Monster no Goshujin-sama - Volume 6 - Chapter 8

Chapter 8: A Strange Dream ~Lily’s POV~

“Haah...”

My sigh dissolved into the refreshing mountain air. I was all alone now. I had fallen in the landslide Gerbera caused, separating me from all the others. I was currently on my way toward my master. In contrast to the invigorating air, my footsteps were heavy. My heart felt even heavier.

Once again, I failed to properly protect my master, I thought to myself, another sigh escaping my lips. He was still safe, of course, despite my failure. I could tell he was through our mental path. Still, that was just hindsight. It didn’t change the fact that I had failed to protect him.

When Iino attacked us, I had been the closest to him. Yet she had gotten past me so easily, striking him in the face. She’d had no intention of really hurting him, so things turned out okay, but if not for that, he would be dead already.

Even after that, I’d been altogether pathetic. No matter what I did, none of my attacks had affected Iino. She’d toyed with me completely. I’d felt down after finding out she’d been holding back the whole time so that I wouldn’t die.

“I thought I’d gotten stronger, though...” I mumbled to myself.

It was true, in a sense. After Juumonji had handily defeated me at Fort Tilia, I was keenly aware of my lack of strength. I’d put in the effort to somehow resolve that. As a result, I’d definitely gotten stronger. I had more combat experience, and my powers as a monster were greater. The way I’d been when I first met my master couldn’t compare to how I was now.

I’d even eaten many monsters at Fort Tilia. Hundreds of them were buried in my body now. Though I couldn’t manifest all of their powers together at once, the monsters of the Fringes couldn’t pose a threat to me anymore.

And still, I hadn’t come anywhere close to matching Iino Yuna’s strength. She was certainly a bad match for us. The Skanda was famous in the Colony. She was one of the few cheaters among the exploration team who’d earned a nickname. One could say she was the strongest fighter in this entire world.

Iino had even handled Gerbera, who’d managed to hang in there against Juumonji, with ease. If Gerbera couldn’t beat her, then I surely couldn’t accomplish anything. However, since we had come to blows with both Juumonji and Iino within two short months, I couldn’t just sit here making excuses.

What should I do...? I wondered. It wasn’t like I’d been fooling around. For example, I’d continued to attempt partial mimicry so that I could maintain my body as a girl while bringing out other monsters’ features that could give me major power-ups. It wasn’t going well, though. There were no signs that it was working. The limit of my species was blocking me from advancing like an enormous wall.

My other plan, to mimic Mizushima Miho’s ability as a cheater, also remained out of reach. My mimicry didn’t exactly replicate the powers of those I mimicked. The result was inevitably degraded, so I couldn’t reproduce abnormal powers like cheats. Or perhaps there was nothing to mimic, seeing that Mizushima Miho had never awakened to a cheat.

In either case, the outcome was the same. In the end, a fake like me could only get so far, no matter how much I struggled. That obvious truth pained my heart, and that pain awoke useless thoughts within me like a wave breaking on the shore.

If it weren’t me by his side, but the real Mizushima Miho... The real thing could surely do things a fake couldn’t... I knew this was a meaningless hypothesis. I was also fully aware that letting my mind go down this hole was a terrible idea. Regardless, I found myself caught on these thoughts rather frequently, especially in the last few weeks. If only I were the real thing. I kept telling myself that over and over.

Katou had had another perspective on this, however. According to her, the degraded result of my mimicry didn’t mean I couldn’t do something; it meant I could, but in an incomplete form. If so, I should’ve been able to mimic Mizushima Miho’s nature as a visitor, even if it was incomplete, allowing me to awaken to a cheat. Being fake had nothing to do with it. There was some other reason preventing me from doing it. So she claimed, at least. Now that I thought about it, she did have a point... In any case, it didn’t change the fact that I couldn’t do it.

“Haah...”

I sighed again without realizing it and shook my head. There was no point lingering over these thoughts. I couldn’t remain on my own out here. I had to calm down. I had to reunite with the others as quickly as possible. I picked up my pace and hurried forth.

“Master...”

The restlessness in my heart grew stronger. I had to confirm his safety with my own eyes. I was getting impatient at the distance to my destination. I’d already been walking for such a long time...

“Huh?”

How long had I been walking, actually? I had no answer, and my feet came to a stop. How strange. Why couldn’t I figure out something so simple?

“It’s obvious why you can’t,” a voice said. Before I knew it, there was a girl before me. “I mean, this is a dream.”

In the next instant, the world crumbled. The mountain scenery shattered like glass, casting the shards into darkness. I couldn’t react at all. The girl who’d spoken to me floated up in front of my eyes. She was the only thing I could see in this pitch-black world.

Her hands were clasped behind her back, and she leaned forward. Her flaxen hair swayed in the air as if she were underwater. This girl, peering up at me from right below my face—was me.

I get it now. The abruptness. The absurdity. This is definitely a dream. I was having a so-called lucid dream. But where was I dreaming? I had gotten caught in a landslide and separated from my master. I had definitely walked through the mountain to reunite with him.

And then... And then...what? I couldn’t remember. I pinched my brow as the “me” in front of my eyes questioned me.

“Isn’t there something weird about this?”

Something else? Oh, right. I’m a mimic slime. I don’t even need a wink of sleep. So why am I dreaming? Obviously, I had to be unconscious to see a dream, meaning I had lost consciousness in reality. Something had happened. Something had caused me to pass out.

“Wake up already.”

Right, I have to wake up.

“If you don’t hurry, Majima will die.”