In about 40 seconds, Darius collected five hearts and closed them inside orbs by ripping pieces off of a sixth one. His palm was still black, but with his every breath, he was able to expel the miasma without risking corrosion.
Darius injected himself with dopamine after the monsters discovered him, and as a result, all of his senses were at superhuman levels.
-CHAAA!-
A python thick enough to gulp him in one bite shot out at Darius with incredible speed through the smoke.
"…."
With his enchanted senses, the snake appeared to move in slow motion, although it was as fast as a cannon ball.
Darius slightly moved his body to the side while strongly holding onto his knife, using the monster’s momentum to cut its head and back wide open diagonally, a dark bloody mess gushing out all over his armor.
-BOOM!-
After dodging it, the snake crashed like a shell on a destroyed building, going through concrete and not moving after its spine got despicated.
That was one; there are six in total. Five remaining….
Calm and collected, Darius saw with the corner of his eye a purple flash, making him instinctively jump back from where he was a moment ago.
-BZZZT!-
Just as he retreated, even with his enchanted senses, he still couldn’t see how the beam completely penetrated the concrete he was on, with stones and wreckage being cut like tofu.
A large, dark spider-type monster wanted to kill him with a beam, but seeing how it missed, it prepared for a frontal charge.
…
Darius saw another shadow from his front and decided to sit still for a moment as a demon that had evolved into a werewolf suddenly appeared right in front of him. This monster was just like the griffon at boss rank. So the chances of him taking it alone were way too small. But right now, he wasn’t alone.
-GROAAGH!-
The werewolf’s claw was just about to reach for his neck when a sudden collision with the spider sent the werewolf crashing onto more boulders, sending concrete parts flying left and right.
-KHAA!-
The spider also shrieked, annoyed at having its attack intercepted by the werewolf.
I’m one with a small physique compared to these mastodons. So they might have a hard time if they all wish to go together in this thick smoke.
-PIII!!!-
A sharp cry and a pressure as if his spirit were going under the ground made Darius quickly jump away from where he was a while ago. The whole area was shortly after struck with knife-like feathers, making Darius stare at the sky and see a griffon barely flying with its harmed wings.
-KHAA!-
The feathers also hit the spider, who was irritably looking up. It prepared another beam, and the griffon did the same, both of their beams colliding into one another.
-PIII~!-
Having stronger offensive power and a higher overall rank, the griffon’s beam completely shattered the high-ranked spider’s, putting a hole right through its whole body.
That’s damn dangerous.
A wry smile was etched on Darius’ face after observing this confrontation between the two monsters.
-RUMBLE!-
However, he got no time to relax as another presence made his innards shake, turning only to see a wolf large enough to be on par with a bus, with a purple horn on its forehead. It was completely purple while its fur was shining with a purple glow in waves, as if every strand of fur on its body was electrified.
Thunder Wolf!
This monster was one of the strongest boss-type monsters. It could also easily go neck in neck with a field-boss rank monster and still win. Its offense and speed are ridiculous enough to easily damage monsters with a few ranks above it.
-Grrr khah!-
The wolf then spat out a mouthful of black blood and glared at Darius with hateful eyes. It’s hind legs were damaged to the point where it couldn’t move, taking away its great mobility.
The reason why it wasn’t ranked as a field-boss monster was because its defense was so weak that even a handgrenade was good enough to damage it. But that meant you could take one down only by ambushing it, something Darius did with ease but also unknowingly.
I guess that’s my luck.
He smiled nervously, but then a spark on the wolf’s horn made him dash to the side in a hurry. Just as he dashed, the hairs on his left arm stood on ends for a moment, making him understand that he was a fraction of a second too slow to completely dodge the strike.
-ROAGH!-
Behind him, the werewolf from before tried to kill him again, but this time a static shock made the wolf’s fur stand on end. Looking in front, a purple flash made it understand that death was the only answer it had, with no chance to escape.
-----!!!
A thunderous sound that shook Darius’ innards resounded right beside him, the shockwave being strong enough to send him flying through other boulders and inside a ruined building.
"Gah! Ugh!"
He tried to stay awake from the strong impact and quickly got up while checking his body.
-Pffssss~-
Sizzling sounds and a smell of burnt material attracted his attention to his left. Looking at his arm, he saw how the armor on his left arm was almost completely destroyed, the heat inside it making his skin burn. Normally, you would take off such a burning piece of armor, but he’d rather suffer dangerous burns than expose his wounded arm to miasma. Both cases had the chance of needing him to amputate it if not treated, but the second one had 100% chances.
He quickly hid behind a ruined car and grabbed a bottle of water to extinguish the burning metal. Gritting his teeth while trying not to make a sound.
Based on the pain, the burn is not that severe with no immediate risks, so I should be fine even if I stall for time until I get out of this place.
He took out more grenades from his belt and stood still, focusing on his sound senses to tell where the wolf might be. Looking from behind the car, he only saw the charred werewolf that was now unmoving in the same position as before, with no life remaining in its burned body. The griffon also left a long time ago after feeling the Thunder Wolf’s presence. It was the alpha of this area, so it was no wonder everyone left the place.
I still have some grenades and some smoking grenades. I should be fine as long as it doesn’t feel my presence.
Darius thought of a plan, and after hearing another sound of it growling from pain, he immediately detected its presence and quickly threw the remaining three smoking grenades in different areas.
.
Being severely injured, the wolf was trying not to move too much while it looked around threateningly. After a moment, it detected an object flying towards it, and with a loud roar, a shockwave was created that cracked the concrete around it while completely destroying the smoke grenade.
-BOOM!-
The grenade exploded into thick smoke, but the shockwave pushed the smoke around. However, before it knew it, smoke was already surrounding it everywhere.
-Grr growl…-
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
Using both [Lightning Beam] and [Thunderous Roar] one after the other weakened the wolf even further, its damaged organs making it spit out more blood while the shine on its fur grew paler.
-Cling, cling…-
Being distracted by the internal pain, it was taken by surprise after hearing a light clinging sound right beside its front paw.
-!!!-
It wasn’t sure what the small round metallic ball was, and as it checked with its nose, a sudden explosion completely devastated it’s front paw and snout, black blood splashing everywhere around while the monster cried in pain.
-Cling cling-
-Cling clang-
Cling cling-
Another three grenades appeared all around it, and the monster’s body shook after hearing the deadly sound, roaring another [Thunderous Roar].
-BOOOM!-
The shockwave pushed the grenades away from it’s body, but the explosions still shook its already damaged innards, making the wolf cough some more blood while severely weakened. It’s gaze was blurry, and it could barely see anything after its face was devastated. It’s last roar pushed all the smoke away, and finally, the one who made it like this appeared before its eyes.
-Grrrr!-
Rage and madness flashed through the wolf’s eyes, wanting to reach out to him and bite his head off. But just as it reached him, it found out that it had no power to bite. Rather, it had no lower jaw, now remaining like a fool with its mouth wide open at the enemy, as if letting him check inside its mouth.
"There you go."
With a cold voice, the person threw something down its throat, making the wolf instinctively gulp it down. Understanding what it had done, the wolf decided to just faint, not wishing to feel the outcome of its own mistake.
-boom!-
The wolf’s stomach exploded, and from outside its mouth, blood and gore gushed out like a geyser, Darius dodging everything by stepping aside.
… I did it.
He looked at the dark and flashing sky with tired eyes, feeling like he would collapse at any moment now.
A total of 25 lowest-ranked, 15 low-ranked, 5 mid-ranked, 4 high-ranked, 2 boss-ranked, and 1 field boss. Although the Thunder Wolf was a glass cannon, its crystal was as pure as a field-boss monster.
A total of 52 crystals, let’s not forget the golem cores found, the spirit hearts collected, and some more materials that are scattered here and there... All in all, this turn was greatly profitable.
He smiled weakly and went down to collect his reward.
Normally, except for some heavy weaponry, only a Spirit Wielder could confront these monsters head-on. Having killed all of them and chased another one out, Darius proved to be able to fight the Spirit Wielders by using his guts and intellect and choosing his weaponry wisely. Not necessarily proving to someone else, but to himself.
Now… this will be a huge power bust.
He glanced at his own hand that he used to grab the spirits, impressing himself with how well he was able to control mana since he wasn’t sure how well he would do this run.
The main reason why he decided to adventure so deep inside the danger zone wasn’t only so he could collect materials and make some money, but mainly to train his mental state.
Ever since he got back in time, he felt extreme depression from the burden he was carrying and guilt from the sins he had amassed in his past life. He was afraid that his weak state of mind would affect his combat abilities and end up failing in his task to change the future in the way he desired.
Now, proving to himself that he’s able to accomplish what before he wouldn’t even dream of, he was able to get back on track and boost his motivation even further.
Now that I’m all the way inside Death’s mouth, let’s see how I get back home.
Darius collected all the crystals he could gather and fended off the spirits by cutting them with the cross on the knife. Not wishing to wait for the spirits’ backup, he quickly ran towards the exit of the spirits’ territory while also gunning down any other of the weaker zombies.
-GROAH!-
"Woah there."
A dog jumped from a taller place and almost bit Darius’ neck when he quickly turned. With his elbow, he struck the dog’s head and slammed it to the ground, stepping on it and shooting its heart, leaving the crystal behind. He rushed forward when he suddenly heard a roaring sound in the air.
That is…
He looked up and saw one jet fighter of the Blue Spark Army that rushed closer to his direction and released two rockets.
"… They sure act quickly."
Darius commented with a sigh and saw the two rockets fly over him and explode in an area about one kilometer in front of him. More exactly, right where the wyvern was fighting the golem field boss.
The jetfighter then quickly flew higher into the sky. Obviously, such a strike couldn’t really take out the two ridiculous monsters, but it could at least weaken them enough so they won’t try anything for the time being.
"…"
The plane seemed to make a circle around the area, seemingly to observe what happened after, then flew away back to base.
Was it just me? Or was he staring my way?
Darius frowned for a moment but decided to continue forward. Thanks to the jetfighter and all the noise it made, the golems seemed to wander around more actively while at the same time giving away their position.
Initially, they would sit still and imitate the ruins around them, trapping any living being in the middle of a group and killing them together. Darius knew that, and so when he was strolling around their area, he would normally stare carefully for any abnormal ruins, then throw a rock at them. If they didn’t move, then it was safe. But if they moved ever so slightly, then it was obviously a golem, and he better walk around if he didn’t wish for more golem cores… which he wouldn’t mind getting most of the time.
-BOOM!-
After attracting and exploding another group of golems, Darius rushed in and shot their cores, then collected them together in his backpack. Now being almost full, as the cores were almost as big as a human’s fist, he decided to stop and just go around them.
52 crystals, about 10 cores, and 5 spirit hearts. Except for the hearts and one core, I’d say I made about 650k or so rozoni just today. I’ll keep the field-boss crystal since I’ll need it, so it’ll be 560k. Hmm… I have about enough to buy an armored car. That would help me gather more materials…. Damn it. In the end, I do need a car.
Remembering back when he laughed at his last-life’s dream of wanting a car, thinking that he could use the military’s one, now he felt ridiculous about himself.
To actually use the military’s cars, he first needed to become part of a faction, but he still needed to complete other tasks before doing so.
I already have 1 million rozoni, but I’ll need more than that. And quick.
What Darius wanted to do now was create a miasma purifier. But to make a purifier based on the goddess’ instructions, he required a crystal purifier that was used by the bigger companies to create spirit pills out of corrupted crystals. The laboratory that Graham decided to make for Darius will barely cost a million rozoni. So requesting one piece of equipment that’s more expensive than the whole laboratory was something that would greatly aggravate the relationship between the two, and that was something Darius didn’t wish for. At least for now.
About one whole hour passed, and Darius barely reached half-way back to the base while going back near the borders of two groups of monsters. As he walked, he heard a light rumble to his right and quickly hid away behind a boulder with his rifle in his hands.
He glanced over the boulder and saw more military cars from the Blue Spark, going his way and towards where he came from.
"…"
Darius decided to continue hiding and let the cars pass him by without being discovered. Being alone so deep in the danger zone while also having only a mercenary badge on him, he was more than 100% sure he would just end up being taken for a bandit all over again. So, having no desire for a repeat of the last scene, he just decided to hide from any other scouting groups from the 3 guilds and just stick to his own business.
After they passed him for a good distance, he got up and continued on his way. Luckily, when he passed by the place where the wyvern and the boss golem fought, he decided not to take anything as he already foresaw that the Blue Spark would send a team to recover the materials. If he had taken and sold even a scale of the wyvern’s body, he would’ve ended up in the Blue Spark Army’s sight earlier than he needed.
As for the golem, it seems it escaped after dealing with the wyvern… I wish there wouldn’t be further problems with that walking boulder for the time being.
Another hour passed, and he was finally back at the city’s borders, where the usual squads from the three military groups were gathered, sending people in and out of the city for different missions. Seeing him come alone left a few confused, but not enough to come to him and ask about his origins.
"Your ID, please."
"Here’s the badge."
The guard at the entrance asked for his ID, as everyone from one of the three armies had an ID and not a badge. Showing him a badge, the soldier was momentarily frozen, until he finally let him in while looking at Darius’ sharp glare a bit perplexed.
His combat full-body suit was filled with flesh-matter and dust, while the armor on his left arm was completely damaged, showing that he fought not an easy fight. Staring at his back, he was even more surprised, as the armor on his back was obviously bruised and damaged, most probably after he was sent flying on boulders.
After going back inside the SAA building, he went towards the selling stand beside the mercenary stand. He sighed at ease after seeing there wasn’t the same newbie as before, so he just slammed his backpack on the table, tired.
"I’d like to sell a few things. Here’s my badge."
"Y-yes? Badge?"
"Is there a problem?"
The young man behind the counter looked confused at the badge, and Darius’ asked sharply, making the young man’s face turn white from the pressure. He was already extremely tired after walking and fighting all day. The last thing he needed was a repeat of yesterday.
"P-please let me make a call, sir."
"Tsk."
My God, another newbie...
Judging by his young appearance and confused face after seeing the badge, the young man was most probably new in the business, as the agencies from the border cities are not too populated with mercenaries. Or, better said, he can be considered one of the very few mercenaries that visited the border cities in the last few years. So the fact that the young man didn’t know what to do after being shown a mercenary badge and not an ID was justified.
Everyone who would want to make a fortune at the borders would just join one of the 3 main forces. Although their movements will be more restricted as they will have to bow to their superiors, they will have greater chances of both making money and surviving in battle. Every mission they will be sent to will let them collect whatever materials they find along the way while also getting to use free weapons and vehicles and getting integrated into a team. Nobody was mad enough to waste their own money on equipment and risk being backstabbed as a mercenary when they had such great options at the price of following a few orders.
"Good day, sir. Is there a problem?"
"What problem? I just want to sell my stuff. Let’s get going, yeah? We’re wasting precious time here."
A beautiful blonde woman with red eyes appeared to assist the young man, who appeared more and more nervous around Darius, and she smiled calmly while not minding his mean behavior.
She took his badge and scanned it, then her eyes opened wide in surprise.
"Oh~? Sir, it says here that you made this badge only yesterday, yet you already have a record of 256 crystals in one day? That’s quite hard to believe."
"I swear, if you’re here only to suspect me of being a bandit again…"
Darius sighed out, exasperated, but the woman only chuckled, not saying anything about being a bandit, just being genuinely impressed.
"And you’re also just a normal person. How incredible."
"You sure comment a lot about others' details. Are we here to chat over a cup of tea or do business?"
Oh my, would you invite me to tea if I were to ask you some questions?
"…"
This damn Iron Rose…