"And what happens if they get strong enough to break through the limits of a rank?"
Asked Noah.
They were now running for 30 minutes and traces of sweat appeared on Noah's face, yet his Master seemed completely fine and continued to explain.
"They evolve, or to put it simply, they hibernate themselves for a period of time and when they wake up they will have a boost in all their natural abilities. Let's say, for example, that a four-eyed wolf of rank 1 was to evolve. Its rank would be 2 cause of its body but it would also have a rank 1 mental attack which will make it extremely more dangerous than its rank 1 version."
Noah finally had a better understanding of the evolution process of magical beasts and could not help but be a bit envious.
They had just to eat and sleep to get stronger while humans had to train nonstop only to take small steps toward a higher realm.
This time, William took notice of his disciple's expression and smiled a little.
"I know what you are thinking but don't worry, you will see humans advantage when you fight those beasts."
Noah was surprised but did not fully understand his Master words.
He started to focus his mind on the imminent battle trying to anticipate the worst possible outcome.
They moved for 20 more minutes till they reached a small hill, there William stopped and took a sack of water from inside his suit.
He passed the sack to Noah and said with a serious face.
"Over this hill, there is the wolf's lair. Their number amounts to 15 so you should be careful not to get surrounded. You will go alone while I will be watching closely enough to intervene if something bad happens. Remember all our training and don't be stingy on using the "Breath" until you have a complete understanding of your strength. Catch your breath a bit and then go, don't worry, you won't be in any danger."
Noah became even more serious in hearing these words.
He took a small sip from the sack and sat cross-legged on the floor to steady his breath.
He looked inside his sea of consciousness, where the faint shape of some lines was forming at the center of the sphere and checked that he was at peak condition.
'Do not hesitate, do not make mistakes. Be wary of your surroundings. 15 wolves to go.'
He exhaled with force and then stood up, his mind was ready and his body felt no fatigue, there was no reason to waste more time.
He unsheathed his sabers and started climbing the hill paying extra attention to anything that got perceived by his senses.
When he reached the top he could see the wolf's lair at the bottom of the other side of the hill.
The wolves were 3 meters long and 2 high, had 4 big and sharp eyes and yellow fur.
10 of them were lying on the ground, seemingly sleeping, while the other 5 were on guards on the sides of the sleeping group. A slightly bigger wolf was at the center of the pack, he was probably the alpha one.
'If I charge I will be completely in the open, there is no way I can catch them by surprise but there really seems to be no other option. Maybe if I run at full speed going down the hill and using the "Breath" I can land a couple of hits on one of them. Yet will it be enough to kill it? And then what about the other 14? Fucking Master, why can't you explain things properly'
He thought for a bit more but he really could not find other ways to get an advantage on them.
'Well, if I screw up, Master will just come and save me, so I might as well go all out.'
Steeling his mind, Noah concentrated and then jumped downward toward the lair.
He boosted his speed with the "Breath" in his legs and crossed his sabers in front of him.
He was fast! A rank 1 body using the "Breath" and going downhill reached an explosive speed.
Yet, Noah seemed not to notice as his mind was completely focused on taking out a wolf before they could surround them.
In a few breaths of time, he was at the bottom of the hill with one of the wolves staring at him.
As if it recognized some form of danger, it inspired as to prepare a howl to warn the other members of its pack.
Before it could though, Noah jumped horizontally and slashed at full strength toward the head of the wolf.
The saber, empowered with the "Breath", cut the wolf horizontally from its head till half its body like it was butter.
The wolf was dead on the spot!
Even Noah was stunned for a second by the perforating ability of the twin saber style but was immediately forced out of his amazement seeing that the other 4 awake wolves were ready to give the warning signal.
"AUUUUUUUUH"
Hearing the howl, Noah hurriedly took out the saber from the wolf corpse and jumped to one of the howling ones.
He was right in front of it before it even finished howling and without wasting any time he slashed at his head.
Even though he used less "Breath" than the first time he still felt almost no resistance from the wolf skull, as his saber pierced right through his brain.
The light in the wolf's eyes disappeared since it died and this gave Noah the signal to jump on another target.
Suddenly, a shockwave hit his sea of consciousness, the remaining 3 awake wolves attacked together in order to stall for the other members of the pack to get up.
The attack was like a shrill sound inside Noah's mind, yet his sphere did not even tremble being hit by it.
'So weak!'
Noah thought as he jumped right through the pack slashing at two wolves that were almost on their legs.
Two half-circles of blood were created in the air as the two sabers slashed vertically the heads of the two wolves.
This time Noah felt some resistance as he used even less "Breath" than the last time.
'I can use even less of it and still manage to cut right through their skulls with my body strength. 11 to go!'
Blood continued to flow as Noah moved around slashing at the heads of the wolves in the pack until a shrill sound way stronger than the one before made his mental sphere lightly tremble.
The alpha wolf was staring at him with venomous eyes as it used a mental attack together with the remaining 7 wolves.
Noah felt a bit of pain coming from his head, but it was so soft confronted with what he had been through that he didn't even stop for a second in his slaughter.
He would use less and less "Breath" to deal with the wolves as he estimated the strength of his body and he moved too fast for them to encircle him.
If a wolf jumped at him he would cut it in half with a double vertical slash, if it came from his side he would rotate on himself to deal a devastating blow.
The onslaught continued till only the alpha wolf remained, it had a large wound on his neck since he managed to avoid the clear hit on his head.
'This one is a bit stronger than the others, after all, it was the only one that dodged one of my attacks even if barely. Well, I must consider that I'm getting tired, so my speed is diminishing. Next time, I must aim for the stronger ones first.'
The wolf was still looking at him with anger but there was fear now in its eyes.
Noah slowly got closer while the wolf retreated, yet the wound on his neck was too serious to heal on its own.
The wolf so tried a desperate attack, jumping with its jaw open toward Noah.
He watched the fangs of the wolf getting closed and then dodged at the last time to his right, delivering an upward slash to its neck.
The body of the alpha wolf fell on the ground and its severed head rolled for some more distance.
After killing all of the 15 wolves he finally had some confidence in his ability!
