right?"
I'm going to take a closer look at this one and see if I can hunt down another female.
"Mm..."
She looked at me as though I were a child heading out on his first errand. No, seriously, this woman had adapted frighteningly fast.
"Anyway, I'll be back around six. Don't get hurt, and come back safe, okay?"
Worrying about an Anomaly like this? What a good Management Bureau employee.
"Hey! I've gotten attached, so what am I supposed to do about it? I'll be back!"
She slammed the door behind her and left. So they really weren't kidding when they said you could get attached after sex. But... did this even count as that?
With Seah gone, only Byuryut and I remained in the house. Now it was time to analyze him in detail.
Penis Slime
— A slime born from a woman's Yin Energy.
— It splits when it absorbs enough Yin Energy.
— Immortal until its accumulated Yin Energy is exhausted.
— It vanishes if it comes into contact with a penis or semen.
Just from the description, it was an absurdly broken life-form. A creature that fed on Yin Energy, split itself, and couldn't be killed by physical destruction was practically immortal.
The problem is that its strength is pathetic.
Its one glaring flaw was that even a kindergarten child could subdue it, let alone an adult woman. On top of that, it would disappear if it touched a penis or semen, so it was easy enough to deal with.
Still, it wasn't completely useless. At the base level, the lesser slimes were mentally linked to me, so we shared vision, senses, and skills.
In other words, it could spew aphrodisiac fluid and, when it touched a woman's mucous membrane, expel her personality like waste.
At this point, the thing and I were practically one body. Like a finger that could move on its own, more or less.
Of course, if it died, it wouldn't affect my main body.
Byuryut's method of movement was funny in its own right, too, because it waddled along on two tiny legs shaped like testicles.
The fact that the unanchored pillar-like section wobbled around was a little vulgar, though.
In any case, hunting with two people would be more likely to succeed than hunting alone.
Because Seah had passed out yesterday, she hadn't been able to generate any more Yin Energy. If she kept going, it could damage her life force, so right now both Byuryut and I were starving.
And if Byuryut runs out of Yin Energy, he'll die. I need to hunt quickly.
I was still holding up for now, but if my fullness dropped any further, I'd lose my reason again and go on a rampage.
Now that I knew the Management Bureau existed, I had a sickeningly clear sense of just how dangerous it was to lose control. If I lost my reason again, my life could genuinely be in danger.
Taking Byuryut with me, I headed for the bathroom.
The passage back to the Sanctuary was the bathroom drain.
Of course, when I wasn't using it as a passage, it would return to being just a drain. It only connected when I wanted to use it.
Open.
I opened the passage to the Sanctuary and stepped inside.
It was dark and damp, but when I had first been born there, the place had been so narrow my body had been pinched tight against the walls.
Now, though, even with Byuryut beside me, it didn't feel cramped at all.
Hmm... Is that because I leveled up?
-Byuryut!
While I was thinking about why the Sanctuary had grown, Byuryut waddled around me in circles.
Come to think of it, he had come here to replenish his Yin Energy, hadn't he? The little bastard must be starving.
The Sanctuary had no light source, so it was pitch-black, but glittering specks were strewn in every direction.
It's like I'm in outer space.
Those stars represented the locations of women. More specifically, places where Yin Energy existed.
Hundreds. Thousands. Maybe tens of thousands. They twinkled, luring me in.
They all look more or less the same—wait. What’s that?
Just as I was agonizing over my choice, a brilliantly shining star caught my eye. It was a giant star swallowing the light around it. There was no doubt some terrifying monster waiting there.
That looks insanely dangerous...
My caution was ringing loud alarms, but my uncontrollable curiosity was even stronger.
Since I can share vision with Byuryut... I should send him first and check it out.
To guard against any unforeseen threat, I decided to send the immortal Byuryut ahead of me. Carefully, I opened a passage toward that dazzling giant star.
Deep underground, where darkness lay thick and heavy.
Inside a cave hollow filled with damp air, only the voices of a man and a woman echoed through the chamber.
"This is the seed of catastrophe the Association prepared?"
"Indeed. It was an item the Corrupt Sorcerers Association spent decades preparing."
Where their gazes were aimed, a grotesque, enormous womb floated in midair.
A womb with red veins writhing like streams of blood, pulsing and drawing in the surrounding Yin Energy with every beat.
"So the womb of the Lust Dragon we provided seems to have been put to good use."
"You have the Demon King's Army to thank for its cooperation."
The woman brushed a slender finger across her lips as she asked, "And what exactly is being conceived inside it?"
The man in the black robe, his hood pulled low, extended a trembling hand and pointed at the womb hanging in the air.
"The sperm of an S-Class Anomaly, the Volcano-Eating Giant God."
"...Wasn't that the one the Management Bureau exterminated in the past?"
"During the extermination, we barely managed to salvage one sample."
The woman recalled the scene from that giant god's rampage. The violent spectacle of a penis the size of an airplane driven deep into a volcano.
"He was a lunatic, but his power was terrifying."
"The egg of an S-Class Anomaly, the Lust Dragon, has met the genes of another S-Class Anomaly, the giant god. Aren't you curious what will be born from that?"
"Hmph... Well, I suppose it would be a dangerous thing."
The Lust Dragon was a monster among monsters, able to make tens of thousands drop dead from orgasm with a single roar. Whatever was inside that womb would surely be something that surpassed even that dragon.
"But for now, it's only in the embryonic stage. It will probably take a few years before it's born."
"Won't the Management Bureau come storming in before then?"
"Ha. That's why the Association and the Demon King's Army need to work hard and buy time, don't you think?"
"Tch. I hate troublesome work."
"It can't be helped, not if we're to build a world for the Corrupt Sorcerers."
"Spare me. I only care that the Demon King's Army prospers."
The woman sank lazily into the chair prepared at one side of the chamber. The man leaned against the wall and stared at the womb.
For the prosperity of the Demon King's Army, and the flourishing of sorcery.
They waited for the day that monster, burdened with their twisted wishes, would turn this land into hell.
I sent Byuryut out through the passage. Borrowing his sight, I scanned the area and found myself looking at a massive hollow cavern steeped in a damp, putrid aura.
What is that?
In the center of the hollow, a huge womb floated grotesquely in midair. From it came a sweet, thick, almost unbearable scent of Yin Energy.
For now... there's someone there? Get closer without being noticed.
Were a man and a woman guarding it? The fact that there were so few of them probably meant they were confident in their abilities.
Byuryut moved carefully, hugging the cavern wall as he crept toward the back of the womb without entering the pair's line of sight.
It's really a womb...
Byuryut plastered himself against the back of the massive organ. Fixing his body in place with sticky aphrodisiac fluid, he wriggled around to inspect the outer wall of the womb.
That's a ridiculous amount of Yin Energy. I'd level up just fine from this.
But to level up, I either needed to make direct contact myself or receive the Yin Energy Byuryut absorbed.
The problem was that the total amount of Yin Energy Byuryut could store was tiny.
If I wanted enough to be satisfied, he'd have to make the trip back and forth several times.
Hmm... can he get inside?
For a Penis Slime to absorb Yin Energy, it had to come into contact with a woman's mucous membrane. A womb was normally lined with mucosa, but this strange one wasn't.
Some kind of scale-like layer covered the entire thing.
That meant Byuryut had to enter the womb itself. Since a normal womb has an opening in the cervix, he began searching there.
-Byuryut!
Ah, found it.
There was a single opening in the cervix, just like a human womb.
In a human, that opening would be tiny unless it was time to give birth, but this womb was so large that even Byuryut could squeeze inside.
-Byuryut, Byuryut!
After shoving his head in and struggling for a bit, he finally managed to slip inside.
That is... an embryo? So they're waiting for something to be born.
Inside the womb sat a red, pulsing embryo. It monopolized the massive Yin Energy the womb was sucking in from outside and kept dividing its cells over and over.
Sorry, kid. I need to survive first. Go ahead, Byuryut.
-Byuryut, Byuryut!
Byuryut shouted brightly and clung tight to the womb wall. In that instant, the enormous torrent of Yin Energy the womb had been absorbing flooded into Byuryut's body like a waterfall.
Good. Now come back out and bring it to me—
-Byuryuuut!?
W-Wait!
But there was simply too much Yin Energy inside the womb.
A Penis Slime could absorb Yin Energy, yes, but it still had a clear limit. The moment it absorbed energy at this level, its instincts kicked in and it began splitting in order to survive.
-Sshk!
Byuryut split. The split Byuryut split again. Split, and split, and split again.
Hey! Stop! I said stop it!
Even the newborn copies soon ran low on Yin Energy, clung to the wall again to absorb more, and then, unable to contain the overflowing power, split yet again.
-Byuryut!
-Byuryut, Byuryut!
-Byuryuuut!
-Byuryuryuuut!
-Byuryut!
Before long, the number of Penis Slimes had exploded, and the womb was swollen so much it looked ready to burst.
Even if a womb was a highly elastic organ, it had already expanded far beyond its limit.
"W-Wait! What the hell is wrong with it!?"
"This is...! Some kind of mutation!"
"Y-You! Are you sure this is going to be all right!?"
"I-I don't know! Back away for now! It's going to explode!"
The womb bulged until it filled nearly the entire cavern.
Judging itself to be full term, it contracted and spat out its contents.
BOOOOM!!
The cervix couldn't withstand it and burst apart, and the tens of thousands of Penis Slimes inside came pouring out like a monstrous wave.
Even as they spilled forth, they continued splitting, hunting desperately for Yin Energy, and the moment they emerged, they found prey.
"K-Kyaaa!? Why are those things coming after me!?"
Seeing the surging mass of slimes, the woman fled out of the cave.
The man couldn't escape in time and was swept up in the rough tide of Penis Slimes, slammed out into the open.
And the tens of thousands of split slimes were starving. If they couldn't absorb Yin Energy now, they were dead.
-Byuryut, Byuryut!!
-Byuryuut!!
-Byuryut!!
The ravenous army that had spilled out all at once instinctively sensed the Yin Energy of the city below the mountain.
They began swarming down the slopes.
Uh... isn't this a huge problem?
I stared blankly at the scene unfolding inside the empty cavern.