Chapter 50: “Technically” Perfect Defense-Squad

Eren’s grin settled into a look of focused determination as he approached this weird looking and newly formed hunting party. They were standing there like little chicks waiting for his command or wisdom to make them real hunters.

“Okay, end of the time out. You need to improve your base stamina in the future.” Eren said that with a sudden burst of energy and clarity. They were too damn slow.

The sun was struggling to pierce the thick canopy of the Verdant Hollow ahead of them, but it was already on the west side.

Before he could enact his plan of leaving them with some basic monsters and testing his own limits, he needed to know exactly what he was working with.

“Alright.” Eren said while keeping his voice calm but authoritative after the whole group started walking. “Before we head into dangerous places, give me a quick rundown of your capabilities. We already learned about Nimbo, what about the rest of you?”

Mel twirled a dagger suddenly with a confident look and competitive smirk spreading across her face. “I am an Athlete. My brother said he was one of the two combat classes but I still believe my class could be counted as one.”

“Old ones in the village always say that athletes were pretty common in the past they were old messengers when there were cities here.” Nimbo explained as his sister exaggerated the class.

“Like a postman? I mean delivery guys for messages or small things…”

Everyone nodded except Mel. She was still hyped about this small expedition and being a hunter.

“Not everyone should have an assassin class to act as a Rogue. My two passive skills give me a permanent boost to my stamina and agility. That means extra speed. And for my active skill, I have Edge Enhance. It magically coats my weapons so they can slice through almost anything.”

This time Nimbo shook his head and laughed. “It’s literally to make postmen to protect themselves while they do their jobs. It makes her strikes edgy and painful, maybe even makes them extra cutty. But not an almighty slicing skill like she dreams.”

“Shut up Nim!” Mel almost screamed but didn’t lose her composure. Eren guessed this wasn’t the first time people were talking shit about her skill.

Thadric sighed and tried to change the topic as he rested his ash-wood spear against his shoulder. “I am a Rancher as you all know.

I can sense what animals and some beasts are feeling and I have a passive aura to calm them down. It is great for village livestock but fairly useless against real monsters. So don’t expect me to calm predatory dragons or hell, even wolves to calm down and leave us alone. It only makes them more attune to mating urges or less picky with their food behind the bars.

“Interesting choice of words but keep going…” Eren liked his class. It wasn’t combat oriented but except that, it was the most purpose clear and clean class he had seen yet.

“There is nothing else except my only combat ability. It is named “Piercing Strike”, which gives my wooden staff’s, spears or mainly whip an explosive, mid-range thrust. It works better with whips but they quickly deteriorate.”

“How fast?” Eren asked.

Thadric didn’t look certain with his answer. “It destroyed all the whips I had in the recent years in less than 10 strikes. It is pretty strong and unexpected how useful it is but too costly. So don’t expect me to bring whips anytime soon.”

They were almost in the area Eren first came to this world from his home. That also meant slimes were also close. He smiled with an encouraging look to the last one.

Rabbu-i made sure to keep a safe distance from Eren to avoid the lingering effects of his Charisma stat. But her expression wasn’t completely professional right now. She smiled too meaningfully and explained as her eyes locked with his.

“I am a Forest Weaver. It is a rare class, similar in rarity to Emily’s level. I can understand the plants around us even now and also sense their condition. My active skill is “Plant Whisper”. It technically lets me force simple branches or vines to grow and bind our enemies, but it drains my mana very quickly.”

“What do you mean by saying -technically?” Eren had to ask.

“I am Level 11 and didn’t use stats on my mana before. Before you ask why, no reason I suppose. In the village life, there are too much to do like carrying things, doing labor on the fields and much more. I had to deal with so I used all of it on stamina, strength etc.” Rabbu-i didn’t look sad as she highlighted her breast cleavage while acting like it was for showing her muscly arms.

Eren would be like her if he didn’t have abundance of stat points.

She didn’t think about being a hunter before and screwed her class and poured her stats to physical things. That’s why it was technically true that her skill could control plants but if she had mana.

Like me. I can also technically

create clones… Bummer. “You are strictly support for now, until we find a way to fix your mana levels.”

Eren thought about some scenarios after mentally filing away all the information.

Mel was the burst damage which there was no burst or damage for now but hopefully her skill made a real impact on her dagger like she claimed.

Thadric controlled the mid-range control attacks with his staff and spear. It wasn’t metal headed but better than rookie spears. It had a bit artistry behind its creation even if Eren didn’t understand about weapons very much.

Nimbo was the tank. Not because he wanted to. But he didn’t have any other choice.

And lastly Rabbu-i had to manipulate the battlefield around the forest as a control mage with her limited arsenal of skill counts.

It was a perfectly balanced setup for a beginner group on paper.

“Good,” Eren said as gesturing toward the dark treelines. “Let’s move out and find a group of slimes. I want to see your dynamic in action.”

They walked for about one more minute and the ambient hum of the darker side of the forest surrounded them. They were stepping over thick roots and damp moss now.

Soon, they found exactly what they were looking for. A small group of gelatinous blue and green slimes was slowly pulsing near a massive rotting log in a small clearing. Slimes weren’t slow or weak as his world pictured them.

Eren stopped at the edge of the trees and crossed his arms. “Warm up on these. Show me what you can do, but don’t waste all your stamina or mana on them. Hit and back up from range. Yes-all of you will use mid range sticks first!”

Mel didn’t wait for a second invitation. She blurred forward like a small cat.

It wasn’t a magic spell, but the raw physical manifestation of her athlete class. She closed the distance to a large green slime in the blink of an eye.

“Edge Enhance,” she muttered.

A faint silver aura coated the blade of her dagger. She didn’t stab the slime; she sliced through it horizontally to look cool. The magically increased cutting power of her weapons sheared through the thick acidic jelly but there was some resistance. The slime definitely didn’t split into two, no, it burst like the times when Eren used stones or his feet to kill them.

Just a level 2 slime and her skill didn’t chance a thing! Her skill was way more weak than Eren imagined on actual killing purposes.

“Show-off,” Thadric shouted while laughing of her antics. He run to the action just behind her with his wooden spear and said. “Piercing Strike!”

He wasn’t particularly fast, but the skill triggered a sudden burst of kinetic energy at the tip of his weapon. It wasn’t clear what exactly it did but Eren knew it was actually strong.

His mid-range strike with the spear blasted a hole straight through a blue slime’s core, scattering jelly across the clearing. It was a level three slime but wasn’t a problem for this experienced Rancher.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep