The Primeval Era-Chapter 100: You Are Sick II

The smile of Masamuk faded.

The stellar points within its obsidian body stopped their gentle pulsing and began to burn with intensity that made the air around the slime shimmer.

"The answer is no." 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Its voice was cold now, stripped of all pretense of amusement.

"I will not enter a long, extended conflict with humans for what seems to be your sake. Your proposal benefits you. Your tribe. Perhaps a few other tribes that happen to be in the path of the Surge. But the cost would be borne by Beasts. By my Beasts."

Its crimson eyes burned like dying stars.

"If you want to resolve this and you are the one they’re looking for, just turn yourself in. Aren’t you hypocritical for putting all those lives in danger just for your own sake? Demanding that others fight and die so that you can continue hiding?"

The slime’s body pulsed with dark energy.

"The answer is no, human. I don’t care what you can do. You can fuck off."

BOOM!

Masamuk seemed to lose all patience as it said this, waves of Mana erupting from its small form with force that made the lake’s surface ripple and the surrounding trees shake.

Damian’s expression became colder as he looked at this being defiantly!

He was about to reply when...

"Haha, my Little Masamuk could actually say bad words like this?"

...!

An extremely sweet and sonorous voice echoed out through the clearing.

"Since when? Why is my cute little slime so angry?"

The voice was followed by a terrifying eruption of Mana that made Masamuk’s outburst seem like a candle compared to a bonfire.

From the thick trees and sacred vegetation around them, something approached.

Damian felt his body squeeze with pressure that exceeded anything the Slime of Chaos had produced. His skin tingled. His bones ached. Even his enhanced flesh, tempered by the Primordial Tongue and bathed in Mana, struggled against the force that pressed down on him.

Something emerged!

A humanoid woman stepped into the clearing, her movements carrying grace that seemed to belong to dreams rather than reality. She was tall and slender, with golden hair that cascaded past her shoulders like liquid sunlight. A tail of the same golden color swayed behind her with lazy movements, its tip flicking with feline amusement.

Her eyes were golden and lion-like, vertical pupils that contracted as they adjusted to the light of the clearing. Her features were beautiful beyond what human standards could measure, an otherworldly quality that spoke of lineages that predated humanity entirely.

She was adorned in a white-gold wrapping that left her shoulders and arms bare, the fabric flowing around her form with elegance. Golden ornaments decorated her wrists and ankles, each one pulsing with concentrated Mana.

She looked ridiculously beautiful.

But...

Her eyes were sunken in, shadows beneath them that spoke of sleepless nights and constant pain. Her flesh was pale, far paler than it should be for a being radiating such golden energy. And Damian could see a scar stretching from her neck and flowing down to her chest, disappearing beneath her wrapping.

That scar pulsed with a sickly green energy.

It throbbed like a second heartbeat, like something alive and malicious living within her flesh. Even from this distance, Damian could sense the wrongness of it, the way it seemed to be slowly eating away at the golden radiance that should have filled her entirely.

And to her left and right, she was accompanied by beasts that made the Inkanyamba look small.

Massive lions walked beside her, their bodies larger than huts, their golden manes flowing with Mana that crackled like contained lightning. Their eyes were chilly as they looked at Damian, ancient intelligence mixed with protective fury that promised death to anything that threatened their charge.

Panthera Fossilis.

Noble Primal Beasts also known as Simbas.

Their golden Mana crackled over their strong legs, over muscles that could crush mountains. Their presence alone made the air heavy with the promise of violence.

They had to be above Organ Sanctification!

Likely Vessel Completion.

Damian...had never felt so small.

The humanoid regal beast between them didn’t seem concerned with the tension her arrival had created. She jumped lightly, her body floating across the distance between the shore and Masamuk’s lotus with effortless grace. She landed on the golden flower without disturbing its position on the water.

And she took the Slime of Chaos into her vibrant chest and began to hug him tightly.

"Ah, my Little Masamuk!"

Her voice was filled with affection that seemed incongruous with the terrifying pressure she radiated.

"What did this human say to make you say such cold words? Why is my cute little slime so upset?"

...!

Damian saw as the cold and regal Slime of Chaos seemingly melted in front of this young humanoid beast.

The stellar points within its obsidian body pulsed differently now. Softer. Warmer. The crimson eyes that had burned with fury moments ago became something almost tender as it was pressed against her chest.

"Tiaret..."

Masamuk’s voice had lost all of its cold precision.

"I keep telling you not to come down here."

It sighed, its round body somehow conveying exasperation despite having no features capable of such expression.

"If the Noble Simbas find out that you’ve been coming here again, you know you will get me in trouble."

At such words, the Noble Beast Tiaret smiled sadly.

"They don’t care about me anyways."

Her voice held pain that she tried to hide behind casual dismissal.

"Come on, tell me what’s going on here. Who is this human?"

The two seemed to have a unique relationship.

Damian studied them, his mind racing through implications and possibilities.

His gaze kept going back to this young humanoid beast and her sickly appearance. The sunken eyes. The pale flesh. The scar that pulsed with that wrongness that seemed to be slowly killing her.

Since he couldn’t get what he wanted from Masamuk...

And it seemed like the Slime of Chaos had a unique relationship with this humanoid beast who appeared to be of even higher standing...

A potential plan formed in his mind.

He looked toward them.

Toward the one called Tiaret.

"You..."

His voice was calm.

"Are sick."

...!

There was a heavy silence after his words.

As if this entire area just became unfathomably more dangerous.

The two massive Simbas nearby that had been like guards began to crackle with terrifying golden Mana. Their eyes locked onto Damian with fury that promised immediate and devastating retaliation for speaking of things that should not be spoken of.

But before anything else could be said, Damian continued.

"I can heal you."

His voice carried across the clearing with absolute conviction.

"From whatever is making you sick."

His dark blue eyes met her golden ones.

"I can heal you."

...!

The eyes of Masamuk became unfathomably cold.

The Simbas nearby became even colder.

And a storm of Mana erupted.

BOOM!