Most importantly of all, the forest lion no longer needed to breathe. Its body could sustain itself on a single breath for half a day, it had found. No longer would it be forced to suffer in silence as it stalked alert prey sensitive to sound and smell. In addition, it no longer gave off body heat, and its smell had all but disappeared. Its senses had also increased sharply, as its eyes could now detect mana and its ears could see the movement of the earth. The forest lion, while confident in its new form, still found certain weaknesses to its new existence.
For one thing, it could no longer leave the underground world it now inhabited. Every step it took in the outside caused it to weaken, the feeling of old age returning and the loss of its new abilities shaking it mentally. Not only that, but the beast felt its insides burn, as if something within protested its leaving. So while it would occasionally try to leave, the forest lion would always return to the strange forest and live this easy life.
Not every change came beneficially, as it had lost the ability to change color to blend into its environment. While its natural color allowed it to blend into the trees that populated the underground world, it could no longer change to blend into the ground, the darkness, or the stone. This had been problematic up until it realized its prey did not rely on sight in the first place, which it learned after playing with its prey by walking all around them as they moved.
Most troubling of all, however, was its loss of procreative equipment. It had fallen off, evidently unneeded forever more. The forest lion had spent a long time inspecting between its legs in disbelief to make sure its eyes weren’t deceiving it. No matter how long it looked, the results remained the same. It was disappointing, but the lion had spread itself in time past, so it didn’t bemoan its loss too much. Sometimes. In the depths of its mind, however, it remained hopeful to having the capability returning one day, perhaps with a greater form.
With its stomach sated for the moment, the lion stood and left the tree. It kept a calm demeanor as it made its way over the branches, making its way home to its den. A large tree a negligible distance from a garden was the forest lion’s home, holding within its branches a self-made cavern of branches, leaves, and hardened slime which kept it all together. The forest lion had made it itself, using slime bodies as the main material. It enjoyed this new home better than its previous one. Bones and rotting carcasses made for a poor smelling home.
Sliding inside, the forest lion walked in a circle before lying down, sticking its head out the opening to watch the garden in the distance. Its eyes followed each herb slime and plant slime as they scurried around, taking care of the garden and each other. It wasn’t strong enough to take on those slimes, nor was there a spot closer enough to accomplish an ambush. The herb slimes never left the garden, and the plant slimes were quite dangerous with their ability to control the trees. Worse still were the jungle slimes, who never made themselves known until a fight occurred. The beast still failed to find more than four, each hidden around the garden. It knew there were more.
Glancing up at the position of the luminous slimes overhead, the forest lion prepared itself.
From the shadows, it noticed small forms moving out of the underbrush. They scurried about around the perimeter of the garden, taking positions in preparation for their daily assault. The forest lion watched on in interest, having been observer to these daily raids for quite some time.
A cry arose, a signal. A group of 15 bug slimes burst out of the forest surroundings, charging toward the main entrance to the garden. They clicked their hardened slime parts and made a loud racket, attracting the attention of the plant slime guardians. In response, the plant slimes charged out of the garden to meet the threat. Meanwhile, the herb slimes moved rapidly through the garden, ready to release their paralyzing spores at the slightest hint of invader.
It was a scene played out many times before since the trembling of the whole forest, but it was not the slimes the forest lion watched now. Hidden opposite the battle, the beast noted several hunkered down forms waiting. When the herb slimes moved away, the shadow dwellers darted into the garden and seized plants and fruits. The frenzy was quick but silent, as the little furry-scaled things finished their acquisition and darted back toward the tree line. However, one took too long and was found by the herb slimes.
A shrill scream filled the air as the little monster was doused in clouds of paralytic spores, dropping to the ground as all prey did. The forest lion cared little as the slime took care of their intruder. It was more interested in those who remained. It had grown tired of feeding on slimes, satisfying as they were, and craved something with a crunch. Silently, it padded out of its house to chase after the little shadows.
From tree to tree, the old predator stalked the shadows. This occasion was not the first of its kind. The little beings had eluded him twice before in unfamiliar territory. This time, the forest lion used its newfound abilities to keep up, its tail weaving ahead to nab ahold of branches to swing across the larger gaps in its path. The strong branches made no sound as the adventurer-sized predator swung by, enlisted into the tailing of its prey.
Finally, after the luminous slimes above had moved closer to the end of their route, the little shadows stopped in front of a large tree where, at the base, a natural den was formed by the roots. The monsters climbed in, their stolen stash following them, and the forest lion waited.
It would not attempt to intrude this day. Experience told it that it would require time to understand the habits of this new prey. It recalled a particularly disastrous hunt its mother had led it and its siblings on once, back when it was a small cub.
While its kind did not typically work together outside mating season, the prey had been a small herd of forest bison. The bison themselves were monsters with inner cores, though of the weakest level. Five alphas, including their mother, had joined the hunt and tracked the prey to their lair.
However, when they attempted to slip in, the bison herd had been waiting for them, fully aware of the forest lions tracking the entire time. The fight had been bloody and loud, with death knells filling the air as the lions killed their way out of the trap and bison bellowing out in rage and anger. In the aftermath, three of the lions failed to make it, and its mother had lost her back leg from the lead bison goring it with a horn. The cubs, watching from the thicket nearby, had mewed in concern for their mother.
She was strong. She taught its siblings and it how to properly use their tails after that. They fed on the corpses of the fallen forest lions, both those killed and weakened. When they were done with that, they feasted on the corpse of the bison leader, whom their mother had killed.
The forest lion would not attack this time. The ease of the hunt bothered it. It turned and swung away, back to its home, intent on scouting the area the following day. Risk was for the young.
Little did it know, that a single head peaked out of the hole as it left, disappointment apparent in its beady little reptilian eyes. With scaly scales, it fingered the headdress resting on its head, unused to its weight still. Behind it, the warriors of its tribe stored their weapons for a different day.
One that would be coming.
Chapter 16
Doc watched a moment longer as both slimes trained with the two worgs. The awakening of Ayla and Aisha had been quite a shock to him, one he was still getting used to a few days later. Everything about them was different compared to before—their personalities, attitude, desires, and even speech patterns. Ayla was better with words and enjoyed teasing, while Aisha preferred action but always spoke with wisdom.
They had both made great strides in finding themselves, with both Rowen and Anadine benefitting from their teachings in combat and mentality. While the four boss monsters were occupied with these lessons, Doc found himself free of part of the worries that filled his life.
With a weary gaze, he locked his attention on the door that separated him from Claire. The pixie had failed to respond to any of his summons or greetings ever sinc
e her damning spiel against him. If the bond between them didn’t exist, Doc felt he’d be unable to tell whether she was still alive. Even with it, though, there was nothing to indicate to him she was doing anything beyond a small pull of mana into her home.
Deciding against trying to talk to her in vain, he instead turned his attention up to the forest floor. His gaze filled with the sight of slime after slime living, working, and dying in their pseudo-societies. Doc allowed their lives to fill him, satisfying the hole created from the loss of the human soul he’d once housed. He’d only vaguely figured this out a week ago, but now he was sure that the newly freed slimes were freeing him from the pain of existence. Rather, their individual existences became him.
Though they showed little in the form of traditional intelligence, Doc was surprised to witness the various examples of wisdom, tactics, and intuition shown by the slimes. In particular, his attention was drawn to the various leaders of the slime groups, all of whom were the most interesting by far.
Take the bug slime colony located in the southern part of the forest. This particular group was composed of a worker group of slimes taking the vague forms of ants and beetles, whose jobs ranged from caring for the nest, raiding the gardens, and defending the group. Above them, slimes with tentacles taking the form of spider legs used their slime to expand the nest above and below the trees. The leader, which Doc kept an eye on, was a smaller slime compared to others of its type. Its tier 2 bug slime form was locked in place consisting of: cricket legs, the head of a bee, two tentacle copies of a mantis forearms, and a vaguely ant-like body. This leader slime would use its legs to create music and sound, by which it communicated orders to the other slimes. The other slimes, lacking the ability to produce those sounds, would spread the message by vibrating their bodies and spreading it via touch to other slimes.
Interestingly enough, some slimes had figured out this system. As usual, Doc picked out the few mimic slimes, rivals to the bug slime, mixed into the crowd of workers. To acquire food, they would copy the vibration and use it to communicate false orders, easily making off with the supplies they needed without ever needing to fight. They would return to their small communes hidden throughout the forest cavern and share with their lesser mimic followers, teaching them the art of shapeshifting.
Doc didn’t pay too much attention to the mimic slimes outside their activities in the three main slime groups. The mimic slimes were all the same. Unable to acquire the majority of lesser mimic slimes as minions and workers, they’d resorted to working as a collective group of thieves across the forest floor, taking turns at stealing and teaching the few lesser mimics. This made them the most successful slime group, even if their group was so small that it barely counted as a one.
The southern bug slimes were in the midst of renovating their nest. The spider types were spewing their goo along the edges, which was taken or spread by the workers. When a spider type ran low on reserves, they were soon supplied slime cores to eat by a worker. Doc noted with some interest as the workers began to bunch into small raiding groups when the reserves of slime cores fell. The song of battle rang through the air from the leader bug slime, and two raid groups set out for the garden.
Doc turned his attention to the southern garden now. Beautiful flowers sprouted up everywhere, with colors ranging from pink to green. The herb slimes, the caretakers, moved from plant to plant, watering, weeding, and moving new seedlings to open areas. The garden, too, was in the midst of renovation, though Doc noted with interest an entirely new area at the center of the garden complete with slime nests.
Thanks to the plant slimes and heal slimes of this particular garden, new bee homes were being grown into hives, allowing for easy access into the hives at any time. The slime bees created mana-rich honey, a prize sought out by all slimes due to its higher purity compared to slime cores. The heal slimes in particular were of great help, as their soothing magic made its way into the hives and not only help the bees but also increased the healing properties of the honey. The other gardens hadn’t yet grasped bee raising yet, instead allowing the bees to pollinate as they wished and return to their wild hives in the forest. The mana honey allowed for the herb slime family in the southern garden to expand, thus the renovation and expansion.
Previously, they had relied on the harvesting of leaf-muncher slime cores, the resilient pests flocking in to feed on the mana rich plants. The herb slimes had needed to divide their attention between the plants and the leaf-munchers in order to survive but now no longer needed to. This had the adverse effect of increased leaf-muncher presence in the garden, and the herb slimes now had to devote entire days slaughtering to protect the flowers and the bees. Leaf-munchers also invaded the hives and fought with the bee slimes. Two heal slimes had already been killed due to their non-violence.
The plant slimes kept up their protective patrol, aided by the jungle slimes in hiding around the garden. Doc found it an interesting system, the plant slimes being able to control the greenery and use it as a weapon while the jungle slimes unleashed acidic spines that destroyed everything in their wake, including the greenery. This meant the jungle slimes would stay put and not attack unless it was absolutely necessary, though they were often called upon to reduce the distance between the tree line and the garden.
The two bug slime raid groups were approaching the garden from the southwest, both groups consisting of about fifteen slimes each of worker types. As they neared the garden, the two groups broke off from each other, one heading north while the other moved to a more southern position. From the west and the south, the two groups rushed in towards the garden. Interestingly enough, both groups withheld any sort of battle cry or sound in an apparent attempt at stealth.
Naturally, however, the plant slimes were quite adept at tremor sense and moved swiftly into position to repel the invaders. The herb slimes, feeling the battle beginning, tensed and moved erratically around the garden, searching for invaders. The jungle slimes tensed up in their waiting positions but did nothing for the moment.
The lesser mimic slimes released chittering noises when the plant slimes appeared and quickly fell into the heat of battle. Large roots sprung up from the ground, seeking to pierce the invading slime cores. From the air, vines flew out from the garden seeking to smack the raiders back. Finally, a few of the plant slimes charged into the fight, their tentacles sprouting out to engage the enemy. Slime-hardened mandible met acidic tentacle in a daring clash of family, injuring both sides. While the plant slimes were of a higher tier, the lesser mimic slimes were more numerous and possessed armor. In addition, their non-unified forms meant that no two possessed the same weakness of slime-hardened armor.
While the plant slimes successfully handled most of the enemy, a few managed to slip past into the garden. There, they faced an onslaught of herbs, well equipped with their paralysis spores and tentacles of their own. Doc watched a particular gory scene where two of the lesser mimics in the form of ants sliced an herb slime in half with their mandibles, only to have both their cores pierced by the still alive herb slime who quickly reformed. Still, the paralyzing spores were only effective in the limited range upon which they came into being, and a few of the lesser mimic invaders managed to reach the bee spawning nests. With careful tentacles, the raiders snagged honeycomb and cores and stored them in their slime, creating effective air pockets inside to prevent the dissolution of their loot. When they were full, they made their getaway.
The herb slimes, aware of the theft, immediately turned to intercept the fleeing enemy, only to have the rest of the lesser mimics throw themselves in the way. The herb slimes cut through the decoys but failed to stop any of the mimic slimes with the honey from escaping in the midst of the suicide charge.
The thieves exited the garden opposite of the plant slime battlefield, avoiding both attention and pursuit as they entered the tree line.
Of course, it was here that their luck took a turn for the worst, as the lesser mimic slimes ran into a pat
rol of grey slimes who had been lying in wait since they had noticed the battle. One large gelatinous slime lead three sharp slimes, an armor slime, and a blood slime.
As far as Doc could tell, the grey slime family was by far the largest group of slime in the forest. Unlike the other slimes, who had separated into various groups located around and within the forest, the grey slime family had opted to carve out a large lair near the staircase to the third floor. From there, they formed small patrols that would move through the forest seeking supplies from other slime groups. Doc noted with interest that some grey slime patrols sometimes opted to trade slime cores with bug slime or herb slime groups, though the exact nature and reason for the trade was unknown even to him. More often than not, however, the grey slime patrols would engage enemy slimes and steal from them.
In this particular instance, the lead lesser mimic slime seemed to have no interest in fighting. It removed its stolen honeycomb and cores and placed them on the ground in front of the gelatinous slime, clicking its slime mandible together.
The gelatinous slime absorbed the offered goods, creating its own air pocket in which to store it. However, it moved forward with tentacles raised in an aggressive posture. The lesser mimics raised a racket in response, taking defensive positions. In Doc’s eyes, negotiations had failed.
The gelatinous slime charged first, creating a path through the lesser mimic slimes for its brethren to follow. With their various broken swords and other weapons sticking out of their body, the sharp slimes rolled through the defensive slime, rolling over and impaling the lesser mimic slime cores easily. The armor slime and blood slime, however, failed to gain any momentum, their powers being more geared towards non-slime opponents. They were set upon and torn apart quite quickly, their cores pilfered. Still, the gelatinous slime’s bulk was greater than the few lesser mimic slimes, and they were forced to flee, leaving half their brethren behind. The four remaining grey slimes looted the bodies of cores and honeycombs before returning home.
Dungeon Wars Page 16
