The Monster Tamer Who Hates Monsters

Chapter 3: The First Utility

The world dissolved into a cacophony of monstrous roars and splintering concrete. The aggressive creature, its dark fur matted with grime, burst forward with an unstoppable ferocity. Its glowing yellow eyes, fixed on them with murderous intent, were the last thing Victor saw before Daniela shoved him hard against the crumbling concrete barrier. He stumbled, his legs refusing to hold his weight, and collapsed into a trembling heap.

"Get down, you idiot!" Daniela’s voice was a strained shout, raw with urgency. She fired her crossbow, another bolt whistling past Victor’s ear to thud harmlessly into the monster's thick hide. The beast barely flinched, its massive head striking the barrier where Victor had been moments before. A deafening CRACK! ripped through the air, and a spiderweb of fresh fissures spread across the concrete. Dust exploded outwards, stinging Victor's eyes and coating his tongue with gritty particles.

He whimpered, pressing himself against the cold, vibrating wall, his mind a whirlwind of pure, unadulterated panic. Every instinct screamed at him to curl into a ball, to disappear, to simply cease to exist. His breath hitched in his throat, a frantic, useless gasp for air that wouldn't come. This wasn't a dream. This was real. The monstrous fangs, the hot, foul breath, the sheer, crushing weight of its presence—it was all terrifyingly real.

"Victor! Are you just going to sit there and die?!" Daniela snarled, her voice tight with strain as she reloaded, her eyes never leaving the snarling beast. Her crossbow clacked as she notched another bolt. The monster let out a guttural growl, circling their crumbling refuge, its immense weight making the ground tremble. It pawed at the barrier, sending more chunks of concrete flying. "We can't stay here! It's going to bring this whole wall down!"

Victor could only shake his head, mute with terror. His hands were clamped over his ears, as if that would block out the roaring, the thudding, the imminent destruction. His chest was tight, his heart hammering against his ribs like a trapped bird desperately trying to escape its cage. He could feel the vibrations of the monster's every movement through the wall, through the very ground. He was going to die. He was going to die in this desolate, ruined place, torn apart by something out of a nightmare, and there was nothing, absolutely nothing, he could do.

"Hey! Focus!" Daniela’s sharp voice cut through his despair. "Is that thing of yours good for anything besides looking pathetic? We need a distraction, or we need an opening!" She gestured frantically towards the slime, which, true to form, was still hovering behind Victor, a foot away, quivering in its placid, harmless way.

Victor’s eyes, unfocused from fear, finally landed on the pale blue blob. It was still there, his unwanted, disgusting companion. His. The thought, even in his terror, was a jolt. The System. The 'taming.' The way it had moved that rebar, how it had stretched and absorbed. A desperate, almost suicidal idea sparked in the depths of his panicked mind. He remembered the System's insistent instruction about the slime's 'malleability' and its ability to 'shape' itself to tasks, even if the word 'malleability' itself wasn't directly stated, the action had been.

"M-m-malleable," Victor stammered, the word escaping his lips without his conscious consent. His gaze frantically darted from the monster, which was now tearing at the corner of their makeshift cover, to a narrow gap between two precariously leaning concrete slabs just beyond the monster’s reach. It was a tight squeeze, perhaps wide enough for Daniela, but too narrow for the monster. And it was starting to crack even more under the strain of the monster's assault.

"What are you even talking about, Victor?!" Daniela yelled, firing another bolt. It struck the monster's leg, and the beast let out an enraged bellow, snapping its jaws in their direction, a chilling sound of bone meeting bone.

"The slime!" Victor screamed, his voice raw and desperate, finally finding something to focus on beyond his terror. He pointed a trembling finger at the narrow, collapsing passage. "You! You, slime! Block it! Block that gap! Expand! Malleable! Now!"

It felt ridiculous, yelling at a blob of goo while a monster the size of a small car tried to break them apart. Yet, as the words tore from his throat, the faint, unsettling connection to the slime flared, a sudden, urgent tug. The small, blue blob, still quivering a foot behind him, seemed to hesitate for a split second. Its rudimentary black eyes, if they could even be called eyes, seemed to tilt. Then, as if an invisible switch had been flipped, it began to expand. Not just a slight elongation, but a rapid, almost forceful swelling.

"Holy—" Daniela began, her voice laced with astonished disbelief, as she watched the slime.

The pale blue mass pulsed, stretching rapidly, flowing like liquid taffy, growing larger and larger, propelled by Victor’s panicked command and the terrifying proximity of the aggressive monster. It surged towards the narrow gap between the crumbling concrete slabs, its form morphing, stretching, and widening until it became a bulging, gelatinous wall, sealing off the passage. It wasn’t solid, but it was thick, squishy, and effectively blocked the monster's immediate path.

The aggressive monster, momentarily baffled by the sudden appearance of the pulsating blue barrier, roared in frustration. It clawed at the slime, its sharp talons sinking into the gooey mass, but the slime, though indented and rippling, held. It absorbed the impact, its surface shimmering faintly. The beast snarled, its glowing eyes darting between the impenetrable goo and their rapidly weakening concrete cover.

"You actually did something, you pathetic blob!" Daniela shouted, a mix of shock and grudging admiration in her voice. She didn't waste another second. "Victor! Get up! Now!"

She grabbed his arm again, her grip iron-strong, and hauled him to his feet. Her eyes scanned their immediate surroundings, darting across the crumbling debris. There was another opening, barely wide enough, choked with bent rebar and shattered bricks, but it was their only chance.

"Move!" she commanded, practically dragging him. "Through here! Before it figures out another way!"

Victor stumbled after her, his legs still feeling like jelly, his entire body screaming with adrenaline. The slime barrier behind them was still holding, vibrating under the monster's relentless assault. As Daniela pulled him through the precarious opening, the monster’s frustrated roars echoed, shaking the very structure they were attempting to escape. Its massive head slammed against the slime-choked passage, the impact sending further tremors through the ground.

"Hurry!" Daniela yelled, pulling a final, desperate tug. They scrambled through the narrow gap, Victor scraping his shoulder on a jagged piece of rebar. He heard a sickening groan from behind them, a sound of stone and metal protesting under immense stress.

Then, with a deafening crash, the entire section of the concrete barrier, weakened by the monster’s attacks and the slime’s desperate blockage, finally gave way. A cloud of dust and pulverized rock exploded, raining down behind them. The roar of the monster was suddenly muffled, choked off by the tonnes of rubble that now separated them.

Victor collapsed again, gasping for air, hacking and coughing at the dust. He lay there, trembling uncontrollably, utterly spent. He could hear the monster's frustrated roars, distant now, echoing from behind the freshly collapsed debris, but they were trapped. And they were safe, for now.

He pushed himself up onto his elbows, his body aching in a thousand places. Daniela stood over him, breathing heavily, her face smudged with dust, her tactical gear showing fresh scrapes and tears. Her eyes, usually sharp with disdain, now held a strange expression as she looked down at him. It was a mix of relief, grudging curiosity, and perhaps, just a hint of surprise.

"You," she started, her voice raspy, "you actually did it. That… that useless blob actually did something." She shook her head slowly, a half-disbelieving smirk playing on her lips. "I’ll be damned."