NOVEL NEXT Chapter 2: The encounter
Inside a cave, in a different world, a blob of slime was devouring fields and fields of Hipokute grass, the slime was recently named Rimuru Tempest by a certain dragon, with the storm attribute known as Storm dragon Veldora Tempest.
"And that's the last one of it...sure due to Veldora the cave was rich in magicules...guy sure was a powerhouse of his own." After devouring the last Hipokute grass of the field, Rimuru started going forward, finding a way to exit the cave.
"Great sage...no way you can find the exit quickly with some of your skills?... It's boring here. I want to see the light... ahh."
"[Negative, I don't possess any skills to map and navigate and magic sense only works for a little distance.]"
With a sigh, Rimuru melted and then perked up and started moving forward killing and devouring monsters in his way.
"Talk about fun, if those monsters were sentient beings I could have made a new friend in this new world. Veldora sure is my first friend but he's in my tummy...but I know his presence is still there or it's rest in peace for him."
After devouring another Armorsauraus of the countless, Rimuru suddenly felt something, something strange. The feeling that can't be comprehended in words, something divine but at the same time which screamed to run, run as far as possible. Rimuru who was reincarnated in this world got the chill in his non-existent spine for the first time, the aura was not as magnanimous as that of Veldora but there was something that screamed to tuck his tail and run away from the presence.
"[A huge amount of magicules detected.]"
Getting advice from the great sage, Rimuru saw a horde of monsters coming towards him. With a sudden jolt, he went behind the mass of magic ore.
"Great Sage...Why are these monsters running?...is it due to that wave of magicules?"
"[Affirmative...]"
Cutting Great Sage, Rimuru asked again in a non confident tone.
"What should we do, Great sage?... Approach the source of the magicules or run away?"
"[Best course action is to not approach the source and run away.]"
"Uhh...so let's approach the source, I want to see what is there. I may be curious but I want to see which creature is there who can possess these many magicules that made the monsters run away with their tails between their legs."
'What if the creature is hostile toward me?... But I'm just a cute slime, no one can see me as some villain.' With a thought lingering in his mind, Rimuru starts moving toward the source which was sending waves and waves of the high-density magicules.
After a couple of minutes, Rimuru finally reached the source of the Magicules wave earlier, it was not as menacing as before but it was also not calm.
Reaching Near the big boulder, he peeked to finally look at the reason that shook the entire cave. The things he saw were way different than he imagined. When the wave hit Rimuru he thought the source could be some horrifying monster or some dragon-like Veldora who came here to maybe check the cave or due to the absence of the storm dragon but now what he saw here was enough for him to pop his non-existent eyes out. A girl, not a monster— a girl whose beauty transcends humanity, with a face that can cause wars among nations not only beauty but the power the girl possesses can be considered godly not equal or even close to that of Veldora but something told Rimuru that there is something unique to her power.
After containing himself Rimuru let his gaze off the girl's face and saw the thing, the one thing which made Rimuru gawk like a dumbfounded person who didn't know what was happening there. A tall Skeleton in a black robe, the robe so dark that it can be easily said that the robe is absorbing every light ray falling on it. Like a void or a black hole sucking all the light can be the best example of what the skeleton was wearing. But the skeleton was not moving like he was dead, well he was already dead but Rimuru couldn't even feel a single magicule emanating from the skeleton. Seeing the skeleton's head or skull to be exact on the girl's lap like both were lovers or past lovers cause the guy was a dead skeleton now. Rimuru thought.
'It looks like that girl is crying, what's the deal with the skeleton...why is she embracing it? Was it the skeleton of someone she loved? What should I do... ahh I'm bad with women...Should I approach her and console her?'
After thinking for a long time Rimuru finally thought to approach the girl, in a cautious slow movement he went a little closer showing absolutely no hostility, he reached the clear sight of the girl. With that the gazes meet Rimuru can now see that the girl is staring at him, still keeping the Skeleton in her lap and caressing the skull, it sure was a weird sight for Rimuru. Seeing that the girl was not even speaking or saying something, Rimuru produced a coughing sound, which gave the intention of wanting attention. Breaking the staring contest between the girl and himself Rimuru spoke in a cheerful voice.
"Hiyaaaa...I'm Rimuru tempest the slime. Nice to meet—cha."
Getting no response from the girl he starts coming close only to see the girl in the tense position, gulping Rimuru.
"I'm not here to harm...I'm not a bad slime slurp~"
"Rubedo..." The girl said in a low voice but the magic sense of the slime caught the voice.
"Oh...your name is Rubedo. Nice to meet—cha Rubedo chan." the slime spoke in a cheerful voice.
The girl nodded, mumbled then spoke. "Umm... you know where we are?"
Seeing Rubedo talk to him, Rimuru finally got hope that they could be friends and the girl would not see him as a threat.
"This is a cave...we are currently in the Great Forest of Jura."
"JURA!!!" Rubedo was shocked, she knew the entire great tomb of Nazarick due to seeing and listening to the chats of the supreme beings and watching the Miko princess Aureole Omega keeping an eye on the entire tomb.
"So we are not in the Great Tomb of Nazarick?" wiping her tears, she asked the slime— in the hope of getting some info, cause her love... aka master was now in an inactive state and not even responding. All Rubedo wants to safeguard her master in the new surroundings—hoping she does not encounter any players. She knew players were strong entities and once tried to harm her home, but she slaughtered them, she did not want any possibility that some force could even lay a finger on her master, the man to whom her heart belonged get hurt in an inactive state.
Rubedo sensed the slime named Rimuru from a long distance before he could introduce himself but she did not act because she knew the slime was just a weak creature and not capable of even doing anything. She thought to kill him at first but thought it would be a bad action and may hinder the plans of her master—once she heard Momonga and AncientOne talking about 'Making the unknown an ally is better than to make them an enemy.'.
"Great Tomb...Nazarick? I thought you both were from Japan and were reincarnated like me. I never heard of the Great Tomb of Nazarick even in my life. Is it on earth?" The slime answered now sitting just close to the girl, getting no hostility from Rubedo.
After hearing the terms Japan and Earth from Rimuru, Rubedo thought. 'Japan and earth, I heard this term countless times from the supreme beings, they said that Japan was their real home, and this slime now claiming to come from the homeland of Lord Momonga—I need to keep him here till Lord Momonga wakes up.'
Seeing the face of the Momonga with no light in his eyes Rubedo mood saddened, nothing is sadder in her life than to see the one man she loved, who cared for her and stayed till the end, who gave her emotions and gave her a meaning of life with more than being a weapon, who promised her to never leave her, in this state. 'Wake up Lord Momonga...Please don't do it—I can't see you like this.'
Seeing the slime continuously staring at her waiting for an answer, she contained herself and asked. "Are we not in Yggdrasil?"
"Yggdrasil? Like in Norse mythology? No, to my knowledge it's not Yggdrasil." Rimuru said thinking they were from some other world.
"Oh—So you are not a player?" Rubedo asked in a voice which was ready to take some action based on his answer.
With a gulp, Rimuru said "No...I'm just a slime. What are players?"
Giving no information to the Slime Rubedo just thought of a better answer and said "Just some bad people, who once raided our home."
"Oh—sounds like a shady bunch, so you live in a Tomb?" After saying that Rimuru thought. 'Wait the guy's dead and she lives in the Tomb, is that the guy's tomb? Which was made for him by people after his death and maybe she lives and guards it?'
"Yes, they were very bad, once 1500 players raided our home." Rubedo said remembering the time when she saw many of her comrades die, but still in the end—it was a win for Nazrick and they got revived so it was not that bad.
'1500 people raiding a tomb made for the dead? What world are they from where people do like that—so heartless. Well, once I heard people excavating old tombs in Egypt, maybe it's like that.' Rimuru thought seeing the dead skeleton felt a bit of sadness.
"Is that guy a friend of yours?" Rimuru asks, making a pointy hand from its slime form, pointing towards the skeleton.
Rubedo caressing the skull of Momonga on her lap answered. "No, he's my love, the man to whom my heart belongs, the ruler of my heart, and the Great Tomb of Nazarick."
'Ahh—so it's that thing I thought that love exists only in stories where a princess even after the death of her loved knight, never stops loving him till her death.' 'And Ruler of the tomb, I was right, it was his tomb.' Rimuru remembered an old folk tale he heard from some unknown source.
"He was a lucky guy, a girl like you still loving him after his death—Wah I'm jealous." With a chuckle, Rimuru said wanting to calm the sad mood and make Rubedo ease up but the unexpected happened with getting deadly stares from Rubedo.
"What death?" Rubedo exclaimed all of a sudden, making Rimuru feel that he might have struck some of her nerves talking about the guy's death whom she loved.
"Uhh—the guy's death. He has become a skeleton now."
"He's not a skeleton, he's an Overlord, the highest tier of Undead."
'What—the guy's an undead, the one in fantasy novels and games.' In excitement, Rimuru thought then one thing came to his mind. 'Yo Great sage, what's Overlord?'
'[No information on the species Overlord, the guy is not a typical undead, Undead is classified into Death spirits, zombies and skeletons and he don't resemble anything of such.]'
"Ohh—so why is he not moving? I think I know that undead even dead moves and do stuff.'' Rimuru asks, looking towards the Overlord.
"I don't know—I remember I was with Lord Momonga on the 8th floor. He was fine there but.. but then everything went dark, and some voices started coming, then I was teleported here, after some time Lord Momonga also came here but he was not responding and not moving." Rubedo said in a sobbing voice clutching Momonga's body more tightly.
"Great Sage, you know what that is?" Rimuru asked the great sage but after getting some stares from Rubedo he said. "Ohh it's just one of my skills, Great sage. She is very useful sometimes." Rimuru chuckled a bit.
"[The user was reincarnated here, the dark place maybe the voice of the world who was making the user compatible for this world, the entity know as Momonga still adapting for this world so it's taking time for him to be conscious.]"
"So, nothing to worry about?" Rimuru asked again.
"[Affirmative.]"
After seeing Rubedo staring at him dumbfounded, Rimuru spoke. "No need to worry Rubedo-chan, Momonga will soon come to his senses; it is the voice of worlds who may be keeping him in an unconscious state."
"He will..."
Before Rubedo could say anything suddenly Momonga's Orb, the world item he possesses, pulsated with powers even rivaling that of Veldora's, sending a huge wave of magicules that make the slime bounce a couple of steps back.
"[A wave of high density Magicules detected 5 times more than that of the previous wave.]"
"I know—I know great sage."
"Rubedo, get away from him. I got a bad feeling seeing all this burst of Magicules."
"No." Rubedo ignored Rimuru's advice even if being with Momonga gave her damage, she will take it wholeheartedly, nothing in this world can make her stay away from her love.
Rimuru clicks his non-existential tongue and starts coming towards the couple. 'Ahh—I can't leave my new friends. Wait what if Momonga wakes up and thinks that I'm hostile and ends me? Uhh—maybe Rubedo will save me.'
A/N
Thanks for reading the chapter...
Well, some things I want to make clear cause I hate A/N's in every chapter so only some chapters will have it.
1. Updates have no fixed schedule cause I am a student and my studies are more important than this, hope you all can relate.
2. Give reviews good bad idc it's fuels for me to write more, damn web novel audience 500k + views but just 7 reviews xD WTH Same for FFN audience, fill me up with reviews xD wait that line M rated haha.
3. Be happy, have fun always, and never stop smiling : )
Have a nice day, peace <3
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