Monster Breeder

30. Flou

Wait, I forgot the bunny girl!

I run from the Treefolk bonfire and the center of the battlefield to the outskirts where we left the wounded bunny. Gabby is hot on my heels despite her short stature as I’m thoroughly beat from all the Wolf Rushes I haven’t had a chance to recover from. Dura follows us at a greater distance.

The fear she’s been trampled by the escaping Fuzzy folk or pursuant Goblinoids stirs within me, but I find her before long. There’s been no miraculous recovery. At first, I assume I’ve found a corpse, but my need to be absolutely sure has me checking her heartbeat anyway.

She’s cold, and still, but has a faint pulse.

“Not much time left,” Gabby states matter-of-factly.

“Can’t you do anything?” I don’t even know the bunny’s name, but I really don’t want her to die. Maybe I’m just imagining Cottontail in the same situation…

“An Apprentice can only copy the magic she’s seen.” Gabby waves her Rod over a patch of grass, causing it to rapidly grow to five times its height in seconds. She must’ve learned that from the Pitcher plant!

“But, you have your herbs?” I motion to her bandolier of pouches.

“Alex… If I were an Herbalist, maybe I could infuse a poultice with enough magic to save her. An Apprentice can only identify an herb’s uses and preserve its potency.”

That line of thinking excites me. “We fulfilled the requirements, though! You helped kill two second-tier plant monsters. Shouldn’t you be evolving soon?”

Gabby shakes her head. “You’re forgetting I need Mandragora nectar. It’s a critical requirement.”

My hopes are brutally dashed, but I don’t give up. “You can sew her up, though?”

The little green shortstack shrugs. “Won’t do much good. She’s lost too much blood. It was either save the bunny after you rescued her or go help Dura defeat the Treefolk. Alex, I’m sorry.”

I’m only a little mad. I’d have made the same decision regardless. I couldn’t save all the Fuzzy Folk the Treefolk killed. This was just one more bunny compared to (at the time) going after Dura and Suka to make sure they were okay.

“I’d look for a dick to get pregnant by, but I didn’t see any healing options among my Breeder marks. I probably need to go back to Town and fuck a Taurine Milker to get that kind of magic.”

Gabby nods her agreement with my assessment, pauses, and looks at my tummy tattoo. “Anything from the Treefolk?”

It’s worth checking.

*Forest Marks – Three*

Mandragora Photosynthesis

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Pitcher Treefolk Photosynthesis

Twisted Treefolk Twisted Apple

Twisted Treefolk Roots

Pitcher Treefolk Vines

Mandragora Plant Growth Magic

Pitcher Treefolk Plant Growth Magic

Twisted Treefolk Bark Skin

Twisted Treefolk Earth Magic

Twisted Treefolk Cock

Pitcher Treefolk Stomach Acid

“Nothing useful.” I sigh. The mark system seems fairly accommodating this time in letting me see all the options hidden behind Photosynthesis. Maybe it’s because I saw all those skills in action?

Gabby studies the tattoo menu I’d brought up. “What happens when you take Earth Magic from two sources?”

That’s an interesting experiment… “Not the time, honey.” I’m still in mourning/wracking my brain for a way to save this bunny on death’s door.

“Sorry.” We have a moment of silent contemplation before Gabby offers another suggestion. “You have a Pink Slime, right? Those are supposed to have healing magic.”

I blink. “Gabby, you stupid genius, why didn’t you say so sooner?”

I scramble through my tummy tattoo menus to find my ‘status’ screen with my pet list.

*Pets*

*Dormant Pink Slime Core*

*Subjugated Slime Core – One!*

“You said it was dormant…” Gabby defends her earlier silence.

Indeed, despite poking and prodding the writing on my tummy tattoo like an ancient human touchscreen, nothing happens. I have no idea how to wake Olindia!

After the tenth futile attempt to click on the Pink Slime Core, my finger slips, selecting the Subjugated Slime Core by mistake.

My womb stirs as the dark marble embedded in my uterine liner dislodges and is expelled through my secret tunnel. After unsummoning my crab armor to get naked, I push the foreign object through my canal as if giving birth to a tiny baby, catching the Slime Core in the palm of my hand.

I hold the core aloft and frown. Recollections resurface. I remember Olindia talking about her experience of being eaten by a Slime.

Being eaten…

I kneel by the bunny girl, who coughs weakly. Her eyes flutter open and meet mine. “You… you’re the human who saved me.” She gives me a fragile, tender smile that breaks my heart. “Except… I’m dying… aren’t I?”

“Shh,” I absently pet her auburn hair while deciding how to handle this. Even after meeting Cottontail, I still marvel at how small and perfectly proportioned the Fuzzy folk are. “I think I have a way to save you, but it’s not guaranteed. And, it might hurt.”

She laughs, wincing as the motion jostles her grievous wounds, and says, “What do I have to lose?”

I take the question seriously. If the Slime Core is already ‘Subjugated’ then… “You might become bound to me.”

Her eyes dance with mirth as she looks at me in a different light, her nose twitches as she smells my scent, and her gaze lingers on my lips, “…As if that were such a terrible fate.”

I smile at the unspoken compliment. “What’s your name?”

“My… my friends call me Flou.”

“Okay, Flou, swallow this.”

She obediently opens her mouth, which would be an erotic sight if not for the nearby gore, and I give her the Slime Core. She swallows it whole.

Flou immediately grimaces, then gasps, before vomiting blue slime onto herself. The same blue slime pours from her wound, covering the bunny girl from head to toe in seconds. The following minute is extremely graphic and gruesome. Her entire body is dissolved from both outside-in and inside-out, starting with the skin, followed by muscle and organs, until her bones finally crumble.

All that’s left is a blue slime of about five gallons in volume. Then the slime loses coherence, spilling onto the ground in a puddle that quickly evaporates.

I pluck the Slime Core off the ground and hold it up to the light to investigate.

“Did it work?” Gabby asks, totally fascinated. I’m reminded her hobby is studying monster evolution.

“I can’t tell. Wait…”

I hold the Slime Core to my tunnel entrance and tap Olindia’s Pink Slime icon on my tummy tattoo. As before when near the Misty Grove, a pink slimy tendril emerges from my vaginal opening to grab the core and pull it inside my womb. I recheck my ‘status’ screen.

*Pets*

*Dormant Pink Slime Core*

*Subjugated Fuzzy Slime Core*

“…I think it did.”