Chapter 29: Julia Reborn
6 Minutes Earlier
Utarou sat beneath a large tree as the night time storm raged.
Utarou couldn’t remember the last time he slept properly, he was on edge with roaming bands of Goblins, the Dryholm Militia and the threat of Templar Adam.
It’d been a hard couple of months, and for all his hard work he had a nearly overflowing bucket of blue goo that was once Julia.
Or was still Julia, he didn’t know anymore.
“Well well, the former governor of Dracon’s, sitting in rags in the rain with a bucket of what I can only presume to be the lucky lady.” A familiar voice echoed from the distance. Utarou’s head whipped around to see a man clad in pure white, his presence glowing in the dark night.
Templar Adam had arrived.
“A-a-ah! Finally, it’s been too long… You have that skill to check skills right…?” Utarou asked anxiously, the long awaited moment and his confidence was at an all time low.
“Hmpth, but of course.” Templar Adam scoffed, snapping his fingers to open up Julia's menu.
Utarou let out a sigh of relief when it worked.
“My my! Total Cellular Control! Now that sounds fancy… I’m sure it’d be useful for this mess here.” Templar Adam laughed as he kicked the bucket Julia was in, nearly tipping it over.
“And let’s see, Body of Water, turns every cell in the body into a fluid, almost like a slime, my my, is this the kind of Monster Girl you were hoping for Utarou~?” Templar Adam asked, almost mockingly as he closed Julia’s menu.
“K-Kinda? I mean she has the Tier 4 skill, clearly! Right there! Deal’s done right?” Utarou pleaded as he picked up Julia and took a step back.
“Utarou, Utarou, Utarou… Are you trying to tell me, this pile of sludge, is somehow equal to Perfection?” Templar Adam asked with a smirk, opening his menu to reveal the skill.
It was solid gold, glowing in a white light and had locked every other skill in his skill tree.
Its ability was simple.
“Perfected Stats. All other skills are permanently hidden after unlocking.” Templar Adam said as he closed the menu.
“Now, I can’t read that skills description, so it’s hard to say you really showed me it.” Templar Adam explained as he got out his sword.
“Hey now let’s not-” Utarou began but was cut off by Adam taking a swing of his sword.
It cut through the air itself, cracking like lightning.
Utarou ran behind a tree, the ground exploding just next to him as he clenched onto the bucket of Julia as tightly as he could in the harsh storm.
“What the hell!?” Utarou screamed as Adam approached, coated in a divine light.
“Perfection, the complete rejection of skills outside of physical, magical, mental prowess. The only known Tier 4 skill and it requires the rejection of the skill tree in its entirety. Do you really think God would create a skill like that just to claim that others are equally viable? Do you really think that these training wheels are what will progress humanity further?” Adam laughed as he continued to strike, the air itself sparking with the sheer force and speed of his attacks. Utarou dodged, pushing the bucket of Julia as far away as possible, his entire low half being annihilated.
And it wasn’t healing.
Now
“C’mon Julia C’mon! Talk to me here! You’ve got enough XP to level up right? Right?!” Utarou hissed as he hid from Templar Adam, holding a bucket of blue goo that was once Julia.
The night was dark, stormy, the sounds of Adam’s strikes against the forest and the thunder rolling across the landscape was difficult to distinguish.
“How the hell did this happen?” Utarou thought as he rushed between the bushes, time slowing to a crawl as he and Adam locked eyes, Julia’s imminent demise was clear to both of them.
So, in a moment of panic, Utarou did the only thing he could think of doing and tossed the bucket of acidic slime onto the Templar.
Adam sliced the air, splitting Julia in half, a single drop managing to get in Adam’s eye.
“Ouch, that stings.” Adam smirked as he looked at the puddle of Julia on the ground.
“S-she got a hit on you?” Utarou gulped. Adam cocked his head.
“She did… Oh my, she did.” Adam said as he looked back, realizing what she’d let happen as the puddle that was Julia began to reform before the two mens very eyes.
She literally pulled herself together from the water, her face looking up to Adam as she formed a massive fist and tried to punch him in the face. Adam dodged but put away his sword.
“GET BACK HERE YOU DICK!” Julia shouted as she formed a pair of legs, trying and failing to attack Adam in her new body, it stretched and whipped, shifting in shape and size as she tried and failed to attack the pondering Adam.
“Organs removed, simulacra created to replicate humanoid features seemingly effortlessly…” Adam muttered with great concern as Julia kept trying to hit him.
“C’MON ONE MORE GOOD HIT AND I’LL GET A BILLION MORE XP!” Julia growled while Utarou just watched, his legs finally starting to regenerate.
“Finally…” Utarou muttered, pulling himself up as Julia and Adam danced their dance.
“FINALLY!” Utarou shouted, raising his hands into the air.
“THE FIRST MONSTER GIRL!” Utarou screamed, lightning striking as he bellowed into the forest.
Adam looked up at Utarou and quickly approached, side stepping behind Julia without her notice.
“You know, you’ve made my job very difficult now.” Adam hissed, clenching Utarou’s shoulder.
“H-hey don’t think about breaking your promise! Julia show him the skill menu again!” Utarou shouted.
“Huh? Oh right!” Julia exclaimed as she quickly opened up her menu, revealing that her skill tree had changed as well.
The center of her skill tree was now a new skill called “Slimenoid”, with no other skills to be seen.
It wasn’t sleek like every other menu Utarou had seen, or glowing in gold like Adams, it was fluid, bubbly and most concerningly, resembled an animals skill tree more than a Humans or Monsters.
“Hmpth, I am honour bound to keep my promise to both you and the church. Unfortunately my duty to the church requires me to bring back a heretics head.” Adam sighed as Julia approached, trying to get a sneak attack on Adam but only managing to splash him with a bit of her acidic body.
“Aw man, it didn’t another crazy XP boost…” Julia sighed as she finally settled down, sitting down in her new body, finding her lower legs melting into the floor as she did so.
“Weird…” Julia remarked as she started experimenting with her new form.
“S-so, you know I can just give you a spare head right?” Utarou offered.
“That might just have to do for now… Though I make no promises in it assisting with wild lands status.” Adam sighed.
“Wild wha-” Utarou asked before his head was cut off, a fresh one growing from his spine as Adam disappeared with the other one.
“Well… Glad that’s over…” Utarou sighed, falling to the ground, and for the first time in months, falling asleep.