Chapter 363: Kufar’s Identity

When I first saw that form, I thought it was some kind of jade Golem in human shape.

But that wasn’t it.

In reaction to his squirming, that body started jolting and swaying. That made me realize that it was soft… viscous liquid shaped like a human.

“A…Slime?”

“D-Damn you…W-What have you done…”

“…This is the first time I’ve seen an intelligent Slime.”

“Shut up… Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! I am a human! I may be a half-demon, but I’m not some Slime!”

“What are you…”

Kufar was trying his best to keep his collapsing body in a human shape.

So the reason why my sword and threads passed through him was that he didn’t possess any flesh, huh?

There was also his color. It looked like that poison that spread illness in Raum.

“Disease Slime. I heard they were rare species, but I never thought they were intelligent as well.”

But thinking about it, there were cases like Den too. There was a possibility that they would gain high intellect if they mutated under the Ley Line influence. This guy was probably one of those extreme cases.

“Then what about you, huh?!”

“What?”

“I died and reincarnated into this ugly form. Then what about you who killed me?”

“You think I’ll tell you?”

“Then I’ll make you… Crimson Four—”

“As if I’d let you!”

He tried to cast Jamming on me, but I shot my thread at him. The physical damage was mostly ineffective against Slimes, but Enchanted equipment could still deal good damage.

This was one of the reasons why I couldn’t deal any damage to him the last time we met in the city.

At any rate, I couldn’t reveal my identity to this guy now.

I was freeloading at Cortina’s house, and was in a state where I couldn’t go into hiding right away.

In other words, if he got to know my identity, he would have the opportunity to attack any time, while my actions would be limited.

And that could also lead to a situation where Cortina, and my other comrades, would get to know my identity.

While Kufar was chanting, my diagonal slash landed on him without managing to dodge it. My current attack that used Mythril instead of piano threads, seemed to have dealt adequate damage, breaking his posture.

“Damn you…!”

“You don’t even scream from pain, and still call yourself human.”

“How dare you!”

“Since I know what you are, you have no hope of beating me any longer. If I knew you were a Slime, I would have dealt with you differently.”

“Khh.”

Not to mention, my gauntlets were equipped with the ability to instantly enchant my threads. You could even say they were a natural enemy for this guy.

After his unknown factor went away, he no longer had any hope of winning.

“Your luck ran out the moment you decided to approach Cortina.”

“I’ll kill you. I’ll definitely—”

“Yeah, no thanks.”

With katana in my right and thread in my left hand, I prepared for mid to short quarter attacks.

The acid he fire the last time wasn’t from some equipment he hid in his arm, but from his body itself. In which case, I was probably already in his attack range. I had to stay alert.

As expected, Kufar swung his arm without moving from the place.

It was the acid attack. But I already expected it.

I swung my arm in a similar manner and knocked down the acid with threads. Once I finished knocking everything down, I closed in on him in one go and thrust my katana.

“Gaaah!”

“That’s quite a barefaced scream. Slimes shouldn’t have a sense of pain.”

I commented and once again kicked off his leather armor. I chose the armor because if I stepped on any other body part, my food could have gotten submerged and dissolved.

The armor guarding his body also acted as sort of a container that held his body.

After rolling on the ground, the distance opened up between us again. Kufar yelled in grief as he got up.

“I’m saying I am a human!”

“I don’t know who you’re supposed to be but—wait, did you say Half-Demon?”

Right, he called himself a Half-Demon earlier. And that he was reborn.

Thinking back, this guy was probably the one who interfered in contacting Maxwell during the Goblin battle.

To add, the group he was in was trying to summon Devils.

Someone calling himself a Half-Demon, and Devil summoning, on top of the thing about reincarnation. I finally connected the dots between those facts.

“You, are you the priest—from back then?”

The ritual that became the reason behind my death. The one behind it was the orphanage priest.

What if he had gotten reborn just like me? But unlike me, into something other than human?

The answer to that was provided to me by his following yell.

“Yeah, that’s right! You seem to have gotten reborn as a human again, but I ended up like this! What a blessed guy you are, huh!”

“Hah, I thought my life was f̲u̲c̲k̲e̲d̲ up, but here you are.”

“If I hadn’t received the Ley Line’s influence, I wouldn’t even realize that I used to be a human and spent my life as a predator led by natural instincts.”

“That would have been way better for the greater good.”

“But you got reborn as a human huh? A Hero in previous life, human in this one. Quite different from me, huh! That fortune of yours makes me nauseous!”

“Hey, it’s not like my fortune was the only reason I got to be a hero!”

It was probably true that being reborn as a human was a fortune. I hadn’t considered what it would be like if I was reborn as some other lifeform. However, the glory of my previous life was something that I obtained by pouring sweat and blood into it. I didn’t want it attributed to my luck.

I flew my threads at him flared by my irritation. A slime that lacked in agility could never dodge that attack.

It tore his armor, but didn’t stop and that and sent him flying behind.

His main body was torn now, so I just needed to deal the finishing blow and this troublesome incident would come to a close.

I carefully approached him while being alert for surprise attacks. But then, different voices interrupted me.

“You, what are you doing there!”

“Suspicious, don’t move!”

“Are you the one who killed our Master!”

Looking there, I saw several horsemen coming my way. They were most likely the subordinates of Lichtenberg that I finished off earlier.

They probably turned back to search for the killer.

“Tsk, what a bad timing…”

I only turned away for a moment, then looked back at Kufar. But he was no longer there.

“S̲h̲i̲t̲, did he camouflage?”

Similar to Blobs, the higher species of Slimes, he also seemed to possess the mimicry skill. When it came to Blobs that had low intelligence, they only possessed enough ability to camouflage as grass and such, but with the human intellect, it was a dangerous ability.

Thinking about the applications of my Illusion Ring, I could understand how effective that ability was.

I quickly slashed the place he used to be on with threads, but I didn’t feel any response.

A superior Slime possessing human intellect. The mimicry and predation skills it possessed were quite troublesome in a way.

However, I couldn’t waste time and chase after him now.

There were four knights on horseback rushing towards me now. They were no match for me, but I wanted to avoid needless murder, so it was a number I would rather not fight.

“—Should I withdraw?”

Even if their superior was a wretch, it didn’t mean that all his subordinates were bad. It would be one thing if they were people who understood and willingly committed crimes like during the time with the slave merchant, but these people were actual knights. They weren’t trash like Fred.

It wasn’t my intention to get normal people involved in this. Besides, I couldn’t make light of a surprise attack from the lurking Slime.

“Agh dammit! Remember this, Kufar!”

I didn’t lose or anything, but I still ended up leaving that loser’s line behind as I left the place.