Master Of None

The ice needles shattered on impact against the shield. They were too weak to even cause the one holding the shield to know that they had collided with it. The sound of them cracking caused every adventurer and guard to stop their breathing for a moment. This was not a massive threat but it was enough of one for them all to hold their breaths. 

The first slime was close enough for Su to make her move. Her shield bash followed through and caused a large chunk of the slimes' frozen body to crack and fall off. This exposed the core to Gil who fired an arrow and destroyed it. 

Midnight had used her shadow wrapping skill to sneak around the back of the ice slimes. She released a brilliant burst of red flames on their which caused their bodies to crack. The difference in the heat and cold was too much for the ice slime which preferred the cold to handle. Midnight's attack signaled to the others that they needed to attack swiftly. The target was weak. 

Shouts echoed through the area as adventurers used their weapons to aim for the cores of the slimes. In the first minute, the slimes had been reduced to six remaining. They had been weakened by Midnight's attack and were much easier to break. Their cores were the same weak core that every slime developed making them easy to defeat once exposed. 

"Gah!" One adventurer was pushed back without warning. The slime that caused this to happen had not fired an ice needle at all. Instead, it looked to be denser and a deeper blue color. The tendril it had formed was blocky and heavy, it looked similar to a hammer head or ice block. 

Walker knew this was a mid tier slime in an instant. The small ones were low tier and weak. But the defenses of this slime were higher and it didn't appear able to shoot the ice needles that the smaller slimes could. Instead, it attacked slowly and heavily. These slimes were best described as walls. 

Walker started to think of a way for him to get to it and defeat the slime as quickly as possible. But Remey had already acted. She had clipped the fire affinity knuckles on to her gloves and was coming down with a heavy right him. The small sparks of flames on her fist collided with the slime causing a loud and terrifying crack to be heard by everyone around. The follow up defense breaking palm caused the crack to resound again but the slime to break in to pieces defeated. "Nothing special, let's move on." Remey walked back in to the train without another word. The other adventurers had finished their attacks leaving only flat frozen spots where the slimes had been. 

"From now on I want Gil on the top of my carriage spotting for the slimes in the distance. The shield wielders will remain spread out waiting for any call to defend the carriages!" Clara was seamlessly adding orders here and there. Gil was fine with staying up high because it expanded his vision. The rest of the party spread themselves around the carriages the same as before. 

"Brother, I believe we should watch put for any slimes that are a darker blue than the one Remey beat up. They might need everyones' attention." Onyx mirrored Walker's worries. If there was a lord or giant ice slime then the entire adventure team would need to join with the party to beat it. Or allow the carriages to escape. 

"I will worry about that when it happens. Midnight had some good attacks with her fire. The ice slimes are very cold and don't seem to have any fire resistance even though they're technically water elemental monsters." This put Walker at ease. He could create fire spells as well and team up with Midnight t defeat the slimes faster. 

Midnight had moved back to the carriages and disappeared somewhere. Walker had the feeling that she had been hanging around the back to hold down the area. It was best that she was there since she had the strength to block any potential threats until others were able to fall back. 

The remainder of the day was slow. The snow caused the carriages to slide in some parts where the water had frozen in to ice. Luckily, the ice slimes were far apart and didn't show up often. The group from earlier was a random occurrence o far. It also seemed that the slime were not driven to attack and find prey making Walker realize that they were not being controlled. 

"I think it's because the ice slimes are slow. They had a good defense but they can't attack and defeat strong opponents. They should be seen as failures compared to the other slimes that were bred. They were most likely discarded and left to impede travelers during the colder months." This was the final conclusion that Su had reached before the entire carriage train had slowed to a stop. The carriages were pulled in to a circle which was easy to defend. The guards formed their own circle and then the adventurers. 

"That was nice shooting today Gil. I saw you get in a few arrows here and there between the shield wielders." It was a genuine compliment. Walker always found himself amazed by how precise Gil was when it came to the placement of his shots.

"I'm just lucky my arrows could penetrate their ice. I was worried that I would need to start using the fire elemental arrows." Gil was constantly fiddling with his arrows making sure he was ready for whatever came in the night. 

"They are a little tough. But thanks to Midnight I knew that my fire knuckles could beat them down." Remey cracked her fists before the party set up their tents. They would have a night watch at some point but for now, they had the chance to rest themselves. 

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