Not waiting for them to take the initiative, I dashed forward, Jelly Blade in hand, the ice shield following me—or in this case, Rani—like a shadow.

  The first tiger lunged at me, its metallic skin glinting in the sunlight. I crouched low, attempting to spear it forward. The slimes corrected my posture, and the Jelly Blade extended, piercing the beast’s neck.

  Two more tigers attacked next. Still crouched, the one on the left was stopped by the ice shield, its head slamming into the barrier and leaving it dazed. The one in the center slipped beneath the speared tiger.

  The ice shield held firm, unmoving, as if nothing had happened. Fuck.

  Like I’d let this asshole have its fun. I raised my left hand and tried to punch the beast in the head.

  The slimes adjusted my movement, and my fist landed a haymaker on the tiger’s skull. My right hand withdrew the Jelly Blade and finished off the punched tiger.

  Suddenly, my body was enveloped in shadow. Looking up, I saw one of the larger tigers—its metallic form looming—falling toward me.

  I rolled out of the way and attempted to slash at the falling beast, but my movements looked more like a drunk dancer’s. The slimes corrected my slip, and the blade extended just enough to graze the beast’s flesh, drawing blood.

  Yes, with this many enemies, what I need is movement. The moment I stop, they gain the advantage.

  Not wasting time, I went after the tiger’s back, but it vanished a moment later. A tendril from the slimes grabbed a rock, pushing my body forward.

  Behind me, I heard a crash. Turning my head, I saw the pale tiger engulfed in a cloud of dust. That fucking asshole dashed like a race car!

  A second later, I was rolling on the ground again—another crash. Another fucking pale tiger.

  The other tigers circled around us, trying to cut off any chance of escape.

  Like I’d let them keep my shards. They wish.

  The problem is, I’m not dexterous enough to fight these two beasts. I need someone better.

  "Can you oozes deal with the tigers? I know you’re fixing my slips, but to kill these tigers, I need you fully focused on taking them down." After this robbery is over, I’ll take my time learning everything these jellies can teach me. If they can teach.

  "...Yes, Henrique! Kill stink fur. Eat them, eat them! Din stinks more. Din clean, going to stop beasts from cheating moves!" They seem pumped for a quick lunch.

  Like on autopilot, my body started moving. The two tigers leaped at the same time, but the armor dashed downward, slashing at their bellies as the blade extended its reach.

  Before it could connect, the tigers dashed away, dust flooding the air. Silver tendrils shot forward, latching onto a skinned tree and propelling the armor forward. With a double kick, the body launched ahead, the impact driving it toward the tigers.

  One tiger looked up—too late—as the extending blade slowly penetrated its neck. The tiger dashed a few meters back, letting out a wailing cry, blood gushing from the wound like a river. Slowly, it collapsed to the ground.

  The remaining pale tiger roared, and the other tigers closed in. In a blink, the tiger dashed at top speed, this time aiming for my right side. The armor countered with a swing, the blade extending faster than the beast could approach. Using its haunches, the tiger skidded to a stop.

  Two more tigers tried to seize the opportunity for a quick hit. The armor slashed again, this time cutting both tigers in half, their blood pooling on the ground.

  The pale tiger leaped once more, only to dart away as the armor dashed toward it. In a blink, the tiger reappeared to my left.

  A mistake.

  The Water’s Reflection slammed down on the tiger, its lower tip freezing and punching into the beast’s neck, drawing blood. The tiger wailed, pawing at the ice shield embedded in its flesh.

  From here, I could see the blood freezing. The ooze armor didn’t wait. It jumped and sliced the tiger’s head, the blade penetrating more than halfway through. A red line of blood spewed from its face.

  The tiger collapsed to the ground, but the ooze armor wasn’t satisfied. It charged forward, beginning its tiger massacre.

  With strength in numbers driving their instincts, six tigers leaped at us simultaneously. With a rotating slash, the blade extended as long as a lance, the attack like a whirlwind. The tigers’ blood flowed as the blade cut through them—beautiful and harrowing.

  I could feel bad for the tigers, but these guys tried to fool me twice. I can’t let them do it a third time.

  In the end, none of the attackers survived more than a few seconds. The slimes fought like true warriors, and the tigers that survived were the few that fled with their tails between their legs.

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  These tigers weren’t that smart, aside from the pale ones. The smart thing to do would’ve been to run from the start.

  Let the heroes feast on their enemies’ flesh. The tiger heist didn’t go as planned.

  ---

  After a quick check on the tile relic, I confirmed it: one heir had died—the one from the gardens. I get that I’m actually in the palace gardens, but wouldn’t the heirs be inside? The map shows that, at least. Maybe he didn’t want to wait in his territory like me.

  Also, seventeen hours and forty minutes until my meeting with Houonas and the old geezer. Less than nineteen hours before all surviving heirs notice that I exist. Another player in the death match for the succession.

  Dreaming that they don’t check their tile relics as often as I do.

  I’ve got worse problems, though. When I let the slimes take their well-deserved feast...

  "Why am I fucking nude? What did you do with my clothes?!" That’s the last thing I needed right now. The only thing hiding my... _ahem_... is the shotgun, which kind of makes everything worse. I admit I’m afraid of bugs or worse finding their way into places they shouldn’t. Look at this place!

  "...Din ate it. Din didn’t eat it alone! Everyone took a bite. Bite funny clothes, bite..." These assholes.

  "Why?!" Why?!

  "...We make better clothes. Ultimate clothes. Clothes for royalty! Ooze quality, ooze quality..." I’m going to put these pests to so much work. Oh, I will!

  "And why my underpants? I’m fucking nude here. I can tolerate you eating my clothes, but why my fucking underpants?" They ate my favorite hoodie and my underpants! Now I’m seeing the downside of, the bond for sure.

  "Din ate it! Din ate it! Liars, Din didn’t eat it—Doom and Vex did! Underpants real tasty. Doom did, not Vex!... Vex won’t let that happen again, royal promise!" The leg slimes. Makes sense.

  "Do not do it again. I don’t have time to get another pair at home. Maybe it was a bad idea not taking extras. Although I’m only carrying survival gear. Like you fucking slimes would understand!" I already know the punishment I’ll dish out.

  "No slimes, ooze!" You are fucking slimes.

  "Whatever. Doom, now you’ll become my underpants—or pants, or whatever. No more tiger meat for you!" It seems only some of the tigers are sharding, like only one of the pale beasts.

  "Noooo! Tiger meat tasty!" I won’t be butt-naked in this hellscape.

  "You’re to blame for this! Come here. NOW!" It would be weird to fight my Dominion’s Digit over my underpants, but I will if I have to.

  "Awhhhhh..." Slowly, one of the slimes approached, its viscous body shifting into armored pants—the same ones from my slime armor.

  "Doom only knows right leg." Like I care.

  "Alright, I can walk for now. Geen, give me my tile relic—the one that looks like a tile. Alright, that sounded dumb. It’s a square, thin thing." Time to check how the succession is going.

  As soon as I pumped energy into the relic, the screen froze, displaying only part of the map.

  As the seconds passed, I noticed something else had changed. The sky shifted from orange to a swirl of colors—the hues of essence, vibrant and varied.

  Suddenly, it stopped. The sky returned to its strange orange color, but with a noticeable difference: a smaller, yet still prominent, sun.

  "Fuck... isn’t this breaking every law of physics?! I really want to use my AI right now. Oh well, I have more important things to do. It’s not like another sun will change the death match."

  From my communicator, the old geezer’s annoying voice yelled directly into my mind. I wish the slimes had eaten it.

  "IT’S DONE! THE SYNCHRONIZATION OF YOUR WORLD AND OTHERS IS COMPLETE!" Interesting, but right now, I have more mundane priorities than yelling at the geezer.

  Checking my tile relic, my theory was confirmed. An heir had died—the one who controlled the gardens. Yes, I fucking defeated one heir. I played dirty, but as they say, the winner writes the story. I’m not going to share this through the communicator, though. Sensitive information and all that.

  Wait, I already did that! These fucking slimes—and now this old geezer—are going to drive me insane!

  Keep calm. Focus.

  Now I can brace for an earth-shaking change.

  "Goddamn, good luck to you guys. You’ll need it. My planet is a minefield of catastrophes waiting to happen. You just need to piss off the wrong people." Maybe the nations will finally go into world-ending mode. If I could find my parents... I don’t have enough power for that yet. Maybe my siblings will be useful for all their babbling.

  Right now, they can do what I can’t.

  "... Assimilation, assimilation! Can Doom eat tasty meat now? Please, please!" This slimy rascal.

  "No, you’ll stay where you are." Bless mindspeak—I’m not in the mood to explain everything to Darefei. Also, I need a way to learn it myself. I don’t think everyone knows mindspeak. I could use Houonas or the old geezer as translators, though. Not only that, but I doubt these slimes will work out.

  Likewise, I could also give the other person a communicator, but they might refuse, thinking it’s dangerous. And how can I use the communicator and talk to the slimes using mindspeak at the same time? Strange.

  "The entire planet is in chaos with these changes, and you don’t have questions? I’ll tell you anyway. The terraforming—merging the mass of your planet with how many others—will transform this world. Not all changes will be pleasant: earthquakes, tsunamis, country-sized landslides. The powerful already have safety measures in place, but the remote villages will suffer." Magical changes, and the same old story of the world: the rich thrive, the poor suffer. I don’t have much to ask about this. I’ll probably see it with my own eyes while searching for my parents.

  "Why are you quiet, young boy? What are you doing?!" This old geezer.

  "Relax, thanks for the info. I’m finishing things here. If there’s an emergency, I’ll call you later." Speaking of finishing things, why not collect all these beautiful shards? Maybe these tiger assholes will show up again—better be fast.

  "Later!" The geezer’s voice cut off, and silence returned. Time to collect my damn shards.