Chapter 156: Slime Squad (2)

"You sure are fast. But we are not here to harm you. So, there’s no need for you to run like hell," the man said in a calm, almost mocking tone, clearly unable to fathom why a kid would bolt so frantically.

"You are soldiers!" Filmos shouted back, his voice cracking as he backed away, his hands shaking uncontrollably. "Who wouldn’t try to escape? I’m a wanted criminal for a crime I didn’t even commit! I don’t even know that businessman who died!"

The bulky soldier sighed, casually crossing his slime-encased arms over his broad chest.

"And... I don’t care, kid. We are here to apprehend you before it is too late. We are here before the Anti-Nustra Legion gets to you."

Filmos swallowed hard, a lump forming in his throat. His heart hammered against his ribs like a trapped bird.

Why was a notorious terrorist group being mentioned here? Was he truly in even deeper, far more lethal trouble than he thought?

He was already a wanted criminal fleeing the city, but being entangled in a deadly mess with a terrorist faction in the region was a completely different nightmare. The Anti-Nustra Legion was infamous across the continent for being a reckless, merciless syndicate that slaughtered anyone in their path for the smallest gain.

To think he might actually die by their hands...

The heavy soldier took a slow, deliberate step forward, raising his hands palms-up to show he wasn’t preparing an attack. The blue slime around his forearms softened, relaxing its aggressive, spike-like shape into a smooth, liquid layer.

"Look, kid," the soldier said, his deep voice softening just a fraction. "I get why you’re terrified. You see armor and squad gear, and you assume we’re here to throw you into a dark cell or execute you on the spot. But if we wanted you dead or broken, my men up top wouldn’t have used non-lethal slime barriers to block your snake’s acid. We would have used lethal attacks."

Filmos blinked, his eyes darting frantically down to the soldier’s hands, then back to the quiet woods behind him.

He remembered the fight on the slope. The soldiers up top had only used defensive liquid shields to absorb the acidic spray. They hadn’t drawn weapons, nor had their strange slime beasts launched a single lethal counter-attack. Even when the soldier grabbed his hood, he had only pulled out heavy restraints, not a blade.

"Why... why would soldiers care about protecting me from the Legion?" Filmos stammered, his fingers tightening around his Green Anaconda’s cool scales as the serpent hovered defensively beside his thigh.

"Because the businessman who was killed died in a way similar to how your beast attacks," the bulky soldier explained plainly, his cold gaze steadying as he stared straight into Filmos’s panicked eyes. "And, the Anti-Nustra had their eyes on that kind of beast. Unfortunately, you have the same beast as what they were looking for. Since we know for sure we can’t locate the criminal easily, we had our eyes on you before the Anti-Nustra got you."

Filmos felt a cold sweat break out across his neck. His mind raced as the pieces slowly began to click together.

It made a terrifying amount of sense. But he wasn’t in a condition to absorb everything. All he knew was that he fit the same profile of the person who killed the businessman, so the authorities were on his tail, apart from the fact that he had killed two men in his house in self-defense.

Slowly, the intense panic suffocating Filmos’s chest began to subside, replaced by a tense, wary realization. He took a small, hesitant step back, but he didn’t run.

"You’re... you’re really not going to hand me over to the city guards?" Filmos asked, his lower lip trembling slightly as he looked at the imposing soldier.

Before the bulky soldier could reply, the heavy crunch of boots on dried twigs echoed through the dense foliage behind him.

A beautiful woman stepped out from the shadows of the high canopy. She wore a crisp, dark tactical uniform decorated with subtle metallic trim, her posture radiating quiet, commanding authority. Her sharp eyes scanned Filmos with an intense, analytical gaze that made the boy feel completely exposed.

"Lower your guards, squad leader," the woman commanded softly, gesturing to the heavy soldier.

The bulky soldier instantly snapped a quick salute and stepped aside.

"My name is Clame," the woman said, taking a slow step toward Filmos while keeping her slender hands visible at his sides. "I am someone you don’t need to know fully. Let me clarify things so you don’t make another foolish decision to run."

Filmos swallowed hard, his throat dry, his hands still trembling slightly as his Green Anaconda hovered closer to his side, its scales brushing against his shoulder.

"The beast you contracted isn’t just an ordinary Green Anaconda," Clame explained, her voice low and serious. "It belongs to a rare lineage known as the Twin Snakes—a specific paired species that the Anti-Nustra Legion has been hunting down across the region for months. The criminal who killed that businessman was using the twin counterpart to your snake."

Filmos froze, his jaw dropping in shock. He looked down at his serpent, watching the subtle green glow along its scales.

Everything suddenly clicked into place with horrifying clarity.

He finally believed every single word Clame was saying.

A heavy wave of exhaustion crashed over Filmos. The sheer terror of being hunted by both the city authorities and a merciless terrorist syndicate proved far too much for his sixteen-year-old mind to bear.

Tears pricked at the corners of his eyes as he looked up at Clame, his posture collapsing into pure vulnerability.

"I don’t care about any of this..." Filmos choked out, his voice cracking with emotion as he wiped his face with a dirt-stained sleeve. "I don’t want to be involved in a war with the Legion. I don’t want to be a wanted criminal! I just want to live a normal life... Please, just clear my name and let me go!"

Clame stared down at the sobbing boy, her facial expression remaining as cold and unyielding as solid stone. There was zero pity in her dark eyes.

"A normal life?" Clame scoffed softly, shaking his head. "Kid, you’re dreaming. The moment you contracted that serpent and left two dead bodies in your home, your normal life was erased forever."

Clame stepped closer, leaning down slightly so her piercing gaze met Filmos’s terrified eyes directly.

"Your life is no longer your decision to make," Clame warned in an icy, absolute tone. "You will come with us quietly, and you will cooperate fully until we verify beyond a shadow of a doubt that you won’t turn to the Legion. If you cooperate, we might give you a second chance at survival."

Clame reached into her coat and produced a pair of heavy, magic-suppression cuffs, dangling them in front of Filmos.

"Or, if you still insist on throwing a tantrum about wanting a normal life..." Clame’s voice dropped to a razor-sharp whisper as her aura flared, "you can refuse right now, and I will execute you on this exact spot as a threat to regional security."