The Summoner's Rebirth: Awaken, Milady

It appeared in random places, but Aria already knew better than to dig randomly.

The reason she had to restrain the cluster instead of doing all this without the chains was because she wanted to test out something.

The leverage of said slime core.

A fact about the slimes was that if its membrane was pushed to one side, then the core would bulge out on the opposite side, creating a larger bubble.

With this, Aria would be able to determine roughly where the height of said core was.

Typically, the core was situated at the center because it would be protected by the membrane.

Going by all the clues, Aria pinpointed her 'mining' location.

"It's time to be a miner~" Aria was light-hearted at this point, because she knew that the fight had already been won by her.

The slime would be unable to move unless you removed all the chains. This is attributed to the slime's characteristics, where its viscosity makes each inch of its body interconnected. Thus, although catching its protective membrane wouldn't do any damage, it would restrict its movement because the core can't disperse out from the layer.

If it does disperse, it would count as the slime's death.

Thus, Aria was currently 'mining' the rock that was the slime's membrane in an attempt to hit the core and make the entire thing explode like fireworks.

Imagining all the goo and liquid burst out made her stomach churn, but at the same time, it was a similar feeling to pummeling a stress ball in order to relieve your pent up feelings.

Only, this time, the slime's insides would have to all pour out.

As the helpless slime couldn't struggle any further, its fate was basically already sealed. It only had to wait until the final blow was landed.

Aria continued her progress with ease, and in minutes, she managed to hit the core.

"Got it!" Like someone who just found gold on their mining expense, Aria exclaimed happily.

She proceeded to hammer her sword on the core. The clanging sounds it created made Aria wince as she felt sorry for her sword, but there was no other way around this.

In this very moment, her arm was actually already shoulder deep inside the creature. Which, obviously, was a disturbing feeling, but Aria did not pay it any heed as she continued to bang on the core's surface, waiting for it to break.

The other team members, who were now all standing on ground point, could only furrow their brows at how Aria was acting.

They were concerned, a part of them wanted to look away from the questionable scene. And yet, since the woman was doing this for the sake of their collective victory, would looking away really be the right thing to do?

And so, they continued being loyal spectators to Aria's wild mining expedition, not knowing what she had in mind. The complete set of Aria's plans, including the ones that they were not aware of.

Aria's face was bright, which of course, lessened the team's worry for her. The woman was fully confident and assertive in her actions. Including the previous moments which proved that Aria knew what she was doing, the team was able to gain newfound respect for her, an outsider.

Aria did not even bat an eye at the icky feeling she experienced. Her mind was fully set on breaking this core.

Her movements were very limited, and she needed strength in order to fully execute her duties. She used an all out strike filled with enhancements on attacking the core.

And it was definitely working. With each dealt blow, Aria could tell that the cluster would be heavily shaken up, trembling to no end.

It did not create any sound, but its movements would always get a bit wilder every time she did her thing.

Then, upon the sixth strike, Aria finally felt that the core achieved its breaking point.

She heard sounds of cracking.

Crack!

Her sword had punctured the core.

The cluster hadn't actually made a noise during the entire fight, but it created a deep groan when the core was struck heavily.

Knowing that the cluster would soon explode since the main monster that kept up its shape in the first place had been severely injured, Aria prepared for her escape.                 

She coordinated her plans with Dianthe, who would create an escape path for her once the membrane burst into pieces.             

The timing had to be on point. If she jumped too early, then she would not be able to predict where the slime goo would fly out to and could possibly be hit even more. If she jumped too late, then- well, it would be worse.

Aria waited, gulping her saliva and keeping Dianthe nearby on cue.

As the monster continued shaking up, Aria's brows furrowed.

One second. Two. Three. Four. Aria counted inside her heart. [Halvargg] had been stored away and her freed hand was situated on top of the cluster's surface. Through doing that, she sensed the potential timing.

Once she finished analyzing the tempo and successfully predicted when the cluster was going to explode, she conveyed her thoughts to Dianthe.

The two was now on the same wavelength, waiting for the eventual explosion.

"Now!" Aria shouted, strengthening her grip on Yan's claymore, preparing for the surface to break and for her to be able to pull out the blade easily.

Dianthe readily created several platforms at once, managing her mana carefully as to not overuse everything and end up badly later on.

Aria could not just leave Yan's claymore, because the pitiful man would not have any weapon to fight with for the next stage.

Though, she doubted if the man would even stay fond of his weapon after having seen what it went through.

It was like a balloon popped. Only, inside the balloon laid a gigantic mess that pushed out of the rubber surface.

Burst!

A clean popping sound ensued.

Immediately, those materials that had been hiding inside pummeled out without stop.

Aria jumped off the blast's trail, efficiently dodging the spurts.

"Oh, truly the epitome of disgusting," Aria raised a brow, turning her head around in order to avert her gaze from coming in contact with the carcasses while running away.

She glided off the platforms Dianthe made and successfully got into a safer distance, away from the horrendous mess. Although she still got some nasty bile on her, she shrugged it off.

From a farther distance, her team could be seen frowning and making exasperated faces. Even after they have became Hunters for quite some time, this graphic scene was not easy to take in.

She nonchalantly walked away from the still exploding cluster.

The stinging smell that accompanied the explosion was also hard to handle, but everyone had a general consensus to bear it in.

They all knew that if one vomited, then the rest would definitely follow suit.

"..Is it over?" Elgin's brows were knitted together as he looked at Aria in disbelief over what she just did.

Looking at her facial expressions, Elgin knew that Aria must've known about what would happen since she directed the entire plan and did not seem shocked. He wondered how she was able to tolerate everything that went on.

"Well.. it's not over yet. We have to find the core, or else, it might have a chance to revive. I will only stop once I grind that thing to smithereens," Aria explained, crouching to start her exploration mission. "It'll be the death of me if it revives back,"

"Unfortunately, the core is probably still somewhere inside that exploding thing.. Unless the blast made it fly away to somewhere else,"

Aria's words made the others flinch even further, realizing that they still had to interact with the cluster.

However, a phrase snuck into their conversation. The content sounded like angels descending from the heaven and bringing them news of prosperity and glorious expectations.

"Don't worry about that. I've found it," Rallaka's voice entered.

Although he did not have a concrete form yet, he was able to move things. Now, the slime core they were looking for was situated on top of a rock Rallaka created to hold the object.

Aria's eyes gleamed as she saw the shabby rock that was the primary cause of all their troubles.

The others too, soon looked at Rallaka with admiring gazes as they waited for Aria to confirm that the fight had indeed been concluded.

Biting their tongues in nervousness, they watched as Aria's expression gradually warped to an ecstatic one.

"Wao! Genius," Aria praised, applauding.

After hearing that, the members simultaneously sighed in relief as the badly sought item was actually already retrieved.

With curious eyes, their gazes pandered around Rallaka, wondering what was so special about the core. They understood the concept of slimes, but what made the undead slime so different and so difficult to beat?

Aria, too, stood up, proceeding to go over to Rallaka in order to inspect the material.