Hey guys. I was thinking of adding some titles to the chapters but guess what. I'm really bad at that so I can't. Some of the chapters are really easy but others are a bit difficult for me. Like the first one could be "Life of a madman" or "Life of a deranged genius" but others like idk Chapter 3 or 4? Idk. A lot of chapters I just can't come up with names for. So if you guys can offer me some names in the comment I'd appreciate that. If I'm satisfied with the amount of choices and inspiration for others I'll try and do something. If not... well this was just a thought anyway. it doesn't really need to happen.

Anyway enough about that. Enjoy the chapter... or hate it idk.

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As soon as Com told me about the dungeon I told Com any further talks I will hold with Leon so he should just leave. He still tried to follow me as I was walking towards Leon’s tent but I seriously didn’t want him following me around the whole time so I locked him in an earth cage. If they find hi they’ll just have to drag out that birdbrained alchemist to free him. Now with both my problem of Com following me everywhere I go solved and my incredibly petty revenge resolved I stepped into Leon’s tent alone.

“Leon!” (Kenos)

There were five people in the tent. Three of which I recognized as Leon and the two who were sitting behind me yesterday. All of them looked towards me when I called out Leon’s name but the only one who didn’t look at me as if I was a nuisance was Leon himself.

“Oh Ken. Done with helping out Ryndel and Fai already?” (Leon)

I chose to ignore the fact that he shortened my name as if we were good friends even though he had just tried to kill me and the girls yesterday.

“The birdbrain didn’t want my help so I didn’t give it to him. I taught Fai how to heal the burns as well so minor injuries like those can be healed. I’m not sure if she’s adept enough to handle serious ones with half their body covered with that yet though.” (Kenos)

Everyone looked surprised at my report. Even Leon himself didn’t seem like he had counted on me resolving one of their seemingly biggest problems so quickly. I would now solve it even better though.

“More importantly, I heard about the dungeon.” (Kenos)

“Oh. The preparations for the expedition there are still underway. We’ll be going in a week.” (Leon)

… You’re kidding right?

“No need.” (Kenos)

“Huh?” (Leon)

“I said no need. In fact. Just lend me a sword, a bow with some arrows and the standard issue uniform you use around here and I’ll be fine by myself.” (Kenos)

“You sure about that?” (Leon)

I said nothing and just looked at him with my sharp gaze until he realized that question In and of itself was more useless than every single soldier in this camp. What sort of fucking soldier can’t clear out A GODDAMN SLIME DUNGEON! YOU ARE A DISGRACE!

“Hahahaha! Okay Ken. If you’re so sure then let’s see what you can do! Guards!” (Leon)

…

“I knocked them out cause they were blocking the way in. No heavy injuries. They’re simply unconscious.” (Kenos)

After a sigh from Leon followed by another one of his signature loud laughs he called out to a random soldier that was passing near the tent and instructed him to show me to the armory and as reluctant as he was as soon as he saw who he was going to be showing there he still followed Leon’s orders.

“Don’t steal anything human. I don’t care if it’s the chief’s orders if you take more than you need I’ll end you myself.” (Soldier)

Completely ignoring his threat I went inside the armory. The things here truly were standard issue. There was nothing of better than good quality. I took a simple longsword, a larger than normal bow for the extra penetration power, a quiver with forty arrows and an armored uniform. Why am I doing this even though I can make much better equipment with void? Well it’s simple. I’m doing it out of spite because I cannot believe that these guys have failed to clear out a single dungeon of slimes. So I’m gonna do this. No magic. Only basic equipment. And as an even bigger handicap I can’t even strengthen my body. I won’t see them complaining just because I can see in the dark and don’t get tired when they have hundreds of people in the camp and can strengthen their bodies.

I put on the armor while the clothes I made disappear. The uniform is a simple white coat with white pants, shoulder guards, a chest guard and greaves. Strapping the sword to the left side of my waist and putting my bow around my left shoulder with the quiver on my back.

All that was left now was a slight test I would need to make in order to make this slightly fairer. I tried to completely materialize myself. Concentrating I imagined making bones, nerves, muscles and everything else in the human body out of void. I tried to make them as close to human as possible. To test if it worked I took out my sword and cut a little into my hand. Blood. Fresh blood came out. This is what pain felt like… I had forgotten. This is what weight feels like… I had forgotten… this is what being human feels like… I don’t remember…

Anyway I left through the east gate. Since the soldiers refused to open the gate for me while thinking they were being clever. I just used wind magic to strengthen my jump and jumped over the walls. They weren’t that high anyway. Only around three or four meters. This wasn’t going to be a slime extermination. It was just me trying to prove a point. The point being that these people should have been able to do this if they had trained enough.

The walk to the cave was supposed to only take half an hour though I didn’t need to get there before I encountered slime number one. The thing which maybe came up to a bit below my knees in height, was leisurely walking around and eating different herbs. It had a core in the middle of its body just like how I’d read they do. The slime itself was light blue. So it was a normal slime with no features out of the ordinary.

It was still far from noticing me. Taking the bow off my shoulder and an arrow out of the quiver I covered the arrow in a spiraling mana for even more penetration. This was technically not considered as a mage technique but as a warrior one. It was considered a pretty advanced one but it was still a warrior technique so I can still use it.

Drawing the bow as much as the string will allow me and aiming before releasing it straight. The arrow flies straight piercing through the core and shattering it to pieces. See? Not so hard is it? The whole thing took me exactly three seconds.

My next encounter was five minutes later with two slimes. One of them lunged at me but I used sword style I perfected in my past life just for the shits and giggles. Countering every attack by dodging while using the opponent’s momentum to my advantage. The slime propelled off the ground charging straight at me. I dodged out of the way while swinging the sword through the place the core will pass through a fraction of a second later and infusing it with mana to protect my sword from its acidic effect. The core is properly split in two by the time the other slime follows the first one lunging at me in the same way and getting its core sliced in two as well.

The slime evaporates as grey mist quickly but the cores are left over so I pick them up. These can be pretty good for alchemy and as much as I hate that dumbass bird I might as well take these with me. I create a bag with void energy because this has absolutely nothing to do with combat and is for the camp and put the four pieces in the bag. I didn’t get the previous one because as you might remember it shattered. Yes, I could have gathered the fragments. No, I did not want to bother.

I kept going towards the cave and the closer I got the more slimes there were. I took out a total of twenty slime, taking each of the cores that I did not shatter with an arrow and putting them in the bag. Truly one normal person would have had difficulty with this but there are hundreds if not thousands of soldiers in that camp. Surely they could have figured something out. Surely there must be a few that can do infusion as well. While walking here I used a total of twelve arrows as I would probably get less chances to use them in the cave anyway.

I finally arrived. Half an hour was the normal time needed to get here without interruptions. Taking out twenty slimes took only one or two so I got here in thirty one or two minutes. It only took me a few seconds, a single strike to take out each slime.

Though I could now feel fatigue I was far from tired. These slimes were quick but their movements were too simple. It wasn’t even remotely difficult to get rid of them. The only reason it took me more than a second to take a slime out is because my style wasn’t offensive.

I entered the cave but I could still see in the dark. The amount of darkness affinity I had was just too great to disallow me to see even as a human. The first thing I see as I enter the cave is… nothing out of the ordinary… is what any other person would think. There were puddles of water on the floor with more drops of water falling from stalactites.

Could they have made it more obvious? Seriously. I could barely make out the core of a slime in some of the puddles. Okay looks lie not all of them are slimes. In normal circumstances you wouldn’t have been able to see those cores until you were close enough to get jumped on but thanks to my darkness vision, cause this is nothing like night vision, I was able to make them out.

I pretended to not notice anything in case these blobs had more intelligence than “attack when thing gets close” and when I got close and one of them jumped at me I instantly sliced its core in half. I may have not been fast but no matter how fast you are if your opponent knows where you’re going what’s the point in using that speed at all?

The other four slimes didn’t move from their spots. With the next one I’ll be able to confirm whether these things have actual intelligence or they’re acting on complete instinct. I mean the books said they acted on instinct but these kinds of things I preferred to check myself rather than blindly believing.

Well looks like the book was right. Each slime jumped at me to get cut in absolutely the same way the previous one had. These slimes were slightly different from the ones outside for sure though. The ones outside were blue but they didn’t look like water. They just looked blue. These ones though definitely did look exactly like they were made of water. Right up until the water turned into a big slime trying to eat you. They also were of a similar size.

I decided to think that there will be more types of slimes ahead. Better safe than sorry. I walked deeper into the cave. I was right. I hadn’t even been half an hour and about fifty normal slimes in before I encountered something new. There was a grey slime, almost as big as me that was like gelatin. When I tried to attack it my sword bounced off. If I get stuck in that It’s THE END. Until now I had been using infusion on my sword as nothing more than a shield against the acid but now I had to sharpen it. When I did so it was significantly easier to slash the slime but I still had to make use of it’s momentum to reach the core.

Another hour in. Ten more gelatinous slimes along with I lost count of how many normal ones. I was actually running out of space in the bag I had upgraded into a sack at some point. But here I was. Standing in a huge room with no other entrances. I had finished exploring the cave finally and there was no other slimes in sight. I guess this cave wasn’t too big after all. I turned around and was about to leave but I heard a weird smack behind me. Turning around I could see another slime. Then another fell. And another.

Before long I was surrounded by slimes. I didn’t know how I was unable to sense them before. Though I didn’t look towards the ceiling I should’ve at least felt there was something there. The answer most literally fell out of the sky… or off the ceiling in this case. The last slime that fell was a large purple slime, almost twice my size without a single core in its body Looking around all the other slimes didn’t have cores in their bodies either. Great. I ran into a Greater Illusion Slime. Fucking brilliant.

Well dungeons do need a boss. And this one qualified quite well. I wonder if I was taking this a bit too much like it was just a game? Nah. I think I took my last life like that too. Or did I? Weird. It seems to evade me. What sort of person was I in my last life again? Strangely enough I remember what people thought about me but I didn’t remember what person I was myself. Or… is it that I just never was one to begin with?... Heh… Well whatever.

Wearing a mad grin on my face I gripped my sword tightly and poured mana around my sword and sharpened it to match the blade.

It’s time to prove a point.

Com’s POV:

*Sigh* I sighed once more. I feel like I’ve been doing that a lot since yesterday. When Leon told me that I had brought in Kenos so I would have to look after him I honestly thought it would be impossible. I was right. As soon as he was dissatisfied with me following him around he shut me in this cage out of the regular view of passing soldiers and left me here.

“Thanks again Fai…. And you too Ryn…” (Com)

Fai had finally found me almost an hour after I was locked up and called Ryn to help with getting the cage off me. He was an earth mage even if he wasn’t the strongest.

“I told you that human would be nothing but trouble.” (Ryndel)

“You say that but thanks to him we don’t need to worry as much about those slimes now since he taught me how to heal injuries made by them.” (Fai)

“Where DID he go anyway? I need to show him what happens when he messes with us. Maybe then he’ll stop thinking we’re the ones who need him and understand his current position.” (Ryndel)

We ARE though… and he understands that perfectly. That being said I’d better find him anyway.

“Thanks for the help but I’ll handle the rest. You guys just go back to your duties.” (Com)

They looked reluctant but Fai still hadn’t healed all the soldiers and Ryn was just interrupted during an experiment too so both of them agreed and left. Now then. I head over to the chief’s tent. That seemed to be the place where he was heading. But what I heard was unbelievable.

“He went to the slime dungeon? Alone!?” (Com)

“Yup. Said there was no need to wait for the expedition. Even borrowed some basic gear from the armory.” (Leon)

“And you just let him!?” (Com)

“Yup.” (Leon)

Leon’s grin really hurt right now. Especially since it was amplified with those sick one coming from the others in the room.

“Requesting permission for rescue operation!” (Com)

He seemed to ponder for a moment.

“Hmm… Granted. You can take as many men as you can gather quickly but you also need to take Fai and Ryn.” (Leon)

I was surprised. Taking Fai and Ryn to such a danger zone? The chief’s ideas have been evading me ever since the man came. As ashamed as I am to say when I led him and his companions here I thought I was leading them to their deaths. It was a complete surprise when I heard rumors of two of the elite assassins directly under the chief’s command were taken out of the tent with huge gaping holes in their abdomens.

“… Understood.” (Com)

Still I decided to trust him. This was the man who despite pulling the short straw with both men and position managed to persevere and bring us this far. I was sure he had a plan. I left the tent quickly gathering twenty men which was the best I could do. Everyone had shifts and jobs of their own and I did not have time to gather them all on short notice. I picked up Fai and Ryn who were both incredibly surprised by the orders from Leon but still complied. I considered informing the two girls Kenos had brought with him of the situation but he had mentioned that they cannot speak proper beastkin so I decided against it.

We left through the east gate. While Ryn was flying above the trees we were running towards the slime dungeon. We were expecting to meet some along the way but surprisingly we had come across none. Fai had given out on the way so Ryn carried her instead. She always did love flying.

We reached the cave in ten minutes while running the whole way. We were aware that there were slimes hiding in the puddles in the front of the caves. They always tried that trick even though we knew of it. They acted completely on instinct after all. Now they weren’t there which indicated that someone had already passed through here. The fact that there were no cores meant he was also collecting them. I guess I should say as expected the man did not disappoint.

We rushed further into the caves. By now it was just weird. We still had not encountered a single slime. It was bizarre. We had no idea what had happened… until we arrived at the final huge chamber in the cave. Each part of the cave seemed to connect to this chamber in the end. Inside the floor was covered in cores. Slime cores. But that wasn’t what surprised me.

There was a single core that stood out. A large purple one, bigger than a man’s head, split in two. But again… that was not what surprised me. Standing in front of that was a single human figure. The figure seemed to have noted our presence as it turned around.

There stood a man with white and black hair and eyes… eye. Most of the uniform he was wearing was gone. Half his face was partially melted, his left eye gone. The metal chest protector had fallen off, half his chest was like his face and the uniform there was gone. His left arm as well was gone…not the uniform, the whole arm was missing. His legs were covered in burns and there were holes in his white pants everywhere. His right hand hadn’t escaped the fate of the rest of his body either having been covered up to his elbow in acidic burns.

Nobody could move out of amazement as the man threw away the piece of metal which seemed to have previously been a sword aside and calmly and quietly said only one thing which resonated through the whole room and reached our ears perfectly.

“This is how you clear a dungeon.” (Kenos)

And he collapsed.