The Fastest Evolution of the Unrivaled Slime: My Rejected Skill was a Cheat for Super Efficient Leveling, So I Trained 100 Times Faster to Become the World’s Strongest

93. Cooperation And Cracks

The boy strikes the ground with his fist, sending a white shockwave straight ahead.

“Shino! It’s headed your way!”

“Thank you for your concern. I’m aware.”

Shino says this, then firmly plants her foot on a nearby tree trunk and kicks off forcefully.

Her body soars through the air. In a graceful motion, she dodges the golem’s shockwave and closes in on the boy.

“I bear no grudge against you, but I must take you down.”

With swift movements, she reaches for the knife hidden in her skirt.

In an instant, Shino slips into the boy’s guard. Gripping the knife, she thrusts it toward him with all her might—!

“”

At that moment, the boy extends his fist toward the knife. As their attacks collide, a white light is released.

“—!”

Shino retreats just before the explosion. When the light fades, a bent silver knife lies at the boy’s feet.

“It seems attacks won’t get through while he’s using that technique.”

Shino’s target was the boy’s fist. The spot where the knife should have pierced remains completely unscathed, as if blocked by a wall.

Most likely, he’s hardened it. Since he’s called a , it’s probably as tough as a mineral.

Shino’s surprise attack failed. The boy stands unscathed, staring at her.

—But the baton has been passed.

“Now!”

Perched on a tree branch, the slime archer draws her bow. She had been waiting for this opening.

“……!”

An arrow is released. It’s a perfect opportunity. The boy finally notices the archer and turns his gaze toward her.

“!”

As the arrow aims to pierce the boy’s torso, he swiftly activates a technique, accelerating his fist to deflect the arrow at the last moment.

“It’s not over yet!”

While the boy is distracted by the arrow, Shino and I close in once more.

Attacks from the archer from behind, and close-range assaults from Shino and me. We won’t give him a moment’s rest.

Our losing condition is if Barry is defeated and the boy recovers his experience points. Therefore, the best strategy is for the three of us to corner him with our coordinated attacks!

“Take this!”

I slash with Hibana, spewing flames. The boy crosses his arms to block the flames.

“!”

As my blade strikes his arms, there’s a clanging sound. It feels just like hitting a golem.

“…Hard!”

Shino takes out two knives and attacks again, but her smooth strikes are easily blocked.

It’s like hitting a massive wall with fists, a complete lack of feedback. Despite our relentless attacks, he takes no damage.

The most frightening part is that we can’t see the bottom of the boy’s experience points. We don’t know how much he has stockpiled, or how much using his techniques depletes it.

Matthew complained about wasting experience points, so I assumed he didn’t have much… but the boy showed no signs of fatigue.

“…Just how many monsters have you defeated!?”

“…!!”

At that moment, the boy’s eyebrow twitches. The usually emotionless boy shows a hint of disturbance.

What…? Did I say something odd!?

The boy has shown distress three times now. The first two times were when Matthew mentioned ‘replenishing experience’. The third time was just now, at my words.

“Arx-sama. That boy… he’s scared.”

Shino whispers to me. Finally, all the dots connect.

“No way… have you been gaining experience by killing humans instead of monsters?”

The boy’s eyes widen, and he starts to tremble. Bullseye.

The reason he feared replenishing experience was because he had to kill people for it.

“That’s… horrible…”

“…Even I…”

The boy starts to speak.

“Even I didn’t want to kill people!”

He glares at me and shouts. The sudden outburst leaves me bewildered.

The boy, who had shown no emotions until now, reveals his true feelings for the first time.

The impression of him as a merciless killing machine quickly fades, replaced by a sense of humanity. The words “I didn’t want to kill people” are shockingly transformative.

But if that’s true, why is this boy following Matthew?

“Golem! Why hesitate now!? The fact you’ve killed people won’t change! Kill that man!”

Matthew doesn’t forgive the boy’s hesitation. He sighs deeply, seeing the weapon regain its humanity.

“…Enough. He disrupts our rhythm. Use .”

I couldn’t understand the meaning of the word that came from his mouth.