Attacking the Great Nucleus

Facing an enemy that had lost most of its ability to act, Gauss not only showed no mercy.

He even prepared to use the deterrent effect of the title [Slime Hunter] he had just acquired.

Abilities should be used when they can be used. Moreover, this effect specifically targets Slimes, so if not now, when?

He drew his rapier and faced the Slime in front of him.

His thoughts flowed, and he grasped the deterrent effect against Slimes, which he had just obtained, as if it were instinct. In just a breath, he knew how to unleash the deterrent on a Slime.

His eyes narrowed, and his consciousness focused.

As he concentrated, an invisible aura rapidly spread out from his body.

"Buzz buzz buzz--"

The deterrent aura spread three meters. The three Slimes caught in its path flinched violently almost simultaneously, their bodies suddenly seeming to be put on pause.

"Shua!"

The rapier thrust out almost at the same time as the deterrent field was released!

Concentrating, the world in Gauss's eyes began to slow down bit by bit.

The rapier, pre-coated with protective oil, reflected the rising sun as its blade pierced the Slime's outermost layer of mucus.

A flash of cold light!

Unlike the rough obstruction felt when stabbing into a Goblin's flesh, the Slime's body was very soft.

"Puchi!"

Aside from a few undigested impurities along the way that slightly hindered the blade, there was no other resistance!

The tip of the rapier hit its target without suspense, piercing the Slime's core, which was in a stiffened state due to the deterrent aura.

"Swish swish swish!"

Dead!

In the blink of an eye, the Slime died gracefully!

The dead Slime melted again, leaving behind a puddle of foul-smelling mucus.

"Killed Slime*1"

"Total Monsters Killed: 29"

Gauss glanced at his rapier and saw the condensed Slime gel hanging on the blade. He quickly flicked his arm, sending the gel flying.

Although he had applied protective oil beforehand, for the sake of his rapier's lifespan, he had to minimize the time the gel stayed on the blade to prevent the acid from corroding it.

He glanced at the pool of stinking water in front of him.

He subconsciously marveled at the effect of the deterrent.

It was quite effective.

Even though it only lasted 0.5-1 second, if used properly, it could save a lot of effort when killing Slimes.

Just now, the moment he used the deterrent, the Slime had completely lost its chance to resist.

Furthermore, if he killed more and more Slimes, his title would eventually level up. Perhaps ordinary Slimes would be immobilized for not just one second, but several seconds, or even faint or die directly under his intimidation.

He turned his head to look around and saw Doyle engaging other Slimes again. His expression turned serious.

"We need to finish them quickly! They'll be wiped out if we delay."

On the battlefield, the others were also quickly killing Slimes.

Doyle and Leven drew the Slimes' attacks head-on, while Gauss swept them from the flank, with the ranged attackers providing support.

The Night Owl Squad's clear division of labor and slaughter of the Slimes lasted only a few minutes.

Real battles rarely involve evenly matched opponents.

Unlike back-and-forth exchanges, when there's a significant difference in strength, battles usually don't last more than ten minutes.

In fact, after the majority of the Slimes were killed head-on, the Slime horde had already scattered, losing their will to fight.

However, even if they tried to escape, they couldn't avoid the pincer attack of swords from the front and hidden arrows from the back.

The Slimes retreated step by step, only to continuously turn into gelatinous fragments.

It took a little time to hunt down the two or three "deserters" on the outer edge.

Finally, they completed the complete eradication of 25 Slimes.

Their commission mission was to annihilate this group of Slimes, and they would kill as many as possible if they could.

Every Slime was equivalent to a walking Silver Coin. What Adventurer at the bottom level doesn't do missions for money?

Naturally, they wouldn't let Silver Coins slip away for no reason.

After the battle ended.

It was time for the Priest, Daphne, to get to work.

Although the three melee fighters had taken protective measures, with the protection of their Wooden Shield, outer clothing, and gloves, they still couldn't avoid getting some corrosive acid on them during the fight.

Among them, Leven and Doyle were relatively more serious.

"Hiss—"

Doyle gasped for air repeatedly, making strange noises from his mouth.

"Hang in there, Doyle," Daphne said, crouching beside him with a wooden staff.

As she concentrated and cast the Life Sustaining Technique, mana flowed from the staff, and a ball of light green energy enveloped his reddened skin.

The Life Sustaining Technique could slow down the worsening of injuries. Simple burning pain and itching on the skin were immediately suppressed by the spell.

After casting the spell, she quickly took out pre-prepared ointment and applied it to Doyle's wounds.

"It should completely fade in about half a day."

"Thank you, Daphne. It's good to have you here."

"Uh, no need to be so polite. By the way, Captain, I'll help you with your injuries too."

After some busy work.

Once the skin injuries of Leven and Doyle were quickly dealt with, Daphne turned to look at Gauss, who appeared calm.

"Gauss, are you injured? I saw you killed quite a few Slimes too?"

Although Gauss showed no signs of pain, he was still someone who had engaged the Slimes at close range, so Daphne hurried over to ask with concern.

"I'm fine, don't waste mana on me," Gauss waved his hand. "As for the Slimes, counting those killed by spells, I think I killed 9."

Aside from slight mental fatigue from repeatedly using Deterrence, he had no injuries.

"9!" Doyle and Leven looked over simultaneously.

Doyle, in particular, showed clear disappointment. He had only killed 5 Slimes.

Could it be that Gauss had completely become the team's offensive core?

Was this the difference between a Warrior and a Mage?

In the distance, while everyone was tending to their injuries and chatting, Oliver and Meva were diligently collecting the spoils of war, putting the gelatinous fragments scattered on the ground into their bags.

In the end, they filled a small bag entirely with Slime gel fragments of various sizes.

These were the condensed products formed after the Slime cores were pierced. A complete Slime gel was about the size of an egg and very elastic.

However, most of the collected gel were fragments, with only a few being relatively intact.

Fortunately, these fresh gel fragments could be combined. As long as they accumulated enough to fill about one whole piece, they could be submitted as materials.

"A total of 25 Slimes, with a kill reward of 60 Copper Coins each, and a recycling reward of 30 Copper Coins each, totaling 22 Silver Coins and 50 Copper Coins."

Meva calculated the earnings from this mission.

Slimes could not equip weapons, and the miscellaneous items they swallowed inside their bodies were also severely corroded, making it difficult to find any decent loot.

Each person could receive less than 4 Silver Coins after splitting the earnings.

Fortunately, this mission was relatively close to town. Besides the minor burns on Leven and Doyle, the overall danger level was not very high. It was a good commission to complete smoothly.

Under the shade of a tree, the group rested together, calculating their earnings, their faces showing satisfaction.

Accepting a commission, engaging in combat, honing skills, receiving rewards, resting, arming themselves, and then the next commission.

Adventurers at the bottom could only toil away in such a cycle, slowly growing stronger, hoping to one day step onto the path guided by their Professional Path.

Of course, no one knew when that day would come.

It might be tomorrow, or it might never come.

Gauss also sat under the tree, maintaining his Rapier while looking at his Adventurer's Handbook and contemplating.

"Total Monsters Killed: 32"

"Magic Missile Lv2 (8/20)"

This was the improvement gained after a battle.

He had killed a total of 9 Slimes. Besides the 5 killed with Magic Missile, the remaining 4 were killed with his Rapier, combined with the effects of Deterrence and a low-level bullet time.

At this rate, after completing about 2 more missions, his total kill count would reach 50, achieving the next stage of improvement.

Magic Missile was also close to reaching the halfway point of Lv2.

He had to admit, the efficiency was pleasing.

Moreover, killing monsters this way posed almost no danger to him. The enemy's first wave of frontal attacks was usually borne by the team's frontliners, Leven and Doyle, while he was responsible for mopping up and reaping from the flanks.

Of course, he had also fulfilled his duties well. As the team's main offensive core, he had killed nearly 40% of the enemies in this battle without picking up any "easy kills."

Even the strictest person could not fault his contribution to the team.

However, what Gauss cared about was not this, but the realization of his own shortcomings during the recent battle.

That was the lack of means to deal with crowds. Although two Magic Missiles had dealt with 5 Slimes, making it seem like he possessed area-of-effect capabilities, that was merely a trick. In reality, Magic Missile was still a single-target attack.

He might need to acquire an area-of-effect spell skill later, or make Magic Missile more versatile.

If Magic Missile didn't travel in a straight line, but could change direction mid-flight, would its piercing ability allow it to kill multiple enemies with a single attack?

Even against enemies with impenetrable shields, a missile that could curve would be able to bypass their defenses and strike their weaker vital points.

Gauss pondered. He could actually already slightly influence the missile's mid-flight trajectory, but achieving greater control was still a long way off.

Of course, this was just his own idea. He wasn't sure if it was feasible or could even be realized.

Furthermore, it involved an efficiency issue. It was possible he wouldn't even be able to train Magic Missile to that effect by the time he learned other, more advanced spells.

Besides practicing skills and killing 50 monsters, he also needed to gather 5 types of low-level monsters as soon as possible.

Although he didn't know what abilities he would draw then, he figured it would likely enhance his combat power.

He muttered to himself.

Gauss suddenly felt very busy. The goals he had and the plans he was considering seemed to be increasing.

But then, he smiled again.

After all, this was a happy problem. If other low-level Adventurers had the "busy" opportunities he did, they would probably wake up laughing in their dreams.