The massive Pteranodon was gliding and turning towards Flay, running down the hill.

With the forest just below, Flay ran downhill. Thankfully, the Slimes sticky powers allowed him to keep his footing on each step.

“Help me keep my balance!” Flay ordered, and he began to decrease his speed.

“Master, why are you slowing down?”

“Trust me!” Flay answered as he watched the Pteranodon’s massive body assume a landing position.

The strong flap of the Pteranodon’s wings created a massive gust on the hill and the corrosive substance that covered the sides of the hill.

But Flay kept running and was able to keep his foot planted.

The Pteranodon made a huge peck, and Flay suddenly revealed his real speed at the last moment.

BOOM!

The peck missed, and Flay ran towards the forest.

The Pteranodon had landed and roared, and it leaped down and glided, not caring of the dense trees where Flay disappeared too.

CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!

The trees were easily mowed down as the massive wings of the Pteranodon sliced through the forest.

Flay kept running and running, but the Pteranodon was gaining on him.

“Slimey! Follow my lead! Be alert and move to my arms if I reach out and touch it! You also have to move back to my legs quickly!”

“Yes, Master!” The Slime agreed.

The Pteranodon made another peck as it landed, and Flay managed to evade it by stopping. However, because of the Slime, he was able to go to an immediate stop, and the peck of the Pteranodon crashed right in front of him.

Flay ran and jumped as he touched his left arm to his shins. The Slime immediately transferred to Flay’s hand, and Flay used his left arm and his right leg to jump on the large beak of the Pteranodon.

The sticky form of the slime allowed Flay to reach the side and climb towards the back of the beast.

The Pteranodon noticed it and began to shake Flay off.

But Flay kept climbing, changing the Slimes position from his hands to his feet as needed, and managed to remain attached to the Pteranodon.

Finally, Flay reached the top of the massive head of the Pteranodon, and Flay immediately pushed his palm and leg together so that both his foot and his two arms were within the Slime.

“Hold!” Flay ordered, and the Slime began to spread out to increase the area of how it was sticking to the Pteranodon.

The very skin of the Pteranodon was full of dark, acidic properties that began to cause irritations and minor burns to Flay. But Flay kept holding on and ignored the pain.

The Pteranodon began to shake its head angrily, but the slime’s sticky power allowed him to stay.

“Master! We won’t hold on any longer!”

“At my command, let go!” Flay ordered as the beast kept shaking its head. It tried to reach Flay with the claws on the middle of its wings, but it couldn’t reach the top of its head.

In frustration, the Pteranodon decided to bang the back of its head by drooping on its back.

“Now!” Flay pushed and kicked and was thrown off as the Pteranodon was dropping its head back.

Like a rock on a catapult, Flay was thrown further away.

BANG!

The Pteranodon crashed down and began to quickly get up.

Flay flew out towards the forest, and as he was flying towards a tree, he reached his hands out ahead with both close together, reforming the whole slime.

SMASH!

Flay crashed on the tree, but the Slime acted as a cushion that protected his head from slamming into the tree.

The Slime immediately stopped using its sticky form, and Flay slid down.

His hands were ringing with pain, but Flay began to move out.

The Pteranodon was having a hard time standing up, and Flay ran out.

But even as the Pteranodon stood up, it did not fly up but howled angrily and searched nearby.

“Good! Just as planned! I was right! Its mutation is strange! It cannot fly but only glide! That’s why the Path in his home was like a staircase! He was using it to run so that he would glide when he moves up!” Flay ran with excitement.

“Master… That was amazing! The Slime praised.

“I am amazing, dear subject. But we have to hurry! You still have some black energy around you. So that Pteranodon could still find you!”

“Right. We have to flee and get out of its scope! He’s using this dark energy like a beacon. But the fewer energy that remains, the harder it would be to sense me!”

“That’s great! For now, Get back to my feet! I’ve always wanted to move like those Ninja Apprentices of the Kingdom!” Flay laughed.

The slime followed, and with the sticky connection, the slime and Flay began to scale trees swing on branches and move with great speed.

The angry Pteranodon followed the remaining dark energy, but it could not run as fast as possible. It could not pick up speed due to the trees in front of it and gave an angry howl as it retreated back to the hill so that it could glide.

Flay was focused on fleeing, so the slime decided to hold off its questions. He was confused as to who Flay was and how he, the slime, awakened from his long slumber. But as seconds turned into minutes, the Slime was amazed at the talents of Flay.

“He’s quickly adapting to my powers. Never before have I seen such terrifying battle instincts than this boy before me!” The Slime thought deeply. It had served the strongest beings in the universe, and he could gauge potential and power. The Pteranodon was a monster that could kill warriors and experts fighting and killing those who reached the fourth stage of the Rank of Power. But it would take those on the fifth stage, those who were called ‘Great Experts’ or ‘Sage’ to subdue and kill this powerful beast.

“Master… What Ranks of Power have you reached? And what Path have you taken? I can’t tell if you’ve taken the Path of a Brute or the Path of Ability users.”

“How can a Slime like you know of the Ranks of Power and about Paths? I’m at Rookie-6. If it’s Path, then we belong to Taming Hand Ability users. We all cultivate Brute power.”

“A dual cultivation?”

“Dual cultivation? You mean like battle mages?”

“No. Master, what’s the strongest cultivator in your family?”

“I don’t have a family. I’m an orphan.”

“In your village, then.”

“That would be on the next rank. The village chief is an Apprentice-5 Brute Heavy-Weapon user.”

The Slime was amazed. He was well-learned about cultivation and realized that Flay’s heritage and knowledge in cultivation are either weak or flawed. And yet, Flay has shown the amazing talent that survived a beast that those three Ranks of Power higher than him would surely die!

BOOM! BOOM!

Distant booming sounds could be heard, and Flay could see the massive size of the Pteranodon climbing the hill.

“We have to hurry!” Flay raced through the trees and began to move even faster.

Suddenly, Flay a cliff, and at the bottom was a river.

“A river? Hey, Slimey! If we jump in the river, can that Pteranodon still detect you?”

“That’s a brilliant plan, Master! The dark power will be blocked as the water will be full of life essence. The death essence would be masked! It should work!"

“Good!” Flay then jumped down the cliff. He used the Slime to latch on the cliff and let go and grab on the cliff again.

“The river is quite ferocious, Master! Are you sure?” The Slime was surprised to see the white foams from the river's currents.

“Yeah. You float, right? I’ve been through worse. The river I fell into was even more deadly than this. Now, I have an easy flotation monster that can change form.” Flay laughed as he jumped down after confirming the depth of the river.

SPLASH!

Flay held the Slime down underwater and kept himself up.

The Slime acted and immediately enlarged its size and became a small board. Its body was always submerged, and Flay floated on top of it.

With that, Flay began to navigate and would kick, push, or turn the Slime to avoid the rocks and protect himself from the turns and drops of the river.

Unknown to him, the Slime was quickly taking in the energy of the water.

“This dark spell from that beast is hindering my absorption of life essence! There is too little life essence that I can absorb to heal Master!” The Slime secretly complained. He dared not disturb his Master, who was focused on navigating through the dangerous river. Instead, he kept on using whatever life essence he could absorb to heal his Master even though Flay didn’t notice it.

Just like this, the pair traveled downstream for nearly an hour.

At the last curve, Flay could feel that they were approaching the waterfall as his ears could hear a loud crashing sound.

The two immediately left the river.

Flay fell, climbed up on land, and was gasping for breath.

“Is… the dark energy of the Pteranodon still there?”

“A faint energy. But with such great distance, the Pteranodon shouldn’t be able to locate us easily. So we still have to move, Master.” The Slime answered.

Flay sighed and began to lift himself. The scenery before him was a wasteland. There was little vegetation on no trees, but small ponds of water scattered throughout the vast wilderness, and several large hills were present.

Flay cursed as he still couldn’t recognize the land before him. Nor had he heard of it from the Scouting Tamers.

“Turn back into a sword.”

“Yes.” The Slime reformed itself and became a sword.

“Are you sure you can act like my real sword? Why did you have to eat it?”

“It’s my ability. I am confident that I would even be harder and more durable than your sword. And even if I break, I can reform it again.”

“That’s actually… amazing! But you still feel weird to hold.” Flay began to cut out some of the thick leaves nearby.

Flay made a small glove out of the leaves as he tied it around his hand like a bandage.

“Much better.” Flay was now more comfortable as he held on to the handle of the sword.

“We have a lot to talk about, slimey. But let's reserve that for later when we know we are safe. First, we get out of this place!” Flay began to run into the wastelands before him.