Chapter 307: Journey to the Immortal

Leno turned everyone into light and carried them over to their original continent. As their bodies slowly repaired themselves, they looked at their own hands in shock.

"That was... weird."

Lidia scratched the back of her head.

"That felt very natural to me. It must be my affinity to the light powers."

Leno looked off in the distance, squinting his eyes. Squabee noticed his expression and decided t ask him a question.

"What do you see? Do you sense Zalo or something?"

Leno hesitated, not expecting to be asked anything.

"N-No. I can just feel his power a lot easier when we’re this close."

Squabee decided not to press him any further, but she could have sworn she saw a bead of seat appear above his brow. Slimo stretched his arms and looked at the sky, trying to figure out his sense of direction.

"Since we’ve made it here, I think this is where we part. I’ll be sure to be with you all when the final battle comes."

He walked up to Lidia and embraced her tightly before kissing her lips softly.

"I love you, Lidia. Please be careful on your journey."

Lidia smiled warmly.

"I love you too, Slimo."

Slimo then walked over to Leno, holding out his hand awkwardly.

"I, uh... don’t know how to say bye to you, son. Handshake?"

Leno laughed lightly before walking up to his father and hugging him gently.

"I think this is more appropriate, father. It looked like you enjoyed this gesture much more with mother."

Slimo’s eyes widened before accepting his sons display of affection. Suddenly, Leno tried kissing him on the lips. Slimo pushed his hand on his mouth.

"What are you doing?! A hug is fine!!"

Leno rubbed his head, confused.

"Oh? I saw you do that with mother so I thought you would like it."

"You’re my son! I-..."

Slimo sighed.

"I think I need to keep remembering you’re only a few hours old. Hugs will be just fine for you and I."

Leno nodded his head approvingly.

"I would like that!"

Squabee ran up to Slimo and jumped into his chest, tears rolling down her face.

"You better not die you big, fat, ugly beast!!"

Slimo scoffed at the mean words Squabee was parting him with.

"Who the hell are you calling fat?! I’m not a beast either!!"

Squabee wiped her nose as she let go of him slowly.

"Are you sure you want to go alone? What if he isn’t even alive?!"

Slimo nodded his head, smiling to himself.

"I must. Something tells me that there’s something I’m meant to see there. As for how I know he’s alive..."

He rubbed his chin, lost in thought.

"Huh. I guess maybe it is possible he croaked already, but I think it is at least worth the attempt! He would make a very powerful ally!"

Squabee fell down hearing such a ridiculous response, mumbling to herself while planted in the dirt.

"He’s wasting his time."

Sarah slowly walked toward Slimo. She held out a hand politely waiting for Slimo to grab it.

"Please don’t get too injured. I would rather save my energy for the final fight!"

Slimo shook her hand gently, bowing his head.

"Of course. Make sure to keep an eye out for any- I mean, try to keep an ear out for any trouble!"

Sarah sighed and shook her head.

"You’re just as bad as Squabee. No wonder you two get along so well."

Lastly, Sheeby bounced over to Slimo and bumped him with her head before licking his face with her monstrous tongue. Slimo pet Sheeby softly on her snout.

"I’ll miss you too, Sheebster."

"Why don’t you and Sheeby just travel together? We can all handle ourselves fine."

Suddenly, Sheeby slammed her tail on to Slimo, knocking him into the earth below.

"AHH!"

A wide crater sprouted beneath him from the hit. He slowly stood up and rubbed his back as he squeezed out a response.

"I think I’ll pass."

Leno walked over to Sheeby and pressed his head against her snout.

"Help your blood with their conquest. Clear this continent of its corruption one creature at a time."

Sheeby’s eyes glowed bright yellow before turning back into their usual dark purple. She snorted out some air and licked everyone around her one last time before preparing to sail. Before taking off, she took one last look at everyone around her.

"Goodbye, family."

With that, Sheeby exploded into the air, disappearing far beyond the clouds. Slimo’s face slowly dropped. It was time for him to leave. He began walking away from the group before doing one last look, waving everyone bye.

Everyone waved back excitedly.

"This is it, huh? I have to make every second count when I’m out here. No more time to waste."

Slimo planted his feet in the ground and dashed away, leaving a trail of dust in his wake.

He had no idea what to look for or what the Traveler possibly looked like now. All he knew was that he needed to find him within three weeks.

On his travels, Slimo encountered armies upon armies of corrupted creatures. The first wave that tried to attack him was no better than beasts. Slimo easily desecrated their numbers with little to no effort. However, the more the enemies kept attacking, the harder it became for him to fight.

’Taking head-on battles like this isn’t like me. It’s been far too long since I’ve travelled alone.’

Slimo stomped his heel on the corpse of a dead monster, sending a wave of blood rising into the air. He used the wave as a veil to mask himself behind mountains of corpses he had laying around.

An entire week of the same monotonous routine occurred. Slimo would only fight when he had to, and when he did, he would use every opportunity he could to escape. He was travelling across the continent faster than any normal human could ever hope of achieving by themself.

By himself, Slimo was in his element. There was nothing holding him back, no one for him to protect, all he had to worry bout was his own survival. In a weird way, he enjoyed it. It felt very freeing to him.

Slimo had stumbled upon his first kingdom after tirelessly traveling for days on end. He looked at its battered walls, a small hint of dread slowly creeping up his throat.

’That’s right... Zalo took over this continent. Maybe someone is still alive. We all survived, so there has to be more!’

He walked through a gaping hole in the stone wall. He wished he hadn’t. He held his stomach at the sight.

Laying across the rubble of hundreds of buildings were mixes of dead humans and creatures alike, mangled beyond recognition. Slimo walked inside further, calling out to the hollow streets.

"Hello?! Is anyone still alive?! Do you hear my voice?!"

No response. A cool wind brushed against his back. Slimo walked towards an old bar. Inside, chairs and tables were uplifted, shards of glass littered the floors and countertops, and more corpses laid across the floor, gutted or half-eaten.

Slimo walked towards the back where a door was barricaded shut. He knocked on its surface a few times before shouting once more.

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

Silence.

He kicked down the door and walked inside himself. The door was surprisingly well barricaded, but in corner of the room was a decaying corpse hanging by a rope around its throat. Slimo quickly turned around and left.

’Some... just couldn’t handle it, I guess.’

He walked back out into the streets. The sight of stands with rotting fruit, weapons scattered everywhere, and dried blood made him sick to his stomach. This was a Kingdom of Despair. Slimo walked towards the exit silently. If there was one thing he took from this brief expedition to this kingdom, it was that life was a very fragile and precious thing, and there was no way he was going to let the god who made this happen get away with ending that life.

He gritted his teeth and blew a new hole in the wall to leave.

’South. I have to keep traveling south.’

Slimo wasted no time in continuing his travels. He danced through forests, flew across mountain tops, and trudged through large deserts.

Finally, he could hear something in the distance. Loud clanging, as if there was a blacksmith working on a weapon nearby. However, the closer he got to the sound, the less it sounded like metal hitting metal and the more it sounded like metal hitting stone. He walked across a steep hill until he saw something that made his heart beat slowly.

He had made it as far south as possible. All that was before him was a cliff, and on that cliff was a man. For the first time since meeting him, Slimo could feel how strong the Traveler truly was. Energy was seeping off his being every passing second with no limit. Without a doubt, even as Slimo was now, he stood no chance. He questioned himself whether his whole group combine could even stand a chance. There was something more mysterious to the man’s actions.

The Traveler was bent down, hammering away at a flawless marble pillar. Next to it, there were five other pillars, just as beautiful, each one with a unique shape and design with writing on the front.

Suddenly, the Traveler’s deep voice shouted back at Slimo, throwing him off-guard.

"Ah. So, you didn’t forget about me after all?"