Apathy of the Lost

Wow. It’s good to be back! I was trapped inside that memory world for so long, playing out through Rachel or Raze’s life. My body should have felt full of energy since I had been asleep for quite some time and yet I felt full of fatigue. I wanted to ask Raze about it, but he was already engaged in battle with the slime.

He tried to slice through its body with his scythe and it did indeed work—for all but two seconds before it casually reformed into its faceless, blobby self.

It distanced itself from the rest of us, keeping its attention on Raze the whole time.

“A human?! Wow! So they still have those on the surface?” 

“It can talk?!” I blurted out. Its voice was echoey yet rich at the same time. 

It turned its faceless gaze to me. “'It' has a name, my dear.”

I jumped back and put my hands up as if I was trained in self-defense. “Wuuzah? Oh...sorry.”

Why was I apologizing? It was the enemy. Though we had no attacks that were effective against slimes…

“Komoria, why the fuck are you conversing with the enemy? Help me kill it!”

His words made me hesitate even more. I’m not sure why, but fighting this didn’t seem like a good idea.

“I only have eyes for you, boy. I have not tasted a human in nearly two hundred years! I need it!”

She leaped at him, but before she could land, Lyra appeared from a portal.

“You will not hurt him.”

The slime stopped her advance. “Tch, I just want to taste human flesh. Why would you defend such a despicable creature?”

Lyra placed a hand on her chest and locked eyes with the faceless creature. “I wouldn’t expect a monster like you who has been living here for all your life to understand, but not all humans are bad. We beast-kin have met some that are not as unpleasant as the rest. They treat us the way we deserve.”

I gave Lyra a puzzled look and glared at Raze. He's the kind of scummy human the slime is thinking of, though!

Still...she had a point. Not all humans were to be hated. There were good ones, like Milly and...well I can’t think of anyone else, but you know…

“Ah yes, because I am a monster, I don’t understand emotions or anything that you beast-kin and humans think is precious. Well, let me tell you a little story about you humans.”

“One story per volume, please,” Lyra said quickly after her. “But why do you hate humans so much if it's not just in your nature?”

The slime didn’t look like she would attack Raze as long as Lyra stood in front. She slithered backward, still looking their way. “Perhaps I can make you hate humans with time, but I must ask. Why are you lot here in the first place?”

“I would like to know as well,” I said. “I have no idea where we are or how we got here.”

“I just came to get a Splitting Seed and perhaps take on the Locust King.”

“My Lord, you don’t stand a chance. If you can’t defeat me, you'll have no chance of defeating him or his four other bodies.”

“'M-my Lord...?'"I don’t wanna hear anything from an ugly slime monster.”

“Is that so? Well, it's been a while since I chatted with anyone, more so in a recognizable form, but I'll humor you.”

Her skin shifted to pale white before being encased within a sleek dark bodysuit that featured her curves that men would surely jump at. Her chest increased a lot of volume, developing into a bust with a size that resembled two apples—scratch that—two melons, looking the same as my own. What was her angle here?!

She grew fiery red hair that ran down to her waist and glasses that displayed one of her beautiful, bright yellow eyes, while the other lens and eye were hidden behind her uneven bangs. Her lips had a faint cherry complexion to their foundation, which stood out from the rest of her pale body. 

Fangs could be seen beneath her confident smile as she crossed her arms. Speaking of arms: one was covered entirely by the bodysuit while her right arm was exposed and had a red, translucent glow in it with particles moving around. If I were to compare it to an item from Raze’s world: her right arm resembled a lava lamp. The same was true with her left leg. lastly, heeled boots spawned around her feet, raising her height ever so slightly to be above Raze's. 

The only other exposed place was her belly button, which had the same lava lamp glow exterior as the other spots.

The last thing that manifested was a pair of curved black horns that pointed out of her forehead and up to the heavens.

Fione yelped with surprise when she saw her post-transformation, Raze spat, Lyra’s eyes grew a little wide, while my jaw nearly dropped.

“S-she’s an-an-an O-o-on—”

“An Oni, yes...or at least that was what I used to be…” A piece of dirt shot off from the ground and created a chair for the woman. “I often wonder what I used to look like when I was free. While this body is nice, it’s simply an amalgamation of those I consumed.”

She thrusted out her lava-infused hand. “I would have not been cursed like this if it wasn't for the humans. You, Girl!”

She pointed to Fione with vindication.

“M-me? Yes?!” She straightened her back and stuck her feet together.

“You know of the fate of the oni’s, correct? Or perhaps the news never made it out of this place…”

The sadness in her voice seeped into my mind, resulting in the immense desire to shrivel up into a ball and cry. There was a lot of pain in this woman's life. Too much for someone to bear alone.

“I heard t-that they went extinct for one reason or another. There was never a cause written down in the history books.”

"I see..." The slime woman pursed her lips and stared at the ground as if deep in thought.“Well, let me give you the short version.” She placed a hand on her chest and stood up on her earthen chair as if to give a grant speech. “My name is Senna, Devourer of Kin. I was the head doctor for my village and I no longer recall the location or name of it. Around five hun—no—thousand now... A thousand years ago, my kind was slaughtered and subjected to horrendous experiments at the hands of vile humans.”

She locked eyes with Raze. “I am all that remains of the Oni Race.”

What?

She has been here for a thousand years and not only that, but she used to be a beast-kin as well. What had she gone through? How much had she suffered?

I decided to use my scanner for the first time in what felt like forever.

[Name: Senna]—[Class: Elder Lava Slime]—[Level:537]

[Skills:kills: Devour (MAX), Cellular Replication (MAX), Full Body Restoration (MAX), Melting Body (MAX), Elemental Mastery (MAX),106 acquired abilities below:]

[Status: Gloomy]—[Attack: 300,000]—[Defense: 607,000]—[Magic: 400,000]​​

Over a h-hundred skills?! That’s insane! That has to have to do with what she said about her being a mix of what she ate.

“Yeah, but that was a thousand years ago or whatever,” Raze pointed out. “I’m not responsible for anything that happened that long ago. Don’t try to get me to pity you!”

Raze was direct but fervent. He had a point, but he didn’t need to be so vicious. Sure, she tried to kill us, but she wasn't at the moment and she is very strong and that was scary, sooo...

“Perhaps you are right, but I have listened through rock, metal, and time for my chance to live again. I hunger for what has been taken from me—by people of your race. Now, you will give it to me!”

Faster than anyone could react, a claw of lava reached out from Senna’s abdomen and quickly retreated while pulling something in.

It took the others and me a second to realize that she just pulled Raze’s entire left hand into the hole below her chest. It sunk in and disappeared with a burp as if it was a second mouth.

We are all too stunned to make a move.

Only after Raze reeled with pain as blood spurted from his left shoulder did we all regain our senses.

“Ahhhhhhh! What the fuck?! M-my arm! You bitch! You ate it!”

Senna licked her lips and fangs and patted her chest. “Indeed I did. It was very delightful. It has been so long since I have feasted on humans, and your Skills are nothing to scoff at either, but they aren't worth adding to my collection. By the way, I must inform you that your blood type is A Positive, a favorite of mine. Not too juicy nor too dense or heavy on the flavoring.”

She walked close to the enraged Raze who was now covering his bleeding arm and most likely planning his counterattack.

“I like your taste. You are worth keeping around. Here.”

She placed her covered hand over his wound and pulled away.

What?

His arm was there once more as if nothing had ever happened in the first place. We were all flabbergasted. Even Raze could barely get out a word.

“I-It’s...back?”

“For now, but my meal isn’t done yet.”

She ripped his arm from his socket once more causing Raze to fall over onto the ground in extreme pain.

“YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! FUCK! AHHHH! WHY! WHYYHYYHYYYY!” he moaned.

His hand quickly disappeared into the lava part of Senna’s belly with another satisfied burp.

Lyra and Fione were too shocked to say anything. I was the same way.

She then healed him once more and backed away. “Thank you for the meal.” Was this some kind of abusive relationship I was witnessing unfold?

"....." Raze’s entire face was drenched in immense sweat. He placed both hands on the ground to propel himself up and scowled.“What the hell is wrong with you?! You crazy bitch!”

“Me?” Senna gave him a puzzled expression. “Even a young man such as yourself should know it's bad manners to interrupt a woman while she eats. You are going to need to keep that screaming to a minimum or even better—cease it entirely, going forward. It’s very unsightly.”

“Going...forward? Fione asks. “Does that mean…”

“Yes, I will join you lot. This man tastes far too scrumptious to devour whole; I must savor him. I will compensate by proving my abilities to assist you and not consume the rest of you whole, even though…," she licked her fangs once more, “...it has been years since I have eaten any beast-kin. Only monsters and golems ever come down here anymore.”

My ears drooped while I shuddered with the coldness that just started to tingle my spine. A monster that was hundreds of levels higher than us and could kill us at any time, would be assisting us? And the price for it would be to let her eat parts of Raze when she wanted?

None of us could refute her, even Raze who was still recovering from his arm being torn out twice.

 Lyra was the first to speak. “It appears we are all in agreement that there is nothing we can do against a being as strong as you. Very well, you may join us. But first, explain yourself. I have never heard of a type of magic that can completely restore body parts.”

She took charge while Raze recovered with confidence while asking the question we all wanted to know.

Fione pointed to me. “Yeah, I was wondering about that too. That woman can heal things pretty well with her magic and if there was any magic better than that, it would have been made known long ago. Could it be...ancient magic like my own?”

Senna stretched her long legs before sitting back down and putting a finger to her lip. Her body had the most perfect of proportions. I guess once you ate enough people, you had the tools for the ideal figure. It’s not something I would be jealous of, though. Fione had been eying her all over though. Maybe she thought that she would seduce Raze. I was more worried that I would wake up one morning and find Raze missing and Senna walking around with a bloated belly. Yikes. This woman was going to be nothing but trouble!

I looked over to the angry, but powerless Raze. His intent to kill was oozing out of every pore in his body and yet he did nothing. His fear factor was probably going off like crazy. He must have really hated her but respected her strength enough to not throw his life away...again.

Yeah, never going to happen.

Senna pursed her lips at Fione’s question. “Ancient...magic? Never heard of it. Back in my day, this magic was a common Skill. It’s what made us so well-suited for taking care of patients."

“Right, You said you were a doctor, huh? While it’s a foreign term nowadays because of religion, doctors were very common in the old days or so I have heard. Though a doctor looking like that is just…”

Fione was gazing enviously at Senna’s body once again from the look of her gaze with narrowed eyes. I wasn’t sure why she was getting so bent out of shape, though. She was plenty pretty herself. A bust size wasn’t everything, right?

“This form is not my own as I stated before. If you were to see the original me, I’m sure you wouldn't be glaring with burning envy like you are now.”

Fione turned away, not meeting her gaze. “Anyway, Raze, can we get out of here? I wanted to go sightseeing and look for other extinct creatures. But I guess that this slimeball ate anything worse seeing here.”

She strutted away, not waiting for any of us to follow. I guess she was mad. However, before she could get far, a large green hand blocked her exit.

Her eyes became saucers as she gazed upwards at the one who impeded her path. It was like an ant vs a human situation. His body covered so much space that I thought I would get claustrophobic even in such a large space.

“W-who is that?!” she shrieked. “It’s huge!”

Raze, Lyra, and I reacted less than her, but we were surprised all the same.

A large green creature with eight eyes and a mossy body towered over us with his four gigantic arms and two massive legs. I couldn’t pinpoint where he came from. It was as if he appeared from nothing.

“Jeez. That thing is fucken huge! I should kill it, right?”

Raze looked toward me for approval. Why? Did he care about my opinion now? What development!

“Er, no...I think that’s...the Locust King.”

“He has the aura of it for sure,” Lyra said. “We would stand no chance against a beast of this caliber.”

Senna looked up at him with a wonderful smile. “Master! So you have come to see me off? It’s alright. I’m finally ready to leave. I hope that's alright.”

The Locust King responded in a language that was impossible to make with a humanoid mouth. A mix of murmurs, gargles, and hisses. None of us, but Senna had any idea what he was saying.

“Yes, yes. I have found a human that I can savor after so long. He didn’t die from shock or blood loss like the others. He's strong! So you can let us out.”

He removed his hand and instead put his feet in place and made another set of weird noises.

“Really? Is that okay? To receive another gift from you...well, you are the best master anyone can ask for. I will leave a piece of myself here as a guardian to make sure no others try to desecrate this sanctuary.”

She split into two of herself with ease. The second one quickly changed shape into the form of a massive spiky beast with bone-crushing jaws, a clubbed tail, and an armored hide with even more spikes protruding from it. It has a rocky texture to it as if you could even mine it.

Fione’s eyes go wide again with surprise. “A-a Akapelagus! Wow. They haven't been sighted in at least four hundred years after they were mined to extinction!”

“Looks like a dinosaur to me,” Raze comments with a smirk. “Would be pretty sick to ride one of those—well, if you didn't care about the ass pain.”

“Yes, this place used to be a sanctuary for monsters that humans once coveted for their greedy desires. Things occured and I found myself having to eat the remains of each one to keep their histories alive. He was a good guardian when he was alive so I’m sure he will be glad to continue his job once more.”

The Akapelagus snorted before walking away with its four thick legs.

“Now,” Senna licked her lips, “it’s time for my parting gift.”

Her body expanded and grew, transforming back into the slime ball that Raze and the gang had probably fought before I came back. It grew and grew in size forcing us to all scramble away from fear of being consumed and absorbed. It became so large that it could get up to the waist of the Locust King.

The slime gazed timidly at the giant creature before wrapping her entire body around him like a snake and quickly swallowing him from top to bottom.

We were all once again too stunned to say or do anything. How could we?

The slime constructed its body to shrink and shrink, forcing the large body of the Locust King to shrink along with it until she returned to her humanoid size and transformed back into Senna.

“Mmmm. His grass version doesn't taste as good as his water, but it's always nice to have variety. Now…,” she looked at us with the eyes of a ferocious beast. “Shall we get going?"