Forest 2

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This body was uncomfortable. It was dizzying and nauseating. How much longer could the slime maintain this form? It wasn't long. As soon as she woke up, she felt strange. Jun became wary of her all of the sudden and the sun was up. What happened to her? She orientated herself and stood up.

Then, she remembered. The body she was inhabiting now was the mage girl from the squad of soldiers. The male body she was using collapsed into slime after the nauseating feeling reached its peak. She never knew her body dysphoria would physically affect her as it did.

She crouched down and called out to the cub, "Come on Jun, don't you recognize me?"

Jun didn't budge until he saw a small ball of slime in her hand. He took the bait and ate it in one gulp. The slime took the wolf in her arms and started to pet him. She rubbed him behind his ears and that familiarity calmed him.

"Do you know who I am now?" The slime girl asked with a smile. Jun licked her cheek. He seemed to understand and she was very happy about that.

Looking at herself, the female body she inhabited was slender with a modest height. She had brown eyes and shoulder-length dark red hair. She was modestly endowed and had an overall soft body. As she hugged into Jun's own soft and fluffiness, the slime girl smiled genuinely for the first time in this world.

"Hey!"

The boy in his astral form came up to the slime girl and wanted to shove her out but found he couldn't make her budge.

"What are you doing? Let me back in!" The boy wasn't used to being on the outside as he was right now. How did this happen? How could this happen? He was frantic and was in a situation he never conceived could be reality.

The girl giggled a little at the boy's desperation. "Huh? You were the one who yielded dominance to me. I'm in control now."

"What? I'd never yield control to you! That's my body! Give it back!"

The girl couldn't stop smiling but her eyes were down casted. "You feel it, don't you? The helplessness and desperation. The frustration that is inherent in knowing you're not in control of your life, even the body you're born with. That's how I felt every day. I'm sure you did in a different way but you never gave me a chance to improve us."

"You're not me," the boy said in restrained hate.

"You're right. I suppose you're not," the girl said. With a thought, the boy let out a scream and was tossed into the depths of her mind. She didn't want to have this conversation again.

She had D.I.D. and gender dysphoria according to her therapist. Her parents never knew how to deal with her and the boy was never receptive to her. Near the end of their life, she thought she had convinced the boy to change but his treatment of her was the same even when they died. In her eyes, the life she led up to this moment was like a dream and wasn't her own.

She had been hiding under her disguise as a boy for long enough. Although she didn't know why she was born a boy or why she existed, it was too late for that reason to matter.

She admired her new body. Although it wasn't her own, it was the body of a young woman and she enjoyed the feelings it gave her. The softness of her skin to the fluffiness of her hair to the smallness of her hands and feet, and all the things that were feminine and beautiful about this vessel. She loved it all.

These new feelings were weird, like a hole in her heart much bigger than she had ever thought possible was filled. The emotions she expected to find were found and much more than that. This was the fulfillment of being free.

As the slime girl was relishing in her new emotions, Jun whimpered as he was a bit concerned about her state but she reassured him by petting him as he laid in her arms. They were the same person with the same memories yet the boy never acknowledged her. The sudden shift in the dominant persona left her to sort out her mind for a moment like moving into a room where the old tenant just left.

The main point was that she was still herself, a human who reincarnated as a slime into a world unknown. The same slime who fought, killed and felt grief for her indifference. The same slime who tested her abilities and created her meat suits. But now, she was free of her shackles. Her male self was in the past and it was time to move forward.

The problem with Black seemed to have been delayed somehow. Even so, there wasn't much that she could do. Her plan failed and so her monstrous persona was still a problem. She had to hope a solution would reach her soon.

For now, what could she do? It was time for her to learn more about this world.

Over the next couple of weeks, Jun and the slime girl settled into a routine. She would cook some breakfast for Jun and then continue their journey through the forest. They avoided humans they came across them. Besides the soldiers she killed, no one was using the tracking spell so she felt no need to kill them.

The slime was learning again how to use a human body by practicing her Saracen archery. This body had a lot less muscle mass than the male one so she had to compensate by using her slime in her body to assist her. This nearly tripled her strength. She could draw her crystal bow easily now. If she could ever intergrate back into human society, it'd be best not to reveal herself as a slime by relying on her monster abilities.

The armor she was wearing were plates of some sort of hard plastic like the other soldiers. She removed the insignia for obvious reasons. Most of the day was either hunting or practice. Jun liked the hunting part. He always went to retrieve the small game like the birds or small rodent-like creatures she'd cook up.

Every other day she needed to eat too. She needed to consume and absorb a certain amount of life-crystals or she would go hungry. A few monsters a day kept her hunger in check. If she ran into a larger number of monsters, she could kill them to keep a good supply for a rainy day.

The monsters didn't seem to want to comply with her feedings and no amount of influence through the Network would persuade them to give their lives for her. It was nothing a spike through the head couldn't solve. The monsters ranged from freaks of nature to mutated abominations. The variety of monsters outside the cave increased but they also increased in both numbers and repulsiveness.

Although this was speculation, there might be a difference between the monsters she found in the cave and the outside. The monsters in the cave were consistent with its species but outside, they were more mutated and abnormal. It was like the mana was mutating animals and was assimilating them into a collective. Plants too. They were disturbing.

The slime girl also began to expand her repertoire of bodies to mimic and store in her slime. Among the animals she ate so far were some deer, rodents, birds, and strange creatures such as armored boars, a giant otter, and a flying balloon lizard. She also ate trees, fallen leaves, branches, and bushes. The slime didn't have a sense of taste but absorbing one thing after another fed her need to consume.

On some days, she or Jun would find humans in the area and the slime girl would go stalk them from a distance. Some were camping and some were traveling along the highways. From a distance of a few meters, the slime girl would spy on them and listen to their language. Jun would get lonely and whimper if left she left him for too long, so she took him with her. He was smart so he kept silent on these missions.

Most parties she encountered were groups of mercenary guards and their clients. The coat of arms for this bunch was different than those she killed. A silver sword crossed with an ax over a wooden round shield with a wide stripe of green and white in the background.

She could tell they were mercenaries because their clothes were different and individualized. The soldiers before were much more uniform, orderly and disciplined. These guys were loud and vulgar. She was beginning to understand the basic words and structure of the language along with a lot of swear words.

Today, she wanted to play bandit and steal supplies from a merchant. It was for good reason because the slime girl wanted more items from society. She has seen many abandoned carriages but nothing left in those carriages were ever worth stealing. Scavenging was hard. Stealing was probably better.

In time, she could learn the language from books and the conversations she was overhearing which would lead to more interactions with humans. She'd then learn more about the world and common conventions which would then lead to establishing herself in society and learning more about magic. She could travel the world as she wanted and she'd do it with Jun at her side. It was a nice dream and she didn't need anything else for her to be content.

An interesting target was coming and it was lightly guarded. It was escorted by two mercenaries covered in armor and wielded swords. Their cargo were books and materials filled with mana. After observing her prey for a while, she quietly retreated into the forest with Jun following behind her.

Forming back into the human girl, she took out her bow and arrows and prepared to ambush the merchant and his guards.

Jun whimpered with his ears and tail down, he seemed worried about her as he understood his caregiver's preparations after scouting a target. "Aww. Don't worry about me, Jun. Just stay down here and I'll be back in a second."

She petted Jun's head and reassured him before beginning to climb a tall tree. Jun barked a few times as he continued to whimper. Perhaps she made him a little too dependent on her. She climbed up to a sniper's nest a few hundred meters away from the carriage. Her arrows were very accurate.

Her inhuman abilities had managed to have her arrows kill a still deer a mile away. The carriage's constant speed only needed her to adjust her aim a bit.

She was lining up the shot on the carriage when Jun's barking sounded less whiny and more desperate. She turned just in time for a magic bullet to only graze her. Additional shots from behind were aimed at her and met the crystal shield she erected. The improvised shield stayed up until a powerful blast shattered the crystal, causing her to fall.

Jun came running over to comfort her as the pain throughout her body came like a wave. She brushed the fall off and quickly regenerated her broken bones. She stood and drew her crystal bow at her attackers and shot an arrow. The crystal arrow broke mid-air while causing no damage to the invisible enemy.

The enemy unleashed another volley of magic towards her. She quickly grabbed Jun and created another shield with her other arm. The shield shattered almost instantly and it ripped her right arm clean off.

She needed to retreat. These guys were obviously stronger than the other group she faced. What stopped her arrow? It was as if they had a force field around them.

With her human vision, she saw a group of three men. One of them had to be a mage for them to track her but it wasn't certain who the mage was. They all had lever rifles and similar attire. They all could be mages. That was the worst possibility. They were all under the same banner as her previous attackers.

When the three walked in her direction, she triggered her trap and launched crystal spikes from under them. But the spikes didn't pierce them and only seemed to nudge them a little. One guy pushed through one and shattered it. That one had to have been the mage.

The other two didn't attempt to do the same and waited for the mage. She could sense the mana from her spikes disappear as he shattered it.

This mage person could destroy mana. It was a perfect weapon against a monster like her.

She took peeks out of the bush as she regenerated her arm. She drew her bow and shot three arrows in succession. These arrows had a little extra slime. As the mage attempted to cancel out her mana, it was too late for them. The slime within those arrows expanded and exploded due to the air pressure she collected in them.

Shards of crystal and streams of acid shot out of the arrows at the speed of sound. The shockwave alerted the birds around them to fly away. Jun and the slime then ran away as small wolves with the fleeing wildlife.

It became clear to the slime girl that her presence was causing Jun to be in danger. No matter how much she ran, they would catch up to her. She had few options. Hiding among humans wasn't an option with the soldiers hunting her. She could take a bird form and fly out but Jun would be left behind. There was also a chance they could blast her out of the sky. Their shots were very accurate.

After running away for the rest of the day, she thought they lost them in the thick forest. Even if they could track her location, it would take a while for them to reach here. Returning to her human form, she sat in the darkness and held Jun in her arms. Jun grew up a lot over the course of a month. He was a strong wolf for keeping up to her running pace now.

Jun fell asleep from exhaustion as she continued to gently pet and cuddle him. Her ability to communicate with monsters also applied to animals, it seemed. It must've been why Jun was able to understand her so well on so many occasions.

She needed to leave Jun a message for when he woke up so he would know why she left. She infused her mana and 'will' into a crystal and sat it on the ground next to Jun. If mana came from the soul, it should be able to communicate her will to him.

Probably.

Sorry for leaving, Jun. I need to finish a few things so take care of yourself in case I don't come back. I tied a cute blue ribbon around your neck while you slept. Since I trimmed your nails and took care of your coat, any human would believe you're a lost domestic dog. It's your choice if you want to find someone to support you. Please don't look for me.

As the sun rose in the east and the color of the sun overtook those of the moons of red and yellow, the slime girl was perched up in a tree and watched her pursuers from a distance. There were a lot more of them now and they were well organized.

The three from yesterday came out of her small pressure explosions unscathed. If the trap she prepared didn't kill them, she was confident she wouldn't be able to. Her slime and intelligence could do fancy things but it lacked power. Regardless of her weaknesses, she had to be strong now and send a message to the people who were chasing her.

The group of around two dozen soldiers was slowly making their way to her location. They were in formation around their cloaking and force-field spells. She was going to spring her trap and the battle was going to be decided in seconds, as usual. She couldn't allow them a moment to retaliate.

Her entire time in this life has been a fight for survival. There was no avoiding this battle. If she could just capture the leading mage of this group, she could interrogate him about their tracking spell and find a way to counter it and this hunt could finally end. She didn't want to give Jun up.

Now! She commanded her slime bundles surrounding the group to form into repeating crossbows. These crossbows had sliding magazines on top to feed bolts into the mechanism. They shot at the group with her explosive arrows of compressed air, acid, and sharp crystals.

Because of their cloaking, she couldn't detonate the arrows within a meter radius of a person. Because of the mage's anti-mana spells, it limited the targets to only those on the exterior of the formation. Because of their force fields, the arrows had a limiting effect. A few of them have been killed but far more survived. More importantly, their formation was being pushed into the direction she wanted.

She had spread her slime bundles to nearly every tree in the area so as they moved, she formed new crossbows to shoot them. She didn't believe they had enough firepower to destroy every crossbow she had but they were being very efficient with their shots. She was actually running low on mana, which was an accomplishment in itself.

She could tell they were getting desperate as they began firing explosions. It was effective but they were setting fire to the forest around them. The group was reined into the area she wanted after a few minutes of this back and forth.

Suddenly, the ground all around the soldiers literally exploded. Tones of dirt, wood, and rocks shot upwards from below and towards the sky. If they survived this pressure explosion and the flying shrapnel, they would be greeted with a wide thirty-foot deep pit full of acid. The hollowed ground they were standing on swallowed many soldiers.

They would either fall to their deaths or be dissolved in acid. If this didn't kill them, she didn't know what would. When the shockwave reached her, her eardrums popped loudly. It was a bit painful. Large chunks of dirt in the air lost their upward momentum and were falling now.

The slime hid behind a tree a distance away to observe the devastation. She didn't have enough mana to maintain her human form so she collapsed into a pool of slime once again.

She was slowly losing consciousness. She lost most of her slime and all her mana. As the dust settled, she was struggling to stay awake. The 'lights of life' for the group were either faded or fading. The cloaking spell was broken so she scanned a more expansive area around her attackers.

Impossible. Six remained including leading mage. You have got to be kidding me! She screamed in absolute frustration. They were standing at the edge of the acid-lake fissure. They were organizing back into a battle formation and were reinitiating their defensive spells.

It was over. The mage and the surviving men were heading to her location and she couldn't move.

HoW wEaK. hOw HuMaN…

What else could she do then? She exhausted all her options. Was she just waiting for death? What did she do wrong? She was hunted for how she was born. She had no options from the start. Perhaps the pseudo-god was right and she should've taken his deal no matter what ulterior motive he had. At least then she would've had a shot at living again. What kind of life was this?

But there were good things. There were Jun and this beautiful world she saw through her own eyes. Even though it was brief, the images of this world were so whimsical and mystical in nature. She cherished these memories deeply. And Jun, she hoped that he would find a good life without her. She wished to see him one last time. She could almost make out his barking in the distance.

Wait. What? Jun?

She heard his bark as the group of soldiers were only a few steps from the tree where she hid her collapsed body. Jun still had the ribbon she gave her. The soldiers turned to the young wolf as it growled and blocked their path to the slime, their prey.

What was he doing here?! Did her crystal not communicate her will to him? No, if that was the case, how could he be here now? There were times she was gone from their campsite when Jun woke up and he always obediently stayed where he was and waited.

DON'T YOU HURT HIM! She was powerless to stop them.

A single shot rang out.

She heard the round and saw the light in Jun's life flickering.

Jun…

It hurts…

No… She didn't want this to happen. What did she do wrong? Why didn't Jun just stay away like the good boy he was?

Why…

BeCaUsE yOu ArE wEaK. ThOsE iNsEcTs WeRe NoT mEaNt To LiVe.

The dark aura enveloped her once again with more intensity. But she didn't deny it or fight it. She embraced the power it gave her to kill her enemies. Mana from an unknown source surged within her and she quickly reformed her slime and took the form of a female white wolf cub, looking very much like Jun.

The power welling up within her frightened the soldiers into action. She unleashed this power as rays of black light that destroyed everything it touched. Her wolf voice wailed as she let it out in pain.

KiLl ThEm AlL.

Black was possessing her! Her very soul was being attacked! The soldiers practically disintegrated as the forest around her was raised. The beams of darkness sliced through everything it touched and destroyed the surrounding forest. The ground cracked and shook. The battle within her mind was materializing around her as pure destruction.

Her body was very tense as it twisted and buckled over. It was as if she was being crushed from all sides. If she lost her concentration here, she would certainly die. What kind of evil will Black bring onto this world if she allowed him?

GiVe In.

NO WAY IN HELL! With the control she had left, she pressed the slime within her onto her own crystal.

W-wHaT aRe YoU dOiNg?!

She would rather die. She pushed her slime inward towards her crystal and caused intense pressure until it cracked.

Pain!

The worst kind of pain she ever experienced!

The dark aura suddenly dissipated without a trace and was immediately replaced by a different pain to her soul. Her entire being was burning! The gash in her crystal was the only sensation she felt and it amplified the pain that she had no way of relieving.

Jun!

She remembered. If there was a way to save him, she would do anything. She worked through the pain and dragged herself to Jun's body where only a bit of his soul remained shining. His soul was fading. She used her slime and took Jun's soul and body into storage. This was all she could do for now. The slime finally passed out.