Type: Monster

Name: -

Gender: -

Race: Flesh golem

Status: Hungry

Level: 4000

Health: 500000/500000

Mana: 350000/350000

"Get back!"

Wasting no time, I signaled Aicyna to take cover while I started preparing for the fight.

But things wouldn't go so smoothly, as the golem tossed a ball of meat right at her.

Luckily, I was able to deflect it, before it could connect, using my tail.

Some chunks of stinky rotten meat were left on my tail as a result.

But I ignored them and started preparing fire mana for my counter-attack.

However, before I was ready, the golem released a big wave of fleshy matter from its head.

And all of that was aimed at Aicyna as well.

I was about to jump in its way to protect her, but...

A wall of ice appeared in the attack's way and protected her.

That's right...

She said she was a pretty powerful mage in her time...

With that, I jumped forward and released my own spell.

[Blazing vortex]

A whirling mass of flames filled my vision as I released my spell.

The air was soon filled with clouds of smoke and a stench of burnt meat as I backed off again.

But I didn't stop there and started accumulating mana in my tail.

As soon as the smoke settled and the mass of flesh became visible, I slashed the air with my tail and released a wave of magic.

The spell hit my foe head on and sent pieces of meat flying in all directions.

However, that still wasn't the end.

Health: 234874/500000

How resilient...

Before he could recover though, my dark mana was already circling around him.

And then, I made it close in on him and squash him.

Eventually, only a big dark bulge was visible on the ground.

It was apparent he was trying to get out of the prison, as pieces of meat started poking out.

But inside that bulge, I was steadily piercing him with needles of darkness over and over.

Soon enough, he stopped showing signs of struggle.

When that happened, I squashed the insides once more just to make sure, before canceling the spell.

What appeared after that, were just smelly chunks of meat with holes poked into them.

When I tried to examine my enemy, it just showed as an object and not a monster anymore.

Maybe that was an overkill...

But he was level four thousand, why was he so weak?

Levels really don't mean anything...

Well, I guess it's good he wasn't too tough.

When I looked behind the wall of ice, all I saw was Aicyna's stupefied face.

"You alright...?"

"H...uh...yes..."

She jumped a little when I addressed her and almost accidentally looked at me again.

"What...was that...?"

After a moment, she asked the obvious question.

But I didn't really have a good answer for her...

"A trial...monster...?"

"Trial?"

"It's a little complicated..."

|= A short explanation later =|

"God...huh..."

I told her most of my story.

Or at least as much as I could remember.

"Is it...the same 'god' who made the late king Bernard do that...?"

Although her mutter was silent, it failed to escape my ears.

From what she told me earlier, Bernard was the name of the king she served before that slime sent their kingdom to alpha plane.

"Do what...?"

"Oh...err....

Well you see...

The night before the fateful day, the king had a vision.

Some kind of voice, who introduced himself as 'god' told him to try to enslave that slime.

The king happily told me and the others about it the next day."

...the god made them doom themselves?

Why would he do that?

I really can't trust that god at all...

"Anyways...

How do we get out of here?"

On her prompt, I looked around the room and located the secret trapdoor.

Surprisingly, it was untouched even after that fight a minute ago.

After walking up to it, I punched through and the pathway was revealed.

"Down here."

Following that, I jumped down and as soon as I looked forward, I saw the door.

"Umm..."

I turned my head upwards from where the voice came.

"That's...a little too deep...

Could you help me out...?"

...I forgot how fragile she is.

She can't even safely jump down here.

Well, I won't blame her...

I then jumped back up and grabbed her with my tail and jumped down.

"W-wait!"

She tried to voice a complaint, but we were already falling.

"Ghaaa!"

And then we landed at the bottom.

My tail loosened its grip and Aicyna's body collapsed on the ground.

Her was completely white and she was shaking.

...

"Did you open your eyes?"

"P-please...don't....do that...."

...she really is too fragile...

She won't survive in this place like that.

But it can't be helped I guess...

I will have to guard her.

Anyways...

I looked at the door as scrambled through my memories on what comes next.

It's the hall of mirrors, right?

I remember seeing something pleasant, but something tells me it wasn't supposed to be that way.

And I would be happier if she didn't trigger another monster like she did here.

"Keep your eyes closed when we enter this door.

Don't even peek.

I will carry you through as fast as I can."

"S-sure..."

With that, I grabbed her with my tail again and walked up to the door.

A surge of light showered us and we started falling.

I made sure to not lose grip on her as it happened.

After a little while, I landed on solid ground and opened my eyes.

However...contrary to what I expected, we were back at the chalice room, not in the mirror hall.

I looked around and saw all three doors crumbled and the chalice nowhere to be found.

...huh?

Why are we here?

"I...is something wrong?

I thought we would be running...?"

Hearing her talking behind me, I placed her on the ground and replied.

"We are somewhere different from what I expected..."

"E-eh?"

Her voice had signs of concern.

"No, it's fine...

We are in the real world now.

I know my way around here."

"Oh!

That's great!"

Yes, it's great.

...

But...

Now that we are in the real world.

I need to take a look at something...

Status screen: Open

Current quests: Steal the blessed chalice from Gundar's holy temple

Completed quests: None

...

One of the fail conditions was the destruction of the chalice.

It still says this, so that must mean it wasn't destroyed?

Let's hope it's not in another plane...

"By the way...where are we now?"

"...Gundar's temple in the monster nation."

"...huh?

The...monster nation?"

Hmm?

Does she know this place?

"...I guess you would have no problems surviving here, huh...?"

As she sighed as she said that.

...was that a compliment?

Sometimes it's hard to communicate with her...

"By the way...

Does Armundis kingdom still exist?

Or did the slime destroy it?"

"It exists...

I think?"

Hmm, does it?

Something tells me I visited that place.

But I don't really remember...

"You think, huh..."

She hung her head as her mouth curled downward.

I guess it's hard to start living anew after something like that...

When everyone you've ever known is gone and you are left not knowing what do to next...

I can sort of sympathize with that.

But right now, we need to get out of here.

That slime could be lurking behind any corner.

If she spots us, we are done for.

"First...

We need to get to safety.

And avoid that slime."

"...right."

She took a deep breath before turning toward me...even though her eyes are still closed.

"Is the slime somewhere around here...?"

"She caught me as I was exiting this place.

I don't know where she is now though..."

"I see..."

Soon after that, Aicyna's stomach started grumbling again.

Come to think of it, she only had one bite before the golem appeared...

So, to satiate our hunger, I pulled out some meat out of my storage again and grilled it.

Once it was done, I split it between us two and we started filling our stomachs.

"So, how should we do this...?"

"Hmm...

We need to avoid meeting her...

But there is something I need to get on our way..."

"...something?

What is it?"

"A chalice..."

The chalice is vital.

Without it, I can't return.

I just have to hope it's still somewhere in the place where I met the slime.

"Alright..."

Once we were done eating, we exited the temple.

The angels, who used to guard the entrance weren't there for some reason...

Just like the angels in that wooden food room, they were gone.

The ex-skeleton wasn't anywhere either...

Once we got to the edge of the mountain, Aicyna opened her eyes for a second but then closed them and backed off.

"Y-you...don't expect me...to jump from here, right...?"

...well, I DID want to grab her and jump again...

But from this height...she might not survive even if I'm careful.

Looks like we will need to slowly climb back down...

"No...we will climb down."

When I said that, she breathed a sigh of relief.

And so, we started descending.

Or rather, I started descending while holding Aicyna with my tail.

Initially, she was still a little uncomfortable, but eventually got used to it.

On our way down, I caught a glimpse of some flocking creatures flying above us.

But before I could examine them, they flew away and hid behind some rocks.

I hope they won't attack us...

I don't want to accidentally drop Aicyna...

|= A little while later =|

It took a while, but we finally safely landed at the mountain's base.

Luckily, these flying things never appeared again.

My tail's grip loosened and dropped Aicyna off.

All this time we were descending, I was looking all around me, even though I knew it was pointless...

After all, the thing I'm looking for can instantly move across large distances.

So far, though, nothing has popped up.

Maybe she is long gone?

That would be real nice...

...

Now then...

I then faced the cursed forest and scanned the ground in front of it.

And sure enough...

I saw a shining golden object lying on the ground.

On my prompt, Aicyna followed me and eventually we got to the place where the chalice lied.

I picked it up and brushed off some of the dust before making sure it's not cracked.

And soon, I found out it was still in perfect shape...

Even though I was sent into another plane, it remained completely untouched.

What's up with that?

Is it even possible to destroy it?

Why did the quest say I will fail if it's destroyed if it can't be destroyed?

...

Well, I shouldn't think too deeply about it.

It's not in pieces, so I should be happy.

"That's the chalice?"

"Yes..."

"Alright..."

She breathed out and seemed relived for some reason.

Even though this chalice doesn't really have anything to do with her...

"So...which way are we going now?"

"Through the forest."

After saying that, I brought up the status screen and prompted the quest pointer.

As expected, it flew out into the forest and disappeared among the trees.

I nodded to myself and along with Aicyna we continued walking.

But as soon as we got to the forest's edge, my nose picked up a familiar smell.

And reacting to that, something inside me started screaming 'DANGER'.

"Hmmm?

What happened?"

I quickly opened the status screen and found what I feared.

Status: Cursed

...cursed...

Of course...it's cursed forest.

I knew there are curses...

But I don't know anything about them.

Although...

This curse is probably triggered by the smell...

"This is a cursed forest...

It cursed me right away."

"Wha-?!"

She then opened her eyes and looked away.

"...I'm also cursed..."

Did she also check her status?

I guess I'm not the only one who can do that...

"Let's get back for now."

I immediately signaled Aicyna to back away from the forest.

And when we were sufficiently far away, I checked my status again.

Status: Cautious

...

Alright...

But how will we cross this place without getting cursed?

Hmm...

"Do you know what kind of curse it was...?"

"I...

No, I don't know..."

"I thought you went through this place though...?

Aren't we returning the way you came?"

...she's right.

I am returning, so I must have come through here.

And yet...

I barely remember any of the way here.

Why?

"I...

Don't remember..."

I placed a hand on my forehead and tried to remember.

"I-it's fine...

You must have forgotten after all these deaths, right?"

...

Probably...

"Anyway, let's figure out how to do this then..."

Well, fine...

Trying to remember just hurts my brain anyway...

"...yeah."

Hmm...

Now, how should we go about this...?

Since it's transmitted through smell, we can't just hold our breath all the way through.

And I don't know what kind of curse it is, so we can't just enter without a plan...

"Say...

If we are really returning the way you came...

That must mean you went through this forest."

Well, yeah...

But I don't remember it...

"But that means you either had a way to deal with the curse, or the curse wasn't so severe."

She was talking with an encouraging tone, but soon, her expression darkened.

"...or maybe...that curse made you lose your memories...?"

"No."

No...

No...?

Wait...

"No...?

...are you sure?"

I'm not sure at all...

Why did I even deny her theory?

...

For a little while, silence filled the air, but she eventually broke it.

"Well, I think it's safer to go through the cursed forest anyway.

If we stay around and the slime returns, we are doomed."

...

She's right.

Let's just go.

I nodded and took a single step.

...

But right at that moment...

I felt something unusual...extraordinary...

An anomaly.

My eyes opened wide as my head turned in a specific direction.

I unconsciously half-opened my mouth as I started to shake a bit.

"What's wrong...?"

...

Very far away from here...

A large burst of energy...

But not mana...

It was the same as the quest pointer.

But way, way more extreme...

I don't think even a million quest pointers would be a good enough for comparison.

"Hey...what happened?"

I turned my head and looked at Aicyna, who still had her eyes closed.

She didn't feel it?

Not even a little bit?

How?

Something like that would wake me from the deepest slumber.

And yet...

...

What in the world was that?

Bonus:

...