NOVEL NEXT Ch. 5
【Name: Rozelite Othinus】
【Race: Human】
【Level: 11】
【HP: 91/850】
【Status: Starving, Severely Injured, Symbiosis】
【Skills: Court Etiquette Lv. 6, One-Handed Sword Mastery Lv. 4, Ballroom Dance Lv. 6, Poetry Recital Lv. 4, Instrument Proficiency (Zither) Lv. 5, Death Mark Lv. 7】
Her health bar had dropped slightly compared to the last time Russell checked.
Normal enough, considering she’d been walking in the cold wind this long.
The skills were basically useless. The only ones remotely worth noting were [One-Handed Sword Mastery Lv. 4] and [Death Mark Lv. 7]. But given this kid didn’t exactly look like the sharpest tool in the shed, it was understandable.
Then Russell noticed something he’d overlooked earlier.
This girl—
Had! No! Mana! Bar!
The blue bar, the MP stat. Russell always treated that as “magic power.”
Some skills required magic to activate—some drained it over time, others consumed it in bursts. Costs varied depending on effect and strength. It fit his “mana bar” concept perfectly.
Magic itself seemed to be just another kind of skill—but a mana-hungry one.
Russell didn’t know what other people’s MP looked like. But every time he used [Bottomless Appetite Lv. ∞] to devour monsters and plunder their skills, his own mana bar had grown. After clearing out the entire dungeon, he was long prepared for his mana to be abnormal compared to others…
But he hadn’t expected this kind of abnormal.
The human girl in front of him had no mana bar at all.
Normally, right below 【HP】 was 【MP】.
So where the hell had hers gone?
Did humans in this world just… not have mana bars?
That couldn’t be right. From what Rozelite had said earlier, magic was common here—practically basic knowledge.
And even dungeon monsters had mana bars!
Don’t tell me his luck was so warped that the very first human he met was some bizarre exception?!
“Mister Slime?”
Rozelite asked, puzzled by the silence in her belly.
“Hm? Oh… uh, never mind about magic lessons. Let’s just focus on leaving here first.”
“Alright.”
Rozelite didn’t question it further.
She walked on in the direction Russell pointed.
She was weak from lack of food, but with Russell’s support inside her, moving wasn’t an issue.
Hours passed, and the sky grew dim.
Night was falling.
“Should we keep moving…”
Russell poked out of her mouth again, looked up at the darkening sky, and fell into thought. Normally, people rested at night. But that logic didn’t really apply to him—slimes didn’t get tired.
Then he noticed Rozelite’s face, flushed and sweaty.
“What’s wrong? Are you tired?”
“N-no…”
“Really? Then why do you look so pale?”
“I’m not tired… my feet just… hurt…”
Rozelite bit her lip and whispered timidly.
“Hurt?”
Russell stretched a tentacle down to check—
And fell silent.
It had been so long since he was human that he’d forgotten: people couldn’t walk barefoot outdoors, especially not a delicate little girl like Rozelite.
【HP: 51/850】
【Status: Starving, Severely Injured, Symbiosis】
Her health bar was hanging on by a thread.
“This dumb kid… did she seriously endure it the whole way without saying anything?”
Unbelievable.
He didn’t even feel like teasing her. After all, he’d once been a weary office worker himself, while this kid probably hadn’t ever left home before. He wasn’t just treating her as a tool—he’d planned to get to a town together safely. And yet she ended up like this.
It wasn’t pity so much as the guilt and responsibility of an adult toward a child.
“Sit down and rest.”
“I-I can still…”
“Sit. Down.”
Russell switched [Symbiosis Lv. 3] into [Parasitism Lv. 5].
Rozelite was so weak he easily seized full control of her body. He forced her to sit on the spot, then extruded part of his slime body outside.
[Wind Magic Lv. 1]
A tentacle lashed out, releasing a wind blade.
It sliced into a snow-covered tree trunk, leaving a finger-thick gash.
[Wind Magic Lv. 1] ×10
Crack—!
The tree split and toppled.
Russell waved his tentacles and began chopping the trunk apart, treating wind magic like a logging tool.
As for Rozelite—
She didn’t need to do anything. Just sit there with her mouth open so he could cast.
After a while, Russell had processed the whole tree.
He piled the wood and lit it with [Fire Magic]. Soon, a bonfire as tall as a person roared to life.
The warm glow reflected in Rozelite’s eyes, driving away the darkening sky.
Russell then used the leftover wood to assemble a crude bedframe. Once finished, he slipped his body back into Rozelite. She rubbed her sore jaw and cautiously sat down on the makeshift bed, her face full of amazement.
“Mister Slime, you’re incredible,” Rozelite said, eyes sparkling.
“Heh, this is nothing. I’ve got plenty more skills.”
For the first time in ages, Russell felt almost human again.
Meanwhile—
From the shadows beyond the firelight, a pair of scarlet eyes stared blankly at the scene.
What did it see?
A frail-looking human… who had dozens of tentacles bursting from her mouth!
Those tentacles flailed wildly as they chopped down trees, their shadows dancing in the firelight like the descent of some eldritch demon.
“Damn it! What kind of monster is this, daring to invade my territory?!”
It was time to vent!
Rustle—
Claws the size of millstones stretched out from the dark. A body as massive as a mountain slowly rose, blotting out half the sky.
Its footsteps pressed down with crushing force, shaking the entire forest.
Rozelite, warming herself by the fire, immediately sensed it.
She turned her head and froze. That towering form, that pair of eyes like bloody moons hanging in the night sky—her whole body trembled.
“M-Mister Slime…”
Her voice shook, almost in tears.
“A monster…”
“A monster? Open your mouth. Let me see.”
“Ah—”
She instinctively opened her mouth.
That familiar foreign sensation surged up her throat.
Before she could react, something cool slipped past her lips—
[Mana Cannon Lv. 8]
BOOOOM—!
Thunder cracked across the ground.
The mountain-sized beast collapsed.
The faint scent of roasted meat drifted on the air.
“Dinner’s bear meat tonight.”