I glared at the pale blue ball of fluff that was gradually climbing up my body. It seemed to flinch for a moment, but then continued to climb steadily, making more and more frequent popping sounds, as if it was about to swallow me up completely at the slightest provocation.
Although I didn't feel much restriction on my movements, this was still an unsettling development. If the other side simply removed the membrane protecting my skin, the acidic contents inside would overflow, melting my body into nutrients for its growth. This was one of the other side's common hunting tactics.
Most of the hounds paced anxiously around me, the youngest of them straightening up first, brandishing its claws and sharp teeth, scratching and gnawing at the slime's transparent body, trying to drive it off me. Soon, the others joined in. If you ignored the monster caught in the middle, from a distance it looked as if I were being attacked and devoured by the hounds—a truly terrifying sight.
However, their actions had little effect. This was not only because the slime's surface was thin yet resilient, but also because its indeterminate nature greatly dispersed the externally applied force, making it impossible for the external force, which was clearly falling on the surface, to achieve the desired feedback.
However, although my situation seems extremely dangerous, there is a way to break out, though it requires taking some more risks. Once the opponent climbs a little higher, almost engulfing half of my side, most of its mass will be suspended on my body, with my arms and legs embedded deep within it. In this state, a fortress that is difficult to breach from the outside can be easily destroyed from within.
“You look like you’re thinking about something dangerous, Yumi.” Gulu saw through my plan easily, crossed his arms and glanced at me sideways. “I advise you not to get too used to using your body as a bargaining chip. Once you develop this habit, it will be very difficult to change it later.”
I shrugged noncommittally and then explained why I had summoned it: "I would like to ask you to help me understand whether it is trying to express anything."
"Oh, you're talking about monster stories? That's easy, you've come to the right person."
Gulu snapped its fingers with great pleasure, and a dark red magic circle flashed from its fingertips. Immediately afterward, a series of low, incomprehensible chattering voices came from inside its stone body.
At the same time, the pale blue ball wrapped around my side suddenly shuddered and responded with a series of popping sounds at different frequencies, as if it truly possessed thoughts that a low-level monster shouldn't have, as if it were truly communicating. Firefly-like points of light continued to boil inside, then eventually returned to an even distribution, and after a brief hesitation, it slowly retracted its limbs and gradually fell off my body.
"I've finished communicating with it."
Finally, Gulu, who was able to communicate easily, jumped out and summarized: "Based on what the child just said, I've concluded that: this child is a newborn who was picked up and trained by Miss [Witch] not long after birth. Because he ate some strange bait, he has the intelligence of a toddler. As a result, he hasn't seen Miss [Witch] for the past two days and is worried that he has been abandoned by her. So he tried to look for traces left by her. Then, he turned around and suddenly found you and that pack of hunting dogs barging in, looking very fierce."
"Then it is now very scared, now it is wondering if it did something wrong, and it is trying to appease you by relaxing your joints—because you seem to be someone who can make decisions and seems to have a somewhat familiar impression of you."
That's about it.
It spread its hands, indicating that it hadn't expected this either.
Well, I didn't expect that either.
I thought the other party was a roadblock from a King-level player, but it turned out to be just a big cat that wasn't even Iron-level.
"So what do you plan to do?" Gulu asked again. "It's not safe to just leave it in the academy like this. Although it has been able to move freely in the academy so far without attracting any reaction from the defensive barrier, which can be considered as passing the certification of not killing, as long as Miss [Witch] doesn't return, it will keep looking for her, right? At that time, it's hard to say how the other students and teachers will react."
"Do you want to put it back?"
What else can we do but put it back?
I stared wide-eyed and then noticed that the big ball of fur stretched out its limbs again and clung to my ankle, swaying gently from side to side. The light spots inside it reacted and gathered towards me, looking like a child looking up at me with longing eyes. Even when the hunting dogs pried at it again, it wouldn't let go, and my calf almost got scratched.
Gulu chuckled gloatingly, "Seriously, look how much this child likes you, why not just take him home and raise him? Anyway, he's your mentor's, so he's practically yours. Why bother being so particular?"
"Besides, don't you have a small garden? It has such a large area, which should be enough for it to run wild without worrying about hurting anyone."
"Do you really think my miniature garden is some kind of garbage dump?!"
I grumbled, leaving Gulu's renewed burst of laughter behind me, and turned away angrily.
They also dragged the large waterbed back with them.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
