A terrifying flash of blood-red light flickered at the tunnel exit!
The scorching heat at the tunnel exit suddenly dropped sharply.
Gwen instinctively pulled her clothes tighter, breathing out visible puffs of cold air. Max quietly moved a little further away.
A massive silver-white iguana slowly walked out.
It had a mouthful of sharp fangs, spikes covering its entire body, and a dorsal fin similar to a shark's. Its body was small but its presence was overwhelming!
Looking carefully, one could faintly see the internal organs through its shell, which made it especially terrifying!
"This thing is..."
Ben stared at Ethan Shaw in shock and stepped back one step. "Arctiguana!"
"Arctiguana? Then let Arctiguana deal with the Slime Aliens!"
Ethan walked to the entrance and smiled coldly!
Whoosh!
The smoke and dust gradually cleared, and one after another, tall and muscular figures appeared!
"Another alien? There sure are a lot of people looking to die today!"
"Let's take them all out!"
"Damn, could these be people from Technorg..."
Each Slime Alien stood a full three meters tall, their bodies packed with muscle, terrifying like slime demons!
They lifted their feet and charged at Ethan with heavy steps!
"Ha!!"
Ethan took a long deep breath, his belly rapidly puffing up like a deflating balloon in reverse!
He exhaled violently, and a massive wave of cold air turned into deep blue rapid-freeze beams, striking a large group of Slime Aliens head-on.
The Slime Aliens first froze in place for a moment.
Then their color rapidly shifted to sky blue, and their bodies stiffened up.
Finally, they became completely motionless, turned into ice sculptures, locked in the pose of their last moment!
Within just a few seconds...
Seven or eight Slime Aliens had all become completely still ice sculptures!
"What?! Oh no, it's a monster that can freeze us!"
"Run, run fast..."
The other Slime Aliens, seeing this, panicked and ran toward the exit.
"Run? You can't escape!"
Ethan increased his exhale speed. The cold air gathered into one freeze bomb after another, continuously striking the fleeing Slime Aliens!
His aim was strong enough, so almost every shot hit!
Inside the base, ice sculpture after ice sculpture began to fill the space, each one lifelike!
Until the last two Slime Aliens, battered and in a sorry state, fled to another exit.
Ethan was slightly out of breath, struggling to exhale any more cold air. "Can't breathe properly, damn... I'll chase you two in a moment!"
Bang!
Ben stepped forward, and a fireball condensed in his palm.
"Blockhead, they're not afraid of fire!" Gwen quickly reminded him.
Boom!
Ben directly hurled the fireball, and the fireball exploded at another tunnel exit, causing it to collapse!
The two Slime Aliens stared blankly, helplessly pounding at the collapsed exit.
"Here I come!"
After his breathing returned to normal, Ethan directly exhaled an extremely long-range rapid-freeze beam!
The beam hit the two Slime Aliens and turned them into ice sculptures, while the collapsed exit also became a magnificent ice-and-snow fortress!
"Phew, done."
Ethan smiled, looking genuinely happy.
[Ding, Host has defeated a large number of Perfect Form Slime Aliens, Progress +1!]
[Template Progress: 12/100, Unlocked: Buzzshock and Benvicktor!]
Ethan's eyes lit up and he became immediately excited.
He had obtained two more aliens. Buzzshock and Benvicktor were both electricity-based aliens!
Counting those two...
Ethan was gradually unlocking all the mainstream aliens from the original set!
Way of Alien X was still very far. Way of Way Big... was not so far anymore.
While Ethan was immersed in his joy.
"I am not Blockhead." Ben muttered and lowered his hands. "Gwen, my fire attack just now was meant to cut off the aliens' escape route, not to hit them!"
"Calling me by name? Are you actually angry?"
Gwen looked at Ben with a slightly guilty expression. This time it was her turn to be speechless.
"Uh, Ben, thanks for helping me block the aliens just now."
Ethan, trying to ease the atmosphere, even thanked Ben.
Normally, since the two got along well, something this small would not be worth thanking someone over... but he was trying to ease the tension.
"It's nothing."
Ben shrugged his shoulders and acted like it was no big deal. "We should send Aunt Vera and the others home now! Let's go!"
"Ghostfreak can handle this."
Ethan let out a sigh of relief and reached out to switch aliens!
As Ghostfreak appeared, he began quickly transporting the Slime Alien eggs from inside the base one by one. The other three quietly pitched in to help.
During this time, Max watched Ben, who was in low spirits, and sighed. "Ben rarely feels frustrated. But getting a setback is not necessarily a bad thing, Ben. I hope you put in more effort with your Watch!!"
He was confident.
As long as Ben was willing to put in effort, even if he could not surpass Ethan, at least the gap between them would not be so large!
About half an hour later.
All the elderly people from the town had been sent back to their own homes.
When they woke up, they had strangely forgotten about the events of the past few days, as if they had simply become forgetful again.
The whole incident with the alien freaks was muddled and forgotten just like that.
The four of them stayed at Aunt Vera's house for one day. In the evening, the two boys also used Upgrade to fix some of the community's water and electrical facilities, doing plenty of good deeds.
The next morning.
Aunt Vera crouched down and vigorously pinched Ben's cheeks. "Oh my... Ben, Ethan, all of you remember to come visit often, okay?"
"I undershtand, Aunt Vera..."
Ben said in a muffled and indistinct voice.
Ethan cleverly stretched out both arms and hugged Uncle Vera, sharing a warm farewell with him, successfully dodging Aunt Vera's merciless face-squeezing.
Finally, with Aunt Vera and Uncle Vera watching them off.
The group returned to the old beat-up car, and the old beat-up car set off on a new journey.
Inside the car, Ethan looked at the Benvicktor image on the Error Watch, and the corners of his mouth curved slightly upward. "Heh, if I remember correctly, some bounty hunters will come looking for trouble today. I forgot exactly who... but if they run into Benvicktor, they are definitely going to regret it!!"
Error Benvicktor, let's see if you're afraid!
"I was really pathetic yesterday. I'll never be that pathetic again."
Ben looked solemnly at the little worn-out watch on his wrist and clenched his fist slightly.
Setbacks do not necessarily make a person grow... but when Ben faces a setback, he will definitely grow.
...
Outer space. Vilgax's ship. In the lounge.
An alien with a large blade on its back, waving massive pincers.
It was polishing its crab legs.
An alien in heavy armor, holding a hoverboard, leaned motionless against the wall.
"Heh heh..."
An alien dressed in purple samurai armor, with a belt full of weapons, occasionally let out a cold laugh, which sounded muffled inside its helmet.
Whoosh!
The lounge door swung open, and a mechanical being walked in.
"Can we begin? Our trial."
The golden mechanical alien asked impatiently.
"The enemy is strong." The mechanical being said coldly. "So, Lord Vilgax has decided to cancel your assessment... The military mechanical robots assigned for the assessment will join you in eliminating the target!!"
"Have us lead military mechanical robots... to go kill two Earth kids with Omnitrixes?"
The golden mechanical alien laughed strangely. "This mission is simply too easy!"
The heavily armored alien slightly raised its head, and its expression was complicated. "Those two Earth kids are done for."
It decided to observe for now, to see if the two Earth kids had the strength to survive.
If they did, it would consider helping them.