"Hey! What are you doing?!"
A supporter from the Loki Familia saw Noah injecting a strange needle directly into his companion and hurriedly tried to stop him.
He reached out to grab Noah's arm, but Noah reacted incredibly quickly, extending his leg and sharply tapping the tip of his foot right against the other man's shin bone.
The sharp pain made the supporter instantly stumble, forcing him to fall to one knee.
Noah immediately extended his gauntleted right hand, firmly pressing a single finger directly against the other man's forehead.
With just that simple touch, the man suddenly found himself completely and utterly unable to move.
At this exact moment, this Level 3 supporter was completely shocked.
What kind of sick joke was this?
Had he really been subdued so easily?
The physical movements just now were way too fast—he could barely even follow them with his eyes.
And the other party was only a mere Level 2!
In reality, Noah absolutely hadn't used any miraculous methods at all.
The only reason the other man couldn't move was simply because he was in a highly agitated state, desperately trying to stand back up and had foolishly put all his forward momentum and strength into leaning forward.
With his forehead firmly pressed down by Noah, even if he used all his strength, he physically couldn't stand up.
It was just basic, simple human body mechanics.
"Calm down. What I just injected him with is a high-grade potion specifically designed to perfectly remove abnormal status effects and rapidly restore health, so it will take full effect very soon," Noah said in a highly soothing tone, effectively stopping the agitated supporter and also perfectly preventing the others around them from acting rashly.
Otherwise, if so many people actually rushed him in a blind panic and violently started kicking him, his frail Level 2 body definitely might not withstand the beating.
Hearing his totally calm explanation, the previously flustered people suddenly understood the situation.
'So that's how it was.'
With Raul in that totally frozen state, he obviously probably couldn't drink the potion normally, so the kid just delivered the potion directly into his body?
This young man reacted really quickly!
For most adventurers, potions were strictly either applied externally or drunk directly, so considering this totally unique situation, injecting it straight into the body actually seemed quite acceptable.
Noah obviously didn't know exactly what they were thinking.
If he actually knew, he would probably have to explain it clearly to them—after all, a proper injection definitely wasn't anywhere near as simple as it looked.
Within mere seconds, Raul's physical condition visibly recovered.
Actually, with Raul's solid Level 4 stats, just being briefly ambushed by normal monsters or even awkwardly falling into the water wouldn't cause that much real harm.
The only actual injuries he sustained were directly from Noah's Freezing Ray.
The entire purpose of that rapid attack was purely to prevent Raul from being permanently separated from the rest of the team.
If he actually fell totally alone deep into the 27th floor, that would be incredibly troublesome, and in the absolute worst-case scenario, he might tragically hit some sharp reefs during the long fall and just die directly.
After fully regaining consciousness, Raul's very first words upon seeing Noah were, "Sorry, I really messed up."
"It's totally fine. This is exactly what tactical support is for."
"No, Noah, we absolutely need to strictly criticize him right here and now so he definitely doesn't make the exact same stupid mistake again!" Aki said very sternly from the side.
"I see, I completely understand. Then, Raul, please write an 800-word self-criticism essay," Noah said with a perfectly straight, deadpan face.
This time, Raul's entire expression totally fell.
"Huh?! That's absolutely not necessary!"
"Just kidding."
Looking closely at Raul—and even Aki's visibly changed expression—Noah realized for the very first time that the basic sense of humor here apparently also evolved with the times.
Standing quietly behind Noah, Ais watched his steady back and tilted her head slightly.
She suddenly felt that Noah actually seemed quite reliable.
'This totally unique feeling... was strangely similar to exactly how Riveria and Finn always made people feel.'
He definitely wasn't one of the ones constantly being worried about, but rather one of the reliable ones actually doing the worrying.
"Noah's quick support just now was totally amazing."
After the sudden crisis officially ended, the black-haired cat girl Aki spoke warmly to the fully recovered Raul, and this specific topic instantly perked up the somewhat dejected adventurer.
"Yeah, it was absolutely incredible! He literally made my totally ordinary attack look so flashy and incredibly powerful!"
"The last time too, it was called Extreme Cut, right? With that buff, I could even easily cut straight through Goliath's thick tendons. I honestly never thought there would ever be amazing adventurers like Noah-san."
As he spoke, Aki just chuckled dryly. "Calling him 'San.' already?"
"Uh, haha, well actually, when I very first saw him, I had this strange feeling that he and Ais-san were very similar... don't you guys think?"
"Huh?" Aki completely didn't get what Raul meant.
Raul himself mumbled a few quiet words but couldn't quite articulate his exact thoughts.
"I can't really explain it clearly, but I just have this distinct feeling. Whether it's their quiet dignity or their raw intimidation... anyway, it's just totally different from us normal people. The intense aura they naturally emit is far more innate..."
During the entire descent, what Noah secretly did the most was casually appraising the various members of the Loki Familia constantly surrounding him.
He carefully noted exactly who was good at what kind of specific attacks, their unique combat style, their overall aggression, etc.
Through the highly detailed information from his appraisals combined directly with his own sharp observations, Noah gradually and perfectly grasped the unique combat characteristics of every single teammate.
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