Milia struggled, crawling into the narrow passage.

“I hate this…”

Her horns scraped the ceiling, so she kept her head down. She kept bumping into walls because she couldn’t see in front of her.

She reached the end of the tunnel after crawling a few minutes. As she stood up to stretch, the stench of a blood prickled her senses.

Milia sneaked deeper in the labyrinth, looking out for beholders. Their sense of wariness vanished as they found the source of the smell.

“Shaki?” Milia blurted.

Wasn’t Shaki dead? Slade thought.

A female wounded troglodyte was eating their dead comrade, while a male troglodyte sat obediently.

“Milia?” the troglodyte asked.

The female monster stood up, wiping her mouth still dripping with blood. She wore a blindfold and had similar red markings on her face as the ‘previous Shaki’.

“Yes, it’s me! I’m so glad you survived!” The minotaur ran up to her and hugged her.

Shaki tensed awkwardly, but a wave of relief surged as she felt Milia’s body warmth. She patted her back.

“Thank god, Milia! How did you survive on your own?” Shaki said.

“I wasn’t exactly alone. The slime was with me!”

“Oh I see, you ate it, right?”

“It fed me, but it’s still alive. Look!”

Milia pointed at her blindfold. A silly slime face appeared on it.

[What’s going on? I thought Shaki died.]

“Ah, yeah. The slime is confused that you’re still alive despite seeing your corpse in a room.” Milia said.

“Troglodyte’s strength lies in their numbers, so rooks can swap bodies with their subordinates whenever they want,” Shaki said.

Her finger touched the blindfold with curiosity.

“Why is he wrapped around your head…?” she asked.

Slade deactivated the symbiosis skill to save mana. He jumped down and sat against the wall. They finally had a safe place to recharge his mana pool.

The women caught up with each other. Milia explained Slade’s ability to heal, produce food and absorb mana… in a perverted manner.

“That’s pretty convenient. At this point, it’s a waste to call it a toilet slime,” Shaki said.

Milia shrugged.

“How did you do? I ran into a few troglodytes corpses outside. I imagine that you had a hard time,” she said.

“About our group, it’s just as you expected. I tried to leave that place to find the exit. We found some strange rooms, but we ran into beholders. I died on the way, losing several troglodytes. As time passed, I sacrificed my subordinates to eat, and there you appeared,” Shaki said.

“Hmm it seems like you’re a bit hurt. Is that your only remaining troglodyte?”

“Those are only light wounds. Yes it’s my last subordinate. If we both die, I’m out.”

“Alright, you did well,” Milia said gently, embracing Shaki in her bosom.

“I can’t believe you. Are you really rubbing my butt? Didn’t you spend a few days having sex with a slime already?” Shaki chuckled.

“Doing it with you isn’t the same as doing it by myself,” Milia said.

Wait… Slade thought.

“Alright, let’s do it together.”

Slade stared at their making out session from the sidelines. Alone and aban- actually, there was a fellow male troglodyte.

Their lips parted, still connected with a trickle of saliva.

“I want you so bad, Shaki,” Milia whispered.

“Me too, I… didn’t know what I would do if you died.”

She rubbed Milia’s thighs, engaging in foreplay.

Hum… Aren’t you forgetting me? I need mana! 

Slade fidgeted while they enjoyed themselves. He glanced at his excluded fellow, who drooled with his open jaw as if brain dead.

Milia grabbed and pressed Slade against her crotch.

“Can you turn into a strap-on dildo?” she asked.

[Shapeshift activated.]

The slime slithered inside Milia’s vagina and a thick stump proudly stood from it.

Yeah, of course I can do that.

“Are you sure it should be used like that?” Shaki asked.

“It’s granny’s new sex toy. Don’t worry, I’ve checked its quality earlier. It works wonderfully, even better than pawns.”

“That’s incredible! I can finally be penetrated by you, instead of the other way around.” Shaki’s voice was shaking with excitement.

Wait a second...

After spending time with the rooks, Slade found the patterns about how he was treated.

He projected himself into the perspective of the women.

Could it be that they don’t see me as a full fledged person?!

The realization was a bucket of ice water thrown into his delusions.

Only Violet treated him with respect. She confided in him as if he was a diary or a pet.

Now that I think about it, I remember that she would apologize when she bumped into chairs and furniture.

His pride melted as he stood erect from Milia’s crotch. He was a toilet slime, nothing less, nothing more.

I’ve just realized that the line between sentient life form and the autonomous object was blurry… Pawns are mindless while rooks are not.

He wobbled in despair.

They suspect that I am a rook. Did they dismiss me as a pervert who rejected his right to be a person by becoming a toilet slime that cannot speak?

He deflated as he recalled his intimate moments under a new light. He looked at the sitting troglodyte, staring at empty space. A sense of kinship grew in his sad heart.

“Hey why are you all floppy, get hard!” Milia slapped the slime.

He obeyed, shedding tears.

“Milia, your thing is broken. The pre-cum is leaking out,” Shaki giggled.

Is that why they didn’t care about me going into their crotch? I’m just an object with a pinch of personality. A dildo that won’t totally bore them because I am not completely a pawn?

While Slade had an existential crisis, he was plunged into a wet darkness.