The Slime Doesn't Die from Mana Transfer

Boom—!

A violent explosion thundered across the forest canopy, flames engulfing both black and white figures in midair.

“Chris! Were you trying to blow up the captain along with it?”

Kate shouted from the treetops.

“Nice work! Honestly, I’ve been sick of him for a while. If you’re planning a coup, I’ll back you!”

“Shut your mouth!”

Chris cursed, dagger in hand as she rushed forward.

But before she could take more than two steps, a heavy black mass plummeted from above and crashed onto her, nearly breaking her ribs.

“Argh!”

Thomas sucked in a sharp breath. Half his hair had been burned off, smoke still curling from his mouth.

“Unbelievable! That damned thing actually dared burn off the captain’s hair!”

Kate bellowed from above.

“Kate, shut up!”

Chris’s face darkened.

“Both of you shut up!”

Thomas still gripped his greatsword tightly, eyes lifted toward the sky.

The flames and smoke dispersed. Snowflakes whirled in the flowing wind, revealing a slender, graceful figure floating aloft.

Her silver-white hair streamed behind her, shining faintly with iridescence. White-feathered wings flapped gently, stirring whirlwinds to hold her suspended in the air. Blood dripped steadily from a wound on her arm.

A white mask covered most of her face.

From above, a pair of crimson eyes gazed coldly down at them.

“Demonkind?” Chris muttered.

“More accurately—the Winged Race.”

Kate clicked his tongue. Of all the types to run into, this was one of the hardest.

Unlike humans, “demonkind” was not one single race, but a blanket term for the many tribes living north of the Muscovy Mountains. The Winged were among them. Others included Beastkin, Insectoids, and more.

“The Winged can fly like birds. No wonder she crossed the Great Barrier… did she come in from above?”

As Kate spoke, he nocked another arrow.

The Winged woman’s eyes grew colder.

“Calm down, Kate,” Thomas said in a low voice.

“Fighting her isn’t part of our commission. And besides, we couldn’t stop her with just the three of us.”

“That’s true…”

Kate muttered, lowering his voice.

“But what if she wants to silence us?”

Almost as if she had heard them, the Winged woman paused midair, clutching her bleeding arm. Then she turned and flew swiftly into the distance.

“Should I pursue?”

Kate asked, his bow still locked on her.

“Even if you caught her, you couldn’t bring her down.”

Thomas rubbed his sore back—he had overexerted himself, aggravating an old injury from the battlefield.

“If only Winnie were here. She’s the fastest of us. She could have stopped that one for sure.”

Chris muttered under her breath.

“But wait, the Great Barrier is at least a thousand meters tall, isn’t it? Can the Winged really fly that high?”

“No idea.”

Thomas didn’t particularly care. Their mission was to hunt monsters.

As for a stray Winged suddenly appearing—that was beyond their jurisdiction. All they could do was report it thoroughly to the capital.

…

…

Rozelite slowly opened her eyes.

Perhaps it was because she had finally enjoyed a proper night’s sleep, or because she had bathed. Either way, her body felt light, almost floating.

She even wished she could stay in bed forever.

But that was only a fleeting fantasy.

“You’re awake.”

Russell’s voice echoed in her mind.

“The surgery was a success. You’re a girl now.”

“Mr. Slime… what are you talking about? I’ve always been a girl.”

Rozelite rubbed her sleepy eyes. Mr. Slime was saying strange things again.

Once fully awake, she realized she was now wearing a clean set of pajamas, lying in a neatly made bed.

Her head rested on a soft pillow. At her side, a tentacle stood upright, its tip burning with a tiny flame that kept the entire room comfortably warm.

“Eh?”

Rozelite instinctively reached back to touch her bottom.

But…

Nothing was coming out from there anymore.

“While you were sleeping, I modified your body a little,” Russell explained.

“I opened a passage on your back. Now my tentacles can extend from there, instead of always taking the… back door.”

“Huh?”

Rozelite quickly reached behind her.

Just as Russell said, her once-smooth back now had a wrist-thick opening.

Yet no blood seeped from it. Touching inside, she only felt something soft and springy—yet tough—like jelly.

Whoosh—

Russell extended tentacles from her back, four or five of them writhing through the air.

One even morphed into the shape of a hand, shaking hers.

“Pretty cool, right?” Russell said proudly.

“It’s…”

“Mhm, mhm?”

“…disgusting.”

“Eh?”

“Mr. Slime, tentacles sprouting from my back are really gross,” Rozelite said quietly.

“It makes me feel like… a monster.”

Russell: “…”

Now that she mentioned it… she wasn’t wrong.

Normal people would never want something like that.

So why exactly had he thought it looked “cool”?

“Ahem.”

Russell cleared his throat.

“In all seriousness, it was mostly for practical reasons. You complained before that I couldn’t always crawl down your throat. And since you refused the back door option, I had to find an alternative.”

“W-what back door…”

Rozelite’s cheeks flushed red.

“It’s mainly because you always pop out without warning! It feels all tight and uncomfortable. And besides—it’s dirty there, okay? You keep crawling out from there and I… I can’t even look at you properly afterwards!”

Russell: “…”

Best to drop this subject entirely.

The four exposed tentacles retracted, leaving two.

He used [Shapeshift Lv.7] to transform those into the shape of a belt, coiling snugly around Rozelite’s waist and abdomen.

This way, if anything happened, he could react instantly.

Rozelite touched the tentacle belt curiously. It twitched, tickling her until she burst into giggles.

“Ah! Right!”

Suddenly she remembered something important.

“Mr. Slime, didn’t you say you’d teach me magic?”

Her sapphire eyes sparkled, hands clenched with excitement.

“We’ve got nothing else to do right now—can we start?”

“Uh…”

Russell twitched his lips.

“Didn’t you say before that your teachers told you you had absolutely no talent for magic?”

“Mhm.”

Rozelite nodded earnestly.

“Not just magic. Many of my teachers said I had no talent at all. My swordsmanship instructor was patient, but even he admitted my abilities were too limited—that even with training, it could only ever be a hobby.”

“…I see.”

Russell nodded slightly.

Then, tactfully, he added.

“Honestly… I think your teachers were very dedicated.”