"Aaaaaaaaaaahhh!!! AAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!"
"Stop yelling! You will attract other monsters!"
Stop yelling? That is what Noah was indeed trying to do. But how could he when strange creatures shot a ball of explosive lava at him?
Yes, that is the only way he could describe them. Lava Cannon Slime – a rank 2 monster which, in exchange of 10% of its HP, could shoot a ball of lava that exploded on contact not unlike some sort of grenade. This, along with their 1100 HP, allowed them more than 60 shots before running dry.
Thankfully, those things were apparently stupid and clearly weren't made to shoot moving targets. In fact, moving constantly has been proven to be the best way to avoid their attacks – they didn't shoot in a straight line either, only parabolically.
This actually made it safer to just run towards them if you plan to take them down as they don't stop shooting before reaching 1HP making them quite easy to kill in the 10 minutes after their last shot. In fact, they were only considered rank 2 because a direct hit from them would kill any adventurer without proper equipment or fire resistance.
Sadly, Noah knew nothing of this.
*BOOM!!!*
*KABOOM!!*
*DOOM!!!*
"AAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!"
As he ran in terror, the only thing he could think about was how to leave this hell.
At first, he ran behind Kate until he noticed she was running directly towards their aggressors.
"(Wha— Is she crazy or what?!)" he thought.
This only added to a general feeling he had about that girl not really being all there in her head. What was she doing, bringing someone inexperienced in a dungeon of sorts just after they came to?! He asked that to himself many times and received many answers.
"To pay back for your medical fees," she said at first.
"To help you find a job," she said afterwards.
Wasn't that contradictory?
Doubt crept its way into his skull. What if that was just… What if all of this was just an overly complicated plan to get rid of Vasilisa as he first thought?
"Gee, you finally calmed down?!" yelled Kate to the girl behind her. "Listen, you should never lose your calm in a mine, especially when you are a sorter! Oh, but wait! You have offensive spells, don't you?! Why don't you—"
When she turned around, the girl with light brown hair wasn't running just behind her like earlier. No, she was holding her right wrist pointing her right finger in her direction.
"...!"
Kate froze. She knew what this position meant.
The two stood like this a moment, Noah essentially holding Kate at gun's point.
"...?!"
Two loud detonations caught Kate's attention but they didn't come from Vasilisa's finger, they came from the two cannon slimes that were still aiming at them. Or rather, they were aiming at Vasilisa.
Kate could tell from a single glance. It seems like the slime made a smart decision for once — aiming at the one who stopped moving first. If she let things go as they were, Vasilisa couldn't both throw her spell at her and avoid the shots. The girl even seemed to realize it as she looked up at the balls of burning lava.
Yes, all she had to do was to stand there and wait.
"What are you doing, idiot?! I said to stop yelling, not to stop running!!!"
"H-Huh?"
A shame she only realized after her body lunged at Vasilisa and took her arm. The frightened noble girl tried to resist but her arms were so thin, so weak, so easily swept away.
"Move those legs, now!"
Vasilisa seemed confused but they didn't have the time for that. They had to go as far away as possible from the explosion radius before—
*KABOOOOM!!!*
When you fight those slimes, you either run away or run towards them, not both. Yet, running away wasn't an option while on the rocky way – it was like a bridge floating above the void and whose only end points were either eternal oblivion or the menacing castle.
For Kate, only one choice was possible which is why she ran as quickly as possible toward the slime and the castle dragging Vasilisa without any care. But it also meant backtracking first to get the girl.
"W-What… Huh… Ouch…"
Noah felt a burning sensation on his left hand and a heavy mass on his chest. When he opened his eyes, he found himself, his back on the floor and Kate holding him as thigh as she could.
"H-Huh?! K-Kate you… huh? W-Wait…"
His eyes opened wide. Her black cape had been pierced and was still on fire. Her back had been too, leaving it an horrible burnt scar.
"K-Kate?!! W-What… Why… er… Argh! Shit!"
He understood – she protected him from those lava droplets that would spread in a short area around the impact. She was holding him tight while clenching her teeth to withstand the pain.
Why would she do that? Was she… Didn't she bring him here to kill him? That made no sense!
"Are… Argh… Uh… Are you okay, Vasilisa?" she asked, her gaze unfocused.
Her green bar must have lost anything around a fourth or a third of its maximum capacity yet, she only asked if he was okay.
"K-Kate, I… I…"
I am sorry, he tried to say but the words wouldn't come. Yet the apology came from the bottom of his heart, something the girl seemed to understand as a smile drew itself on her face.
She let go of him not without pinching his burned beforehand.
"Ouch! Hey!" he cried.
"They are still here," Kate replied, getting up.
A part of her HP bar dropped again but she now seemed totally fine as if nothing happened. Noah got up too, his legs wobbly.
"Can you run?" she asked.
He wasn't really sure he could, but also realized this wasn't really a question. He nodded immediately.
"So? Use that spell of yours!"
"H-Huh?"
She stomped the ground with impatience, "I will stay here, you go ahead and use that spell to finish those bastards! You know, the lightning one!"
"W-What are—"
"Less talk, more action!" she said, pointing at the slimes. "They shoot less often when they are low on HP, but they won't wait forever! Weren't you trying to shoot them earlier?! Now's your chance! I won't be on the way anywhere, run towards them and zap them for good!"
"..."
Earlier, she said.
This girl could read his intentions, there was no way she believed that he was aiming at the slimes. Normally, seeing her pretending he didn't try to kill her a few minutes ago would have him even more suspicious than he already was, but not this time. For some reason, he could now perceive her intention albeit faintly. He could tell her legs were wobbly under that black dress of hers—it wasn't that she was trying to buy him time in case the slimes attacked again, she just couldn't run anymore.
[Notice]
The competence [Implicit Communication] has gone up one rank. (E)→(D)
"(Implicit Communication?)" he asked himself, looking at the status screen that popped in front of him.
He was convinced those things only appeared when you looked into a mirror. Maybe it was different for level ups and the like? No, either way, he didn't have the time to worry about that. He had to reciprocate this trust he felt.
He turned around and started running towards the slimes. The word was still in his spirit; he just had to utter it.
"BOO!!!"
The lightning arrow shot forth, a blinding streak of energy that tore through the air. It struck the slime dead center, erupting in an electric burst that illuminated the cavern. The slime let out a guttural gurgle as its semi-liquid body convulsed violently before collapsing into a formless puddle that disappeared in a glowing red mist.
"(Yeah!!! On to the next!!!)"
Noah allowed himself a single breath of relief and fierty before his eyes darted to the remaining slime.
This one had stopped its assault entirely. It quivered, its gelatinous mass shrinking as if trying to make itself less conspicuous. From the slime's perspective, its instincts screamed danger.
It wasn't because that thing, that human girl stopped moving that it and its fellow slime attacked it earlier. It was because there was something strange about it.
They had an instinct screaming to attack humans, but this one was different. It didn't feel like anything they expected—it was a complete anomaly. Something both familiar and foreign.
"!!!"
No, she recognized it. That feeling—it was a hero wasn't it? If that was the case, then this battle was lost from the start.
"BOO!!!"
The strange hero-like being pointed its fingers towards the mass of living lava. There was not enough time to gather enough lava for a shoot, but the slime tried anyway. It was its nature as a monster—they oppose anything that isn't part of their group especially if they have ties to the hero. If it had a concept of fierty, then the slime would have at least been satisfied with having tried to fight until the very end but it sadly couldn't find satisfaction in something like that. However…
"W-Whoa! Ouch!"
It could find satisfaction in escaping death.
It appeared the hero-like being had tripped on a rock. Was it because of panic or excitement? Maybe just a trick of fate, a divine grace.
The slime didn't know. It didn't think that far. All it registered was the lightning bolt which missed it and hit a pile of rock to the side. This was the opportunity it needed.
The being swelled concentrating on a single skill.
[Lava Cannon]
The fiery ball of lava erupted in the air draining a portion of its already red bar.