Chapter 10—Curse!
[ Ding! You have died! ]
The cute blob opened his eyes into black nothingness.
He screamed in terror. "There are eldritch creatures in this world! How am I supposed to fight them? I can train to fight powerful foes—but those? No way!"
'They'll corrupt souls according to what I know.' His body trembled with fear as blue sweat fell from his jelly body.
Before he could think more, a red panel appeared in his vision.
[ Ding! Timeline 78521452224.2 has ended! ]
[ Begin Timeline 78521452224.3? ]
[—Y— or —N—!]
Huuu!—After a few deep breaths, he smiled with relief, 'So that's why we were placed in the time loop. Even if we die, we can improve in the next loop.'
He finally understood the true purpose of the time loop.
But another question lingered in his mind. In all the anime, novels, and manga he read, only a certain person or a few members or a bunch of students would be isekai'ed and given cheats.
However, this time, almost the entire population was reincarnated.
But he couldn't find the reason—So, he cheered himself. 'Looks like Time God doesn't want to bet on only teenagers; anyway, I would say he did get free labour from earthlings in the name of heroes.'
After a few seconds, "I'm ready for the third cycle.…Wait, can I select or get a new trait?"
He was sure the race was fixed, but not sure about the trait. He'd forgotten to check before, since he was furious at that brat.
Silence!
There was no reply to his question except for irritating calmness.
'So, there's no intelligence, or you don't bother to reply to me,' he thought dubiously, glancing at the last notifications he received when the spider appeared.
He remembered that incident—he couldn't think of anything else in that moment. He'd been frozen in fear, unable to move—a prey to that abomination. His every cell was screaming to die. He'd felt he lost the will to live.
"I am getting… PTSD? It's over… over!" He patted his trembling body with his shaking tiny hands and clicked on —Y—.
Since no panel showed up about new traits, he'd understood that he would only get one.
[ Beginning Timeline 78521452224.3 ]
[ Ding! Reincarnating the Slime#47! ]
[ Error! Error! ]
[ Anomaly spotted! ]
'What's going on?' He glanced at the new red panel with doubt.
[ Ding! Slime#47 has been cursed! ]
[ Curse—
Unholy Eldritch Contamination—1% ]
'What the… how did that thing affect me?' He gazed at the crimson panel in dread.
He tapped on it for more info.
[ Ding! Opening Status! ]
[ Status: Physical Death.
Soul: Alive {Eldritch Contamination—1%} ]
As he'd expected, those abominations harm the souls!
'It's affected my soul… my soul,' he mused, as his tiny hands trembled.
[ —Unholy Eldritch Contamination {Mythic}—
—The bearer of this curse shall become enslaved to eldritch, tremble with fear at the mere mention or image of their master. They don't even dare have betrayal thoughts! And slowly turn into an eldritch!
—With strong will, a being can resist enslavement but will still be corrupted and turned into eldritch. ]
'Damn, no wonder I'm trembling when I think of that spider,' he realized why he was still feeling fear and despair in his heart.
But he'd hope, he felt Time God should have left a trump card for earthlings; since even the sun had turned eldritch, no one was safe in that world, much less recently reincarnated earthlings.
As he'd expected, the next moment a panel popped up in front of him.
[ Ding! Searching for the optimal solution! ]
[ Solution found! ]
[ Proceeding to cast 'Holy Light of Purification'! ]
'Ah! there it is—come purify the sins of my soul,' he thought, eyes gleaming.
A golden light descending from above, bathing with warmth!
"So comfortable," he murmured, eyes closed; blue saliva dripping out from his jelly mouth.
He felt like he got a relaxing massage and then took a sauna bath!
But just after three seconds, the light started to disappear with a new panel popping up.
[ Ding! Curse has been purified! ]
[ Ding! Slime#47's soul is in perfect health! ]
"Wait!...I want to bathe in that light for a few more minutes!" he yelled, stretching his tiny hands to catch the fading glow.
It felt too good to lose so quickly. But as if his words fell on donkey's ears, the rays didn't even listen to him and vanished.
He sighed, glancing at the nothingness again.
[ Begin Timeline 78521452224.3? ]
[—Y— or —N—!]
He tapped —Y—, glancing at the panel.
[ Beginning Timeline 78521452224.3 ]
[ Ding! Reincarnating the Slime#47! ]
'Here I come, third cycle,' he clenched his tiny fists with confidence!
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"Hello, my child, I'm your mama," the cute blob cooed, rubbing her soft body against him affectionately.
'This time, I'll make sure you live,' he thought with a smile, staring up at the black sun plainly.
Unlike before in the black void, he had no fear this time, though he still felt chilly and eerie.
His jelly blob wobbled due to gazing at the black sun for some time.
Wob!—Mama Slime bounced away. 'Humans named you Slime#2? I will always call you Mama Slime,' he decided!
Events repeated like the previous loop, the rough man feeling dubious at the already named blue jelly.
-------
The woman entered the field with a sack and a dagger. This time, instead of rushing toward the woman alone, he pulled Mama Slime as well.
"Jh$$#," the woman said with a chuckle, catching both slimes.
Whoosh!—Whoosh!
With accurate perception, she sliced both the slimes, turning them from 30 cm to 10 cm.
[ Ding!
You have taken a critical hit!
Your vitality has fallen from G+ to G− ]
"Puuu, survived," he muttered with a joyful smile, glancing at the blue blob still sticking to him.
Thud!—A sound attracted Slime#47's attention.
'…. The brat made his appearance,' he thought as the kid pulled a random slime from the ground.
"#&&@*," the kid smirked, pulling the dagger from his belt sheath.
"Ah^&^$," the woman roared angrily, like in the previous loop, as she rushed toward the kid.
Puk!—The kid tried to cut the slime.
'I see why I, and Mama Slime died almost instantly in that brat's hands,' he got a good glance this time—the kid pierced the white core in the slime, unlike the woman, who didn't even reach near the core while harvesting slime's jelly.
'So, the core's our weak point….just one weak hit can kill us,' he realized, vowing to protect his core at all costs!
Next events repeated the same.…and the blonde kid who threw him at the trash when he didn't move to eat filth.
-------
"Child, you seem to have intellect," Elder Slime said in a stern tone.
End of the chapter. ____________________________________