SS Awakening: My Monster Merging System!

In another part of the ruined city, Helen and the others were moving through a narrow underground passage.

The passage was not wide. The giant Velhari had to bend his head slightly while walking, and every few steps his shoulder scraped against the wall, causing dust to fall from above.

"This place was clearly not built for people of proper size," the giant Velhari muttered in annoyance.

"Maybe the builders simply did not expect walking mountains to use it," the short Velhari replied calmly.

The giant Velhari glanced at him with an ugly expression, but he did not say anything more. Even he knew this was not the place to start arguing.

Helen walked near the front with her staff in hand. Her face was calm, but her eyes kept scanning the passage ahead, and from time to time her fingers tightened around her staff.

Jayden walked a few steps behind her.

Since what happened earlier, he had not spoken much. His face was still cold, but the silence around him felt heavier than usual.

Varok walked at the center of the group.

His spear rested in one hand, but his eyes were not on the people around him. They were fixed on the ground.

A thin groove ran along the side of the passage.

At first, it looked like a water channel, but the more they followed it, the more obvious it became that it was not made for water. Faint traces of blue light clung to the inner wall of the groove.

Varok suddenly stopped.

"Wait."

Everyone halted.

Helen turned toward him. "What is it?"

"I can sense a powerful presence ahead," he said.

...

Back in the cavern...

The giant sat on the ground like a beast guarding its food.

In front of it was a mound of soul stones.

A huge mound.

Undead couriers walked toward the pile one by one and emptied their sacks before retreating immediately. The bone giant did not thank them. It simply reached down with one massive hand and grabbed a handful of soul stones.

CRUNCH!!!

The sound made Slimy’s whole body shake. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

The bone giant crushed the stones between its teeth and swallowed the glowing fragments. Blue light spread through its ribs afterward, pulsing once before fading into its huge body.

Slimy stared.

It understood now.

The undead were feeding this thing.

The bone giant reached for another handful.

CRUNCH!!! CRUNCH!!!

More soul stones shattered inside its mouth. The red glow in its chest brightened slightly, and several cracks along its arms slowly closed as if the stones were healing it.

Slimy’s body trembled harder.

This was bad.

Very bad.

Zich needed to know.

The slime slowly backed away, but just as it moved, a small bone chip cracked under its body.

CRACK!

Every courier nearby froze.

Slimy froze too.

The bone giant stopped chewing.

For one long second, the entire cavern was silent.

The giant’s massive skull slowly turned toward the tunnel entrance.

Slimy’s small eyes widened. It did the only thing it could think of. It spat poison at the nearest courier.

PSHHH!!!

The poison melted through the courier’s head instantly, and the body collapsed into the stone channel. Several soul stones spilled from its basket and rolled across the floor.

That triggered them!

The couriers let out dry rattling sounds and rushed toward Slimy from every side.

Slimy bounced backward immediately.

It did not try to fight them all. Zich had not told it to fight. Zich had told it to report back everything it saw.

So Slimy ran. Or rather, bounced.

It shot back through the tunnel, flattening its body to pass under grasping claws and broken weapons. A courier lunged toward it from the side, but Slimy spat poison into its arm and slipped past as the bones collapsed.

Behind it, the bone giant slowly rose.

BOOOOM!!!

The entire cavern shook under its movement.

Loose stones fell from the ceiling, and the soul stone channels rattled violently. The giant opened its jaws, and a deep sound rolled through the tunnels like a command.

Slimy did not look back. It bounced faster.

A red glow spread through the passage behind it, and dozens of undead couriers began chasing after it, crawling along the floor, walls, and ceiling.

Slimy panicked a little. It squeezed into the smaller tunnel it had used earlier, forcing its body through the narrow opening. The couriers behind it were too large to enter easily, but that did not stop them from clawing at the stone.

SCRRKKK!!! SCRRKKK!!!

Their bony fingers scraped against the tunnel walls.

Slimy pushed forward with everything it had.

Its body was dirty now, covered in dust and bone powder. It hated the feeling. It wanted to return to Zich quickly and also maybe be praised.

Especially praised!

The tunnel finally sloped upward.

Slimy could feel Zich ahead.

That familiar connection became clearer with every bounce, and the slime moved even faster.

Outside, near the fountain, Zich remained hidden while watching another undead empty a sack of soul stones into the hole.

The undead turned to leave.

At that exact moment, Slimy shot out of the tunnel like a blue ball.

BOING!!!

It crashed directly into Zich’s chest.

Zich caught it with both hands before it could fall.

Slimy trembled violently in his grip, its body wobbling as if it had seen something truly terrible. Poison bubbles rose across its surface, then vanished, then rose again.

Zich looked down at it with narrowed eyes.

"What did you see?"

Slimy bounced once, then twice, then shook its whole body while pointing one tiny extension toward the hole.

Through their bond, Zich felt pieces of what Slimy had seen, and his expression slowly changed.

"So that is where the stones are going," he muttered as he gently placed Slimy on his shoulder.

"Good work."

Slimy stopped trembling for half a second, feeling very pleased.

Zich then looked toward the tunnel again as the rumbling grew louder from below. His lips slowly curled upward.

"A bone giant... it would be very stupid to waste a good material like this."

***

Quick Clarification: The Elite undead Knight is named Iron. Putting this here incase you still See GraveWardern even after the edit.