68 Guts

Though he still woke up every hour or so, Linnaeus enjoyed one of the best nights of sleep that his mind could recall. Sleeping next to Eliza had always been strangely comfortable but, now that he was no longer afraid of his enemies exploiting a single moment of weakness, he was able to finally relax, even if only a little.

The next morning, he awoke to feel refreshed and energetic so, after their early-morning ritual, once everyone had gathered for breakfast, he proposed, "Today, we'll move further to the Southwest. This may be our last day gathering here so we should try to accumulate some raw materials for forging."

While Slime Gels were the most popular commodity to be harvested from Slimes, there were some varieties that also dropped highly refined ores. These were the evolution of Mimic and Rock Slimes, each significantly rarer than the common elemental varieties. In exchange, their drops were far more valuable and, with Krone's Blessing, obtaining purified metals would be extremely useful.

As they had already discussed the possibility of visiting the area Linnaeus had in mind, none of his Party members were against. Rather, knowing he stood to benefit the most, Krone gave a curt nod of approval. As for Eliza and Emilia, the former generally supported all of Linnaeus' decisions while the latter was too busy engorging herself to really argue a point of her own.

With everyone in agreement, the group made their way down a well-trod footpath, a common route used by Parties venturing deeper into the Southern Forest. Previously, they had gone out of their way to avoid such paths but, realizing they were well-trodden for a reason, Linnaeus felt as if his past self really was paranoid.

Along the way to their destination, the Party encountered several wayward Slimes, including a rare jade-green Slime known, quite literally, as a Jade Slime. It was a mineral-type Slime but, instead of dropping refined ore, they instead dropped a piece of smooth jade. This looked like nothing more than a pretty stone at a glance but, in the hands of a skills craftsman, it could be made into a ring or amulet that was capable of holding additional items, much like an Inventory.

There was no way they could pass up on the rare encounter so, while keeping in mind that the Jade Slime had a very potent venom, the Party moved to cut off its escape routes as Krone, covered in a [Barrier Aura] worked to smash the nebulous creature.

Due to its size, being nearly 2m in diameter, it was a lot harder to kill than a normal Slime but, with a bit of persistence, combined with the fact he could absorb its traits, Krone ultimately managed to rip it in half. This cost Linnaeus most of his SP reserves but, considering they got a piece of Jadite Stone that weighed more than 2kg, it was more than worth it.

After collecting the rare resource, Linnaeus had a genuine smile on his face as he turned to the Party and asked, "Should we just turn back now? A chunk this size should be enough for all of us. We can use any excess to buy raw materials for Krone's Blessing so there is no reason to venture any further than this."

Since it had only been forty minutes from the time they set out, it felt a little strange to be calling it a day but, never one to chance fate, Linnaeus felt they should quit while they were ahead. This seemed to be the general consensus of the entire Party as well so, after a brief discussion, they decided it was time to bid farewell to the Southern Forests.

So as not to draw too much attention to themselves, as there were people who kept track of when a Party entered and exited the forests, Linnaeus and co spent a bit of time killing various lesser Slimes to fill their totes. They would trade these in at the Hunting Guild before leaving the Southern Forest Settlement. Since it was still pretty early, they could easily reach Central before evening fell.

Though Linnaeus felt as if their hasty retreat might draw unwarranted attention, he tried to keep his calm and go with the flow as, even after leaving the Guild behind, he never got the feeling that any danger was heading their way. His instincts told him that someone or something would try to bar their passage back to Central but, considering how easy it was to reach the Southern Forests, there was a good chance their trip back may very well be smooth...

---

While it wouldn't set back his new mentality too much, Linnaeus was soon reminded why he always trusted his gut instinct.

About an hour out from the Southern Forest Settlement, the entire Party's [Sense Danger] started sounding alarm bells in their mind and, immediately after, various people could be seen trying to surround them.

Other Parties may be caught unprepared for such occurrences but, expecting something like this to happen at some point, Linnaeus had already discussed countermeasures with his Party. As a result, Krone began absorbing the properties of his gauntlets. At the same time, Emilia used her [Phase Change] to create a thick cover of fog, obscuring the sight of both the Party and their attackers.

Fortunately, everyone in their Party had decent [Perception] and, having already practiced fighting in the cloud of fog, they had a slight advantage over their assailants. This could all be invalidated by the enemy's Blessings but it was still better than being exposed to direct fire...

Since it was created as a result of her Blessing, the fog cloud was able to follow along with Emilia and the Party so, rather than be stuck in one spot, they doubled their pace to make it harder for the enemy to surround them.

Linnaeus left Eliza in the care of Krone and, using the boundaries of the fog to maintain the proper distance for his own [Barrier Aura], he began searching for enemies barring their passage.

Most people were unfamiliar with fighting in an environment where they could hardly see beyond their own outstretched hands so Linnaeus ended up finding a red-haired youth with a rather vicious sword in hand. He was peering into the fog with his sword at the ready but, due to being immobile, he was caught off guard by Linnaeus' small stature and relatively high Agility.

Despite this, the man still managed to swing his sword toward Linnaeus' neck on reflex but the latter had already made a rod-shaped barrier within the trajectory of the swing. This caught the youth's forearms, interrupting the swing and surprising him more than a little. Unfortunately, this wasn't the end of his surprises as, without anything barring his passage, Linnaeus buried his daggers into the youth's gut and chest in an instant.

With a face of sheer incredulity, the light in the youth's eyes quickly faded away as, atop his head, the bar representing his health quickly flatlined. Direct strikes to the Heart and Brain had a high chance of causing the 'Instant Death' effect so, while people with higher Endurance may be able to survive such attacks, those specializing in Agility were very susceptible to such blows.

Aside from throwing the youth's sword into his Inventory, Linnaeus didn't even spare him a second glance as he used his LV17 [Perception] to sense the next enemy. This was made easier by the fact that, immediately after the youth died, someone shouted out, "Fuck! These people killed Sahl! Kill these motherfuckers...!"

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Hearing this outburst, Linnaeus began making his way towards the source only to change his course when he heard another voice reply, "Fighting in the fog is a bad idea. We should attack from outside and wait for them to run out of SP. If we kill them too quickly, we won't be able to recover the items in their Inventories. Don't let your head get clouded by rage, Jack!"

In live combat, those that could keep their calm were infinitely more dangerous than the type that let their emotions drive their decisions. When Linnaeus heard the voice of a woman pacifying the rage of who he presumed to be the leader, he immediately chose her as his second target. It was fortunate that they were foolish enough to shout as, understanding his intentions, Emilia followed along the same axis of movement to ensure he wouldn't be exposed.

From the perspective of the enemies, the cloud of fog suddenly changed direction and, instead of moving away from them, it suddenly doubled-back to envelop several members. Those fearing the same end as Sahl immediately tried to retreat but, as they weren't priority targets, Linnaeus simply ignored them.

After a few seconds of heart-pounding pursuit, Linnaeus saw a man that could only be described as 'wild' while, at his side, a lavender-haired woman with a buckler and needle-like rapier could be seen staring directly at him.

Though it felt like his nerves were on fire, Linnaeus wasn't daunted by the fact his presence had been noticed. Instead, he pushed his speed beyond its natural limits, relying on the surge of adrenaline to propel himself forward.

By the time the wild man noticed what was happening, the woman with the rapier lunged to meet Linnaeus' charge, a vortex of green energy wrapping around her blade and body. This indicated her Blessing was related to wind, one of the more powerful offensive elements, but Linnaeus couldn't afford to simply turn back at this point.

Though he couldn't form anything more complex in the time allotted, Linnaeus was still able to form a marble-sized barrier in the path of the woman. He poured a quarter of his reserves into the super-dense ball of SP which, due to its size, went completely unnoticed by everyone. At the same time, he charged forward as if he was fully intent on crossing blades with the tempestuous rapier.

As a result of his subterfuge, the woman, who had put her all into the charge, suddenly felt a sharp pain in her chest as her momentum was completely arrested. Her balance was destroyed and, while the blades of wind around her rapier still cut outward, they crashed harmlessly against the [Barrier Aura] of Linnaeus.

Before the woman could even exclaim in pain, Linnaeus pushed his speed even further beyond his limits, pulling his recently acquired sword out from his Inventory in the process. Then, much to the shock of the wild man and his cohorts, Linnaeus buried his sword into the woman's neck, piercing straight through to the other side and leaving it there as he turned back to run.

For a brief moment, silence dominated the foggy atmosphere until, finally reconciling what had happened, the wild-looking man released a feral-sounding bellow, screaming, "I WILL PEEL YOUR FLESH AND FUCK YOUR SKULL!"

Without bothering to respond to the man, Linnaeus vanished into the fog as, moments later, the entire area occupied by the now-enraged man was suffused with a purple hue. He didn't even have time to enact his revenge as, from the moment they saw the purple aura, death descended upon the three people nearby, courtesy of Eliza's [Crush] magic.

With gravity spontaneously increasing by 50x the normal amount, it was enough to spontaneously rupture the capillaries in a person's body and, while some people may have the physical strength to withstand the forces, it wasn't as if they could easily train their organs. As a result, all of the soft and fleshy bits in their body were forced downward with intense force, their brains and hearts included. One of them was unfortunate enough to be the type to wear heavy armor so, while his Strength was commendable, his 70kg of armor became a metallic press of 3,500kg in an instant...