Hell Difficulty Tutorial Chapter 538 – Green, blue, and purple flame

Leth and I stop near one of the defensive lines. The web hanging in the sky becomes more dense, and the scans become more accurate. There’s even an exceptionally tall wooden wall with inscriptions, and I’m sure there are scouts or guards nearby, ready to rush in at speeds rivaling racing cars.

“Can you make it back from here?” I ask him.

After days of traveling, he seems tired but happy to stand on his feet. “I can. I know the protocols, and after a quarantine, they should let me in. With all that’s happened, they’ll probably speak to me even sooner, even if they suspect I might be a mimic. Then they will probably want to ask me about what happened. I’ll ask to see Champion Owain and talk only to him.”

“Sounds good. Are you sure you aren’t a mimic? That would suck after all of this.”

“I… I don’t think so? Are you?”

“Me? The last thing I’m worried about is another dickhead in my mind.”

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t sweat it. I’ll be going now.”

Before I can leave, he calls out to me, “Assistant Nathaniel.”

“Thank you, truly. Once I’ve spoken to Champion Owain, I’ll ask them to look for you… regarding your reward and… I hope your friends are fine.”

“Sure. See you later, level 7 technician Leth.”

With that, I propel myself high into the air before arching back toward my starting point. My senses expand as far as possible, I forgo more detailed scans, prioritizing sheer range over precision.

Right away, I move faster than I did with Leth and enjoy the wind passing by me as I pierce the air. No matter how often I fly, I’ll always enjoy it.

POV Kim Min-Jae

I launch another projectile into the body of the lesser mimic and then pull it back, along with the hundreds more I’ve fired today. Each one boring new paths through the beast until the monster finally stops moving and the kill notification rings out in my mind.

Another one charges me, but I use [Telekinesis] to pull my body out of the way and expand the gravitational field around me.

The monster slows down, and my orbs slam through its body like the blast of a shotgun just before I pull them back to join the Hundreds continuing to orbit my body.

Tess sends through the web.

After quickly locating her, I fly through the snow for a few moments and land next to her. A bit further away, Noodle has coiled himself around a mimic spawn—green, blue, and purple flame burning on his skin as he begins to eat the monster, despite how disgusting it looks.

At first, we were worried about him, given the way mimics tend to possess things, but anything that enters Noodle’s stomach doesn’t seem to be a cause for concern.

Izzy stands on a patch of dry land, having cleared an area the size of a football stadium around her, melting all the snow around her, and her new flames, combined into a single mass of green, blue, and purple, and flickering all around her.

When we fight, we almost always need to keep our distance from each other. That’s just how some of our abilities work, needing huge amounts of space to be used at their highest levels.

At first, I don’t realize what Izzy might need help with, but then I notice a Greater Mimic climbing out of the hole.

Fuck.

Tess sends as if reading my thoughts.

Given no other choice, I call to Izzy,

she calls.

Her flames draw in tighter and intensify, taking the form of a massive snake that coils around her as if it were alive.

The Greater Mimic crashes against it, and I use my eyes to reach through the gravitational wavelengths I see, especially the ones closer to the monster. And then I grab them, giving them a pull, causing part of the monster’s body implodes in on itself, taking a good chunk of my mana with it. The flame snake attacks, targeting the fresh wound while I redirect my field to slow the monster.

As burns start to show on its skin, the mimic continues to charge. It’s incredibly tough and its body barely slows even as I hurl car-sized chunks of debris at it with all the force I can muster.

But even that brief moment of delay is enough to protect us until Lily finally comes soaring through the air and lands on it. And her giant axe flashes with gray mana as she cuts into the monster with ease, slicing through again and again, before it throws her away. A few tentacles reach toward her, but a gray mantle forms around her, and the tentacles disappear, disintegrating on contact.

Dennis sends out of nowhere, speaking through the general link.

Maya says, sending a message of her own.

Tess orders, and we get back to fighting.

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POV Nathaniel

By the time I land, the fight is over.

My grand entrance isn’t happening now, but at the same time, it’s always nice to see the corpses of Greater Mimics lying around. I’m sure they weren’t as powerful as the ones I killed with such ease, but group 4 seems to be doing alright. And much to my satisfaction, Lily is already looting the bodies for parts.

In comparison to the others, who are wearing layers of thick protective clothes, I’m thinly dressed, stuck in the same shirt and pants I wore to my meeting with Kyralon. I do not feel cold, and while it does put a huge strain on my mana supply, it’s only reasonable for this level of comfort.

For a moment, I examine these multicolored flames around Noodle and Izzy and head over to greet Tess, deciding to ask about the flames later.

Once Dennis adds me to the link I begin to speak,

Tess sends back, and I can hear amusement in her voice.

Maya jeers, smirking nearby, holding her wounded arm out for Lily, who immediately gets to work healing it.

Lily is quick to add.

Tess jokes, giving her a wink before turning to me.

After that, she leaves, and I’m brought to one of the smaller tents we stole. There are three of them, the remaining two having been occupied by the other mercenaries, a few of whom are probably mimics.

I ask.

Min-Jae is the first to answer,

After sitting down on a manabloc chair, Dennis groans with satisfaction,

I note.

Lily giggles,

I ask.

Maya shrugs,

I grab the sword she is handing me, the damaged arcane item I got from Beyond, the claymore known as Bloodthirst.

Maya smiles proudly,

I shake my head.

There is no hesitation as she snatches it away.

“So, where is Biscuit?” I ask, pretending not to see the short tail wagging under one of the blankets nearby.

When I say his name, the speed of his wagging tail increases.

“Biscuit? Where are youuu?” I ask, still pretending not to see, ignoring the others as they roll their eyes.

I take a few steps and pass by the aforementioned blanket, only for it to be thrown aside as a corgi pup rushes out from underneath, biting into the cloth of my pants with his short, sharp teeth and starting to pull and jerk at the fabric to cause more damage.

“Oh my god. You got me! I was scared for a moment!”

“Yes, it’s terrifying!”

He finally lets go and barks, and I reach down to pick him up. Ever since he turned into a pup, he seems to act like one sometimes. But it’s cute, so he can do whatever he wants.

While giving him the pets he deserves, I turn to the others, I check the timer,

Lily asks, taking a seat next to me and reaching out to pet Biscuit.