Chapter 5: The "Twink" Sovereign
Rin's metallic body was no longer a small, unassuming puddle. As he vacuumed up the remaining mana stones, his silver surface pulsed with a deep, rhythmic thrum. The blue light of the stones bled into his mercury-like skin, turning it a polished, darker chrome.
[LEVEL UP!]
Current Level: 1
Exp: 112 / 1,000
Influence: 5 Individuals
"Finally," Rin hummed, his voice no longer a wet vibration but a smooth, metallic ring. He didn't stop there. He was a bottomless pit of hunger. He slithered through the storage, devouring every stray shard until the once-overflowing crates were nothing but splinters and dust.
By the time he reached the back of the camp, he had hit 340 EXP. He felt heavier, faster, and much more dangerous.
He came across the monster cages and paused in front of a [Golden Carapace Crab]. Its shell was thick, reinforced with the same minerals he had been eating.
Clang!
Rin accidentally bumped his now-dense body against the iron bars. The sound rang through the quiet camp like a church bell.
"What the fuck was that?" Guard 4 asked, dropping his deck of cards in the mess tent.
"I think it's the captured monsters," 5 responded, standing up and stretching.
"Well, let's check it out before the boss and the others come back from eating with the prisoners," 4 said, grabbing his spear.
The two mercenaries arrived at the cages, eyes scanning the shadows. "Huh? That's strange. There's nothing here," 4 muttered. "I'll go check the ore storage. 5, you check the cages—make sure they're still locked."
"Got it," 5 replied, splitting off.
Guard 4 stepped into the storage cavern and froze. His jaw dropped. The glowing mountain of wealth—the mana stones that were supposed to be their ticket to early retirement, was gone. In its place sat a bloated, shimmering silver sphere that seemed to be vibrating with contentment.
"No... no, no, no! What—you little shit!" 4 screamed, his face turning a purplish red as he drew his sword. "You fucking slime! You just had to do it, didn't you? Now look at you, so bloated you can't even move! I see you leveled up, you fat little shit, but it doesn't matter. Your core will make a fine replacement for the stones you stole!"
Rin watched him through his new, invisible [Blindsight], laughing internally. Come closer, you idiot.
The guard stomped forward, his boots heavy on the stone. He raised his broadsword high above his head, intending to split the "helpless" slime in half with a single, crushing blow.
The moment 4's muscles tensed to strike, Rin's body didn't jiggle...it snapped.
A whip-thin, razor-sharp metallic tentacle lashed out from Rin's center with the speed of a bullet. It moved so fast it created a small sonic pop.
S-hwip!
The guard's head was sliced clean off before his sword even began its downward arc.
Thud. The body hit the floor, blood spraying across the empty crates and Rin's silver skin. The head bounced once and rolled into a corner.
"Well, that worked better than I expected," Rin thought, his voice vibrating through the blood-stained room. "Time for the others."
Meanwhile, Guard 5 finished checking the last cage lock. "Well, that's all of them," he called out, wiping sweat from his brow. "Where are you, 4?"
He turned the corner and stopped dead. There, in the middle of the walkway, stood a silver blob, dripping with fresh, crimson blood.
"The he—"
Slice.
Rin didn't give him a second word. A horizontal blade-whip caught 5 across the bridge of his nose, splitting his skull open with surgical precision. The mercenary collapsed instantly, his life extinguished before he could even register the threat.
Rin stood over the bodies, his silver surface beginning to absorb the blood, cleaning itself. He could feel his [Influence] growing.
"Two down," Rin hummed. "Now... where is that 'perverted' vampire girl the Goddess mentioned?"
The base camp of the Labyrinth was no longer a place of order—it was a slaughterhouse.
Flames licked the canvas of the supply tents, fueled by the volatile oils the mercenaries had kept for their lanterns. The iron cages, once strong and secure, now stood mangled and empty. Rin had not only killed the guards; he had used his metallic strength to twist the bars, releasing every snarling, starving beast the mercenaries had captured.
"Kill them! Kill them all!" the leader screamed, his steel longsword glowing with a faint magical aura. He hacked through a Golden Carapace Crab, his movements a blur of Level 2 efficiency. "Four! Seven! Where the hell are you!?"
One by one, his men were being silenced. Not by the monsters, but by a silver shadow that moved through the smoke like a ghost. He saw his second-in-command pulled into the darkness of a burning tent—no scream, just the wet thwip of a blade.
"Fuck this shit!" the leader roared, realization finally sinking in. His "gold mine" had turned into a tomb. "One! Let's go! Forget everything—run for it!"
Without a second thought, the mercenary known as One turned and bolted after his boss. They abandoned their loot, their men, and their pride, disappearing into the dark tunnels of the upper floor.
Back at the mine shaft, hours had passed. The heavy silence was beginning to grate on Seven's nerves.
"Something's wrong," he muttered, his hand trembling on the hilt of his sword. "Very wrong."
He couldn't wait any longer. "Move! All of you, out of the holes!" He forced the five prisoners—Vince, Luna, Kael, Hana, and Pip—out of the mines and toward the main camp.
When they rounded the corner, the group froze. The camp was a landscape of fire and blood.
"What happened?" Seven whispered, his face turning ashen. "Three? Five? Boss! Anyone!?"
There was no answer but the crackle of burning wood and the distant, hungry growls of escaped beasts. Seven's guard was completely dropped; his mind was racing, trying to comprehend the total annihilation of his unit.
Vince didn't hesitate. This wasn't a time for heroic speeches—it was a time for survival.
He lunged forward, grabbing a jagged iron bar from a pile of scrap. With a guttural shout, he drove the rusted metal deep into Seven's back. The mercenary gasped, his eyes wide with shock, before collapsing into the dirt.
Vince didn't wait for him to stop twitching. He dove for the man's pockets, his fingers slick with blood as he fished out the heavy ring of keys.
Click. Click. Clack.
"You're free! Go!" Vince shouted, unlocking the collars of the other three prisoners.
"My gear," Luna said, her voice finally losing its bored edge as she spotted her equipment chest near a burning wagon. "I'm not leaving without my stuff."
The group scrambled through the chaos. They grabbed their packs, their rusted swords, and their rations. Around them, the Labyrinth was crawling with angry, Level 0 monsters that had been whipped into a frenzy by the scent of blood.
"Move toward the exit!" Vince commanded, stepping over a dead mercenary. "Sticking around here is a death sentence!"
As they sprinted toward the Labyrinth's great stone doors, Vince looked back one last time. In the center of the burning camp, he saw a figure standing perfectly still amidst the flames. It looked human, but its skin shimmered with a polished, metallic silver light.
Before he could get a better look, Luna grabbed his arm and pulled him into the darkness of the exit tunnel.
The irony of Rin's situation just keeps getting better—or worse, depending on who you ask. It seems Milim really did have a specific "aesthetic" in mind when she designed that human form.
Rin searched everywhere, weaving through the smoldering remains of the camp, but he found no sign of the vampire Milim had mentioned. "Maybe she was just messing with me," he thought, though he didn't lower his guard.
Deciding to make the most of the silence, he headed back into the mines. He devoured every single mana stone left in the veins, his silver body expanding and contracting with each intake of pure energy. The sheer volume of ore finally pushed him over the threshold.
[LEVEL UP!]
Current Level: 2
Exp: 45 / 5,000
New Ability Gained: [Speech] – Vocal cords successfully replicated.
"Nice," Rin thought, satisfied with himself. He focused on his internal structure, feeling the [Divine Transformation] slot humming with power. It was time.
"HELLOOOO, WORLD!" Rin screamed out loud.
He froze. He blinked. "Huh? Hello? What?"
He clapped a hand over his mouth—or rather, he realized he had a hand. But the voice that had just echoed through the Labyrinth wasn't the heroic, booming baritone of the Saint of Steel. It was light, airy, and undeniably feminine.
"Why is my voice like this?" He felt a cold sweat break out across his new skin. "No... she wouldn't. Right?"
Walking over to the river, he stared down at his reflection in the dark, still water. He wasn't just human; he was... a girl?
The face staring back at him was strikingly cute, framed by long, silky gray hair and wide, piercing silver eyes. He looked delicate, almost fragile, like a porcelain doll made of moonlight. Rin frantically felt his chest. Flat.
"Well, great," he said bitterly, his voice sounding like a soft bell. "She made me a twink. That damn woman... when I get my hands on her, I swear..."
He looked down at his slender frame, sighing in defeat. "Hey, at least I'm still technically a guy—that's a plus, I guess," he muttered, trying to cheer himself up.
It wasn't working. He looked like the kind of person who needed to be protected, not an SSS-Rank Slime Sovereign who had just decapitated two mercenaries and slaughtered many more.
Suddenly, a faint, rhythmic tapping sound came from the shadows behind him—the sound of someone clapping slowly.
"Bravo," a sultry, melodic voice whispered from the darkness. "I was wondering when the shiny little puddle would turn into something I could actually play with."
Rin spun around, his silver hair whipping behind him. Out of the shadows stepped a woman with pale skin, searching eyes, and a very "thick" build that stood in stark contrast to Rin's new slender form.
"You must be Naga," Rin said, his eyes narrowing.
"And you," Naga said, her eyes dragging slowly up and down Rin's new body with a hungry, perverted glint, "are exactly my type."