novelraw Chapter 133: Are You Just Going to Stand Here and Wait to Die?
Chapter 133: Are You Just Going to Stand Here and Wait to Die?
Leon hadn’t expected Maru to have something like this, but it wasn’t entirely surprising. After all, she was a scientist—an extremely hands-on scientist at that. Having some useful tools was only natural.
“Then go ahead and give it a try.”
Since Maru had a way to collect samples, Leon wasn’t going to be stingy. With such a massive meteorite, taking a tiny fragment would be nothing more than a drop in the bucket.
Once she got his permission, Maru’s face lit up with delight. “Thank you, Leon. I’ll make sure to take samples from spots that aren’t obvious, so it won’t affect the meteorite’s structure or appearance.”
She then began circling the meteorite, looking for a place to cut.
Demetrius leaned in toward Leon and spoke in a low voice. “Young man, I don’t know what you meant earlier, but I have to tell you—Maru is a true scientist. She’s brilliant, though a bit scatterbrained. I don’t think you can attract her curiosity with some vague, mystical nonsense.”
“You think I’m trying to hit on her?” Leon nearly burst out laughing.
Sure, in the Black community Maru was considered a stunning beauty, but Leon really had no interest in her.
“Isn’t that the case? She’s so outstanding!” Demetrius countered with obvious pride.
“If that makes you happy, then sure,” Leon said with a shrug. He had no interest in arguing with this frog in a well—especially knowing he was a total daughter-con.People like that weren’t dangerous, but they could be insufferable.
Demetrius mistook Leon’s disinterest for a loss of words, and his expression grew smug. “I was young once too. I know how you young men think. Instead of relying on meaningless myths or actions that defy scientific logic to impress a girl, you’d be better off learning something useful to share common ground with her. Though, with Maru, even that might not work—she’s a real genius, in a world far beyond yours.”
“Ah!”
Demetrius’s rambling was abruptly cut short by Maru’s sharp scream.
Both men rushed toward her at once—Demetrius out of concern for her safety, Leon because the idea of her dying on his farm felt like a bad omen. Both looked tense and moved quickly.
It only took a few steps to reach her. Maru was covering her mouth, pointing at a small, inconspicuous notch on the meteorite’s surface. At her feet lay a fragment of meteorite about the size of a fingernail, cut off with her diamond-tipped knife.
But that wasn’t the main issue. From that small notch, a thick, purple slime was oozing out, pooling rapidly into a small violet puddle on the ground.
“Since when can meteorites bleed?” Leon quipped.
“It’s probably some liquid trapped inside the meteorite. The notch must have allowed it to escape,” Demetrius offered a more scientific explanation.
“Did I just cause trouble?” Maru asked nervously, glancing at Leon.
Leon was about to reassure her that it wasn’t a problem—so long as her father could pay for damages—when a sudden surge of adrenaline hit him. His heart raced, and a wave of danger flooded his senses. Blood rushed faster through his veins, leaving him on edge.
“I feel danger. You two, get back,” he ordered.
Without worrying about their reactions, Leon pulled the Galaxy Watermelon Knife from his System Backpack. Before their astonished eyes, the blade extended smoothly until it reached his preferred length of 1.2 meters.
“Where did he pull that weapon from?” Demetrius stared blankly. This wasn’t like Maru’s small portable knife—before extending, the strange weapon was already half a meter long. There was no way Leon had been hiding it under his fitted clothes.
“That’s so cool,” Maru breathed. The shift in Leon’s aura after drawing the weapon, combined with his sharp focus and handsome features, was striking.
Even so, they remembered his warning and quickly backed away from the meteorite, standing at a distance to watch.
Leon had no time to notice their gawking. His attention was locked on the purple slime.
He was certain—that was the source of the danger.
Sure enough, as the last drop from the notch merged with the puddle, the slime gathered into a sphere and expanded rapidly. In the blink of an eye, a giant Purple Slime loomed beside the meteorite.
It was smaller than the giant green slimes Leon had faced in the mines, but still nearly two meters in diameter, with a far heavier sense of threat.
The moment it finished forming, it leapt high with surprising agility for its size, aiming to crush him.
Leon had been ready. Leaning back, he kicked off with his waist, flipping neatly backward out of range. He landed, adjusted his stance, and lunged forward with a powerful side slash.
The Galaxy Watermelon Knife sliced through the slime’s body with ease, leaving a deep gash. But as soon as Leon pulled back, the wound sealed with fresh slime. Still, he noted the creature’s size had shrunk.
“Move back! Are you standing there waiting to die?” Leon barked after dodging another crushing leap.
“Oh.”
The father and daughter finally snapped out of it. Realizing the danger, Demetrius grabbed Maru and ran, calling over his shoulder, “Hang in there, Leon! I’ll get help!”
“No need.”
Leon extended and thickened his blade, then sprinted forward. With a twisting strike powered by both arms and waist, he cleaved straight through the Purple Slime’s center, splitting it cleanly in two.
This time the wound didn’t heal. Like the monsters in the mines, the remains began to break down and crumble, leaving only three diamond-shaped minerals that shimmered with interwoven blue and violet light.
“Iridium Ore (Resource): A unique mineral with many strange properties, can be smelted into Iridium Ingots.”
As Leon picked them up, the system helpfully labeled them.