AHHHHHHHHHHHH—
Nai dazedly sat down in the crater. Can Land Step kill slimes without miracle water?
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh—
His ears and mind kept buzzing with all kinds of noise just a while ago. However, there seem to be a few tenacious ones.
"STOP! PLEASE STOP SCREAMING, PLEASE!"
He subconsciously opened up the water bag on his waist and gulped a mouthful of water from it. When he put down the water bag.
A blast of air has already replaced his body. Nai appeared in front of a hanging, long human-skin slime. "What a pity. You're too ugly. The slimes back home are all very cute and can be petted or abused to kill as an experience points."
Spurt spraying out water from his mouth, Nai witnessed how the black substance wriggling inside the human skin churned before turning into dust and then finally disappearing with the wind.
A black, dim, unadorned ring falls down. But Nai didn't catch it. "A pity, in this world. The slimes were already ugly, but also hardcore in the early game."
Gulp! He lifted up the water bag and gulped another mouthful of water before lightly stepping on the ground with his bulging, veined legs.
Bang!
Nai disappeared, and what remained was a blast of air that caused the dust and grass on the ground to rise up.
He appeared on top of the rock spike, where another hanging slime had its human skin ripped out in half.
Pfft~
Another timely rain for them to be purified "You all should thank me for this. This is a very dangerous and tiring job after all."
Just like that, Nai would appear beside, on top of, or below the pierced-through human-skin slime. He didn't know if it was coincidental or not.
It seems all the invading human-skin slimes were accurately pierced through, be it on the open or still hiding in the dark fog. Another coincidence? If he believes such things, that means he was by no means a real stupid old man.
"That magical ability has a lock-on effect, huh?" What a luck."
"Although I did activate it twice now. I have already forgotten how to activate it again. What a lousy ability. No, it should be me that is lousy. If I treated my wife an enemy back then." Nai shudder at that thoughts.
Better careful with this ability from now on. No, a must be on every ability I will have from now onward.
"Perhaps it's the extraordinary path of this world that is lousy? It can't even give us a kind of auto understanding on the ability we have."
"Sooner or later, I might forget those abilities I would seldom use." He looked around and saw the fog start gathering around the black rings, forming small tornadoes everywhere.
"That's a lot, huh?" Just looking at the cracked battlefield, he wonders if the vast grassland would hate him for destroying its flat terrain. "Please don't be. I'm fighting here; please be reasonable."
Walking away, he stepped in front of Garut, who was looking at him with weakened breath and an unkept appearance mixed with some blood.
"Man, can't you dodge?" Although Nai's tone seems to be blaming him, He still took some bowls from somewhere and poured some water in them before feeding them to Garut.
Gulp, gulp, gulp.
"Ah, I almost died." Feeling his limbs slowly return, he tried to move a finger slowly for a few seconds before moving his hand to wipe the cold sweat dripping on his forehead. He had long woken up from fainting.
"Well, you saw me charging; why didn't you duck? It's not my fault; you aren't just attentive enough to the situation. Come on, move that old body of yours and go check out your people."
Garut was stunned, then he seemed to notice something different from Nai.
"What?"
He shook his head and said, "Nothing." Although he really wanted to ask something, he couldn't bear to do that in this situation. Another time then, it's not like he was going elsewhere.
"Alright." Nai nodded and started walking around. "Ah right, don't worry about the spoils of war. I'll give you some."
Although Garut also worked hard, it wasn't enough in Nai's eyes. In his heart, all the things in his territory are his alone. No one can own it.
"Isn't this what an emperor's mindset is?" Leaving the place, he started collecting the rings around him as he watched the black fog slowly recede.
There will be no more surprises after some time. The dirtied villagers, with all kinds of dust and some blood on their faces, walked out of the crumbling shelter.
Cough. Cough. Cough.
"Is it done?"
"Did the battle end?"
"What was that noise just now? And that...heavy impact that still keeps my rings ringing until now."
"Sorry, you talked too low."
"You're okay; we're okay! We're safe!"
Seeing the battlefield, everyone smiled despite their sorry appearances. For the reason that they can finally breathe out their worries.
"Hahahahaha." Everyone felt the heavy feeling that was suffocating their hearts blow away. They can finally let out a laugh after surviving a disaster.
Looking at this scene, Garut found no one had died. He already knew the reason why his ability did not activate. It's because no one will die in the future.
Only when someone near him died in the future would the ability be triggered. "I see." He had long known such things did happen from time to time.
So he had long grown used to it. "Everyone, drink some miracle water to heal your injuries first."
The first villager hesitated after receiving a cup. The one beside him noticed this and couldn't help but ask. "What are you dazing about?"
The first villager told him what was on his mind. "This is an important resource for the village. I can't bear to drink it just for these injuries."
The man beside him replied with rolled eyes. He decided to make a demonstration instead. The water in his cup immediately vanished in his mouth as he let out gulping sounds.
"Hahh! That hit the spot, mm!" Then he looked at his hesitating friend, who now looked at him speechlessly. He told him, "If you don't use it now, that cup of water might fall by accident or disappear midway."
"At that time, would you regret it? If your injuries you thought weren't serious. If you suddenly get ill and die the next day. Your miracle water was taken or lost. Would you regret it?"
The man was stunned, then realized something. "That's right. Your right. What's important is the present. It's always been that way for us. The future is unpredictable; why think of that when you can do that tomorrow?"
"Correct; let the future decide what the future should be." The two smiled and hit each other's fist. "Hahahaha."
The others beside them, who were also hesitating, were listening just now. In the end, like the first villager, they decided to consume the water now rather than lose it later.
Garut nodded with appreciation at the two. "Good."
After some time, Nai returned to the house and unlocked it. Acacia, who was very nervous all the time, finally heaved a breath of relief seeing Nai, her husband, unharmed.
"It's safe now. You go look above the castle foundation." After saying that, he walked towards the pond and purified the bulging sack full of rings in different sizes.
...
Now, then, how much should he give to Garut? Standing above the castle foundation while looking at the villagers below who were talking and gathering the weapons around.
He fell into deep thought. Acacia did not bother him, afraid that it would disrupt his thinking. She was instead marveling at the events that had taken place on the wrecked battlefield.
At the same time, she found familiar-shaped cracked ground and crater-shaped rock spurs piercing out from the soil.
Did my husband do this? What monster did he fight?
Although she was curious, she had a feeling that now might not be a good time for questions. Nai seems to be giving off dangerous vibes; she felt very novel as well as dangerous.
She knew her limits and knew when and what to say. It can be said that she trusted her gut more than what others told her.
When the dark fog around the vast grassland finally disappeared. They were greeted by the picturesque starry sky of the night. "Beautiful as always, right?"
The familiar voice but with a different feel. She looked at the side and saw her husband. She looked at the sky with calmness; she found it quiet eerie. "Mmm."
She opened her mouth, seemingly wanting to say something, but eventually she stopped herself from doing that.
Are you okay?
Not feeling well?
Acacia asked in her heart, hoping Nai would notice her worry in the eye.
Nai faced his wife and petted her hair. He placed his arm around her shoulder, looking warm. "So warm."
Acacia's eyes glittered with sweetness.
"Alright, I'll give Garut ten rings then. See if it can let him grow a little more. Maybe he can awaken another ability. If he grows stronger than now, would his lifespan lengthen?"
How would I know? He can only live long enough to see that day.