One Man Guild

Chapter 19

The ground split into two as formless, jade hands tore the earth apart. A tendril of green energy held Wuji up in the air, his eyes dull. The green energy disappeared into motes of light, aggregating into two translucent wings, humming with intense power.

It was like an angel had descended down from the heavens.

The slime quivered in fear.

Wuji's emotionless eyes stared at the「Variant」slime, his gaze burning down onto the lesser being. It didn't hesitate to retract its mouths, shrieking in fear as it tried to flee. Its behemoth body limited its movement, so it began throwing up the slimes, which began appearing in slimy, mucus-covered droves on the ground.

Wuji looked at the gruesome sight, his expression unchanging.

"You can't..."

Wuji opened one of his palms, towards the direction of the「Variant」slime, its now minuscule body rushing away.

Another tendril of Spirit Energy reached out towards the slime. In fear, one of the slime's mouths opened wide and consumed it.

"Escape." Wuji's voice was a soft whisper.

If the slime had eyes, they would've bulged in horror as the tendril of spirit energy in its stomach lit up a sinister green. A burning smell emitted from its body as it screamed in pain. Its gelatinous form began to sizzle, beginning to turn a sickly, pale color. The slime tried to spit out the spirit energy, but its mouth had been burned shut.

ARGHH!

It roared unwillingly. It had finally evolved into a stronger being. It had finally become special; it had surpassed those other mongrels. There was no way this weak human could ever possibly-

Wuji closed his palm, making a fist.

SPLAT!

The slime exploded into little chunks of green goo.

A deafening silence filled the air.

The chunks of the「Variant」slime began to evaporate into tendrils of green smoke, entering into the deathly still bodies of the slimes that the variant had spat out. Their bodies began to grow in size as they began to retain their color.

The glowing light disappeared from Wuji's eyes as the wings faded away.

His body fell from the sky like a bullet.

Whoosh!

Was this really the end?

. . .

Boing.

Right before he reached the ground, a layer of green cushioned his fall. The green layer began to make strange sounds.

"Chiiik." A green head appeared.

"Kuk." Another slime's head popped up as it began bouncing up and down with enthusiasm.

"Kuk. Kuk." The other slimes nodded.

The green layer dissolved into a multitude of slimes as they slowly let down Wuji onto the grass.

"CHIK!"

"KUK!"

The slimes began to bounce around Wuji, cheering as they acknowledged their new God.

. . .

Back outside the Spirit Sealing Valley,

A mumbling figure with dull, gray armor fell to the floor.

"Young man, I'll talk to you later!" A hunchbacked granny with wrinkles encapsulating her face glared at the man who was making incoherent sounds.

"Wuji... I'm so sorry, I couldn't ... Wuji..."

A scarlet-haired woman walked up to the man, comforting him as she apologized.

"Edmund, sorry about that. You know she gets terribly cranky if anyone is found trespassing."

Edmund nodded dumbly, looking straight past her.

The woman sighed, her stress unable to veil her beautiful face. If Wuji was here, he would have immediately recognized the scarlet-haired woman to be Evelynn, Aaron's aunt.

"I've experienced a spiritual disturbance somewhere nearby, where could it be?" The old woman squinted her eyes like a hungry raven, scanning the dark chasm.

"Don't you think you are just getting old?" asked Evelynn.

"Now, Evelynn, I'll have you know that if there's one thing this old body of mine is good at, it's sniffing out anything strange in the spirit world! Don't you underestimate me!"

"..."

The old woman continued to sniff around the area, following the same path Wuji had gone through. It was the same area where Edmund had tried to enter after Wuji had left. He had felt like a coward letting Wuji go alone and he couldn't get it off his mind.

Sadly, unlike Wuji he couldn't see the Spirit Formation, and he was turned into a vegetable, wandering around mumbling until he was found by the furious old woman.

"How long is the punishment spell?" Evelynn looked towards the woman's hunched back.

"200 years . . . That's already letting it off easy. Hmph. Hurry up!" yelled the old woman, continuing to follow the spiritual traces Wuji had left behind.

Evelynn was silent as she looked back at Edmund.

"I'm leaving your slow a.s.s, young lady!"

Casting a protection spell onto Edmund, Evelynn turned around and sighed, running into the Spirit Sealing Valley. She'd try and fix things later.

. . .

The slimes continued to celebrate, fawning over Wuji as they were unaware of the incoming duo.

They began making plans for taking over the world, with Wuji as the supreme leader.

The other slimes yelled in support.

Suddenly, quick footsteps could be heard behind them.

"Shoo, shoo!" An old lady ran up towards the slimes, swiping at them with her cane.

"Get along now, leave that boy alone!"

"KIIK!" The slimes were not about to leave their godly savior to the antics of this strange old hag.

The slimes formed a line, ready to protect Wuji with their lives.

The old lady's face quirked up in surprise.

Shaking her head, she relented, "Fine, fine. You all can stay, but let me see the human!"

"CHIIK!" The slimes denied her access.

Human? This is our God and savior, you old pile of bones!

Her face twisting in anger, the old lady began to hit the slimes with her glowing cane, the slimes scrambling as they were assaulted.

"Chik! Chik!!!" The slimes cried out in misery. They had never been attacked by any physical objects before, much less a cane. This hag was formidable!

The slimes encircled Wuji nervously as they began chattering. Nodding carefully, they decided that they would let the old hag look at their God for only a little while, but if she tried anything funny, they would attack, even if they would end up being caned!

The elderly woman had a feverish look as she scrambled to look at Wuji. She gasped.

"It- it can't be!"

"Pant*, how— why did you run so fast? You know that's not good for your health-" Evelynn walked up, struggling for air.

She wore the same green shirt when Wuji was with her and new blue flowers laced her neck. Evelynn looked past the old woman, towards the unconscious, blue-haired man, her eyes widening into saucers.

"Wuji?!"