'Protagonist Aura'

"What do you mean, make the slime help us?" A girl within the group shouted.

"Yeah. You saw what it did! It is a blood-thirsty beast!" A boy yelled.

"That's a truly dumb plan." Such remarks like this echoed through the groups.

"Wait, guys. Just hear her out." A boy said, trying to calm down everyone.

"So, do you want to stay here and miss the deadline to get teleported to somewhere safe, or will you listen to me?" Elizabeth snapped, causing everyone to go silent except for the occasional murmur. Smiling, she said, "Good. Now, you have all seen its water beam--"

"Of course we have. Can you get to the point?" Andrew barked, folding his arm. "You are wasting our time."

"Right." Elizabeth rolled her eyes, "Well, we can lead it here and make it use its water beam to tear a hole through the door and tree vines."

The lobby became quiet as everyone took in the oh-so-great she had come up with. Edward looked at her in surprise, wondering how she thought of that. He would have come up with the same plan if he had the time to think, but not on the spot like that.

"That's a good plan," Emma praised, stepping forward, "But there is a question. How do we make it work?"

"Yeah? How do you plan on making it work?" The glasses boy instigated, folding his arm. "What, we should just go up to the slime and lead it here?"

"That's exactly right. Well done, four eyes." Elizabeth clapped her hand, congratulating him. "You are smarter than you look."

At her remark, everyone immediately stepped back. It was a good plan, a great one even, but no one wanted to risk their lives to draw their slime here. They have seen what it did. No way they are going to go against that thing.

Seeing their reaction, Elizabeth turned to Andrew and smiled. "Won't you volunteer, 'Evans?' I mean, you are the 'strongest' out of us."

Everyone turned to him, causing him to grunt. "Fuck you." He mumbles before pointing his clubs at Edward, then Leonardo, "You too are coming with me."

"I was planning to." Edward nodded, going up to him. 'No way I will miss out on farming monsters. I am some Exp away from reaching level 3.'

"I have no choice," Leonard mumbled, fixing his hair. "Well, we should get going."

"Wait!" Elizabeth called out, stopping the three of them. "I came up with the plan. Don't you think I should follow you guys and see it through to the end?"

Shaking his head, Edward responded. "All you will do is drag us back. I rather you---"

"No, you can come," Andrew said, a plan forming in his head. "Just know, no one would protect you."

"Who said I need protection?" Elizabeth asked, walking ahead of the group.

"What of me?" Emma asked, going up to Andrew and Leonardo.

"These people," Leonardo gestured at the mass, "They need someone to protect them while we are gone. Not all the monsters are cleared, and if they attack, you and the other level 1s or others can fight them off."

"What of the wolves?" Emma asked, looking around. She could care less for these people. She only wants to be next to the two she trusts.

"They won't attack." Edward said, patting her shoulder. "They don't seem to be fond of large groups."

"You two, get over here!" Andrew shouted as he walked behind Elizabeth toward the stairs.

"We will be back." Leonard waved, walking away.

Emma stomped toward the lobby door like a child who didn't get what she wanted. Leaning on the door, she folded her arm, mumbling, "Scoff* 'We will be back.' Everyone in movies says before they disappear, never to return."

The glasses boy walking Emma, lea on the door beside her. "Don't worry. The four have the 'protagonist aura' around them. I doubt they will die anytime soon. Maybe in like..." He paused and folded his arm, thinking deeply, "50, no, 80 chapters? Something like that."

Emma glared at him, causing him to shiver. Stepping back he pushed up his glasses before turning around and walking away while mumbling something.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The group of four walked up through the fifth floor towards where they thought the giant slime would be. Since they haven't heard the slime's movement, Edward hypothesized it must be on the roof. He didn't tell them that due to a pool being up there, the water slime would most likely go towards that source of water.

They easily killed the monsters they came about, all goblins and slimes. The wolves kept to themselves, munching on the dead bodies of the humans and other goblins. The slimes also kept to themselves, but after seeing what the giant one did, Leonard had insisted they should kill anyone they came about to stop them from becoming that big.

Edward and the others weren't bothered by the silence they were moving at, but Leonardo was. The silence was too awkward, something he didn't like one bit.

"So, how did you two meet each other?" Leonardo asked, directing the question at Elizabeth and Andrew.

"Why did you have to speak, Romano?" Andrew groaned, turning to face him. "The silence was great, so why the fuck did you have to speak?" He asked with a glair.

"Because I wanted to," Leonard replied, matching Andrew's gaze. "And why do you keep calling us by our last name? We have an actual name, you know." He asked, which made Edward turn to Andrew. He too wanted to know the answer.

At Leonard's question, Andrew snarled. "None of you have my respect, so why do I have to call you guys by your names? You should be happy I am even calling you a sort of name, 'Italian boy!'" He finished, turned around, and continued walking.

"Then I will also call you by your last name, Evans!" Leonard said, pointing his bloody club at Andrew's back. "That is your name from now on. You hear me, Evans!?"

Andrew didn't reply and continued walking. Edward walked up to Leonard and patted his shoulder.

"You should stop getting riled up by him," Edward said, watching Leonard walk away.

Elizabeth folded her, "Yes. He is rather..." she paused, trying to think of the word.

"Arrogant?" Leonard asked, looking at her.

"Yes, that." Elizabeth folded her arm, "He is extremely arrogant."

"What of you, Edward?" Leonard asked, looking at Edward. "He accused you of something you didn't do, ordered you around, and you didn't say anything. Matter of fact, you act more like a follower than a leader. You do almost anything anyone asks you to do with little to no complaint. Why is that?"

Edward let go of Leonard's shoulder and started walking away. "Let's catch up to him before he does something stupid."

"Better luck next time." Elizabeth placed her hands in her lab coat pocket as she followed Edward.

Leonard stared at Edward's back, unknown emotions in his eyes. 'I have been your best friend for five years, Edward, but it feels like I bearly even know you.'