Chapter 67: Stopped

Aria's eyes were glued onto the stone.

"It's really the core. How did you manage to get this in the middle of all that? You're sneaky, huh?" Aria was focused on destroying the cluster and escaping safely, so she hadn't noticed Rallaka's whereabouts.

To think that the spirit had actually been lurking around and ended up bringing a huge benefit to her, saving time and her mental health due to no longer be obligated to search in that disgusting mixture!

"It's partly luck. I was waiting for the explosion, and I caught the stone's movement while the liquid spread out. Since I didn't have a concrete body.. I just passed by and snatched it," Rallaka said.

"Great job!" Aria grinned happily.

"..Actually, can I have this stone? If I digest this while it's still in this state,the energy I'll get will be quite exceptional," Rallaka asked, hesitant over his question.

Unlike the previous materials, the slimes' cores were known to be great materials for various purposes, like weapon crafting, armory, cooking, and all sorts of things.

Since Aria retained knowledge of the olden times, then she must be aware of this too. Thus, she might stop Rallaka from consuming the item, which in that case, he would not be able to refuse her wishes since he was bound to her with a servant contract.

However, despite his worries, Aria responded positively with haste.

"Well... sure! What else can I do with it, it's not like I can turn it into materials or anything. Recipes that use the core are very specific, and the core needs to be fairly fresh out of the creature. I won't make it in time, so go ahead," Aria waved her hands, beckoning for Dianthe to come to her and help clean everything up.

She wouldn't be able to rid the whole room, but Aria wanted to at least get the filth off her.

"Ah, right. Thank you!" Rallaka expressed his gratitude, moving farther to start his absorption process.

Since the Undead Slime was uncommon, he thought that he could receive a much larger benefit from the gains.

"Dianthe, help me," she commanded.

Aria was cleaned by Dianthe, who told her that her magic was running dry and she might not be able to help Aria as much.

A Spirit's mana varied, scaled from their level and power. However, Dianthe was also an anomaly in this sense, since she possessed an amount of mana that was superior to those of her class.

In all directions, Dianthe was a great spirit. It was just that Aria had not gotten the chance to find out whether the spirit could evolve or not. If she could, then Aria would have to start thinking about to correlation between the two Dianthes she had met during her entire life.

Coincidences that happened back to back, and at repeated times could no longer be considered just a mere fluke. It would transcend that category and turn into something 'planned'.

Nothing was too convenient in this world. There are only convenient plots.

Aria turned her head to the rest of the team members, who were all still holding their mouths shut, scared that opening it would trigger the horrendous cluster's remnants to attack their senses.

She remembered that she still held Yan's claymore, so she handed the blade back to the man after getting it cleaned. Elgin looked at his blade, which went through a lot of things. His eyes contained a lot of unspeakable intentions, but he held it within himself.

"The next gate is open. I suggest we just.. rush over there. I don't think I can stand being here any longer," Reina covered her mouth with her palm, struggling to restrain herself from puking.

Aria also had the same idea and suggestion.

However, one problem was still in effect.

The gate that  they spoke about was located precisely in the worst part of the explosion aftermath. If they wanted to get past and reach the gate, they would have to cross the creature's remains in one way or another. The floor, the walls, the ceilings, everything was covered in filth since the explosion blast was so powerful.

No matter what, they had to interact with it.

"...If we have to do it anyway, then let's just hurry," Elgin spoke up, shrugging his head.

"I also think the same way," Aria was not as disturbed as the rest, but she still had to prepare herself.

After a few minutes, Rallaka finished absorbing the core, gulping it down and storing it inside his body.

Due to that, they started to resume their journey and wanted to step forward.

Aria approached the aftermath.

It was not only a horrendous sight to watch, but also to smell.

Aria was hit with a blast of filthy stench and disgusting unidentifiable materials that spurted out of the creature.

Although she mentally prepared herself for the trip, she still couldn't help but gag a few times.

The monster was packed with undead creatures fused together, and although the undead slime in particular wrapped everything up together, upon being flattened down and burst open, the result was far from pretty.

The entire room smelled like rotten corpse, and Aria, who was the closest to the aftermath was terribly disturbed.

Not even Ha-young's death made them this disturbed. Who would've thought?

"Let's just run through the thing now, shall we?"

Staying there longer would only hinder them and plague their senses harder.

The team nodded in succession, all in agreement with Aria's words.

"I will lead," she said.

The team stretched their bodies, preparing to sprint through the obstacle one by one. Although half of them were not mobility based, their speed was enough to sprint through.

That was, if the area was still intact.

The moment Aria leapt to the affected path, desiring to jump, she found out that the platform wasn't there. Her foot was met with thick liquid, not solids.

Aria instantly channeled her magic with Dianthe, making the spirit create a small burst of water in order to propel herself backwards.

"..Damn," Aria jumped back in fright, getting to a safe spot with ease.

Her heartbeat raced as she dodged a bullet there.

The rest, who were closely following her movements from behind began to step backwards as well, wondering what had happened.

"Did something happen?" Reina frowned.

"Are there any monsters?" Elgin inquired following the woman.

"No.. it's not monsters," Aria shook her head.

"The floors can't even be stepped on. There is no path below it. It's just the bile floating on top of the muddy water," Aria said.

The members frowned, not expecting to encounter another dilemma right before they were able to escape from this room. They were already at the end of the struggle, they could see the exit gate shining brightly.

However, must they be stopped here?

The distance between the untouched and stable path they were standing on to the exit gate was far. At least, definitely far enough to disable the thought of crossing in one jump.

"If the floors dissolved, then the walls should've also been destroyed," Aria sighed, glancing to the stained room.

Not a single spot was untouched.

Elgin and her, who had high mobility skills could walk on slanted walls. However, if the walls itself did not have any integrity, what could they do? Step on air?

Flying was a thing in the past, but the current Aria did not possess a Wind Spirit that was capable of helping her flight.

"Rallaka, do you have any mana? Could you use your stones to create a platform to carry us there?"

"I practically used it all up during the battle with the cluster. It took me a lot of power to burrow into that creature, remember?" Rallaka replied.

"Dianthe is not in her top condition..." Aria turned to her water spirit, who was swirling around in the air apologetically. She was exhausted, and the small water burst that Aria made her create was practically the last straw to make Dianthe internally scream at herself to stop.

Aria carefully considered the situation. "Creating the temporary platforms won't do. My spirits are a big part of my fighting style, and if there is a last boss scarier than the cluster behind all this, then we have no choice but to reserve a bit,"

"Then, what should we do?" Reina asked, worried.

"Give a moment to think," Aria bit her lips.

After a few seconds passed, Rallaka came to speak in Aria's stead.

"I could technically create platforms for you to pass through with. But four people.. I don't know if my mana would suffice. I could create small stones, but to keep it in place one at a time would be hard. Not to mention, to support four people's weights," Rallaka added.

Aria bit her thumb, thinking about all the possible solutions she could counter this dilemma with.

However, Rallaka's words did not end.

"However, that plan might not be... impossible,"