[Mutation]
A phenomenal where a beast or group of beasts transform from the core nature they hold.
This is a process that happens under different circumstances.
Slimes and common rats are the best species of monster that explains this process.
Slimes can gather and become one entity because their base properties are always the same.
A membrane, fluid body, and a nucleus at their core.
These creatures mold their bodies to the environment for short periods and do their best to survive in them.
The process of mutation differed from creature to creature, and the slimes before me were a unique case.
At first, they were [Blood Slimes]. A kind that I had never heard about.
All nine of them gathered body parts of dead creatures from their surroundings, explaining the lack of creatures here.
Individually, they were (Orange) ranked creatures.
Slimes being that high rank was a fucked up thing but, what can we expect from hell like this?
Nine (Orange) ranked creatures made this horrible sight, and then, to stabilize the negative energy from the blood and flesh of the dead creatures, they planted those white flowers.
It should now be common knowledge that dead creatures produce dead Mana and negative energy.
And, the pure creature like slimes might not be able to handle or produce perfect dead Mana like [Dead Mana Spider] even after mutation because of their lack of physical and mental fortitudes.
These somewhat intelligent creatures just took the dead beings, threw them in that pond for many days, and planted those white flowers just before jumping in the pool they made with all their effort.
Even though these were just my speculations, they were the most likely scenario that lead them to their current self.
I was still on that tree branch, watching the light of this creation.
But I fixed my eyes on this ‘thing’ before my eyes that had suddenly made my heart run wild.
I was being a fool, saying this is something all mages should observe, but for a second… the fact that I’m in the depths of hell slipped my mind. .
This was a grave mistake.
The slimes that seemed smart to me were utterly foolish in those same eyes now.
The fact that negative energies have to be filtered before the use of dead Mana was unknown to these foolish mobs.
And I was the bigger fool for not understanding this thing earlier.
But now… it was already too late.
It has started and I can’t move.
I can not.
My legs were stuck to where I was standing as if someone had stuck them with powerful glue.
I was feeling the same familiar feeling I had felt with countless creatures these past years.
Fear, dread, helplessness, and… that shitty sticky feeling.
The same negative feeling of [Corruption].
This shitty slime had now become something I can’t explain, even with words.
The nine blobs of translucent slimes were now… a creature of horror movies.
They had already absorbed all the blood, limbs, and bones left in the pool before the light went out.
The creatures that were just one meter in size were now something that looked down on me, even though I was standing on a tree.
It was a ten meters tall monster of flesh and bones… covered by a thick, sticky membrane.
Sticky energy was oozing out of his body, and ‘it’ had a smirk on his face.
This was a pure demonic creature, unlike anything I had seen so far in this forest.
This was an atrocity, created by the foolishness of these lowly slimes.
This… was a humanoid form, but the tentacles-like thing coming out of his back made this creature a pure monster.
Dead mana aside, these slimes did something out of common sense.
Those bastards of slimes adapted to those negative emotions and fully embraced the evil… becoming evil themselves.
I had no idea what the hell just happened or how they can even do such a mind-boggling thing but, one thing was sure.
The creature before me was at least (Green) rank demonic beast in a sane form.
Not the mindless or berserk form but, the sane form like actual demons.
This shit… was a newborn demonic creature.
…fuck.
[ “Celes. Go in. This is an order.” ]
[[ But master! T-that evil thing! How!? W-where?! ]]
She was in a mess from the moment things went wrong.
This time, my heart was late to inform me, or was I just amazed that I didn’t notice?
I had done something useless this time, making my situation worse than most of the things I can think of.
The creature had fully mutated, and now it was looking down on my struck self.
I don’t know what this thing grabbing my legs was, but it was something similar to those blood-red tentacles.
The smirk on that hollow face was so creepy my beating heart was going berserk.
[ “Celes! Go right now!” ]
I shouted, and she understood the situation was different from all our experiences.
She was angry… and sad that she couldn’t do anything for me in this situation.
And, after this order, she won’t be able to come out until I order her to.
She felt helpless in this moment of danger where the creature before us was just gawking at me with his void eyes.
I could feel her helplessness right now, but the creature before us not only had me in his hand but…
It was also something that can sense and perceive anything that had red blood.
‘Appraisal…’
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Race: Blood Demon Slime
Strength: 123
Dexterity: 134
Stamina: 132
Magic Power: 119
Intelligence: 76
[Skills: Blood spears, Vital fluid detection, Red hands, Black restriction, Mana drain.]
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My mana was getting drained by these black tentacles-like hands, and I knew this was going to be an impossible thing to overcome.
Just seeing those exaggerated numbers of a newborn was something that send shivers down my spine.
An attack skill that condensed blood particles from its body, a detection skill that can find any creature with vital fluids so… our disguise skill that just made out physically different.
The black hands that restricted me were ominous in themselves and I could feel the dead Mana oozing from them.
The draining of Mana was fortunately not faster than my regeneration speed so, I was fine for the time being.
But the speed of the drain was increasing, and I knew I won’t stand a chance against something that had adapted to negativity completely.
This was a demonic creature and… I was fucked.