(Minor edits and rewrites)
With the orcs disorganized and their defensive lines falling apart, it was easy to make my way through and absorb them.
Along the way, I practiced my zanjutsu using the katana stolen from the Kobolds. I eagerly cut my way through the orc soldiers one by one, storing their corpses for later. Unfortunately, five or six orcs in, the weak swords I took of the kobolds finally became so dull I was unable to use it as anything other than a guard against the orc's attacks.
During this time, hobu-Mi continued casting magic arrows towards the orcs behind me as we broke through, but now they had grown a bit smarter and used shields to try and block her attacks.
Naturally, that didn't deter her as she started to send her arrows on round-about trajectories to hit the orcs from behind. It lowered her firing rate but still managed to instill enough fear to halt their pursuit.
Hobu-Mi did not need to worry about her mana either as I filled her up whenever she ran out, thanks to Veldora's mana. Today was turning out to be quite the haul, and this method procured a lot more ham for dinner than I thought.
'Please taste like bacon, please taste like bacon, please...'
"Orion?" I was giving my necessary prayers before digging into our feast later, but I forgot that I was still mentally connected with hobu-Mi.
"Hehe, sorry. I was just hoping that these orcs would make for a good dinner tonight." I explained to her.
"Ah, don't worry. My team defeated a lone orc before, and it was one of the tastiest meats we had ever had. It is hard to explain, but you'll probably like it."
"Mmm, I hope you're right! How are you doing, not injured, or hurt, are you?" I asked. I hadn't noticed any attacks land on her, but I've also never carried someone across a battlefield before.
"I'm fine. Just keep filling me up, and I can take out all of these weaker orcs so long as they don't run away." she spoke confidently as she shot down another orc from behind.
"Hmm. I can't wait for the feast!" Like that, hobu-Mi and I swirled through the orc lines, decimating their forces for the next few minutes. It was a lovely dance of death that we were causing, but the Orc General would naturally not allow us to continue unabated.
"Insolent, goblin wench! How dare you point your spells at us, the mighty Orcish army!" he howled as he swung an ax enchanted with another fire spirit stone.
A wave of flames sliced towards us like a little like a flaming getsuga tenshou. I raised my brow in surprise for a moment before feeling Mi's grip tighten around my neck. With a slash of my hand, an equally large water blade was summoned and canceled out the orc's attack.
The dumb, jaw-dropped expression on the orc general's face was priceless. Watching him get knocked on his back from the steam explosion was so funny that hobu-Mi giggled a bit when I shared the sight with her via telepathy.
Her magic arrows had shot nearly all of the Orcish soldiers. I even noticed that she had mastered the homing enchantment and moved on to using multiple arrows. I've only seen her using two so far, but both of them had become sharper and had much more penetrative power than when we started the fight. The rusty chainmail that a few soldiers wore stood no chance against a direct hit from her arrows.
"Hey, maybe we should do this tomorrow too. What do you think?" I asked Mi.
"Fighting an entire platoon of orcs?"
"No, of course not! If you eat the same thing every day, you will naturally get tired of it. What I meant was practicing like this. You could practice even more if we trained like this, don't you think?"
It was then that she recalled that I was still holding her and sharing my energy with her. Otherwise, even with her improvements, Mi would only have been able to slay about half of the orcish soldiers. Of course, that is quite remarkable for the average hobgoblin, but this is only the start of Mi's development
After today's battle, I do not doubt that you-Mi will have maxed out her level. That's why Mi needs to continue emptying and refilling her mana. These orcs are proving to be excellent targets for improving Mi's MAG parameter.
My level, on the other hand, is quickly approaching Lv. 10. I wager killing this slightly porkier orc should take care of that. According to Saul, I also effectively get double the exp if you consider the fact that I can level up myself and my job-class from the same actions. My Light-Swordsman and My Magician Job-Classes were steadily increasing alongside my own level.
Recalling that my SPR parameter was so low, I decided to use the last kido spell I learned to finish up this fight.
"Hold on tight, hobu-Mi. I'm going to finish this." I firmly held the hobgoblin as I used Flash Step to reappear on the opposite side of the orc general.
He was now standing directly in between me and the remnants of his defeated soldiers.
"Bakudo #62 Hundred Steps Fence!" as I incanted the name of the spell, a bright, hexagonal rod materialized in my hand. I tossed it towards the general and his soldiers as it split into a hundred different rods of spiritual energy.
The various rods of energy impaled every orc and pinned them to the ground. If they were to survive this incident, several of them could use the Skyrim, "Arrow to the knee," joke. Unfortunately for them, I had a village of hungry goblins that needed to be persuaded into following my orders from now on, and they were sure to be hungry for the promised feast.
"Y-you filthy goblin lover! My lord will avenge me and my men's sacrifice! Just you and that who-" Before the orc general could insult you-Mi, I fired another set of Ignis Series magic arrow into the orcs open mouth and terrified eyes. In hindsight, I should've questioned him to get information. Hopefully, these other fellows will be more useful.
Immediately after reaching level 10, the mana within the forest started to swell towards my location like a rushing wave. Unable to enter my body, though, the mana all gathered into the area around me before gushing into the air.
Instead of the mana falling back down, a deluge of condensed spiritual energy started raining down on hobu-Mi and I. Shortly after, she and the remaining few orcs passed out from absorbing too much energy, but Saul confirmed she would be fine and wake up soon. This area would become a no go zone due to the high levels of mana and condensed spiritual energy.
'That's good I was worried since she lost consciousness right away, but I guess it was just too much energy for her and the others to handle at her current level.'
Think of the devil, as soon as I thought about her, the hobgoblin started to twitch and shake, but then suddenly, her body completely relaxed.
According to Saul, she had decided against evolving right away. A good decision since she still hadn't learned to use her ice affinity with her magic arrows spell [Sagita Magica: Series Glacius]. By achieving a high-level mastery of the spell, Mi would have better evolution options in the future.
『Warning: Due to companion Mi rejecting her evolution option, she will now be stuck at this level unless she can force 3 of her stats to S, two parameters to SS, or one parameter to SSS. This is why very few monsters reject their initial evolution.』
'Huh? You never mentioned this before, Saul!' I shouted, mentally.
『I did state that companion Mi should master her skills before max leveling.』
'...'
"Damn it! Now we are going to have to train even more! I'm going to slaughter those god damned orcs!" I fumed briefly, startling the orcs still pinned to the ground.
Still, I had my own issues to deal with.
『SPR: 450...578...796...999』
『SPR: S[999]. Spiritual power has reached the maximum amount containable by a current form. Initiate Evolution? [Y/N]』
'Hey, will I pass out like Kishin when I start evolving?'
『Yes, but it will be for less than ten minutes. You can devour your companion and the orcs, and since no monsters are able to enter this area, now is an excellent time to evolve.』
'Alright then, let's get started.' I quickly used devour, swallowing everyone else into the vortex that led to my stomach storage.
According to Saul, my first evolution is occurring at level 10, but each successive evolution will require 100 levels, just like normal monsters. On top of evolving, I also just got baptized in the mana and spiritual energy of this world.
After confirming that I was ready to evolve, my vision blacked out briefly before I regained my sense in a strange, mystical environment. There was purple smoke all around me and a small hazy burning bush just ahead.
『Evolution Tree detected. Confirming evolutionary pathways. Five options identified based on devoured samples.』
/-------------------------------------\
Humanoid Slime: A higher level slime with a humanoid silhouette. It has the ability to use arms and armor and has increased affinity with magic. (Standard Evolution)
Giant Slime: Using the magic absorbed, slime grows and significantly increases its resistances and defense. 3-6 meter tall slime. Additional subspecies are available. (Rare Evolution).
Dragon Sprite: Slimes are the monsters closest to spirits. By devouring a true-dragon, you have gained the one time opportunity to evolve into a lesser-dragon species with a genetic pathway towards becoming a true-dragon. Dragon sprites have innately high spiritual and magical powers but are quite weak physically. Warning: Choosing this option will discard your current human form, its related abilities, and natural slime abilities. [Celestial Devourer] will still allow you to consume others and gain their abilities, but you will lose the ability to freely shape-shift into forms other than your new humanoid form. (Exotic Evolution).
Slime Lord: High-level humanoid type slime. The Slime Lord evolution was derived from the hobgoblin demon bloodline. Slime lords have high magical and spiritual prowess and have several demon orbs to convert their power into physical manifestations and abilities. (Exotic Evolution) Warning: evolving into a Slime lord will fuse your slime and humanoid forms, forcing you to confront your inner hollow immediately. This may increase unconscious duration.
Lusty Slime: A mid-level slime derived from the orc general you devoured. The increased libido and virility have led lusty slimes to develop highly sensitive tentacles and an aphrodisiac lubricant. (Exotic evolution).
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'Wow, those exotic evolutions are pretty incredible... A dragon, huh. Although I'm sure it's quite powerful, I've already grown accustomed to my new form. Besides, it is the result of a SSS-rewards created explicitly for me.
『Though not particularly powerful, this dragon sprite evolution comes with all the genetic information for you to become a full-fledged true-dragon. The Slime Lord is also an excellent option for maintaining the status quo and empowering yourself further. It also allows you to continue diversifying your future evolutions compared to the dragon sprite which would lock you into the draconic evolutionary pathway.』
'You aren't going to comment on the Lusty Slime?' I asked curiously.
『... Hentai!』
'Hahahaha. Don't be a prude, Saul!'
『Have you decided which path you will take, Orion?』
I thought about it briefly before nodding. 'I've decided, Saul. I choose...'