"It’s harder to deal with compared to F-Tier Amber Slime, but it’s way easier compared to E-Tier Shadow Slime..."

Lady Luck may or may not have blessed Novus with his hunt right now, as just a couple of hours hunting F-Tier slimes after his encounter with the E-Tier Shadow Slime, he picked up a powerful sign of life nearby.

It is different from all he had detected before, vigorous, large, powerful; it was as if the life he detected was the very embodiment of confidence towards its own invulnerability.

And it only makes sense that he picked up such a sign, as once he saw it, he completely understood the threat this E-Tier creature poses.

Different from the changes of Shadow Slime ranking up, this one still retains the amber hue that its weaker counterpart possesses, the same shape, the same manner of movement, and the same way it leaves behind a trail of sludge everywhere it walks.

There is but one difference.

It is large, no, huge, as it towers at the same height as Novus himself, who is already quite taller than his average contemporary.

Indeed, it is an E-Tier Amber Slime that he encountered, causing him to smile in glee as he decides to poke around its strength before committing to the fight, assuming that just like Shadow Slime, the rank up not only grants Amber Slime a great boost of stats, but a mysterious upgrade to their talents as well.

Mana swirls around the air as he forms a fireball in his palm, not wasting a single second to stabilize it before throwing it towards his target, who moves slowly and is hit by the attack, the stabilizing shell of his magic feeding the explosive underneath and creating a barren circle without any blade of grass on the ground.

And from this, he found out that his initial speculation was right.

Normally, a single volatile fireball of the same strength he had just thrown would be enough to deal with multiple F-Tier Amber Slimes; however, coming into contact with this higher-tier one, not only the fireball, but also the Amber Slime behaves completely differently than normal.

It passes through, lodging the still mana-coated ball inside its goopy self before something happens.

There was no violent explosion, nor was there any reaction at all. The fireball just dissolved there, as if this E-Tier Amber Slime just opened its mouth, took the attack in one large gulp, and enjoyed a free meal, the mana its body is giving off getting a slight bit stronger, a sign that it truly just absorbed that powerful attack.

There is often a good and a bad in every situation, and despite the troublesome bad being the fact that his most powerful attack poses no threat to this monstrosity in a different, more troublesome way than the Shadow Slime, the good thing is that, just like its F-Tier counterpart, this E-Tier Amber Slime’s attack pattern is also as predictable as it can get.

It is, notably, way faster than its weaker version; however, it is all there is to their attack, that same powerful, straight dash putting in every single fiber of its being and turning itself into a living ballistic projectile that tears every single thing in its path, save for the fact that it is way larger than its F-Tier versions.

"Ah, damn this oversized fucker... I take back what I said before, it’s easier and also harder to deal with compared to the Shadow Slime..."

Novus thought to himself as his senses gave him the trajectory of the attack once more, allowing him to masterfully maneuver over it without any wasted energy to his movements, his motion swift, clean, and carrying the confidence of someone who had already dealt with more potent attacks than this one.

What he finds troublesome is not these attacks, but rather, how he follows up after that, as even with the massive window of opportunity lying in front of him after that attack, there was nothing that he could do right now to take that opportunity for himself.

It was like some sailor dying of thirst while looking at all the ocean water surrounding his boat, as if something or someone supreme was making a mockery out of him.

Every single time he punches, the E-Tier Amber Slime activates its Fortification talent to brace from the impact of each strike, hitting its gelatinous body.

Compared to the F-Tier Amber Slime, however, this higher-levelled one utilizes fortification in a completely different way, making its opponent feel quite uncomfortable as not only did it not turn into that solid spherical mass he is now so familiar with, it also allows Novus’s fist to reach its body without any struggle at all.

But instead of feeling the solid, near impregnable outer fortification, he hits a slimy layer that completely slows his punch down, before it reaches not a hard, but rather a tough surface that absorbs the rest of his punches’ force.

Then he had to deal with the aftermath of this attack as well, as the slime will start shifting the reinforcement back outwards the moment it neutralizes the attack, and the result is as obvious as one can see.

There are numerous amounts of Novus’ severed limbs inside the amber blob, and with each passing second, those severed body parts fizzled as if it is being digested by his opponent, forcing him to watch as the results of his failure serve to fuel his opponent even more.

It just stands there, proving its superiority over any opponent it had ever faced before, as each attempt to attack, each mana-enforced fist and kick, each fireball that it just devours even faster than the limbs that are still in its gooey body, dissolves into nothing but more power for it to use when dealing against him.

[Immortal Energy: 90/200]

’If only I have a way to do a piercing attack... maybe shattering that core directly will destroy this bastard completely...’ he thought to himself as he stares at the Amber Slime already preparing for its next charge, the body turning soft and stretchy a deceptive trick that will lull most inexperienced mage to attack it during this state, unaware of the horrors that will follow should they do it.

Then, the Amber Slime explodes forward at a tremendous speed the splits apart every single blade of grass in its path, Novus, who had pushed his senses to the extremes while fighting against every single E-Tier creature he had encountered so far, albeit the number amounting only to two, including the one in the current fight, having just enough frame of time to see through its attack and keep himself from getting hit.

As he wills his body to move out of its path, however, there it appears once again, an extremist thought of a frustrated hunter that cannot figure out how to crack open his prey, a thought that causes him to freeze on his track as those same words repeat in his mind.

’I’ve tried this time and time again... there’s no point to dodging this slime, I’ve figured it out way before...’

Those thoughts were cut in the middle as he was snapped awake by a sudden boom, air compressed from the weight and velocity of the Amber Slime’s attack, throwing him off balance for a couple of seconds, enough for the slime to charge another attack yet again.

And with his senses, he saw it, the straight path in which the Amber Slime would collide with him.

This time, he doesn’t plan to dodge.

’Let’s try something.’