The Silver Lotus group pressed on through the dense heart of Mythlorien now with even more caution than before, considering the warnings that the monsters here were probably the most dangerous they’d encounter since they started playing Elysium.
The revelation that Halon, the leader of Astralis Requiem, was actually a Slime, still echoed in each of their minds, reshaping their perception of the game and of reality itself.
It was hard to imagine that Halon, currently the most prominent Player, with more fame around his own power despite never having revealed anything beyond achievements unreachable for ordinary Players, wouldn’t have a Base like that of a Dragon, an Angel, a Demon, or something that truly matched the grandeur of the power he’d shown.
They were sure that if it were revealed that Halon’s race was actually that of a Slime, whoever revealed it would be branded a huge liar, barely able to "fool" anyone by spreading a lie like that... even if it were the truth!
So even seeing it with their own eyes, the Silver Lotus group still needed some time to process it.
Ahead of the group, Pip flew at varying altitudes, his butterfly wings leaving a trail of silvery light that served as a beacon for those walking over the uneven ground to follow in the right direction.
The respect they felt for the little fairy had also grown exponentially.
It wasn’t just the fact that Pip knew the forest like the back of his hand, but the aura he gave off even while being so small and cute.
The thin layer of transparent gelatin from Lohan, which still wrapped around Pip’s body, even if subtly, pulsed with an energy that Sara, Skye, and Devon, the three with the highest Mana sensitivity in the group, described as incomprehensibly intense for a clone, especially for such a small one.
Zach and Kai kept looking up, amazed and curious about how that blue mass, which looked so fragile at rest, could transform into black obsidian armor that looked so cool.
"Yo, Devon... I mean, Vonde, I’m still trying to process that Halon is a little gelatin ball," Zach remarked quietly, adjusting his shield as he dodged a twisted root. "I always imagined the top of Elysium’s pyramid would be held by some demon lord or a golden armored paladin. But a Slime? When this becomes public it’s going to be so humiliating for the big corporations... hahaha"
Devon laughed too, fully agreeing with that, clearly picturing the shock that revelation would cause in the future.
Lotus walked silently right behind Devon, her hands resting on the hilts of her silver swords.
Her mind was focused on their surroundings, with her Epic Race senses acting like natural radar.
Even under Pip’s protection, she couldn’t, and didn’t want to, relax enough to let some accident happen with so little left before they reached safety after so many days wandering in danger.
She watched Pip dive between the treetops and come back up, admiring the synergy between the fairy and Lohan’s clone.
That was something even more surprising to her, since through messages, Halon had explained that Pip wasn’t a Player like them, but someone "from this world" in his own words, whom they’d saved in the Level 10 dungeon and who had asked to join them.
Considering how little access they had to more privileged information, and how little time each member of the group had gotten to play, since before they’d had to share the single helmet among themselves, everyone there had always treated beings from this world as nothing more than NPCs programmed to keep the story moving, but looking at the little boy who radiated emotions and acted in such a lifelike way, she wondered whether that perception still held true.
Suddenly, the atmosphere of the forest changed.
The sound of insects stopped and the wind, which had been blowing steadily before, stopped in an unnatural way.
Lotus froze in her tracks, her hair reacting with a soft glow, and she instinctively sniffed the air, catching the "scent" of a cold, metallic energy that hadn’t been there moments before.
Her blonde hair began to float slightly, making the girl even more alert that something was wrong.
"Formation! Now!" Lotus commanded, her voice coming out with an authority that made the group react instantly.
In the next split second, Pip dove down from the heights at a frightening speed, landing in the center of the defensive circle.
The slime armor around him was already shifting from blue to the absolute black of the obsidian exoskeleton, giving off a dark red glow.
Pip sensed the threat at almost the same moment as Lotus, thanks to Lohan’s perception sensors working in parallel processing within the clone.
"Watch out, everyone! The ground isn’t our friend anymore!" Pip exclaimed, his voice sounding deep through the mystical amplifier.
Sara’s eyes glowed with an intense blue light. "I sense it’s coming from... rocks? No, the mana is inside the rocks to our left!"
Around the group, a cluster of moss covered boulders began to move in a bizarre way.
The sound of stone grinding against stone echoed through the clearing, and massive claws, made of a material that resembled polished, sharpened granite, burst out from the sides of the rocks.
They were Litho-Crabs, monsters that used mineral mimicry to ambush unsuspecting prey.
"Ironshell Litho-Crabs!" Pip explained quickly, while Lohan analyzed their heat signatures through the clone. "Halon says they’re level 12 to 13, Pip feels that... they’re a lot tougher than the people we fought before. Don’t let them surround you!"
The Silver Lotus group felt a mix of dread and adrenaline.
They’d just left the novice villages, and even though they were level 11, facing level 12 and 13 monsters in a pack would be the greatest challenge they’d ever faced in this game.
However, seeing Pip ready for combat and knowing that Halon himself was watching everything through the armor gave them the courage they needed not to retreat.
Especially remembering that Halon had assured them that below Level 15, Pip would be like a small killing machine... this would be the moment to confirm whether those words held true or not.
Jenny let out a Berserker’s roar, her reddish aura exploding as she charged the first crab that had fully dug itself out.
Even knowing the enemy was several levels above her, as a Berserker, if she just stayed back and played defense, a huge part of her usefulness in combat would be wasted, so she had to act proactively.
And with her Rare Class, she’d always felt that with enough support, she could handle monsters at least one or two levels above her own, and now her boiling blood was demanding she test and confirm that theory!
The problem was that unlike what they’d imagined, her axe collided with the stone shell with an explosive sound, throwing off sparks but barely leaving a scratch on the mineral surface, shocking the whole group.
Something worth considering is that even though she had a Rare Race, all the profit they earned in Elysium got drained away selling coins for real money, or paying taxes to Apex, leaving them with terrible gear!
Zach positioned himself right behind her, using his shield to block a claw strike that would have split a tree trunk in half.
The battle turned frantic within seconds.
Lotus moved like a blur of silver light, her swords seeking out the vulnerable joints between the monsters’ stone plates.
Vonde fired off bursts of void magic that destabilized the gravity around the enemies, creating windows of opportunity for the ordinary members, like Kai and Jay, to land quick strikes.
Despite the group’s coordinated effort, and despite having the lowest level among everyone there, Pip was still the true main damage dealer.
Powered by the strength of Lohan’s level 15 clone, and taking advantage of the wide variety of magic and evolutions available, the fairy fired off wind blades so sharp they could pierce the ironshell of the Litho-Crabs while performing aerial maneuvers, diving down to deliver ice imbued thrusts that froze the crabs’ joints, allowing Jenny and Zach to finish the creatures off.
However, the Litho-Crabs’ numerical advantage began to take its toll.
During the fight, beyond the 9 monsters that had initially appeared, four more emerged from the shadows, coordinating a pincer attack aimed at the most vulnerable members of Silver Lotus.
Kai, who was trying to flank an immobilized crab, didn’t notice a side claw coming at him with the speed of a whip.
"Kai, dodge!" Sara shouted, but the warning came too slow.
The impact hit Kai in the shoulder, tearing a huge hole in the boy’s body and hurling him against a tree with a force that dropped his health into the red zone instantly.
He fell to the ground, gasping and unable to move. Jay, the other common base member who always felt a step behind the Uncommon and Rare Players of the group, saw his friend in danger and ran to protect him, gripping a short spear with trembling hands.