Help! I'm just an extra yet the Heroines and Villainesses want me!-Chapter 105: Deeper Exploration (III)

The team pushed deeper into the center passage with the tension from Derek’s outburst lingering like smoke. Students who had been chatting freely earlier now moved in near-silence, broken only by necessary tactical communication and the sound of boots on stone.

Kai maintained his position beside Lin, though she seemed subdued now, her earlier enthusiasm dampened by embarrassment. She kept her water essence ready but avoided looking at him directly.

The passage widened gradually, opening into a series of interconnected chambers separated by natural stone archways.

Essence crystals grew in dense clusters here with their light creating pools of illumination separated by deep shadows.

"Contact," Thomas called from his scout position. "There are slimes ahead, at least eight and are way larger than the ones we encountered earlier."

Henrik raised his hand to halt the formation. "Combat pairs, assess the situation before engaging. These are mature slimes, they’ll be more durable and their acid more corrosive."

Kai extended his essence sense into the chamber ahead. Thomas was right there were eight slimes, each roughly five feet in diameter, significantly larger than the three-foot specimens they had d been fighting. Their cores pulsed with stronger essence signatures.

Derek moved forward with Henrik rather than Roland, his posture aggressive despite the earlier reprimand. Sarah had shifted to partner with Roland at the rear guard position.

"Standard engagement," Ben commanded. "Front pair takes the first three, partnerships handle breakthroughs. Support, be ready with distance attacks if they spread out."

The formation advanced into the chamber. The slimes detected their presence immediately, their gelatinous bodies rippling as they oriented toward the threat. Unlike the smaller ones that had moved sluggishly, these mature slimes surged forward with surprising speed, their forms undulating across the stone floor.

Derek didn’t wait for them to close distance. He channeled fire essence into both hands and thrust them forward, creating a cone of flame that washed over the nearest slime. The creature’s outer layer sizzled and bubbled, green steam rising from its surface, but the core remained intact deep within the protected gelatinous mass.

"The cores are deeper!" Derek shouted, drawing his sword. "We need to break through their outer layers first!"

Henrik moved beside him smoothly like it was a reflex action. His sword glowed with intense white fire which was significantly hotter than Derek’s orange flames.

He drove the blade straight through the wounded slime’s center mass, the heat parting the gelatinous body like water. The blade found the core and shattered it with a sharp crack.

The slime collapsed into rapidly evaporating liquid, leaving scorched marks on the stone.

Two more slimes converged on their position. Derek met the left one with an overhead chop, his blade trailing flames. The impact sent ripples through the slime’s body but didn’t penetrate deeply enough. The creature surged forward, forcing Derek to leap back as acidic droplets splattered where he had been standing.

The acid hissed on contact with stone, eating small divots into the floor.

Henrik engaged the right slime with powerful strikes, each one burning deeper into the creature’s mass. It took three precise cuts before his blade reached the core, the final thrust shattering it and causing the slime to lose cohesion.

Four more slimes bypassed the front engagement, splitting to attack from multiple angles. Two headed toward the support section, while the other two targeted Kai and Lin’s position.

"Spread formation!" Ben called. "Don’t let them concentrate!"

The support mages created distance attacks, bolts of wind and fire that struck the advancing slimes with limited effect. The creatures were too durable for ranged techniques to penetrate to their cores.

Emma conjured a wind barrier that slowed one slime’s advance, buying time for Roland and Sarah to intercept from their rear guard position. Roland’s earth-enhanced sword struck the slime with heavy force, compressing its body against the floor. Sarah followed up with multiple rapid strikes, systematically cutting through the outer layers until her blade found the core.

The second slime targeting the support section slipped past their defensive line, sliding along the wall with disturbing speed. Mira reacted quickly, creating a barrier of condensed light essence that blocked its path.

The slime pressed against the barrier, its acidic body beginning to eat through the essence construct. Mira gritted her teeth, pouring more power into maintaining the defense while Thomas circled around to attack from behind.

Thomas’s wind-enhanced blade struck from the slime’s undefended side, cutting deep into its mass. He channeled essence into the strike, creating a vortex of cutting air that carved through the gelatinous body systematically. His blade found the core after several seconds of sustained assault and destroyed it with a precise thrust.

The two slimes approaching Kai and Lin were the largest of the group, their forms nearly six feet across and pulsing with particularly strong essence signatures.

Lin’s hands moved in complex patterns, water essence gathering in large quantities. She thrust both palms forward and a massive wave of water crashed into the left slime, the force sending it sliding backward across the chamber floor. The impact scattered its gelatinous body, temporarily disrupting its cohesion.

"Core’s exposed!" Lin called.

Kai moved immediately, using wind essence to accelerate his sprint. His boots barely touched the ground as he crossed the distance in three long strides. The slime’s core was visible now through the disrupted outer layers, a sphere roughly the size of a fist, glowing with sickly green light.

His sword came down in a diagonal slash enhanced with fire essence. The blade cut through the remaining gelatinous mass and struck the core dead center. The sphere cracked with a sound like breaking glass, fractures spreading across its surface before it shattered completely.

The slime lost all cohesion instantly, collapsing into a pool of rapidly evaporating liquid that steamed and hissed against the stone.

The final slime ignored Kai entirely, surging toward Lin with predatory focus. Its massive form moved faster than the others had, as if sensing she was the more dangerous opponent.

Lin backpedaled quickly, her hands already forming defensive patterns. Water essence condensed into a barrier between her and the charging slime, but the creature simply crashed through it, acid eating through the water construct.

Kai reached her position before the slime could. He stepped between them, his sword held in a low guard. The slime surged forward and Kai’s blade moved in a precise horizontal slash that cut through its leading edge.

The slime recoiled, its form rippling from the strike. Kai followed up immediately with a second cut from a different angle, then a third, each strike carving deeper into the creature’s mass.

Lin recovered her composure and added her own attack. Multiple thin streams of high-pressure water shot from her hands, acting like cutting tools that sliced into the slime’s sides. Working together, they systematically destroyed the outer layers protecting the core.

The core became visible after fifteen seconds of coordinated assault. Kai and Lin struck simultaneously.

Both attacks hit the core at the same instant. It shattered under the combined impact, fragments dissolving into essence particles before hitting the ground.

The slime collapsed into steaming liquid that quickly evaporated, leaving only scorched stone behind.

"Clear!" the scouts confirmed after checking the chamber and adjacent passages.