32 I Shall Not Kneel!

The very depths of Alaric's soul shook. Sonic had practically said the obvious, but it felt as if a question Alaric didn't even know he had was answered.

Alaric repeated, "A king mustn't kneel..."

Seeing that Alaric reacted well, the slime continued, 'I had been arrogant, lofty, and confident because you were my backer. A king, royalty, was my backer! My lord, when you kneeled, I, your subject, lost my path.

I was born to serve and felt fulfilled in doing so. But you threw that away. You knelt to another, more powerful being.

Cemented in my mind is the thought that you are a mere commoner! Are you?'

Alaric thought back, yes, he was born a peasant. He had been taught to kneel to the strong, for 18 years of this new life. 18 years wasn't easy to be rid of, and Alaric hadn't even realized his own beliefs bending.

'I'm afraid, that before coming here, should a politician ask me to kneel before them... I wouldn't have. Has the life of a peasant under the rule of a monarchy truly influenced me in such a way?' Alaric questioned.

Sonic continued to press on, 'If your servant hasn't knelt, why should you? Are you below even me, the being you personally nurtured and created?'

Alaric's eyes seemed to become a bit clearer, shining as he said, "You're right, Sonic. Commanding beings as powerful as Pamela, Gunnar, Wurst, and you, why should I kneel? I doubt that Grander fellow is worthy of even groveling beneath my boots!"

Looking at the ground, or, core beneath his feet, Alaric had an epiphany.

'With the ability to commandeer powerful generals, and my ever-increasing population... I am indeed a king. I promised my subjects protection, but before that, I had groveled on the floor at the mere sight of something stronger than I. Sonic is correct in his disappointment.'

Sonic's eyes twisted around the head they were floating in and stared back at Alaric. The slime seemed to be expressing excitement as if its hope reignited.

After metaphorically jumping in glee, Sonic said, 'My lord! We must reclaim your pride! Let us go and thrash that Grander fellow immediately!'

Alaric simply gave Sonic a look that said, "Are you stupid?"

Even though Alaric learned that he should not place himself beneath another, he wouldn't go antagonize someone stronger than him.

"Sonic, I understand your point. I will not kneel to another ever again. However, I won't go looking for trouble either. Right now, I wanted to bring you home, so that we could prepare to raid a human settlement. After that... we can slay that giant lizard, okay?"

After seeming a bit troubled, Sonic decidedly nodded its new head, 'Of course, my lord. But what of this core? I see no issue in stealing a treasure of the enemy... but it's simply too large!'

"Why don't I just bring all of our slimes here to eat it?"

Sonic shook its head, saying, 'Only slimes similarly talented to myself could handle the pressure of absorbing this core's essence. Even I may only do it once, if I absorbed it once again, I may perish.'

'So, other than Sonic, only Wurst could handle it?'

Alaric turned around, telling Sonic, "For now, we leave it. In the future, this will be a sacred ground to nurture talented slimes. We have other fish to fry for now though."

Sonic nodded its head, following Alaric while it inched forward. Suddenly, it perked up, and asked, 'My lord! Previously, you called me a "slip slime," but now I am very different! Should I be reclassified?'

After making Alaric realize his mistake, Sonic seemed as if he never considered betrayal in the first place, asking for a species name from Alaric as if it was a puppy requesting a treat.

'It seems like he wanted only to confirm if I would kneel once again... it seems like he is, at the end of the day, still a slime.'

Alaric then pondered, wondering what he should call this new slime. It was the first rank-3 slime he had seen, and it was perfectly similar to the tentacled slime of legend.

Suddenly, Alaric thought, 'Tentacles? Legend?'

Looking at Sonic, Alaric quickly said, "Cthulhu Slime. That shall be your species' name. Anyways, I don't want to climb back up... bring me up, Sonic."

Sonic wanted to comment on the species' name but immediately perked up after receiving its command. It wrapped one of its tentacles around Alaric and used the other 7 to propel itself forward, jumping.

A great shockwave resounded in the cracked earth, and the party of 3 had near instantly arrived outside of it.

Sonic dropped Alaric onto the ground and knelt, 'We've arrived, my lord.'

Alaric seemed a bit frazzled but quickly sputtered out, "Yeah... yeah, we are. Let us return to Ooze Village for now. I need some rest before the raid tomorrow."

On the way back, Alaric collected the new giant slime he had recruited, deciding to have it walk with him.

It was a rather lengthy walk, but in about an hour, they had arrived.

The moment they arrived, Alaric noticed something, 'Sonic has become a rank-3 existence... he can't exit the forest!'

Alaric turned his head towards the slime, and said, "Hey man... I don't think you'll be able to leave. There is a formation here that restricts the ability of rank 3 beasts to leave the forest."

Sonic seemed stunned but soon realized that there was indeed a residual mana signature at the very border of the forest. Its head tilted, and it said, 'Master, remember, you mustn't kneel. We shall simply break this formation!'

Alaric looked at the Cthulhu Slime, sighed, and said, "Sonic, I'm really beginning to doubt your intelligence. If this formation was so easy to break, Grander would have been rampaging around the Neuling Kingdom for years now!"

Sonic ignored the insult, inched towards the barrier, and said simply:

'A slime's acidity is not to be underestimated, my lord.'