Chapter 63 - Shadow Bind

Looking at the scorched ground, Sheila was yet amazed by how powerful the spell is. Just like its name Inferno, it incinerated everything in its path. Even the Goblin King which she thought would take her a while to kill was extinguished into oblivion. But after firing the spell once, she was already exhausted. It must have drained a lot of mana from her. 

Sheila moved her gaze to the Goblin Fighter shrieking painfully from losing one arm at the side. Seeing the opportunity, she charges toward it. The Goblin Fighter saw the powerful human girl charging at it, and it tried to hold her back by sending a punch at her. Sheila easily dodges it to the side before sliced it into two. The Goblin Fighter alone couldn't possibly defeat her; they appear frightening at first was only because they are in grouped and stood beside Goblin King. Otherwise, they were easy to deal with if Sheila fights them one on one.

『You have killed Goblin Fighter Lv.13!』

『You have completed the quest!』

『You have acquired Intimidation skill book!』

『 Sheila LV.18 』

『  HP: 113/125  MP: 50/225

GOLD: 6300

—STR: 28 —INT: 45

—AGI: 21 —VIT: 25

—LUCK: 10(+2) AP: 20 』

"My mana is so low.. So I could only use Inferno for once, and I'll be out."

That is if she didn't use mana potion, with all the gold she had collected from clearing this floor, Sheila could buy tons of low-grade mana potion or even some higher-grade potions! And what a shocking, she didn't expect for the skill book to be Intimidation. Of course, without wasting any time, she immediately materialises the skill book in front of her before she put her hands on it. Like always, after a torrent of memory wash over her mind, the skill book turned into glittering light and disappeared into oblivion. 

"So, this is one of the active skills, Intimidation, huh."

But apparently, it only works against an opponent who is weaker than her. It was just like shadow binding, the stronger her opponent, the less likely it would work against them. But Intimidation would also grow stronger along with her level up, in the memory of the skill, she learned that when her level is high enough, she could kill her opponent by merely glaring at them. Of course, that is for the weaker opponent. But even a strong opponent would freeze for a moment from her glare which is absurd in her opinion. 

Now that she was done checking out the skill, it's time to distribute the free attribute points. 

『 Sheila LV.18 』

『  HP: 114/140  MP: 50/250

GOLD: 6300

—STR: 32 —INT: 50

—AGI: 24 —VIT: 28

—LUCK: 10(+2) AP: 5 』

『 The requirement has been met. 』

『 You have unlocked active skill: Mana Eyes! 』

"?!"

Suddenly, Sheila could feel the change in her sight. Previously, she could only see a vague light of mana in the surrounding when she gets Mana Sense skill. But now, she could precisely see and tell from which spot has thick mana and which spot is low on mana. Sheila didn't realise it at the moment, but her pupils currently are coloured in blue light when Mana Eyes skill activated on its own. She was too mesmerised by the new sight everywhere around her; it was like a person who had come across a whole new world. Everything around her is colourful and beautiful to look at. 

Although she didn't have enough of looking around, she needs to stop and thought about what sort of requirement has she met which unlocked the skill. Sheila stares at the status window in front of her before quickly come to a conclusion. It must be due to her intelligence stats reaching 50. The skill itself is called 'Mana' Eyes; she didn't expect to gain something like this only by increasing her stats to a certain amount. She only cares about getting stronger, after all. 

Either way, it's okay since it makes her even stronger. 

Sheila looked at the calm and silent surrounding before deciding to exit the Trial Tower. She had spent a quite amount of time in here; if she ascends to the Fifth Floor, she might not want to exit until she figured out all her opponent on the floor. She had to do it now and also; she had something important to do outside. With the thought of exiting the Trial Tower in mind, her figure vanished before materialises in her bedroom. 

Sheila pulled out her phone from the pocket and looked at the time before opening the app. She browses through it before finally came across what she wanted before cl.i.c.k.i.n.g on it. A new window appears, and within it, it was showing a girl holding onto silver sword in hands fighting against a slime. Sheila nodded her head before saying. 

"She's diligently leveling up, that's good."

While she was watching Ria slaying slimes, she wonders on whether to enter and assist her or just wait here and when the time comes, she would go out to pick up Sylvia. That would just be wasting time isn't? She put her phone back into the pocket before disappearing entirely and appear next to Ria in the Trial Tower. 

Ria was resting after she was done slaying a couple of slimes. She didn't expect for Sheila to appear suddenly next to her, which caused her to scream in alarmed. Even Sheila was surprised by her screaming as both were silently staring at each other, one side was shocked by the sudden appearance while the other was stunned from the scream of her friend. It took Ria a while before she let out a defeated sigh and scold Sheila for not warning her before appearing out of nowhere. Sheila could only meekly accept the scolding as it was her fault for surprising Ria.

"My bad, I forgot to warn you."

"Make sure you do so the next time before you do it, alright?"

"I will, for sure, yes."

Sheila nodded her head swiftly at Ria's remark. 

"So, what are you doing here? I thought you want to grind before picking up the girl?"

"Oh, I just cleared the Fourth Floor. I didn't want to go up since I might not want to leave by then."

Ria was shocked at how fast Sheila clear a single floor. Even though she didn't spend that much time in here, she could tell that it would take her a while until she met the so-called boss, Slime King. She hasn't leveled up since then, and only her swordsmanship skill went to two. She's now much more experienced in handling her silver sword and didn't even break a sweat when killing a single slime like back then. That was why she went for two or three groups of slimes now instead of one. 

"That fast?"

"Well, it wasn't much, just goblins. I'm used to fighting against them by now."

"I'm sure you could do the same."

"No no, there's no way I could do that. I haven't even clear this floor yet, have I?"

"Then how about I help you?"

"No."

"So fast in rejecting?! Why?!"

"I don't trust your 'help'."

"I told you I'm reliable! Hold on."

Sheila said before running off somewhere. Ria couldn't even say anything when Sheila suddenly left before she could. Ria let out a sigh as she decides to wait for Sheila and see what kind of ridiculous trick did she come up with. Five minutes later, Sheila jumped out of Ria's shadow with a smile on her face and said.

"It's ready!"

"What? What is ready? And could you stop scaring me by jumping out of my shadow?"

"Give me your hand and follow me. I'll show you."

Sheila ignored the last remark coming from Ria and show her hand to Ria. 

"Huh, okay?"

***

"What..is this?"

"What do you mean? Of course, it's for clearing this floor. Go on."

In front of the two, there were a certain amount of slimes frozen in places. Ria couldn't tell the precise amount of it, but at least, it's around 20. Yes, currently, 20 or so slimes were in place and immobilised by something as they couldn't do anything but simply frozen on the spot.

"How is it? I'm currently using Shadow Magic to bind them in place. You can just stab them to death one by one."

"This is... just cheating."

"What do you mean cheating? It's called power leveling. Are you not going to do it?"

"Sigh, alright. I don't care anymore."

After slaying the last slime, Ria's level has gone up by one. She was about to say something to Sheila when the ground tremors as if something heavy was dropped onto the ground from quite a height. Ria almost loses her balance if Sheila was not by her side and wrapping her arms around her.

"What's going on?!"

"Ah, nothing. It was just the boss has appeared. Look at that."

Sheila said as she points her finger at a specific place in the distance. Ria narrowed her eyes, and she could see the jelly-like body that was known for a slime yet this one is not small but instead was a huge one. Yes, it was none other than the Slime King.