In the pitch-black night, a carriage stood motionless in the middle of the forest road.
The horses pawed at the ground restlessly. All around, figures dressed as bandits had already surrounded the carriage, blades in hand and cruel smiles on their faces.
As the coachman, Zach showed no fear at the sight. Instead, a trace of excitement flashed across his face. He quickly jumped down from the carriage and blended in with the group as if he belonged there.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
"Hey! The ones inside, get the hell out here! Move it!"
The bandit leader spared Zach a glance but paid him little attention. He strode up to the carriage and began pounding hard on its wooden door.
The sharp knocking mixed with his arrogant shouting, grating against the quiet of the forest.
Inside the carriage, in stark contrast to the chaos outside, it was completely calm. Hidden within the shadows, Herohero slowly turned his slime-formed head, his expressionless gaze fixed on the figures beyond the wooden panels.
"Fifteen?"
He rose to his feet. It was a simple motion, yet it carried an oppressive weight.
A brilliant smile bloomed across Shalltear's face. Her already crimson vertical pupils grew even more vivid, as if blood itself shimmered within them.
Hearing the shouting outside, Sebas stood and respectfully opened the carriage door for the Supreme Being.
Shalltear stepped out first. Her delicate, doll-like appearance immediately drew every gaze.
Solution followed closely behind, smiling faintly as she came to stand at Shalltear's side. She surveyed the surrounding bandits without the slightest change in expression.
The bandits froze when they saw the two of them. Wasn't the target supposed to be a single noble young lady? Why was there another one?
Still, they did not think too deeply about it. Instead, greedy smiles spread across their faces. No matter how they looked at it, two for the price of one was a bargain.
Excited whistles and coarse laughter rang out, echoing through the forest.
"Looks like you're out of luck tonight, little noble lady!"
"Don't worry. As long as you behave, we won't kill you."
The bandit leader grinned obscenely as he spoke to Solution, then shifted his gaze to Shalltear.
"Didn't expect a bonus. She may look like a little girl, but she's got quite the figure. Plenty for us to enjoy."
Shalltear's full chest caught his eye. Silver hair and a voluptuous figure pulled at his gaze until he swallowed thickly. Unable to resist, he reached out, eager to feel for himself.
"Please don't touch me with your filthy hands. Herohero-sama is watching."
As the grimy hand drew closer, Shalltear did not move. She simply smiled and spoke those puzzling words.
The bandit hesitated, confused.
Then, without warning, a pitch-black figure appeared at his side, staring at him without emotion.
Herohero looked down at the human. A slime-formed arm extended, gently closing around the man's wrist.
"Be more careful in your next life."
He spoke softly.
A sizzling sound followed.
Before the bandit could even react, a strange numbness shot through him. His arm detached cleanly at the shoulder. Yet before the severed limb could hit the ground, flesh and bone dissolved into nothing midair.
A foul stench spread through the night, seeping into the lungs of everyone present with each breath.
"Ah! My hand!"
"My hand!!"
The bandit stared blankly at his missing arm for a moment before a scream tore from his throat. Strangely, there was no pain at all. Instead, a numb, tingling sensation spread through him.
Where blood should have gushed from the severed stump, an eerie sight unfolded. A layer of black, jelly-like substance wrapped tightly around the wound, sealing it completely.
But that only made his fear worse.
The pitch-black gelatin writhed and crept upward, climbing his arm at a slow, relentless pace. Wherever it passed, flesh vanished without a trace, as if it had never existed.
"Get off me! Get off!"
Seeing it about to reach his shoulder, he clawed at it with his remaining hand, trying to tear it away.
It was useless.
The more he touched it, the faster it spread. In moments, it engulfed his entire body.
His head, chest, legs, every inch of him was covered in the writhing black mass. It expanded greedily, consuming flesh and bone alike.
"Is this Herohero-sama's racial skill?"
Shalltear crouched in front of the bandit, who could no longer move. She ignored the desperate pleading in his eyes and curiously poked the black jelly with her finger.
"A painless death."
Solution spoke calmly. As a being created by Herohero-sama and a Slime herself, she understood exactly what was happening.
For Slimes, division and parasitism were basic abilities. What Herohero-sama used was the innate racial skill of the Ancient Black Slime.
In Yggdrasil, it had merely applied a negative status effect that continuously drained HP. But after arriving in this world, the skill had changed in a remarkable way, becoming what they now witnessed.
"Next… it's your turn."
Herohero-sama looked down at the human being gradually devoured, without the slightest ripple in his heart. Then his gaze shifted to the remaining bandits.
The survivors had already gathered together, staring at them as if facing a great enemy. But to Herohero-sama, it was a meaningless show of resistance.
As his words fell, pitch-black tentacles shot out from his body.
In the next instant, they lunged forward.
The slime-covered tentacles moved with terrifying speed. Before the bandits could even react, they were bound and hoisted into the air.
The black jelly began spreading over their bodies as well. Amid their horrified screams, it slowly consumed them.
Zach received special treatment.
Herohero-sama deliberately slowed the rate of devouring several times over, allowing him to experience the process more clearly.
Perhaps out of a trace of lingering mercy, Herohero-sama even had the Slime secrete a special mucus to numb the pain.
Without pain, they could only watch helplessly as their bodies were gradually consumed, disappearing bit by bit.
How gentle of you, Herohero-sama.
"Since you chose to make a move, don't blame me."
Herohero-sama spoke quietly, ignoring their pleas and curses as he silently watched their lives fade away.
Sebas frowned slightly at the sight but said nothing. They had brought this upon themselves.
Still, the scene made him even more aware of the differences between the Three Supreme Beings.
Time passed slowly.
The screams and curses gradually faded. Under Herohero-sama's gaze, all fifteen bandits were completely devoured, reduced to nourishment, erased from this world forever.
He withdrew his tentacles and sifted through the memories he had absorbed.
After a moment, he turned to Shalltear.
"Come with me, Shalltear. These scum have a hideout. There's a human there who can use martial arts. His name is Brain."
"This human possesses Talent. Turn him into a Vampire. I need several hundred hearts. Reviving him would be too troublesome."
Herohero-sama had not forgotten their objective.
They would obtain Talents through devouring and use them to strengthen Nazarick as a whole.
"Oh my. An unexpected bonus."
Shalltear smiled lightly.
"Sebas, you and Solution will wait here."
"As you command, Herohero-sama."
Sebas bowed slightly, then returned to the carriage with Solution to wait quietly.