Chapter 74: The Countdown to Re-Merge—Burn the Slimes or Be Burned!
The colossal Slime Lord suddenly burst apart, splitting into four elite slimes. The abrupt transformation caught the unprepared party off guard. For a moment, they stood frozen, eyes wide with surprise—until instinct took over and they bolted toward Ryan.
Their intention was clear: get the tank to pull aggro—fast.
Ryan smiled to himself.
The instant the Slime Lord had collapsed, he could’ve intercepted the elites before they got anywhere near the group. His timing and positioning were perfect. But something mischievous held him back. He watched, amused, as the four elite slimes surged toward his scrambling teammates.
Let’s see how they handle a little pressure.
And to his satisfaction, they handled it well.
Rather than scatter in panic and make the fight ten times harder, they converged around him. Their first instinct had been to group up behind the tank. Not bad.
"Group up!" Ryan shouted, watching them dodge each incoming attack with practiced precision.
Once they were in tight formation, Ryan stepped in. He raised his shield, and with a sharp swing, his Avenger’s Shield ricocheted across three of the elite slimes, staggering them. A split-second later, he followed up with Reckoning, dragging the fourth one cleanly into his orbit.
"Excellent! Focus fire on one first!" he commanded, planting his feet as all four slimes surrounded him.
Each of the elites had a different hue—red, green, blue, and yellow—and each carried its own threat.
The red slime radiated heat, burning nearby players with each attack. The green one lobbed volleys of poisonous arrows—individually weak, but relentless, constantly sapping health. The blue slime burned mana periodically, draining a hundred points at a time from anyone with a mana bar. The upside? Killing it restored everyone’s mana to full.