51 Momentum

Though there were easier targets among the various Territorial Kings, Linnaeus had decided to kill the closest thing to a Dragon that he could find. Part of him still recalled the moment when he was helpless to act immediately after entering the Seventh Floor so, in order to overcome this trauma, he was determined to strike down the closest thing to his mental demon as possible.

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Crouching on the edge of a rocky outcrop, Linnaeus stared at the entrance of a cavern that glowed with an eerie green light from its interior. There were the bones of various other monsters in the area as, when fighting amongst themselves, actual corpses were left behind.

With a thoughtful yet focused gaze, Linnaeus continued to observe the entrance to the cavern as he reiterated his plan, stating, "The safest spot to attack from will be the flanks. You'll have to watch out for its tail, though, as I've seen it smash through trees as if they were twigs. Even this is better than trying to face it directly, however. It can spew out a phosphorescent chemical that can burn through the scales of other Territorial Kings...I'm confident my [Barrier Aura] can protect against it, but try to avoid getting hit directly..."

Linnaeus turned his attention toward Krone when he spoke the final few words, earning a curt nod from the man who, upon learning what they would be facing, turned stoic and silent. He had a very determined look on his face and, rather than show any signs of fear, there was an expectant light flickering across his silvery irises.

As they had already discussed the plan several times, Linnaeus didn't want to stress on the details too much as it would only unnerve everyone. Instead, he did his best to appear confident, pulling out shortsword and dagger as he said, "Let's do this...no mistakes..."

Without waiting for a response, Linnaeus slid down the rocky slope before making his way toward the cavern's entrance, his [Stealth] active. At the same time, Emilia moved along the periphery, her ultimate goal the area just above the cavern's entrance. Her task would be blinding the Territorial King by coating its head in a veil of water. If she had the opportunity, she would then use her spear to try and stab any fleshy areas while Linnaeus, using his small stature and nimbleness, would try to sever the monster's tendons to reduce its mobility.

Though they hadn't really practiced the execution of their plan, the average monster relied mostly on instinct when fighting. This made it easier to draw their attention and lure them into traps, a fact Linnaeus intended to take advantage of as, after reaching the entrance of the cavern, he dropped his [Stealth] and released his killing intent to the fullest.

Almost immediately after an invisible ripple spread from his body, Linnaeus' hair was kicked up as a foul smell aroma impacted against him, accompanied by a shockwave and a fierce roar. It actually had enough force to knock him back a few centimeters, the hair on his arms and neck standing on end as a result.

Despite his own [Danger Sense] screaming at him to flee, Linnaeus expression hardened as he bent his knees slightly, distributing his balance between both feet. At the same time, the ground around him had already begun to rumble and, like a flash flood tearing apart the landscape, a large dragon-like creature with green scales and three layers of ridges running along its backside came sprinting toward him, it's massive maw opening to reveal a dense line of teeth.

Rather than evade outright, Linnaeus created a barrier in the shape of a diamond prism with two fine points on both ends. He placed it right in the path of the King's opened mouth, anchoring it with the use of 500SP to ensure it had an adequate amount of durability.

To Linnaeus' surprise, the Territorial King didn't seem to notice the existence of his barrier. Instead, it continued moving with incredible momentum toward Linnaeus, the barrier piercing into the back of its mouth with surprising ease. It was unable to change course fast enough and, as a result, Linnaeus watched in awe as his barrier pierced through the back of the monster's head before it crashed to the ground a few moments later, completely lifeless...

Without years of practice controlling his facial expression, Linnaeus was certain he would have looked like a fool right now. Fortunately, there were certain benefits to growing up in the slums so, while others may have stood with their mouth agape, he had a calm expression that bordered on apathy.

As if to build up the illusion even further, Linnaeus dropped his combat stance before placing away his weapons and remarking, "It seems my Blessing is more suited to combat than I anticipated..." in a dismissive tone of voice.

In response to his remark, Emilia jumped down from her perch, laughing all the while as she made her way over to his side. She gave him an approving pat on the back as she exclaimed, "You're a real beast, Lin! To think, I was actually nervous just a few moments ago, ahahahahaha~!"

With his [Barrier Aura] active, Emilia's strike against his back only caused a few pulses across his body without knocking him off balance. This allowed Linnaeus to easily stay upright, despite the fact she had put a bit of force into the congratulatory gesture.

After shrugging his shoulders in a dismissive manner, Linnaeus made his way over to the spoils as Krone and Eliza made their way over. The former had a stern and hard to read expression on his face while Eliza had a cheerful smile as she skipped over to his side and said, "That was awesome, Lin! You really showed that so-called King what for~!"

Linnaeus gave a small smile in response to Eliza's praise before handing her a few neat pieces of hide, saying, "We can probably make this into protective gear. Do you want me to preserve some of the organs it dropped? If I remember correctly, some of them should be useful in the production of medicines..."

Eliza bobbed her head in response, pointing toward what looked like a gallbladder as she said, "I'll need to conduct some tests but it should be possible to make a medicine to reduce pain and treat internal hemorrhages with its gallbladder. It is hard to be certain but I'll be able to figure it out after taking a few samples."

As internal bleeding was a serious status effect, it was always helpful to have a medicine that could help alleviate it. They already had a few medicines with hemostatic properties so having the option of treating both would be very useful. After all, other than cleaning wounds, Emilia's Blessing was not currently suitable for healing injuries. There was a chance she would reach that point after obtaining Level 100, as Blessing underwent an evolution of sorts at that point, but that was currently a very distant goal...

After gathering all the drop items and distributing them between his and Eliza's Inventory, Linnaeus turned to face his Party as he said, "My Blessing seems to be effective against monsters with a large size and soft internals. Making use of a choke point and sending monsters into a frenzy will be one of our strategies in the future. For now, we'll migrate to the territory of another King in order to build up more experience as a Party. Until I get a proper grasp of the timing, this should be considered a fluke, not an indicator of actual skill."

Rather than refute his words, Eliza gave an affirmative nod, adding, "It is good that you aren't letting a single instance of success go to your head. I've seen a lot of people get cocky after taking down a few stupid monsters. The real test will be against monsters with intelligence. You'll also have to adapt your Blessing so that it is useful against other people. Against someone that doesn't move around a lot, you won't be able to use their own speed and momentum against them."

Eliza had been the one to originally suggest using his barriers as anchored projectiles so Linnaeus was very attentive to her input. He nodded his head in understanding when she had finished, saying, "I will continue to improve. Thank you for your guidance..."

Hearing Linnaeus' response, Eliza smiled her head approvingly before startling him with a sudden hug. This caused Linnaeus to tense up like a statue, resulting in Eliza laughing as she released him and said, "You work hard so it is only a matter of time until you become truly strong. Until then, I'm happy to help as much as I can."

Linnaeus was at a loss as to how he should respond so, after a momentary pause, he just gave a small nod before uttering a subdued, "Thanks..." He really didn't know how to deal with someone like Eliza as she seemed determined to break down his mental defenses. This actually made him feel even more suspicious of her but, as she could easily kill him just by bringing her hands together, it was difficult to rationalize what her actual aim might be...

So as not to force Linnaeus into a more difficult position, Eliza gave him a bit of space before saying, "Well, you heard our Party Leader. We'll be moving on to the next area so the two of you should get ready. Linnaeus and I can't be the ones killing all the monsters so you'll have to show a bit of spirit in the next battle."

While Krone was just standing in silence, Emilia pumped up her fist in response to Eliza's words, an excited smile on her face as she shouted, "Yosh! Leave it to me! Just you wait and see, Liz. I'll ride on the back of a King and suffocate it with my water, ahahahahaha~"

Hearing Emilia call her 'Liz', Eliza gave her a sidelong glare before ultimately letting the address pass. Since she already allowed the three of them to call her by Eliza, which was short for Elizabeth, it was a little annoying to hear someone come up with a pet name for her. However, as it was pretty close to Lin, she didn't mind it as much as she otherwise would have...

After calming himself adequately, Linnaeus sent Emilia ahead to scout, allowing her to lead the way as he taught Krone and Eliza how to properly track a person. This helped him to focus his own mind and, as it was a very useful skill that everyone could benefit from, he was hoping to at least get them to the point where they didn't make a ton of noise while traveling.

Proper tracking also included making yourself harder to track so, as they became more adept at following the trail left behind by Emilia, they were slowly becoming better at moving through the forest. This had the effect of increasing their speed through the underbrush as well so, while they still had a long way to go, Eliza and Krone were learning to traverse the forest much faster than a week prior.

With this enhanced speed, it only took them around twenty minutes to reach the territorial line of the next King. There, Emilia was already waiting for them, a strip of dried jerky in her hand that she was able to easily tear through with her pearly white teeth. It actually amazed Linnaeus to see how easily she tore through the tough meat as, without wetting and chewing on it excessively, it was hard for himself and the others to ingest.

Once the Party had regrouped, Emilia took it upon herself to say, "This is that big horse monster with the two horns, right? I want to try and fight this one on my own...is that okay, Lin?"

As his own enemy had gone down a lot easier than expected, Linnaeus felt that it wasn't wrong for Emilia to be a little hyped up for her own battle. However, he didn't outright agree, saying, "I'll allow it, so long as you still make use of my [Barrier Aura]. Though it wouldn't be good to become reliant on it, you should still get used to exploiting it to your advantage when the situation allows."

With a confident smile on her face, Emilia thumped her own chest, sending a blue rippled across her body as she exclaimed, "Sure thing! Yosh, I'm getting super excited now...!"