Leonidas put a finger to his lips, looking back at Anabel with an unfathomable gaze. In that moment, Anabel felt like maybe she was missing something. By the time she snapped out of it, Leonidas had already vanished into the thick trees.
The sun’s rays could hardly penetrate the thick canopy above. The soil was soft, sinking beneath Leonidas’ weight, but any depression seemed to vanish after a thick crimson tail covered in armor passed over.
Leonidas wrapped the fallen cloth up his wrist and down his forearm, his gait steady and his gaze remaining forward. He didn’t need to guess where the female Blessed Wolf was. He had already picked up on its exact location with a sniff of his nose.
The moment he stepped through the last line of trees, he saw it.
It was a massive beast, coiled in on itself to sleep. Its fur seemed to carry the same harsh coarseness that Leonidas’ hair did, colored a deep brown color that looked somewhat like bronze when a stray ray of sun hit it just right.
‘Metal Blessed Wolf… Judging by the tone of its fur, it’s Level 2, but just a step away from Level 3. The moment it becomes entirely bronze, its strength will take another massive leap forward. But, it will need to become Level 4 for that…’
The wolf’s eyelids snapped open, its pupils focusing on Leonidas. Its reaction seemed slow, but Leonidas could see every line of muscle in its body tensing, the glistening claws of its paws lengthening bit by bit.
The clearing was quite small. Leonidas only had about three meters of space to the left and right while its depth was only about five. With the size of the Metal Blessed Wolf, it felt like a quarter of this space was already taken up, especially since the Level 2 herb it was protecting was to its back, restricting Leonidas’ movements all the more. There wouldn’t be very much of a point in coming this far if the herb was destroyed in the process.
There wasn’t much fanfare to their meeting. The Metal Blessed Wolf stood with a BANG, its body not even rising to its full two-meter height as it sprung toward Leonidas.
Leonidas’ didn’t hesitate to cast Scholar’s Eye. He had used the Spell Blessing so frequently in the last half year that it came as naturally as breathing to him. While it was designed to calm the mind and speed up one’s pace of reading, its auxiliary effect was that the mind processed things faster and became sharper. As such, its application in battle spoke for itself.
In a breath, Leonidas understood exactly how much power the Metal Blessing Wolf had used, where it would land, and he even saw through which claw it would swipe at him with.
Leonidas' stance remained firm, his feet and tail forming a strong three-pronged foundation. He wrapped both hands around the handle of his saber, his heart beating steadily.
Just when the Metal Blessing Wolf was about to collide with him, he took a strong step to the side, his saber swinging downward in unison. He slid by the wolf’s claw, perfectly slicing down upon the wrist of its paw.
If Anabel had been in range to see this, she might feel the need to wipe her eyes a few times. Was this really the Leonidas she had come to know?
The sharp sound of metal clanging against metal resounded. Leonidas' blade cut into the fur of the wolf, but couldn’t make it far into its flesh.
Leonidas, though, wasn’t very surprised by this. His weapon was unranked, unsurprising since he had only spent 1 Blessing Unit on it. If he wanted a Level 1 weapon, he would need to pay at least 10 Blessing Units, but even the reward for this mission was only 5 Blessing Units.
He still felt no need to panic, though. This was exactly what he had expected and prepared for. A Metal Blessed Wolf was known for its sharp claws and sturdy defense. Leonidas had to avoid allowing his blade to directly clash against this female wolf’s sharp offensive while trying to find its weak point.
This was the first time in a long while that Leonidas was fighting someone other than Anabel, so he took his time.
The sound of what seemed like clashing blades reverberated through the forest. If it wasn’t for this, Anabel would have been worried that Leonidas had already sent himself to death. But, even she couldn’t imagine what was truly happening.
Leonidas’ battle style was completely unlike when he entered his Berserk state. He was calm, meticulous and calculating, but his movements were explosive, heavy and powerful. Every one of his strikes carried the full weight of his now 250-kilogram frame. Despite their size difference, the gap in weight between himself and this wolf wasn’t as exaggerated as one would think.
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Leonidas never seemed to tire of using the exact same downward slice. He put his entire body into it no matter how many times he did so. His feet and tail would screw into the ground, his torso would flex and his arms would bulge beneath his black tunic. He would inhale, winding up his body like a spring and then exhale it all at once the moment he struck.
Everything was like another perfect cog in a perfect system. He streamlined his every movement to reach the pinnacle of efficiency. Even when the female wolf found itself bloodied and tired, the fierce light in Leonidas’ gaze hadn’t faded in the slightest.
After a dozen minutes, the gaze of the Metal Blessed Wolf turned completely red, its fur expanding to the point it felt as though its size had increased by as much as 10%.
‘Berserk…’ Leonidas’ gaze narrowed.
Berserk was a Bloodline Talent of the Half-Beasts, but there was no surprise that it originated from real beasts to begin with. Most mammalian beasts had it, especially if they were Blessed. It was practically a guarantee, whereas it was a toss-up whether or not a Half-Beast would Awaken it.
Leonidas let out a breath through the center of his teeth. Like hot steam being pushed through a small hole, it almost whistled.
He took a strong step forward, a footprint as deep as three inches appearing in the soil.
Others might have seen a Berserk beast and chosen to bide their time. The state wouldn’t last for long and there was no need to try to deal with a cornered beast, you would only get yourself hurt. But, all this time, the Metal Blessed Wolf had been cleverly protecting its wounds, not allowing Leonidas to attack the same spot twice. However, after losing its rationality…
Leonidas’ gaze flashed, the swing of his blade seeming several percentage points faster than before. He faced the leap of the female wolf unmoved, his body rooted in place. And then, he moved.
The saber left afterimages in the air. It seemed to move through air and flesh unimpeded, an arc of blood sprinkling through the air becoming the only evidence of Leonidas’ action.
A yelp of pain left the Metal Blessed Wolf as its paw fell to the ground. The very first strike Leonidas had levied against it was its undoing. With striking precision, Leonidas’ blade landed on the very same spot.
Having suddenly gone from four complete legs to just three, the Metal Blessed Wolf faltered as it landed past Leonidas, losing its balance and crashing into the ground along one side of its face.
This wasn’t an opportunity Leonidas wanted to miss, but he also wasn’t the fastest nor the most agile. Rushing a cornered beast was like granting yourself a death sentence and caution seemed to have been ingrained into his bones despite his lack of experience. His first mission with Lady Eve left a shadow over his heart, one that guaranteed he would never trust so easily.
Leonidas turned to face the female wolf. The chips on his blade were already visible to the naked eye. Even after avoiding the sharp claws of the wolf, its body and bones were sturdy enough to cause these imperfections.
‘I should end this in three more strikes.’
Leonidas took another heavy step forward as the female wolf struggled to its feet. The pain was severely dulled under its Berserk state, but it had already lost too much blood beneath Leonidas’ blade. Maybe if it hadn’t been foolish enough to go Berserk, it would have the presence of mind to run for now and fight another day. But it was safe to say that right now, it wanted nothing more than to tear Leonidas limb from limb.
Unfortunately for the beast, Leonidas’ calculations didn’t fail him. The third-to-last exchange ended in it losing yet another paw. The second-to-last widened a gash down the underside of its neck. And the final strike pierced through that very gash, erupting upward and piercing into the soft flesh of its brain.
Leonidas stood beneath the Metal Blessed Wolf, standing tall with his saber pierced to the sky. The 400-kilogram-heavy wolf was on the other end, its feet dragging along the ground lifelessly. It had tried to claw Leonidas’ face apart in a final despairing hope, but how could it with its two front paws severed and lying several feet from it?
As Leonidas stood there, he couldn’t help but remember back. He could hardly carry his own weight just half a year ago, now half the weight of this enormous wolf was leaning on him and yet he was completely unmoved.
His arms flexed and the wolf fell to the side. He wasn’t satisfied.
‘The wolf’s pelt is a bit mangled, but it isn’t bad. I’ve also managed to keep the most valuable part of its body, its claws, intact. Those can be used to make Level 3 weapons if the Crafter is skillful enough. If I bring back the paws, it will net me a good amount of Blessings, probably enough to double the reward to 10 Blessing Units. The entire rest of the corpse is probably another 5 or 6 Blessing Units.’
Leonidas nodded to himself. He had to work quickly. The aura of a Blessing Beast would fade not long after its death. By then, the scent of blood in the air would no longer be a deterrent but would rather become a lure. He could deal with one beast at a time, but multiple… He would rather not.
Leonidas made his way to the Level 2 herb and kneeled by it after wrapping his saber and putting it away once more. He brought out a container provided upon accepting the mission and began to carefully dig around it.
This particular herb had a beautiful flower with yellow-red petals and prominent stamens. Leonidas hadn’t studied botany much, but he felt that herb was more of a colloquial term in this context rather than a strict dictionary definition. What he did know for sure, though, was that this Level 2 herb was known as Tiger Petal Lily and was well-liked for its Strength Blessing. Unsurprisingly, it was the foundation of many strength-type potions.
After clearing the soil away, Leonidas carefully sealed the container and returned it to the pouch on his hip. But it was then Leonidas felt his blood run a bit cold.
‘She crushed the parchment? There’s still time before the Metal Blessed Wolf’s aura completely dissipates… So either a stronger beast or… humanoids?’
Leonidas’ gaze narrowed, his senses becoming supremely focused once more.