The Lebhaft

"So, we just wait here?" Elizabeth asked for the fifth time, "Can we just go? I mean, we're not really murderers or something. She's not even getting up; do you think she's dead?" William rolled his eyes over to stare at Elizabeth. Only thirty minutes had passed, but it wasn't as if they knew. The fainting spell lasted far too long, but none of them were doctors. Even if they were, it could've been a normal response in this world, it could've been a million things but they wouldn't know about it.

"There's a Langsam slime out there," Klaus said, "I would rather stay here and stay out of the way of the slime." William snickered and Ater turned his head lazily to peer inside, the group were all sitting on the ground cross-legged. He was sitting by the doorway, back against the rickety wall with his arms folded and eyes dull. He was tired from staying as a person, his eyes were drooping, but he couldn't sleep, sleeping means that he'll turn back. He couldn't sleep.

"You've never even seen a Langsam," Otto replied, "It looks kind of cuddly. Huge, scary, but cuddly. Like someone's pillow, really cuddly, but really scary. Shoots projectiles and all." Klaus looked unconvinced as he threw some loose rock on the somewhat dirty ground. They still hadn't found time to get any clothes and being told to stay in one place was starting to become irritating.

"Fuck off, Bettering," Klaus grumbled. He drew his knees up close to his chest before laying his head on them. Klaus was sort of lanky in a way that made him look strangely tall. He was like a sucked-out version of Adrian, with different hair and eye colour*. He wasn't taller than Adrian, but he did appear to be faster, quick on his feet. A droplet of water landed on Ater before he headed inside.

"It's raining," Ater sighed, "It's raining cats and dogs, there's going to be mutilation and hybridization." Mei-wan and Hai-rong made a face with the comment.

"Okay, c'mon, there are like, a million cats, a million dogs. Let's say that all the cats are male, all the dogs are female; How are they supposed to, you know, reproduce. Yes, let them reproduce asexually like fucking marbled crabs*."

"You're disgusting," Elizabeth laughed before a loud crack of lightning struck the ground shocking her into silence. The rain suddenly began to pour heavier as people ran into buildings. Somehow, they managed to all avoid the building that Emilia was in as they ran to find shelter from the rain. If their clothes somehow got wet, they might need to get new ones and no one wanted to buy new clothes, especially when clothes are expensive.

"Where's Adrian and Hiro?" Elizabeth asked. Worry was beginning to creep into her.

"Probably under some other person's roof," Mei-wan replied, another clash of thunder and the roof seemed to shake. The sound waves seemed to bounce off everywhere, making the house shake and shiver under it.

"And that is what I call loud," Ater grumbled, "Why cats and dogs though? If they were cats and dogs they would either be fighting or having se-"

"I'm still a minor," William shouted before Ater could finish, "I am still a minor, please keep your convos minor-safe or talk in the privacy of the thunderstorm. If you want to be helpful, you can teach us some stuff 'bout our situation." William coughed, pretending to be embarrassed. His skill was turned off and his eyes were back to a similar blue that Adrian had.

"I am extremely sensitive to things like that."

"You're sixteen, grow up," Ater went plop onto the ground, "But sure. There are a few conditions to being at a party. You need to register your party ASAP. Bunch of other rules, yada yada yada, we can learn along the way."

"Register?" Elizabeth asked, "How do we register it?" Ater shrugged, "You're not very helpful. So, we need to register our party under the name, Strawberry Pudding." Elizabeth imagined going up to some guard registering a party under that name before her face turned pink.

"Oh my god Otto, I hate you. Why Strawberry Pudding?! It could've been anything but Strawberry Pudding. I would've taken a name like The God's Faithful Avenger over something like Strawberry Pudding!" Elizabeth said, burying her face in her hands.

"Strawberry Pudding is a fantastic name," Otto argued, "It's original, is delicious, and people might underestimate us if we're named something so cute. Imagine this group of thugs or something trying to get us because they think a group named Strawberry Pudding is weak. We could decisively trick them."

"Right now, I think the thugs would be able to actually beat us," Hai-rong said dejectedly, "Is there really no way to fix it? Or change it to something moderately weird?" Ater shook his head.

"Kick us all out and I'll make a party," Hai-rong complained, "It'll be better."

"That wouldn't be strategical," Ater said, "Otto can see a map, he's the only in the group that can accurately pinpoint someone's spot. Also, while you all would be able to chat and communicate, seeing each other's stats isn't possible, if Otto is the party leader accessing your stats would be slightly easier for him."

"So, as long as he's the leader, we have an advantage," William summarized, "Great, so I guess we'll stick with Strawberry Pudding since it's agreed that it's a great name that has some purpose." A huff and everyone turned to the door to a soaking Adrian and Hiro.

"Welcome back, nice to see you two having a good time at the baths," William mumbled.

"It is raining very hard," Adrian sighed as he sat down, "Very big storm."

"Mura no daremoga watashitachi to emiria no koto o wasurete imashita," Hiro spoke in rapid worried Japanese, "Rangusamusuraimu ga kite imashita."

"This is a true language barrier isn't it?" William frowned, "What did he say, my dear google translate?" Ater scowled at him before he and Hiro continued to talk in some indecipherable, their hands moving around too quickly for it to be comfortable to see.

"The Langsam slime is near the village, everyone was evacuating, but in the trouble, they've appeared to forget us. Adrian and Hiro tried to ask someone for help but no one stopped. Rhys is somewhere else; we should hide or something. Is basically what he just said to me," Ater frowned,

"If Rhys headed to the Sigtak lake, and we're here, that means that for Rhys to realize that the Langsam slime is here, means that we might be dead."

"What?!" Mei-wan sat up straight and stood, "What do you mean dead?"

"Look, the Langsam slime is lazy and slow, but in the rain, it can turn into a Lebhaft* slime, or a lively slime. If the slime becomes a Lebhaft slime then it will actively look for people to eat or mana. We are players meaning we have high mana to blood ratios, which means we have more mana in our bodies and slimes are attracted to mana," Ater paused, "We're like cake to them."

"Kono basho o hekikai suru hitsuyō ga arimasu," Hiro interjected, "Watashitachi wa saranakereba narimasen!*" Ater nodded, "Teokure ni naru mae ni shuppatsu shite kudasai!"

"He says we have to leave," Ater said, "Before it's too late. We should go though, Emilia doesn't have a very high mana ratio so she might be fine, but if we stay, we'll definitely die. We should try to ex-" A loud bang and a scream erupted from the door. A woman who had gone out to get her child was trapped between the slime and her kid. The previous Langsam slime should have been soft and round with a cute teardrop near its eye, but this one had aggressive-looking eyes and instead of a teardrop, was what looked like a fake-crown.

"Can we even run from it?" Hai-rong stared at the huge bulging mass that was just outside their door. The slime suddenly turned towards them, it had a strange bounce in it as it hobbled, ran, and jumped towards them. It was slow, but the slippery rain-slicked ground helped it slide on every step. It crashed into the shop door, trying to smack it down.

"Ater! Can't you give us, I don't know, a run-down of this thing?" Hai-rong yelled.

"Just run!" Ater yelled as he suddenly stood up and grabbed Otto by the scarf of his neck, "We need to get away from that, it cannot be frozen in that state nor can it be physically hit." Otto scrambled up to run beside Klaus, who looked back and continued forward, Emilia long forgotten. The slime somehow managed to avoid Emilia before it began to head towards them, its crowned shined and a huge beam shot at them.

The Lebhaft slime seemed to grin before it shot them again and again and again, each missing by a hair. The slime made a path through the racks and shelves of clothes, crushing soft fabric. There was a loose cloth hiding a backdoor as everyone ran through it, only for the slime to simply crash through it. The crash seemed to affect it as it started to vibrate before stopping to simply shoot at them. Otto took a quick glance before its stats flashed for a brief moment.

[Lebhaft (Langsam) Slime

Level 5

HP: 5000 (- 1500)

MP: 1000 (+ 500)

S: 200 (+ 50)

AG: 550 (+ 150)

DEX: 950 (+ 100)

RR: 150HP/sec

Skills: Condensation, Temperature control, Straw, Partial Possession, Mimicry (+ Elemental Shoot, Evaporation)]

"Otto, stop staring at the fucking slime and run!" Ater yelled as a huge beam nicked his cheek. Stunned out of his stupor Otto ran after Ater, passing through the door with poor finesse. He grabbed out his gun before turning and attempting to shoot at the slime. As before, a long thin line appeared as a soft beep echoed through his head.

[Target Locked; Searching for Hit-Points*… Hit-Points found (13)]

Otto shot two times before he turned and continued running towards Ater, there was a gurgle of a sound as the beams coming from the slime suddenly ceased. He ran out of the small hut-like-house into a clear field. It was still raining and the ground was soaking in with mud that squished and sloshed under his feet as he ran through. The slime had burst from the wall, slamming itself through, before it looked around blindly. The rain had somewhat blocked its sight and it could merely sense the group.

On its right grinning eye was what looked like a cut as black liquid dripped from it, with the other on its crown. The rain blurred everything into a mesh of blue, black, and brown as mud mixed with slime blood and mucus*. A strange sound rang through the air as it seemed to call something before it stared directly at Otto, although not really seeing him, just sensing the overflow of mana. A notice popped up in front of him, it looked to be some sort of function of the party that he made.

The other members of Strawberry Pudding were somewhere farther away from the slime, unsure as to what they should do.

Otto was stuck, unsure if moving would cause the slime to act as it stayed in one place, simply staring at him, its beady eyes creeping him out. Otto pulled out the gun in his inventory. Everyone in Strawberry Pudding had somewhat decent stats, but he wasn't sure if their attack stats were in regards to their total attacks, or if their attacks were actually how much every hit was. He didn't know enough to accurately predict anything, but he was sure of one thing, they could beat it. Just like how there should've been away for them to beat the Arcensis Minor.

The slime didn't move, as if paralyzed*, it was clearly watching Otto, but why it was watching Otto, he didn't know. He didn't need to get up close to attack, like Hai-rong, Ade, and maybe Hiro. Quickly, he began to run through what could happen and what couldn't. The events mingling if they had any worth at all, but it was clear, he needed to test if his theory on attacks was right – The attack stat is about the base attack, as in every attack was worth that much damage and it could only go higher from there. He held up his gun, bracing himself for the recoil, the red line shined and pointed directly in the middle of the crown, straight at the previous cut.

The single-shot hit the slime square in the middle of its cut, following the line as Otto noted that there was little recoil in comparison to what the articles he read online said. The bullet shot through the slime, out the back, almost as if nothing happened before it popped out the back, hitting Emilia's shop wall with a bang. The slime seemed to pause, frozen, neither focusing on Otto or anything before it wobbled and swished around, unbalanced. Black guck oozed from the clear shot hole and the slime seemed to burble before it shook itself awake, slightly hazy but much angrier.

"That… didn't seem to work as well as I thought it would," Otto confessed aloud, the slime didn't seem as bothered as Otto thought and it really did appear as if it wouldn't give up. With its crown shot dead, the slime didn't seem to have the capacity to shoot anything out of it anymore, nor did it seem to heal. It starting to hop and wobble towards Otto, before it could reach him, Otto ran and he ran. The air around him seemed to condense as suddenly he found it harder and harder to breathe, his nose was filling up with condensation. The rainy weather contributed little as everyone else remained hidden.

["We're going to attack it." – William Lindberg (Player #1733)]

The note appeared abruptly as Otto was running, his lungs felt like they were filling up with water, drowning in the sense that the air was too dense for him to breathe. Suddenly it got cold, the weather turned freezing as his wet shirt started to stick to his skin through the frost forming. It was the last trick the slime had before Hai-rong struck it in the other eye with something that looked like a very awkward scrape of fire.