The Nightshade Terror (BL Harem)

Valentius was blind, but he didn't care! The branch had hit something! That something had splattered on the ground!

The nucleus was certainly there!

He just needed to kill all the slimes! Even if it meant that he would be throwing branches at random just to even catch one.

But what did it matter, the boy asked himself, his limbs and face safe from the acid?

"I found it! The way around slimes!" He thought to himself, as he began to crawl on the slimy ground. Searching for another branch. "Come on! Even a pebble will do!"

His fingers managed to find something sharp. He gave out a whoop of joy! There were many of those sharp things there! He didn't even need to move!

Throw!

Splat!

Another throw!

Another splat, with the wobbling coming closer and closer!

Valentius couldn't believe his luck! The slimes were coming to him! He really didn't need to move from his spot!

There was that saying that if one invested in a bottomless quiver, and placed one bundle of arrows inside during off days, he couldn't help but think, as he threw another goo-covered sharp thing over his head, becoming bathed in more of the goo which didn't really seem to do anything to him, then that person would have unlimited ammo!

Whatever that was true or not, Valentius mused, as the wobbling became quieter and quieter, so, as if there weren't all that many slimes left, was up for debate.

After all, the peaceful days usually didn't last more than a week, or so the Hag had told them all.

What with them all being taxed to death and all…

Valentius worried his bottom lip. A single word swimming in his mind.

Taxes…

He would need to be Valentius to pay his taxes… Or he could live in this cave for the rest of his life.

 This cave, which was close to Wendel.

It was only a matter of time, he reasoned with himself, even as the temptation for a roof over his head with treasure and food from the forest grew too big, before the guards gave up and the adventurers came for him.

And those were worse than hunting hounds!

 Just the thought that Bartolomeo, mountain of muscle Bartolomeo, who had been no older than him but still passed the physical with top honors, would be sent after him, gave him the chills.

If those meaty hands closed around Valentius' equally meaty neck, they weren't going to bother to choke him!

 No!

Bartolomeo was going to snap his neck! Ring it so, as if Valentius were a chicken meant for the night's meal!

He shook his head.

No, as safe as the cave was now, he couldn't stay. He threw one of the sharp pebble-like things up in the air!

 A splat sounded above his head. But no wobbling followed.

Valentius waited. Slimes are mindless, he told himself. But dungeon cores are not, he reminded himself sternly.

If he were smart, and he liked to believe that, despite his meager math skills, he wasn't a complete airhead, then he would just collect what there was to collect there, on the first floor of the dungeon, and then try to find the exit.

Conquered levels always gave you a way out, the Hag had told him. Most dungeon cores are lazy, she had claimed with a huff, before taking out another cigar from her pocket.

Making them all stifle groans and coughs, as she smoked. Valentius never understood why she did it.

Why did she poison herself so?

He didn't want to understand. He just didn't want to end up like her!

The path of the hero was before him, he thought with a smile! An entire slime nest, vanquished, he patted himself on the goo-covered shoulder, ready to loot!

His fingers tugged at his protective head covering.

At first, his eyes couldn't adjust. The cave wasn't completely dark, but it was a near thing.

Glowing bugs were flying around, touching the goo-covered ground from time to time and then taking off.

Their lights were flickering.

Meant to disorient, Valentius told himself. If he had not known that this was a dungeon at the start, and not some wild cave with mobs, then he knew it now.

His eyes darted to the walls. The exit was here, somewhere! All dungeon cores were lazy! That was what the Hag had said!

His fingers, which had been by the pile from where he had been taking the sharp things slipped.

He fell, managing to catch himself only by sheer luck!

Valentius blinked.

Why were the pebbles this white? Something was wrong! That one over there was hollow! That other one over there had something red coming out of it…

Oh…

As soon as he put the word bones to his mystery weapon, he shot to his feet!

This wasn't some rock formation! This was the feeding hole of the slimes! Where they came to finish off their victims!

"I need to get out of here," he stumbled out of that pit of horrors. His eyes began to dart wildly.

Something snapped under his foot. He shuddered, imagining a skull.

Only to see a slime nucleus.

"Huh?" He mumbled, feeling like he would empty his stomach and curl up in here. Never to wake up.

Loot…

That one word made him jolt. His breathing quickened.

Loot! This was loot! He had managed to clear the floor, and now he could get the loot!

 If he didn't, then he was just some person who had wandered in, only to run out!

He bent over, his fingers reaching for the broken thing. Even if he turned it into dust, he could still get some money for it!

And…

"Help!" It was a scream. A scream of someone who was fighting for their life. A scream carried through the echo of the cave.

The person, Valentius told himself, could be anywhere on the lower floors! They had wandered in; they had not managed to reign in their greed, and they had ended up in danger!

But… why was he saying they and person when he knew who was screaming?

Why was Albert crying, begging, praying?

Albert's voice made him forget about the nucleus. Because, even as Albert had been at his worst, a bully who called him Valentine for the sport of it, he had still healed his wounds when Valentius had asked.

Valentius ran down the corridors!

The loot forgotten…