Chapter 9 – Ways to Attain Power, and the Feeling of Loneliness
Taking a single breath once the battle was done…
『Level has been increased to 9.
For reaching the specified level, 「Basic Liquification」「Basic Self-Liquid-Manipulation」have now been acquired.
In turn, you have completed acquiring level-based skills for this species.
For having met this criteria, 「Slime Murderer」「Slime Killer」「Same Race Murderer」 have now been acquired.
Due to having defeated a Slime (common species), you have now partially usurped its abilities.
「Physical Defense – Small」 has now been acquired.
Due to the superior skills 「Slime Killer」「Same Race Murderer」being acquired, the inferior skills 「Slime Murderer (provisional)」「Same Race Murderer (provisional)」「Slime Murderer」have automatically been overwritten.』
The announcement flowed through as always. It seemed there were no Neo Slime skills left for me to earn anymore.
Still though; it happened back then with the goblins too, but what the hell did usurping their abilities even mean? Right, the meaning of the word “usurping” should be something along the lines of “stealing” if I was remembering correctly, and since the skills I’d gained included skills I’d learned off my enemies, that wouldn’t be all that wrong in the first place either.
T/N: For the sake of an easy-to-understand translation, this usurping of abilities was translated as simply taking the enemy’s abilities back in ch7. Turns out usurping isn’t that common a word in Japanese either, and that it wassupposed to be a word our slimy protagonist wasn’t familiar with. Oh the joys of translating without knowledge of later chapters.
This told me without a doubt that defeating enemies was what would make me get stronger and get my level to go up. But then, what was even up with how eating enemies gave me powers half the time, and gave me literally nothing at all the rest of the time?
I came up with a little idea as to how that might work. To test my theory, I tried eating a part of that slime I just defeated.
The last enemy I’d gone out of my way to use Charge on had, perhaps due to some particular characteristic of its body, quickly turned to nothing after I’d splashed poison on it. This Charge-defeated enemy was showing nothing remotely like that, and had barely lost even a single portion for me to eat. Well, this was due to that attack only having grazed it though.
It would’ve turned to mincemeat (gotten crushed into water, rather) if that had hit more directly, and then I couldn’t have gotten any powers out of eating that, so getting the impact just right had been tricky; but I’d gotten the result I was aiming for. Even if said result was that I still didn’t get any powers from eating it anyway.
This made it hard for me to think that how this worked had anything to do with species or individual. If it was, then I don’t think there would’ve been much difference between me and these slimes I’d lived in the same den with.
There had to be another cause if that was the case, so I started to wonder if whether or not I took down the enemy myself first was where the difference came from.
My reason for thinking so was that it felt like I’d gotten a pretty big power-up when I’d defeated the goblins, whereas even eating all those slimes earlier seemed to have given me less of a powerup in comparison to what I’d felt myself get from defeating the rest of the slimes.
From that, I ended up thinking that there were perhaps two different ways of getting abilities from an enemy.
The first one was to defeat/kill enemies, which would give me the best and strongest powers out there. And it seemed this would give me the enemy’s skills too in some cases.
Second was to not defeat the enemy, and either eat it whole or eat just a part of it. The abilities gained from this paled in comparison to the first method, and usurping skills from the enemy this way didn’t look too possible either. It clearly wouldn’t be possible for me to usurp any abilities this way, and the fact that I hadn’t gotten some sort of announcement about usurping after eating those few dozen slimes earlier stood as proof of that. Of course, it was possible I’d just had bad luck, but looking into that was best saved for later.
Besides, this was just a possibility, but maybe getting abilities from the former method meant you couldn’t then get some more abilities out of the latter method. It’d be natural to not get any more abilities when you already got them all the first time around.
It was ultimately just a guess from everything I’d seen so far, but I got the feeling that it was more or less right somehow.
Well, I’ll just think this over again if it does end up being wrong.
Next, I decided to check the skills I’d gotten now and see what they did, but the only one I understood was the liquid manipulation one. If the name for it was anything to go by, it was something that’d let me freely move this body around. Going off of that, it’d be possible to extend tentacle-like things from this body too, and that would also mean I could make something like hands and feet out of them.
Well, it was easy enough to tell something like that would be pretty unsettling to look at though, so I decided to just carry on like normal outside of when I’d actually need it.
Once I got all that done with and turned to look behind me, I saw that those two kids were still just sitting there.
To tell you the truth, I was honestly wanting to run away that instant instead of standing there and thinking about them, but it seemed I still couldn’t leave when they were on the verge of tears like this. Right now, the thought of turning back and putting more and more distance between us simply wasn’t an option.
「怪我は無いかな？」
“You’re not hurt, right?”
Once I said that, I couldn’t help but shrink my body down to normal and then start approaching those two. I did all I could to make sure I didn’t scare them, but it was still barely any use.
I moved step by step (though with me gliding across the ground it was probably better to say slither by slither), and the two of them visibly jumped and started shaking when I got close. It was clear that I was making them terrified.
Even once I got close to them, the two simply held each other and were still unable to move. I wanted to let them know that I wasn’t going to hurt them, but I sadly hadn’t gotten the skill to be capable of human speech. It was clear that my words wouldn’t go through to them as my simple question earlier hadn’t gotten any response.
That being so, I decided to show them I meant no harm by making a gesture that even children would be able to understand.
Quickly using that skill I’d gotten just before, I made two tentacle-like cylinders from my body and reached out with them.
Seeing that, the two of them closed their eyes like they were bracing for something.
Since I couldn’t bear to let the misunderstanding keep them this terrified any longer, I rested those two cylindrical tentacles on top of both of their heads…
“… Eh?”
… And began to gently stroke their hair. That voice of confusion had come from the older of the girls, the two of them now looking surprised by my actions as they kept their eyes shut and kept bracing themselves like that.
Going slow and easy, I stroked their heads as gently as I possibly could. I would’ve made some hands too if possible, but it’d be hard to work at that level of detail when I wasn’t used to working with this. It seemed there were some skills out there that still took practice after getting them.
The persistent brushing managed to have an effect, and the two gradually became less and less tense until they eventually opened their eyes and started to look towards me. There was still some uncertainty left in those eyes of theirs, but it was a world of difference compared to before.
It seemed like it’d be more or less fine for me to move a little now, so I pulled those tentacles away from their heads, and somehow worked them into what was possibly an arrow mark.
If I couldn’t talk with words, then I’d have to use body language. I waved those two tentacles around in an attempt to physically ask them where they’d wanted to go.
“Are you maybe… asking us where we want to go to?”
The two of them had blank stares at first and had no idea what I meant, but the older of the two girls didn’t give up and kept trying until she figured it out. She caught onto stuff well, if anything.
When I gave her a big nod to tell her she was right, the girl slowly raised her hand and…
“… That way.”
… Pointed out the direction. They didn’t seem to be lost, with how she quickly answered where they were going. I was wanting to ask why and how they were here, but I knew I wouldn’t have much luck with that when my words weren’t getting through to them, so I gave up on the idea.
Quickly getting these kids somewhere safe was top priority for me right now. We couldn’t just keep staying here in a place where they could get attacked at any moment.
I expanded to a somewhat smaller extent and then used those tentacles of mine to pick the two up and lift them up onto my head. For safety’s sake, I made sure to wrap those tentacles around them like seatbelts too.
And then I jumped just like that.
“Kyaaaaaaaa!”
They both screamed at the same time. I hadn’t really jumped up to all that much of a height though. Well, they did just get carried up all of a sudden and then found themselves sailing through the air on top of that – pretty much anyone would be startled.
I stopped after the first jump, and then checked if they were alright or not. Their landing had been properly cushioned, so I guessed it was only the height that had scared them then.
Judging they were fine from the looks of things, I jumped again. I mean, the younger one of the two even laughed a little bit and was quite clearly having fun now. It was a huge difference from just earlier.
“Kyahahaha! Yippie, hooray!”
Curiosity had apparently won out over fear for them. This really helped me out, since it made it much easier for them to stop being scared of me and relax.
The older girl still seemed to be very nervous about the whole thing, but she’d just have to bear with it. I knew that even I wouldn’t be able to protect these kids forever. I had to get them back home quickly, where they’d truly be safe.
I heard directions from them every now and then, and after a while of me going in the directions that they pointed at, the girls seemed to finally get used to this and began to rest their weight on my body with a lot more trust. Another while later, and something like a village came in sight.
It really did feel a lot like the sort of farming village you’d see in a game. This world’s gamelike nature seemed to go as far as extending to places like this.
As I got closer to the village, I then saw that there were adults standing around by the entrance to it, all of them equipped with weapons and armor. I wondered just what had happened there, but the answer to that was obvious.
There was no mistaking that they were heading out to go look for these kids. If children from the village went missing and ended up going somewhere littered with monsters, that would be a natural response.
I promptly made a huge leap and landed right in front of the villagers to let them know that the girls were safe and sound. I then realized that had been a really dumb move.
“Wha, what is this thing!?”
The villagers all turned my way and then raised their weapons to get ready for battle. I’d once again acted like I was still human or something, but it couldn’t be helped, right? In that instant, I’d ended up forgetting the fact that I was a slime now. Having reincarnated just yesterday, there were limits to how fast I could adapt.
I wanted to show I wasn’t an enemy, but I couldn’t say so with words, and I only had tentacles to work with for putting my hands up. If I did try putting said tentacles up, I’d put them on high alert for sure, so I decided it was best to drop that idea.
I only ended up coming here to bring these children back to them, so I really wanted to be spared the hostilities. Saving someone and dying for it was already bad enough the first time.
I slowly shrank down to try and make myself seem non-threatening, and let the girls sitting atop my head gently come down to the ground in the process.
“Mina! Alice!”
One of the villagers screamed those names in surprise. I guess that’d happen when the kids you were looking for suddenly came back accompanied by a monster, huh?
I decided to quickly wrap up my business here since I was out of paralysis shots, and because the mood felt like someone would even try a suicide attack if I stuck around too long. Although it seemed even the one with the bow wouldn’t make any attacks when I had these children near me right now, having my prior actions imitated so soon was a real pain.
I took a step back and gave the two a gentle push with my tentacles.
Both of them hesitated for an instant, but they soon took off running to where the villagers were. I figured the danger was all gone now.
The one that was holding the bow quickly fired an arrow at me the precise moment I thought that. If this was a surprise attack, then it had such an obvious front that even I wasn’t stupid enough to get hit by it.
Intending to intimidate them, I fired a poison spit at the flying arrow and made it start melting. To no surprise, the arrow deformed and melted to nothing in mid-air.
I was thinking it might go this way. No matter how much kindness I could show here, I was a slime now, so some of these people would see me as a long-standing foe. However few their numbers could be, and as much as fewer was better, they were obviously thinking up a trap. I could see that very well.
This was not going to go like it did in games and fairy tales, where saving people once was enough to have good things come your way.
At this rate, these people would be overly on edge if I was even so much as present here; and having possibly thought of this situation as me not having those children as hostages anymore, some of the villagers were already drawing closer to me while brandishing their weapons too.
They were absolutely wanting to kill me.
“Kgh!”
Somewhere in my head, I’d known that. That was why, consciously or otherwise, I’d kept trying to avoid humans this whole time. The will to attack people with sheer killing intent – that came to my heart more strongly than expected.
For some reason that even I didn’t know, I’d thoroughly risked my life these past few days and ended up getting really confident in myself when it came to smaller matters. And because of that, that same confidence was now rapidly crumbling away despite me having brought the kids to safety like this.
“You can’t bully it!”
“Don’t stop me, Mina!”
The younger girl had jumped out in front of the nearest villager and tried to stop him. Thinking about how out of place it was that it was this girl, Mina, and not her older sister Alice who had done such a thing, I found myself suddenly bursting with laughter.
“Hahaha!”
Laughing a laugh that the villagers would never comprehend, I turned my back to them and jumped away. There wasn’t a villager among them who could keep up with these jumps I was holding nothing back on – the same jumps as just earlier, when I’d had the two kids perched on top of me.
I frantically leaped on and on towards the horizon, laughing all the way as I did so. I wasn’t concerned with distance or direction, just proceeding forward with everything I had.
“Hahahahahahaha!”
For whatever reason, the laughter wouldn’t stop. Even I didn’t know why, but it was just so funny that I simply couldn’t help it.
This was comical, I was laughing, but my heart felt heavy anyway. Just what was this?
“What the hell is all this?!”
Single-mindedly continuing forth like this, I eventually found myself crashing to the ground and tumbling to a stop. However many skill assists I could have, my stamina would run out if I jumped around too much. I wasn’t short of breath, but it seemed that my body wouldn’t be moving for a little while. I felt wrapped in a deep sense of exhaustion.
I turned onto my back and looked up at the sky. It was a blue sky no different from that of my own world, so why, in spite of that being the same, had I ended up like this?
“Hahaha…Haha, ha…”
I got it now. I’d always kept looking away from it. From having come to this world to seeing all the various things in it, I’d kept on averting my gaze from that all throughout as I frantically did whatever I could to survive.
It was loneliness.
A monster such as a slime could never form an understanding with them. It was clear from how, no matter what I did, I couldn’t make myself be seen as a former human when the people there attacked me.
There was no way I’d get to be buddy buddy with those people who were wary of me on long-established instinct. It looked like I could have a while back, but with the situation having turned hostile in the end, I clearly couldn’t when it was only kill-or-be-killed with them.
Therefore, having human friends was impossible. However hard I could try, they’d only ever see me as a monster when I was in the form of a slime. Maybe we could reach some form of compromise if there was another good situation like with Mina and Alice.
However, if the people of the village hadn’t chosen to attack me there and had instead allowed me in, could I have lived among those people without worries anyway?
“Haha… It’s truly impossible then.”
If I were in their position, not only could I never accept letting a slime into the village when I had no idea when it’d turn on us, but even if someone other than me decided to temporarily accept it and said I had to go with that, then whether it’d be by staging an accident or attacking it out of sight, I’d still kill the thing in whatever way I could. Just like all the slimes and goblins I’d killed for survival’s sake since having been reincarnated here.
Because really, I could very well die if I didn’t take that approach. Get yourself hurt by trusting too easily, and there was no guarantee that you’d ever fully recover. Standing as proof of that, the drive to kill people was permeating my whole being at an instinctual level right now.
A being not fitting in with men or beasts, a thing to avoid; that’s what I was.
I’m completely alone.
When I came to that realization, the reality of it broke something within me. All the fear and loneliness, and all the feelings of despair that I’d been desperately pushing back till now, overflowed as the lid on them was wrenched open.
“Ahhhh…”
The tears wouldn’t come even though I wanted them. Slimes apparently didn’t have any tear glands.
I was at my limit. Why couldn’t I have been given anything other than these eyes? This wasn’t making sense – I didn’t want to die, yet why did dying feel like the only way through this?
“UWAAAAAHH!”
I just screamed and cried. Like a baby, because I had no other way of expressing how miserable I felt. But right now, not one of those cries would ever reach a person’s ears. They simply couldn’t reach.
I was entirely alone in this world.
Translator’s Corner:
Thanks for Re: Translations for checking on this one
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