Building The Strongest Territory With My Sacrifice System
Chapter 42: Slinkweed

Chapter 42: Slinkweed

_Forest_

Morning arrived quickly.

The three of them got up pretty early thanks to the consistent crowing of wild cocks strolling around the forest.

They quickly had breakfast and proceeded with their hunting activities. They made sure to move in another direction in order not to interact with the goblins.

As they strolled toward their next hunting destination, Ragnar inwardly went over the progress from last night.

’I managed to gain about 0.2 spirit points from meditation last night. Not that much, but I can feel a slight increase in my perception, my instincts are even stronger now.’ Ragnar thought, ’I wonder what I can achieve with a higher spirit attribute.’

While he went over the progress, his mind did not forget the monsterborn he saw flying over the forest last night.

Ever since he spotted it, he kept checking his territory details and, fortunately, the population was still intact, signifying that no one had lost their life the previous night.

’I would be worried sick without the territory details, to be honest.’ Ragnar heaved a sigh as he closed the window.

He accelerated forward and joined his colleagues.

It was early morning and the sun hadn’t resumed its place in the sky yet. The morning wind was gentle, making the trees and bushes dance. The sound of the trees dancing combined with the chirping of insects and birds created a cacophony of sounds.

Ragnar and the group strolled in awkward silence.

"Last night I had a very bad dream," Noah broke the awkward silence.

"What did you dream about?" Milan inquired with a smile.

"Well, it involved Merlina," Noah replied with a sigh. "She was in trouble. A monster broke into our house. She was alone... it tried to devour her, but luckily, I arrived just in time and slayed it with my sword. It was intense... and felt so real."

"..."

".."

Ragnar and Milan both stared at him in silence.

"I’m telling the truth," Noah added defensively.

"Did we say otherwise?" Ragnar teased.

Noah glanced at Ragnar, rolling his eyes slightly, about to respond, when in that moment something shot out from the bushes and snapped tightly around his leg.

"Huh!?" His gaze dropped to his ankle, and his eyes widened in disbelief.

Before he could react, the strange object yanked hard with incredible force, sweeping him off his feet and slamming him into the ground.

"What the heck!"

Ragnar and Milan immediately sprang into action, eyes darting toward Noah as they drew their weapons.

Ragnar’s heart dropped as he saw Noah being dragged away into the bushes by vines that seem alive.

"Noah!" he called out as he quickly equipped his sword and dashed toward his friend as fast as he could, revealing his true speed to the two of them for the first time.

He quickly found a perfect spot and slashed the strange vines dragging his friend.

Once it was chopped, the part wrapped around Noah slowly withered while the other part snappily retracted into the bushes.

"What the fuck was that?"

Noah panicked as he shook the withered vine off his leg.

He stood up quickly, grabbed his sword properly, taking a battle-ready stance as he turned to face the seemingly peaceful and ordinary bush.

He scanned the bush and the trees around it, they all looked normal. Not a single rattling sound was out of place.

"We should leave," Milan rushed toward the two of them and warned.

Noah refused right away. "I have to see what grabbed my leg and slay it with my sword!" he said.

"It would be better to leave now that you have the opportunity. No matter how you search for what grabbed your legs, you will never find it, and the moment you let your guard down and look away, more of it would latch onto you and you’ll be slowly torn apart and devoured," Milan explained with seriousness.

Ragnar ignored his colleagues’ discussion as he tried using [power inspection] to search for the abnormality in the bushes that tried to take his friend, but it was futile.

He activated [power inspection] thrice, exhausting 15 out of his 50 MP, but he could not find the target.

"It is sneaky," Ragnar muttered.

"See..." Milan sighed in relief, "Ragnar gets it. We should leave right away."

Ragnar agreed, he would only be able to catch the abnormalities hiding in the bushes if it attacks again.

Otherwise, he would only be wasting his time.

"It would show up very soon, I need to kill it!" Noah said, still adamant despite the conclusion from his two colleagues.

He felt his dignity tarnished the moment an unseen entity took him down and dragged him across the ground like a lifeless dull. A soon-to-be greatest swordsman could not forgive such an embarrassment, he thought.

Unfortunately, after nearly five minutes, nothing extraordinary appeared out of the bushes.

Noah gritted his teeth and mentally decided to let go.

"Just know that it only got me because I wasn’t looking," he said to Ragnar and Milan.

"Of course," Milan shook his head hurriedly, "We should leave right away."

The three of them turned their backs to leave.

But just as they did, two sets of the same vines extended out of the bushes at insane speed — one of them latched onto Noah and the other attacked Milan. Both of them were tossed to the ground and pulled into the bushes. They struggled to free themselves but it was fruitless.

"Power Inspection!" Ragnar whispered as he sprinted to save his friends.

=====

Slinkweed — Level 5

Physique: 4

Agility: 4

Spirit: 4

=====

"Got you!"

Ragnar sent his sword back into his inventory as soon as he reached his destination.

He quickly grabbed the two vines and began a tug-of-war contest with the Slinkweed.

Under his tight grasp, the Slinkweed tried to retract its vines back to itself, but it failed.

Ragnar pulled on them with all his strength. Since his physique was higher, he easily had the upper hand over the Slinkweed.

Noah and Milan were freed.

The two of them grabbed their weapons and rushed to assist Ragnar.

"Find the root and destroy it, I’ll hold it down," Ragnar instructed.

Noah obliged and without hesitation, he rushed into the bush and easily found the foot of the Slinkweed.

"Found it," he alerted Ragnar.

"You know what to do," Ragnar replied as he continued holding it down.

Noah lifted his sword and rained down multiple attacks on the root, fueled by rage.

He destroyed the root easily, and the vines gradually withered, signifying its death. A victorious smile quickly plastered on his face.

At the same time, a strange sensation washed over his body and he felt more energized than before.

"If I hadn’t caught its vine, it would have been able to deceive us once again," Ragnar said and let go of the withered vines.

"Yeah, such a shameless bastard," Noah responded.

He sheathed his sword and was about to stroll out of the small bush when his eyes fell on an object that appeared beside the decayed remains of the Slinkweed.

He bent down and picked it up, revealing a tiny blood-red crystal to his comrades.

"Monster core," Milan and Ragnar muttered at the same time.

Two of them hurried closer to have a better look.

Ragnar took it from him and examined it closely and smiled gently.

"This is great," he said.

"I have only heard of monster cores before, I have never seen any before," Noah remarked.

"It is difficult to slay monsters, and they are somewhat rare to find in this region. The one you just slayed is definitely the lowest-ranked monster in this forest," Milan added.

"Well, it is great that we were able to slay one instead of getting devoured by it. The reward for it would go a long way," Ragnar responded without taking his eyes off the monster core.

"Are you going to keep this?" he asked Noah.

"Nah," Noah shook his head, "I have no use for it."

"Great," Ragnar smiled.

He stored the monster core inside his inventory right away.

The three of them left the area immediately.

Unknowingly to them, they were being watched by two goblins hiding in the bushes not so far away.

"CHEE!"

One of the goblins turned to the other and spoke in goblin tongues.

"CHEE! CHEE!" the other responded.

The two goblins revealed a set of menacing grins and then they began sprinting back to their hideout.

Unbeknownst to the chaos approaching, Ragnar and company continued their adventure.