It all happened so suddenly. One moment, she was oiling her massive sword, the next, she was sprinting like mad into the plains. Once Daniel regained his bearings, he squinted his eyes and observed what had provoked her so. In the distance, a herd of large humpback beasts grazed on the tall grass, though it was too far for him to make out any details.

“A wild herd of Stormcallers. What is she doing?” Finnean shouted, tossing his backpack to the ground and furiously rummaging through it.

“She’ll be fine - Thalia is strong. Still, if you want to level up, go after her. I’ll take care of the lizards,” Corvin said, calming down after the initial burst of panic.

Daniel once again looked at the running warrior. There was no chance in hell he was catching up to her. Fortunately, Finnean was one of the most competent mages Daniel knew.

“There they are. Haven’t used them in a while,” he said, pulling out two strange figurines.

He tightly grasped them in his palm, and a moment later, he tossed them into the air. With a flash of bright light, a horrible crash resounded through the plains. When the dust cleared, Daniel saw that the figurines had transformed into large metal beasts.Two horses, intricately carved from high-quality steel, stood perfectly still, towering over the living lizards, who shied away from the creatures. Their eyes were shining glass orbs covered in countless runes.

“Come, sit on it. You don’t need any practice, the horse will do everything for you,” Finnean said, hopping onto one of them with practised mastery and grace. Moments later, he was galloping into the distance.

Hesitantly, Daniel climbed onto the stirrups built into the horse’s body. His fear of heights decided that this was the exact moment to strike. From up here, a single mistake could cause him to fall and get trampled. Still, he persevered, sitting on a saddle-like section of metal, which was surprisingly soft.

Placing his hands on handles for stability, he stared ahead and gulped. “G-go,” he said, to which the creature responded by shooting forwards like an arrow. He screamed, holding on for his dear life. Right now, Daniel regretted not dressing in his combat outfit. He wanted to make a positive first impression, but was that worth his life?

After a minute of galloping, he saw what they were supposed to fight - eight-foot tall bison clad in fuzzy dark blue and grey fur, crackling with static electricity. Every time their hooves struck the ground, the ground would rumble and char, a sea of lightning ebbing beneath their feet.

It was then that a single bison, straying from its herd, noticed Thalia. Unlike other animals, it didn’t shy away or retreat. Instead, its fur started to crackle, resembling a thundercloud. In an instant, a bolt of lightning soared through the air, blinding anyone watching. A horrible bang followed a flash of red as she emerged unscathed, a crimson barrier half-cracked around her.

She screamed something, but it was too far for Daniel to hear it. Pointing her sword at the bison, she blurred, moving with such incredible speed that he lost track of her. The ability didn’t last long, but it was enough to close the gap.

The creature reared up and brought its hooves down onto the ground. A pillar of white lightning engulfed Thalia. At the same time, she swung her sword down at its head, the afterimage of the strike leaving a red scar in the air.

Defying any of Daniel’s expectations, she emerged victorious from the clash, though much worse for the wear. The situation deteriorated as the herd took notice of her, the static in the air overwhelming even a few hundred feet from the scene.

She faced over ten lightning bolts with a smile on her lips, looking death straight in the eye. Luckily, before they could hit her, they collided with a jutting wall made of earth, rising just in front of her. Like a dashing knight, Finnean grabbed Thalia’s hand and started to gallop away, yelling what Daniel thought were curses. She looked back, unwilling to leave. Suddenly, he was very aware that metal horses might not be the best to deal with electricity.

Several bison detached from the herd to chase the aggressors down, which was when Daniel took action. He urged the horse to stop perpendicular to them and conjured an image of a panther, giving detail to its sleek-black fur and shimmering blue tail. Imbuing a large amount of his soul into the panther made his mind go blank, and, for a moment, he wondered what he was even doing here. Despite that, the panther’s goal was clear, and it began running, descending further into darkness.

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He regained his bearings seconds later, watching as Finnean threw behind him spell after spell. It would be tough hitting the charging bison as they were moving far too fast, but unlike before, he had a chance. Daniel recalled his lessons from earlier. Although Finnean described it in very complicated terms, he had his own unique way of shaping the spell.

Mentally, he placed a point of origin from where the spell would emerge. Then, using mana, he drew a vector, which would guide the spell in that particular direction. In this case, the point was placed just in front of the bison’s head, and the vector ran horizontally across its body.

The first scythe missed as Daniel misjudged the timing. The second did not. The bison had its eyes only for Thalia, which was why when a bone scythe appeared right in front of its eyes, it could do nothing but run straight into it. Before the swing was even done, the bison bisected itself on the sharp edge, collapsing into two different pieces.

A while ago, that would’ve been the end of his spellcasting. Now, with increased INT and mana pool exercises, he could afford two more. His eyes locked onto his panther, which emerged from the darkness beside another bison, its tail easily plunging through the bison’s body. Within seconds, frost had spread across the beast’s skin, but it still wasn’t dead. With its final breath, it shot out a bolt of lightning, which clipped the panther’s side.

Instead of losing limbs, it lost some of its details, colour seeping out of its body. Vaguely, Daniel was aware of horrific pain, which only truly hit him when the spilled soul rejoined his main soul. Then, he screamed.

Having travelled far enough from the herd, Thalia hopped off the horse and faced the remaining bison with confidence. Nearby, he saw Finnean stop and the horse shrink until it was nothing more than a small figurine. Kneeling on the ground, Finnean placed down a cloth puppet stained red and chanted a spell.

Daniel could hear only fragments of it, but two things struck him as weird. First, it was in a completely different language. Second, he could understand it just fine. What was up with that? He chased the stray thoughts away from his mind - the battlefield was no place for distractions. He could worry about it later.

The puppet rapidly expanded until it reached the height of a person. Instead of skin, its flesh was cloth, and instead of eyes, buttons were sewn in their place. Ten different swords were sticking out from its stomach, blood dripping on the floor as it shambled towards the bison.

Thalia was singing a song, pirouetting around like a dancer, a new skill every few seconds. In comparison, the puppet took a lightning bolt to its body and completely ignored it. The ten swords unimpaled themselves, furiously trembling as they levitated in the air. A moment later, the bison became a pincushion, letting out a mournful cry before collapsing to the ground.

Working together with his panther, the frost slowed another bison just enough for him to scythe its body in half, and before he knew it, the combat was over. Daniel galloped over to his companions, the adrenaline slowly fading from his body. He let mana circulate through it to relieve some of the fatigue.

“What a messy fight,” Finnean chuckled, “Daniel, go and get Corvin to come over here. We need to be fast. Stormcallers mourn their dead, so it won’t be long until they begin to move over here. Thalia, go drag the ones furthest away to us,” his voice was strained but authoritative, which made both of them immediately spring into action.

Five minutes later, they had a pile of bison corpses in front of them, carried by a massive cloth puppet of an eight-foot man bound in chains. The previous puppet was nowhere in sight. “See, I told you she’d be fine,” Corvin spoke, both Finnean and Daniel glaring at him.

“What do we do with all of this? It won’t fit,” Daniel said, looking at the single wagon. He nervously glanced at the herd in the distance, wanting nothing more than to get away from here.

“Ah, you’re wrong this time. We’re providing enough food for the entire city, so they expect much, much more. Look,” Finnean said as Thalia and the puppet hoisted the bison into the air and placed it into the wagon. Immediately, the corpse shrank by more than half, and the lizards didn’t seem to be bothered by the immense weight.

“We need to think of a better strategy next time. It’s going to be difficult if Thalia charges into the fight every time,” Finnean said, looking at her massive sword.

“But, but, it was so fun. You ruined it! I could have taken on the entire herd without breaking a sweat! Ophelia didn’t get to drink enough blood,” she screamed, which made Daniel realise that was her normal talking volume.

“Let’s call it a victory for everyone,” Daniel said, a smile on his lips upon seeing two black screens appear in front of him. This was why he had agreed to participate in the event.

13x Medium Soul harvested.

Soul Reaper 5 ---> Soul Reaper 6

Available points: 7

Skill selection available.