Chapter 11: Family?
"So, this is the stairway leading to the roof?" Andrew questioned, staring at the dark stairway that led upstairs.
"Yes," Edward responded, walking up from behind him. "The slime might be up there."
"So the plan is to go up there and make it chase us down?" Leonardo asked, trying to understand the plan. "But, who is going to be the main one leading the slime? We can't all just run. I will only follow one of us."
"That's true," Andrew, who was walking up the stairs, mumbled, stopping.
"Well, who has the highest stats in agility?" Elizabeth asked her hands in her lab coat pocket.
Edward opened his status screen, noticing he was now level 3 with 18/750 Exp to reach level 4. 'So it added 40 extra Exp points? Leveling up would be truly challenging.' He thought to himself, looking down at his agility stats. 'I have four Sp from reaching levels 2 and 3. Adding them to agility would bring it from 6 to 10. Hmm... Is that enough?'
"Smith!" Andrew's shout snapped Edward back to reality, causing him to look around in confusion. "What is your agility stat point? Everyone had already said theirs."
"I heard nothing." Edward admitted, shaking his head.
"Well, mine is even as I haven't allocated any SP to it, And--, no Evans is six, and Elizabeth is five," Leonardo said, staring at Edward. "What's yours? We are planning to get chased by the slime."
Understanding, Edward put all four stat points in agility. The others noticed the blank look on his face, understanding that he must be allocating his SP.
Coming back to his senses, Edward cleared his throat. "Now, mine is 10."
"...What?" Andrew asked, turning to face Andrew. "What is your strength?"
"12," Edward replied, seeing no reason to hide it.
"So you have two stats points at 10 or above?" Leonardo asked, he too was surprised. His strength only got to ten after allocating 4 SP, putting the last one into endurance.
"What's so great about that?" Elizabeth chuckled, shaking her head. "My intelligence stats were already 14 before I even allocated any points into it."
"Shut up, Von Arnim! No one asked." Andrew snapped with contempt. At his remark, all Elizabeth did was smile. "Now, Smith, you will be the one to be chased by it. Good?"
Edward nodded, not seeing a problem with that. With his agility and strength combined, he was sure he could outrun a wolf. Though, he doubts he could maintain that speed for too long due to his low endurance.
"Let's go and make this bitch help us!" Andrew shouted, going up the stairs.
Leonardo, Edward, and Elizabeth at the back followed closely behind him. When Andrew opened the roof door, a strong wind that reeked of blood and plants blew into the staircase, causing them to cover their faces with their arms.
On the roof, a terrifying sight awaited them. The smoke from the city had gone up into the sky, making it look like nighttime while it was 11 in the morning. Lightning occasionally struck from this dark cloud of smoke, striking the ground.
From the roof, they could see some parts of the campus. Most buildings have already been infested by plants, including the tall clock tower in the middle of the campus. A massive bean stock went through the cloud of smoke, disappearing. They could also see many other trees from beyond the campus in the city.
Like their campus, the city has been infested by plants.
"Well, shit," Edward mumbled, not expecting things to be this bad. 'I doubt we will be getting any help from the military. They might even want to nuke this place.'
"Focus." Elizabeth's voice snapped them back to reality. She pointed at the pool on the roof, which caused them to turn.
The massive Hydro Slime was floating on the pool, which was now almost empty. It was bigger than last time, with its gold crown having a faint golden glow. The Hydro slime stared at the four intruders, not moving from its position.
"...It's not doing anything..." Leonardo mumbled, wondering why the Hydro Slime was not attacking them. Last time, it killed any living thing, but right now, it did nothing but stare at them with those emotionless white eyes.
Edward remembered when Geo slimes, the Hydro never left the frozen lake. Even when was committing genocide on them, once he left the lake, they would lose interest in him. 'Hydro slime...' He thought, putting two and two together.
"Because of the water," Elizabeth explained, saying it before Edward could. Putting her hands back into her lab coat, she elaborated. "The pool is half full, and it is bigger. Anyone with common sense would know it is absorbing the water to grow bigger and stronger. Why would it leave such a precious source of power for one smart human and three dumb ones?"
"Are you calling me dumb?" Andrew asked, clenching his fist.
"Quite frankly, yes, Evans." Elizabeth smiled, enjoying Andrew's rage. "You are stupid~"
"Dude, calm down!" Leonardo shouted, jumping in front of Elizabeth before Andrew could lunge at her. "It was a joke, dude. Calm down. With your strength, you could kill her."
"I don't need your help, Leo," Elizabeth said, walking out from behind Leonardo, her hands still in her lab coat. She stood confidently in front of the massive Andrew, looking up into his burning blue eyes. "Hit me, Andrew Von Arnim."
Her words caused Andrew to clench his fist tighter, veins popping in his neck and temple. Forcing himself, he turned away and walked to Edward standing at the edge of the pool.
"He will get over that." Elizabeth sighed, shaking her head. "Honestly, I don't know why he hates me so much."
'I guess they are family.' Leonardo thought, hearing the name Elizabeth had called Andrew. He looked back and forth between Andrew and Elizabeth, trying to find the similarities.
Andrew walked back from Edward, ignoring them like they didn't exist, and going down from the roof. Seeing this, Leonardo walked to Edward, still standing at the edge of the pool and staring at the giant slime in the half-empty pool.
"Why did he leave?" Leonardo inquired, gesturing to the opened roof door.
"I know how to make this slime chase after me, but it would chase after the slowest. So I want to be the only one here." Edward said, turning to Leonardo. "You and Elizabeth should go down and clear out the lobby. When this slime comes down, it will fire in any direction."
"Are you sure?" Leonardo asked, not wishing to leave his friend up here alone with this monstrosity.
"Sure. Just let me do this." Edward gave a reassuring smile.
Leonardo felt how Emma had felt when they asked her to stay in the lobby while the two came up here, but he chose to trust Edward. "Don't die on me, Fratello."
"I don't plan to," Edward said, turning to the Hydro Slime with the pool emptier than before.
Leonardo went back and rallied the message to Elizabeth, who agreed and followed him down. Before she left, she looked back at Edward, a small smile on her face.
Knowing they had left, Edward turned his full attention to the Hydro Slime.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
TheEndOfAllThings
TheEndOfAllThings Creation is hard, cheer me up!
Like it ? Add to library！
Have some idea about my story? Comment it and let me know.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone