The moonlight hanging in the sky was hidden by passing clouds.
Deep within the forest, shrouded in darkness.
There, a single building stood.
It was a nameless research facility.
The interior of the facility was enveloped in darkness.
A blaring siren echoed from within, signaling an emergency.
The walls had crumbled, stained red, and the corpses of people lay discarded here and there in twisted states.
The equipment and tools atop the laboratory tables had been destroyed beyond recognition.
The other facilities were no different.
The interior was a complete mess, as if something had rampaged through.
Every so often, small flames flickered to life.
In the darkness, faintly illuminated by those flames, its existence revealed itself.
A body emitting a blue light that glimmered and glistened.
Shaped like a large sphere, it moved across the facility, dancing between light and shadow amidst the corpses and the equipment.
Whenever it moved forward, it left behind sticky footprints on the floor.
It soon came to a halt.
Slipping through the facility reeking of nauseating chemicals and thick blood, it concealed itself at the boundary between darkness and flame.
“Is it all over?”
Its true identity was a slime.
Its name was Beteo.
Beteo was a monster with enough intelligence to think, despite being a slime.
At first, Beteo had been no different from an ordinary slime.
It could neither speak nor even think.
Naturally, it had no name either.
It had simply lived as a slime, led by nothing but desire.
* * *
Beteo had been living peacefully in a dungeon teeming with slimes.
But one day, tragedy began.
A group had appeared in the dungeon.
They were all humans.
No, not ordinary humans.
Each and every one of them was armed with terrifying equipment and formidable strength.
That group entered the Slime Dungeon and captured every slime, including Beteo.
The captured slimes were dragged off somewhere.
The place they were taken to had walls that were entirely white.
The humans confined Beteo and its kin behind iron bars.
Up until then, not a single thought had crossed Beteo’s mind.
It simply yielded its body to being led away.
Time continued to pass.
As the days went by, the number of kin imprisoned alongside Beteo rapidly dwindled.
And then, one day, the humans came for it.
They took Beteo and began injecting strange liquids into its body.
A stinging, prickling sensation flooded in.
It soon spread throughout its entire body.
And in that moment.
—Doctor, Beteo’s response is minimal. Shall we administer more of the drug?
It began to understand human speech.
It realized that its name was Beteo.
‘.......’
At the same time, something flashed within Beteo’s mind.
It was a thought.
Of course, it was very faint.
But now, it no longer yielded its body to the mere flow of time.
Beteo began to think, however slightly, and perceive its situation.
Time continued to flow.
The humans still injected strange things into it every day.
The stinging, prickling pain it had felt at first was gone.
Its entire body felt dull and numb.
As it was liberated from pain, strength began to surge throughout its body.
But Beteo hid this.
‘I am....’
The repetitive experiments, day after day.
Beteo realized it was a test subject.
It strained to listen to the conversations of the humans surrounding it.
This served as excellent study material and learning resources for Beteo.
Time passed once more.
It was still trapped in that place.
Through the humans’ conversations, it learned that this place was a research facility.
The humans experimenting on it were called researchers.
Beteo did not know their exact identities.
They were simply beings who conducted experiments on Beteo and its kin.
‘I will... them.’
Something tingled in Beteo’s heart.
And a part of Beteo’s body began to change.
It changed very quickly before returning to its original state.
But Beteo did not miss that brief change.
Something was happening.
How much time had passed?
Many kinds of beings existed in this world.
There were monsters like itself, and there were also humans stronger than ordinary humans.
Those who destroyed the world Beteo lived in were not ordinary humans either.
They were beings called Hunters.
And the researchers who experimented on Beteo and its kin.
But still, Beteo did not know what they truly were.
One thing was certain.
They had killed Beteo’s kind.
They were the ones who destroyed the world Beteo lived in.
Emotions that had meant nothing when Beteo lacked thoughts now churned wildly within its heart.
The tingling sensation in its heart began to run rampant.
Realizing this, a single goal formed within the once-empty Beteo.
‘I want to kill them.’
The face of the researcher who injected the unidentified liquid into it every day came to mind.
Even the number and location of the moles on that researcher’s face rose clearly in its mind.
“.......”
And at the same time, Beteo’s body began to change.
Into the appearance of the researcher it had been thinking of.
Fortunately, there was no one nearby.
The laboratory was pitch black; no one could see Beteo’s transformation.
Having transformed into the researcher’s form, Beteo touched its own body.
It opened its mouth, too.
“Ah....”
A voice came out.
At the same time, the goal Beteo had been thinking of spilled past its lips.
“...I will kill them.”
Words flowed from its mouth, clear and distinct.
The tone of the voice was stable as well.
To anyone who saw, Beteo would have appeared a perfect human.
At the same time, Beteo’s body rapidly collapsed.
It had returned to its original slime state.
Time passed.
To the point where the very concept of time was beginning to fade.
The opportunity to carry out Beteo’s goal had arrived.
—Hmph. As expected, experimenting on a slime was too much after all.
Someone spoke.
Beteo knew the owner of this voice well.
The doctor who led the researchers and was in charge of the facility where Beteo was imprisoned.
It was the Director.
The old Director’s snow-white hair was swept back.
Unlike the dense wrinkles on his forehead, his eyes held a terrifying gaze.
—It can’t be helped. Dispose of Beteo.
He left behind just one line and departed the laboratory.
Once the Director left, the researchers inside moved more quickly.
To follow the Director’s order, they all approached Beteo.
Among them, Beteo caught sight of one researcher.
It was the one who had injected the liquid into it every day.
It was then that Beteo rose.
“!”
The researchers who had fixed their eyes on Beteo all expressed confusion.
The risen Beteo rapidly transformed its body.
Its liquid body bubbled and twisted, and before they knew it, it had taken on the appearance of the researcher standing before them.
“What the—...!”
Shock settled on every researcher’s face.
They couldn’t fathom what was happening.
How had Beteo transformed?
Their thoughts ground to a halt at the sudden situation, and their bodies stiffened.
But there was one thing they knew.
“The experiment was a success.”
But that was simultaneously their fatal mistake.
Beteo, in the form of a researcher, began to move.
*Pung—*
With a single swing of its hand, the head of the researcher in front burst apart.
Blood splattered in every direction.
With that as the starting signal, the researchers finally screamed and rushed to escape the laboratory.
But Beteo did not let them go.
As if venting all the resentment accumulated until now, it moved about, eliminating them one by one.
Only screams echoed through the facility’s interior.
As if leaving no living creature behind, Beteo continued to move.
Quite some time had passed since the frenzy of blood began.
Beteo had overturned the entire facility, but unfortunately, it could not find the Director.
“Rat bastard.”
He must have noticed and slipped away already.
It was a shame, but it couldn’t be helped.
“Is it all over?”
Beteo looked around.
The facility’s interior was already in shambles.
Human reinforcements would likely arrive here soon.
It was about time for Beteo to make its exit.
“Doctor....”
Though it had missed him now, Beteo vowed to kill him with its own hands someday.
Just as Beteo was about to step outside the facility.
[Follow me.]
An unknown voice came from somewhere.
Beteo turned toward the direction of the voice.
“Who’s there!”
But there was nothing there.
[Serve me.]
The voice came once more.
From that voice flowed a presence that Beteo dared not approach.
‘A being far greater than myself.’
Beteo pondered the words the voice spoke.
At first, it had said to follow.
Next, it had said to serve.
The unidentified one wanted Beteo.
Of course, Beteo had nowhere to go right now.
No, having overturned the facility, those involved wouldn’t leave it alone.
This was something Beteo had learned during its long years here.
This facility was operated by an unidentified organization, and those who went against its will all disappeared.
Even if they were fellow researchers.
Just by seeing that, it wasn’t difficult to predict what its own future held.
Beteo closed its eyes for a moment.
Too much had changed to return to its former ordinary self.
It was a slime, yet at the same time, not a slime.
Its kin had all died long ago.
No longer did any being exist who would speak for Beteo as a slime.
Beteo had thought as much, certainly.
[Slime, follow me.]
Though it had certainly thought so, someone had appeared who called it a slime.
“.......”
A voice of unknown identity.
Beteo thought for a moment, then soon made its decision.
“You....”
It didn’t know who the other was.
But there was someone who wanted Beteo.
There was someone who told Beteo what it was.
That alone was enough for Beteo.
“I will follow you.”
As soon as Beteo consented, the air before it began to distort.
The distortion continued to grow until it soon swallowed Beteo.
* * *
The scene of the facility interior, which had been burning moments ago, changed.
“A dungeon?”
Yes, it was a feeling both very familiar and nostalgic.
Of course, it was not the dungeon Beteo had once inhabited.
“Oh, it seems a new arrival has appeared.”
And there was someone speaking to it.
It was not a human, but a monster like Beteo.
He welcomed Beteo.
Beteo looked at the other’s face.
The other’s face was remarkably handsome.
At the same time, the muscles of his body were like sculptures.
“.......”
Beteo turned its head to the side.
There were other beings besides the handsome monster.
Along with a fair number of ghouls, a single human trembled in fear among them.
Beside them stood a knight armed in black armor and weapons.
Together with the knight, there was also a skeleton holding a large book.
They looked at Beteo and nodded.
The skeleton soon began writing something.
Beteo instinctively knew.
The knight and the skeleton—they too possessed tremendous standing.
Of course, they were not as powerful as the unidentified voice that had spoken to Beteo, but Beteo could tell that they too possessed tremendous standing, and that they were allies.
“Rattle, rattle, rattle—”
Even now, the skeleton that kept watching Beteo and writing something clacked its bones.
Beteo could tell what it meant.
Yes, this was a test.
A test of Beteo itself, and simultaneously, an assessment of Beteo’s abilities.
The being Beteo had sworn to serve.
That being had recognized Beteo’s true nature.
Beteo didn’t know who it was, but it was the moment to prove itself for that being.
*Thud—*
*Thud, thud—*
Beteo’s body twisted and began to change.