Slime Lord

"Alrune, I'll attract all the aggro. You'll take the lead." Aiolos patted her back, convincing her that will be the best for this battle. And because all of them are under the Devotion Skill influence, words echoed within their minds.

"I will not disappoint you!" Alrune inhaled and exhaled. With an even confident gaze, she replied Aiolos.

"Everyone, please follow my instructions! Tanker, Aiolos. Hansen, Yesha, and Pharcis, you'll be the attacker this time! Attack once my Staff Blast is executed," Alrune commands. The staff in her hand made two circles again on the air before it was stabbed into the ground.

"Staff Blast!" two circling wave blows outward, making the Slime Lord feeling unease.

"Attack!" Alrune said. As the main tanker in this battle, Aiolos raised his hand above his head, while halfway floating in the air.

[Weapons Portal, release!]

Multiple portals, size varies depending on the weapons, appeared around Aiolos. But from their width and length, all of them are recognizable as daggers.

[Strikes of a hundred daggers]

Aiolos waved his palm downwards, turning a hundred daggers into a hailstorm of blades. This attack immediately found it's worth the moment the Slime Lord is injured all over its spherical body.

(DU-DUN!)

Suddenly, a feeling like a heartbeat made the party felt unease. The Octagonal Barrier cast from Aiolos' Protection immediately hovered just before all of them, defending against something.

"Flush!" a pressurized blade of steam destroys seven out of eight layers of the Octagonal Barrier. If it was not due to the Protection, perhaps half of the party is sacrificed from the first attack.

"Aiolos!" Alrune was affected the most. The blade of steam already cuts through all eight layers of the barrier before it missed its target. She's trembling in fear right now.

Even the staff she loved were cut off into to, but remain as while from Aiolos' blessings. But it will be impossible for her to continue fighting.

Zing!

A golden spear appeared as Aiolos tighten his grip. With both hands raised high above his head, Aiolos made a large descending swing, smashing hard onto the Slime Lord's body.

"Fweee!" the Slime Lord turned around like a spinning top to confuse its opponent. While at the same time, disable its opponent's physical attack due to its spinning body.

But that's nothing for Pharcis' Rising Dragon Dance. She prepared her stance and lunged onto the Slime Lord, delivering a heavy blow onto it's already wounded body.

Aiolos is worried for their safety and cast another Protection via his Hexaltheim. Weirdly, the pressurized blade of steam did not come out after receiving an attack.

[Did the skill has a cooldown time?]

Aiolos checked Alrune once more before he joined the fight once more. This is how dangerous it is to fight against a boss-grade monster.

"I'm alright! - I'm alright!" Alrune hits her face hard. The pain made her mind felt awake once more to join the battle with the others.

"Aargh!" a ball of water hits Pharcis hard, throwing her away from the Slime Lord. But then...

"Quick Heal!"

Alrune's heal came before Pharcis felt the pain. It felt much better like this, especially to delicate girls like them.

"Are you alright?" Pharcis asked. She hammered her fists together while doing so, preparing to grab the opportunity to attack once more.

"I'm fine. Let's assist Aiolos together." Alrune replied. Thinking about how she might look a little while ago made her felt embarrassing. Even Aiolos has to come and calmed her down before she cracks.

"En!" Pharcis nodded.

Once more! Rising Dragon Dance!" Pharcis attacked the moment Yesha and Hansen are thrown backward. Although all the aggro is aimed toward Aiolos, it doesn't mean that the Slime Lord will ignore everyone else.

Those spontaneous actions to defend, dodge, and attack is the most dangerous to attackers, not to mention those lack of experience like Hansen. It will even be a burden to the healer due to the increase in workload.

In her optimal state, Alrune is capable of casting 10 Light Heal, 5 Full Heal, and 15 Quick Heal. Both former abilities had to be chant before usage, except for the latter skill, Quick Heal.

But right now, about half of the available Heal quota has been used on all her party members. Not only the output of her heal started to mess up, but even her chanting takes slightly longer than before.

"I'm - I'm being a burden to our party..." Alrune started to lose her confidence. Although Aiolos chose her as the leader for this fight, she did not perform adequately.

"Alrune!" Aiolos shouted. It was pointless to continue communication through the influence of Devotion Skill.

"Huh?" that shout wakes her up from the negativity.

"I'm still here! With Aiolos!" Alrune tightened her grip on the staff and made a quick leap on her right.

Lucky or not, her movement coincidently allowed her to dodge a stray water ball fired by the Slime Lord.

"Eh?" Yesha steals a glance at the moving Alrune. With the Devotion still in effect, there's no point for Alrune to move around.

But a panel saved is a blow more she can take.

Two Quick Heals came to Yesha and Hansen, recovering them from all the stray damages dealt while attacking the Slime Lord. Alrune's quick positioning now gave them more flexibility while attacking the monster.

"Quick Heal," a flash glows on Pharcis' body, but instead of checking her, Alrune is preparing her Staff Blast once more. Two waves of magic hit the Slime Lord faster compared to before.

Silenced meant the Slime Lord is incapable of using any water magic. With it's Pressurized Blade of Steam still in a cooldown, unable to use magic for 5 seconds is equal to surrendering its life to the enemies.

"Sharpen! Bloodbath!" Hansen activated the Scarlet Blood's special effect unconsciously. Perhaps during the Devotion's influence, it allowed them to communicate with each other. The activation immediately shows it's worth with a swing through the Slime Lord's body.

The essence of the Slime Lord flows outward uncontrollably. All wounds made before these scabs easily, but not this wound. The substance reacts like it was thinned, losing the viscosity to harden.

[Weapons Portal, Release!]

[Strike of Ten Swords!]

Ten portals with broadsword about Aiolos's height drops onto the Slime Lord like it was heaven's judgment. The ten broadswords held the Slime Lord on its place, forcing it to submit.

"Deal the last hit!" Everyone else attacked. The Slime Lord had to submit to its fate after being held down by ten broadswords.

Aiolos dealt the last attack, sending a feather from his wing a the Slime Lord. It turned into a pile of treasures, including a Xuanwu Shell.

"It's a box! We've got two boxes this time!" Yesha, Alrune, and Pharcis hug together, leaving Hansen aside feeling unfortunate. Should he sneak outside next time and look for a shop opened by the Erotism God?

"But I'll have to keep it secret. Why am I the only guy in this family..." Hansen wanted to cry.

Four item-box falls from the portal to carry the drops. Except for the regular Slime Carcass and bone, there's also a piece of Lord's Leather, a blob of Lord's Essence, and a Slime Lord Nucleus.

The Xuanwu Shell entered Aiolos' God Space. As for the others, they're kept inside the Item-Box for later.

Their journey continued around the First Layer of the Heavenly Dungeon, but there's no longer any bosses to be found. Smaller groups of monsters like slime, Swift Wolves, and Steel Worm attacked them continuously until they're exhausted.

But nevertheless, they've got a big haul today.

They found close to a hundred of Ores and Herbs. Materials from the monsters. And the three unique loot from the Slime Lord. The Lord's Leather can be made into a cloak or a cape, depending on how big it is. The equipment made from Lord's Leather only has one unique property.

It repels monsters slightly when the wearer is leaving the dungeon.

As for the Lord's Essence, it is a magnificent material of Low-Heaven Tier. And in the hand of skillful gods, they can be made into elixirs capable of regrowing limbs and sense. But none of them is comparable to the Slime Lord Nucleus.

This nucleus can be either inserted into a Golem as a soul fragment, crafted into existing equipment to increase the quality or made into a soul servant. A soul servant can be groomed and released, hoping that it will be reborn again.

Although the possibility is low, a success equals having a heroic-level devotee into the family, which has been decided since its birth. No record or hypothesis is backing up this possibility, but so far, one individual existed inside this Southern Tianyuan Sanctuary.

Her name is Rochelle Yifan. A top tiered crest holder with an innate ability, Synthesia. This ability allowed her to absorbs all possible skills from any targets, be it the resident of Heavenly Dungeon, Mortals, or gods.

"Aiolos, what about opening one of the Xuanwu Shell here?" Yesha suggested. Since they're about to leave, why not taking a peek on the box's content? They have two, after all. And what's inside is all based on their luck.

"Yes. I think it is a well-made choice to open a box for now. Maybe our luck is better inside the dungeon compared to outside?" Aiolos grabs the box that pops out from the spatial portal inside his palm.

"Are we ready?" Aiolos jokes. The Spatial Portal now vanishes, leaving only the black box with golden stripes like a turtle shell all around. A steady flow of Godhood Power entered the box, slowly lighting up the golden strips around the box.

Once it was fully lighted, the six surfaces of the box disintegrated like there weren't here, to begin with. It was like an illusion that hypnotized both god and mortals.

What was left is a round bead with the word "GOD" on it.

"This..." Hansen, Alrune, Yesha, and Pharcis all understand what is this item is all about. Alrune's Full Heal - Hansen's Flame Slash - Pharcis' Magical Dragon Dance - all come from the bead like these.

But there's a difference between what they had compared to this one.

First of all, the word.

The one they had before is written "Mortal" instead of "God."

Even Aiolos is surprised. A Skill Orb for God? What could he get from this?