A slime colony!

Clomp, clomp, clomp.

The rhythmic, constant sounds of your footsteps as you march through the forest cut through the natural ambiance, as if to assert their dominance over it. The effect is strangely calming, making you feel as though nature itself has yielded to your power.

You've been traveling for two hours now, on no particular path and in no particular hurry. To be honest, you're actually rather enjoying yourself. You had built in knowledge about what a forest was, but to actually see the sun filter through the leaves, to hear the birds singing? And best of all, to finally be able to exercise yourself freely. You've already encountered several low level monsters, such as weed-fiends, all of which you've easily dispatched after your attempts at communication failed. Seems the fools weren't able to tell that Erin wasn't in control.

Speaking of the girl, it seems she's finally stirring from her miraculously undisturbed slumber. Inside of your body, you can sense her every movement.

“Hrnggg...” she groans, swallowing hard and pursing her lips. “Hmmm... h-huh?” She notices the involuntary movement of her limbs with confusion. Blearily cracking her eyes, she feels the thin beams of light streaming through your helmet hit her face. As she finally seems to remember where she is, her eyes widen and she begins vainly struggling against you.

Good morning Erin. You slept in quite late. Care for some breakfast?

“Let me out! Now!”

You sigh. And I went to all that effort to make you as comfortable as possible. I even remembered that humans have to eat! Oh well. We’ll see if you’re so rude after a couple hours without food.

“I-I’m serious! You can’t keep me here forever. And when Sunny gets back, she’ll get a bunch of people and they’ll kick your ass!” She tries to mask her fear with a confident bluster. “I-If you don’t let me go, you’re done f-for sure. B-but if you let me go now, you can keep your freedom, and your life! Sounds l-like a good deal, right?”

Is she really trying to barter with you? And does she really think that you’re actually scared of a couple humans? What part of “you belong to me” did you not understand? you ask, your irritation rising.

She begins to reply, but is silenced as you use her hand to open her menu and select mute. You’d need to teach her some discipline later.

You continue your march, your steps now more like stomps and your mood foul. You know you need to stop allowing yourself to get so upset, but why the hell did she have to be so difficult? Whatever. You didn’t trap her to make friends. You did so to prove a point. She’s a tool. An item.

After a minute or two, you realize that the only noise is a nearby river, the birds having gone silent. Something’s off. You halt, cursing your carelessness. If you hadn’t allowed yourself to get so agitated, you might’ve noticed earlier. There is definitely someone nearby. Or something. And you’ve stumbled right into the middle of its territory. The question is, what is it? And where?

Drip.

There! Above you! Something just dropped down and splashed against your helmet! Making use of what little agility you’re capable of, you dive forward, crashing to the ground and narrowly avoiding a gigantic mass of green slimes that fall from the trees with a resounding splat. One second later, and you’d have been completely enveloped.

The mass begins to pull apart into numerous, elliptical slimes, with sizes ranging from the girth of a fist, to ones large enough to encase a full-grown man. As you clamber to your feet, your mind races. Can you kill them? There’s a lot of them... And what is that dribbling you're feeling inside your your leg?

With shock and rage, you realize that Erin has relived herself, probably from a combination of fear induced by your sudden dive, as well as holding it in for hours. Damn it Erin! you growl, disgusted. Well, you're certainly in no mood to flee now; it'd simply hurt your pride further. Let's see what these oversized boogers are made of.

Clenching your fists, you step forward, stomping on the nearest of the first wave of slimes. Some of them stay splattered, but others require a few more blows to stay down. More slimes converge on you, and finally, after a meaty punch simply sinks into a larger blob with a squelch, you realize that your current physical approach isn't working. You’ll soon be overwhelmed. Pulling your arm free, you begin moving away as fast as you can, the slimes hot on your trail, desperately formulating a new plan.

Activating your Haunting Aura ability, you hear the slimes behind you begin to steam, the magic eating away at their mass. But it's not enough. And they're gaining on you. You're not going to be able to kite them. Come on, come on... where is it...?!

With increasing urgency, you scan your surroundings. As if on cue, you pinpoint it; the source of the rushing water you'd heard earlier. A river. It looks quite deep, and the only visible method of crossing is a modestly sized log. You'd have to take your chances. It's the only option.

If you could take a deep breath, you'd do it now. Mustering one last burst of agility, you dash forward. The log creaks, and your lack of balance almost is the end of you, but through a quick and e you manage to get across.

Now for the fun part. Flipping around, you handily grasp your end of the log. Some of the slimes have began passage, sliding along whilst hanging on for their dear lives. With great satisfaction, you employ your great strength to lift your end of the log and dump it into the rapids, washing the slimes downstream, and stranding the remainder on the opposite bank.

It's a great victory. With a final wave to the slimes, you jauntily continue your march forward, applauding yourself for the comeback. That it, until you remember that there's one more thing to address; Erin's little 'accident'. Punishment was in order. And you'd need to find a way to clean yourself.

Sighing, you feel some of your excitement drain away. As you move to select unmute, you feel Erin writhe. Was she really trying to escape again? How has she not realized how futile it is?

As soon as you unmute her, a shriek tears through the air. "I-it-it's inside! There's a sl-slime! It's inside the armor! Get it out! G-get it out!"