"So, Halon, honey," Dylan continued, focusing his full attention on the Slime. "The Aristocrat class gives me subtle control over my subordinates and an even more powerful social insight than I had in the other world. I can smell a lie in the blood from meters away, but tell me... how does a Slime manage to keep a legendary fox like Bella so interested? I heard the rumors on the forum, and the image I formed of you was almost legendary, but up close, you seem so... cute."
Lohan laughed, fully understanding where this "disappointment" was coming from, but he wasn’t bothered in the least, being confident enough in his own strength. Lisa, however, upon hearing Dylan’s question, turned red in the face and was about to get into a fight with her friend when she was interrupted by someone else.
Brutus, who had been quiet until then, couldn’t take it anymore and interrupted, his deep voice cutting through the pleasant atmosphere.
"Excuse me, Master Dylan," Brutus said, stepping forward and completely ignoring the guild’s hierarchy, seeing how relaxed these two little monsters were. "I understand your friendship with Lady Lisa, but I can’t stay silent while you waste your time fawning over... that."
He pointed his finger at Halon, and the disdain in his eyes was palpable. "We crossed three dangerous sectors to get here. We’re elite soldiers, Level 11! To be led by a Slime that can barely roll over without help? That’s a bad joke, even by Upper Zone standards. Just with my fingers, without using any weapon or skill, I’ve already killed dozens, if not hundreds, of Slimes like that. If this ’Vice President’ has half the power the rumors say he does, why isn’t the story being told right now about his exploits?"
The silence that followed was heavy. Elle, who had been standing a little ways off listening to the story discreetly, froze. She knew Lohan’s strength and realized that this human had just crossed a very dangerous line.
Lisa, who had been ready to have a playful "outburst" with Dylan, tensed every muscle in her fox-like body; her two white tails stopped swaying, and her golden eyes flashed with a fury that made the air around Brutus begin to crackle with heat.
However, before Lisa could incinerate the soldier, Dylan changed.
The sweet, aristocratic aura simply vanished.
Dylan rose from the ground, and for a moment, the light of Mythlorien seemed to be sucked into his pale skin. His eyes, once clear, became two glowing rubies in the dimness of the hall. And then, a pressure characteristic of his class, Blood Aristocrat, expanded like a cold shockwave.
"Brutus," Dylan said in a voice no longer high-pitched or melodic; now it was a cold whisper, laden with an authority he had not demonstrated until then. "I do not recall requesting your analysis of this guild’s leadership."
The burly soldier paled, sweat beginning to bead on his forehead under his master’s murderous gaze.
"The fact that you cannot perceive the density of Halon’s Mana only proves that your training and your potential are mediocre." Dylan continued, walking slowly until he was inches from Brutus’s face; despite being over 30 centimeters taller than the boy, Brutus looked at him in fear.
Dylan glanced at Lisa, noticing the deep weariness on his friend’s face, and his expression grew even colder. "You disrespected the Vice President of Astralis in front of the President. In my class, Brutus, the blood of insubordinates serves only as fuel for the next toast. Do you want to test whether your Level 11 is enough to keep your heart beating without my permission?"
Lohan watched the scene, impressed. He realized that Dylan wasn’t just defending him; he was protecting the structure Lisa had created.
Beneath the facade of beauty and delicacy, Dylan was finally showing his predatory side, just as his race truly behaved.
’To be honest... I really misjudged this kid,’ Lohan thought, feeling his gelatinous body tremble with renewed respect.
Lisa relaxed her muscles slightly, but the flames on her paws continued to flicker.
Brutus and the other soldiers bowed their heads in a reverence forced by fear, realizing that the "little blue ball" on the floor was protected by forces they could barely comprehend.
Lohan decided it was time to deliver the final blow to the group’s doubts. He didn’t need defensive words, since there was nothing better than leading by example.
"Dylan, Brutus is just a professional concerned with efficiency, right?" Lohan transmitted through the mental link with a voice as cold as ice, allowing his voice to resonate in every mind present, including those of the soldiers. "But as Vice President, I cannot allow my members to operate with such a limited perception. Brutus, if you think I’m just a useless puddle of slime..."
Lohan expanded his biomass for a millisecond, allowing the aura of the Sacred Light Core and the Superior Magic Core to spill out in a burst of pressure that made Elle’s mana flowers glow intensely.
The gravitational weight of his Dual Mythic Base caused Brutus’s legs to waver for an instant.
Then his voice, now thicker, deeper, and more imposing, rang out again in their minds: "Since you and your companions are so confident in yourselves, then come, show me where your confidence comes from."
As he said this, Lohan used his control over the gelatin to alter its very structure, changing his eyes from their previous white, fluffy appearance to a sinister red version that glared at the soldiers with a murderous aura.
Meanwhile, he covered his body with dozens of dark scales as dense and sturdy as metal and controlled the projection of his magic outward, mixing Holy Light with his own Mana in a ratio that made the mixture of colors turn the energy he exhaled as red as his eyes.
Looking at that gigantic and terrifying creature in front of them, the soldiers finally saw the bloodthirsty assassin they had so often imagined before coming to the Open World, the creature that, despite lacking a human body, exuded the presence of a being far above their league.
Brutus was completely speechless.
[Visual representation of Halon here and on Discord.gg/NunuXD