Danso walked aside Tensei, looking around cautiously in case any slime monsters popped up and attacked them. He also used this time walking to recollect the information he currently had. The slime was in a hive mind, which connects them all, and every hive mind has a core or a main central part that it connects to. Therefore, if they managed to destroy that central part, the hivemind would crumble. The cracks in the wall were arrows leading them further and further front. Eventually, there was an opening in one of the cracks that had a room inside infested with slime.
"What is that?" said Danso, pointing to the slime cube in the center of the room.
All the slime in the room was connected to that single block of slime. The slime was everywhere in that room, covering all the corners and spaces in it. There was nothing but a dim green light in the cube, radiating.
"We should probably check what it is," said Danso as he walked inside the room, with Tensei following close behind.
Danso walked small steps while Tensei pushed him aside and walked carelessly, taking big strides and stepping on a slime vein or branch in the room. Tensei's shoes instantly became covered in slime as it spread towards his shoes. Tensei quickly removed his shoe, and as he was doing that, multiple slime human hybrids emerged from the cube.
"Can it do that?" asked Danso.
"I don't care if it can do that or not, I'll beat it," said Tensei.
"You need a plan while handling unknown things," replied Danso.
"The enemies won't know our plan if we don't have one," defended Tensei.
"What enemies here are trying to find our plan?" asked Danso.
Danso sighed and decided to follow Tensei. Tensei used his Water Demon Magic Transformation:- One-horned Demon, which was a semi-transformation. It wasn't a big deal like the last transformation since it was half the power, and it seems like Tensei could control it. Danso unsheathed his sword and used Flame Ignition to light it up on fire and act like a torch in the dimly lit room.
Danso and Tensei ran towards all the slime-human hybrids in the room and eliminated them with ease, not hesitating with their strikes. To not damage the human inside, Danso first sliced all the excess slime and Tensei using his claws, dragged the human out of the slime, or took out any of the runaways or anomalies. Afterwards, they stared at the slime cube, and Tensei stepped on it.
"We should destroy it," said Danso confidently.
"I was thinking the same," said Tensei.
Tensei stomped on the slime cube, breaking it into multiple pieces. The pieces quickly came back together and restored the cube in the same place, and summoned more of the slime hybrids.
"I've never heard of something like this," said Tensei while fighting some of the slimes.
Danso picked up some of the slime while Tensei was handling more of the hybrids.
"This isn't an ability," said Danso.
"How could you possibly know that?" asked Tensei.
"The slime has soul energy, that's a fact, but it's complete. Normally, when they are remnants of your soul's ability lying around, it seems like a power-up or an incomplete excess of your soul. Here it seems complete. That means its original form is this, and it has no origin from something else," said Danso.
Tensei put all the fainted humans in a corner of the room and collected all the slime, blasting it with his demon magic, turning it into dust.
"Then where's its origin, red?" said Tensei.
"Maybe it's a soul beast," said Danso.
Soul beasts were supernatural animals or creatures that were born with soul energy. The difference between normal animals and soul beasts is that soul beasts can utilise their soul to get an ability, and the ability is the same for the entire species. For example, Tensei's Water Demon species has the same ability as Water Demon magic. Animals do have a soul, but they cannot utilise it; therefore, they often lack a smart brain and heavily rely on their surroundings to fight.
"Every soul beast will have a leader," said Tensei.
"I wonder who your leader is… Of course, I'm not forcing you to tell," said Danso.
"My leader is the Arch-Demon of Water," said Tensei.
"Expected," said Danso.
Meanwhile, Emily and Haruki were marching down the other tunnel parallel to Tensei and Danso's tunnel. There was a huge splatter of slime everywhere, covering the walls, with cracks running down the walls of the tunnel. Suddenly, the ground beneath them proceeded to break, revealing a hidden chamber underneath.
"Haruki, hold on tight, alright?" said Emily while Haruki held her hand.
Emily threw Haruki up while Emily decided to investigate what was below. To her surprise, it was a room with multiple cubes on the right walls, not the floor. Emily proceeded with caution, not stepping on anything slime-related. Using her playbox ability, which covered the entirety of the station, she destroyed the cubes with ease, but this action brought undesired attention.
A green, slimy monster woke up from the ground. It seemed as if all the cubes were giving their power just to this one being.
"It looks like these cubes are the origin point," thought Emily.
The monster sprinted at her while Emily dodged. Haruki heard the noise and summoned the Shadow Companion:- Demon Bull to assist her. Emily used the bull as a decoy and hit the slime monster with a powerful soul blast that killed it. The slime scurried off back to the cubes and reformed them.
"There aren't any humans in these slimes. Is this the mother room?" thought Emily.
She helped Haruki descend to the room below and walked and walked, seeing a sharp turn to the right. She used her playbox ability to sense any danger. She saw multiple souls, which were fully completed, beyond the turn.
"These things aren't a soul's ability then," concluded Emily.
"They are soul beasts," said Haruki, picking some slime up.
"Don't touch that, you might get infected with the slime," said Emily.
Haruki did not listen and continued to play with the slime. Then the slime started to spread from his fingers to the rest of his body. Emily was in her world of deep thoughts, trying to figure out what was happening, and when she turned around, she saw Haruki fully infected with the slime.
"Oh, for god's sake," sighed Emily.
Slime Haruki rushed towards Emily. He seemed faster than usual and much stronger than usual as he punched Emily and threw her towards the wall. Sensing the chaos occurring nearby, the slime cubes in the room to the sharp right of them started sending slime human hybrids towards Emily.
"Where did they get this many humans from?" thought Emily.
The hybrids were walking like a drunk man on the street, zig-zag walking towards her and stumbling upon each other and falling like dominoes. Emily used miniature soul blasts to beat each of the slimes, trying not to hurt the human inside. After clearing a path, she ran towards the room to the right. The room was by far the largest in the entirety of the subway station. The thing that caught Emily's attention was the tomb in the middle of the room, surrounded by slime cubes or spawners.
More slime barricaded the exit of the room, and Haruki walked in. He looked different from the rest of the slimes, probably because he had a massive amount of soul energy in him.
"Shadow Companion Sorcery:- The Divination Myth:- Arch-Angel of Souls," said Haruki.
Emily's jaw dropped. This was the strongest creature that Haruki could summon until now. An Arch-Angel required massive amounts of soul energy. The only reason why Haruki could do it now and not faint on the spot is due to the effects of the slime. The only time Haruki had ever used this was when they were on a mission across the country to the Titan Nation. The Arch-Angel was a close copy of some of the real Arch-Angels. It had a mask on its face, however, with white wings and a white dress covering its body. It had an orb made of soul energy on top of its head, covered by a ring. Things went out of hand badly.
Emily's first goal was to avoid the Arch-Angel and try getting Haruki out of the slime. She used her playbox ability to remove the slime from his body with a swipe of her finger. As soon as she caught the kid, Haruki fainted, meaning that she had to fight the Arch-Angel. The Arch-Angel went mad, killing and destroying everything in its path. All the slimes were destroyed, and blood covered the tomb and the room. The angel tried to destroy the tomb, but it was reinforced by powerful barrier magic.
Meanwhile, Danso and Tensei heard sounds, and Tensei felt the presence of an Arch-Angel. It was obvious since he was a demon. The location of the Angel was an anomaly, though, but they felt a strong presence in the same radius as the Angel, meaning that it had to be the main room the Arch-Angel was in. So, Danso came up with a plan. He rushed to another crack room to see if his idea was true. The cube in that room was on the left wall.
"Tensei, I have an idea, I know how to reach that room, " said Danso.
"How?" asked Tensei.
"Just wait and watch, and you'll get it in a minute," said Danso, grinning
Tensei gave him a death stare but decided to follow his words.