Slime Slime Slime

When Aono awoke, after shaking off her nightmares, she saw the familiarity of her home. The hammock setup she used occasionally when she felt like relaxing on something else than her bed. The wardrobe carved out of marble (there was plenty of the stuff locally thanks to the Blinking Mountain). The table (also marble) with a centerpiece of a farting donkey statue that Tami had made for her. On her chest was a note reading "Brought you home. Picked the lock. Sardu."

She could only make a sad wry smile at that. Sardu being Sardu was something, at least there was that constant. She opened up her notifications to take a look.

Gods. Fucking MONSTER. It was one of the most hated gods for good reasons. Only EVIL was as hated, but EVIL wasn't effectively a rabid animal lashing out indiscriminately at everything they could. MONSTER had been killed many times but another incarnation always showed up, so now it was constantly imprisoned by PRISON. But even imprisoned it managed to make trouble occasionally.

With a sigh, Aono considered the notification about her gaining access to an ultimate ability. The stuff about soul strain and damage was kinda ominous but it looked like ultimate abilities were powerful options if used sparingly. She would have to review her options later, she had things to do, such as checking on her slimes and getting more information about the current state of the town. For now she spent her level up stats on her usual allocation then used the 4 extra stat points to first max out Luck then throw a single point in Aura.

As for ability points, one went into Summon Slime to allow her to summon more at once. Another went into Slime Regrowth to increase its ability to regrow lost body parts (she could vividly remember the missing chunks in the body of the young dying man where the shadelings had bitten him). One more went into Enhance Slime to allow it to buff non-slime allies at reduced effectiveness. The final point went into Slime Incarnation to let her increase the acidity of her other abilities.

A lot of points in exchange for the death of at least a few people she knew to varying degrees of closeness. She would rather have those people back but what had happened, had happened. Wishing wouldn't undo that. Aono put her hand on the door of her house. It was time to go out and find the final death toll. Then after taking care of necessary business, she could mourn.

...Okay, she could use a little time to cry.

Once that was done with and the slimy tears cleaned up before they could do more than slightly discolor the floor, Aono opened the door and noticed the note that had been slid under it. It read, "Up-to-date information can be found at the community hall."

Deciding to make a brief stop there before checking on her friends and slimes, she saw on the information board in the community hall a list of the dead, along with up-to-date news. And it was... awful news.

The origin of the monster swarm had been discovered by scouting hunters. As well as the remains of Woe, a considerably smaller town mostly known for its logging. The whole place had simply been eaten nearly to the ground. There were just a few survivors who had managed to flee.

Not only that, but the origin turned out to be a level 6 Swarmmother with another swarm already starting to form around it. A runner messenger had been sent to the nearest lord to try and get help. But it was unknown if sufficient help would be sent in time to clear out the monster nest.

Everywhere Aono could see grim faces who were discussing the news and a consensus was building that picking up what they could take with them and fleeing was the best course of action.

"Shit! The nobles used to regularly send out patrols to find shit like this. Where're them and their soldiers?" Jouu said.

"Many of us will have to leave our livelihoods behind," Jamiin said, crossing their arms. "Better than dying, but what will people do afterwards?"

"Always a chance to restart," Ghei said. Strangely enough, he didn't seem in the mood to insult anyone or complain.

Aono frowned. "Yeah, but it'll be hard."

"Yet we will prevail as a community," Phylu said with a decisive tone, "Everyone start packing up what they can."

It was then that there was the sound of frantic feet running unreasonably fast. Right after that, there was the explosion of a trail of smoke ending right in the front of the community hall as the originator slid to a stop.

"Radii, what's the word?" Phylu asked, his wrinkled walrus forehead wrinkling even more.

"The lord's gone," the tall flightless bird said at a rapid pace that managed not to lose any clarity, "The Empire's conquered the whole country in a matter of days! And they're sending soldiers to help with the monsters!"

"Excuse me?" Phylu could only say.

Radii nodded at an a nearly impossible speed. "When I arrived, the lord's mansion was flying imperial flags and I asked around and found out they marched clear across the country with none of the lords being able to stop them! And they're still marching! About a hundred soldiers got diverted to clear out the monster nest! The diverted group weren't even finished marching, just changed the direction of their marching! They'll be here in a matter of hours!"

"What the chaos," Aono said, "It takes longer than that on foot."

Radii shook her head in nearly a blur. "They told me they've been marching nonstop for days and nights! With rotating buffs keeping them refreshed and sped up! There are battles remaining but none will last much longer, they said!"

"This is ridiculous. How'd they even pull that off," Ghei said.

"I've heard tell of military feats like that," Phylu said thoughtfully, "It's very difficult. Takes highly trained troops. A lot of standardization in the buffers. Never heard of any such operations at this scale, but the Empire's a big place, bigger than most places that pulled this off. This is definitely new, mind, previous Empire conquests wasn't like this."

"Hm. Heard about lots of changes in the Empire lately," Ghei floated upside down as he pondered. "Would have to be a blister-busted moron to disbelieve a messenger anyways, they lose their classes if they lie about their messages."

Aono and many others glanced at Radii's class. It was indeed still Frantic Messenger.

Jouu rubbed her chin. "Ways to disguise your class, but no point in such an easily disproved lie. Just need to wait a few hours for the Empire to get here. Can't think of any reasons for a lie like that, either."

"Some people should spread out and tell everyone help is arriving soon," Phylu said in his decisive tone that everyone knew he used for really really strong suggestions.

"Yeah, some people have already started packing," Jamiin said, "I'll get on it, then."

"Me, too," Radii said and already was gone, only her cries of "Help's on the way!" in the distance indicating where she had gone.

---

The armor and weapons of one hundred Empire soldiers gleamed blue in the afternoon light. What immediately struck Aono was the sheer uniformity of their classes. While they had variants, like Azure Blazeguard and even one Azure Slimeguard, the front rowers were all some variety of Azure Guard, the middle rows were variants on Azure Strikers, the very back row was all Azure Artillery. In the very center of the formation there were a quite substantial number of Azure Supporters and a few Azure Officers. Not only that, everyone except the officers were level 3.

The highest level officer, a metallic badger who was quick to smile, was the one speaking, giving a speech which was reaching its conclusion. "And so, this will be your first combat engagement after emerging out of training. Yet I know you'll do the Azure Empire proud!"

As every one of the assembled soldiers cheered and banged their weapons on their armored chests, Aono could only stand there in shock. Those soldiers had never seen combat, yet they were level 3? Just what kind of hellish training was that?

She and seventeen other volunteers from the town were standing in their own group, every one of them looking somewhat uncomfortable. Those soldiers had accepted them as a temporary auxiliary troop of irregulars after they'd asked to accompany the soldiers. The condition had been swearing a temporary oath under Azure to obey the commander's orders as long as they were accompanying the troops.

Aono and the other volunteers had been instructed that their role would be to stand back and provide ranged attacks and support. In the commander's words, "Your town's already suffered enough losses. It must've been so terrible for you all! It's for the safety of both you and the soldiers that you're not to engage in melee. Don't worry, we know how to handle swarms!"

It was hard to find that reassuring when those soldiers had never been in combat. But this was what the Empire had sent them. As Aono pondered that, the order to start marching was barked out.

In perfect union, every one of the Azure Supporters began supplying continual buffs to speed and stamina at the very exact time as the soldiers took their first step. Aono wasn't the only local who had to scurry to keep up. At first it felt awkward, but the more they marched, the easier it got to just fall into the rhythm, as if the music being played by some of the Supporters eased their steps.

Like that, the terrain passed by smoothly. "Holy shit, those soldiers are unreal," Tami said.

Aono could only agree. "Uh, yes, it's getting easier to see how they covered the country so fast."

"Better save our energy for marching," Sardu said. It turned out to be good advice.

By the time that they arrived at their destination, Aono was beginning to feel a bit tired and she could tell from the looks on the other townspeople's faces that they were feeling the same. Yet the soldiers looked completely fresh.

Without any further ado, the small sea of shadelings surrounding a massive bloated shadeling charged right at the soldiers as the commander called out a challenge to channel the enemies' focus. "Fire!" the commander yelled and a nearly solid wave of assorted ranged attacks from the soldiers slammed into the swarm in union, followed by more scattered attacks from Aono and the other volunteers. At the same time, the buffers shifted gears without even being ordered, focusing solely on stamina boosting buffs.

The townspeople could only try to keep up with the wave after wave of attacks smoothly flowing at the swarm. And yet the swarm drew closer and closer, even as it died in droves. A frantic recollection of the carnage that had happened last night passed through Aono's mind and she felt her heart drop as the first shadelings reached the front lines.

That was when another order was cried out, "Repel!" Just like that, the Guards all slammed their shields into the shadelings about to overrun them and what felt like a single massive shockwave rang out, every single one of the foremost shadelings either being ripped apart or thrown back into the rest of the swarm.

"Fire!" the commander called out, and the attack resumed.

In the end, the battle turned out an absolutely one-sided slaughter, with doomed shadeling after shadeling throwing themselves helplessly at their own deaths. It had even gotten to the point where Aono was finding it quite dull in an almost horrific way.

Beat. A wave of ranged attacks slamming into the swarm. Beat. The swarm getting bounced back. Beat. Another ranged wave. Beat. Another wave of repelling shockwaves. Beat. Beat. Two waves of bombardment. And so on. And so on.

In the end, only the swarmmother remained, a solitary level 6 figure resting in the middle of the field aside from the occasional shadeling popping out from its massive rolls only to be mowed down. Scanning the soldiers and her own group, Aono could see that not a single one had gained a level. The battle had been that trivial.

The soldiers didn't seem too concerned about the swarmmother, already having settled down and taken out their food to start eating, aside from a few taking turns to snipe any new shadeling that emerged. Approaching the commander, Aono asked, "Um, so what're you going to do about that big thing?" while gesturing at the swarmmother.

The commander smiled gently and said, "Oh, the Empress sent word she'll dispose of it."

"So what, we're waiting for your empress to get here? How long'll that even take?" said Lim who had came along to make sure that none more would die like his eldest son had.

The commander replied, "Oh, the very moment she's done with her other business, she'll show up here. She may with a single step go anywhere in the empire."

"Huh?" Lim said. Any further words from him was cut off by the figure that emerged from nowhere.

The lioness that appeared had an regal appearance, from her calm yet benevolent expression, to her perfect standing poise, to the way the light shone on her fur and the blazing azure points of light that shone in her eyes.

What shocked Aono the most was the new arrival's status.

[Name: Azure Empress][Species: Lioness Folk][Level: 20][Class: Azure Empress]

Level 20?! Suddenly the Empress having an absurd skill like "appear anywhere in the Empire at will" made a little more sense. But wait... did that mean that this land already counted as part of the Azure Empire? Aono supposed it did, after all, this was the far end of the country from where the Empire laid and yet Empire soldiers had shown up to claim it.

The Empress took a single look at the swarmmother. "I suppose this is it." She raised her hand. "Armaments of the Empire."

As soon as she spoke those words, the sky was blotted out by an endless assortment of weapons. Spears, swords, polearms, bludgeons, arrows, and more. It all descended upon the swarmmother, covering the landscape with weapons. When the weapons faded away, the only sign that remained of the gigantic monster was a big black blot of monster blood on the ground.

"Well, my job's done here. Keep up the good job, you all." With those words from the Empress, all the assembled soldiers exploded into cheers.

It was then that the Empress's eyes focused on Aono and the other townspeople "Hm? Oh, what's this? Some of the new citizens?" She smiled kindly. "Don't worry, the Empire takes care of its own. I think you'll enjoy being part of it." With that, she extended her hand.

Numbly, Aono could only watch as her own hand was taken and pressed to the Empress's forehead. "May you prosper as the Empire does," the Empress said.

The weirdest part was how utterly sincere the Empress seemed to be about that. "Uh, thanks?" Aono said.

"All of us in the Empire exist to create a brighter future. Now, where am I needed next? Ah, there." With a single step, the Empress was gone.

"Okay, let's drop you folks back at your town," the soldier commander said. With that, all the soldiers stopped eating and prepared to march again.

---

"Gods, why are all the Azure Empire folks so nice? It's unreal. A soldier gave me half of her wallet when she overheard me talking about my money troubles." Jamiin took a swig from their mug, the drink simply disappearing when it touched the blade that was their head.

"One helped me across the road," an elderly squirrel nursing his ale said.

"There's been no reports of any trouble at all from the soldiers staying here aside from one jumping in a frog pond to retrieve a child's ball. Usually soldiers are more rowdy," said Kilnu, a being of pure law and order in the shape of a guardian dog formed from marble. He had stopped in the tavern for a moment of rest.

"Yeah, what's up with those Empire folks? It's like they've never heard of having a mean bone," Ghei said. "Hearing about it and seeing it are different things."

Aono could only sigh and rub her forehead. Something about those empire folks just seemed... impossible.