“Me the leader. Drol the muscle. Jiggles… is Jiggles. Together we’ll unstoppable. Hehehe.” As closer they reached to the town, the more Toki became full of herself. The number of undead grew to about 150 bone soldiers, including a few bone giants. Drol estimated it will be only be a few more days until their destination. They been walking for days and only stopped to hunt, eat, and rest for the night.

The trio monsters and the undead continued on their way south, until they heard the sounds of combat.

Drol raced behind a tree and laid low. The undead scattered behind and hid, or pretend to be ‘dead.’

Drol took a look and it was humans fighting a pack of slimes. The slimes were smaller than Jiggles, like oversized water droplets. What’s strange was that the slimes were all sorts of color, enough to complete a rainbow. Usually, a pack of slimes stuck to one color. More than two color typed slimes were even rarer in one specific region or landscape. “Hey slime, recognize them?” Drol asked.

“No.”

“Hm… We should wait it out. The last thing we want was to be discovered.”

As the fighting continued, the slimes were getting slaughtered. One by one. Each time, Jiggles would tingle a bit.

“Hey slime.” Drol called Jiggles. “What’s the matter with you?”

“Pain. Screams. Cries.” Jiggles said as it watched. Drol also watched but he couldn’t hear anything that Jiggles mentioned. What he did saw was that the humans were playing, no tormenting the slimes.

They were stomped, chopped, burned, or squished. Drol may not sense the slimes’ pain but he unintentionally let out a snarl.

“No more.” Jiggles couldn't continue watching. It bursted into action and leaped onto the branches of the tree they hid behind. It hoped branch to branch like a monkey.

“That looks fun!” Said Toki.

“Wait!” Drol’s voice was ignored by Jiggles.

***

They were a group of five adventurers: one swordsman, an archer, a thief, a monk, and a mage.

The archer of the group heard a distinctive sound from above. He said towards his party members, “Guys, stop. Something is coming.”

As it was like on signal, a few jets of water attacked the group.

They were able to dodge the jets of water and formed a defensive formation. The swordsman and monk became the vanguard.

“Where is it coming from?!” Yelled the swordsman.

“Up there!” The archer pointed towards the branches of a tree.

“Fireball!” A mage cast a spell without hesitation. A ball of fire shot towards the branches and caught it in fire.

“Did we get it?” Said the monk.

Instantly, a ball of liquid-like substance fell from above and attached itself onto the monk’s head. It quickly encasing his head with it's body.

“It’s a slime!”

“BLerggsuqgwds!!!” The monk was screaming inside the slime. He’s drowning! The monk tried to pull the slime from his head but his hands were like going through water.

“Quick! Grab the core!” The thief exclaimed. The core was the most vulnerable weakness of slime kind. Crushed, stabbed, incinerated it, the slime will die.

Everyone attempted to use their bare hands to grab the core but, the slime realized it was in danger. It immediately forced itself down into the monk’s mouth!

The monk finally gasped for air but the situation was grim. Then the thief said, “Did you hear something?” He keenly heard shuffling in the background, moving around them. The thief and archer gave each other an understanding nod, that something was not quite right. Before they can turn and face it-

The monk held onto his stomach. “Guys.” He covered his mouth like he was about to puke. instead, red liquid seeped through his fingers. “I’m not…” Then a large bulge appeared on his stomach. The others unconsciously took a few steps back. “Feeling too good…” The bulge continued to expand and then exploded. Blood and guts flung the direction he was facing. The monk dropped to the ground.

“Ahhhh!” The mage screamed in horror.

Without a single moment of delay, an arrow was shot through the mage’s neck and met her demise. Skeletons with worn-out swords and spears surrounded the group.

“What the hell!” The swordsman cried out. The undead rushed in while they were distracted. The three stood in a compressed triangle formation with their backs at each other. The swordsman held his sword upright, the archer pulled his bowstring, and the thief held onto his dagger.

The swordsman looked around and estimated at least 100 undead. They looked weak individually, but as a horde, they’re troubling. Losing two of his friends already, he can’t lose another one. He roared, “Retreat! Now! Follow me!” He ran straight forward and broke through one section of the encirclement with the thief and archer following.

The three adventurers ran with all their might with the undead chasing. The occasional arrows would fire at them, missing. They can outrun them but can’t lose them in this forest, like they knew where to find them.

After making a series of turns and going through thickets, they couldn’t continue on. No matter where they went, they were followed. They were sweating beads and out of breath. They can’t run no more.

Hopeless. The feeling of dread washed over as they slumped on the ground as the horde slowly approaches and once again surrounded them.

A wolf slowly emerges when the undead parted ways to let the wolf passed. The slime that attacked earlier was also with it.

Undead, slime, wolf, working together? One term entered through their mind, ‘monster-party.’ While death looms over their head, this was a serious matter. Monsters had their own species and special lineages. They either stick to their own kind into herds or packs like deers and lions. Or, survived out their own like the chimera and flaming dragoon. They were cases where one from a herd or pack to go at it alone like the two monsters the adventurers see before them.

But a monster-party? It was when different species of monster came together in coherence. When that happened, it usually meant an attack on humanoid settlements. Like their adventure town, Loorel. Which was not too far from where they came from.

“Jose, you’re the fastest among us. A few skeletons wouldn’t be a trouble for you but that slime and wolf ain’t normal. When we start, run.” The swordsman said to the thief.

“No! And leave you guys?! Hell no!”

The archer grabbed the thief by the collar and shouted in his face. “The town is in danger! If we all die, what about our families?” The archer untied a porch from his waist and pushed it towards the thief’s chest. “This is all I earn, give it to my family. You met them before, please just…” Only a solitary tear trickled town his cheek. The swordsman also did the same and gave away a few of his belongings.

“Damn.” The thief whispered under his breath. They trusted the thief to do what he needed to do.

Once everything was set, the swordsman and archer faced the two monsters. It looked like the skeletons won’t interfere, 2 on 2.

“Go!” The swordsman rushed towards the slime and the archer shot an arrow towards the wolf. The thief ran like hell and slashed his way through the thin wall of skeletons.

The wolf charged ahead before the arrow hit its mark. It’s target wasn’t the archer, but the swordsman. The swordsman swung his blade downstraight and wolf quickly jumped back.

The slime took it’s chance and leaped in the air towards the archer. The archer knew arrows wouldn’t had any effect on the slime, even less of a chance to hit its core. Unluckily, he didn’t know any magic to damage it. So he unsheathed his short sword.

“It’s just a slime!” The archer exasperated. He thrusted his short sword towards the sky where the slime will land, hoping for the slime to be pierced. In fact, it did. But, against the archer’s short lived joy, the slime moved down through the sword. It covered the archer's hand and wrist. The archer realizes this was bad!

“Let go! Let go!” He swung his arm around and the slime wasn’t budging. In a panic, he used his other hand and tried to grabbed the slime’s core. Once he entered his hand in the slime’s body, it was stuck. Then, his skin began to dissolve. The slime began eating him.

The wolf and swordsman eyed each other, waiting one of them to slip up. They moved in circles, waiting. The swordsman can hear his friend's cries of pain. Luckily, he was positioned facing his friend’s situation. His friend was about to die. The slime was gobbling him up, bit by bit. Skin and fresh was dissolving rapidly and left only bones to show for it. The slime moved towards the archer’s head.

The wolf was the first to act and used howl. The swordsman was stunned. Shit! Move body! Move!

The wolf swiftly moved to the swordsman side and leaped towards his wrists. With one chomp, it tore his wrists and blood was showering in the air. Once the stun wore off, the swordsman immediately let go of his sword and got down on his knees and screamed in pain. His last moment was the jaws of the wolf.

***

Drol ripped out the gem out of the swordsman's chest and swallowed it, along with his heart. Jiggles digged into the archer’s chest and absorbed his gem.

“The other one got away. Hey kid! Why didn’t you chase him?” A skeleton walked in front of Drol holding Toki.

Toki responded, “Eh? I’m too busy getting the shiny rock in the human. The one with two soft lumps. Super soft.”

Drol shook his head. With the alert of their arrival, the human town might set up a fighting force to confront them. A handful of their undead were destroyed. Drol was starting to doubt at this moment of their fighting potential. Drol can only lament, this was the best he can get.

Then, another skeleton carrying the little slimes and dropped them in front of Jiggles. The little slimes gather around Jiggles jumping about and snuggled against Jiggles. There were at least 20 of them left.

Toki and Drol looked on with puzzlement.

“Jiggles, are you their daddy?” Asked Toki.

“No. Their leader.”

“What! No, no, no! I’m leader!” Toki told the skeleton to set her down so she can berate the little slimes. No matter what she said, no slime moved an inch or followed her orders. Did they even understand her?

Toki was fuming like a mad bull. Drol came over to Toki. “Kid, stop it.”

“But! But! But!”

Drol grabbed Toki by his jaw and slightly pressured Toki.

“Ow! Ow! Ow!”

After a bit of torture, Drol spitted her out. “Live with it kid. You can’t force everything to submit to you.” Toki pouted in response. “Slime.”

“Yes?”

Drol looked at Jiggles and the little ones. He closed his eyes reminiscing.

After a short silence, Drol finally said, “They are your responsibility. Protect them, help them, lead them. Understand?”

Jiggles processed his words and replied, “Yes.”

Drol licked his snout to clean off the blood. He stared into the distance, towards the direction of the town. “It won’t be long now.” He spoke solemnly. Encountering the adventurers today felt like a warm-up for him.

Toki stared at Drol and tilted her head.

“Alright!” Drol yelled to get everyone’s attention. “The human town is not too far off. We lost the element of surprise. Toki, you and slime will have to sneak into town to find your sister.”

“What you gonna do?” Asked Toki.

“Me and these bones are gonna distract the fighters while you search.” Drol snorted.

“I can fight too! I beat them up and show who's boss!”

“No no no no. You have to find your sister. Is that the reason why you want to become strong? To save her? Do you want to be a bad sister?”

Toki ferociously shook her head.

“Good. Let’s go.”