Chapter 208: Kobold Outpost

The kobolds’ cacophony was immediately drowned out by an all-encompassing explosion that echoed throughout the cavern. Following the blast were powerful discharges of lightning, gouts of flame, a deluge of water, a gust of air, and rocky shrapnel.

Concerned about Vee’s safety, I threw up a rocky wall using [Rampart] between us and the point of the explosion.

Notifications soared through my head, and Vee must have been experiencing something similar, as her gasps and surprise could be heard through our mental link.

"Holy shit! We did it!" Vee screamed excitedly, then added. "Holy shit, what have we done? How many did you throw through?"

"Enough?" I replied with a giggle. It was glorious.

When the energy had finally dispersed, we peeked around the corner to take a gander at the result. Almost nothing had remained of the kobold’s makeshift barricade, and it looked like there were no survivors.

Vee used [Blink] to appear on the ceiling, then quickly maneuvered around to confirm we had no hidden foes. "I think we got them all... That was crazy, I can’t believe it worked!"

"Definitely ups the value of [Dimension Magic]... I can’t even imagine what a fully-fledged archmage could do with it," I responded.

"You mentioned it was super rare, right?" Vee questioned.

"Gramps made it sound like I only had it because of the Reincarnation Points I had spent in my prior-prior life," I answered honestly. "With monsters, it seems like as long as you evolve that way, you can gain the affinity, although you have to meet some hidden requirements to unlock it as an evolution option. I can only suspect that your shrinking must have counted as a foray into [Dimension Magic]."

"Huh... If that’s the case, then I probably unlocked shrinking because I kept crawling into tiny gaps to hide..." Vee responded. "Good thing I’m not claustrophobic, or I’d have never gotten it."

"Sounds about right. I got offered an aquatic mutation just because I had spent considerable time near a pond, and I got offered gluttonous just because I ate a lot."

Vee burst out laughing. "Judging by all the kobolds that have vanished as we explored, I can absolutely understand that."

I shrugged as I formed [Pseudopods] to collect the spoils. "If I want to use [Nitro Slime], I have to expend my slime. Likewise, anything I shoot off with [Slime Shot] is probably not coming back."

"Hey, I’m not blaming you," Vee quickly replied. "You’re effectively using your body as an expendable resource, so it makes perfect sense you want to stock up on as much as possible."

"Yup. I can’t take on bigger forms without it," I explained. "Other than having variety, one of the reasons I like magic is that it’s a good backup plan in case I can’t use slime or I’ve run out for whatever reason."

Vee nodded. "Well, I’m glad that [Dimension Magic] is rare, or I suppose there would be many people doing things similar to this..." Vee gestured around to the blast site.

"You know... I wonder if that’s why I was poisoned?" I speculated.

"Your past life?" Vee questioned. "I thought you said your brother was worried you’d take his position."

"That’s what Gramps said, but..." I mumbled. "I’m not sure much about siblings and whatnot since my mind is a mess, but I’m pretty sure killing family isn’t normal?"

"Yes, Syl. Killing your family is definitely not normal..." Vee answered deadpan.

"Well, perhaps my brother was egged on by someone else?" I questioned rhetorically. "If someone outside of our family knew [Dimension Magic] was a potential threat, then my jealous brother becomes a pawn in a scheme to take me out."

"That’s a lot of speculation..." Vee admitted. "But judging by how crazy some of the nobles of this world sound, it’s plausible. Hell, it might have even been another race; maybe the dwarves or elves didn’t want humans to have a dimension mage?"

"The plot thickens..." I joked.

Vee giggled. "Well, moving on, I finally got offered a new spellcaster class!"

"Shadowcaster?" I guessed.

"Spoilsport!" Vee whined. "But yeah... You were right that I had a lot of overlap from rogueish skills, and my spellcasting skills aren’t high enough to qualify for a pure caster."

"You going to take it?" I asked.

"Yeah, I’m tired of being just a mage for over twenty levels!" Vee replied.

"Yeah, that dungeon gave you a lot of levels..." I mumbled. "It’s a pity you’re lacking skill experience boosters."

"Lesser dragon scales, it was from a salamander. Apparently, dragons can breed with pretty much anything, and it’s highly compatible..."

"It’s a bloody worm, Syl!" Vee screeched mentally. "Why on earth would a dragon breed with a worm!? No! Do not answer that! I need my mind bleached..."

"Good, because I’m about to breach into the cavern!" I informed her as my wormy form struck against the wall.

It was an incredibly dense stone, and if not for this worm being utterly ludicrous in its digging capabilities combined with [Acid Slime], I might have struggled. But with a triumphant roar, I broke through and was promptly assaulted as a hail of spells and projectiles crashed into my wormy form.

The open cavern looked like a miniature fortress; its walls were lined with kobolds of various classes and weapons. The fortifications seemed likely crafted from [Earth Magic], as they appeared unnaturally carved or abruptly erected from nowhere.

I noted that they seemed to have a small division of captured badgers and other subterranean monsters. Suddenly, the dwarf’s dislike of the tiny lizards made sense; they were far more militarily organized than anything the goblins ever did.

"I think we discovered one of their outposts!" I informed Vee. "Be careful to not get caught in the crossfire."

"Roger!" Vee responded before I sensed her momentarily vanishing via [Blink].

I sensed Vee teleporting deeper into the cavern through our bond before she grappled herself up onto the ceiling. The small army of kobolds was so focused on attacking the giant worm that nobody even noticed the tiny dimensional spider.

Once their initial attack didn’t do any apparent harm to the giant worm in front of them, one of the leaders surprisingly called for the kobolds to halt their attack. They then launched a satchel filled with ores using a makeshift catapult off and away from the settlement.

Oh, they clearly know the worms seek minerals to eat. I guess it’s standard procedure for them to lure them away if they get too close. Too bad for them; I’m not actually a worm!

When I didn’t immediately lunge for the bag of minerals, the kobolds seemed to know something was up, and as if in unison, they launched another attack wave against me. Spells, spears, bolts, and arrows crashed against my worm forms scaled hide, so I lunged toward the kobolds.

Some of their elites appeared to be waiting for that, as attacking a worm meant giving more direct access to the large open cavity, which was the mouth. Makeshift bombs and canisters containing strange fluids were thrown in, and I received half a dozen notifications of random lesser poisons being unlocked for [Poison Slime].

I let out a roar and began thrashing about, crashing into their walls and breaking through their fortifications.

"Syl, you okay!?" Vee’s slightly panicked voice asked.

"Oh yeah, they tried to poison and explode me, but I’m resistant and immune to both," I answered.

"That’s kind of hilarious. Disguises are pretty overpowered if enemies keep trying to target weaknesses you don’t have," Vee pointed out.

"Like going for the head?" I teased.

"Look here, you..." Vee grumbled. "If you were anything but a slime, that would have worked. I’m pretty sure even normal shapeshifters die without a head!"

Having a mental conversation with Vee while thrashing about as a giant worm was surreal. Some of the braver kobolds had even started mounting my body with hooks and claws while trying to find joints between the carapaced plating to stab at.

"So... What’s your plan?" Vee eventually asked.

"I... Kind of want to explode..." I admitted.

"You... Want to explode?" Vee repeated, sounding extremely unsure. "Like self-destruct? Why?"

"I think a big enough explosion will finally get me my next level of [Nitro Slime]!" I informed her.

"Sure... Go for it..." I could sense Vee’s reluctant agreement.

I giggled and began my preparations. I let my [Sub-Cores] somewhat auto-pilot the body while beginning to form a multitude of spell orbs inside myself. If I was going out with a bang, I wanted it to be the biggest bang possible.

I also needed to ensure a route to escape, so I made a slime encasing to house all of my cores. The plan was to prime everything moments before firing out the encasing towards the ceiling, detonating the wormy body, scattering the orbs, and then detonating them.

Completely over the top? Definitely. A waste of slime? Probably. But I was nearing the limit of [Core Storage] again, and unless I started being a bit more extravagant, I’d be running out of room soon enough. I’d been eating remarkably well recently and could hopefully find another worm or two to eat, probably?

Showtime!