Chapter 13 Fatal Attractions

Michael left soon after Mary left with her group to take care of the request they took as he left the guild building, he sees them head towards the city's gate but him he heads up to the northern gate. He goes up to the gate guards and shows them the quests he is currently taking. One of the guards speak to him in a concerned tone, "I would be real careful sir, there has been a reported of an unusually high number of monsters up north."

Michael courteously replies, "I see, thank you for the warning. I'll be very vigilant out there." The guard nods, hands back the papers and opens the gate for Michael to begin looking for those herds.

A few minutes later the guards see a young woman running towards the gate. The same guard who talked to Michael earlier shouts out, "Hold it, what's your business here?"

The woman slows down and stops in front of the guards trying to catch her breath before speaking, "I'm….I'm trying to stop that adventurer.. ..for he dropped this paper." The redhead gives the guard the paper and he looks at it and it reads; Request for more Shade Flowers seeds.

The guard informs her, "That adventurer left here about ten minutes ago, and/Which direction did he go?" The lady interrupts the guard who then gets annoyed by that to which he answers, "If you can calm yourself, for I was about to tell you. Ahem, he was following this trail here." He points at the trail that goes through a forest.

"Thank you very much." As the redhead starts walking, the guard grabs her right shoulder and says, "I'm afraid I can't let you leave miss, you aren't prepared to go out there also the adventurer may not be on the trail anymore. Therefore, if you were to try to find him, you may end up getting lost yourself. When he comes back, I'll give him the missing request myself." The guard puts the paper into his back pocket.

The girl pouts and replies, "Fine then." She walks away from the guards but has an idea to get out and meet with her target.

Michael walks down the trail as he examines his surroundings for both foes and the herds he needs to gather. He stops and looks around to see if anyone or anything were nearby before contacting the commander. Seeing and sensing no contacts near him, he initiates communication with the commander by telepathy, "Commander, this is Michael, I need some assistance."

"What do you need Michael?"

"I need directions to two specific environments which are; a large open field and a stream with lots of rocks on the banks."

"What are you looking for in those environments?"

"I'm looking for some Thorn Berry and White Sunflower that are found in the large open fields and the Green Creek Moss are found on rocks near water or damp conditions."

"We'll send some drones to locate them for you as well as possible nearby threats in those areas."

"Understood, Michael out." Just as Michael was about to resume walking on the trail, "Hello?" Michael turns around to the source of the voice and sees a blue humanoid slime on the same trail he was on. The blue slime was half his size and the expression on her was that of curiosity. Michael has heard of the humanoid slimes with limited information about them but now he is face to face with one. Not wanting to waste an opportunity to learn more about them and others like them, he walks up to her and gets down on one knee to be on her level.

Time to learn, "Hello, who are you?"

(Slime girl's Point of View) The mystery man asks me, "Hello, who are you?"

'Yay, someone I can talk to instead of running away from me!' The slime girl feels very happy for once as the person before hadn't run away or drawn out his weapon on her. She looks him up and down eyeing his features, his body, and anything of notice. His face is mature but not a single wrinkle on it, his body looks very well built with nice muscle curves on his exposed arms, and his brown hair is nicely trim and clean. Finally, the eyes show clear brown color and very much focus on me.

'He is so perfect! AH, the Fallen God must be truly smiling upon me this day!'

"Hello? Can you speak or understand me?" The mystery man breaks the slime girl out of her daydream and she quickly composes herself as she says, "Oh I'm sorry! I was ah lost in thought."

The man replies, "I see, I'm Ricky." Ricky extends his right hand towards me and continues speaking, "And you are?"

I grasp his hand with both of mine and happily reply, "I'm Aquaaaaaaaaaaa!" 'AAAHHHH, why is his hand so cold!?'

Ricky tilting his head asks, "Aqua, you are a slime, yes?"

"I am. Why? Have you never seen a slime before?" Aqua titles her head after recovering her shudder since it's hard to believe that Ricky has never seen a slime considering that they are very common and everywhere.

"You are the first one I've ever seen and I have some questions about you and your species," Ricky explains to me. Aqua is shocked that Ricky has never seen a slime before and that makes things more special between the two.

'OOOOOOHH, he wants to know more about me!' Aqua is now thrilled to tell Ricky about everything about her and her species. She now standing up and proud as she begins to Ricky everything about herself and her fellow sisters. Aqua tells Ricky about the slime's history, capabilities, the differences between a Red Slime and a normal slime, the subspecies, and more. Ricky listens intently, never breaking away from eye contact or getting distracted. Once Aqua was done explaining the general information about slimes, she then cheerfully asks, "Now, you got any questions or something you don't understand?"

"Yes, I do have some questions as well as a few things I think you need to clarify."

"Ask away!" Aqua has never talked this long with anyone or had a fulfilling conversation about herself and her species, thus she felt extremely happy. Ricky asks his questions to Aqua as she fixes any misunderstandings and a few things she forgot to mention. Aqua was feeling more and more in love with Ricky until he started to ask some concerning questions like; "Does your species still have the ability to completely dissolve people like in the past?"

Aqua couldn't believe she is being asked that to which she replies, "Ah well, um we do but no one has ever done that kind of thing anymore. We've never consumed people ever since the current Demon Lord took power. The only thing we absorb is our husband's love and his seeds to sustain ourselves."

Ricky simply nods and continues asking more tough questions then they started to become more disturbing and Aqua could no longer give a proper answer to any of them.

'Why is he asking me these things? How am I supposed to know if slimes can spray acid or what not?' Then she notices something off, 'How is he not blinking after a while, NO he hasn't blinked when we made eye contact.' After that, she sees he hasn't moved or even made subtle body adjustments as if his body was like a statue. And his voice hasn't changed tone at all like he is some sort of automaton. Now, something inside her body was screaming danger thus she begins to subconsciously slide back from Ricky slowly. Her love for him starts to slowly change into fear as he now starts asking if slime could be hurt or killed by things she has never heard of before.

'I think I'll skip this one, something isn't right with him.' "Excuse me, but I need to go, I need to check on something." Aqua tries to excuse herself but Ricky brings his right hand up. 'Please no more questions.' Aqua feels very anxious with Ricky trying to stop her.

"Before you go, I have one last question."

'Ok one last question to answer before I can get away from him.' Aqua trying to conceal her unease asks, "What's your question?"

"How well can your kind withstand antimatter?"

Aqua just blinks 'Antimatter?' and asks, "What's Antimatter?"

"This." Ricky still holding up his right hand and in front of it a blackish purplish orb forms then suddenly shots deep inside Aqua.

'What was that!? What it is doing!?' Aqua franticly asked questions to herself then there was a purple flash erupted inside her and now she is covered in deep purple flames. 'I'm on fire! What is AHHH!' Aqua was about to scream but she suddenly loses her form and her life.

(Michael's P.O.V) Michael observes Aqua's body as it quickly changes from a transparent blue to what is best described as tar with the flames start dying out and smoke taking their place. Michael stands up and makes a mental note to himself as he finishes eyeing the black goop, 'A small amount of restricted antimatter can melt slimes to a tar-like substance. Interesting.' He walks away from the remains and back on the trail for the wanted herds. After a few minutes of walking, he gets a message from the commander, "We've found the locations you were after, proving an overhead image to you now."

Michael sees the images in his mind of where he is currently standing to what paths he needs to take to those areas then the message ends. Michael sends a telepathic thanks and heads to the nearest location; an open field.

After a half-hour of walking, Michael can see the path he is on opening up, a sign he's there. He was about to enter the field, "HELP ME!" an unknown voice cries out. Michael looks around for the source until he hears it again, "HELP ME, SOMEONE HELP ME PLEASE!" turns right which leads off the trail and deeper inside the forest. 'Someone else must be looking for those herds too.' Michael thinks one of the multiple possible reasons why someone would be out here. 'Better go and see quick.' Michael jogs into the bushes toward the person in distress.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" the voice starts to sound feminine and Michael thinks he is close as he hears an additional voice, "Don't worry, I won't hurt you, instead it will be very pleasurable to us both." Michael peers around a tree and sees a werecat has pinned her victim on the ground. The werecat's tail swings wildly as the woman on the ground tries to break free.

"There are a great many things I can teach you once I make you my sister, cutie."

"NO!"

Michael steps around the tree and through the brushes as he makes his presence known, "HEY!" The werecat jumps off the pinned woman from the surprised shout and turns around to face Michael. "I believe I heard the lady there said she wants to be left alone." Michael continues walking to the lady on the ground but the werecat hops in between them.

"Ok I'll leave her alone and you can take her place as my lover." The werecat grins at Michael but Michael is unfazed as he doesn't stop walking.

"I have a better idea; you can run away and live another day or fall before me. Your choice." Michael stops a few feet away from the werecat as he stares at her and his right-hand gripping his sword.

The werecat looks up and down at his entire body as well as eyeing the weapons that were on him. The werecat smiles and says, "Ok, ok, you win. I'll be off but you definitely got my attention." The werecat runs into the bushes and vanishes among the foliage.

With the threat now gone, Michael looks at the down woman and approaches her. The lady has a light brown skin tone and wears a loose white blouse that barely contains her double D bust, a short white skirt, and simple brown shoes. She was carrying a basket full of flowers and other plants. Michael gets down on one knee and extends his right hand to her. "Let me help you up."

The lady grabs his hand and the two rise up together. Michael asks, "Are you ok?"

"Yes, I'm quite well thanks to you." The lady does a slight bow to her rescuer then she turns around and picks up her basket.

Michael sees the basket and its contents thus he asks, "You out gathering herds miss..?"

"Oh, where are my manners!? *Ahem* My name is Lucy and you are?"

"My name is Ricky." Lucy nods and says, "Nice to meet you Ricky, and to answer your question; yes, I am gathering herds for the guild."

"I see so am I" Michael pulls out his paper and shows them to Lucy. Lucy sees them and says "Ah, I saw several of those white sunflowers over there in that field before that annoying werecat chased me here."

"What plants are you after?" Michael is interested in what she was after if possible the same things he was.

"Actual I've finished gathering all the herds and specific plants thus I was heading backing until I came across that damn cat." Lucy expressed annoyance at the end of her sentence. "How about you?"

"I was about to start until I heard your pleads for help." Michael explains to Lucy, she smiles very cheerfully as she speaks in the same manner, "Excellent! I'll help you as a way to repay for you rescuing me!" She excitedly jumps up and down, her breasts threatening to burst through the stressed blouse then hugs Michael's right arm. The arm was now sandwiched between Lucy's big assets but Michael remained calm if not a little annoyed.

Lucy suddenly shudders as she feels how cold Ricky's arm is. 'Wow, he is really cold despite how warm today is! He looks completely fine...this is strange but for now, help him then warm him up later.'

The two head out to the open field and together they quickly gathered the required amount of White Sunflowers and Thorn Berries. There was no monster encounter however Michael did see several eyes watching them in the shadow or slightly out of view. 'I better see if that drone is still in the area and see how many are here watching us.' Michael gets down and grabs a Thorn Berry but that is to pretend he is working on it as he telepathically sends out a request.

"I think we got what you need Ricky." Lucy walks up to Michael to which Michael mentally groans at Lucy's timing. Michael stands up and quickly turns on his disguise for his eyes before turning around to face Lucy.

"Very well, let us go to a nearby creek I've heard about. There we should find some Green Creek Moss." Michael begins walking back into the forest with Lucy in tow as she cheerfully howlers, "Ok, let's find some moss!"

There was something in the area as he sensed a presence nearby in the forest but as long as it or who stays their distance, they'll be ignored.

The walk to the stream was uneventful but quick as they soon see the moss they were looking for. Lucy impressed that they found the Green Creek Moss so quickly asks, "Wow today must be your lucky day huh?"

"Hmm yes, lucky." 'Least you know the better.' Michael carefully steps on the wet loose rocks to get close to a patch of moss. No more than two or three feet away before he can touch it, the deeper part of the stream near Michael erupted as something threw him back onto solid ground.

"Hrmp!" Michael opens his eyes and sees a Mucus Frog has him pinned.

"Hello there handsome. You looking to go for a swim?" The green slime cover frog girl asks while looking at Michael's body as if it's a piece of meat.

Michael doesn't struggle nor makes an aggressive face but a calm collected one which reflects in his voice, "Please get off me or I'll throw you off."

The frog counters, "But I want to snuggle closer to you." She leans her head closer to Michael as she starts smelling him. "Besides, you smell really clean and.." She gets cut off as Michael leans in to headbutt her which she steps off Michael's body. He starts standing up but gets interrupted as the frog girl's tongue wraps around Michael's waist that holds him in place.

"Thet wis relly wude af yio." The frog girl could barely speak straight with her tongue sticking out as she tries to get Michael to sit down. But Michael doesn't budge instead Michael grabs the frog's tongue and pulls on it. The frog girl tries to hold her ground but gets pulled towards Michael as he wraps the tongue around his right wrist. He finishes standing up and quickly turns to the right which to the frog girl's dismay gets dragged that way, face first. The frog girl then tries to bring back her tongue but it's too well griped in Michael's hands as he suddenly turns left. The frog girl's head gets jerked in that direction as she tries to prop her head out of the ground instead of being dragged through it. The frog girl looks at Michael as her face is all scratched and bloody with her eyes now red either from the blood or irritated from the dirt.

Michael lets go of the tongue and walk over to the frog girl as she recoils in fear of what he'll do next. Michael stops in front of her and asks, "Now will you leave us alone, or do you want to continue?"

The frog girl shakes her head no to which Michael says, "Then go!" He points to the stream to which the frog girl obeys and jumps in. She quickly disappears into the depths but left a trail of blood that soon was swiped away by the currents.

"Wow, you must be really strong to swing that Mucus Frog around like that!?" Lucy could hardly believe her eyes as she watched the whole thing. Michael doesn't say anything as he surveys the area and the stream for any more surprises. Seeing nothing else but still sensing that hidden presence that seems to be following them.

"Let's get that moss before something or someone decides to greet us in an uncivil fashion," Michael says as he tries for the second time to grab the moss. Every step on the rocks was threatening to slip him into the stream and be swiped away. He places his left hand on the boulder that has the moss growing on the lower sides and carefully grabs them with his right hand. Slow and steady as he extracts the moss and puts them into a small jar. Once he fills the jar, he slowly retraces his steps back to solid ground.

"Lucy, can you catch this?" Michael does not want to lose the moss in case of an attack from another Mucus Frog or something else that swims in the stream.

Lucy shouts, "Yeah!" Michael swings the jar towards Lucy to which she catches it with her hands or her chest, Michael couldn't quite tell. She then puts the jar in her basket then watches Michael carefully walks back. Once he's back on solid ground, Lucy runs up to him and says, "So is that everything?"

Michael nods his head and replies, "Yes we can head back now."

"Alrighty then." Lucy hooks up to Michael's left arm and she leads him back into town. Michael doesn't complain even though she is squeezing his arm with her breasts and making her cleavage more revealing than it already is. 'She is an odd one but I wonder..'

A while later as they are in the center of the forest, halfway there Lucy speaks up, "Let's take this dirt road, it'll take us faster to the city."

"Oh!? This path seems to be leading away from the city not to it." Michael is slightly confused by Lucy's suggestion.

"Trust me, it's faster this way." Giving Michael no opportunity to object as she strongly leads the way.

After a while of walking, Lucy was still attached to Michael while Michael decided it was time. Michael stops suddenly to which Lucy almost falls backward and turns around to Michael with a confused look.

"What's up Ricky?! Why did you stop all of the sudden, we're almost there?"

Michael responds in a cold tone as he glares at her, "You can stop pretending to be a human…'Lucy', if that's even your real name?"

Lucy is shocked at the accusation to which she quickly replies, "WHAT! I'm human just like you! What makes you think I'm not Ricky, also Lucy is my real name!"

Michael brings up his left hand with all five fingers pointing out as he explains, "I have five reasons to believe you are not human. One; You're out here all by yourself, unarmed and without protection. I didn't think the guards would allow you to go out here the way you are now."

Lucy retorts, "Actually they did once I told them what about what I was going to do. But you are right about me being unarmed when that werecat attacked me to which you/Reason two!" Michael interrupts as he explains, "When that werecat attacked you, you had no damage on your clothes or any signs of struggle. You didn't even sweat."

Lucy quickly says, "Well she pinned me down right away so I didn't have time to run or fight. All I can do was scream for help."

"She managed to sneak up on you on an open dirt field." Michael's deadpan causes Lucy to gulp. Michael continues, "Reason three; After saving you, you've been actively seducing me multiple times."

Lucy confused asks, "What do you me I have been trying to seduce you?"

"You've been flaunting your cleavage at me whenever you get close to me or make physical contact. Plus, your outfit also draws it out even more."

"I just really like these clothes and so what if they are a little revealing, that doesn't make me a monster." Lucy getting defensive now.

"Actually, reason four; When you were getting all clinging on me, I sensed demonic energy deep within you, so either you're a monster in disguise or you're on your way to becoming one."

Lucy was speechless from that statement and couldn't come up with a counterargument. As she leaves her mouth open, Michael continues with his last reason, "And finally reason five; (Michael's left-hand bursts into purple flames then all the flames converge to his palm and form a small fireball. Michael then swings his entire left arm to his left and fires the fireball into one of the treetops. "MMEEOOAAHH!" a figure falls from the trees onto the ground.) "We were being followed after I 'saved' you from that werecat and if I had to guess that was the same one who just fell down from that tree."

Lucy's face soon expresses anger then after a moment, a small grin appears, "Looks like I've underestimated you. You are far more observant and I also sensed something in you. You're not exactly a blessed hero but a new form of hero perhaps?"

Michael stays silent as he reaches for his swords and starts to step toward Lucy. Lucy seeing Ricky isn't going to answer her question simply says, "Looks like I'll have to make you talk then. Oh well, this will be quick."

"It'll be quick alright but not in the way you want it, Lucy," Michael said as he starts drawing out his swords. Lucy then throws the basket at Michael to which Michael slashes it but halfway through the basket it explodes into a pick fog.

"HA! Got you now Ricky!" Lucy feeling victorious to which Ricky didn't try to dodge it but attacked her trap. Lucy smiling at herself for another perfectly caught enemy hero who maybe is worthy of being her husband. Then something catches her attention or lack of, she hears no coughing or moaning, nothing but silence.

'Why isn't he coughing, even if he holds his breath, some of the powder should be on his skin. He didn't teleport away if he did it should be too late.' Lucy continues to think until she hears a weird wind sound followed by a feeling of something cold coiling up her legs. She looks down and her eyes widen like dinner plates as she sees chains bounding her legs to the small portals on the ground.

"I actually got you, Lucy." Lucy looks back up to the dispersing pink fog and sees Ricky stepping towards her again with no signs of being affected by the gas.

"How are you still standing and not begging for sex with me?" Lucy was so confused she couldn't believe her eyes. "Heroes much stronger than you have submitted themselves after exposing them to my erotica mist so how are you not affected!?"

"Because.." Michael raises his right hand and Lucy hears more of those weird sounds and suddenly feels a familiar cold feeling around her arms and neck. Her arms forcible moved behind her back and restricted while her neck was firmly gripped but not enough where it is choking her. "…I no longer need to breathe since I'm not actually alive."

Lucy couldn't believe what she just heard, 'I'm not actually alive.' So, does that mean her opponent is a zombie? "Just what ar-ARGH!" The chains around her neck tighten cutting off her sentence as she struggles to breathe.

"Now let's see why you are after me." Michael steps closer to Lucy as Lucy tries to break free from the chains but to no use. 'Why can't I teleport?!" Lucy now panicking as her magic isn't working as Michael soon places his right hand on her forehead. Lucy can barely see Michael's left eye then she freezes up like a statue as she sees his blue eye twist and turns into a purple and black one. She is mentally trapped as Michael goes through her memories looking for anything of use. Michael sees her past opponents falling into her trap the same one she used on him, then he sees Lucy observing the mamono takeovers on villages, towns, and cities. Finally, he sees where she is talking to Scarlet as she commands Lucy to investigate him. Lucy meanwhile struggles to break from her mental prison but to avail until she hears, "Looks like I need you to come with me."

Lucy wanted to ask why but her answer was answered as she listens to Michael start talking to somebody.

"Michael to Commander, I have a high-value target in custody."

'Wait your name is Michael, not Ricky!? Who are you talking to?! What are you going to do to me?!' A flood of questions rushed into her head as she begins to panic. She continues her pointless struggle while listening, "The target is a high-rank Demon disguised as a human with information regarding the upcoming attack on the city. Information we can use to advance our plans."

'I can't believe this! He knows I'm a Demon?! Then he must know everything now?! From ME!?' Lucy gets more and more dreadful feelings as she comes to terms with she has indirectly given all the information she has on a silver platter. Her urge to resist renewed and in greater measure but she can't even move a centimeter.

Michael looks over to Lucy and says, "Resistance is futile." Lucy looks back at Michael or Ricky as she doesn't know anymore before her vision is engulfed in darkness. And just like that, she is gone leaving Michael all alone as he turns to the broken basket that litters the ground with all the plants Lucy had. Upon closer inspection, Michael sees the jar that is holding the moss was enacted with some scratches on the glass other than that, it's fine. Michael grabs it and walks back to the city as still had to complete the quests he took.

Five hours later, the werecat that was following Michael when he intervein to "save" Lucy from her, Cathy slowly opens her eyes as she awakens with a nasty headache as she brings both her hands to her head. She feels her right hand but not her left as she looks over and what she saw almost made her pass out again as she sees a big hole in her left shoulder. Her entire left arm is only attached by the top and underskin with the inside vacant. She hesitantly grabs the left arm but her uncontrollable shaking made the trivial task almost impossible. She suddenly remembers what happened, she was trailing them within the treetops as she watches the target's movements and behavior. When that Mucus Frog jumped the target, she almost broke her cover to rescue but before she could start it, she saw how strong the target was. That frog was being tossed and whipped around like a rag doll, maybe she should rescue the frog instead but again didn't have to do anything as the target let her go. 'Strong but merciful, kind and calmly ferocious. I think I like him.' Finally, the man extends his arm and a strange purple flame appeared then without looking shot it at her. There was no time to react to the sudden attack and thought she had died when it hit her.

She steps out onto the path where Lucy and the target were standing and sees the split basket with the flowers blown all over the place by the wind. She looks at the ground where they were standing and sees the target's footsteps walk away from where Lucy was at. An odd thing Cathy saw was where Lucy was, there was some burnt dirt in a near-perfect circular mark. 'He must have incinerated her. We failed.' After that thought, Cathy headed back to the monster camp in shame as she starts tearing up knowing she'll never see her best friend again.