Chapter 201: What do you think of Soren?

“Come forth, my summons, Elderwood Sentinel.”

The moment Aria’s voice echoed around the huge tunnel, vines crept from the cracks and bridges of stone around them, surrounding everything in a dense thicket in an instant, trapping multiple Hounds from all around.

*Roar!*

“Attack!”

*Swish!*

Then came the sword light so intense that it blinded every monster trying to get out of the confinement, cleaving multiple of them in an instant, injuring them severely.

*Roar!*

But that’s not all, as those Rift Hounds who managed to dodge were once again bombarded by Elise and Elara’s S-rank skill, Petal of Death.

Two of the monsters directly lost their lives, while others howled in pain and roared in absolute anger.

“Aurelia!”

But that wasn’t the end, as the moment Soren spoke, a soft click echoed through the tunnel as the tip of her staff touched the ground. In an instant, a circular whirlpool of fire swept forth, surrounding every remaining monster.

*Inferno Cage!*

The searing flames surged outward, trapping and incinerating the monsters that remained, utterly helpless against the fire that burned at their very souls.

Even inside such a confined tunnel, Aurelia controlled her flames perfectly, incinerating the Hounds in an instant.

To be honest, perhaps because of the tunnel’s terrain, Aurelia had killed more monsters than anyone else, already reaching level 46.

In the end, all that was left was the scorching silence of the tunnel.

“No matter how much I look at it, your skills are too overpowered, aren’t they?”

Sylvia couldn’t help but speak, looking at the tall, pristine figure of Aurelia, staff in hand, completely unscathed.

Compared to them, and even Evan, the one she was most impressed by was Aurelia.

Especially her Hellfire. She had already realized that she couldn’t even heal the wounds inflicted by that flame.

Not to mention her inexhaustible mana. Compared to them, she hadn’t broken a sweat, even after coming this far.

“Hm? Of course, my abilities are overpowered.”

Aurelia heard Sylvia from the side and nodded naturally. She was quite proud of her recent breakthroughs.

Now that she was nearing level 50, her strength was finally beginning to bloom in earnest.

In fact, it was the same for everyone here. They all had S-rank classes after all.

With their continuous fights and rapid leveling, they were slowly beginning to turn into the elites they were in the game.

In fact, it could not be called “slow” at all.

“Hey, what do you think about Mana Bomb? Isn’t this also overpowered?”

Sylvia suddenly asked, finding the smug look on Aurelia quite irritating. In her hand was a small bead she had thrown earlier, with a smile on her lips.

To be honest, she was really itching to throw one right now. Once you got the taste of that destruction you could cause, it was hard to return to being a boring healer fighting behind.

‘No wonder, master was crazy about research.’

Sylvia thought, not noticing the weird look on Aurelia’s face.

“….”

“Aren’t you a healer? Why do you want to play with such dangerous things? Be careful with it or you might hurt yourself or your teammates.”

She could not help but warn, thinking what would happen if that bead exploded right now. Aurelia could not help but back down a little, clutching her staff a bit tighter.

She, as a mage, if swept in that explosion so close, it would be hard to defend herself after all.

“Hm? Haha… of course, I am a healer. It is just… I need to take care of other aspects too.”

Sylvia showed a silly smile before quickly storing them in her inventory.

“Don’t worry, I will make sure to use them cautiously.”

“I hope so. In fact, why even use such external things. You are an S-rank healer; you do not need to fight.”

“That… might not be the case always. I do not want to always be a burden on my teammates for my safety.”

“But that is how a healer fights though. And do not think you are not useful to us. To be honest, if you are not here, Soren would not decide to swept through the dungeon like he does. Just your debuff alone makes you precious.”

Maybe because they had been through life-and-death fights, Aurelia honestly advised Sylvia. She could see that she was somehow insecure.

Maybe because she thought she was not as active in fighting monsters as they were. But that was not the case at all.

In a hunter’s world, healers were always the backbone.

Even she was able to fight without a burden just because of Sylvia, for she knew that even if she got hurt, an S-rank healer was there.

“Hm? Haha… of course, I know my importance.”

Sylvia did not think Aurelia would actually comfort her and fiddle with her clothes while looking at Soren’s figure in the distance.

For a moment, she seemed to want to say something but stopped herself when Aurelia spoke again.

“So, you are still thinking about that incident at that Survival Dungeon, huh?”

She could understand it when Sylvia almost died and Soren saved her with his life on the line.

“But you do not have to blame yourself. In fact, truth be told, it was Soren’s mistake.”

“No… I…”

“Sylvia, he admitted it himself and has since made sure to lead the team better. You do not need to go out of your way to rely on external things just because of that. Have some trust in him, or rather in us.”

Aurelia looked straight at Sylvia when she saw her pouting lightly.

“That is not the reason at all. Why are you bringing up the past? I am not an idiot.”

She gave a glare, crossed her arms before whispering suddenly, changing the topic out of the blue.

“Hey, Aurelia, what do you think of Soren?”

“Hm?”

It was really out of the blue as Aurelia looked stunned, trying to understand what she meant by that.

But Sylvia just let out a smirk and whispered again.

“I mean, what do you think of him as a man? Do you not think he is too frivolous? I know for a fact that he even laid his hands on you.”

She paused and leaned toward her.

“Do you not think he is playing around with other girls? So…why are you not jealous?”

Sylvia was genuinely curious.

It somehow made sense for her because she had a crush on him before. Aria was a timid girl, probably forced by Soren, until she relented.

As for Elise, she got involved due to the life-and-death crisis with Soren at the C-rank dungeon.

But what about Aurelia?

She had such a huge background, noble upbringing, and infinite pride in her own strength.

Although she might have been shocked by Soren’s power, it was not to the point where she would throw herself at him.

And even if she did, why was she so calm when he was flirting with other girls, like he was doing with Elise right now?

‘That bastard… can you stop holding her hands openly?’

Even Sylvia felt jealous. But why was Aurelia unusually calm? She couldn’t understand.

“….”

For a moment, she looked at Aurelia, waiting for a response. Sylvia had a hunch that unlike them, Aurelia did not seem that serious about her relationship with Soren.

If so, why did her gaze still follow him all the time? It was just… contradictory.

“Because…”

As the silence proceeded, Sylvia thought Aurelia would not respond when she heard her whisper lightly, her gaze focused on Soren smiling at Elise dotingly.

“…I cannot be with him.”

“Hm? What do you mean?”

Sylvia wanted to ask when suddenly, an overwhelming pressure stifled the entire tunnel in an instant.

For a moment, the constant echo of the whirling wind around them disappeared, replaced by absolute silence for the first time ever.

Things went even further when the surroundings flickered weirdly before everything suddenly turned dark.

“Enemy… be ready to fight.”

Only when Soren shouted did the silence disappear, followed by a loud and deep howl completely not resembling any of the monsters they had faced before.

But even then, it directly pierced through Sylvia’s eardrum, leaving her disoriented in an instant as dizziness washed over her.