Flame Dragon

The Giant Slime's bloated body began to contract as it gathered strength once more. It suddenly sprang up and came crashing straight down at Marcus!

Marcus lunged forward and barely avoided the Giant Slime's attack.

The consecutive bursts of speed in such a short time were beginning to drain Marcus's stamina. His movements were no longer as nimble as before, and the aftershock of that crushing descent left him dizzy and disoriented.

He staggered back several steps before steadying himself. At that moment, the Giant Slime began brewing acid again!

"Get down!"

Zeliel's furious roar rang beside Marcus's ear, and he obeyed without a second thought.

Zeliel stepped forward, and the tip of the white ash staff suddenly flared with blinding firelight!

Flame Dragon, fully charged!

"Boom!!!"

A massive Fireball shot over Marcus's head and slammed directly into the Giant Slime!

A direct hit!

The instant the Giant Slime's gelatinous body touched the flames, it began to boil violently. Then, like a melting candle, it dripped away. The destructive effect was excellent.

But it was not enough. Its core was still protected; he had to burn away its entire outer body!

Zeliel furrowed his brow and continued pouring out magic power, maintaining Flame Dragon.

The red light illuminated the entire cave, even overwhelming the glow of Illumination.

Zeliel could feel the magic power within him rapidly dwindling.

Hold on!

"Aaaahhh!!!"

The Giant Slime actually let out a harsh, savage screech. Its gray-green gel twisted and warped as it convulsed madly.

The searing flames of Flame Dragon continued without pause.

The Giant Slime tried to escape the flames by gathering strength for another leap, but its body melted far faster than it had imagined. The blazing fire was mixed with magical impacts, and together they were immensely destructive!

After struggling repeatedly, any thought of escape was finally crushed. As Flame Dragon continued to scorch it, more than half of the Giant Slime's body dissolved away, exposing its greatest weakness—its Magic Core.

The exposed Magic Core could not withstand such ferocious scorching. With a bang, all life within the Giant Slime was extinguished.

A pure, round Magic Core fell to the ground, while the Giant Slime's remaining body rapidly shriveled into a dry lump of gel.

[The party has slain the Giant Slime together and gained a large amount of experience.]

lv.3-lv.4, level up!

Only after seeing the kill notification on the panel did Zeliel dare stop supplying magic power. The enormous Fireball gradually went out.

He panted heavily, calming the turmoil within his body.

"Ha... ha..."

That seven-second Flame Dragon had nearly drained his mana bar dry.

The panel showed that killing the Giant Slime had earned him a total of 90 experience points. Zeliel had now reached lv.4 (27/175), gaining four distributable attribute points.

After a brief consideration, he added them to Intelligence.

His Intelligence rose from 70 to 74. Due to the strong correlation mechanism, his Charisma also increased again, becoming 47.

Zeliel's attribute panel was now:

Strength: 65

Agility: 61

Constitution: 68

Spirit: 71

Intelligence: 70—74

Perception: 30

Charisma: 46—47

Luck: 41

Talent Skill:

Spell Structure Evolution.

There was nothing much to say about prioritizing Intelligence. It improved his control over magic power, increased Spell Structure Evolution's analysis speed, and also boosted Charisma along the way.

Besides, to unlock the next talent skill, he had to reach Lower-Level Mage.

The area where Zeliel fell furthest short of becoming a Lower-Level Mage was casting speed.

Even with the white ash staff in hand, Zeliel still could not cast within three seconds.

Increasing Intelligence, improving his control over magic power, then gradually optimizing the redundant parts of his spell structures—this was Zeliel's primary goal.

For now, his Spirit attribute was sufficient, and he was not lacking in offensive power.

As for Strength, Agility, and Constitution... those were even further outside his considerations.

And then there was Perception.

There was no real need to improve that attribute for the time being. Besides, each increase required two points, which was somewhat extravagant and wasteful.

Still, it was worth noting that Zeliel could clearly tell Vales's Perception was far higher than that of ordinary people. Almost every time, Vales was the first to grasp the situation in battle.

Finally, there was Luck...

That attribute was simply too mysterious. Its effects could not really be quantified.

Thinking back, Zeliel had indeed encountered quite a few lucky events.

For example, the Mist Demon they had encountered had been a juvenile. If it had been an adult, the party would have been wiped out with no room for recovery.

Then there was the fact that, with only 30 Perception, he had somehow sensed the Mist Demon's magical connection within the thick fog and prepared Fireball in advance.

Otherwise, even if the others had bought him time to cast, they would surely have suffered severe losses. Gray might even have died, while Marcus could have been seriously injured.

There was also meeting a kind person like Bev, Marvin showing mercy, and finding magic at the training ground that suited him rather well.

All of those could be considered signs of good luck.

But how much of it had happened because of his 41 Luck, and how much would have unfolded that way regardless?

Zeliel did not know.

Besides, the cost of increasing Luck was simply too high—it required four times as much as a basic attribute.

He would think about it later...

Only after Flame Dragon was withdrawn did Marcus dare climb up from the ground, his expression utterly stunned.

"That's insane..."

Was this the destructive power of a mage?

After witnessing Zeliel scorch such a huge Giant Slime to death, Marcus felt even more reverence for that profession.

Vales also clicked his tongue and shook his head.

"That's too outrageous..."

To achieve that kind of destructive power, he would at least have to advance to Intermediate Ranger and combine battle aura with archery.

Zeliel was merely a newcomer who had gone on two missions, yet he had already surpassed him?

The two pushed those thoughts aside and began collecting the spoils.

Compared to the Mist Demon's Magic Core, the Giant Slime's Magic Core contained considerably less energy, so its market price was correspondingly much lower.

Still, it was a respectable sum of money.

There was also the lump of gel left behind after being burned.

Zeliel picked it up and weighed it in his hand. It was lighter than he had imagined, so he tried punching it.

"Smack."

It left only a faint fist mark, which quickly restored itself.

It really was excellent material for making cushioned armor lining.

"This time, shall we split it according to the four-three-three ratio as well?" Marcus asked Zeliel for his opinion.

"Sure." Zeliel agreed readily.

After putting away both items, the party continued exploring deeper for a while.

There was nothing unusual inside anymore, and they did not see any more polluted water on the ground.

The Slime colony in this abandoned cave had been completely cleared out, and the mission was successfully completed.