Chapter 68 – F

Slade went to the bottom of the cave to clean the rubbles. He drove away young beholders carving graffiti on the golem’s feet.

Slade’s blobs refueled the golem at the bottom of the cave. While he waited for the earth spirit to wake up, he focused on his other blob left in Metiva’s room. He wanted to pay a visit to the beholders.

Squeezed in Metiva’s arms, he had to perform a body replacement ninjutsu to switch himself with a pillow. Unfortunately, he didn’t have that skill, so he made a crude attempt instead.

She moaned as Slade slipped out of her grip.

In the end, he left quickly and chucked a pillow on her bosom.

She wrapped her arms around it, and her peaceful smile came back.

Slade crawled away with a pang of guilt. What is this? I’m not an unfaithful wife leaving in the middle of the night to cheat!

After mating together, Metiva acted without restraint, singing praises and promising the world to her sweet little hero.

Being a male gnoll was the strangest experience for Slade. He felt comfortable with human gender dynamics, and being wooed by a young high-status sugar mommy was not a common occurrence back on Earth. It was a surprise to be sure, but a welcomed one, as she showered him with love and support.

Now, if only I could get rid of my rivals and hog Metiva for myself hehe… Slade cleared his thoughts before leaving the bedroom behind.

He headed towards the palace’s main entrance, where the largest trunk of the pillar of eyes had its roots.

Many beholders still loitered in the corridors. As Lorely said, the denizens of the Dungeon didn't care about day cycles. A constant stream of eye balls trickled out of the palace, while tired ones overtook Slade to reach their resting place.

"(Keep up the good work!)" Slade saluted the sentinels, venturing deeper into their territory.

They nodded, but watched him with uncomfortable intensity. The slime fascinated them.

Slade zipped along, scared that they’d dissect him.

He finally reached the main hall, where he met Metiva for the first time. The giant steel doors had fallen alongside the bridge. In their place, ropes blocked the exit that would otherwise lead to a fatal plunge to the bottom of the cave.

Directly facing the sealed entrance, beholders slept huddled against their gigantic mother pillar.

Originally, Slade planned to complain about the graffiti, but felt bad about waking up the lads. He put it off until Griscent had free time to deal with it, as he didn’t feel responsible for managing them directly.

If Lorely had come, she'd make a scene and call the manager. And Milia would joke about him being a coward.

Instead, Slade wanted to spend his resources on another matter.

Milia’s strike had left a large gash on the pillar. It had bled so much that the pool of blood soaked the gnoll’s decomposing body, feeding the pillar’s roots.

Slade felt sorry about both the pillar and the forlorn bodies. He ate the dead gnolls and drained the blood, replacing them with nutritious milk for the roots. He climbed the tree and ate the crushed and damaged flesh to start the healing.

[The Pillar of Eye form has been unlocked for the skill: Shapeshift.]

Heh?

Using symbiosis, he produced new biological tissues to patch the wound.

Wait, I can grant Griscent’s wish for the final evolution now?

He didn’t want to let go of her, but he couldn’t bring himself to hide it. His core beat in panic at the idea of losing the Evil Eye. Who would organize the beholders if she was gone?

No no no, calm down. It’s not tested yet. I don’t want to give her false hope.

Slade was curious about that new form. Griscent explained that the main purpose of the pillar was to provide computation power for Mindflayer’s technologies. It also meant that Holloweye’s unused pillar was a waste of resources.

Damn! Maybe I can increase my intellect or connect with that pillar of eyes...

Having a real brain was no longer a pipe dream for the slime.

The pillar also provides mana. It’s super convenient! Oh, I can put my eggs inside!

He surgically modified the pillar of eyes to make a pouch. He laid his eggs, making sure that they basked inside the pillar’s mana.

After sucking its mana, he headed back to the bottom of the cave to recharge his other depleted blob.

His caring attitude towards the pillar of eyes didn’t go unnoticed by the community, as they nodded in approval.

Meanwhile, at the bottom of the cave, Crown had woken up. It carefully stacked rocks in a single pile.

The earth spirit constantly whined after Slade told that beholders wrote nasty things on its feet. A childish, disembodied voice echoed inside his mind. Sniff… Friend, why do they hate me?

Slade sat comfortably inside the golem while it removed the bridge rubbles on its own. He sighed for the umpteenth time. "Well, we killed a lot of them…"

But it wasn’t my fauuuult! I only smashed them because you asked. Crown swung its arms in frustration.

"Don’t worry~ They will love you after they see how useful, kind, and cool you are! Isn’t it better that way?" Slade playfully cheered its work.

Uuuh… Can’t they love me now? Crown dragged its feet back to the collapsed bridge.

"That will be hard, but hey! I love you very much right now!" Slade jumped up and down inside the golem.

Is that so? I’ll work extra hard to clean our home then! The golem used its two hands to lift a rock twice its size.

"Good boi, good boi~" Slade applauded.

They found damaged lamellar armors, flails, and wooden shields scattered underneath the large rock.

The sun rose, brightening the sky. The open dome showered the cave with a faint glow. There was still no sight of the Gnoll King’s artifacts despite the growing light.

Looking at the ceiling, Slade wondered how the previous gnoll civilization built such an immense bridge for the sake of a tomb. Is it earth mages? Maybe building a mage tower as soon as possible was a good idea.

Before he realized, more gnolls and beholders gathered at the bottom of the cave, watching the golem working.

Finally, a broken spear stuck out of a gap.

Slade dug it out and lifted the remains to the light. "That’s Broglodyte’s stuff!"

He got off and brought all the salvaged equipment underneath the palace to pay his respects for the fallen.

"To the fallen beholders, gnolls, and you, Broglodyte."

In a gnoll form, Slade raised his hand to his forehead in a military salute.

The giant golem imitated him behind.

A crowd of watchers gathered around.

"You protected our color,

With your flesh ‘til it vanish’d,

but in your great honor,

Enemies, we shall vanquish…

Rest in pepperoni, pogchamp."

Shaki, followed by her pawns, approached and snatched the shoulder guard lying down. "Oh, you found it. Good job!"

"Hey, that’s-"

"How cute. Are you mourning pawns? I remember when my first pet fish died…"

"Hey, that’s mean. Broglodyte was a hero. He died for our sins!"

"Broglodyte?... Man, you’re only hurting yourself if you get so attached to pawns. Anyway, I need to reuse that equipment unless you’re okay with more pawns dying?"

Slade lamented. "Yeaaah yeaaah~ Go ahead."

Shaki stared at Broglodyte’s shoulder guards. She strode towards Slade.

"W-what is- Huh?"

She put the guards on Slade’s shoulders and tied it firmly.

"You know what? Rooks and heroes should have better items than pawns. If you like it that much, you can keep it."

"Are you sure? It belongs to your personal guards."

"Consider it as my thanks for sticking around even though you didn’t intend to reincarnate into a toilet slime."

"Nice… Thanks for the gift." He looked at the pointy shoulder guard like a Christmas present. The approval and recognition warmed his heart.

"By the way, I loaded the cart and Milia is ready to move out. Your escort will be 4 troglodytes, 2 harpies. You should hire gnolls and witches if you want more help. Do you know when Violet and Lorely will be ready?"

Griscent and Metiva joined the group.

"The witches are doing their hair and taking care of their clothing."

She hugged Slade. Her harem of male gnolls gnawed their claws in jealousy.

"Oh, were you praying for the fallen? What a great initiative!"

"(I heard about the graffiti from Lorely. Sorry about that, I will punish them)."

They discussed hiring some gnolls to protect and serve Violet. They agreed to send 4 gnolls, 2 witches, and 6 beholders using food and pawn notes as incentives.

Slade waited at the cart outside the mine with Milia, Metiva and the escorts.

The two women bantered, sitting on a tree stump in the middle of the ruined gnoll camp.

"So, female gnolls get a harem?"

"That’s right, we’re a strange race, ah ah!"

"I’m so envious!"

"Heh? Is that so? Other species usually look down on us for being weird and different."

"No, they are just jealous! Tell me more about it!"

"Errr… Each clan ‘adopts’ young males who are shared among all the females of the clan. But the higher-ranking women can choose their favorite. For instance, if I want to spend time with Slade while he’s sleeping with Ranna, I can just snatch him away because I’m higher ranked."

"Heh? So, you can do it with lots of men?"

"We’re not always in the mood, but yes."

"Do you do it with women, too?"

"Yes, sometimes. Actually, our female warriors actually attract women from all kinds of other species. And there’s a rumor that the kobolds hate us for stealing their girls."

Milia exploded in laughter. "Damn! I should reroll gnolls with Shaki!"

"What’s stopping you?"

"I blew my money on becoming a strong minotaur. I don't want to spend my new life as an underling."

"Gnolls are the lowest tier for pawns and rooks, you know?"

"Oh well, I’m fine being a minotaur." She hopped down on four and grazed the herb.

Finally, Violet and Lorely emerged from the dark cave. They smiled at Slade.

Escorted by four gnoll warriors and two witches, Violet and Lorely walked out of the ore mine with new looks.

Lorely had swapped her washed-up robe for a gnoll themed fabric. Its cut kept the same overall shape to let her wings spread from her naked back. But the gnolls had added sleeves that would not hinder her flight.

While she used to look poor, her new self looked like a pagan deity of love and fertility that Slade would gladly worship.

"I’m here, Slade~♥" She rubbed her knees shyly while carrying the purple warbanner.

Violet wore a plain shirt over a loose dress, similar to civilian gnolls. Her hair was tied into a long braid, and her bangs were cleaned up. "Sorry for making you wait."

She exuded a homely warmth that straight up knocked Slade out.

Milia spit out her grass from shock.

"What the fuck happened to granny? How?!"

"Slade? Hello?"

The love-struck slime was still trapped in delusions after Violet’s cuteness blew his mind. He saw himself growing older with her dazzling smile.

Violet poked the silent slime to wake him up.

"Uh- Ah! I lost myself for a moment."

He jumped and rubbed his face against her chest. "You’re so cuuute!"

"Stop acting like this, geez!" The embarrassed woman pushed Slade into Lorely’s arms.

The harpy hag’s chest jiggled from Slade’s shaking. "The witches did an excellent job, right?"

"Does it fit your tastes?"

"I’m falling in love again, baby."

Violet patted the back of the pair of mother and daughter witches and slipped a stack of pawn notes into their hand. "Take that money. You’ve earned it."

Slade’s face froze into a shaking smile, coughing blood from mental damage. Wait! How much did it cost?!

The pair of mother-daughter witches bowed, stashing their money inside their cleavage. "It is our pleasure."

Oh well, it’s fine. They look so happy. It’s absolutely worth it. Resigned, the slime nodded. He had found what was truly important to him. He didn’t want to deny what was important to others.

Milia made eye contact with Lorely and snorted. "Hmpf! The color scheme was the only change. My new style is way better."

"Well, we don’t really grow wings on our backs… We don’t have a lot of things that fit Miss Lorely."

"Ha! Are you salty that nobody praised your new look?"

"Huh? Why would I seek the approval of gnolls and slime? I’m not a degenerate attention whore like you!"

"That’s right, you’re just a degenerate whore!"

"All right, that’s enough! Let’s not delay the journey any longer. Master, weren’t you supposed to test something before escorting Lady Violet?"

Ah, that’s right. I was supposed to establish a video call with my remote slime unit. Slade shapeshifted into a tablet. It flashed incoherent lights for a minute.

"Ah! I got the hang of it!" The picture of Griscent and Shaki finally appeared.

"1, 2, 3… Do you hear us?"

"We’re hearing perfectly. What about you?"

"Wonderful, it’s better quality than most communication orb!"

"A bit slow to get going."

"Before we go on our way, let’s settle the development plan of Holloweye. I’ll build a clinic with Crown to house the witches. The citizens got wounds from their harsh journey. Curing them might decrease the unrest."

"Griscent will start building the mage guild to learn the common tongue with beholders."

"Shaki will organize the market for the pawn renting service."

"And Metiva will manage the reconstruction of the gnoll camp. Is that fine?"

"It will take a while if Violet doesn’t summon them with sovereign points."

"Our goal is to have the facilities working as soon as possible. It’s fine if there’s no bonus yet."

"Okay, I’m approving all of it. I left the pawn notes to Shaki. Redistribute it among yourselves at your discretion. Let’s go~"

"Great! Thanks."

"Understood."

"Ok, have a safe trip."

"Take care."

"I’ll miss you, Sha~♥" The minotaur waved until Slade cut the meeting.

Metiva waved her kerchief until the cortege of soldiers disappeared from the gnoll camp. With alight heart, she worked alongside her clan members to rebuild their tents and huts.

Still, she was worried about the 6 gnolls temporarily leaving the tribe. Going there sounds so lonely…