When Orion stepped out of the Adventurers’ Guild, he felt a gaze on his back—just for a brief second. He paused, glanced around, then brushed it off.
Maybe soone’s jealous of my looks, he thought, a shit-eating grin spreading across his face.
He climbed into the carriage where Axl and Max were already waiting. Dusk had settled in, and Orion reckoned it would be full night by the ti they reached the quest location. He considered waiting until morning, but his excitent won out.
There was just one problem.
He had no idea where the place was.
Orion leaned toward the driver. "Hey, man."
The driver looked back. "Yes, sir? Do you need sothing?"
Orion handed him the quest paper. "Do you know where this place is?"
The driver’s expression darkened with concern. "Yes, I do. But I advise you to wait until tomorrow morning."
"Why? Is it really that dangerous at night?"
"Everything is dangerous at night," the driver replied grimly. "But that’s not the main issue. I was ordered to show you around the capital. I can’t take you there—and if I do, and sothing happens to you, I’ll be in serious trouble."
Orion clicked his tongue. "I’m going anyway. So why not take as close as you can? It’s just a sli extermination quest. Not exactly life-threatening."
The driver hesitated, then sighed in defeat. Reluctantly, he changed course.
In a shadowy alley, four figures gathered, clad in black attire, each bearing the symbol of a grim reaper at their center.
They were Baldwin’s n—the ones assigned to keep a close eye on Ryan.
"Where are they going now?" one of them muttered as Orion’s carriage suddenly changed direction.
"I don’t know," said the blurry, middle-aged man who seed to be their leader. "But we follow."
The carriage passed through the city gates and headed toward the forest near the capital.
It was a relatively normal forest. Most monsters were weak, with the strongest being B-rank—and even those were rare. It hadn’t always been that way. Being so close to the capital, the forest had been raided countless tis, driving powerful monsters out.
"They’re heading into the forest..." one of the goons said, grinning widely.
"What an idiot. Who goes into a forest at night?" another scoffed. "Anyway, can’t complain. Makes our job easier. Let’s move."
They slipped past the guards and followed the carriage beyond the gates.
Orion finally reached the destination.
The driver didn’t take them all the way, but he gave Orion a detailed map before returning to the city gates to wait.
"Alright, Max, Axl," Orion said, stretching. "Our first quest. You guys excited?"
"Kuuu!"
"Kuuuu!"
"Khuuui!"
Both beasts were practically vibrating with excitent at the sight of the forest.
"Okay, calm down," Orion said. "Let’s search the area—"
He didn’t need to go far.
Just a little deeper into the forest, he found a pond—and a very familiar sight.
Slis.
Dozens of them. At least a hundred. Jelly-like, globe-shaped creatures in various colors, wobbling lazily around the water. They were exactly like he knew them from ani and video gas.
"Appraisal."
[Sli—F Rank]
Can shoot corrosive acid.
The body is difficult to destroy with weapons.
Weakness: Fire magic, destruction of the core.
Orion could wipe them all out with Fire Star, but he needed intact bodies. That ant destroying the cores.
Looking closely, he noticed faint white stones floating inside their translucent bodies.
"That must be the core..."
Before he could act, Max and Axl lunged forward, aggressively tearing through the slis with teeth and claws.
"Hey—wait! You hungry brats! Don’t eat all of them!"
Too late.
Orion sighed and drew his spear. A thrusting weapon was ideal for slis, and he needed more practice with it. Using a sli as a test subject was safe, efficient, and effective bait.
The slis bounced toward him. He slashed—
The sli split cleanly in two, but Orion missed the core, and it soon reford.
"...Oh. That’s kinda cool."
He adjusted his grip.
A sli leaped at him. Orion thrusts forward, aiming precisely.
Crack.
A sharp sound echoed as the core shattered. The sli instantly collapsed, its body lting into a lifeless, puddled goo.
"Ugh," Orion grimaced. "That slls awful."
Max and Axl, anwhile, were having the ti of their lives. If they weren’t busy eating, Orion would’ve already finished the quest.
Acid flew through the air, splashing against them—but neither beast seed affected.
They had so kind of resistance to the sli’s acid—and perhaps to poison as well, to so extent, Orion noted. Orion didn’t have to worry too much about Max and Axl, so he fully focused on the slis.
Suddenly, two larger, dark-green slis crept up behind him.
One spat acid.
Orion dodged on instinct. The acid struck a tree branch, which began to hiss and smoke violently.
"Tch."
He spun his spear and hurled it forward.
The weapon pierced straight through both slis—
Crack. Crack.
Two cores shattered at once.
The spear embedded itself into the ground as the slis collapsed into steaming goo.
But more slis gathered, and they surrounded Orion from all corners, while Max and Axl were doing their best to thin their numbers.
The slis now had their attention divided, and Orion used this situation fully.
He was thrusting his spear left and right. So strikes were able to shatter the cores, and so missed.
Suddenly, one sli got close to Orion and swallowed his leg inside its body.
"Ow, ow, ow!" Orion could feel the sli’s acid burning, but he didn’t try to pierce it, fearing for his leg. His pants were burned where the sli swallowed his leg, so the pain was even worse.
But Max ca to the rescue. He first tried to bite it, but that didn’t work, so he prepared to use his claw. Seeing the sharp edge of Max’s claw, Orion gulped.
God... what if he misses—
But Max struck the sli’s core with incredible precision, which left Orion shocked. The sli died instantly.
After a couple more minutes of dodging the slis’ acid and so kicking and piercing, they finally succeeded in subduing the slis.
"Hoh, it was surprisingly easy, but a lot of fun and hard work," Orion wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"Let’s see how many slis we got." Orion began to gather the bodies of the slis—although calling them bodies was a stretch, as they were just puddles of goo.
The ones that Max and Axl killed—the ones they didn’t eat, anyway—were in no condition to bring with him. So that only left the ones Orion killed.
"32... 36... 39..." Orion finally finished gathering all of them.
"39. Not bad. That’s more than enough." He put all of them into his inventory.
"Okay, now I think it’s ti for us to go back."
Just as Orion was about to leave—
"Aww... going so soon?" Baldwin’s goons were already there.
"We didn’t even have our fun yet," said their leader.
"Who the fuck are you guys?"
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