Slime and Spider

Slime and Spider

(Bonus that came with Kumo LN Vol 10.)

My name is Rimuru.
And I am a slime.
I protected my co-worker Tamura from a guy with a knife, and ended up getting stabbed. The next thing I knew, I was reincarnated as a slime.
After exploring the cave I was born in, I met the Storm Dragon Veldora, who was sealed away here. He was the one who gave me this name.
And now, I'm trying to find my way outside... But it's already been two days and the exit is nowhere in sight.
That's probably fitting for the cave where the hero sealed away Veldora. This place is huge.
I'm not lost! ...Is what I want to believe.
Believing is important.
Well, there's no need to rush.
Slimes don't need to eat as long as they have a supply of magicules, and this cave is packed with them.
I can't starve, and I don't even need to sleep, so the monsters can't sneak up on me.
Either way, the monsters in this cave are easily defeated with my Water Blade.
There's pretty much no way I can lose as long as I keep my guard up.
I just need to stay calm and keep moving forward.
As I was thinking that, my Magic Perception picks something up.
Looks like another monster is coming my way.
In this cave, I've already fought five different monsters: a black snake, a grotesque centipede, a giant spider, a blood-sucking bat, and an armored lizard.
The black snake seemed to be pretty rare since there was only one of them. I've already defeated the others multiple times.
I just need to stay focused, and this should be simple enough.
However... Geh... That's the silhouette of a spider.
I've never liked bugs.
They just weird me out.
Of all the monsters in this cave, the spiders and centipedes are the two I hate the most.
I've already eaten a spider, so hopefully I can just avoid it this time.
Hmm...?
Isn't that spider pretty small?
The spider I saw earlier was way bigger.
Is it a baby?

<Answer: The target is hypothesized to be a different species.>

Great Sage answers my question.
So I guess the spider in front of me isn't the same as the spiders I've fought before.
But wait, 'hypothesized'?
Great Sage is one of my unique skills.
It's a convenient skill that always tells me what I need to know.
Obviously, it doesn't know everything, but it should have the ability to get the data from something that is right in front of me.
I'm looking right at the spider, so Great Sage should be able to at least tell me some basic information about it.
But it's still just a 'hypothesis'?
Actually, this the first time Great Sage has given me questionable information.
What's going on?

<Answer: The target is surrounded by irregular magicules, so Magic Perception is unable to fully identify it. Therefore, the target's information could not be obtained.>

W-what!?
Now that you mention it, I can see that it's a spider, but the details are blurry. It's as if it's been covered by a mosaic filter.
I didn't realize that earlier because I avoided looking too closely at the spider.
This is the first time something like this has happened.
It must be some special monster that I've never seen before.
W-what should I do?
Should I try launching a Water Blade at it?
I was able to defeat all the previous monsters with Water Blade, but will that even work against this one?
While I was still hesitating, the spider moved slightly.
It assumed a crouching position, as if it was ready to jump straight at me.
There's no time to think!
Take this! Water Blade!
The thin blade is launched straight at the spider, but it ends up slicing the wall behind it.
It dodged!?
I hurry to prepare for my second Water Blade, but it didn't end up being necessary.
The spider had turned around and disappeared into the distance.
...It ran away?
Huh? Maybe it wasn't really that strong after all?
But it was able to dodge by Water Blade?
Now that I think about it, the bats were sometimes able to dodge my Water Blade too.
So I guess I would have won if my Water Blade landed.
I might have missed out on a big chance then.
My unique skill Predator allows me to obtain the skills of the monsters that I eat.
If I ate that special-looking spider, I might have gotten some kind of rare skill.
Should I chase after it?
...Nah, let's not.
I'd rather not run after a spider just to eat it.
It doesn't seem like it's worth the effort.
I felt a bit gloomy, so I decided to forget about the meeting with the spider, and continue searching for the exit to the cave.

☆

I am a spider.
As yet I have no name.
I was just going about my business as usual, when I realized I had somehow reincarnated as a spider.
That's unreal enough. Then I opened my eyes to find myself in a room filled with my sibling spiders cannibalizing each other. Then my giant mom spider almost crushes me under her huge legs.
Being a spider is rough!
I barely managed to make it out of there, and started wandering around the caves.
I tried to find the exit, but I don't know where anything is, and have no idea which path I should be taking.
If this isn't lost then I don't know what is.
I'm getting really hungry, and there's scary monsters behind every corner.
Could someone please lower the difficulty level a bit?
So I continue through the cave, and I get the feeling that I accidentally wandered into some weird place.
The atmosphere is just different somehow.
It's like there's some sort of invisible pressure on my body.
Did I bump into some kind of danger zone?
Should I head back?
As those thoughts pass through my head, a monster shows up in front of me.

<Slime>

Yeah. Thanks Appraisal, I can tell.
They said I could get some skills, so I took the staple Appraisal skill. But it's been completely worthless.
Every time I Appraise something, the only thing that it tells me is obvious garbage like 'Stone' or 'Wall'. I have eyes, so I can see that!
So this guy that is clearly a slime is in front of me.
Slimes are a rather famous monster, but they vary greatly depending on the setting.
In a certain popular video game, they are just fodder monsters that show up in the beginning of the game. In others, they are immune to physical attacks and incredibly strong.
The slime here is... Uhh, yeah...
Just going by appearance, it looks like former with it's squishy and round body. But I can tell. This guy must be one of the dangerous ones!
It even has some weird aura seeping out!
There's no way I'm fighting this thing!
I'm outta here!
See you later sucker!
I quickly turn around and start running.
Heeeee!?
Did something just whoosh past me!?
Why is there a huge cut in the wall!?
You're a slime, dammit! Stop using projectiles!
You devour your enemies and dissolve them!
Actually, I'd prefer not to get eaten either.
Maybe you can be one of those lewd slimes that just eat clothes?
Yeah! Just dissolve their clothes and leave the girl unharmed!
Well, I am a girl, but I'm not wearing any clothes. Ahaha...
There's no time to be wasting on stupid thoughts.
I continue running as if my life depended on it, and only stop once my legs refuse to move any further.
Hah... Hah... It's not coming after me, right?
I notice that the oppressive atmosphere from before has disappeared.
It looks like I made it back to the normal area in one piece.
Yeah, that place is dangerous.
Let's never go there again.
I head off in the opposite direction of the slime.

☆

Their contact lasted for only an instant.
The two reincarnated monsters did not realize each other's true identities.
Nor did they realize the importance of their meeting.
Because this chance encounter was only caused by the whims of the gods.