Infinite Adaptation: Starting As A Level 1 Slime-Chapter 44: First Blood

They were led through increasingly narrow streets.

The buildings grew older. The crowds thinned. The atmosphere grew heavier.

Eventually, they reached a sketchy corner.

The man stopped before a nondescript door and knocked in a specific pattern.

It opened.

Huh! This is...

They entered.

Darkness swallowed them.

But Lunaris didn’t need the light to see...

"My apologies for the lack of lighting."

The merchant’s voice echoed in the blackness.

"Allow me."

A click.

Light flooded the space.

Lunaris’s eyes adjusted.

And then...

His blood ran cold.

Hundreds of cages.

Row upon row of them, stacked from floor to ceiling.

Inside each one...

Beastmen.

Wolf ears. Cat tails. Scales. Feathers.

Men, women, children.

All crammed into metal prisons barely large enough to sit in.

Their eyes were hollow. Their bodies thin. Some bore visible wounds.

Lunaris felt sick to his stomach.

It seemed he had forgotten how cruel humans could be.

No wonder Roselle held so much resentment.

He forced himself to stay calm.

"Is this... legal?"

The merchant looked at him with genuine confusion.

"What do you mean? They’re all beastmen."

He gestured dismissively at the cages.

"Of course it’s legal."

Something inside Lunaris snapped, causing his aura to suddenly erupt.

The pressure was immense, pushing down on the room and causing it to vibrate.

The merchant was thrown off his feet, slamming into the ground. His face twisted in terror as the weight of Lunaris’s presence bore down on him.

"My Lord?"

Mira’s voice cut through, laced with concern.

Lunaris exhaled slowly.

He reined in his emotions. Forced his aura back under control.

The pressure lifted.

The merchant lay on the ground, trembling violently.

"You... what..."

His voice cracked with fear.

"What the hell are you?!"

But before Lunaris could respond...

A loud sound was heard, followed by a massive explosion that rocked the building.

The walls cracked. The ceiling buckled.

And the entire structure began collapsing in on itself.

...

The dust slowly cleared.

Where the building once stood, only rubble remained.

But amidst the destruction...

A clear shield shimmered, surrounding Lunaris and Mira.

And beyond them, more shields. Dozens of them. Each one encasing a cage filled with beastmen.

[ Congratulations ]

Skill Acquired: Multilayer Barrier

Ever since he came to this place, he had been spamming his Analytical Appraisal skill on every person he met.

This allowed him to collect numerous skills.

Among them were elemental affinities.

Apart from Dark, Fire, and Earth that he already possessed, he had managed to collect Metal, Water, Wood, Wind, Ice, Lightning, and Light.

He had most of these before. But encountering these beastmen here seemed to have allowed him to complete the set.

All those affinities merged into one.

Elemental Affinity.

Did this mean he now had affinity with all elements?

With this new ability, he had been able to cast the minor mana barrier spell he learned after devouring a portion of the cave barrier. Then he layered all the elemental powers into said barrier - and even the power of his Isolated Space.

The result was a multilayer barrier.

It was quite sturdy.

Mira looked toward a pile of debris nearby.

A hand jutted out from beneath the rubble. Motionless.

It was the merchant.

"My Lord, why did you go this far just to kill a single person?"

She turned to him.

"You should have left him to me. Won’t this draw too much attention?"

It was then that Lunaris finally turned his attention to the crushed man.

He was dead.

He had killed him.

Not directly. But he had let him die.

And to be honest...

He didn’t feel even a little bit bad about it.

He wondered if it was because the man was a bad person.

Or maybe it was because he was already too far gone as a monster - to the point where human life didn’t matter anymore.

"My Lord?"

"Ah, yes."

He turned to face her.

"I didn’t do it."

Mira looked confused.

"I didn’t collapse the building," he explained. "It was an external force."

His expression turned serious.

"We need to hurry and get out of here. This place isn’t safe."

He could smell blood in the distance. The sound of metal clashing echoed through the air too.

"We need to get away. Our mission is already accomplished anyway."

Mira quickly understood.

Then she looked at the beastmen in cages.

All of them had their attention fixed on Lunaris and Mira. Hope and fear mingled in their hollow eyes.

"What about them, my Lord?"

Lunaris sighed.

Since he had saved them - and they were beastmen, just like him - he felt somewhat responsible for them.

Leaving them here just wouldn’t sit right with him.

At the same time, getting out of here safely with all of them...

Ah, I could use that.

He extended his hand.

In an instant, all the cages - and everyone inside them - vanished into his storage.

This made things much easier.

And he didn’t have to deal with explaining anything to them during such a dangerous time.

He released the barrier surrounding them.

"Let’s go."

He leaped away.

Mira followed.

...

They emerged onto the street.

Blood soaked the cobblestones.

The sounds of clashing metal filled the air. Screams echoed from every direction.

Bodies lay scattered across the ground.

Fallen knights.

Adventurers.

Even common people - merchants, shopkeepers, innocent bystanders.

And among them stood figures dressed entirely in black cloaks with pointed hoods. Their movements were swift as they cut down anyone in their path.

Just what is going on here?

Lunaris moved quickly through the streets, heading toward the gate.

Then...

He paused mid-leap.

That...

He landed next to an overturned stall.

Beneath it, a small figure lay motionless.

In her hand, she clutched a silver coin.

He picked her up gently.

"Lina."

No response.

"Lina!"

Her eyes remained closed. Her body was limp.

"My Lord?"

Mira’s voice reached him.

At that moment...

Dark-cloaked figures emerged from the shadows.

They rose from the ground itself, charging toward Lunaris and Mira with weapons drawn.

Mira sensed the movement instantly.

She spun around, drawing her dagger. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

Steel met steel.

The impact pushed her back several feet. Her boots scraped against the blood-soaked stones.

She produced her second dagger and stood protectively before Lunaris.

But before she could make a move...

The air grew dense.

The ground beneath Lunaris began to crack.

Mana leaked from his form in waves, distorting the very atmosphere around him.

"You guys..."

His voice was quiet and cold.

"Even a child..."

"My Lord?"

Mira struggled to remain standing against the overwhelming pressure.

Lunaris walked forward.

Step by step.

Toward the dark-cloaked figures pressed to the ground by his aura.

They grunted and strained, trying to rise. But the weight of his presence was too much.

Suddenly...

Their heads separated cleanly from their bodies.

Blood sprayed across Lunaris’s face.