"Good job—"
"That was fun—!"
With a wet smack, our tentacles touched. They merged with a soft squelch, and Miti-chan and I returned to being a single slime.
The Red Rod I’d prepared as a little gimmick didn’t really get its time to shine. I’d even practiced my death-rattle "Gugyaa!" for when I got hit. I’d been hoping they would start killing each other over the thing, but making it stick to their hands might have been a tactical error.
By the way, the Red Rod Dummy was just a creation made by embedding glass shards in slime and giving it a simple order: "If a hand in a protective suit grabs you, pierce the glove and stick to it." Even a dummy I’m not actively controlling can handle basic commands like "eat that," but that’s about the limit of its intelligence.
The real Red Horn was safely tucked away in my Inventory. Anything I can’t finish eating goes straight in there. That was the most basic rule Penpen taught me.
I wanted to meet up with the others soon and eat some real meat. I was officially sick of human flesh.
The mission was a success. As for the servants in the basement? I ate them. Twenty-five people down, mission accomplished. As a reward, I gained the "Mimicry (Human)" skill.
Mimicry. I liked the sound of that. The Red Rod Dummy had just been a piece of separated slime kneaded and stretched thin, but this was on a different level. I used "Predation" to clean the red blood off Miti-chan’s surface and activated the skill.
"Whoa...! Amazing, my hands are actually skin-colored!"
Unlike the crude imitation from before, this had actual pigment. Based on the feel, they were definitely a girl’s hands with the right skin texture. However, when I bent my fingers, I could ignore the joints and twist them in impossible directions. If I squeezed my arm, my fingers sank into the flesh with a squishy sensation. It seemed the mimicry was only skin-deep. If I put some effort into it, I could probably make it feel as firm as an average human’s body.
The blue hair was actually made of individual tentacles, though they were too thin to move unless I focused intensely. If I clumped them together into locks, I could move them just like my usual tentacles.
"Wow, you look just like Annette."
"Oh, really? I want to see too. Switching to Auto Mode."
Looking through the Halo’s FPS Perspective, I really did look like a palette-swapped version of Annette. I didn't have that red horn, my limbs were normal, and I had a full pair of cat ears.
"I’m a dead ringer for her."
"Yeah. We can’t forget about Annette’s little sister. Annette said they were twins. See? I’m Annette’s sister too, right?"
I see. How touching, Miti-chan.
It looked like I could change the hair color whenever I liked, but this would likely be my default base for human mimicry.
"...With this, Annette is with us too, right, Lord Spirit?"
"Yeah, that’s right."
"Also, so Annette won't be lonely, I have to make lots of little sisters!"
"Huh? I guess so?"
"First, let’s make those beastman kids my sisters!"
Wait. That sounded a little off.
"Hey, Miti-chan? What exactly do you mean by 'making lots of little sisters'?"
"You see? Annette has a little sister. So, if I’m Annette’s sister, and I make more sisters, then Annette’s sisters will increase, right? A sister’s sister is a sister! I’m so smart!"
"???"
I wasn't quite following her logic.
"If she has lots of sisters, Annette won't be lonely anymore, right?"
"Ah, I see. Like a memorial thing?"
"Eh? Lord Spirit, Annette is right here, you know? Because I ate her."
Ah. I might have let her emotions develop a bit too much. This was getting dark.
"Now, let's collect the dummies and go make those beastman kids my sisters! It’s time for a Sister Hunt!"
"Huh? Uh, yeah...?"
I might just be too stupid to understand Miti-chan’s brilliance. She was certainly an overachiever.
I figured Zold would probably be losing his mind right about now, so I decided I should be the one to do the talking. While collecting the dummies, I made my way to the room on the Basement 2nd Floor where I’d hidden the beastman children and Zold. Zold had already moved into the room with them.
"Good work, Zold."
"Annette! ...No, wait. You’re the slime, aren't you?"
"Aw, you caught me immediately. Even with my mimicry?"
"It’s the way you talk. And that floating ring."
Right. That made sense. I wasn't really trying to hide it, anyway.
"By the way... are these kids really going to be okay?"
"Oh, yeah. Collecting the slimes here is the final step. Man, I really made the kids cry, didn't I? My bad."
"Lord Spirit! Sisters! Let's make sisters! I'll be the big sister!"
"Yeah, let’s put a pin in that for now."
I used my tentacles to snatch up the Dummy Red Slimes. By flicking my wrist like I was throwing a yo-yo, my fingers would stretch out with a wet snap. Any dummy I hit was instantly absorbed and vanished. It was actually pretty fun.
"Ugh, that’s... kind of gross."
"You should probably say that where she can’t hear you."
"Right, sorry. It’s just... seeing fingers stretch out like that while you’re wearing Annette’s face is incredibly unsettling."
I could empathize with that.
"Lord Spirit! Let’s make that girl a sister! That one too! And that one! Oh, the boys are whatever. They can't be sisters."
"Yeah, yeah. Let’s worry about that later."
I made a mental note to teach Miti-chan the concept of "feminine boys" at some point.
"Well then, let’s get out of this research institute. We can’t stay here forever. Time for a jailbreak! I have no idea what’s waiting for us outside, but let’s give it our best shot!"
"I’d prefer not to get shot, if it's all the same to you."
"Don't worry, I’ll take the lead. Watch this—Art of the Clone."
With a soft pop, I split myself into two identical bodies.
"For now, let’s try to find an exit. Even if there are traps, this clone can just step on them for us."
"O-oh. Right. Thanks. ...Listen up, everyone! This is our chance to survive. You ready?"
And so, with the beastmen in tow, we escaped the research institute.
There were no survivors left in the facility besides the beastmen, and since I’d already scouted the floors for traps, we managed to reach the outer walls without any trouble at all.