Syl [A Slime Evolution LitRPG] Chapter 242 : Prison

We silently followed after Llewel, who was leading us to our prison. Vee's and my own anxiety were certainly feeding off one another, and when I realized that, I quickly reassured her that things would be okay.

"Maybe once we get left alone in our prison, we can plot another escape," I suggested telepathically.

"Yeah," Vee agreed. "I'm just trying to figure out what the hell he even did. If he had used [Dinsion Magic], I'm pretty sure I would have sensed it, thanks to [Spatial Sense]. But instead, he just undid everything I did."

"Do you think he reversed ti?" I suggested.

"I an, he is a Chronomancer, so maybe that isn't out of the realm of possibilities," Vee sighed. "But if he can reverse ti, that sounds utterly terrifying. How would we even fight a foe like that? How is that remotely fair? Ti powers are always like the big bad boss's power, and this guy is nothing but the lackey of that Loreleia woman."

"It's got to have limitations," I reasoned. "Maybe it's limited to a small area, or he can only do a certain amount of ti? Like nothing longer than a minute?"

"I hope so," Vee said. "At worst, we play ball and hope they let us go. Trixie ntioned elves liking monsters, right?"

"Yeah, that's true," I replied. "You saw how they freaked out when I ntioned I had [Order] used on against my will. Maybe it's big enough that they just let us go as an apology?"

"Yeah, we haven't done anything to them unless that elf assassin counts?" Vee asked.

"He was working against them by the sounds of things, so maybe we even did them a favor. I guess the biggest concern is how she feels about killing her daughter."

"It was clearly a rcy kill!" Vee retorted. "And you were forced to. In my opinion, the only thing they could use against you was the fact that you were using her appearance as your own."

"I couldn't make my own appearances back then… I didn't even have the full elf profile," I sighed. "Maybe I should have stuck with the goblins or avoided getting involved with the humans and adventurers entirely."

"Hey, don't go start worrying about things you can't change now," Vee scolded. "Plus, if you didn't do any of that, you wouldn't have t ! And I might be dead! So, from my perspective, I'm delighted with these outcos… present circumstances excluded, of course."

"Thanks, Vee—"

"We've arrived," Llewel said, giving a bit of a startle.

We had arrived at what looked like a blank wall, but when he waved his hand over it, the wood seed to co alive and shift until it grew into a door handle. When Llewel grasped it and opened it, it opened into an immaculate and well-furnished room flush with every necessity and more.

"You'll be staying in here until Mistress Loreleia cos for your questioning and decides what to do," Llewel said, gesturing for to enter the room.

I complied, and to my surprise, he closed the door behind us after denying the guards entry. Clearly, they didn't want the whole story to get out, for whatever reason.

"Will we be free to go if my story is proven true?" I questioned.

Llewel sighed and squeezed the bridge of his nose before responding, "Perhaps. If anything, you've benefited us by returning the bag, explaining what happened to Lady Sylthaeryn, and even revealing and thwarting whatever the Outeatus Kingdom was plotting."

"I'm sensing a but?" I replied, perhaps a bit too casual, but he seed not to mind.

"But, you've impersonated an Elven Princess and can continue to do so. I'm honestly surprised that Mistress Loreleia kept her cool as long as she did."

"I can abandon the form permanently if that makes it better," I offered.

"So you can change your form?" Llewel asked, and I nodded in response. "That... complicates things a bit."

"Why?" I asked.

"Shapeshifters are rather notorious for treachery," he explained. "I'm not accusing you specifically of anything, and as I ntioned, you've actually benefited us. But I have no idea how the Mistress will react or see things through. Not to ntion Paeris."

"He really seed to have it out for ."

"It is his job, although he is a bit of a prude about it," Llewel answered. "He is willing to throw his life away to protect the branch. He also took the emotional brunt and helped pick up the pieces when we first heard of Lady Sylthaeryn's demise. So having you appear as her, despite her death being confird, created quite a rift within the branch."

"I can't even imagine what it must be like to see your dead daughter again," Vee comnted.

It's not like that's my fault. How was I supposed to know any of this? I silently complained.

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"I can change my form now if it makes it any better?" I suggested.

"Don't for now," Llewel said and shook his head. "At the mont, it looks like we've returned Lady Sylthaeryn, and you've been put under house arrest for your antics."

"Sure… if it helps Vee and I get out of here alive, then whatever," I replied.

"Thank you," Llewel said with surprising honesty. "If you cooperate and don't try to escape again, I'll even offer my own voice for your freedom."

I nodded, and Vee did so, too.

"Can I get you anything? Food? Drinks?" he asked.

"Food. I'm starving," I hastily replied.

"Any… Dietary restrictions?"

"Monster at is the best, but I'll eat anything," I replied. "And Vee will eat anything as long as it's cooked."

"Hey, I won't eat anything!" Vee protested.

"I'll see what can be done and have it sent here," Llewel replied. "And just a reminder. Please don't try to escape again; you only risk angering the Mistress."

We nodded again, and he left, reaching toward the wall and grasping the newly ford handle. When he closed it behind him, the room was sealed shut from our perspective. I hesitantly held out my own hand where he did, but no handle ford.

"It looks like we're stuck here unless I lt us out or you teleport us," I said to Vee.

"Uh… It might only be you who can get us to escape," Vee answered nervously.

"What do you an?"

"Ever since we entered this room… well, my [Spatial Sense] has been all confused," Vee explained.

"Sothing to prevent teleportation?" I asked.

"It certainly feels that way," Vee replied, sounding very unsure herself. "Let try teleporting just a short distance. Hopefully, that won't anger him."

I nodded, and Vee took a mont to focus. The spider poofed in a magical blur but appeared in the exact sa spot she was in previously.

"That's a much shorter distance than I expected," I comnted.

"I was trying to move to your other shoulder," Vee replied. "It almost feels like the entire room has the sa coordinates, and it's overriding the destination, if that makes sense?"

"So, no matter where you try to teleport, it will always be to the sa spot?" I questioned.

"Feels that way," Vee sighed. "So I'm effectively useless. Wonderful!"

"Even if we can't teleport out, you could probably cut us out using your [Rift Thread]. I could lt us out, but I'm very worried about angering them now, and honestly, if we are getting so free food, I'd like to replenish my strength."

"Yeah, I think our best bet right now is to cooperate with them and hope they let us go," Vee agreed. "I guess our beach vacation will have to wait a bit."

"Or going to the golem city," I added. "I was looking forward to that. Although, after everything that happened and the consequences of that teleportation fiasco, I have way bigger things to worry about."

"What did happen?" Vee asked. "You've lost all your dinsional weight, and the bond was telling that you died, or were dying, or sothing?"

I gave Vee a brief rundown of the turn of events. The teleportation broke my [Core Storage] and caused my own core to rupture, ejecting my entire inventory and sli mass to who knows where.

I had died in the process, but my [Core Collective] trait ant that I took the place of Alpha. It was not how I had expected my first ti using the lifesaving trait to go, but at least I had confird it would work regardless of the circumstances.

"Well, look on the bright side, you've still got your hat!" Vee said.

I stared at the strange hat and sighed. Of course, even a teleportation accident wouldn't get it away from .

I gingerly activated my [Core Storage] skill to see what had survived the aftermath. All my als were gone, my sli mass was ejected, and the obsidianite parts were gone. It looked like I had lost everything but my hat and outfit until I spotted a few tiny objects still within the dinsional storage space.

I pulled them out, feeling a slight ache in my core as I did so. My enchanting tool from Greg and Trixie's coin had survived the aftermath. I didn't know whether to call myself lucky for not losing these two sentintal pieces, but I was glad they hadn't been ejected into the void or wherever my inventory had gone.

I tried to deposit them back but received a strange notification instead.

"Great!" I moaned. "Looks like now that my space is truly empty, it's undergoing repairs."

"I wonder if that Gramps god you are always ntioning did it so you could keep your important stuff," Vee suggested.

"That's possible, although I would've loved it if he could've kept all my sli at the sa ti," I sighed. "Seriously. I've never been this starved of sli in ages. I feel like I'm about to start eating myself, and I need far more to regenerate Alpha."

"Well, if you didn't have so much sli in the first place, it wouldn't have exploded like you did," Vee countered.

"I wasn't ever expecting to get teleported like that," I complained. "I figured if I was ever doing long-distance teleporting, I'd just pay the Mana cost myself. The fact I was helpless in [Stasis] certainly wasn't helping either."

"Well, it doesn't help now, but in the future, I think I have a solution for us," Vee said.

"Oh?" I asked curiously.

"After it happened and during my level-ups, I got so notifications. I got the [Blink] to [Warp] upgrade offered, but I also got a new trait called [Dinsional Anchor]. It prevents you from being teleported!"

"Certainly would have been helpful back then," I groaned.

"Yes, but then I'd have left you behind," Vee countered. "So I reckon it's a good thing. At least we have two heads to put together to get us out of this situation. I would've felt awful if I left you alone after all you've done for ."

"Thanks, I appreciate it," I replied, giving the spider a little head rub with one of my fingers.

"That reminds , I haven't looked at all the notifications," I mumbled. "I wonder what happened… Why did they suddenly happen?"

"Um… when you read so of them, I think you might get a few ideas," Vee responded, sounding slightly down.

I pulled up the first notification and was confused.

Dwarves?

I felt my heart sink a little as I pulled up a few more.

I shuddered. There were so many dwarves; why had I gained experience from killing dwarves? This was absurd. And then it dawned on —my sli.

"I think I know what happened to all my sli when my storage exploded," I said to Vee, feeling a little sick.

"Yeah… I think so, too," Vee replied somberly. "I'm sorry, Syl, it's not your fault."

"Then why am I being rewarded for it?" I shouted back. "This… This is gross. It's one thing to kill when I'm defending myself or fighting mindless monsters, but this… this feels so, so wrong!"

"Well," Vee said, trying to sound reassuring. "The fact that you feel that way proves you haven't beco a full monster, in my opinion. You haven't gone full guilt-free and evolution crazy."

I knew what Vee was saying was right, but still, as I looked at all the deaths I was being rewarded for, I struggled to agree. What if Thern, Darmod, Thessa, Lukhek, or Kaldrour were one of my victims?

I felt sick.