Gauss furrowed his brow.
He could feel that the Clay Spiders he had conjured were full of discomfort, and it required a bit of Magic Power to stabilize their forms and resist the erosion of the rain.
It seems necessary to find some waterproof materials to create a unit suitable for combat in wet environments.
For now, let’s focus on collecting Spirits.
The collection of Spirits requires using Clay Magic to kill enemies.
He directed three of the weaker Clay Spiders to turn and attack in the direction of the goblins.
The strongest one, a venomous specimen, targeted the jackal-wolf that had already lost its ability to move.
The strength of a clay construct, aside from the quality of Magic Power, proficiency with Spells, the materials themselves, and various other factors, also depends heavily on Spirit.
Through his continuous research into the magical nature of Clay Magic, he discovered that it was best to build around the Spirit emanating from an elite entity.
The stronger the creature, the more powerful the Spirit that dissipates upon its death.
Currently, his four Clay Spiders are all created around the Spirit of lower-tier creatures, Giant Spiders, and continue absorbing insect Spirits.
In terms of quantity, there’s no issue, but the quality leaves much to be desired.
The Elite Jackal Wolfman in front of him was clearly a good substitute.
Moreover, if his guess was correct, the Spirit of Jackal Wolves likely wasn’t inferior, as they are more cunning than ordinary demons of the same level, and their souls might have slight advantages.
The blue-white venomous Spider quickly traversed the muddy ground.
In the blink of an eye, it closed in on the Jackal-Wolf.
The Jackal Wolfman frantically crawled backward in fear, watching the rapidly approaching spider creature with unease and reluctance.
It swung its machete.
But the attack was easily dodged by the Clay Spider.
Then, with a powerful burst, it leaped using its legs, its slender, sharp pincers piercing through the gap in the Jackal-Wolf’s metal-studded Leather Armor.
At the point where the pincers pierced the skin, dark green energy rapidly spread, like a web quickly covering the entire body of the Jackal-Wolf.
Its body did not melt like that of the sparrow a few days ago but gradually stiffened.
Its murky yellow eyes slowly rolled upward.
After twitching a few times in the mud, the body lay still.
"Elite Demon Jackal-Wolf Leader *1 has been killed."
"Unlocked the 8th Elite Demon Illustration."
The interface quickly delivered the kill prompt.
Another 10 Elite Points were added, bringing the total to 30 Elite Points.
At the same time, after the Clay Spider killed the Jackal-Wolf, Gauss felt a large cluster of Spirit float towards him.
Unlike the Spirits of lower-tier creatures like the Giant Spider and Goblin, the Spirit of the Jackal-Wolf was evidently more complete, lacking the ethereal instability as if it would disintegrate at any moment.
This was the first Elite-level Spirit Gauss had acquired.
Gauss observed it.
Then turned his gaze to the direction of Aaliyah and her companion behind him.
The battle on their side was also nearing its end.
"Goblin *1 has been killed."
"Goblin *1 has been killed."
...
The three Clay Spiders he had sent out were diligently assisting him in killing monsters.
Since they were quite a distance away, clusters of Spirit floated in the air, waiting for him to collect.
When the battle settled.
"Total monsters killed: 2415"
Gauss slowly walked over, and clusters of Spirit quickly surged towards him like metal attracted to a magnet.
The goblin form could also become stronger.
"However, we’re still missing an Elite Goblin..."
Gauss murmured in his heart.
After experiencing the Spirit of the Elite Jackal-Wolf, he found it hard to be impressed by these scattered, loose Spirits.
By surrounding an Elite Goblin with its Spirit and then collecting more goblin Spirits as nourishment through numerous kills, should foster a decent aid, right?
Of course, having a Jackal-Wolf leader as a helper should also be good.
The rain continued to fall.
After reuniting with his companions, Gauss.
Proceeding to quickly harvest the spoils on the ground.
Particularly the Jackal-Wolf, as many organs from the Elite Demon had considerable value.
Once the scavenging was complete, Gauss and Aaliyah quickly mounted the chocobos and continued towards Gray Rock Town.
Strangely enough, after passing that area, the rain rapidly lessened.
In no time, the sky cleared up.
While galloping at high speed, they even skipped the process of using Magic to dry themselves, soon feeling completely dry.
By noon, the three finally stopped to find a place to rest.
"That Jackal-Wolf team we encountered earlier felt off."
While eating, Aaliyah brought up the short battle that had just occurred.
Although the group of monsters wasn’t much of a threat to their current team, it would have been unimaginable if it appeared in a village.
The act of Jackal-Wolf leading monsters deep into the heart of human living areas inherently carried great risks for them.
Even if they didn’t encounter Gauss, they might have run into other Profession-level Adventurers, and once they started plundering and slaughtering, it would quickly draw attention and invite stronger Adventurers to subdue them.
Normal Elite Demons also have a sense of self-preservation and generally wouldn’t cross boundary lines lightly or venture into human towns.
"Could they have been ’escorting’ that group of goblins inside?" Gauss shook his head, also lacking concrete clues.
However, he had a vague sense that since last winter, the area near the Jade Forest seemed to be getting lively.