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In front of us there were two Gray Wolves. They were already quite rare, so this was a good find. I’ve not hunt into the forest these last days, so I hoped they would slowly become less shy. I think I had overhunted them so much that they inherently started to evade all the areas I often visited with Eleanora. It is good they’ve finally lowered their guards. I had lowered my own presence through the No-Attribute Tier 1 Magic Spell “Stealth”, it is a lesser version of Erase Presence, and lowers the body’s ability to unleash its own natural auras. This way, it is easier for someone to not be easily detected by others, including the sharp noses of the Gray Wolves. I put myself in the back of everybody, as I led them to battle. They were two Gray Wolves and nothing much, so this shouldn’t be a hard fight for them.
“Groar!”
The two Gray Wolves rushed forward faster than the kids could react. One of them, the largest of the two, quickly leaped directly towards Erika, as she seemed to be the smallest and most delicate based in her build. She also exuded the least life aura of the kids, so they thought she was physically weaker.
A bad decision.
Sometimes, appearances can be deceiving.
CLASH!
“Awrooo…!”
Erika quickly responded, spinning around like a ballerina and using her strong legs to kick the large Gray Wolf’s chin, throwing him upwards into the air. Her intense kick didn’t end there, as she jumped off the ground and began to shower the wolf with consecutive kick attacks without even using her sword. She was rather good at kicking, and I had taught her many techniques that used her legs that combined them with her [Dance] Skill from her [Princess] Talent.
CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!
Her kicks showered the Gray Wolf agonizingly, as the creature cried in pain and was quickly thrown into the floor once more, its entire body was demolished, with many internal fractures and wounds bleeding out. The Gray Wolf was struggling in the floor to crawl away, but Erika quickly finished him off mercilessly by swinging her sword slicing its head cleanly off.
SLASH!
“GRAAH…!”
BUMP!
The head rolled through the ground, as Erika sighed in relief. She has definitely grown quite well, this was her first kill yet she did it without even thinking it twice. Could it be that her artificial body has also made her rather cold-hearted and ruthless? Well, she’s such an overly emotional and clingy girl in everything else that it was quite surprising how merciless she was against another life. Her dolls barely helped because she didn’t really need any assistance for now, but I am sure that against stronger beasts, she’ll need their support.
The moment she finished off the Gray Wolf, a white light suddenly encompassed her body, blessing her with new strength. I suppose even her doll body can grow stronger, or perhaps was her soul strengthened? Nonetheless, she had leveled up by merely killing a single Gray Wolf. Indeed, those without a Curse can grow way faster. Although because I take too long to level up, my stats seem to increase more per level as a compensation. Seeing Erika level up made me wonder what would happen when her soul were to be transferred to a new body? Would her level reset? Hm… Well, for the moment, I looked into the other side of the “battlefield”, as Eric and Chris were struggling to evade the fast charge attacks of the Gray Wolves.
“GRAAH!”
The Gray Wolf pounced forward and slashed its sharp claws towards the two. Eric ran around cowardly while Chris was swallowing saliva while barely managing to evade. I couldn’t help but feel frustrated after seeing them struggle with a mere Gray Wolf when Erika did such an excellent job, even more when they had magic and spirits that were even better suited for combat.
“Fight! Don’t be cowardly! Let the wolf scratch you or bite you, I can heal you later. Erika can too with her Priest Dolls!” I roared, telling them to not worry about their safety.
“Yeah, we can heal you later!” Said Erika, her Priest-dressed dolls were at her side.
However, Eric and Chris didn’t seem to be convinced by our words, as they continued to cowardly evade the attacks of the Gray Wolf. I was just about to go smack their heads and make them snap out of it when Eric gritted his teeth and hit the ground. I thought he had fainted or something, but I saw him suddenly conjuring Nature-Attribute Magic and summoning his Spirit all at the same time, creating what’s called Spirit Technique, which combines magic and a spirit to create a unique technique.
“Spiky Vines!” Roared Eric, as vines suddenly grew out of the ground right below the Gray Wolf, entangling its four legs. The Gray Wolf quickly felt the sharp spikes piercing through his flesh.
“Now, Chris, go all out!!!” Cried Eric, as Chris nodded and decided to move forward, summoning his Fire Fox and then gathering the flames of his Spirit within his staff.
“Fireball!!!”
FLUOOOSH!
He summoned a larger than usual Fireball and fired it straight towards the Gray Wolf’s face, impacting it strongly. The flames spread out through the wolf’s body, burning through the dry fur and roasting the creature alive.
“GRRAAAH…!”
The Gray Wolf gave out a last pitiful groan of agony before dropping over the floor, charred black due to the fire engulfing it whole. As it was magic flames, Chris and his spirit were able to control their intensity and easily extinguished them after the Gray Wolf died. Right after the creature fell, the two kids finally glowed in bright white light in the same fashion as Erika just some seconds ago, they had surely raised their Level as well, at long last, everybody was now Level 1. Leveling from Level 0 shouldn’t be as hard as it was for me.
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