Chapter 25: Night Attack

After storing all their usable belongings into his own backpack, Ain kept one of their bags, which was the same as his, and piled up the others along with the bodies. Now, all that was left was to dispose of them. He already had an idea.

“Nox, use Possession,” With a simple command, Ain entered the possession state again.

After tying all the remains and bags together, Ain carried them on his back and raced towards the Horned Wind Rabbits’ lair.

When he was at a sufficient distance, he held the big bundle in front of him and began to spin around on his heels to gain momentum. After a few spins, Ain tossed the bag into the sky with all his strength. The bundle made a perfect parabola as it landed right next to a group of Horned Wind Rabbits.

“Squeak! Squeak!” The rabbits were startled at the sudden impact as they all jumped away in a hurry. As soon as they landed, they turned around and pointed their green horns towards the bundle.

Numerous bursts of wind in the shape of drill heads were released from their horns, piercing towards bundle of bodies and bags. The scene was disturbing as green spears punctured the flesh and bags.

After the attacks died down, the rabbits cautiously approached before they began their feast.

Ain only observed for a few seconds before leaving. Even if some remains were left, it would be impossible to trace them back to him.

It had only been fewer than thirty minutes since he first spotted the Two Flower Fawn.

Due to the extremely brief fights, Ain’s spirit energy was far from exhaustion. But the mental fatigue from remaining alert throughout the entire journey made him quicken his pace as he continued to search for a suitable location for the night.

The terrain here was far from even. There were various small hills and valleys in the forest, snaking across the land. Even the dense tree line would see some bald spot every once in a while.

The yellow sky soon turned a deep orange, before it was painted red by the setting sun.

At this time, Ain had arrived next to a rocky hill wall. The cliff above protruded out slightly, creating a deep darkness below.

There were large stones of various sizes piled up next to the hill wall. After searching for a while, Ain found a crevice between two stones, wide enough for him to set up a narrow camp.

‘It’s a good spot to spend the night,’ After securing the area, Ain proceeded to sprinkle a few powders meant to repel unwanted guests.

By the time he was done, darkness had already taken over as narrow beams of moonlight occasionally peeked through the rustling leaves.

After placing some temporary bedding on the ground, Ain ate some prepared rations before meditating. Even when outside, he continued this routine as it could help him restore his spirit energy as well.

When his spirit energy was restored, Ain decided to lie down.

“Wooo…” Nox, who was right beside Ain, let out a small sound.

“You like this place?”

“Wooo…” Ain listened to Nox, who was unusually talkative. Instead of the forest, it liked the cool darkness in particular, saying that it felt more comfortable than during daytime.

Soon, his own thoughts drifted as he thought back to the fight just earlier.

All three spirit tamers looked to be in their thirties. Yet, two of them were still at Beginner Rank-1, while one was at Intermediate Rank-1. Ain was aware of the reason for this. It was because they weren’t talented enough. They might even be at the bottom-most tier as spirit tamers. It already was a surprise that one of them had contracted a Two Flower Fawn.

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Furthermore, Ain couldn’t tell whether they just didn’t have time to display their innate talents or if their innate talents weren’t combat-oriented. Overall, he knew that the three enemies he defeated were not worth mentioning.

He had achieved in just two weeks what they could not in over ten years. Ain became aware of the unimaginable disparity between spirit tamers. Some of his classmates would be no different from these guys.

Although Ain believed in his talent, there could be others more talented than him.

A few weeks ago, he had heard of Leila Everett, the champion of the Champions Path in Emerald Garden. She seemed to have condensed her spirit core on the very first day in the spirit academy.

Ain had achieved the same feat, but he condensed his spirit core later in the evening. Assuming they received the meditation technique during the morning of their first day, Leila Everett was faster than Ain by at least five times.

And this was just the Emerald Garden, which was only a part of the Dawnstar Federation.

From his studies with his mentor, Ain was aware that the world was bigger than he could imagine, with various other civilizations out there. How talented were the topmost geniuses there? Ain couldn’t estimate his future progress, but he wanted to reach Advanced Rank-2 before the Champions Path in a year.

With renewed ambition in his heart, Ain slowed his breathing and closed his eyes. Nox remained nearby as a lookout.

…

Under Ain’s almost indiscernible breathing, night continued with a chilly breeze. A few hours had passed uneventfully. There was still an hour before the break of dawn.

Ain, who was soundly asleep, suddenly jolted awake. Without thinking, he jumped and rolled out of the crevice. Before he steadied himself, Nox had already possessed him.

Due to the darkness, visibility was poor, and Ain could only hear a lithe thump after he jumped away. Although he tried to dodge, there was a clear cut on his shoulder, flowing with blood.

Ain’s heartbeat was resounding in the otherwise silent night. There was no further movement, neither from Ain nor his mysterious attacker. Only the chilly wind continued to blow.

Nox had already sent him a message, but it only arrived after Ain’s Premonition. It was a spirit beast, stronger than anything he had encountered so far. A few keywords quickly appeared in his mind, like pieces for a puzzle: strong, stealthy, sharp, spirit beast, disadvantage, and injured. A blurry picture was soon painted in his head.

The spirit beast he encountered excelled at stealth. From the previous exchange, its abilities were leagues above his previous opponents.

Since he couldn’t see, Ain decided to focus intently on his other senses. Although the spirit beast initially avoided Nox’s detection, that wouldn’t be the case anymore. Nox’s sensing and Ain’s Premonition would allow him to react in time. He tried to calm his intensely beating heart.

The small stalemate was suddenly broken, and a figure appeared only a couple of meters behind Ain. It swept its claws at Ain’s neck with silent ferocity. Ain narrowly dodged the attack, and slashed the dagger in the spirit beast’s direction, only to be met with air.

Of course, this attack wasn’t futile. He had sensed the disturbance in the air when he slashed; the spirit beast had narrowly dodged it.

Soon, another attack arrived from behind. Ain made a timely response and dodged. Just as he was about to slash again, he heard a sound akin to whiplash from the side. This time, there was no time to dodge; Ain could only block it with his arm.

Thud!

Soon, Ain felt a powerful impact on his arm, resulting in him almost losing his balance. There was a throbbing sensation of heat and pain in his arm.

By now, the pain had already caused Ain to calm down. He became aware of his previously flustered heart. Only experience could remedy it.

After a few exchanges, the blurry picture became clearer.

He was facing a quadrupedal spirit beast, with sharp claws and a sturdy tail. It had short fur and lithe movements. It was adept at stealth and possessed excellent sensory abilities in the dark. It was cautious with decent intelligence. From the strength of the impact on his arm, it should be an Advanced Rank-1 Spirit Beast. Anything more could’ve killed him by now, and anything less couldn’t damage his body this easily.

Although its real identity still eluded him, these general characteristics were essential in his next move. Ain equipped his dagger in a throwing grip and waited. His spirit energy was circulating wildly in preparation. He only needed a thought to complete everything. Soon, Ain sensed the wind breaking behind him.

Before he even turned around, the dagger in his hand was already flying towards the shadowy figure behind him.

Clang!

There was a sharp sound as the spirit beast halted for a split-second. At this point, Ain had already turned around with his hand pointed towards the figure.

‘Illumination!’ Ain shouted his spell internally as a bright light erupted from his hand, clearing away the darkness.

The light shone on the shadowy figure, illuminating its feline body. Its fur was pitch black, looking like the advent of darkness amidst the light from Illumination. Ain immediately recognized the creature.