Zaelen spluttered awake as water was dumped over his head. The first thing he remebered was the thousands of slimes killed. Ahahhahaha! Yet another victory against slimes!

  It seems that coming to the verge of death still wouldn’t stop Zaelen’s addiction to slime-killing. Perhaps he should just be named “A Slime’s Worst Fear” instead of “Zaelen”.

  “Are you awake?”

  “Ehh?” Then Zaelen realized his joints ached like he was an old man. He blearily half-opened his eyes, found he also had a splitting headache, and closed them again. He pretended to fall asleep again, hoping the owner of the voice would go away.

  “I know you’re awake, Master!”

  Zaelen squeezed his eyes shut tighter. The owner of the voice tried one last tactic.

  “Master, there’s a slime near your head!”

  That did the trick. Zaelen’s eyes flew open and swept around the small cave he was in. He jumped up, tail lashing, ready to salt any slime near him. A few seconds later, he realized that he’d been tricked into getting up. There was and never had been any slime. Akyro, the culprit, had just said it to get him up.

  He turned an icy glare upon Akyro, who flinched. To a slime-murderer like Zaelen, this was very insulting and the epitome of, well, insults.

  Akyro quailed under Zaelen’s glare and muttered, seeming to feel guilty. Whether that was because of Zaelen staring a hole through home or whether he actually felt guilty, that would be never known.

  The golden drake stalked in a tight circle, his tail blades almost accidentally slicing Akyro’s snout. Akyro had to duck out of the way to avoid it. Zaelen huffed, checking his HP. It was full. Then he thought over the recent events with mild frustration.

  “...How long was I out?”

  Four days, Master,” replied Akyro, seeming relieved that he wasn’t being glared at anymore.

  Zaelen hissed in exasperation. “An entire four days?!” Great, I haven’t killed a SINGLE slime in four whole days! This is a tarnish upon my reputation!

  Heh. Not that you had a reputation in the first place

  Zaelen swiped away the message, not paying mind to it.

  Gained Status: [Ash-Risen]

  Skills learned from [Ash-Risen]: System Interference

  Then he paused, frowning. Did the system... just SPEAK?

  Yes, I know! I exist! It’s so surprising, isn’t it!

  Zaelen could’ve swore that the message was dripping with sarcasm, though it wasn’t an actual voice. He eyed the message suspiciously. Did I perhaps get a concussion?

  No, you do NOT have a concussion! I’m real, thank you!

  “Huh.”

  Akyro looked at him quizzically. Zaelen suspected that he couldn’t see the messages. Akyro certainly hadn’t been able to see the previous ones, and it didn’t make sense for him to be able to see them now.

  Well?

  Wait a second... has the system... become SMARTER?! Zaelen whipped around to face Akyro. “Akyro, you won’t believe this. I think the system has become smarter! It even seems to be sentient!”

  Akyro stared at Zaelen dubiously. “Master... err, are you sure that you’re mentally... okay?”

  “What?! Of course I am! It's just that the system finally knows how to respond to an insult! This is a universal discovery!”

  “Sure, Master...”

  Hello?! I can hear you too, you know!

  “Now, system,” continued Zaelen, effortlessly ignoring the system’s furious messages. “There are a few important questions I must ask you.”

  And why do you think I would respond to those so-called questions of yours – are you sure they just aren’t more insults? - when you keep insulting me?! What did I ever do to you?!

  “Now, onto the first question!”

  THIS ISN’T A TEST!!!

  “Do you – ahem – have eyes?”

  Huh?

  The system seemed shocked into silence. Aha! I knew I was right! The system must be so shocked that I knew its secret that it doesn’t even have a comeback!

  Hey, stop getting to your weird conclusions! Why do you even think I don’t have eyes?! Is your head in the clouds?! You have golden scales! There, is that enough proof?!

  “NO!!!” yelled Zaelen. “There’s no use trying to hide it! I konw that you don’t have eyes!”

  And what evidence do you have about that?! For god’s sake, I do have eyes!

  “Oh really?”

  I’ve already given you the fact that your scales are golden! Stop questioning me without proof!

  All the while, Akyro was looking on at the chaos with an expression that was clearly becoming more skeptical of his master’s sanity with every second that passed.

  “...Does that mean that you think slimes are... radiant?! Because they are obviously not!”

  WHAT DO YOU THINK NAMES ARE FOR?! IT DESCRIBES – oh wait. What you just said actually makes sense. Why DID I name them radiant.

  “I knew it!” shrieked Zaelen. “You’re a curse upon this universe!”

  I THOUGHT WE WERE TALKING ABOUT ME HAVING EYES?! WHEN'D IT GET TO ME BEING A CURSE UPON THIS UNIVERSE?!

  Akyro was frantically trying to keep his faith in Zaelen, but it was very hard, as you understand, when your master was seemingly screaming at empty air. Did him coming to the verge of death make him like this, or was he this deranged in the first place? Wait no, I mustn’t doubt my Master!

  ??^?/-\?^??

  Zaelen pushed the grass aside, all his senses alert as he scanned for the blue sheen of a slime. He squinted. Is that one under the rock?

  Just HOW bad is your eyesight?!

  Not as bad as yours. Zaelen flipped the rock around before slicing the slime in half with his salt-covered tail blades. He’d found a way to make sure that most of the salt stayed stuck. The slime let out a pained “squee!” right before it dissolved, which would attract more slimes, who were curious to find out what the commotion was AKA find their doom. Zaelen crouched, staring intently for slimes. A few moments passed. A leaf floated down to stick on the tip of his snout. Zaelen sneezed. A few more moments passed. The grass parted and Zaelen prepared to leap. But he froze as a glittering blue panther slid through the grass, paws treading lightly on the dirt.

  ...WHAT ABOMINATION IS THAT?!

  An abomination like you

  Then what does that say about you? Zaelen eyed the panther warily. While it was obviously made from slime, it seemed that the slime was more... solid. Like how a snail was basically a slug with a shell, but that shell made it all the harder to salt it into the void. But Zaelen wasn’t about to be defeated. He lunged, and his salt covered claws ripped through slime. It felt incredibly like fur. As the salt managed to stop the slime from regenerating at its usual rate, a gap was opened in its armor. Zaelen dunked some salt in, and that was the end of the panther.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  ...I... no comment

  The system was lost for words, and Zaelen was quite proud of himself. The grass rustled, and Zaelen turned. More slime panthers? Zaelen checked his stats, just in case. He blinked, realizing there were skills that hadn’t been there before. There was also the [Ash-Risen] status effect, which he suspected was blocking him from leveling up. And of course, [System Interference], which had brought this old man down to him. His species had also been changed; he’d had a ‘phoenix’ added in the middle of the ‘Horned Drake (Medium)’. But enough about that, he had to focus on killing slimes.

  WHY IS IT ALWAYS SLIME MURDER WITH YOU?!

  I know, aren’t you SO proud of me? Zaelen thought back sarcastically. Though you really should stop worrying, you’re going to get wrinkles. Actually, you probably already have wrinkles.

  No, I DON’T have wrinkles!

  Zaelen shrugged. Iffff you say so...

  You are the most annoying person I have EVER met.

  Wow, that’s the first compliment I’ve gotten in a few months. He waited for the system to say some other remark, but it stayed silent. Zaelen came to this: Did the system get so enraged that its old heart couldn’t take it, and it had a heart attack? Sigh. At least the system lived a long life...

  I. AM. NOT. DEAD!!!

  Wow, make sure not to strain your voice. What’s with the triple exclamation marks, eh?

  ...ARE YOU SOMEHOW NOT AWARE THAT THIS IS A MESSAGE?!

  Zaelen’s attention was drawn away from an old man’s ranting to a blue wolf slipping from the grass into his view. It turned to look at him with wary eyes.

  Creature: Slime Wolf (Subordinate)

  Zaelen squinted his eyes, judging the distance between them. Too far to leap. I’ll just do this then. Fire isn’t as effective, but it’s good enough. He promptly opened his mouth and set the slime wolf alight in a blaze of purple flames. Why are the flames purple anyway?

  “NO!”

  As the wolf burned, another wolf – this time orange – lunged from the underbrush and knocked the wolf onto the ground, quickly extinguishing the flames. Zaelen blinked, interested in this performance. He decided not to burn both of them. Then there was rustling from all around, and slime wolves surrounded him on all sides. However, the orange wolf was still the only one that was orange.

  Creature: Slime Wolf (Mid-Ranked)

  Zaelen frowned, for this was a very good opportunity to increase his slime count. But the wolf had spoken. That was interesting, to say the least. Interesting enough for Zaelen to decide to spare them. The orange wolf turned to face him, eyes flashing angrily.

  “So it is trrrue that you arrre the supposed Slime Killerrr,” hissed the wolf. It seemed that the wolf, while capable of speaking fluently, slurred its r’s for some reason.

  Zaelen peered at the wolf, amused. “You guys seriously call me a ‘Slime Killer’?”

  It’s true though. I thought you’d be happy to receive that title, as the slime murderer that you are

  Oh, I am. Partly.

  Why ‘partly’?

  The system seemed to be actually intrigued for once and that was exactly why Zaelen didn’t tell it. I have my reasons answered Zaelen smugly, the reason being that while being known as a slime murderer wasn’t all bad, it would make slimes which knew that he possessed the title avoid him.

  The orange wolf still seemed quite annoyed.

  Yeah, that seems reasonable considering you just tried to kill one of them

  Zaelen had to admit there was sense in that.

  The orange wolf huffed. “You arrre surrrounded – therrre is no escape. Come... follow us.”

  Zaelen glanced around. To be fair, I COULD escape but where would the fun be in that? “Alright,” said Zaelen.

  GASP. You haven’t followed your slime killing instincts?!

  Zaelen followed the orange wolf as it headed towards the forest, the rest of the wolves flanked him on all sides, tense and wary. Zaelen, on the other hand, walked along nonchalantly, flicking his tail.

  They soon reached a wall of thorny brambles. And when Zaelen said thorny, he meant it. He also swore that the thorns looked practically evil. He wasn’t sure if that was simply because of their wickedly pointy... points, but they looked as if they wanted something to be stabbed onto them. And Zaelen was not going in there.

  “Come on,” prodded one of the blue wolves behind him.

  Zaelen blinked as the orange wolf padded to well... somewhere. Then it seemed to just walk right into the brambles, disappearing from sight. Zaelen stared in shock before he was pushed forward. Stumbling, he followed in the steps of the orange wolf to behold... more brambles. Brilliant! Just brilliant! Should I just kill the wolves after all?

  Then a blue wolf slid past him and entered the wall. Zaelen squinted. No... not a wall... an entrance! There was a barely seeable hole in the wall, big enough for Zaelen to fit in comfortably. Yet despite its size, it turned sharply a few feet in. Since this place was shadowed by an overhang of rock, the change in depth of the wall was almost unseeable. If the wolf hadn’t gone in, Zaelen would’ve never noticed it was there.

  He stepped through into the brambles, following a short yet weaving path through them. After a few seconds, they reached a clearing. It was walled off by the brambles on two sides, and the rest was towering, sheer rock which ended in what could be called a cliff several meters above them. In the clearing, the thick foliage and a fallen over tree provided good shelter against rain or other weather. A thick log off to one side led to a small cave in the stone walls.

  Zaelen scanned the place. Slime wolves seemed to be everywhere in the clearing, and Zaelen could see the faint outlines and shadows of more in the vegetation. They were of varying colors, and with [Observe], Zaelen soon found out that the colors symbolized what ‘rank’ they were. It went like this: green wolves = pups, brown wolves = omegas, blue wolves = subordinates, orange wolves = mid-ranked, and purple wolves = elders.

  He scanned the place, wary. There were many slimes in here, possibly even too many. Zaelen hadn’t forgotten how his last encounter with a ‘few’ too many slimes had gone. If Akyro hadn’t come in time, he would’ve likely died.

  Murmuring started to rise, and more wolves came out of the dens to see what the commotion was. Soon, there was a crowd of slime wolves around Zaelen, all pushing forward to see the ‘Slime Killer’. Zaelen settled down, enjoying the attention.

  Of course you somehow make your experience in a camp surrounded with enemies ENJOYABLE!

  What? It feels like I’m a famous celebrity.

  More like an infamous celebrity...

  Well, I’m still a celebrity either way.

  ...

  What will I DO with you?!

  Nothing Zaelen thought back innocently.

  You know that’s not what I mean!

  There was suddenly a shift in the wolves as they parted. Zaelen turned to see three particular wolves walking up to Zaelen as the rest moved away to make a path for them. They stopped a few feet away from him, the rest of the pack in a circle around him and the three.

  These wolves were colored differently; two white and one black. [Observe] ‘deemed’ Zaelen worthy to inform him that the two whites were alphas and the black a beta. Betafish... Zaelen wondered absentmindedly.

  “Slime Killer.”

  Zaelen snapped back to attention. “Yes?” He noticed that the alpha didn’t have the same accents as the rest which dragged out their r’s. And while this experience had been fun and all, he sort of wanted to get this over with already. He cast a glance toward the bramble entrance, which was much more visible from inside the camp than outside. He supposed it made sense.

  “Don’t even think about it,” sneered the beta. “You’re surrounded. Even if you were to make a run for it, you wouldn’t get far.”

  “We’ll never know until I try,” responded Zaelen. He flicked his tail, slicing a leaf that had been fluttering through the air behind him cleanly in half. The threatening action was not missed as wolves around him tensed, wary. “And even if I fail... I’ll be sure to take down at least half of these little slimes with me. I didn’t earn that title for nothing, you know.”

  “Let this not end in bloodshed just yet,” purred one of the alphas. “I am Aurora, the Female Alpha of this pack. And this is the Male Alpha, also my mate, Nyx. She is my daughter, Lunaire, the beta.”

  Nyx inclined his head politely. Lunaire, however, clearly didn’t like these pleasantries as much as her parents and outright glared a hole through Zaelen.

  “Your daughter certainly doesn’t take after you,” offered Zaelen.

  Aurora twitched, the first crack in her composure so far. “Never mind whether my daughter takes after me or not. You must be curious for why we have brought you here, yes?”

  “I guess, yes.”

  “Simple. We wish for you to call that lightning dragon or whatever he is here,” continued Aurora.

  “And then?” prompted Zaelen.

  Nyx was the one who responded this time. “Then we’ll kill him. And in return, we’ll let you out of this camp safe and alive.”

  “But I don’t get anything in return. It’s not very fair, is it?” Zaelen understood why the wolves wanted to kill Akyro. They would gain loads of exp, which would likely strengthen them to a level they’d never thought possible. Well, at least till a few days ago. Zaelen supposed they’d seen Akyro raze the ground and kill tens of hundreds of slimes in an instant. Or at least some wolf had seen it and told them.

  Aurora padded around Zaelen. “You must understand that sure, you might be able to take down some of my pack. But we will still kill you in the end. You are surrounded. There is no way for you to escape. The pack only listens to me and Nyx. Lunaire, if we’re both gone. And you won’t be convincing any of us to let you prance out of this place anytime soon without giving something to us.”

  “What if I become alpha?” asked Zaelen out of curiosity.

  Aurora snorted and was probably about to come back with a stinging retort when Nyx whispered something in her ear. She paused, then her lips quirked back into a mirthless grin. “You’d make for a good plenty of exp too. Alright, I accept your proposal. Just you and the three of us... to the death.”

  “And if I win and successfully kill all of you, I become alpha,” concluded Zaelen.

  “Perfectly said,” replied Nyx.

  Control of [Pack] Issued. Will you accept?

  YES/NO

  Zaelen figured it couldn’t hurt. Besides, it was only three slime wolves. How hard could it be? And after he became alpha... oh, the billions of slimes he could terrorize!

  You’re in for it now...

  Good luck, I suppose

  Battle initiated. Rules set. You may not use outer interference. [System Interference] and [Space Pocket] blocked.