31 Slime hunting
[OP: ] (After 6 months.)
In the midst of what appeared to be an ordinary graveyard, characterized by its somber ambiance, dark soil, weathered tombstones, and the eerie presence of gnarled trees in the distance, something... was happening.
There seemed to be some tents a distance away that had magic torches set in a circle around them, creating a safe camping zone, but the things happening some distance away from there were fluttering the tents violently as if a hurricane had graced them.
-Boooooooooooooom!
An explosion shook the ground and a strange acidic mucus rained from the sky, eroding the grey ground and turning it into an impure shade of black.
The winds swirled chaotically as some individuals engaged in a fierce battle against a horde of slimes.
One was our pair of twins while the other one was a lady in an attractive armor-like dress with a thin sword in her bruised hand.
Eva. She was looking far better than the last time but as she held the sword in her shaky hands and faced a single slime, she couldn't help but be nervous.
El and Lucy, on the other hand, were easily taking care of these little things they had gotten used to in these past few months.
With a mystifying movement, she unleashed a peculiar spell that streaked through the air like advanced weapon projectiles, however, they were merely magic missiles, the most 'basic' spells we know about.
She was firing multiple of these unique magic missiles at the same time and different from the normal, most simple spell, as these spells shot towards the bunch of slimes, perfectly aimed at the moving cores inside of their bodies, they pierced the place with the cores of the slimes, and came out from the other sides with the core wrapped inside them.
It was now an easy task as she was practically laying in the lap of her darling 'brother' while doing this, and it was quite a sight to see her ever-pretty appearance.
And Lucy was the same as her, pretty, handsome, and strong, and, just like her magic missiles, he picked up some small rocks from the surrounding using {Telekinesis}, piled them beside him, and threw them after coating them with his special Aura...
Aura was a special power that only weapon wielders of intermediate rank and above possessed. And every person had a unique Aura, a kind of special energy, that grew with them.
It was a form of unique skill but in true meaning, Aura was a distinct energy slightly different from common environmental Mana.
Mana was purely natural while Aura was a denser form of Mana strings with unique characteristics that varied from person to person.
It varied in many ways too, from their color to the very nature of it, but only those with a strong mind, special will to move forward, and deep understanding of their unique weapon possessed the ability to use this special power.
The only common thing about Aura for all who possessed it though, was its great destructive power. Something that can cut the world in half at its finest form.
But aside from having far more power, Mana density, and destructiveness than common Mana that everyone used, every person's Aura was greatly different.
Lucy… he was technically the youngest human to achieve this special power in this worldline.
His Aura was also different. Far more different than usual different of usual possessors of it.
It was pure red in color. A burning red fire that would feel hot just from the look.
But, if this fire touches someone, instead of heat, they would feel a strange coldness, a strange loneliness, anger, and hate.
It was a cold fire. And it was stranger how something could have so opposite qualities but still, it was unique at the same time.
Not many would have this special kind of Aura… but that wasn't important right now.
He was coating the rocks with this unique Aura and throwing it exactly at the cores of the slimes.
-Swiiiiiiish…
It didn't look like he used any strength to throw these pebbles, but the way the red rocks flew from his hands was akin to a bullet being fired from an advanced gun by the hands of an experienced marksman.
The red bullet was so fast that slimes didn't even get a little chance to dodge them as they did in the case of El's magic missiles.
The bullets, at their collision, broke through the hard outer body of the slimes and slowed down a bit in the parts with liquid mucus as if a metal ball passing in a viscous fluid of a physics experiment, then they hit the cores slowly and the core, as if suddenly shot by a plastic bullet, got thrown back and came out from the slime's back.
They both had it easy after killing these slimes so many times over the past few months.
They had it so easy that El was just laying in Lucy's lap while he instructed Eva what to do and how to use her sword properly.
She had recovered considerably over the months but she could still only fight one slime at a time. And with much difficulty too.
She was good considering she had only started holding a sword four months ago but she was now able to defeat one slime if she really put her life on the line and followed the instructions her master Lu gave her.
And she followed his words to the best of her ability without hesitation. Believing in them more than the words of some useless gods.
The sincerity and respect in her eyes for the two of them were naturally overflowing too. Something everyone probably knows what would evolve into.
She was their special support in making so it was fine and though she had only gained 12 levels in all this time, as she wasn't connected to the system yet, today was the last day for that.
The two of their levels were in their 30s now after killing these slimes the whole time so they had it easy.
There was an experience factor for the level increase but with every level, the required experience to level up increased by a lot.
But… levels weren't that important here.
The levels didn't affect the stats individually but only when they were counted in every 100s.
At every hundred level, there was something called a [Stat awakening] for players and it would increase their basic stat effects on their bodies greatly.
But they weren't players so they didn't have anything like a health bar, stamina bar, Mana bar, and special resource bars to know these things exactly.
There was also no visible exp. bar so all they actually had was their past experience with this game… or world.
Anyway, the strength of stats increased every hundred levels for certain. So they had to reach level hundred before they went to the academy.
Eva's level had to cross a hundred too but she would be fine even if it doesn't happen. She didn't have to fight a bunch of super-strong kids and some high-grade monsters from the start so she was good. And that was for the better.
She would be their maid there. The caretaker of their special dorm and their helper.
He was going to turn her into a great swordsman but right now, that future great swordsman couldn't even properly deal with a single slime.
"Eva! Evade the next one on the left~!"
"Yes!"
The slime attacked to the right, exactly the opposite direction El instructed, with its weapon-like tentacles.
But Eva dodged it precisely, overcoming the wrong instructions from the one she admired the most.
"Good. You have the basics down. Now attack straight and then half a turn to the left!"
She closely listened to his wrong and right instructions, avoided the next few attacks, went behind the single slime before her, and threw her sword precisely at the core…
-Swichk!
Her stats had improved a bunch thanks to their miraculous resources and her sword was also enchanted by El.
It was good enough to endure the acid of these grey slimes so the sowed thrown towards the slime with perfect aim, hit the soft back of the slime, pierced the core, and the core broke into two as the slime popped like a balloon and the acidic mucus ran from the sky.
-Khuaaaaaaaaa!
She won her match, but the core was destroyed. Still, it was a far better performance than some usual beginners.
"Good work!"
She was exhausted after the fight though and fell to the ground.
El stood up from his lap just then and ran forward with a smile on her pretty face.
She was excited about the thing that would happen now that her dear Eva had overcome her past fears, killed a hundred and fifty slimes, and gained control over their tricky commands, gaining a better mental body ultimately.
She was excited and looking forward to the exciting things now, and he was pretty much the same.
Lucy shook his head at the cheerful El who reached the exhausted pretty lady on the ground before him and patted her shoulder when he met them after quietly clearing the area.
It was time…
Time for her to connect to the worldline's system… as well as for them to finally challenge their first dungeon and get the first of the three available treasures in this great forest.