Flay had remembered that the mysterious glowing pool could dissolve monsters that only their bones remained. Flay had also seen how deep the pit was. Even with the long, sickle arms, it would be easy for this half-mantis to leave.

Flay ran towards the pool and relied on his hearing to tell if the mantis would throw itself forward, and Flay would make a sharp and low turn to avoid it.

After successfully evading it several times, Flay was close to the pool. The manti jumped up once more, and Flay didn’t retreat but charged forward to block that attack of the mantis.

CLASH!

The sand blocked the two sickle-like arms.

Flay relied on the fact that this mantis had no lower half, and Flay pushed back.

His plan worked. The mantis didn't have the balance to stay still, and it began to push harder at Flay.

Flay then initiated his plan. He abandoned his sword and jumped to the side.

The sudden loss of resistance made the mantis lose his balance and move closer to the edge of the pit.

The mantis realized what was happening and stabbed its two sickle-like arms on the ground to prevent itself from moving forward.

Flay saw that his plan had failed, and he charged towards the mantis.

The mantis quickly tried to turn around when Flay arrived and tackled the mantis, and successfully pushed it off the edge of the cliff.

But suddenly…

STAB!

As the mantis was falling down, it made a desperate swing, and its sickle-like arm managed to stab the right arm of Flay.

The weight of the mantis was too much for Flay to resist. He was too weak and exhausted, so Flay fell along with the mantis.

He saw his life flash before him as he fell head-first into the pool. He closed his eyes and awaited his death, and even before he fell, Flay had already lost consciousness.

But an amazing miracle occurred as Flay fell. The mantis was pulling him through Flay's right arm, and this hand was reaching out, and it touched the slimy pool first. At that touch, a bright light erupted out.

...

...

...

A few hours later, Flay opened his eyes.

“What?” Flay was shocked.

“Was it all a dream?” Flay began to look around him.

He was at the bottom of the pit. What was more interesting was the fact that the pit was empty. Not a drop of the slimy water or a single bone was left at the bottom of the pool. He stood up and glanced around.

“Hey, you. You’re finally awake.” A voice called out.

Flay was stunned as he heard the call. The voice wasn’t something he heard, but it was as if it spoke directly in his head.

“Who?!” Flay turned around and began to search for the source.

“Down here.”

Flay was confused and turned around and saw a small dark green slime creature with a dull-gold monster core seen through the slime.

“A slime monster?”

“Hello, Master. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Master?” Flay was confused.

“Yes. You are my master. I feel a strange connection between you and me.”

“Connection? I tamed you?!” Flay then glanced at his arm. At the back of his hand, the once dark Jewel had the color of red!

“Red…! I… I actually tamed a monster?!” Flay was shocked.

“But how?! Where did you come from? And how can you talk? And where was the pool?”

“I could always talk, but now, your powers allow me to talk to you directly into your head. What pool, master?

“There was a pool here. I feel into it and should have died!” Flay then tried to recall his last memories.

He managed to kick the mantis off to fall into the pool, and as it fell, it managed to use its sickle-arms and stabbed on Flay’s arm and threw Flay into the pool.

The last thing Flay remembered was that he thrust out his Taming Hand towards the slimy pool.

“My wound!” Flay recalled that he was supposed to have a deep wound on his left arm. He looked at it, and while there was a hole on his gauntlets where the mantis stabbed, there was no wound under it.

"Not just my wound... My body is healed!" Flay felt that he was stronger now.

“What’s going on? What happened to the pool? And where’s the mantis?”

Then Flay realized what must have happened.

“That pool was this slime?! You were the slimy, glowing pool here?” Flay turned towards the Slime creature.

“I’m a pool?” The Slime was as confused as Flay.

THUMP!

An earth-shattering thump was heard, and Flay stumbled from the immense trembling.

“The monster is back!” Flay cursed.

“Monster?”

“Hey, Slime! We don’t have time! You have to help me get out of here! Do you have a way to help me climb up from this pit?”

“Yes.” The Slime answered, and it divided into two. It then jumped on Flay’s hands.

Flay felt the sticky sensation of the Slime.

“Great!” Flay knew that he could scale the wall now.

He immediately ran to the wall and started to scale the pit. With the help of the Slime, he was able to move up easily.

Flay reached the top and ran towards the top. He then saw his sword and ran towards it.

He saw the sword, and he frowned as he could see the crack from blocking the attack of the mantis.

“Damn! My sword is damaged! It will break if I use it too much!” Flay cursed.

THUMP! THUMP!

Flay could tell that the monster was moving towards his location.

Flay then ran towards the pile of corpses and jumped right in, and moved a few to bury him.

“No monster cores… It seems that this huge monster ate all of it.” The Slime sensed.

“Quiet!” Flay ordered.

“Erm… I am quiet, master. You are only the one who is hearing me.”

“I meant that I can’t think if you keep talking! I don’t know what monster is down here!” Flay frowned and hid as he peaked out of the pile of corpses.

The thumping sounds were drawing closer.

“Master… How can you see in the dark?” The Slime asked.

“What are you talking about? There’s a source of light- Wait! How can I see in the dark?!” It was only then that Flay realized he could see in the great pitch-black darkness. He could see before through the glowing light coming from the pool. But now, there was no light to illuminate the area.

“How can I see in the dark?!” Flay asked the Slime.

“This… Master, why are you asking me? We just met.” The slime didn’t know what to say as his master asked him a rather bizarre question.

The massive thumps drew closer, and Flay tossed his questions aside. His head was peaking out on top of the monster corpses, and he could see the figure.

It was a massive reptilian creature with a large beak and massive wings. It was as large as a hill and had a large beak that could swallow a few men with its massive beaks. It had a strange thick carapace all around it as it was a reptile. Its wings didn’t have feathers but had a thick, corrosive acid covering them.

“A Pteranodon?! And a mutated one at that! Master, why are you in a Pteranodon’s lair?!”

“A Pteranodon? You know what that is?”

“Yes. One of my former mentors and master, Eos Mars, knows all monster and their names. Although this one has evolved or mutated, its base form is called a Pteranodon. A dinosaur beast.”

“Mutated?”

“Yes! And the mutation of this Pteranodon is horrifying! It’s a few times larger than the usual Pteranodon!”

The creature thumped and turned, and then suddenly, it began to move swiftly, carelessly stomping through the piles of corpses, and its tail even swang and hit the pile where Flay was hidden.

BANG!

Flay was thrown to the sides and quickly got up to hide somewhere else. He chose to hide behind another pile of rotting corpses and watched.

The Pteranodon went towards the deep pit. But as it approached, the Pteranodon paused and looked around.

It suddenly dropped a huge amount of monster corpses on its mouth and began to frantically look around. His slime pool had vanished.

“ROAR!” An angry roar erupted, and the Pteranodon began to dig at the pit it created and was looking around for any signs of the pool.

“It’s looking for you!” Then, finally, Flay realized what was happening.

“Me?” The Slime was confused.

“Yes! You were clearly that slime pool that was there before!”

“I was the pool? Then, master, we have to escape now! It still could sense or smell me!” The Slime urged.

Flay was horrified as he realized this and began to creep towards the exit.

The Pteranodon was wildly thrashing about and attacking with his wings and pecking with his massive beak creating earthquakes that made it difficult for Flay to move.

“Master. Let me fix your sword. I can fix it!” The Slime suddenly spoke.

“You have?! Then do it!” Flay didn’t have time to ask any questions and the two slimes that were still in his hands like a glove began to slowly move towards Flay’s back, where his sword was sheathed on.

Flay began to run and focused on getting out.

“Done!” The slime answered.

“Great!” Flay immediately reached out for his sword but realized it wasn’t there.

“What?! Where’s my sword?!”

Suddenly, the Slime transformed into a sword.

“It’s here, master.” The slime answered.

Flay was holding the slime, which assumed the exact same form as his sword.

“What the hell?!”

“Trust me, master! Just leave now, while we have a chance!” The Slime urged.

Flay cursed but kept moving, and with his vision to see in the dark, he the exit of the massive cave where the Pteranodon made its home.

It was an uphill climb towards the exit. It was like scaling a long staircase.

“So this is what it was!” Flay realized. He ended up here because they were investigating a mysterious thump that he had been hearing. And now, the mystery was solved. This beast dug deep inside the rocky mountain to make a home for itself.

It even made the entrance like an inclined plane so that it could charge upwards and fly when it moved out.

“It was building a nest! And it was feeding you!” Flay told the slime.

“ROAR!” A powerful roar echoed out from within the cave. Strange dark energy erupted out.

“Dark Scan?! How can that Pteranodon use magic?!” The Slime was shocked.

The dark energy rushed out like the wind and passed through Flay, and the magic enveloped the Slime monster, and it was as if the darkness locked on in it.

“Master! Run! It found me!”

“Why is my life cursed?!” Flay shouted in bitterness as he sprinted faster and reached the exit.

ROAR!

The massive thumps echoed out from within the cave as the Pteranodon began to move towards the exit.

As Flay reached the exit, he found himself on top of a hill, and he immediately ran down.

“Master! Wait! This entire hill is covered in a strange, hazardous poison! Let me cover your legs first!” The Slime immediately reverted from his sword form, divided into two, and covered Flay’s legs from his foot to his knee.

“Be careful, master! This poison is corrosive!”

Flay immediately ran down the hill. The massive Pteranodon emerged out of the entrance and glided over the air as he was halfway down. Flay finally saw the full size of the beast as it spread its wings over the twin moons that lightened the dark night.

It was searching around and found Flay running, and it began to turn and chase after Flay.

“Damn it!” Flay ran faster and rushed towards the dense trees in the forest below.