“How long will he take to wake up?” A fair-skinned girl with short dark brown hair styled in a bob cut who had a surprisingly sturdy frame for a female asked impatiently as she looked at the herculean dark-skinned youth lying peacefully on the floor beside her. “He’s been unconscious for over a day already.”
“If big sister Alissa was right, he should wake up any second now,” Replied a young but handsome brown-haired boy dressed in plain leather armour with a Liuyedao sheathed at his hip.
The two youths speaking were Faye and Kannal, and the unconscious large teen on the ground before them was Killian.
“What was Alissa thinking, leaving at a time like this?!” Faye asked in frustration.
“I’m not sure, but it seemed important,” Kannal answered back.
“I get that, but after awakening her Tigerstriped Warrior transformation, she’s the strongest out of all of us!” Faye snapped back. “Surely she could’ve waited till Kil woke up to leave.”
“Everyone knows how she feels about Killian. She probably doubted she would be able to leave if he was awake.” Kannal shrugged helplessly. “Plus, we’re not exactly in the depths of the mountain range anymore. The strongest beasts around here are only in the third rank. Even I can deal with them.”
“Tch, you’re such a suck-up.” Faye snorted before turning back to look at the long scar running along Killian’s bare chest. “Still, I can’t believe everything that happened. Killian almost died protecting us, and Alissa awoke her Tigerstriped Warrior bloodline. I didn’t even know she was a descendant of the Prey Clan.”
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A few days ago, under Killian’s lead, team two stumbled upon the den of a pack of Mud Wolves, the leader of which was at the peak of the fifth rank. On its own, that wouldn’t have been a problem for the group.
After these last few months, Killian was already at the late stages of the fourth rank as both a warrior and mage. He was already capable of challenging and beating many magical beasts of the fifth rank. With the help of Alissa and the others, a lone magical beast at the peak of the fifth rank didn’t pose much of a threat to them, but it wasn’t alone. It was the leader of a pack of six wolves, and aside from the alpha, there was still another at the fifth rank as well.
The smart thing to do would’ve been to go around the wolf pack, and that was what they initially planned to do until Alissa alerted them to the presence of an almost ripe Earth Root Fruit.
The Earth Root Fruit was an incredible treasure that had the wondrous effect of reconstructing and strengthening the foundation of a warrior beneath the seventh rank, giving them the ability to naturally reach the seventh rank without cultivating battle qi.
Just that alone made it coveted by virtually all budding warriors, but it also had the added ability to increase a mage’s affinity to the earth element.
It was virtually tailor-made for those like Killian and Faye. Still, even though he genuinely wanted to get his hands on it, he knew that the wolf pack before them was too powerful for them, and he wouldn’t risk the lives of his team for his selfish desires, but before he could get another word out, Alissa said that she would get it and bring it back for him.
Although Killian had managed to catch up with and even surpass her in terms of direct combat, aside from Ace and Amira, when it came to pure speed, Alissa ranked number one.
Between her use of the spell [Supersonic] and her comprehension of [Soru], which had reached the 15th step, she was as fast as, if not faster than, the average magical beast of the sixth rank.
As Mud Wolves weren’t known for their speed, Alissa stood a pretty good chance of getting in and out unscathed, and she almost did it. She managed to grab the fruit just as it ripened, and she was so close to getting away, but Mud Wolves had the ability to turn solid ground around them into mud, and this pack was able to use their ability in unison to affect a much larger area.
Stolen novel; please report.
Though Alissa was faster than them, their fused ability caught her off guard, allowing the enraged pack’s alpha to catch up.
Thankfully, the moment Alissa charged off on her own, Killian had shot off after her. Before the wolf’s leader could sink its fangs into the young teen, Killian appeared before her, blocking its attack with his axe.
Killian immediately ordered her to take the others and leave, knowing they still wouldn’t stand a chance even if they all fought together.
Alissa knew that Killian wanted to sacrifice himself for them, but she didn’t want to leave him like that on his own, but when she saw the vicious glare in his eyes, she couldn’t bring herself to oppose him, especially as she knew this was her fault to begin with.
She reluctantly hurried away and took Kannal and Faye just far enough so that they could still watch the battle from a safe distance.
Realising they couldn’t catch up with Alissa any longer, the wolves redirected their anger towards Killian.
The fight should’ve been one-sided, but under the threat of death, Killian not only reached the peak of the fourth rank as a warrior but also comprehended ‘wielding heavy as though it were light’, allowing him to surpass the pack’s alpha but with the support of the rest of the pack, Killian was still on the losing side of the battle. Still, he never faltered.
Kannal and Faye watched their team leader fighting valiantly with tears welling up in their eyes and budding resentment towards Alissa for putting him in the situation in the first place.
Faye was about to say something when she sensed a frightening killing intent explode from the young assassin, and that was when it happened.
White fur with pale golden stripes suddenly enveloped Alissa as she awakened her bloodline for the first time.
Like all the descendants of the four supreme warriors, the first transformation is excruciating, but Alissa didn’t seem to flinch under the pain. The only thing on her mind was Killian!
As she watched him fight on his own like that, she was reminded of the first time they met – when she had attempted to assassinate him.
Back then, Killian had no actual combat experience, but there was something about how he ignored all the wounds she inflicted as he continued to swing his axe that made her enthralled.
Seeing him exhibiting that same indomitable spirit, Alissa knew that no matter how much he went on to hate her, she couldn’t allow him to die.
Her rank as a warrior in her transformed state increased by one, but her speed increased by two.
When the wolves realised she had returned, she had already killed three of the six.
The aura she emitted was so terrifying that the rest of them – leader included – tried to escape, but she was too fast. Her body flickered around the battlefield, moving from one wolf to the next, killing each canine with a single swipe of her dagger. Not even the alpha could resist.
The injuries he accumulated in the battle were so severe that Killian had long since lost consciousness standing up. In fact, his injuries were so bad that if nothing were done, Killian would definitely die.
Luckily, a side effect of the reconstruction of one’s foundation was the healing of the body.
Alissa moved like a flash, taking the fruit she had passed to Faye and force-fed the dying youth before carrying him and leading the others away before more beasts arrived.
It took several hours, but when his condition stabilized, Alissa turned to leave.
Faye and Kannal tried to stop her, but after her awakening, the difference between them had increased by too much.
Before going, Alissa told them to tell everyone at the Pavilion to forget she existed, or they would end up bringing a disaster upon them.
It sounded like an overreaction, but the look of fear and unwillingness on Alissa’s face was too genuine.
Back in the present, Killian had just awoken, only to find he had broken through to the fifth rank as both a mage and a warrior. He felt better than ever in ways he didn’t know possible, but as he looked at the hesitant expressions on Faye and Kannal’s faces, he frowned. “Alissa?”
Kannal didn’t know what to say in response, but Faye decided to simply rip the bandage off. “She left…”
Killian calmly listened to what happened after he lost consciousness, but unlike what they had expected, when they finished, Killian simply nodded. “Okay, let’s go.”
“Go? Go where?” Faye asked in shock at her team leader’s reaction, or lack thereof in this case.
“We’ve been here for almost five months,” Killian stated as he casually stood up, trying to acclimatise himself to what almost felt like an all-new body. “It’s time we start heading back to the meeting point.”
“But what about Alissa?” Kannal asked.
“What about her?” Killian asked back straightforwardly. “She already made her choice; all we can do now is tell master when he comes to pick us up.”
Though they were taken aback by how calm Killian was, they also knew he was right. Alissa was much faster than any of them, she had a day’s head start, and none of them knew where she was going. All they could do was tell the instructors and let them decide how to move forward.