"Is it any different?"
asked a child
"What do you mean?"
Teras asked the child
"I mean even if it was evil, it doesn't make you any different from a murderer, does it?"
the child said
"I don't know what are you talking about!"
Teras said confused
"Did you forget we were talking about? The in....."
Teras quickly woke up with sweat all over his body, the sudden awakening of Teras surprised the group
"Are you alright friend? Did you see a nightmare?"
Har asked him, Har seems to prepare the slime soup so everyone can eat
"I'm fine! It was just a weird dream, not a nightmare, by the way, where is Cara if I remember correctly she went to gather some flowers, why isn't she back yet?"
Teras asked since he didn't see Cara around
"She is right there"
Lia said as she was pointing at something behind Teras, when he turned around he saw Cara fighting some green slimes on her own
"After the flowers, she decided to train her ability, she said that she will need to know how to fight for herself, I guess she can't cling to us every time she is in danger"
Lia told Teras, Teras then decided to relax a little and then join Cara since the cooking problem had already been solved
"Hey, Cara you seem to do well on your own! Mind if I join you?"
Teras told her with a sweet smile
"Oh, Teras I didn't see you there!"
He left a small laughter
"I didn't mean to spook you!'
Teras said
"It's okay, you can join but if you don't mind can you go a bit further than here, I occupied this area so you take this area!"
Cara said as she pointed at an empty place on the field
"You got it, if you spot a purple or even higher-rank slime tell me because it's very hard to kill a high-rank slime alone"
Teras told Cara, Cara's expression changed but she seemed to accept Teras's warning, Teras, and Cara then split and they both started killing slimes in their own areas, Teras wasn't bothered by the slimes, they were way too weak for him, the only thing he had to be careful of was the poison ability they had but other than that nothing else mattered, few hours pasted and Teras had killed a lot of slimes, the night was about to come and clouds were covering the sky
'If rain begins now we will be in trouble'
Teras thought, he wanted to go back to inform the others but a crowd of green slimes blocked his way, something was off, the slimes had a red glow on their core, Teras immediately noticed that something wasn't right so he quickly killed the slimes and ran back to the others, once he reached the camp that they had set up he saw something terrible, a king slime was trying to kill his friends, the king slime was also surrounded by a large number of white slimes, Lia was trying to kill as many as she could with her lighting powers, Har was also blocking the way of the slimes with earth walls but it wasn't enough to keep them away from them, Cara was also with them but she wasn't fighting the slimes, she was trying to take with her everything they had so it didn't get lost to the slimes, Teras didn't waste a second, he activated his mana overflow and launched himself at the king slime, he tried to stab the slime but it was the same as it was with the purple one, the blade didn't do any damage and Teras ended up launched away from the bounciness of the slime's surface
"Teras they are too many of them and they move fast, we can't stop them!"
Har screamed
"I know! So we run away!"
Teras said, he then helped Cara carry the heavy stuff, Teras then deactivated his mana overflow, it would have been a waste of mana if he didn't
"Guys help us too! take with you whatever you can and run!"
Teras yelled, the group then took almost everything and ran toward the forest, the slimes were ruthlessly following them with an incredible speed, the king slime didn't try as much as the other slimes but with each bunch, he did he traveled almost 10 meters, the slimes were slowly approaching the group
"If we continue like that they will catch up to us so let us split!"
Teras told them with fear in his eyes
"In what groups are we going to divide?"
Lia asked him with a look of despair
"It doesn't matter just GO!"
Teras screamed, and he then left the group, Lia and Har did the same, and Cara kept on running forwards, Teras's plan worked, but the slimes were disoriented and lost focus, they didn't know who to follow but after an order from the king slime they began chasing everyone, all of the running from Teras drove him to an end, he stopped after he reached a cliff, under the cliff was a river
'Don't tell me I will have to jump from here!'
Teras thought, after some second he began hearing the king slime coming closer and closer, so he built up his courage and jumped from the cliff, as he was in the air he enforced his whole body with mana so he can reduce his injuries, Teras's body hit the water hard so he ended up losing his consciousness
As for Cara, she continued to run with all of her might, if it was training she would have probably given up a long time ago but in this situation, it was run or die, so Cara kept on running and running, thankfully after some minutes of running Cara reached a downhill so it became easier to run, or at least that was she thought but she was wrong, Cara ended up tripping and falling down, she dropped down the food she had picked up from before
'There is no time, run, run, RUN!'
Cara thought, it was a bit harder for Cara to run but she didn't dare to stop, there was nothing that could make Cara stop, as she was running Cara saw a cave so she tried to hide there, as she was hiding she could hear the slimes bouncing around, the sound that they made was unpleasant but she could put up with it
'I have to wait here until they leave, I then have to find the others'
Cara was desperate to find the others again because she was really worried about them, after some minutes the slime sounds disappeared
'I made it but the others probably didn't, so quickly get up you coward!'
Cara said to herself to encourage herself, she then exited the cave but once she exited she was shocked, a group of blue slimes had surrounded the cave, all of the slimes had a red glow inside of them
"Damn it!"
Cara said out loud, she then created water so she can defend herself, a slime tried to attack her but she sliced it with the pressure of the water she created, Cara was surprised by her talent, after what she did to the slime she was more confident on her fighting ability, two other slimes tried to attack her too but she pushed them back and when they were about to land she sliced them with the water but they didn't die
'I have to be more creative, I have a dagger with me so I will try to use it and support it with water'
Cara thought as she pulled the knife out of her bag, the slimes tried to attack again but Cara sliced them up for good this time, the power of the knife combined with her water powers was more than enough to take the slimes out
"How do you like that?"
She asked the slimes with a smile on her face, Cara then proceeded to kill every slime with fluid and quick moves, Cara was able to defeat them but she ended up using too much mana, she was also using mana for running and training before so she was bound to run out of mana
'Looks like I have to spend the night here, I'm sorry but the others have to wait'
Cara then set up magic and regular traps with the remaining mana she had and she then slept on this hazardous night
On the other side of the forest, Lia and Har were still running for the slimes, it seemed like they didn't manage to hide from them like Cara, they tried to stay as close as possible to each other so they didn't get lost
"Har I can't run anymore, my legs are giving up on me!"
Lia told him, she was very frustrated that she couldn't keep going
"It's okay, most of the slime lost us so we can probably fight the remaining that kept on following us!"
the 2 of them then stopped and turned around, they prepared an attack on the slimes, and when the slimes finally reached them they instantly were taken out by them
"Don't let your guard down Har, I saw some purple slimes following us!"
Lia yelled, she wasn't wrong, purple slimes quickly approached them, those slimes also had a red glow on their core, Har quickly hardened his fists with his earth powers and punched one of the slimes, but the hit wasn't very effective since purple slimes had stronger defense than the blue or the green ones
"Har be careful! these slimes are deadlier than the others!"
Lia warned him, Har then penetrated the slime with an earth spike coming out of his hand the slime was greatly damaged
'whoa! He actually damaged it'
Lia thought as she looked at the damaged slime
"Quick finish it!"
Har yelled, Lia then electrocuted the slime with her powers, and the slime was killed
"See Lia? We can easily defeat them we just have to stay together!"
Har told her, it started to rain, after what she heard Lia felt D E T E R M I N E D to fight, the 2 of them slowly defeated the slimes with the same tactic they used to the first one, the 2 of them defeated most of the slimes, they had some serious injuries but they had to continue, the only slime that remained was a golden one
"We have to push ourselves to the limit in order to kill this one, Lia!"
"I know!"
Lia replied as she readied up an attack, Har then charged at the slime but before he could get any closer the slime attacked him with a magic beam, this beam was stronger than the purples', Har barely dodged it but it got his arm, Har's right arm was completely burned
"Lia if something happens to me run!"
Har told her
"Shut up you idiot we are going to defeat it here and now! Just do what I tell you"
Lia said
"I will trust you Lia but be quick the slime isn't going to let us strategize like that!"
Har told her
"I already have a plan, Just try to launch the slime as high in the air as you can!"
so that's what Har did, before the slime could bounce he used almost all of his mana to throw it into the air by hitting it from below, Lia then jumped above the trees and gathered her power
"Now feel the THUNDER!!!"
Lia screamed, she then redirected a thunder to the slime with her powers, and the powerful blue thunder stroke the slime, the slime instantly got fried by the electricity and died, Lia then quickly landed and went close to Har
"Har, are you alright? Don't worry I'm going to heal you!"
She said, she then started healing Har with mana but it was very slow
"Don't worry Lia, I will be alright!"
"Lies! Your hand is completely burned and your body is injured you will not be able to survive all this!"
Lia screamed, Har raised an earth roof in order to shield them from the rain
"If you have mana use it to heal yourself, you idiot!"
Lia said, her eyes were filled with tears
'A woman's true beauty shows when she cares for others'
Har thought as she looked at her
"Don't cry! I said I will make it, you just stay by my side, alright?"
Har told her with a smile as he played with her hair, Lia nodded with tears, the 2 of them were cold so they used each other's warmth so they don't catch a cold, the 2 of them started noticing the charming features of each other, they slowly came closer and closer to each other, the 2 of them felt this unexplained feeling and they felt the need to share it with each other