A Prime Slime
The air was getting unbearably cold now, his breath was turning into mist every time he exhaled. Faintly, in the distance, he could see the characteristic sheen of metal of metal in the distance, reflecting the light of the moon, and two tiny red lights, like warning lights almost, but they were approaching him rapidly.
As it got closer to the blasted circle of land that served as the arena, its features became more clear, and unlike the twin eyes he had fought previously, this creature was obviously mechanical, although seemingly magical as well. Four long metallic arms, each ended by some tortuous tool, trailed behind a chrome skull that glared at him with glowing red eyes. It seemed like this creature was a counterpart to the great skeletal guardian of the dungeons, although a strange, unearthly metal had replaced the bones.
As soon was it was close enough, the mechanical monstrosity lashed out with a saw, and Cyrus leapt to the side as the saw sunk into the earth behind him, sending the dirt flying into the air. For now at least, the machine seemed to be moving in a clunky fashion, and an arm with a vice attached to the end seemed to crash into the saw arm with a tremendous clang. Perhaps the machines grew more intelligent over time? It took a while for the twin eyes to start using that chord against him, but Cyrus decided not to wait up and began firing his bow, letting a rain of arrows fall from the sky.
Two of the arms seemed to be close range weapons, a sort of pincer or vice and a saw, while two of the arms were meant for long range, with a laser and a cannon that sent bombs flying through the air. The bombs would explode into a spray of shrapnel whenever they hit the ground, which made dodging difficult. Despite all of his efforts, the arms proved themselves to be practically invincible, and Cyrus decided to focus on the skull and the tools that replaced the creature's hands, which froze for a moment before its eyes flared and it sprouted great metal spikes, almost like a bad hair-do.
The skull let out a strange robotic bellow, mechanical yet oddly human, and started spinning towards him, the light of the moon and the creature's red eyes reflecting wildly off its arms and skull. The arms seemed to move independently of the crazily spinning head, and attacked with a vengeance as Cyrus beat a panicked retreat. The bombs were fired more randomly now, and seemed to have random triggers, making avoiding shrapnel a matter of luck.
The jetpack added a new dimension to the fight, and while Cyrus could certainly jump high before, he imagined that he would have been split in two by the saw if not for the device. All the while, the mechanical monster seemed to get more and more efficient, its attacks starting to box him in ways that would have been utterly unavoidable without his jetpack. Landing a lucky blow on the saw, the entire arm seemed to collapse in on itself at once, splintering into pieces as the saw itself went flying wildly, nearly toppling a tree as it landed.
With one arm lost, the other three tried to make up the slack by increasing their attack speed, and Cyrus found the bombs to be the most difficult, as even keeping high above the ground wouldn't prevent the bursting shells from sending sprays of metal into the air, and sometimes Cyrus would have to contort himself to keep the bits of metal from hitting his jetpack- it may have hurt, but not being able to fly would hurt a lot worse.
Cyrus decided to focus on the cannon next, which exchanged fire with Cyrus as he bombarded it with every arrow he had. He was so focused on hitting the cannon he didn't notice the grabber arm until it crushed around his waist with a horrible cracking sound before shaking him vigorously and throwing him into a tree. He could barely stand up after that one, and he had to sprint to get out of the way of the head, which tore through the tree like a wrecking ball.
He could taste copper in his mouth, and he was certain it wasn't just due to the stench of metal and oil in the air. Was he going to get injured like this in every fight? Shaking his head, Cyrus kept on firing his arrows, although he was very sure to keep his distance and know exactly where each arm was at any moment. After dozens of arrows, the bomb arm finally gave way, exploding into dozens of metal shards as the creature shrieked in something that might have been pain.
Even if the head only had two arms now, with a laser and that damned vice, it wasn't any less dangerous. The lasers fired in an almost nonstop stream, and the vice hand started to grab and throw entire trees whenever Cyrus ran too close to the trees. Strangely enough, despite the fact that the skull had a truly vicious looking mouth, it hadn't tried to bite him, at least not yet, and just tried to crash into him, not that either option wouldn't be very painful.
The vice arm flew into the air mere moments after the laser shooting arm vanished in a flash of brilliant red light that had Cyrus blinking for a few seconds, and when his vision recovered enough to see a silver blur racing towards him, he barely dodged out of the way, one of the metal spikes crashing into his stomach like a bat before tearing a cut from his navel to the side of his chest, sending blood flying. Cyrus was already feeling dizzy, and he was stumbling as he sprinted away from the wildly spinning skull, and it was moving so fast his arrows could barely hit the thing.
Cyrus noticed that every time he dodged out of the way, the head seemed to take a few seconds to turn, and he had another one of his remarkably stupid ideas. When the skull came in for another charge, he dodged to the side and then ran to circle it, leading to a scenario that was remarkably similar to a dog chasing its own tail, although Cyrus suspected that if the mechanical creature caught him, he wouldn't get off with a nibbling.
Cyrus started to fire his bow, and now that he and the skull were basically orbiting around one spot, it proved incredibly effective, dozens of arrows striking the skull- as well as him. Cyrus had never tried his weapons on himself, for obvious reasons, but while the arrows hurt as they pelted him, there was a terrible sort of beauty to his holy arrows. With so many arrows coming down in one place, it was as if the sky was being emptied of stars as what felt like hundreds of them fell from the sky, filling the clearing with starlight.
Finally, the skull seemed to catch on to Cyrus' trick, roaring before soaring away and circling to charge him, and Cyrus answered by pouring down dozens of arrows in its path, and just before he was going to dodge away, the skull seemed to fly apart into two separate metal pieces, although something vaguely human shaped was flying towards Cyrus-
Suddenly Cyrus was tumbling backwards, something, no, someone laying on top of him and something soft in his face. Gingerly lifting himself up, he found himself under the, uh…. significant chest of another pretty girl. She had long hair, like silver, patterned into a braid, and was wearing a very classy suit in gunmetal gray, although the suit was modified to allow a pair of beautifully crafted metal arms that seemed seemed to be attached to her torso a little below and behind her normal arms, which were actually just a pair of prosthetics as well, although located where arms would normally be and convincing enough to pass for the genuine article.
He was almost going to walk her home, before he coughed into his elbow and saw blood on the staining the joints of his dented and cracked armor. He pulled out his magic mirror and warped home while he still could, the sharply dressed young woman he had just collided with in tow.
Cyrus woke up to the timber roof of what had eventually become the sickroom, and the air was filled with a sweet sort of smell, part of it coming from the healing potions that Abigail was so good at brewing, and partially due to a vase of bright red flowers set nearby his bed. Looking around, he seemed to be unattended, which was certainly a surprise given how much time Abigail spent nursing her patients, and he attempted to get up before he felt a great shooting pain in his ribs which practically forced him back down.
Trying not to aggravate his injury, he turned his head to see if the mechanical girl from last night was still in the hospital or if he managed to sleep through her awakening. Sure enough, his injuries weren't bad enough that he out-slept the girl, whose eyes were still closed in sleep. She was definitely beautiful, as beautiful as all of the other girls… Cyrus slapped himself as much as he could while bound to a bed and reminded himself that he was a taken man. After spending a little while contemplating just how lucky he was, Cyrus turned his head when he heard the door opening, to see Abigail walking in, a basket on her arm.
"Oh, Cyrus. You're awake. We've gone through the whole spiel about getting yourself hurt before, and while I'm certainly angry I can't work myself up into a frenzy about it. I'll leave that to your little harem."
"It's not a-" Cyrus started to sit up before another burst of pain shot through his torso.
"Yes it is, and please stop trying to sit up, for your own good." Abigail sighed before fishing a sandwich out of the basket. "I know it's frustrating, but it looks like another long rest for you."
Cyrus groaned, but before Abigail could respond they heard a gasping inhale from the third occupant of the Rome, who was looking around in confusion. "Where am I?" she murmured, sitting up and stretching with all four arms.
Abigail rushed over to her other, possibly less idiotic patient, and responded. "You're in… well we don't have a proper name for it, but our little town. You're staying in what passes for a hospital now. I'm Abigail," she said, before gesturing over to him "and the man in the bed next to you is Cyrus."
The girl was silent for a moment. "My name is Francisca, and it's a pleasure to meet you both. If you could tell me, who was the warrior who defeated me in battle?"
Cyrus replied. "That would be me. You aren't mad or anything, are you?" He was half expecting one of her arms to turn into a gun or something, but instead she plopped herself down onto a stool next to his bed.
"Uhm, what exactly are you doing?"
"I'm going to tend to you."
"Tend to me?"
"Is that not what I said? You saved me from my previous form, the least I can do to repay you in kind is protect you from whatever may attempt to harm you, especially while you're still recovering."
Francisca was a welcome addition to the group, even if she stuck a little too close to Cyrus for just about everyone's comfort, including Cyrus himself. Despite the classy appearance her suit gave her, it seemed that she missed out on some of the finer social graces the other girls gained when they got their human forms. As it turned out, even if a chainsaw was more efficient at cutting meat than a knife is, that did not make it appropriate for the dining table.
She certainly seemed helpful, and Cyrus managed to convince her to spend her time helping Judith and Meredith salvage the remains of the boss and work the metal into armor that would serve suitable replacements for the set that Francisca had destroyed in her previous form.
At dinner a few days after Francisca's arrival, whatever restrictions kept Andi from mocking the new girls collapsed, and she decided to aim for the newest possible target.
"So, Francisca, you're 'tending' to Cyrus now?"
"Yes, although I do not understand why you choose to emphasize the word tending."
"Are you sure there isn't anything more too it than that?"
Francisca's head tilted in apparent confusion. "What would you be implying, Miss Andrea?"
"First off, it's Andi, not Andrea, but are you sure you aren't tending to his, ahh, physical needs, if you catch my drift?"
"The drift is not caught, Miss Andi. I suppose if Cyrus was hungry or thirsty, I would endeavor to alleviate such conditions."
Andi groaned.
Once Abigail had cleared Cyrus to start taking walks outside and the like, he began to explore some parts of the world that he hadn't gotten around to before, with Francisca in tow. The land around the village eventually grew rather hilly in the distance, and there were even a few mountains towering above the horizon in every direction, although Cyrus tended to go around them, tracing the valleys to find strange new lands. The nearest mountains were deep within the snow biome, and was actually a relatively quick walk, even if Cyrus had to take it slow.
Cyrus was glad that they had Lacrima around, as he was sure that without the thick clothes covering his armor he would be freezing everywhere and not just around his face, where he peaked out of his hood. Cyrus turned to Francisca, who had refused a coat from Lacrima, although she appeared completely unaffected by the chill. "Are you alright? It's not too cold for you, is it?"
Francisca smiled. "Not at all," and with a sort of clanking sound, the lower pair of arms, the more artificial looking ones, opened to reveal heating elements glowing orange where bones would be in a normal arm, making the air shimmer with heat as any snowflakes that landed on them evaporated in moments. "In fact, would you like me to-"
"No thanks!" Cyrus very much liked his skin unburnt, thank you very much. The snow really was coming down heavily though, and Cyrus idly wondered if it was raining back home. He was snapped out of his musings when he saw a towering silhouette in the distance, and he drew his bow, which was already dusted in snow.
However, before he could nock an arrow Francisca held out an arm to stop him. "You're still injured, aren't you? I will handle this."
It turned out that Francisca could indeed handle it, and Cyrus was still cringing as her upper left arm shifted back into its normal form after eviscerating the enemy with a chainsaw. He felt sorry for the poor thing, especially considering its humanoid shape, and the echoing cries it gave off when it was chainsaw-ed.
Sifting through the icy blue rubble, Cyrus managed to find a strange sort of core where a human's heart might be- although while the heart pumped warm blood, this frozen core was so frigid that the icy chill was already making his hands numb even after holding it for a few seconds, although that wasn't the strangest thing inside the crumbling remains. Cyrus carefully pulled a feather out and held it up to look at it, the sun shining through the translucent blue and white barbs of the feather, and it was so delicate that Cyrus was honestly surprised it hadn't even chipped.
At the very least, the heavy blizzard had seemed to clear, and they made their way to the closest mountain, marching up its shallow side through thick snow, weaving between towering evergreens whose branches dipped under the weight of snow. Eventually, they reached the top as the sun began to get low in the sky, and were treated to an amazing sight.
The top of the volcano was a crater with steep sides that dove down to a great lake, smooth as glass but not frozen like so many of the other lakes in the snow biome, and it reflect the steep stone sides of the crater, the snow covering the rim, and the gray clouds filling the sky. Carefully pulling a rope from his pack, he threw one end into the water, got Francisca to hold it (he figured she was strong enough to rappel from, honestly) he began to slowly rappel his way down the crater's side.
Soon enough he was just feet above the water's surface, and while it wasn't boiling or anything, Cyrus wasn't enough of a dumbass to just drop in. Looking close, Cyrus couldn't see any bubbles at all, and so he cautiously dipped a gloved finger in, only for it to be downright pleasant, if warmer than room temperature.
Clambering back up the sides of the the crater, he managed to get back to the top and took a break to catch his breath- it wasn't the most tiring thing he had ever done, but Abigail had stressed caution, and rappelling was probably pushing it.
It was certainly interesting, and Cyrus knew that hot water could do a lot for aching muscles, not that it was easy to heat up a massive amount of bath water at home. Grabbing onto Francisca's arm, he pulled out the magic mirror and teleported them both home, the crater and the snow vanishing in a flash of bluish light.
Cyrus casually dropped the discovery of the crater hot spring over dinner, and while Annelida seemed interested (maybe because of the tail? Cyrus couldn't imagine it fitting into a bathtub) no one else did, until Harold spoke up. Honestly, the merchant surprised Cyrus, and he almost felt bad for forgetting him- although perhaps he would accept the excuse of being distracted by cute girls?
"I've heard from some of my contacts that such springs are very popular, good for the skin and for your health. Very popular with couples, or so I've heard." Just about that point, everyone got a lot more interested. "In fact, if you're interested, I have some materials and documents about the construction of these hot springs." The expressions Cyrus was being given told him that he really didn't have a choice, but in all honesty, having somewhere like that to recover the next time he got his ass kicked sounded nice.
Soon enough Cyrus returned to the icy biome, although he was nearly blinded by the sun reflecting off the great snow banks. It was definitely nice to build something completely different from usual, and after a few day's work he had created a house near the hot spring, carved into the sides of the crater and connected to the outside by a tunnel, just because rappelling up a cliff wall after every bath sounded tiring and counterproductive, not to mention that being covered in water while outside in the snow was a bad thing.
Harold told him that the building was a perfect fit for the "oriental style", whatever that was, and soon enough most everyone was there, although Harold had decided to pass, muttering comments about "not cockblocking my boy" that Cyrus really didn't want to contemplate. Judith the steampunker had even hooked up some sort of teleportation system, so the hot springs were only a lever pull away from the main village and vice versa.
As everyone got ready, Cyrus finally realized the implications of sharing a hotspring, and decided that maybe he would spend the night doing something else- it was certainly nice outside, and the moon shone beautifully in the inky sky, reflecting over a hundred thousand frozen pine needles. Cyrus didn't expect company, but he turned to see Visca next to him, and she looked rather down.
"What's the matter, Visca?" She sighed, sending a strand of the slime that formed her hair dancing in the air.
"I can't go and bathe in the hotsprings, that's the problem!"
"I mean, why not?"
She rolled her eyes (how did slime eyes work?) and went inside for a few moments before coming out with a bottle of some beverage. Whatever flavor or variety it was, Cyrus wasn't entirely sure, but he knew that it was one of the many drinks that Harold was so insistent on selling- if he didn't have a magical ability to get all sorts of exotic goods he would have been kicked out for hawking.
Before he could ask what exactly she intended to do with said drink, she opened it and dipped one of her fingers into it, and when she lifted her finger from the surface of the liquid he realized that any of the slime that had gone under simply dissolved into the beverage.
"Are you okay?" Cyrus asked, starting to panic.
Visca gave a dismissive wave of her hand, although his eyes were still locked on the place where the tip of her finger used to be. "Yeah. I can still kind of feel it, in the drink." She started drinking, and to his amazement the finger started to slowly grow back, the process finally finishing when the very last drop vanished into her mouth. "Ahhh." she let out a relaxed sigh, although Cyrus couldn't believe she was so calm.
"So you just… dissolve in liquids?"
"Unfortunately. I mean I don't think it'll kill me or anything, but you'd have to filter an entire lake to get me back to normal."
Cyrus looked towards the empty glass. "I'm really sorry that everyone's excluding you, Visca."
"Well, not everyone." She gave him a smile, and there was something very beautiful about her in the moonlight, giving her a sort of ethereal look. She leaned against his side, and despite the coldness of the air Cyrus felt tremendously warm.
The next day, Visca and Francisca decided to accompany him as he went on a trip to the Hallow, in large part to restock his stock of holy arrows by collecting more pixie dust and unicorn horns. The land was just as sweet and happy as it was the first time he visited, although his mood was brighter. He still missed Garrett, but he was the sort of guy who wouldn't have wanted Cyrus to waste time grieving, not when there was so much to do.
However, the moment they entered the Hallow, Cyrus felt a strange vibration in his pack, and opening it he saw the strange gelatinous crystal that he had picked up in the underground Hallow a while back.
Visca leaned over and looked at it. "What's that, Cyrus? It's sort of slime like, almost."
"It's some sort of gelatin, I think. I found it in the underground Hallow, but it just sat in my bag until now. Actually, thinking about it, it got hard as rock while outside of the Hallow, but now it's all malleable." Cyrus gave it an experimental squeeze, and it was like he had popped a water balloon- a sort of pink slime flowed from his fingers and landed on the ground, rapidly growing.
The three of them jumped back as a massive pink-purple slime took shape in front of them, a little crystal in the center growing massive, easily taller than Cyrus. A sparkling silver crown took shape, gleaming with pink gems, and Cyrus suddenly realized who they were facing. "Is this the Queen Slime you were talking about?"
Visca was about as pale as a being composed of slime could get, and while she didn't answer, her nod confirmed Cyrus' fears. He drew his bow and began emptying his rapidly dwindling quiver on the enemy as the slime leapt into the sky.
They scattered as the Queen Slime landed, and as Cyrus continued shooting he noticed one of Francisca's arms was transforming into a cannon of some sort, and she began firing grenades at the creature, which would sink in and get stuck before sending gelatinous chunks of slime flying as they exploded. Any pieces that fell of the beast would transform into slimes as well, some of which fired off spikes and others that flew through the air. Fortunately, they weren't too much of a nuisance as Visca did her best to exert her control over them, herding the creatures away as the Queen Slime herself fired gel at Francisca and Cyrus.
As they continued to damage the creature, Cyrus saw that two massive white shapes were taking form inside the royal slime, and before he could really question what they were they burst out of the slime's body, revealing themselves to be a pair of massive wings, as white as the clouds.
She became a lot more dangerous when that happened, allowing her to fly high in the air and drop down with enough force to snap trees or bombard them from above with bouncing bits of slime, all the while the horde of slimes she spawned only grew larger, kept in check by a panicking Visca.
Eventually, Cyrus ran out of arrows, but before he could panic Francisca fired off a grenade which finally did the job, sending the massive crystal in the center of the slime flying to the side, where it landed on the ground with a massive crash, cracks spider-webbing up its sides.
The massive gemstone which formed the beast's center started to open up, like some horribly misshapen flower, revealing a beautiful young woman. Like visca, she was a slime girl, although she had a pair of "normal" feathery wings, like the pair she had when she was a gigantic slime. She wore a long dress and silver tiara, the slime composing her body a soft purple shade while the hair was a more pinkish color. Cyrus scooped her up and managed to grab ahold of Francisca before rushing over to touch Visca so she was caught up in the magic mirror's teleportation effect.
The four of them reappeared at the village, and Cyrus sighed in relief as he carried the town's newest resident to Abigail. He didn't get mauled this time!
Dramatis Personae:
Cyrus: the player character, harem protagonist
Cthylla: ex-Eye of Cthulhu, in relationship with Cyrus
Annelida: ex-Eater of Worlds, in relationship with Cyrus
Medulla: ex-Brain of Cthulhu, in relationship with Cyrus
Visca: still insists on being called King of the Slimes
Bea: ex-Queen Bee
Lacrima: ex-Skeleton, clothier replacement
Andrea/Andi: ex-Wall of Flesh
Asta: ex-Spazmatism
Tina: ex-Retinazer
Francisca: ex-Skeleton Prime
?: ex-Queen Slime
Nissa: the Dryad
Veronica: the Zoologist
Meredith: the Mechanic
Abigail: the Nurse
Judith: the Steampunker
Roxanne: the Stylist
As for today's naming, Francisca was named, very vaguely, after a historical figure who had an iron hand named Francois de la Noue. From there, I feminized it and decided to use the word francisca, which refers to a sort of throwing axe used in the Middle Ages, which kind of cements her as a more martial sort.
