Chapter 39 ends, and the Guardian, Overtime Dan, quickly bites his hand...

Dan quickly bit his finger and drew a magic circle on the ground that was exactly the same as the one in the book.

As soon as he finished drawing, Terry quickly used the disinfectant he had prepared to disinfect the wound on Dan's finger, while Ethan took out a blood-replenishing potion and gave it to Dan to drink.

"Is it necessary?" Dan asked, puzzled. "It's just a minor injury; there's no need to disinfect it."

Before Terrick could even speak while disinfecting him, Mary objected, her face full of disapproval as if to say, "Of course it's necessary. If you don't disinfect properly, bacteria and germs will get in."

His tone was like that of someone addressing a disobedient junior, full of concern and disappointment.

Dan looked a little awkward: "It's just a little bit of bacteria and germs, it's really nothing." After saying that, he tried to pull his hand away from Terrick's, but he couldn't.

"Hey, hey, don't move, Dan." Terry quickly pressed him down. "It needs to be disinfected, Dan. Mary said so. Not to mention your wound, I would disinfect even if I accidentally scratched my skin. It's better to be safe than sorry."

It's true. Even if you accidentally bleed a little bit, Terrick will make a big fuss and disinfect it. What's wrong with being careful?

Seriously, Dan is really ruthless. He's about to bite off a huge chunk of flesh. Doesn't it hurt? I feel a bit of pain in my finger. I didn't dare to use too much force when disinfecting it, afraid of hurting Dan even more.

Looking at the unwavering certainty on Mary's face, the seriousness on Terry's face, and even Cassie's disapproval of seeing someone who avoids seeking medical help, and then at Ethan beside him who was expressionless and silently handing him the blood-replenishing potion, Cassie noticed the unwavering disapproval.

Dan remained silent for only a few seconds before accepting, obediently letting the disinfectant work and drinking the potion that Ethan had kindly provided.

…It's a strange feeling. He thought.

This certainly doesn't refer to the potion Ethan kindly provided, but rather to his own feelings.

He always thought these wounds were minor and didn't even need treatment; he believed they would heal on their own once they scabbed over. He had suffered much more serious injuries before, and no one had ever taught him that injuries needed to be treated.

Now that someone is telling him that treating the wound is the right thing to do, a strange and inexplicable feeling suddenly rises in his heart. It's so strange; he can't explain this emotion.

Dan could only pick out the emotions he could barely recognize from them, and he felt a little warmth from them.

Having teammates like this isn't so bad.

The demon continued to roar in discontent, shattering the tender moment and asserting its presence, as if it was annoyed that the humans who had just defeated it were ignoring it.

Seriously... if you don't court death, you won't die. The demon's shout reminded all five of them that they were still on a mission.

Then they forced the demon to the magic circle, activated it, and the demon turned to ashes in excruciating pain. The whole process took less than five seconds, a clean and efficient teamwork from the five people.

Cassie and Dan pinned the demon to the magic circle, Mary activated the magic circle, and Ethan and Terry clapped and murmured in amazement as mascots, giving the three of them plenty of emotional value.

Mary's smile became more benevolent, Cassie was full of vigor, and even Dan's usually aloof eyes softened, making him seem less unapproachable.

Cassie and her group tied up all the heretics again, preparing to contact the Mage Guild to send someone to take these dozens of people to complete the mission. The scene was truly unimaginable.

"How about we take a picture?" Mary suggested to everyone after tying up the last one. "Let's keep a record of our first time doing a mission together as a group?"

Mary's suggestion was unanimously approved, and Terry even suggested that the four of them should team up for group missions. Solo missions could be done by themselves, and if there were group missions, they could just contact other people to do them together, without worrying about not being able to coordinate well with unfamiliar teammates.

Rather than choosing teammates whose personalities and ways of doing things are unknown, it's better to choose someone you've known for a long time.

Terry's suggestion was unanimously approved. Cassie thought it made sense, Mary thought it was a good suggestion, and Dan nodded in agreement. For Ethan, teammates he didn't know were not as good as teammates he had worked with before, at least they were really comfortable to get along with.

Against this dim backdrop, in a dilapidated old house, with unconscious heretics and bloodstains on the ground that had not yet completely dried, the five people left behind their first group photo.

They will have many group photos in the future, but every time they flip to this one, they can't help but miss the first time they formed a team.

In the photo, Mary's smile is as gentle as ever, Cassie looks at the camera with a confident smile, Terry's eyes crinkle with laughter, his smile is incredibly bright, Ethan can't help but smile as well, and Dan's lips also seem to be slightly upturned.

Later, when Ethan saw the developed photos, he suddenly remembered that he seemed to have social anxiety, which wasn't apparent from the photos at all. Luckily, he almost forgot.

People from the association arrived quickly, and with their staff, they forced the heretics one by one toward the portal.

The leader was a young man whom Ethan and his group did not recognize.

He first thanked the five people for completing the task, then informed them that the extra points for eliminating the demon would be credited to their accounts within 48 hours, before leading his group away in a grand procession.

After completing their task, the group looked at each other, and Cassie stroked his chin, suggesting, "How about we grab a bite to eat first, and then split up?"

They were a bit tired from the mission; it was late at night, and they had just gone through a fight. They needed to treat themselves to some good food to soothe their tired bodies and minds and replenish their energy.

Terry agreed wholeheartedly, and the other three, including Mary, had no objections. Just as they were about to find a shop to get something to eat, Ethan's communicator vibrated.

Ethan took out his communicator and saw that it was a message from Reina in the group chat.

"Rena: @All members, a monster attack has been detected. Please gather at this location immediately."

This is followed by an address and coordinates.

Ethan glanced at the time: 2:30 a.m. He couldn't believe how Rena had found out in time. Did Rena also not need sleep, just like him?

It seemed that some people hadn't read the message yet, so Reina tagged five or six more people in succession.

"Rena: Come quickly, everyone."

Looking at his colleagues discussing what to eat, Ethan didn't know how to start the conversation. He had just finished dealing with things here and now he had to go fight the Guardians.

“Um…” Before Ethan could hesitate for long, he only took a few seconds to form his words in his mind: “I have something to do… I might have to go first.”

As soon as the laughter and chatter stopped, and Ethan's heart was pounding with anxiety, they expressed their understanding and told him to hurry up and go.

"Let's eat together again next time," they said, as if changing their minds at the last minute wasn't a big deal. Maybe it really wasn't a big deal, but Ethan was worried that his colleagues might complain.

For some reason, Ethan felt a sense of relief as he watched his colleagues waving him away.

Ethan said goodbye, put on his hat, turned around and stepped into the portal, his location directly connecting to the coordinates sent by Rena.

When Ethan arrived, unlike last time when almost everyone was there, this time, perhaps because it was night, only less than five people showed up, including Reina with her messy hair.

"This monster really knows how to pick its time." Someone couldn't help but complain: "I was in a rush to leave and accidentally woke up my baby who was only a few months old. I didn't even have time to soothe him."

"Stop complaining." Reina's hair was a mess, and even in the dim light, the dark circles under her eyes were faintly visible. Her voice was cold and sharp: "If you complain again, go back to comforting your child. Do you think you can choose when the monster appears? Don't you understand the difference between one person being better off and everyone being better off?"

The man reluctantly shut up, no longer daring to provoke this leader who had inexplicably become irritable and sharp-tongued. It was as if he hadn't slept for a week, and even while working overtime, he had to listen to colleagues who weren't working overtime complaining about how much work they had. "Fine, fine, if I can't afford to offend him, I can at least avoid him," he thought.

A face partially hidden in the darkness, coupled with the cold that makes it seem like it's about to shatter into ice crystals, makes it seem even scarier than a monster.

Seeing this, Ethan stood quietly in the corner, not daring to utter a sound. He was also afraid of accidentally getting into trouble. If he were to be talked about in front of so many colleagues, he would be so embarrassed that he would want to run away.

Ms. Rena Keith, how horrible.

Ethan *shivering*: QAQ

Not long after, the latecomers arrived one by one. Many of them had just gotten out of bed, still annoyed at being disturbed from their sleep, or had lingering morning grumpiness and wanted to vent their frustrations, or were still half asleep, or had messy hair and were half asleep.

In short, although everyone seemed a little less enthusiastic about being woken up to work in the early hours of the morning, they were full of energy and couldn't wait to defeat this monster.

This time, the monster is similar to the slimes in those works, novels, or anime. Unlike the small, cute, and silly slimes in those works, this slime monster keeps devouring everything around it, growing bigger and bigger. It's unknown how long it has been eating, but its enormous body is already taller than a building of more than thirty stories next to it, and it is still eager to swallow even more.

It opened its mouth wide and slowly swallowed the building whole. The building was undamaged and was completely swallowed. The slime monster even made a sound that looked like it was enjoying itself.

Although the voice was indeed quite cute, the behavior was not. In the distance, screams and panicked cries could be heard urging everyone to run, sounds that Ethan did not want to hear.

As the slime monster moved around, it continued searching for its favorite food. The things inside its transparent body that it had swallowed also changed as it moved, but they only moved left and right in their original positions for a while, and it wasn't really spinning around.

But there are still people inside, many of them floating inside the slime's stomach, their fate unknown. They need to be rescued quickly, as they can't guarantee there's no dissolving fluid inside the slime's stomach.

"Ethan." Reina, who was flying ahead, suddenly turned around and swept her sharp eyes at him, making no attempt to suppress the aura of a superior: "You know magic, now think of a way to control the slime monster? We can't do it with just our fists, can we? You can do it, right, Ethan?"

It was clearly a question, but it was forced into a statement of fact, carrying an unyielding and forceful tone.

Ethan? He could only swallow hard and nod frantically.

-----------------------

Author's note: Dan was an orphan, growing up wildly, and no one would tell him about such things.

In addition, Reina had genuinely been working overtime for a long time. She was originally handling work related to her other identity when the monster detector suddenly fluctuated. Frustrated, she ruffled her hair instead of letting it get messy from sleeping, and was full of resentment.

Between guardians and magicians as colleagues, it seems the latter are easier to get along with. "It's not just a feeling."

Magician's Mini-Theater

The four found a shop that was still open, ordered something to eat, and just then, the TV started showing footage of the guardians fighting monsters.

Terry: Chew, chew, chew... That person, chew, chew, chew, looks like Ethan, chew, chew, chew.

The other three were drawn in by his words and followed his gaze to the television.

Cassie: Chew, chew, chew... That looks like Ethan, chew, chew, chew.

Dan: Chew, chew, chew, no wonder he left, chew, chew, chew.

Mary sighed: "Two jobs! It must be so tiring!"

My colleagues only realized this at that moment; they couldn't write the main text. After a moment of surprise, they were filled with sympathy. We had just finished a task together, and now we had to go fight again.