"In my entire lifetime, this is the first time someone referred to me as 'Aunt,'" the Wicked Queen Slime stated. "But, I'll let this one pass because you are still a baby. "What's your name, little one?"
"Eiko!" Eiko replied with a smile.
"Eiko? A decent name." the Wicked Queen Slime nodded. "Did this Half-Elf give you that name?"
"Yes!" Eiko nodded. "Papa!"
"Papa?"
"Un!"
The Calamity-Ranked Monster then shifted her gaze to Lux, which made the Half-Elf shudder.
"I can tell that this Slime is bound to you," the Wicked Queen Slime said. "What is your name, Half-Elf?"
"Lux," Lux replied.
The Calamity-Ranked Monster then gave the red-headed teenager an appraising gaze, scanning him from head to toe.
"I thought I was just imagining things when I sensed the presence of a Royal Slime from hundreds of miles away." The Wicked Queen Slime smirked. "I thought that she was being held captive by Agarthians, so I decided to come to her rescue. I was also planning to kill the fools who had captured her... but, seeing her like this, it's pretty obvious that she's not being enslaved by anyone."
The ten-meter-tall slime then started to shrink at a rapid pace and then transformed into a beautiful mature woman with jet-black hair and purple eyes.
A black crown faintly glittered on top of her head, making her look like one of the Evil Queens in one of the Fairy Tale stories that were popular back on Earth.
"Since you have already introduced yourselves, it is now my turn to return the gesture," the beautiful woman stated. "The Agarthians call me the Wandering Calamity or Wicked Queen Slime. However, you may call me by the name Lilian."
"Aunt Lilian!" Eiko shouted.
"Good girl." Lilian nodded her head in satisfaction. "Well then, Lux, I'll keep this short and simple. I will be taking Eiko with me. What do you want as compensation?"
"Sorry, but I won't be handing Eiko to you," Lux replied. "She's my daughter and my Beast Companion. She's not an object for sale."
"L-Lux!" Cleo, who had been silent since earlier hurriedly tugged on the Half-Elf's robes. "I know that Eiko is special to you, but in this kind of situation, it would be best if you just agree to her demand."
"Oh? It seems that someone here understands the situation." Lilian smiled. "Very well, I will turn a blind eye to you defying my orders to keep silent. You should listen to this Saintess while I'm still being cordial with you. You won't like it when I stop being civil."
"My answer will not change," Lux replied. "You will not take Eiko away from me."
Eiko, who seemed to have realized what was going on, was no longer giggling and even glared at Lilian for trying to take her away from her Papa.
"Bad Aunt!" Eiko shouted. "Bad! Bad!"
"Eiko, Darling, I'm just doing this for your own good," Lilian said. "You will have a better life with me than this Half-Elf. Also, he still hasn't awakened your bloodline power, which is the first step to becoming a truly powerful monster."
"No!" Eiko shouted. "Bad Aunt! I love Papa!"
A sigh escaped Lilian's lips as she put her hand on her forehead, looking very troubled.
"I tried to settle this peacefully, but it seems that peace was never an option," Liliana stated in a disappointed tone. "Since that is the case, I guess I will have no choice but to use force."
As soon as she finished her words, she released a very powerful killing intent that descended on Lux's and Cleo's bodies like a mountain, rendering the two incapable of moving due to how strong the pressure was.
Eiko was the only one exempted from the overwhelming pressure because Lilian didn't want to hurt her by accident.
"Pa!" Eiko shouted worriedly.
"I'm fine, Eiko," Lux replied as he forced himself to keep standing. "This is nothing."
Lilian, who saw the Half-Elf resisting her killing intent, smirked.
"Hoh~ not bad for a D-Ranker," Lilian commented. "But can you handle this?"
Lilian was about to increase the strength of her killing intent to make Lux and Cleo kneel.
But before she could even do that, the Halfling, whom she wasn't paying much attention to earlier, lightly cleared his throat, dispelling the pressure that she was emitting.
"Can you not bully children?" Gaap asked in an annoyed tone. "If you want to use force to have your way, then so be it. You're not the only one who can call the shots here."
As if waiting for that cue, a gigantic head materialized above Gaap, and Antero's crazy chuckle reverberated in the surroundings.
"Queen Slime," Antero said after chuckling. "Squishy Slime."
This time, it was Lilian's turn to feel pressured. Her Bestial Instincts were telling her to run away because the creature in front of her could potentially threaten her life.
What Gaap was doing was only Partial Manifestation of Antero, so it didn't drain much of his life force.
Also, he only made the Golem's head appear, so it didn't become too much of a burden for him.
A tension-filled silence descended upon the surroundings as a hushed standoff between the Wicked Queen Slime and Antero commenced.
This continued for a few minutes until Gaap spoke up, making Lilian shift her attention to him.
"You said earlier that Eiko's bloodline power still hadn't awakened, right?" Gaap asked. "Then do you know how to awaken it?"
"Of course," Lilian replied. "However, I will only do it if Eiko comes with me."
"But that won't happen," Gaap stated. "As you can see, she will not abandon Lux, and Lux will not abandon her. Forcing them apart will just lead to conflict. So, let's do it this way. You can just treat this meeting as if it never happened and we'll be on our way, or you can awaken Eiko's Bloodline Power and let her stay with my Disciple here."
Gaap made sure to highlight the word "Disciple" to make Lilian understand that he was Lux's Master.
This was the Halfling's way of telling her that if she did anything malicious to the Half-Elf, he would not hesitate to attack her until one of them died.
Lilian then shifted her attention to Antero's head before looking at Eiko, who was glaring at her.
Seeing that the Baby Slime seemed to hate her right now, she decided to back off for the time being until the Fairy Princess cooled off.
Without another word, Lilian turned around and disappeared from everyone's view.
Cleo was only able to breathe a sigh of relief when she felt that the Wicked Queen Slime had really left them.
However, Lux didn't share her relief.
His Soul Book was still floating beside him, and the map in it was still active.
Because of this, the Half-Elf was able to see the blinking red dot at the very corner of the map.
This time, it no longer switched to yellow.
Instead, it was blinking in a very deep shade of red, showing great hostility.
The Half-Elf was certain that, now that Lilian had seen Eiko for herself, she wouldn't stop until she got hold of the Baby Slime, whom she deemed to be a special existence just like her.
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