The next venue for the third trial was an arena filled with slimes of different colours making chittering sounds. They were seated around the arena.
Benign made a full turn and there was no life force, so he accepted them as an audience. The werebear was gone the moment he crossed into the battle arena. He couldn't even ask him any questions.
"Create the dome!" a female voice bellowed from the opposite side of the arena.
The slimes reacted, yelping in response, and their bodies stretched and joined together to serve as a dome over the arena.
Benign poked the elastic wall around him and the 'dome' yelped. He smiled. "How cute. It'd be a shame to use Hell Rain to destroy them."
"Hell Rain?"
Benign turned to the voice. A lady walked through the 'dome', her body temporarily blending with the slimes before reforming into a human-like figure.
She had short sky blue hair that defied gravity with how it hung on her head, and there were bandages around her forehead, eyes, neck, and limbs. Like a mummy.
Benign exhaled. He'd been seeing a lot of things recently. With such an odd dressing style, he had to take her really seriously. He had only joked about the Hell Rain since it's dangerous, even for him.
He realized he didn't answer her question, but didn't know how to exactly. "Do you want to know how it works, or...?"
"Hell Rain is a unique ability from a dead realm. How did you acquire it?" Her voice was soft and sounded like a teenage girl. "Aren't you an elf?"
An elf? Dead realm? Benign barely had a clue what they entailed, but he knew the answer was 'no'.
"I am a human. Tuff, the werebear who brought me here, could identify that. I thought it'd be common knowledge."
The lady huffed. "Humans don't belong to any realm here. Do you blame me for not acknowledging your pathetic race?" Three star-shaped boomerangs materialized beside her.
Benign brought his blade forward.
It wasn't unusual for 'higher species' to look down on humanity, even in novels. Humans really had nothing going for them except their greed and thirst for knowledge.
But as a soldier who had seen the good in humans, he shouldn't let her insult slide. "We build, we break, and we rebuild. Cut us some slack."
The lady tilted her head. "Alright then, your goal is to break free from this dome. My slimes are level three, but trust me, no one can break through their skin if they don't want you to. Not even me. They have a mind of their own."
That's it? Benign took out his revolver 'Trobuct' and shot at the dome. The bullet bounced off it, ricocheted inside the dome, till a boomerang sliced it.
Benign confirmed. Those slimes hadn't whimpered, so his shot was nothing to them. Did slimes even feel pain? Or did they absorb the kinetic energy? His confidence wavered.
He could only use that risky skill to get out, and that might even cost him his life. Winning the trial was important, though, so he just had to proceed.
"I only have to break out of here somehow? Right?" He asked to be sure that there was no other requirement.
The lady chuckled, her voice growing deeper. "Of course not. I'd still be coming after you. Defend yourself while trying to escape. I won't go easy."
A lump of saliva went down Benign's throat. His chances of surviving just kept going lower.
Defending while attacking was a complex move he could handle, but only with guns could he calculate their range, number of bullets, and ammunition.
With her, he wouldn't know what she could send his way. His mana points wouldn't reduce while using his skills, so he had to do what he could.
He looked at his blade. "Okay, we might need to change this to a shield of some sort. Status."
The star-shaped boomerangs swirled around him. The lady walked towards him. "Am I supposed to wait for you? You can beg for a few minutes."
"I am ready." Benign said with a frown.
She hummed while her boomerangs' afterimages became physical, making them total nine. Still, they moved around Benign, limiting his movement, yet not attacking.
The Legal Systemist's status opened, and Benign saw only 10 survival points for changing his weapon to a shield. He couldn't do that.
"I'd like more information on the weapons, Status." Benign said, while dodging the boomerangs that began hitting him. He shot at one, and his bullet broke one in two.
The weapon panel popped up, showing more information on the available weapons with images. Benign's eyes glazed over it hurriedly.
[Blade of Ages]
- Damage: -140 HP per hit
- Ability: Can cut through anything (except libranium). Can morph to any weapon in its series once (needs survival points).
- Durability: Unbreakable (except with libranium)
- Ownership: Chooses its owners.
[Trobuct]
- Damage: -25 HP per hit
- Ability: Can shoot at any range, depending on the skill of its wielder and as long as the target is visible to its wielder.
- Durability: Breakable
- Ownership: Doesn't choose its owner.
The boomerangs went wild in attacking Benign, and he blocked each one with no hesitation since the blade was unbreakable. "I'd ask what libranium is later," he mumbled.
A boomerang went for his leg, and he let it hit him.
[-4 HP]
"Only -4?" He looked up at the lady, standing with folded arms and looking bored. Did she seriously fight with one weapon? Or was she going easy on him?
She probably had more, and was underestimating him. He had to take advantage of it and not care how many cuts he got.
It was annoying to be underestimated, but this was different from his past. He had to bear with it till he reached an apex, like his former life. Regeneration would always help, and his HP was still plenty.
"
The skies above them became darker. The lady looked up and her hands fell by her side.
Balls of heat the size of heads formed in the skies in numerous quantities. It was the first time she had seen the ability in action. Heat warped the air, as if the sky was screaming.
[Hell Rain... Commencing... Level Two.]
Benign mentally gauged the width of the attack and let it focus on the dome only. The balls of heat grew wider and their intensity hotter.
"Descend."