They managed to reach the goal of their mission only closer to the evening because they needed to conserve their strength. The remaining time before nightfall was spent trying to determine who exactly they would have to face. The problem was that none of them was a tracker.
As a consequence, as soon as they almost approached the beasts' den - fortunately, if you climbed the nearest tall tree, the sought-after clearing was in plain view - some solitary creature pounced on them from above.
Only the fact that it chose the girl as its target saved one of their lives.
Mei's armor was the only thing that could withstand such an attack. The huge puma couldn't bite through the shoulder pad on the first try. The steel, covered with fabric and leather, cracked and bent but managed to hold off the fangs of the magical monster.
Stas's spear thrust missed because the puma jumped away in time, pushing off Mei with its hind legs, toppling her to the ground, and tearing up the top layer of her armor.
Eiji's naginata, however, found its target, cleaving into the beast's paw.
Blood spurted, and the puma recoiled, hissing.
"Earth technique. Stone Pillar!" Mei, twisting in pain on the ground, punched the earth, and the puma, trying to jump away, was smashed into the nearest tree trunk.
Watching as the beast's claws tore through the stone pillar pinning it to the trunk, the companions hurried to finish off the monster.
This time, Stas's spear didn't miss, plunging deep into the cat's neck. Eiji's naginata, meanwhile, put an emphatic full stop to the fight.
"Damn it," Mei struggled to her feet, clutching her neck. Blood flowed from under her fingers.
"Hold still. I'll help you now," Ordyntsev sharply pulled the spear out of the monster and rushed to the girl.
"Stop bossing me around!" her enraged blue eyes met his calm green ones. "I can handle it myself," she finished more quietly, rummaging in her bag and pulling out carefully packed bandages.
Ordyntsev didn't try to argue, just watched with a touch of irony as she awkwardly applied a bandage to her gashed neck.
The sight was enough to reassure him that his teammate's life was not in danger, as the wound wasn't very deep. Just torn skin.
Had an artery been hit, Stas, of course, would have ignored all the words of this foolish brat.
After all, this girl was too convenient as a teammate to be lost so stupidly.
To Stas's relief, Eiji, for once, held his tongue, although his smug smile made it clear what he thought of Mei's skills.
And Stas might even have agreed if he hadn't seen the panic on the lad's face when the puma first attacked.
Any of them could have been in the girl's place.
Due to the injuries and the approaching evening, it was decided to postpone the attack until morning.
The team hastily left the battlefield, as new creatures would come for the blood.
They retreated to a burnt tree, whose branches were so thick that an adult could easily settle on them.
On the interweaving of several thick branches, the companions set up camp, pulling out simple sleeping gear.
None of them felt like sleeping, so the young warmasters perched, facing each other, knees bent to their chests to preserve the warmth.
Sleeping below, as well as lighting a fire, was too dangerous.
Stanislav heard a soft exclamation and, out of the corner of his eye, noticed Mei wince in pain as she carelessly moved her shoulder.
'Stubborn girl. Alright, I'll give her a chance.'
Ordyntsev poked Leviathan, who was wrapped around him. The snake looked up in confusion.
"Befriend her," Stas said with just his lips. The verbal part wasn't necessary, but it increased the chances that the message would reach the snake.
Levi indignantly raised her little face.
"S-s-s? S-s-s!" which translated to: "Why me? I don't want to!"
"It's necessary."
Grumbling, the snake quietly slithered towards Mei, hissing to attract attention. Levi understood the danger of approaching even young warmasters.
"What... What do you want?" Mei was surprised but, most importantly, not frightened.
Levi crawled a little closer and, under the girl's tense gaze, sniffed her leg with her tongue, then nudged her with her snout.
"Ha-ha, that tickles," a weak smile flickered on the face of the "fierce" warmaster, and she carefully extended her hand and stroked the tip of Leviathan's crown with her fingertips.
Levi, taking this as an "okay," resolutely crawled forward, causing a frightened squeak.
In a few seconds, Leviathan contentedly coiled all her rings onto the new warm pillow. The "pillow" herself was afraid to even move.
"Hey! Shiro! Come here immediately and take your snake!" Mei cried in a loud whisper, making fierce eyes.
"I'm coming, I'm coming, and there's no need to shout," Ordyntsev picked up his bag and approached the girl, then, without stopping, pulled aside the armor plate on her shoulder and began to remove the bandages.
"Ouch! What are you doing?! Ouch, it hurts! I didn't allow you to do this! Stop it, or I'll kill you!" she even tried to break free, but Shiro's cautioning voice made her freeze.
"Don't jerk. Leviathan doesn't always know who's a friend and who's an enemy when something moves too sharply. I don't have an antidote for her venom. It's volatile and deadly stuff."
Levi disdainfully looked at her owner, who was casting blame on her, but said nothing.
"I will never forgive you for this!" Mei growled, glancing at Levi's head resting on her other shoulder.
"Think about this," Stanislav finally removed the bandages and began treating the wound. "You forgot to clean the wound when you bandaged it. But there was dirt and leaves on the claws of that beast. Maybe even some magical poison. It could have led to demonic fire and the need to amputate your arm. I doubt your family needs a crippled warmaster."
With each word from the healer, Mei paled more and more until she completely forgot about the snake.
"But is everything okay now?" she asked quickly.
"Now that I've treated everything, it's fine," the earthling patiently replied. "But wait, don't jerk, I'll heal the cut. I should have enough prana for that. And hide the dirty bandages while you're at it, no need to attract beasts."
Ordyntsev's palms flared with a faint greenish glow, and he gently pressed them to the girl's neck, eliciting a strange sigh and a sidelong glance from her. When he looked at her face, she quickly looked away.
The healing progressed slowly. Stas administered prana gradually, focusing as much as possible on what he wanted to achieve.
Of course, he could have stitched the wound in the usual way, but he didn't want to bother and dirty the tools for such a trifle.
Finally, the cut closed up completely. Ordyntsev moistened a piece of bandage in diluted alcohol and then began to wipe off the blood and dirt.
At the touch of the cold rag, his patient squeaked softly, turning red. More precisely, the tip of her right ear turned red, which was all Stas could see.
The man just shook his head at such a demonstration.
'They're still such children. Luckily, Sumada is a great clan, so it can afford to teach kids up to sixteen and seventeen. In weaker clans, children are often sent into battle even earlier, up to completely insane ages. What a vile world it is.'
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On Earth, such practices remained widespread only in the wildest and poorest countries.
Ordyntsev withdrew his hands, and Mei quickly covered her neck, suspiciously glancing at Stas, who had sat back in his place. But he was already indifferent to her.
Nevertheless, the heiress did not chase away the warmed-up Levi and, after thinking for a moment, began to stroke her along the body.
Apparently, the snake herself was satisfied with everything.
'What a traitor she is.'
The snake's tail lazily waved in the direction of her owner: 'Your own fault.'
The earthling, hands folded behind his head and leaning against the tree trunk, watched the rapidly darkening sky through the foliage and thought.
'Mei and Eiji. Eiji and Mei. A misogynist and a haughty princess. Is that all?' The man preferred to know about those around him, if not everything, then a lot.
Ordyntsev suspected that the information he had uncovered was just the first layer. And if something could be assumed about the girl, then the third member of Stas's team was troubling.
There was something wrong with him.
But in any case, they had to get some sleep. They would have to get up early. Considering that Ordyntsev's turn to stand watch fell in the middle of the night, he had to hurry.
*****
"Well, what's there?" Eiji whispered impatiently, tapping his fingers on the shaft of his naginata, "What did your snake manage to see?"
"Quiet you," Mei hissed at him and looked attentively at Leviathan, who had settled near Stas's feet. "What's the news?"
Ordyntsev looked demandingly at Levi and raised an eyebrow.
"S-s-s-s-s-s! S-s-s-s-s..." Stas recoiled, covering his eyes and allowing the snake's hissing to flow freely.
"So that's how it is," he finally spoke, opening his eyes. "Our affairs are frankly bad. Master Jun probably found the most unpleasant creatures in this entire forest."
"For the life of me, I can't fathom how you comprehend it," Eiji said in amazement. "This is the second time I've seen it, and still, I can't understand."
Ordyntsev, to be honest, also didn't fully understand how the connection that formed between him and his pet worked.
No later than a couple of months ago, Stanislav finally realized that he was able to decipher with surprising clarity the seemingly random hisses of his "little snake."
To confirm the assumption, he asked Kizashi to hide various objects, after which Levi, who watched this, told Stas.
And it worked. Ordyntsev guessed correctly in all the proposed attempts.
More to the point. The man ordered a real snake from the servants. Specifically, an ordinary swamp viper.
But attempts to talk to it failed. Ordyntsev understood only the hissing of Leviathan, confirming his theory about the connection.
However, he then felt a suspicious gaze from the four-meter, twenty-five-kilogram "little snake" for a whole week after this experiment.
Her gaze became especially prosecutorial when, on the second day, he decided to feed the new snake, and it even allowed him to do so, almost without attacking.
Feeling a chill, Stas turned sharply and only managed to see the flick of a tail disappearing behind the threshold.
And on the third day, the pitcher in which the snake was kept was cruelly smashed, and the captive mysteriously disappeared.
The servants swore they had nothing to do with it.
Though, Stas vaguely guessed what had happened to the potential competitor when, after this incident, Leviathan spent the whole day shoving her face into his face, trying to wrap around and not let go.
But let's return to the present.
In order not to repeat yesterday's mistakes, it was decided to send for reconnaissance the one who understood something about this matter.
And somehow, it turned out that the dissatisfied Levi had to crawl forward.
"Leviathan says there's a camp of some huge wolves. There are at least ten of them, plus a leader. The latter will definitely be a problem, as it's considerably larger than its packmates and clearly possesses magic."
Ordyntsev paused, deciphering the information that came to mind.
"Their den is under the roots of a fallen giant tree. There's a cave there as tall as a man. That's where stands a..." Stas paused, then grimaced. "A huge barrel, apparently with alcohol. It looks very heavy."
"Damn it," Eiji muttered. For once, Mei supported him with a nod of agreement. "He's definitely doing it on purpose, so we'll be exhausted by the time we drag it back!"
"First, we need to decide what to do with the beasts," Mei frowned, clutching the hilt of her yatagan. "Are these monsters very strong?"
"Leviathan says yes."
"Then attacking them head-on is too dangerous."
"All that's left is the element of surprise," Stas finished. "Eiji, you say you've mastered the water wave? How strong can you make it? I have a small plan," Stas chuckled. "If you like it, why not use it?"
The last he said for Mei, who was looking at him discontentedly. She just turned up her nose but said nothing.
*****
The huge wolves felt like masters of this place. There was no one who could compete with them in strength.
Yes, somewhere far away were the lands of men, but the wolves were smart. They knew that monsters were only awaited by death there. Therefore, they kept to the side, controlling their territory and catching random travelers and lost city dwellers.
But luck cannot last forever. It ended for these wolves, too.
The morning started badly for them.
The leader felt the first sign of trouble. The gigantic wolf with many scars on its face and tattered ears. Nature's magic had so reshaped its body that there was very little of the original wolf left.
It lay inside the cave while its pack sprawled near the entrance.
The leader managed to jump to its feet and try to rush out of the cave, but it failed to do the latter.
"Earth technique. Stone Wall!" a woman's scream shattered the morning forest silence, and everything instantly slid into chaos.
A stone barrier that erupted from the soft soil completely blocked the exit from the cave, leaving the leader trapped.
But not really.
A powerful blow came from inside, causing the entire wall to shudder and sink slightly.
But no one intended to rely on just one technique.
"Earth technique. Stone Wall!" a second wall grew parallel to the first, only reinforcing the barrier. From inside came the furious roar of an aggrieved beast, and the barrage of blows only accelerated.
The bewildered pack huddled together, trying to determine where the female cries were coming from.
But to their misfortune, the attacker was not alone.
From the other side, opposite the first voice, came a second cry, this time from a lad.
"Water technique. Water Wave!" the wolves' eyes widened as they were literally washed away from the entrance, and since they were on a small hill, the mess of water, mud, grass, and bodies tumbled down.
But that was not the end of it.
"Earth technique! Stone Spikes!" a new cry and a small field of the sharpest spikes, some of which reached half a meter in length, grew in front of the tumbling monsters.
And if in a normal situation they could have pierced maybe just the legs, now they plunged deep into bodies and heads.
The black tips tore through fur, sliced skin, and dug into writhing muscles, bringing unimaginable agony.
The water technique, having expended its energy, began to fade, starting to evaporate. Water, embodied by prana, rapidly dispersed into the air, becoming part of the world.
Put more prana into it, and it would have been much more stable, but that was not needed.
The sight of the wolves could only evoke pity. But there was no one to feel it.
Nevertheless, the giant wolves were magical beasts that were not so easy to kill. Of the ten monsters, only one died, to whom a spike very unfortunately, or fortunately, hit the eye and pierced the brain.
The spike technique also depleted its energy and lost its strength. Unlike water, the spikes remained standing, but now crumbled even from the slightest touch.
The wolves, who had torn apart more than one lost traveler, staggered, trying to get up, slipping on their own blood, and at that very moment, four merciless shadows descended on them.
A white ghost flew out of the grass, spitting terrible venom straight into the gaping, pain-filled mouth of one of the monsters. The sensation of a vaporizing tongue and throat was enough for the wolf to whine and convulse in agony.
Its comrade managed to turn its head to see the long white fangs sinking into its throat. Thick rings wrapped around its neck in a deadly embrace, squeezing out the last bits of air.
The wolf tried to tear the snake's body from himself with its last strength, but with each second its flailing grew weaker. The venom coursing through its veins did its job.
"Water Jet!" apparently, this technique worked better for Eiji, as he didn't even have to say it in full.
The blow of a dense jet of water, erupting from the lad's hand and hitting the wolf's head, resembled a good boxer's punch.
That was enough to make one of the giant wolves wobble, and then fall when the naginata descending from above cut through its spine, almost severing its head.
"Stone Pillar!" now Mei controlled herself much better than with the puma. Therefore, when the stone cylinder hit the front paws of another monster, it caused it to drop its head. It didn't have time to raise it, as it was impossible to perform such a complex maneuver with a yatagan blade sticking out of the eye socket.
The girl, pulling out her sword, ferociously bared her teeth and then, with a prana-enhanced kick, sent the dead body flying into the next wolf that had jumped at her.
The young warmaster still had plenty of strength, even after several costly techniques. After all, she was a pureblood Sumada.
Two more wolves rid themselves of the spikes stuck in their hides, but new sources of pain made them painfully growl. Two knives thrown from nowhere flicked one of the monsters across the face, and the other was struck in the side.
The wolf clamped its teeth around the hilt and tossed the little iron piece aside.
The monsters intently scanned the wall of trees, then, hearing a suspicious rustling, rushed in that direction.
But already on the sixth jump, they began to feel something was wrong.
With each step, their paws became heavier, and numbness began to spread from the places where the strange iron pieces had hit.
The slightly smaller wolf stumbled and slowed down a bit, falling behind its comrade.
Ordyntsev seized the opportunity, mercilessly attacking the monster that had broken ahead. The wolf managed to stop and even leap back, but the spear's tip slashed across its snout, knocked out a few fangs, and deeply slit its gum.
At that moment, the earthling's strength matched that of the strongest of the human race. And what was most terrifying was that this was merely the lower threshold of prana's capabilities.
The beast shook its head. Dizziness overwhelmed it with renewed vigor. The last thing it noticed was the viscous streams of something foul-smelling on the spear's blade.
Prana-enhanced muscles accelerated Stas's body to tens of kilometers per hour in a few seconds. The poisoned and staggering second giant wolf could do nothing.
Its fangs snapped futilely where Ordyntsev no longer stood.
The spear mercilessly plunged into the side of its neck, ending the monster's suffering.
At the same instant, the prana strengthening wore off. The trouble was, Stas hadn't given the command. Fortunately, it even worked to his advantage, preserving prana for later use.
Stas rushed to the fallen knives, uncorking bottles of poison. The stone walls were on their last legs, and he had to hurry.
The battle continued for a couple more minutes until the last wolf fell.
The warmasters, breathing heavily, remained in the clearing covered in blood and bodies. The only one who hadn't suffered at all turned out to be Stas.
Eiji had a small scratch on his arm, and Mei got away with a bruised chest and a slightly bent by a paw strike breastplate.
Their gazes, without any prior agreement, fixated on the earthen technique.
Explosion!
Stone shards sprayed in all directions. A particularly large piece of wall lodged just a couple of meters from the comrades.
Onto the grass stepped a maddened pack leader. And judging by the bloody mist around its fur, the foam dripping from its fangs, and the muscles swelling under its skin, the previous fight could hardly even be considered a fight.
It was unclear what Jun was thinking, but the giant standing before them was undoubtedly in a completely different weight class.