Zera reached her hand out and the small iron dagger fell from the air into her hand. She leaned down in a sprinter's position with her dagger arm out slightly. ready to attack. This wasn't really a stance of any kind, Zera in their past life was quite the pushover. The system actually had a hand in this feat. Kale had already run ahead and sliced one of the Slime Orc's knees. The moment the longsword made contact with it's knee, it let out a monstrous bellowing roar as slimy spit scattered everywhere. Their flesh splattered into green goo. The green goo congealed and began too ooze down and cover up the deep wound within moments.
Kale shuddered in disgust as he wiped some of the spit off his face. He took a slight leap back before getting into a defensive position. Their stance was a basic two handed straight upward hold. The orc clumsily rampaged forward and slammed it's fist down directly at Kale's head. He took this as an opportunity and sliced straight down at the Orc's arm. Normally this wouldn't work but due to the nature of the monster's hybridism, the slime was easily laterally in half, leaving one arm sliced perfectly all the way up to the shoulder.
Alice followed up by raising her staff and focusing her energy into one point in the air. A large spark emitted into the air before fire formed and conglomerated into a spiralling ball. Small wisps formed from outside and continued to spiral in, increasing it's size from that of a baseball to two times the size of a large watermelon. She swiftly pointed the front of staff straight at the hybrid, the fireball falling to follow the motion at a steep angle. The moment the fireball neared the orc it opened it's jaw wide for some reason.
Zera immediately realized what was likely going to happen and propelled herself forward since she was already in the proper stance to do so. The fireball began to get consumed by the orc as if a whirlpool was pulling it in. Zera arrived about half way through the process and aimed to skewer it's jaw. She partially missed and hit it's neck, causing it to stagger as the fireball dissipated. Alice was at a loss of how to fight it as the puncture solidified, taking Zera's dagger away and liquefied it.
"What can we do against this thing? It's completely regenerating. It devoured my dagger and your fireball. It's arm is already starting to reattach." Zera was at a loss, her past experiences don't help defeat an unkillable monster.
Suddenly 3 arrows wizzed past their shoulder and into the Orc's head. It stumbled and ripped the arrows off of itself. Leo shouted while it was distracted, "Don't get so down after one attempt. Just keep hacking at it until something falls off."
They all got ready once more, morale high due to Leo's bold action. Kale and Alice continued their combined assault at the orc while Zera sat back and contemplated a solution. 'That thing doesn't make sense. cutting it doesn't work. slicing it's limbs to the utmost limit is also a failure. It wouldn't easily let us chop it's limbs off entirely.. Magic doesn't work. What weakness could slimes in this world have. . .' Zera continued to observe the action to see if any changes can be observed.
As the fight drew further along the group gained no headway. Any random attempts Zera made were completely ineffective. The orc finally got a good strike in on Kale. The congealed fist rammed into Kale's chest, sending him falling backwards. He lost his sword, since he lost grip from the impact. It was several feet away off to the side. The hybrid was getting ready to deliver a finishing blow and suddenly a loud booming noise could be heard in the distance which shook the ground and air around slightly.
A few moments of silence passed and suddenly Zera ran past the 3 to land a punch on the Orc's face to stop its attack. As Zera made contact, something else came from above. The collision went right into Zera's hand and both the object and Zera flew in opposite directions several feet. The Orc's head was splattered all over. It still stood and moved, but it couldn't see.
Zera sat up, dizzy and stunned from the force. "mmh.. What happened..."
Leo was the first to speak up, and quite loudly at that. His voice was sugar coated with love and falsified need, "Leeaaaader!~ You came to save us after all?!~" He leaned in to hug the supposed person and got a boot to the face from the dust cloud. The dust cleared and a tall 6 foot woman with a toned skinny figure emerged.
She spoke up in a mildly frustrated tone. Her voice was quite low and had a ferocious note to it.
"Damn idiots.. I take a mission break once and you get yourselves into the biggest fight since we forged our team.. I'll beat some sense into you later.. Now.. Who knocked me over?! I'm practically covered in dirt because of that! I'll beat the sense into whichever one of you three-- .... Four? Did that!"
Zera sighed in frustration. 'Why is she so pissed over attacking me and getting knocked back...'
"I knocked you over cuz you almost frickin killed me" Zera made the remark with a tinge of irritation in her voice.
Alice, Kale, and Leo backed up quite a bit after Zera said that.
'Why did those 3 just retreat...--'
Suddenly the woman's fist barely grazed Zera's head by a half an inch. Zera could barely comprehend when she moved.
"Are you crazy?! I'm not the monster you freak! I simply stopped you from hitting me in the process!" Zera backed away a little.
"Hmph! You think I'd hit you?! I'm an expert, you damn brat!" Yet again the leader of the group aimed to hit Zera but Zera actually caught her fist this time. Zera's arm was trembling partially due to the force.
Kale and Leo's jaws practically dropped to the ground from shock.
"N-nobody had caught leaders fist like that before..." Kale said, shying away from the fight by the minute.
Zera yanked the leader towards her and kneed her in the gut. "Get some maturity and stop this nonsense!" The woman trembled for a moment and coughed.
"Amusing... Very amusing! What's your name, mutated brat. I'll remember it after I knock your lights out! Mine is Cleo. I doubt you'll remember once I crack your skull open." Cleo cracked her knuckles loudly.
"Huh... When did this become some showdown.. whatever. It seems I need to muscle my way through this situation. I'm Zera. I'm human."
"...No. You're not."
"Uhhh, I mean how am I not?" Zera had already forgotten about her wing.
"Look at yourself! Your eyes! Your wing! Your pupil has 4 points instead of being a full circle! (like a solid o with an X overlapping) You're clearly a monster. You just look humanoid."
"Okay whatever! I don't know either."
The orc hobbled its way over blindly and bumped into both of their shoulders. Both Zera and Cleo elbowed the monster simultaneously and it exploded into a slimy mess.
Both of them spoke simultaneously as they elbowed the poor victim of a creature, "Butt out!"
They glared at eachother for a long moment and thankfully the old man, Theodore, walked over.
"My my... Cleo. You've gotten very energetic.. Ya remind me of myself at a young age... Heh heh heh..." He walked away after he substantially killed the mood.
Alice whispered in a loud manner and gave a thumbs up to the unaware old man from behind Kale. "Nice save!"
Zera stared at Cleo and Cleo stared back.
"I-- y'know.." Zera awkwardly spoke but Cleo interrupted.
"Nevermind. Whatever."
Reward:
--- Mission Completed! ---
Reward: 6 Slime Cores, 100 Elemental Coins
Cleo pulled out a small wooden rectangle with a rune engraved in it. Upon noticing that Kale stopped her and explained.
"Let the new girl handle it. She can probably absorb it in a minute, and she doesn't even need a contract. It's amazing."
Cleo scoffed and put the contract tablet away. "I doubt it but I'll entertain you. Try it brat."
'What am I now, a corporate slave?' Zera sighed and nodded. She walked up to the slime pile. She knelt down and tapped it.
--- Absorb ---
Do you wish to absorb Rank 1 Orc-Slime Hybrid?
Y/N
'You know the answer to that. Just do it.'
Obtained 2 Slime Core
Obtained 1 Orc Core
Obtained 1 Soul Shard
Obtained 1 Hybrid Crystal
Just like the previous monster they immediately became mist and spiralled upward around Zera until it reached her wing and got absorbed within a few seconds.
Cleo watched Zera and muttered to Kale, "Short scarlet red hair.. X'd pupils, Draconic black wings with blood red spikes.. Remarkable abilities. Why does this seem so familiar."
Kale glanced at her with confusion. "Either way she's a comrade at least for now. I think you should just accept her because she caught your ultimate melee attack on the second try. I could tell you were going full force. Am I wrong, Rank 32 Cleo, Forgotten Master of Fist Combat?"
Cleo stared at Zera for a long moment and Zera glanced back, returning her stare with a smile.
"..Maybe. I don't trust her quite yet though."