The fight was going surprisingly well. Despite the fact that everyone had different fighting styles, their teamwork was not bad.

Shelly was doing especially well with coordinating with the others and even cooperating to protect everyone.

But the monster was still strong, and it took advantage of the small gaps in their defenses to target the people who were a little unstable.

Rin watched as Serena almost got impaled by the monster, only to be saved at the last second by Teressa’s quick thinking. But Teressa was also unable to hold the monster back for much longer.

The second Teressa let go, Serena took charge and froze the monster.

Shelly and Albus took advantage of the opening to land a serious injury on it.

The monster let out a roar as it was attacked from all sides and decided that it needed to take them out one by one. And it chose Teressa as its first target.

Since Teressa was support, it was hard for her to defend herself. But she still tried her best to jump around and distract the monster.

Rin decided to run to her aid and pulled out a shield from his inventory that he had kept for situations like this.

[Defense Shield - Can only be used once before it breaks. Applies a slow debuff on the enemy. Protects the user from one moderate hit.]

This item was not very good, which was why Rin did not use it often. But it could still come in handy during emergencies.

"Rin, watch out-!"

Teressa gasped as soon as she noticed that Rin was covering for her. She wanted to say more, but her mouth felt dry.

Rin gave her a reassuring smile before he tugged her out of the monster’s attack range. They were on the defensive, but it did not go unnoticed by the others.

Shelly moved immediately and her attacks picked up speed. She instantly cut off the limb heading toward Rin and gave him enough time to drag Teressa to safety.

The monster cried out as one of its limbs was cut off by Shelly while another was frozen by Serena.

Albus took advantage of this defenseless moment to land a decisive blow to the monster’s middle.

"Darn it! Just die already and let us take that shard."

The monster let out one final roar before it died. And then it dropped a shard in its place.

Albus panted as he picked up the shard with a complicated look on his face. But he immediately placed the shard into the system and upgraded the map.

It lit up with the locations of more shards, and most of them were different colors.

Rin also looked at the map, but it was hard to tell where they needed to go next. He needed more information on this topic.

[(˵◝ ⩊ ◜˵マ]

[It seems like you are in need of this senior’s assistance once more. Let me look at the map for you, Rookie.]

The system immediately came to help and Rin waited for it to explain what the different spots meant.

[It seems like you can now see the shard rankings. The hotter a shard looks, the more information it contains. But it is also harder to collect.]

[This senior would advise you to go for medium-heat shards first and collect around 10. That way, you would have enough information to find the final boss.]

This was finally a useful piece of information.

Based on the colors alone, it was hard to tell what counted as a ’hot’ shard and what counted as a ’cold’ shard. Thankfully, the system decided to help once more.

[Since you are in a pinch, this senior will help you out once again. Here, I will mark the shards for you. Based on your party’s current level, these are the shards you should go for.]

The system marked more than 10 shards, but Rin decided to focus on the first ten and try his luck with them. However, there was only one problem.

"These shards are located all over the map. Would we even be able to collect them all before we run out of food?"

Albus voiced the same concern Rin had. He did not know what the best course of action was here.

[Ah! Looks like you are in another pinch. But worry not! This senior has just the solution for you.]

[Using the advanced technology of the system, this senior has created a path for you to follow. It should give you just enough time to collect the necessary shards without running out of food.]

The system showed a map and Rin immediately decided to follow it.

Since the system wanted to help him, he would allow it to.

"Everyone, this is the path we are going to take. But we will have to pick up our pace if we want to make it out of here in time."

Rin spoke and everyone turned serious. Albus looked especially focused and even nodded in agreement.

"You are right. The sooner we get out of here, the sooner we can eat something good. Not that I dislike the food we brought. But sometimes, I just crave something different."

Albus’s silly words instantly eased the tension in the air. It was nice to have someone like him around who could lighten the mood.

Rin shook his head and started moving again. But they had not gone far when Teressa suddenly collapsed.

She was wide awake and looked unhurt, but her legs refused to move.

Amelia quickly rushed over to examine her, but her expression turned worried as she tried to find the reason behind Teressa’s collapse. So far, she could not find anything.

"I...there is no reason for her to have collapsed and I don’t know how to heal her. According to my scans, she is completely fine."

Rin knew this was a bad situation. If even their doctor did not know what was wrong, then it could only be psychological.

Teressa looked shocked by what had happened, but she quickly schooled her expression and tried to force herself back onto her feet.

"I think my legs gave out temporarily because I was too tired. I should be fine in a few minutes. Just give me some time..."

She asked, and Rin nodded. Teressa tried to stand up again after a few seconds, but the result was the same.

In the end, Albus decided to throw her over his shoulder and carry her instead. They did not have time to waste, and this was the fastest solution for now.