The Summoner's Rebirth: Awaken, Milady

Chapter 68: Retrospection

"...What are you trying to say?" Aria looked up to the floating spirit, who was hovering over the bile with interest.

He got close to the mess, and got away. He did it repeatedly before fleeting back to Aria.

"I ate up the slime core and gained power from it, but I can't digest it right away since it's impure energy. However, my mana has slightly recovered. We can't wait for my system to process everything, so... what about consuming the bile itself? It would count as carcass, no? If so.. then scraping energy enough for me to make sturdy platform stones would not be a dream,"

Rallaka proposed quite the crazy idea. As crazy as Aria was back when she had not revealed the slime bursting plan to the team yet.

With Rallaka making that sort of suggestion, Aria began thinking.

"I suppose it would," Aria concluded.

"It's not impossible, but we are running against time," Rallaka added, making sure that all their risks in doing this feat would be discussed.

The bile had the power to corrode the steps, which would mean that the ceiling and the walls, which were touched with said bile as well would also be decomposed sooner or later.

If Rallaka managed to contain the damages, then the spirit could grow stronger and obtain enough power to carry them there with enough support.

However, if Rallaka's speed lost against the corroding speed, the room had the probability to collapse altogether, thus ruining their chances of getting to the next stage since it was separated by the long distance.

The longer the time they spent on thinking, the shorter their time to work was.

Instead of just mindlessly brainstorming together, getting to action this instant was better.

Either way, Rallaka would profit. He would get stronger.

"Get to work, then. Even if time beats us, we'll think up of a way. Good luck, my spirit," Aria nodded, commanding him.

"En." Rallaka gave a short answer as he ran back to the concentrated Aria and began absorbing the goo.

Seeing that, Aria was quite amazed since even if Rallaka did not have a concrete form, his senses were all still intact. Which meant that he would actually still be smelling and feeling the disgusting aftermath.

She turned to the team, who were all still caught in dismay, not aware of anything.

Aria realized that the team did not have any comprehensive abilities in regards to the language she and Rallaka spoke. They were utterly confused at what she discussed with the Earthen spirit.

Aria sighed. First, she told Dianthe to retreat. Going back to the summoning space would save energy for the spirit who couldn't gain energy like Rallaka.

Dianthe was worried, but she still went back to obey Aria.

Once the spirit was gone, Aria clapped.

"Alright. So, in short, we are going to wait for Rallaka to absorb the carcass, just like how he did with the previous stages' corpses. However, you all must know of the risks behind it too. If the corrosion gets too heavy, then the building itself will collapse. If that happens, we have no choice but to leave this dungeon at this stage," she explained briefly.

Although Aria did not like leaving an unfinished dungeon be, she would definitely choose to prioritise her own life and safety. She was a daredevil, but not to the point where she would choose an extra dangerous path with too much risks when there is a harmless path.

Of course, the current her did not know that her principles would be broken down and revised in the future.

However, as of now, she was hoping for Rallaka to make it before the room collapses.

"Your spirit can do such a thing? How convenient," Reina praised.

"He can, but it doesn't guarantee our safety now, does it?" Aria replied, tilting her head.

"While we wait, is there anything we can do?" Elgin questioned.

"Be prepared. Just be prepared for anything that might happen. There's no telling when everything will collapse. A dungeon's building structure is not the best, you all must already know that fact. We don't know what type of dungeon base this was built with specifically, but we can always expect the worst just in case,"

"I get you," Elgin nodded.

Yan was still quiet even amidst all this conflicting threads of events. It made Aria wonder how the man managed to retain his stoic attitude. Was it a natural upbringing? Or was it because he wanted to hide?

Minutes passed. With each minute, their heart began to race.

From when Rallaka began to absorb the goo, bricks were already starting to be detached from the walls.

Specifically, they found out that behind the brick, there isn't another structure. It was as if the room itself was just thousands of bricks being glued together in an amateur manner, with no care as to what would happen.

Thankfully, when they were fighting against the cluster, none of them dodged to the wall. If the cluster's harsh force hit the walls, then the brick could have broken down and sped up the room destruction process even further.

"Hey, isn't this getting dangerous? Is there really no other way..." Reina tugged on her dress, becoming antsy.

"Even if we had a way, do we have the mana for it? I reckon not," Aria replied. She was also worried, but the things that they could do were little other than playing the waiting game.

"..You are right, but still-"

"Reina, calm down. If this fails, we go back. If it succeeds, we go forward. How simple is that?" Elgin spoke with a calm voice, but the distress in him was present.

Reina was the type to openly show her worries. However, that would do the rest nothing but increasing tension and thoughts.

"...It's alright. Her worry is warranted for. I was the one who suggested this trial period, I was also the one who formulated the plan. For this, I sincerely apologize," Aria bowed.

She was willing to admit that she was the one in the wrong.

"No, I didn't mean it that way! I was just.. haah," Reina was stressed. Everyone was stressed.

"It was my fault, my apology is a well-deserved one," Aria seriously spoke.

"Apologizing won't do anything. Why not prove it with your actions? Why don't you just join our team after this? From what I've seen, you have more than enough qualifications to enter," Elgin laughed. "Besides, if it weren't for you, how could we have beaten the cluster? This dungeon was bound to be entered by somebody. The disparity between this stage and the previous one is too large, there would have been victims.. more than what we lost. Perhaps a complete wipe out. The fact that we are still able to stand here and even be presented with the chance to go back to the real world is thanks to you. That makes it even,"

Elgin spoke very factually, addressing all the conditions and fairly judging them.

"..The cluster was defeated as a result of all our powers being combined. I would not have been able to do it alone," Aria refuted.

"Even so, if we did not have you on our team, we would be dead meat," Yan suddenly spoke up.

Aria pursed her lips, not expecting the team to actually defend her after putting them in this situation.

After making them lose Ha-young.

She was a stranger, but Ha-young wasn't. She was present in the team even before she crawled into this entourage.

When she fought the cluster, her mind was fully directed with bloodthirsty sentiments, but now that the fight ended and her adrenaline dropped, it became apparent to her.

Indirectly, she had taken the life of another. She wasn't in the wrong, but she felt accountable.

Because that was the type of person she was.

Which made her hate teams.

The losses of another was also her loss.

Ha-young, the girl who she managed to change the attitude of. The young starlet. The fiery girl.

She was gone and would not be able to be rescued.

Lowering her head, she revisited her memory. When the tentacle struck through Ha-young.

She knew that the members would be affected in one way or another.

They were not cold blooded people yet.

In the past, she had seen countless people who lost their emotions as a result of too much fighting.

The battlefield was harsh. It took a toll on your emotions.

The people she fought with, some were ones that would be willing to step over their comrades dead body if that meant obtaining victory.

A loss was a loss. It was inevitable to have some sort of loss.

They got used to it even though it was an absurd thing to think of.

However, people in [Lichte] and [Golden Insignia] were different.

They were definitely more experienced. More fight oriented even if they were born in the modern society and did not have the chance to fight prior to recent times.

However, they still had weak mindsets. Like Yan, who froze mid battle because he lost Ha-young.

Weak?

No.

He was human, so he acted human.