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 seed subdued now, her earlier enthusiasm dampened by embarrassnt. 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 slis 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 slis, 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 slis, each roughly five feet in diater, significantly larger than the three-foot specins 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 engagent," 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 slis detected their presence imdiately, their gelatinous bodies rippling as they oriented toward the threat. Unlike the smaller ones that had moved sluggishly, these mature slis 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 fla that washed over the nearest sli. 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 flas.

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

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

Two more slis converged on their position. Derek t the left one with an overhead chop, his blade trailing flas. The impact sent ripples through the sli’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 sli 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 sli to lose cohesion.

Four more slis bypassed the front engagent, 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 slis with limited effect. The creatures were too durable for ranged techniques to penetrate to their cores.

Emma conjured a wind barrier that slowed one sli’s advance, buying ti for Roland and Sarah to intercept from their rear guard position. Roland’s earth-enhanced sword struck the sli 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 sli 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 sli 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 sli’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 slis 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 sli, 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 imdiately, using wind essence to accelerate his sprint. His boots barely touched the ground as he crossed the distance in three long strides. The sli’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 ca 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 sli lost all cohesion instantly, collapsing into a pool of rapidly evaporating liquid that stead and hissed against the stone.

The final sli 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 sli, but the creature simply crashed through it, acid eating through the water construct.

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

The sli recoiled, its form rippling from the strike. Kai followed up imdiately 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 sli’s sides. Working together, they systematically destroyed the outer layers protecting the core.

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

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

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

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