Survival Night. (3)

There was no human named Watt in the novel.

No, to be exact, the name wasn’t mentioned. Is that correct?

The story goes that the guy’s existence was summed up in one word: he was a black magic researcher at the Academy who had been instigated by Andrew.

‘But, the incident committed by that guy who was treated like a small fry was quite a big deal.’

The guy was being eaten by the monster he had created, unable to die, and was becoming unable to even escape from this fantasy world. I was waiting for the right moment, sensing the guy with my magical power from outside the cave.

Anyway, the incident that guy caused had to happen.

‘It looks like it’s almost finished.’

The monster he wanted to create. It was a monster with ‘intelligence’ combined with black magic.

If I say it like this, it might seem strange because of the previously explained intelligent monsters such as the Hwansujong and the Fantasy Species, but to put it simply, what he wants is a monster with both intelligence and ‘human reason’.

In other words, I wanted to create a ‘monster weapon’ that anyone could use and serve through ‘conversation and contract’ without the need for a taming magic tool.

And in the process, the guy realizes that he cannot complete such a monster with magic and magical tools, and has an accident in this fantasy world.

This is the world. In a fantasy world, he tried to conduct a human fusion experiment by absorbing people who would not die into monsters he had created.

I think you can probably guess what I’m talking about up to this point, but if I have to say it myself, the princess and Koti are absorbed by the monster he created in the process.

And it’s Raoul’s job to save her, but I have no intention of giving him that role. What I’m saying is that I have no intention of letting the princess get absorbed by that monster.

“Oh, it’s coming out.”

-Ugh…

As I watched from a tree a little distance away as the monster crawled out of the cave, making a thumping sound, I couldn’t help but feel goosebumps at the thought that the cute princess could have ended up like that.

The thick, sloppy liquid that flows down as if it had tried but failed to imitate a human face gives off a smell of rotting food that even I can sense from a distance, and the ground that it touches, whether it’s its hand or its forepaw, turns black and burns.

It’s a sight that makes you think, “This is exactly what a zombie from hell would look like.”

‘Hey, what the heck is that slime?’

But, surprisingly, it’s slime.

The round, soft, and pleasant-to-the-touch slime you see in comics and novels does not exist in this world.

Instead, the slime that exists in this world is a type of beast called Bicorn.

There are only monsters classified as ‘fantasy species’ that are one level higher than Purungi.

In the novel, near the end, when the main characters have all grown up to become wizards and sword masters, the monster they face as a mid-boss is a slime.

It may seem completely unbelievable that such a monster would suddenly appear in the story when the character is progressing to level 3~5, but fortunately, it is important to note that it is not a ‘phantom species’ level slime.

Because it is a ‘pseudo’ slime created by a researcher who has only reached level 3 of black magic, the current one is at best a phantom species.

‘The problem is that most of the slime’s characteristics have been reproduced, though.’

I look at the Watt guy, who is slowly flowing away with a thumping sound.

As soon as the thing that got eaten by slime because of me came out of the cave, it immediately attached itself to a nearby tree and started melting and absorbing the tree while making a strange sound, and as if the mass of the tree it absorbed was immediately converted into its weight class, its volume increased a little more.

The creature that had grown so much began to eat more of the trees around it, and as if it couldn’t eat just the trees, it began to explore its surroundings by shaking the part of its body that looked like a human face.

-Keuuu…!

The guy who had been wriggling around like that for a long time, as if he was looking for something. Finally, as if he had found his target, he let out a strange cry and started crawling on the ground at a faster speed than when he came out of the cave. And at the end of it.

‘Is it a troll?’

A common monster without intelligence. Three troll guys can be seen sleeping spread out, oblivious to the world, perhaps because it is late at night.

It’s a fantasy world where you compete in ranking battles, so I don’t know if monsters need to sleep, eat, and rest like the outside ecosystem.

Anyway, because of their identical characteristics, they didn’t even notice that Watt, who had turned into a slime, was approaching them and just went on.

-Queeeek?!!

-Kueeek!!

He is completely melted and absorbed by Watt, who melts his legs so that he cannot escape.

Fortunately, the monsters were judged dead when half of their lower bodies disappeared, so they disappeared in the middle of the fight. However, it was probably because they were stronger than trees and had a larger mass than humans.

In an instant, Watt expanded to a volume of about 4 meters in size, and began absorbing all the trees, grass, and other things it touched.

-Keuuu…!! My stomach hurts… Paaah!!

“Congratulations, you idiot. You’ve perfected your own intelligent monster weapon.”

As I watched the monster gradually grow bigger and stop running away, and start absorbing all the living things living in the mountain, I thought the story was going according to plan and just laughed and left.

*

“… How ridiculous. What on earth is that guy thinking? Kidnapping the princess? That’s not an ordinary thing.”

“But didn’t it seem like they knew each other? It felt more like they found the person they were looking for rather than kidnapping.”

As soon as the princess, who had been selling her weakened position by shouting and cheering like an idiot, disappeared, Albert and Raoul immediately left the place and withdrew from the battlefield, and were now concentrating on recovering in the dark forest.

Although there were no major injuries, both of them were significantly out of shape due to the fight lasting longer than expected.

“How long has it been since you left the kingdom, and yet you become acquainted with the princess of a foreign country? I really don’t understand.”

“… Maybe we knew each other since we were in the kingdom?”

“… … “

Raoul thought about the possibilities as they were, telling Albert based on the information he had gathered so far.

Judging by Ellis and Nora’s reactions, it’s clear that Rudis was trying to protect those two, or the Academy students, while also making himself into a villain.

And as a result, three months ago we ended up expelling him, and yet he seemed to be living well and eating well in a foreign empire.

Even though he only used level 1 magic when he was at the academy, the person I saw last night was clearly using magic that was easily better than that.

I honestly couldn’t understand why he did that, because I thought it was possible that he had been deceiving us even before that. Just.

“… Even though he was being dragged away, he didn’t look displeased. Rather, he seemed happy.”

“Oh, you fucking punk. Why the hell do you keep flirting around us?”

“… … “

Except for Albert, who almost reflexively disliked him, it seems that those who were around him or were present rarely showed any dislike for him.

Of course, all the students he bullied, beat up, and forced to drop out all hated him, but if you think that even that was for a reason, then even if you don’t understand the feelings surrounding him in the empire now, you can still accept it.

Because at that age, he was a talented magician who had reached level 3… or level 4, and even his appearance, which was handsome enough except for the color of his hair and eyes, was something I thought people would accept favorably.

Of course, the personality shown in front of me had many problems, so the positive and negative parts were plus and minus, and it was tilted quite heavily towards the negative side.

“Raul… Don’t even think that you had some reason for that guy.”

“Huh? What is that… “

“Nora said so. She said that the guy was protecting us, and that the demons that attacked Nora and me before were also the ones that the guy had tormented.”

“That’s…!”

I opened my eyes wide and looked at the chairman after hearing such unexpected information, but he sighed deeply as if he was frustrated with my reaction and continued speaking.

“No matter how much I think about it, it’s just a coincidence. The period that he’s been running around the academy has been over a year. And if he knew about it, it’s even more problematic. He harassed the other person because he thought they were demons? That’s fine. Then why didn’t he tell anyone? He must be a demon believer.”

“Ah… “

“If that’s the case, then this isn’t just a problem for the Royal Academy and the Kingdom, it’s a global problem. Not to mention this Empire. Let’s just let this ridiculous information spread like wildfire. The Empire’s wizards who are currently leading the ranking battle will punish him in an instant.”

For a chairman who dislikes him, his words were very logical and concise, and I found myself nodding along without realizing it.

If the Chairman truly hates and detests him, he can leak information like he just said and turn him into a demon believer and an enemy of the world.

But he just said that he won’t do that.

“Anyway, we punished the guy. It was justified. So please don’t suspect that there was another reason for him. Nora alone is already giving me quite a headache.”

“… Yes.”

I wanted to tell Nora that not only her but also Ellis was already in a very dangerous state, but I didn’t want to tell the Chairman who seemed exhausted.

And above all, logically, I accepted and understood what the chairman said, but my intuition still told me that something was missing.

To put it simply, I’m still uncomfortable with his actions.

After finishing the conversation with the chairman, I hid in the deepening darkness to recover my strength and started talking about who would be the first to stand guard today.

“Hey, save me!!”

“Kyaaak?!!”

“What is that…!!”

“Crazy!! I can’t hear this kind of talk… ?!”

“”?””

The final night of the ranked survival match began to be filled with terrible screams.