'Okay… what happened again?'
---
Five Seconds ago..
The slime's maw opened as fire gathered, ready to evaporate Alina.
Aedric, Robert, and Corin hurriedly ran toward her.
Alina's brown eyes trembled with fear as she looked at the incoming fire.
Then suddenly, Alex, who had been standing still, moved lightly — but to others, he simply appeared behind Alina.
With a punch pose, a strong wind burst forth. The incoming fire was extinguished, but the compressed wind didn't stop there — it moved quickly, piercing through the monster.
A giant hole formed in its stomach.
"WGAGAHSB!" The slime's painful scream echoed as its body melted into the ground.
Everyone couldn't process what had happened — it all occurred in the blink of an eye.
"W-W-What th-the… so strong," the man stammered in awe as he fell to the ground, unable to withstand the strong winds.
Everyone else wasn't much different — they too were shocked.
Alina turned around, tears threatening to ruin her makeup. She hugged Alex tightly.
"Waaaaaa… I tho-thought ~sob~ I was going to die…" Alina said in a trembling voice.
---
Currently...
Alex's hand floated in the air, just a few inches away from Alina's waist. He was controlling his urge to hold her, not wanting to take advantage of her.
Oh well, if only he wasn't such a wimp — because Alina was more than okay with him taking advantage of her.
But nothing could be done now; his brain was practically frozen. Which, honestly, was a good thing — because if it wasn't, then maybe, like him, his little brother would've been stiff too.
"I thought your talent was support-related?" Aedric asked, his body visibly relaxing as he put his hands in his pockets.
"Fuck! Support my ass — why is your talent even this strong?" Robert asked, his mouth wide open.
Right now, jealousy burned inside him. First Kael, and now even Alex had such a powerful talent. In comparison, what was his own talent worth?
"Having a talent really is nice…" Corin muttered longingly.
In their group, it seemed he was the only one who hadn't awakened any talent.
"Damn, that was powerful as hell, hehe," Kael said, jumping excitedly as he came toward them — though he almost fell to the ground, as currently he was struggling, even to stand properly.
But as he passed the almost-liquid monster, he froze. Looking down, he saw slime monster extended a part of his body around his legs. A wave of heat surged up as his pants began to burn.
"Guys! Helppp!!" Kael shouted immediately.
Corin was the fastest to react. He grabbed a sharp knife he had picked up from the ground and ran to finish off the monster — but was suddenly stopped.[1]
"WAIT!" Aedric grabbed his shoulder.
"What?" Corin asked in confusion — and he wasn't the only one.
I... don't... wa...nt... t...o... d...ie...
The voice belonged to the monster — or more precisely, its dying soul. Only Aedric could hear it with his talent.
Even though Aedric wasn't an emotional guy, right now it felt as if his emotions had been multiplied.
Sadness. Fear. Loneliness. Those emotions flooded through him.
'These aren't my emotions,' Aedric thought, looking at the slime monster.
But before he could think more about it, out of nowhere, a colorful portal appeared right above the monster, and from inside, a paper knife came out.
Before everyone's wide eyes, the paper knife cut through the monster, which seemed to have converted everything in it's path into 2D world.
"What the fuck?" Robert said, as the slime monster seemed to have lost all its volume.
"Are you all okay?" Suddenly, a sweet but cold voice sounded.
Everyone turned toward the source of the sound.
"Liliane… was that you?" Kael asked, stunned.
Liliane looked around at everyone, then her gaze landed on the 2D slime that now looked more like a painting.
"Yes… it's my talent," Liliane said plainly.
Everyone's mouth twitched as they all thought, 'So casual.'
'I hope I didn't sound arrogant,' Liliane thought. She didn't want to appear arrogant, after all—she knew her talent was seriously overpowered.
And she wasn't wrong. If not for various safety reasons, she would've come with Kael. Even against a Tier 2 climber-level monster, escaping would've been an easy task for her.
In fact, it would be more accurate to say that even if she fought a Tier 2 climber, it wasn't certain she would lose—she was just that overpowered.
From the corner of her eye, she looked at Alex, who seemed the least amazed or interested in her talent.'Sure enough, when you reach Alex's level of mind, even this much doesn't affect you much.'
But what she didn't know was Alex's thought. 'As expected from an overused female lead with white hair and a cold personality—they're always beautiful and have one-in-a-trillion talents.'
And like this a bunch of newly awakened defeated a slime monser, to save a guy they don't know and care except Kael.
"Uncle you Ok." Kael asked as he again walked to the stunned man.
---
BOOOOMM!
"Ahh, there are too many!" Veyra said as she used her Aqua Shield to block the attacks of four slime monsters.
"You're doing well, holding off against four peak Tier-1 slimes," Old Ray said with a gentle smile, looking at her.
"Oh, than—wait, WHY ARE YOU TWO JUST STANDING THERE?!" she asked angrily.
Jon, who was intensely watching Jack and Doran fight, blinked and looked at her. "Teacher Veyra, did you forget? My class is Potion Maker."
Veyra's mouth twisted in anger, but she couldn't say anything—it was a valid point. So she turned to look at Old Ray.
He glanced behind him with a confused expression, but then, as if realizing something, he said, "You don't expect these old bones of mine to fight, right?"
"RIGHT?!" Veyra shouted, veins popping on her forehead as she glared at the four grey slimes.
The slimes shuddered when they felt her cold, piercing gaze.
"By the will of water, flowing through mountains, rivers, and oceans, I command you—Water Blast!"
[1] Guy's this is canteen.