Semaphore Beach, Adelaide City.
The raid team arrived at the dungeon with mixed feelings. They had come up with a new strategy, but were still worried about the slime monsters they would have to face.
Slime was an uncommon type of monster, so some guilds had difficulty facilitating their hunter training on slime monsters.
Jim, Dianella, and Carl had faced the slime monster several times. They gained knowledge about slime monsters thanks to their experience. Dianella did not gain much experience from raids since she was doing independent training with the Smith family.
Usually, hunters from wealthy families would rent a dungeon to the Guild Union to train. Money was not a problem for Dianella. The girl even went to another country because slime monsters were rare in Australia.
"Fufufu, this is my time to shine!" Dianella exclaimed, she looked happier than the two people behind her.
Gran had a grim face ever since he found out he was going to face a slime monster. While the woman beside him, Maisie, looked very nervous because she had just returned from raiding after her maternity leave.
She was a single parent so she chose to become a hunter because the pay was commensurate and the working hours were flexible. It was a good job as she wanted to spend a lot of time with her son, but her job was also risky.
Meanwhile, Radmilo walked behind the raid team while looking around the beach. Places made into dungeons by monsters would usually be destroyed. However, Semaphore Beach still looked beautiful.
No monsters prowling the sands or flying in the sky. The beach looked so peaceful that people would think this was not a dungeon if they did not see the irons surrounding it.
"Listen everyone!" Jim shouted while giving instructions to his team. "We will take down the slime monster first before we kill the sirens. Gran will protect us from the sirens so you guys just need to focus on the slime. Don't mind Gran even if he dies!"
"Yes, captain!"
The raid team prepared their weapons and rushed toward a big green blob on the shore. It was the only slime monster they found. The monster looked like the result of some experiments that went wrong in the laboratory.
The slime monster was big and round with a wide mouth full of sharp teeth. Its head had no visible neck. It also had no eyes.
The main power of all kinds of monstrous slimes was their ability to absorb things into themselves. They had different second powers. The higher their level, the stronger their second powers.
The slime monster the raid team had to face this time was mid-level slime. They had not known its second power since the monster had only appeared a while ago. The only way to find out was to attack it.
"Okay. Let me see how strong you are!" Dianella said as she drew her sword out.
The double-edged sword with a golden hilt was no ordinary sword. It was a magic sword with the ability to adjust its length according to the wielder's will.
Dianella stayed where she was as her blade extended the way she wanted it to. The tip of the blade reached the monster slime's body and slashed it. However, the slime could still return to its original shape.
"Damn it! I spent lots of money on this sword. You must die by my hands!"
The girl continued to brutally slash the slime monster. She pulled her sword away as the monster opened its mouth wide, intending to absorb the sword.
At the same time, Jim and Maisie rushed forward toward the slime monster. They were able to dodge when the monster split itself and flew to devour them.
Nevertheless, Maisie was still being hit by the swarm of tiny tentacles that suddenly extended from the slime monster's mouth. The tentacles wrapped around her body and moved quickly to pull her into its mouth.
Jim immediately slashed at the tentacle, causing Maisie to fall into the sand. The woman got up quickly and regrouped to attack the slime monster.
It turned out that its second power was boundless tentacles. If the tentacle broke off, then another tentacle would grow again in the monster's mouth. The raid team was lucky because the slime was mid-level, so the tentacles were not that strong.
The tentacles of high-level slimes cloud not be released easily. It would still coil around its target even if it was cut by the sword.
No one was seriously injured in this battle because Carl had supported them from behind with the <Vessels of Blood> skill. They were able to survive without taking any damage thanks to the armor they were wearing and the support from Carl.
Suddenly, the tentacles disappeared in the blink of an eye. The slime monsters steered clear of the raid team and moved fast toward the water. They watched breathlessly. Fighting with the slime monster was really draining.
The way to defeat a slime monster was to exhaust it. The monster slimes would self-destruct if their fatigue was beyond what they could bear.
"Hey, does that monster intend to absorb the beach water?!" Radmilo shouted from a distance because the raid team had not yet realized the slime monster's intention.
The raid team immediately ignored their tiredness when they heard Radmilo's shouts. They were grinding their teeth because the slime monster was actually absorbing the beach water.
"It's planning to spray us with the beach water! Let's stop it before it absorbs all the water!" Jim shouted as he shot toward the slime monster, followed by Dianella and Maisie.
Radmilo's screams made them realize the slime monster's second power was not tentacles. Looked like those tentacles were a real body part of it. The original second power was elasticity.
Mid-level monster slime had a limit on absorbing things. However, this slime monster could absorb beach water so that its body stretched and covered the sun with its body.
"Bring out your shields!" Jim gave instructions before carrying out his next attack.
When Dianella and Maisie had their shields ready, he took the lead and jumped to slash at the slime monster. However, the slime had become stronger than before. The attacks of three of them could not even stab the slime's body.
"Kikikikik," the slime monster suddenly laughed in a strange way.
A split second later, he shot water from its mouth toward the raid team. It was like a tsunami that Jim and Maisie's shield nearly broke. Only Dianella's shield survived because it was made of the best materials at a fantastic price.
On the other hand, Carl and Radmilo had used their shields. A dungeon cleaner was also facilitated by a shield by the guild to deal with something unexpected like now.
The tsunami the slime monster created had finally come to an end. The raid team returned to attack more quickly. The slime monster was now moving slowly. It seemed it was getting tired after using its second power.
Carl also returned to his position. He immediately used his power to make the raid team survive until they defeated the monster. The skill he used this time sending energy to them. His support really helped because fighting slime monsters took a lot of energy.
"Woah, you are incredible!" Radmilo suddenly came over to Carl and stood beside him. "Ah, I'm sorry. Am I disturbing you?"
"No. I don't need to use all my focus since the people I support are only three people."
Radmilo nodded and then noticed the red strings flowing from Carl's hands. He had been in awe since the first time he saw the <Vessel of Blood>. It was a unique support power.
Surprisingly, there was no record of Carl from the Tasmanian Devil guild in the future. There should be news about him even if he was dead. All dead guild members remained in the database. Radmilo was sure because he had seen the database belonging to the Tasmanian Devil in his previous life.
"Your power is really unique. This is the first time I have seen something like this. Are you interested in joining the IRO? Looks like you will succeed there," Radmilo spoke while noticing the change in Carl's expression.
He assumed Carl was a spy so his identity was lost. The same thing happened to Sion. After he stopped being a spy, his identity as 'Sion' was removed and he lived with a new identity.
However, Carl did not make any suspicious gestures when he heard the IRO.
He smiled as he replied, "IRO invited me once because I helped with their problems a few months ago. But I turned it down because I'm comfortable here. I don't want to leave the people who care about me and go elsewhere just to adapt to new people."
Radmilo fell silent. He had suspected Carl ever since he found out the man's name was not in the database. Because of that, he secretly stalked Carl and found nothing suspicious.
Did the IRO have anything to do with what happened to Carl?
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