Kana wanted to cry. She did not remember there being any kind of slimy substances on the tree when she climbed up! "Ouch…"
"Girl! You need to get out of here! That is a mountain slime, slime! They are known to be almost impossible to kill!" The little worm… caterpillar yelled out.
Kana frowned. She stood up and dusted herself off. She rubbed her feet back and forth in the dirt before lifting her foot up and blowing some dragon fire on and then did the same to the other. "There, all clean…"
"Wha!? How!? Slime, slime is impossible to get rid of once it is on you! This is how they track their victims. They are demonic beasts that will ambush their prey by setting up slime traps for them to step in. Once their prey gets slime on them, they will track them and ambush them as soon as their prey lets down their guard! But you… So easily…" The caterpillar was shocked. It had seen some of the mightiest demonic beasts fall prey to the slimes. They do not eat much since the prey usually takes years to dissolve, so demonic beasts will forget about such creatures. Even the little caterpillar would not know about such demonic beasts if it had not seen it with its own eyes.
"Isn't it just a slime?" Kana did not know why the stupid bug was making such a fuss. Slimes were easy to kill as long as you took out their cores. "Anyway, tell me the direction we need to go! I want to see these ancient ruins."
"Ah… right… Then let's head there. Go north." The caterpillar was confused as to why Kana was so casual when she spoke about slimes. They were dangerous for many reasons! Once they absorbed you, there was no escape! But her reactions were far from what it expected. It looked up at Kana, wondering just what kind of being this strange girl was. "Wait, where are you going!? North is that way!"
Kana, who was walking off in a random direction, paused mid step and blushed slightly as she turned around and began walking in the direction she was told to go. Kana had no actual ability to tell north from south, so having the little worm give her directions was a really good thing.
"How far away is this temple place?" Kana asked as she carefully made her way through the forest. She did not wish to run into any demonic beasts by surprise. She wanted to see what this temple was all about, to see if it was going to have anything that might help her power up but she knew she had to be careful.
"A ways away." the caterpillar answered.
If what the little caterpillar said was true and this was the core of the forest where all the high ranking demonic beasts were, she did not wish to run into one and get swatted to death if she could help it.
Although dying was the least of her worries right now because Kana's stomach wouldn't stop yelling at her. It kept rumbling loudly, so even with her trying to sneak around, she was eventually going to be noticed. Only she did not seem to have noticed that there was something following her that was even quieter than her. A round blue gelatin was slowly following her from a distance. Even though Kana had burnt the slime off she, and the little caterpillar did not take into account that the slime who left the sticky substance on the tree branch might have been watching from close by. While it was slightly angry that its trap was foiled, it was glad it kept watch. The slime slowly followed after Kana as she made her way through the forest.
The entire time Kana kept feeling like something was watching her. She couldn't sense anything around her, so she could only think of it as her nerves getting the better of her. She kept following the little worm's directions trying to keep her mind off things by thinking about the treasures she might discover.
The blue gelatin slid along the ground, leaving a trail of slimy residue as it did. When night fell, it watched Kana climb up a tree on a branch obscure from prying eyes. It was then that the slime decided to make its move. Although it had many chances to attack Kana since it started following her, it was wary of Kana's flames that easily destroyed its slime.
It slid up the tree trunk ever so quietly like an assassin in the dead of night. The surroundings were filled with the howls of demonic beasts and the gentle rustle of the leaves in the wind. Meter by meter, centimeter by centimeter, the slime slipped up the tree until it was just below the branch Kana was on. A loud rumble came from Kana's stomach, causing the slime to halt its movements. It pressed its body flat against the bark of the tree branch and listened carefully, waiting for Kana to make some sort of movement.
After waiting for almost an hour and only hearing sounds of Kana's stomach rumbling with no other movements, the slime body plumped back up as it began edging ever so closer to Kana. It slipped onto the same branch Kana was on and began slowly making its way towards her. The branch was huge with enough space to easily fit ten people. Ancient trees were much bigger than an ordinary trees and had limbs many meters round. The slime crept up towards Kana and was about to pounce on its prey when it suddenly realized something was wrong! The object that it thought was its prey was actually a pile of sticks and leaves! "Why hello there, Mr. slime... Miss slime... Doesn't matter...Either way, welcome to becoming my dinner!"
The slime heard a voice behind it, and its whole body shook, causing ripples to form on its liquidy body. It turned around and spotted its prey looking at it, licking her lips. "Wait, don't eat me!"