“We’ll be patient, master!” Gobrin said.
Diving into a thick fern twice his size that smelled of blueberry and spring maple.
“There’s always adventurers passing through these parts!” he whispered, grinning ear to ear.
Heikin jumped up into a tree.
Feet scrambling with ease against tree bark.
“You both will move when I strike the targets, understood.” Heikan directed.
The evolving system thinker decided to lie in wait for its prey.
The three waited and waited until...
Loud clinks of metal on dirt carried through the trees.
The sun's light now casting shadows along the tree line.
“Here they come!” Grok whispers, eyes fixed on the incoming humans.
Heikin’s eyes narrowed as he looked at them.
The adventurers—three humans and a dwarf—laugh as they approach the dungeon entrance.
One carries a glowing staff, another a longsword, and the third a crossbow.
The dwarf drags a large pack filled with gear.
But that's not what he took stock of.
It’s the healer's constant double-checking of his pouches green vials.
The tanks cracking metal armor near the edges.
The dwarf's eyes that kept looking everywhere but his front.
Grin so wide it was near blinding.
Heikin didnt label them.
He inventoried them.
Hidden above in the thick green canopy, he silently shifts.
Muscles tighten under slimy goblinoid skin.
He morphs—lower half spider, with chitin legs clinging to bark.
Upper body shifting to a sleek black wolf-like humanoid, fangs bared, one arm morphing into a razor claw, the other twisting into a grappling tentacle.
“I predicted eating a few of those wild animals would increase my function.” Heikin thought.
[SYSTEM NOTICE]
[Entity using Skill: Biological Integration.]
Every second seemed to drag as the would-be dungeon seekers lurched closer.
Then Heikin fired a web-shot from his spider abdomen.
Sticky white rope suddenly snagged the crossbowman and yanked him into the trees with a muffled scream.
Leaving red to splatter across green in a haze of chaotic streaks.
Before the others react, the once mere gelatin leaped down in wolf-form and slammed the sword wielder with his tentacle arm, hurling him into a tree.
Bones crack from the viscous-covered limb.
“Phase two, divide & terrorize,” Heikin said. Voice smooth and solid with dark foresight.
“Now!” He barked, tone thick as steel.
Mind working with a tactician's intuition.
In that moment, the two goblins rushed out of the ferns in a blurred haze.
Small and nimble as can be, with a small but firm grip on the mages' staff.
“Get off me, you green freaks!” She yelled, pulling the staff with a futile burst of strength.
The staff mage cast a light spell, eyes wide and frantic.
Only to witness Heikin shed his skin like liquid—sliding around her spell, encircling her legs.
“I’ve already accounted for that.” He said, voice twisting the knife further in her ear.
Making the mage's blood run cold.
“Your path trended toward loss the moment you neglected to be cautious of the unknown variable.”
Heikin dragged her screaming into the underbrush, silencing her with a claw through the throat.
The dwarf drops his pack and runs.
The slime morphs mid-chase, legs elongating, eyes multiplying across his face.
Multiple angles appear through new arachnid vision.
He jumps overhead and shifts into a hybrid ogre-hound, slamming down in front of the dwarf. A slash. A scream. Then silence.
The last adventurer stares in horror as his companions’ corpses remain strewn across the dirt.
Pools of red now covering the once green clearing.
“Please! I have gold! Anything you want!” he begged, while falling backward towards the dungeon entrance.
Heikin alters himself into an amalgamation of traits.
Claws like long swords and wrist blades.
Black goat horns forming a crown above his head.
Skin a mix of shadows, darkness, and a swirling mass of tentacles.
horned crown glinting, tentacles writhing, shadow-skin rippling like a storm barely contained.
The forest falls silent in the wake of his transformation.
Leaves curl. Animals flee. Even his goblin minions dare not breathe too loudly.
His monstrous form walks toward the shaking adventurer with thud after thud against the forest floor.
Eyes glowing a crimson red.
“Tell your king what you saw today.” Heikin declared darkly.
Lifting up the man with ease like a mere keg of old ale.
“Let them know their age of peace is coming to an end.” His breath came out cold with the scent of freshly spilled blood against his neck.
The sheer pressure of his presence imprints something primal into his soul: fear branded as prophecy.
“The great devourer of souls is coming to take the king and his court's souls to the underworld.”
The adventurer falls to his knees, trembling violently.
“Y-yes! I’ll tell them! Spare me!” he cries, desperately scrambling backward.
“We’ve heard rumors… the Devourer of Souls…” he babbles before fleeing back to the city.
Heikin shifts form back to a goblin once he’s out of sight.
A ritual of normalcy.
Grok and Gobrin bow deeply like they’ve seen a god in the flesh.
“Master, we're honored to witness such a transformation.”
Heikin gives a dismissive wave at them.
“No need for any formalities now. Those only obstruct outcomes.”
Gobrin stares up at him with stars in his eyes. “Master… that was beautiful.”
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Grok nods slowly. “Even the trees were afraid.”
Heikin dissolves into a viscous jelly and starts consuming the once living adventurers.
The bodies sank into him, resistance giving way with a wet sigh.
[SYSTEM NOTICE]
[New form available...Human]
[Wisdom enchantment from consumption detected.]
Mage: Gain low-level magic knowledge, light affinity, and mana sense.
Ranger: Precise aim skill, danger awareness, and fast reflexes.
Warrior: Weapon mastery (swords), tactical combat experience.
Dwarf: Engineering knowledge, minor rune crafting ability.
System Notification:
New Trait Unlocked – “Hunter’s Mantle”:
Blend into surface society by replicating gear and speech patterns of your prey.
But that wasn’t all the slime had acquired.
[Strategies detected in combat]
[Ambush Predator Style]
Skill: Predatory Patience
- Grants increased stealth and critical strike damage after remaining motionless or stalking prey for a time.
Skill: Isolate & Cull
- Increased effectiveness when attacking lone targets or breaking groups apart.
Adaptive Comat Evolution
Skill: Combat Morph
- Swap between multiple absorbed forms mid-battle to counter enemy types (e.g., spider for trapping, wolf for speed, ogre for raw power).
[Consume and Convert]
Trait Ability: Any equipment not digested can be reshaped by your body into gear (e.g., forming armor plating or turning a sword into a spike-arm).
Bonus: You can craft weapons from inside your body, even combining gear (e.g., goblin sword + fire ore = flaming spike).
Heikin finally finishes scrolling through the notifications.
A rare pleased smirk appeared on his lips.
“Seems this is quite efficient.” He said.
As the adventurer flees through the woods, screaming incoherent warnings, Heikin can already feel the ripples begin—the legend is born.
[System Notification]
“Infamy Event Triggered: Devourer of Souls”
Your actions have ignited a world rumor. Your existence is no longer a secret.
Factions will begin responding. A bounty will be posted. Fear will spread.
Perks Unlocked: “Terror Incarnate”
Entities' chosen appearance and actions have shaped your identity in the world’s narrative.
Title Gained: The Devourer of Souls
Passive Effect – Aura of Dread:
Weak-willed enemies will panic or flee before the fight begins.
Mark of Dread:
You can implant a psychic brand of fear into survivors.
Those marked will spread tales of your deeds, increasing your legend—and your intimidation stat.
Heikin looks toward the distant city beyond the forest—its walls gleaming like soft prey in the sun.
The kingdom above now knows a new force walks the surface… but they have no idea what’s coming.
Will the slime become a shadow manipulator?
An infiltrator of civilization?
Not even the threads of fate can foresee it.
One thing is certain.
The Devourer of Souls, a shifting horror cloaked in myth.
Is about to enter the next trajectory.
He never crossed a moral line. He simply never stood on one.
Gods inherit worship.
possibility.”
— Commentary from the silent makers of the first world