The silence that followed as Lohan consumed the monster’s corpse was filled only by the sound of the Players’ breathing and the subtle sizzling of Lohan’s gelatin as it processed the level 15 organic matter.
Lisa remained seated on her hind legs, her golden eyes fixed on the bluish mass that now lay motionless on the chamber floor.
There was a hint of trauma in her thoughts... Lisa vividly remembered when Halon had tried to digest the Spider’s mind a few days ago and had nearly lost himself again in the creature’s mind, or whatever was inside the creature’s mind.
Although she knew how powerful and important this skill was for his development, it was hard for her not to feel apprehensive when Halon used it, especially when the target of this skill was high-level Elite monsters...
This time, the monster was still a Level 15 Elite that would likely also carry a volume of information and a density of Mana capable of shattering the core of an ordinary Slime.
Although Halon had grown stronger since his last digestion, in her view there was no difference between the two monsters and the danger they posed to Halon’s mind.
So, to feel more at ease, Lisa kept her eyes fixed on him, ready to intervene with a surge of her own Spiritual Energy if she noticed his membrane wavering or if the light from his core began to falter.
The space Halon occupied within her had grown so much in recent times, he was no longer just a powerful guild member, a college classmate, a virtual friend, or a real-life friend... and the combination of all these roles he played in her mind made the thought that he might get hurt slightly painful for her.
And while Halon plunged into the depths of the monster’s residual consciousness and Lisa remained focused on ensuring his safety, the rest of the guild regrouped.
The surrounding area was devastated by acid explosions and the impact of the battle, but the mood among the Players was very positive.
"Did you guys see how I held back the side roots while Alice set up the finishing blow?" Dee remarked, wiping the green blood off his large shield with a torn piece of cloth. "If I hadn’t blocked that move, the boss would have spun around and caught Grant and Justin in the rear."
"Hahaha, that’s because you didn’t see Dylan’s moves, just when I was thinking of attacking a spot on the monster, he was already there dealing as much damage as possible before I could even react!" someone else said with a laugh, glancing at Dylan, who was leaning against the wall, nonchalantly cleaning his fingernails.
Alice gave a weary smile upon hearing that, but she was still excited to hear everyone’s accounts of the battle from their own perspectives. She sat down on a nearby rock while Samantha helped adjust the leather plates on her armor. "I was so focused on finding an opening to take down the monster that I didn’t pay much attention to your fight, you guys did really well!"
But not everyone was bragging. Tunder, the lightning mage, looked at his staff with a slightly disappointed expression. "I feel like I could have done more. My lightning bolts barely even tickled that monster’s wooden shell. If it weren’t for the constant support from the Vice President and the President, drawing so much of the monster’s attention and protecting me while I kept spamming spells, I would’ve been swallowed by the slime within the first few minutes."
Grant, the cleric, nodded in agreement. "The difficulty level of this dungeon is higher than I imagined... who would’ve thought we’d run into an Elite monster right in the first few minutes?! I used up almost my entire mana reserve just maintaining the basic buffs. Without the potions the President handed out and the passive regeneration the Vice President provided, we wouldn’t have made it past the first room."
Dylan watched each of his direct subordinates while Samantha and Richard checked the side corridors. He was pleased that they’d emerged alive and victorious, but his eyes always returned to Halon.
He knew that the secret to Astralis Requiem’s success lay not only in their own skill level, but in the bizarre versatility of that little blue creature.
Suddenly, Lohan’s gelatinous form trembled.
The clear blue of his membrane pulsed with an intense glow for an instant, and his Magic Core emitted a crystalline sound that echoed through the cavern.
Lisa leaped to her feet, approaching him with her ears pricked.
"Halon? Are you back? Are you okay?" Lisa asked through the mental link, her voice laden with an anxiety she was trying to suppress in front of the other Players. "Do you sense any instability in your core? Is any memory of the monster trying to take control?"
Lohan slowly expanded his mass, returning to the shape of a perfect sphere. He vibrated his membrane in a way Lisa recognized as a sign of pure excitement, while a small, chubby hand gave her a thumbs-up.
"I’m perfectly fine, Lisa. In fact, better than ever," Lohan replied, his mental voice sounding clear and vibrant. "Digesting that monster was... revealing. Its mind was, unfortunately, very limited, not providing me with much useful information about what we’ll face next, just a recommended path for us to follow. Fortunately, I think I’ve managed to figure out the mechanics behind the explosions that almost got us!"
The Slime rolled a little toward the center of the clearing, catching the attention of all the guild members, who now paused their conversations to watch it.
"Look at what I learned from our late friend," Lohan said to Lisa, but over the link that the whole group could hear.
He contracted his upper body and expelled a jet of bright green liquid, exactly like the slime the monster had used.
However, the attack didn’t stop there. Lohan used his Magic Weaving to encase that liquid in a small cocoon of translucent biomass, forming a sphere the size of a tennis ball that pulsed with unstable energy.
With a small clone of himself inside that sphere, he was able to continue producing the explosive liquid within the ball, and then he hurled the cocoon at a stalagmite ten meters away.
The group watched in silence as the cocoon stuck to the rock. For two seconds, nothing happened, except for a bluish glow that grew increasingly intense inside the membrane.
BOOOM!!!!
Suddenly, a terrifying explosion occurred!
The sound of the detonation shook the chamber, sending shards of rock flying in all directions.
The shockwave was so intense that some Players, like Tunder and Justin, who had been more relaxed, were knocked backward and instantly sprang to their feet, ready for combat, thinking a new Boss had appeared.
The silence that followed was one of pure shock.
They looked at the spot where the stalagmite had been; now there was only a smoking crater and acid residue that continued to corrode the stone floor.
"Halon... what the hell was that?!" VonB exclaimed, his eyes wide. "Did you just replicate that monster’s area-of-effect attack?"
"The damage from that... was insane!!" Richard remarked, stepping out of the shadows with his daggers drawn. "If you use that on a group of ordinary monsters, there might not even be any biomass left for you to collect."
Lohan stood motionless, processing the data from the explosion through his Parallel Processing Core. Internally, he was crunching the numbers.
’The kinetic damage combined with acid corrosion is at least 40% higher than that of my Ice Spikes at my current level.’ Lohan analyzed with satisfaction. ’The mana density required to stabilize the cocoon before detonation is high, but the result makes up for the investment.’
He realized, however, that the ability had a bottleneck: the preparation time.
Unlike the Ice Spike, which was nearly instantaneous, the acid cocoon needed a few seconds of internal buildup to reach critical pressure. If he used it carelessly, faster enemies could dodge it or even throw the cocoon right back at him.
"Yes, that’s that monster’s ability... It’s a powerful ability, but slow..." Lohan explained to the guild via the mental link. "I don’t plan on making this my primary attack method, especially when I’m fighting alongside you, since it can easily get out of control. I’ll reserve these explosions for specific moments of crowd control or to catch enemies off guard when we’re in a defensive formation. We’ll have to use this as a trump card."
Lisa looked at the crater and then at the Slime, a gleam of admiration and a hint of envy on her cheeks.
"Sometimes I envy how easily you pick up new abilities, Halon."
"I think our enemies will be even more envious, haha," Lohan joked, though there was a seriousness in his tone.
Suddenly, the ground began to vibrate.
Lohan activated his perception skills and picked up multiple rhythmic signatures coming from the deepest tunnels of the dungeon.
The sound of the explosion he’d caused hadn’t gone unnoticed, apparently serving as an audible signal to the cave’s inhabitants.
"The fun’s over, everyone," Lohan commanded, his playful aura vanishing and immediately becoming dense and authoritative. "The noise has attracted the attention of other monsters. I’m sensing at least twelve large signatures approaching. Probably Level 14 and 15 monsters, get ready!"
Following Halon’s command, the group quickly put away their potion vials, adjusted their gear, and immediately readied themselves for combat.
Knowing that there were more Elite monsters in the dungeon, and even a boss waiting for them, no one was arrogant enough to think they could let their guard down there.