Skill: Root Ship
Description – Controls all plant life in a 100m radius. It's ineffective on herbs and plants of higher ranks than its user.
'If I am getting things right, that means that right now I should be capable of manipulating all the dungeon fodder,' Rean thought to himself.
A pack of those plant monsters appeared from inside the cave, this time 12 in number.
'I count—whatever, it's more than enough to go around,' the C-rank flame mage noted.
"Ok squad, you're free to engage, and please don't pick fights this time. There's more than enough to go around," Captain Amer said.
'Come,' one said.
'Come,' another said.
Almost in unison, the rest followed suit. All 9 of them, including the captain, had synchronized with their mana skin. Rean's was rather unimpressive; the team expected more.
"I mean, he just one-shot that monster a second ago, and that's how little he can synchronize. He might not be all that," one said.
"It was probably a lucky shot," another followed.
'Damn, these guys talk about me like I am not even here. They speak their minds freely, despite me being the dominant player on this team. That's kinda impressive. They're yet to showcase their talents, despite this being a testing ground for noobs, but they're still packed with confidence.'
"Flame Talent – First Slash," the C-rank uttered, sending a flaming slash that wiped out 3 of the monsters at once. "Second, third, fourth slash," he said, sending consecutive slashes, each wiping out a single monster.
"Water Talent, Eight Tentacle!" the D-rank shouted.
(The Eight Tentacle was a spell that covered the user's body in a field of water. Like with all spells, it originated from the mana skin and then expanded out to cover the rest of the body.
The D-rank used his tentacles to smash two monsters together. He picked them up and threw them back into the cave like the trash they were.)
"Not bad," Amer noted.
After not too long, the first wave was eliminated. They headed into the cave, where there was bound to be an influx of actual threatening monsters present, not just fodder-level ones. This might be a D-rank dungeon, but everything seemed to have been going a bit too well. This wasn't an experienced group of hunter, so something was about to go wrong somewhere, sometime soon.
"Huh, the walls... they're all greasy and stuff," the D-rank with the water talent stated. "I wonder why," he said as he raised his hand, touching the walls.
"No, don't!" Amer shouted. "Everyone shield your nose!"
It was too late. Only one was quick to react—that was the B-rank.
After making contact with the walls, the pores emitted a gas, a poisonous one that ought to put everyone there to sleep.
"Wind Vortex," he said, clearing the entire air around them.
The gust dissipated after a while, but it was already too late. Almost all of them took the effect at point-blank range. Now it was just the B-rank, the captain, and Rean.
"Oh no, these incompetent wannabes are going to slow me down. How do we conclude the raid when half the team is out and snoozing?" he said, frustration laced in his voice.
"Calm down. Don't panic. You did well. Forget this raid; you'll probably get scouted. The only issue you'd run into right now is the quality of guild," Amer said.
"Seal, Type 4!" Amer called out. A transparent barrier covered the unconscious six.
"It should be fine. This is only a D-rank dungeon. There should be nothing in here capable of breaking past my seal," Amer said.
"This isn't exactly protocol, but what choice do we have? An impatient one slipped up, and now the rest of us have to pay for it. We are going to proceed. Stay sharp—let's clear this thing already," Amer continued.
'He's right, this isn't exactly standard protocol, going on with a whack team like this. I mean, it might not be a big deal. It's only a D-rank dungeon, and there are two B-ranks left, so maybe there's nothing to worry about.'
They continued the raid.
"Wind Slash! Wind Trail! Wind Smash!" — all spells the B-rank was chanting in one go. No breaks.
'He's not letting up,' Amer thought to himself. 'His output is definitely nothing special, but that cost was worth it. I mean, this kid's mana pool is even greater than my own.'
"Hand to ground," Rean called out. "Root Ship."
All the monsters fell to the ground, seemingly all dead.
'It... it worked. Huh,' Rean said to himself. He looked down at his own hand, astonished by what he could accomplish.
'I am still only basic at this whole evolving thing. If I can do all this with a measly evolved D-rank skill, then imagine what I can do when I assimilate a C or even a B-rank,' Rean thought.
'If I can instakill D-ranks by forcing their evolution, then when my conversion changes, I'll be able to one-shot higher-rank monsters on my own.'
'Huh... one more, one more,' Rean thought to himself, the fire in his eyes continuing to burn ever so brightly.
"Huh, that guy is only C-rank. Sick... crazy sick," Amer exclaimed.
"Did Amer just call out that guy as sick? Huh. He thinks that's impressive, huh," the B-rank said.
"Hey you, C boy, come over here."
'Is he talking to me?' Rean thought. 'Well, I'll oblige him.'
"Yuh, wassup?" Rean asked, walking towards the B-rank.
"My name's Porter. What's yours?" the B-rank said.
'This guy... he's asking me for my name. This means he probably acknowledges my strength,' Rean thought to himself. He couldn't hide his grin.
"Nice to meet you, Porter. I'm Rean. Let's do our best," Rean said with a smug tone.
"This guy," Porter let out with a chuckle.
"Those two, what are they doing?" Amer said.
In a room filled with cameras—
"Hey, you, zoom into that camera feed," a man said to another.
"That guy... how did he take out all those monsters by simply touching the ground?" the man said.
'He may be a plant type, but this is still pretty impressive. Something is definitely off,' he thought.
"What do you want me to do, Mr. Salde? Should I call it in?"