Danger Close to Home

Traveling alone suited Dita, switching to her old name Touka just fine.

Here, she can go full-throttle in training. Mastering her other skills was her main focus to the point she can cast her skills with a single thought, quick-aim and fire, like a pro spellcaster as well as a fighter with her fists and kicks.

In a year, she is an A-Class fighter and magic user. But her strength and Magicule Levels a stupid D-Class because she focused on her skillset mastery. She decided absorbing power to level up can wait! After all, what use is power, if you can't use it well? That's something her future killers would lord over her for sure!

She lived in the forest for many lonely months, occasionally living in caves to absorb magicules en masse to produce Magisteel for herself by gathering and feeding stupidly-huge amounts of magicules in ores, rapidly turning them into Magic Ores she can harvest Magisteel from, and turn it into a lovely fine sword for herself through her Craft Skill - Weapons, refining high quality Magisteel for her sword. All she needed was magic and voila! She turned it into a katana for herself with a guard shaped into four hearts and handle covered in pink leather. Using resources she steals, she crafts modern earth wear for herself, wearing cute dresses and shoes she dreamed of having from anime she used to watch.

She must be a magic-type monster if she can do alchemy. She didn't need to be a dwarf for this!

She eventually came to Jura Forest after months of training.

'It's said that the Dragon Veldora is imprisoned somewhere here, making this forest rich with Magicules.' Touka, now fourteen years old, 5'5 in height with a petite-pear-shaped slender body that's also shapely she looked two years older by modifying her body, it was here she decided to fully become a monster.

By amassing all magicules in this forest as much as she can.

In one month, she's a C-Class Monster. It hurt like hell as her human side protested a lot through pain not even her Instant Healing can deal with...because it affected her evolution as well via adaptation. To survive this much magicules, her body is turning itself into a monster through cellular levels that her human percent is getting less and less.

She was a mere tiptoe into a B when suddenly, that scary presence is gone?

That scary presence was the source of thick amounts of magicules in this forest. When it disappeared, she knew that competition will be rife soon!

"?! Crap! I have to keep going before what remains is gone! Why'd Veldora disappear?!" she swore as she worked hard to the point she choked up blood and curled up in pain. 'Gah! It gets worse the closer I am...sure my body heals, but something else takes time entirely...' she gasped out, hugging herself from the pain not borne through her body but through 'something else' that Instant Healing can't reach. 'A-ahh...ahhhh...' she whimpered before using Harmony out of desperation to stabilize herself.

Her hair and eyelash color looks like milk chocolate in color now, while her eyes remain unchanged, thankfully.

She also hit herself for not thinking of this sooner as her pain went away and her changes have gone smoother.

'Haahh...haaaaaahhh...that...hurt...' she whimpered tiredly, lying on her back on the ground. 'I guess I am really...an idiot. But I made it...at least, a mid-Rank B according to my intuition and assimilating information from the lands...sigh. So tired...' Touka groaned. 'I can survive most monsters now but ascending will be tougher from now on...I felt competition ever since Veldora vanished. It seems monsters got complacent in growing up when he's around and when he vanished, competition of the rich molecules in the air has begun. Oh well, that's life. At least I got this far...I have a long life anyway, Rank A can wait!' she decided. 'I'm only 14 years old yet got this much power, that's already genius levels! I need a vacation!' she decided on a shaky laughter as if TRYING to convince herself.

xxx

It took her a week to recover, before bathing in a nearby river. Being alone, she had no fear of being peeped on.

Bath and laundry, safe to do in the open.

She then began calculating power she needed to use her skills befitting a B-Rank Monster now.

She was so used to using little amounts of power to befit E-Rank powers. Now she must calculate to be able to utilize B-Rank powers instantly, memorize it and then retreat to a cave for her vacation. Making herself furniture out of current forest resources, she built an ideal life for herself out here in solitude.

She didn't mind the loneliness. She was long used to it that living with her fellow orphans was like a dream she had to wake from to live a lonely life again.

She lived by the waterfalls, making it her personal playground. Building a swing, a slide into the waterfall basin, to even singing old J-Pop songs with her newfound singing voice.

Five months later...while making barbecue out of some animal, she sensed someone who just arrived and attacked it.

It was a young man with a forehead horn dressed like a ninja.

'What're you doing here you peeping tom?!' Touka demanded warily as the man used his arms to defend himself from her fist.

'I-I'm not an enemy!' he reassured her. 'This is my body double scattered around to find news of the Invading Orc Army.'

'...Invading...Orc Army?' Touka frowned. 'My area's pretty quiet so I don't know about that.'

'Well, you're pretty isolated in a mountainous area.' said the man, looking around them. 'That army is traveling through plains only.' he told her. 'This is a grave matter that affects all monsters in Jura Forest...not long ago, they wiped out our Ogre Village. Only six are survivors and joined Rimuru-sama's Hobgoblin Village where we became Kijin.'

'Rimuru...sama? Hobgoblins?' Touka repeated the names with unfamiliarity.

This girl, the man thought, is severely out-of-touch due to how isolated she really is in a location like this. He had to explain everything to her.

xxx

'So two of your clones have an encounter...a Dryad and an unknown monster.' Rimuru mused as Souei reported to him. 'Let's welcome the Dryad over first.'

'Hai.'

And when the Dryad was called?

A serious discussion began, regarding what even Souei did not know, and having a clone talk to Touka.

'200.000 Orcs led by a perpetually-hungry Orc Lord whose ability makes everyone else just-as-hungry...what a life, but at this rate Ecosystem will crash. The food chain imbalance will affect everyone with the last survivors left being tiny bugs and normal animals, assuming they haven't mutated into monsters first!' Touka shuddered. 'We're ideal targets for power that can sate Starved.'

'Indeed. Will you join us? Everyone is in dire danger and to win, we must all collaborate.' Clone-Souei asked of her urgently.

'...this will only work, if we have a leader stronger than the Orc Lord capable of using us well to fight...' said Touka hesitantly. 'I never fought an army IN an army! Groups yes, army is another whole thing entirely!'

'We have confidence in our Rimuru-sama.' said Clone-Souei confidently. 'Slime he may be but...he's unusually powerful for one of his species.'

'If even you, a Kijin of all people says so...what a slime he must be.' Touka chuckled weakly. 'Stronger than you and has your respect?' she looked at the night sky and its only a half-moon night. 'Will the Moon turn blue tomorrow, I wonder...if he's a good leader, I'm throwing my lot in. I'm not going to risk my life for a bad leader who'd command poorly in fights.' he HAD to be if he has a freaking KIJIN respect him, a Slime, Touka thought with a sweatdrop.

xxx

'It seems you won over that young monster for the young Ruler of Monsters, Souei.' Treyni commented as she sipped tea. As a Dryad of Jura Forest, as long as there's a tree, they'd know what's going on in any location within the forest.

'Yes. Even she recognized the threat to what she calls Ecosystem and Food Chain of the forest. Isolated her life may be as she lives in grounds Orcs cannot hope to reach, she will face a problem herself for food if species are wiped out entirely.' Souei reported. Two terms Rimuru recognized. 'I had to endorse Rimuru-sama's reliability and credibility first before she got convinced. Because...well...we can't blame anyone.' he coughed awkwardly as the council held back snorts of amusement.

Their Leader...is a SLIME. But, one hell of a Slime! A Slime who is incredibly sentient and inteligent, capable of complex ideas and plans and actually put it to work. A Slime that emits monstrous aura. A Slime capable of morphing traits, use powerful skills AND defeat Oni, even Evolve them into Kijins!

'Ahahaha...' Rimuru laughed weakly at the unspoken obvious points. He's a Slime yet managed to sway the Kijin to his side and accomplished stupidly incredible feats no specie of his can do... 'I guess like most, she doesn't have a name. I'll give her a name later if she decides to join me for real.' he decided. 'Come to think of it, what type is she?'

'...she is a Demi-Human, Rimuru-sama.' said Treyni, startling them all.

'DEMI-HUMAN?!' that means she already has her own name as a human.

'Yes...its rare for humans, but it does happen.' said Treyni. 'Humans who have affinity with Magicules while enduring Magicule Toxicity...it's evolve, or die from Toxic Power Implosion. This child is the strongest Demi-Human so far. Once she reaches Class A in power, she will evolve to become a Majin-type monster...and she is a genius, having reached this state in just a year since coming to this forest.' the council is in deep shock now! 'This is made possible with her Unique Skill Assimilation and Harmony. She can absorb Magicules en masse, adapt her body while enduring great pain...developing her Harmony Skill to stabilize herself and recover from pain, before ultimately deciding to have her life in the hills not far from here and built her residence there. Her home is actually a day away from here.'

'Mm. Plenty of time! We'll make it!' Rimuru grinned. 'Souei, tell her to go to Lake Shiss. We will meet with the Lizard Chieftain for an alliance. We'll be there in seven days!'

xxx

'So that's the verdict...alright. I'm going to Lake Shiss then.' Touka agreed. Clone-Souei then vanished. 'War for survival huh...' she looked at the sky. 'Things are getting interesting!'

She went to her yard to have her dinner, before packing up all she owned and leaving an empty hut behind and flew her way to Lake Shiss which is about six days away from where she was. Quite far, but she'll have to manage!

Had it been on foot, the path to Lake Shiss is a lot longer. But with Wolves and her own flight abilities, they would take a couple days only.

But upon getting there, she met up with Rimuru's group and...a pile of corpses!

'...hey, are you blue-horn's buddies?' Touka asked them as she descended near them.

'You've met Souei then.' Rimuru grinned. 'We heard from the Dryads you're a Demi-Human, so you already have your own name?'

'Yeah. I am Touka.' said Touka, spelling her name in the air using the world's letters, not kanji using her fire. 'I'm joining this fight since I got a lot to lose, especially since I live alone.'

'I see...then Touka...' Rimuru began, but a large chunk of molecules left him, leaving him weakened. 'Eh?' and caused Touka's evolution on the spot, magicules that left him wrapped around the baffled teenager into a cocoon state.

'Rimuru-sama!'

'Did you automatically Name her?'

'She already HAS a name, I just called her by her name...' Rimuru went back to slime form and melted, having lost power equal to when he named six Kijins. 'I wasn't expecting this, you know! Does that mean I overwrote that somehow?!'

/Notice: You intended to name her regardless of whether Touka joins or not. The Naming Ritual also goes auto mode as long as there is intent./

"Shiiiit...of all times to be weak..." Rimuru swore as soon, they felt a large power boost gain and Touka now sported bat wings on her back and smaller ones on either side of her head and icy-jade skin. Her eyes now blood red in color. She wore a cute dress and a pair of flats before, but now she's in a revealing black outfit Rimuru swore would belong in an S&M Club which is ILLEGAL for her age, but alas, that's a Succubus for you. If she was cute before, she's beautiful now! She dismissed the wings at will and changed into new clothes befitting an adventurer. She favored leather armor covering her neck, collarbone, shoulders and abdomen, her breasts the only thing uncovered. She clearly wore a sleeveless uwagi and shorts, with knee-high boots. Her arms have leather tekko gloves.

Touka noted that she now has Skills unique to what she asked for, as well as skills she inherited from Rimuru. She obtained Shadow Motion and Spatial Motion from him and her flames took a scarier Black Flame upgrade while retaining its original Sky Flame nature and ability. Being Black just made it a hella lot hotter!

'I read about this in books, but its absolutely ridiculous...idiot writers can't do a simple job as description right.' Touka shook her head. 'Moreover, what on earth am I now?'

"Great Sage?" Rimuru croaked out weakly as Shion was quick to pick him up in his weakened state.

/The Demi-Human Touka has evolved into a Succubus. However, its not a Species native to this world./ Great Sage spoke. /Its a different type of monster unknown to this world, thus she is the first of her kind. Succubus in Earth are a type of demon, yet Touka modified her own evolution by appealing to the World, thus unlike Succubae, she has no need for Seduction and Sexual Intercourse to obtain Carnal Energy for nourishment. She modified her existence by being a monster of the material world thus has a physical form unlike most demons who need vessels. She is a Modified Succubus by her own will, capable of Dream Exploring, Dream-Eating, Shapeshifting, Transformation and Illusion Magic. She is also unlike Demons of this world that are mostly spiritual entities that rely on Vessels to interact with the living. She is a living being thus can consume food, needs to breathe and sleep and can mate unlike Demons. If she mates, if a daughter, it will be a Succubus. If a son, it would be whatever specie the father is. Should she be killed, she will become a true Demon and her existence will follow the laws of this world, requiring a Vessel./

"So she can do something like that...Evolutionary Modification!" Rimuru gasped in amazement, as Touka landed gently on the ground post-evolution. Rimuru told her what she was, now.

'I have no idea what happened, but you were forced to spend your power on me at a time like this...' Touka swore. 'I'll get it back for you, just you wait, you reckless slimeball!' she raised her arms that glowed, and she harmonized with the world to gather a large mass of magicules, before touching Rimuru's weakened form.

This slime before her according to the world, is an A+ monster despite his kind. How he did it nobody knows. He is powerful enough to evolve monsters like herself. The Kijin, Hobgoblins and Tempest Wolves can only watch in disbelief as their Master rapidly restored his strength with the newcomer's help.

'Rimuru-sama is restored!' Shion gasped in relief as the 'flattened Rimuru' inflated back up.

'Yeah, I didn't know that's the power of your skill, Touka.' Rimuru commented, feeling energetic again.

'I wish I can do more, but we are limited by our species and current level.' said Touka. 'Rimuru-sama needs to evolve to be able to take in more power.'

'That would mean becoming something more.' Hakurou pointed out grimly. 'But given what Rimuru-sama is, we can only tell at the safety of our home when this is over. For now we have pressing matters to attend to.'

'Right...oh yes, I also obtained information from my ability...we don't have time for a meeting, the Orcs already begun a two-pronged attack.' Touka informed them. 'A few in Lake Shiss but that blue guy's on it to rescue the imprisoned Lizardmen with ease, and the massive army just closer by. The Lizardmen Forces are greatly overwhelmed. There's an Orc General and the Orc Lord.'

'Yikes. Lead us there, Touka!' Rimuru commanded urgently as Touka flew ahead and they followed to get to the battlefield...and indeed, it's quite...chaotic, to say the least.

Rimuru took to the skies to take command and delegated tasks. He let the Kijin do as they please as long as numbers are whittled out. The goblins to reinforce the Lizardmen Army or what's left of it, and Touka...to harvest magicules and recycle to constantly power up the Kijins and restore the strength of the Lizardmen as not to be a deadweight on them before she can play. Then he instructed Souei to join in on the fun until it's Rimuru's turn to play when the Orc Lord shows up.

Touka showed her worth to her peers as a now A-Class monster. Her wings, she could control as extra limbs turned into blade-tipped chains for tentacles, cutting many orcs apart in her wake, while also physically fighting whatever was close by barehanded, capable of great strength per blow. Rimuru noted she favors going physical in her fights, than magical like Shion and Hakurou. Benimaru was going nuclear all over the place and when Souei finally arrived, he went with his strings, using them like garrote wires.

He really took being a ninja seriously when he introduced the concept to him...then again, unlike Japan, he's not a Chuunibyou...he can actually do what Chuunies can only dream and fantasize about.

Well, it's his turn now...this oughta be...interesting...

...Lucky Touka restored his strength. He's in peak shape, baby!

xxx

'It's his turn now...' Touka mused as when the Orc Lord came out, so did a rather...arrogant thing in a suit. But he's also the one responsible for all the mess they're in, pissing the Kijins off and the bastard was all smug about it, like a sociopath who took glee in his actions.

His attitude annoyed Touka enough she wrapped him in barbed wire. His attitude reminded her of the girls who used to hurt her.

'I had rather high expectations of Majin back when I used to be a Demi-Human...you act like you're too big for your tiny britches. You have massive ego for one so weak.' she spoke in contempt. 'You also interfered between a match between two Lords, so...disappear.'

'W-wait, wait! GYAAAAA!' she tore him apart into chunky salsa, which Geld ate...and evolved to become Orc Disaster.

'Well, now that that one's out of the way, it's my turn for real!' Rimuru grinned. 'Back away, everyone!' everyone obeyed as Rimuru took the Orc Disaster on himself, showing his competence and strength...even high-level magic...and like that horror movie The Thing, he wrapped Geld in slime and ate Geld and gained his strength while in a cocoon state, come sunrise, becoming a Special A-Class, a monster above even A+.

'Er...he's really a Slime...right?' Touka was absolutely shocked, wide-eyed, shakily pointing at front. 'A Slime that can fight like us.' she choked shakily. 'A Slime capable of using Warlock-Class spells...what the fuck...?'

'Unexpected huh? To be fair he shocked us too back when we're Oni.' said Benimaru with a sheepish laugh. 'But we got used to it.'

Rimuru's victory caused everyone great cheer. But there's something only Touka realized about Rimuru.

"He's a good Sky." she thought. "I'm glad I discarded my Sky Attraction and Sky Charisma now. We would conflict for sure and I'll start a Discord nobody wants." those were facts she accepted as back when she was human, she found them a power befitting Control Freaks when she saw the description. When Reborn told her about the Mafia and stuff, that was how she saw those two abilities and feared she'd be like that old man and her father who sealed her, when The Voice unsealed her forgotten memory of the event along with Unlocking her sealed powers.

Rimuru was a true Sky and he was far more radiant than those mafia scum can ever hope to be. She felt she cannot be such a Sky herself, being so bullied and abused she was effectively destroyed. She can also see that he would do everyone right and actually cares for his people.

Including her, who was failed by all around her many times over. She had hope that she had someone to turn to now.

"Yeah, that's a good idea." she thought. She would follow this young slime who's younger than her.

(She didn't know he's in a way, older than she is)