After all the ordeal with Konnor, Astaroth was hoping they would still patrol today. He didn't want to miss out on leveling, even after what had just happened.
Sadly, his health was almost depleted, and he had nothing to refill it. He looked at the casters nearby expectantly, hoping one of them would heal him, but none did such a thing.
Astaroth turned to look at Kloud, hoping to get some answers. What greeted him as he turned shocked him.
*Slap!*
A crisp slap to his left cheek, leaving a slight hand print. Astaroth's eyes went wide, as Kloud's hand was still extended.
Kloud's face was a frown of disappointment.
"You didn't need to provoke so much. We lost a good fighter today, because of a childish pissing contest. I am not proud of you, Astaroth. That was very dishonorable of you." Kloud scolded him.
"But, sir. I only responded to his roughness. How am I to blame? Is a duel not an honorable way of quelling a dispute?" Astaroth replied, still in shock.
"It is, but not this one. You could have ended matters quickly. Yet you toyed with him." Kloud said, turning to leave.
"I cancel your patrol for the day. Go home, reflect on your actions." He added, walking away.
"But, teacher, I..." Astaroth stammered, watching Kloud's back get further away.
Chris, from the side, saw the interaction and felt pity for the kid. He walked over and patted his shoulder.
"Don't worry, kid. He is just a little disappointed. You could have ended this fight sooner, but you played catch with your opponent instead. The captain is very strict about how honorable his pupils should be." He said, looking at Kloud leave.
"But, Colonel. I was fighting as best I could. I don't understand why you say I could have ended this sooner." Astaroth replied, still confused.
"Son, I have fought mages with soul aptitude. Me and Kloud both. As soon as we saw the wolf, we knew. That was the Alpha's soul, was it not?" Chris asked, looking Astaroth in the eyes.
"It is, but I." Astaroth started saying.
Then it hit him. Spirit Melding!
Had he used that instead of summoning White Death, he could have overpowered Konnor rapidly with the combined stats? It had slipped his mind completely.
Chris watched Astaroth's face as realization made his eyes go wide.
"You finally understand your mistake. Good. Go reflect on it. I'll go talk to Kloud and make sure you can patrol tomorrow. Now scamper." Chris said, shooing Astaroth away.
Astaroth stood in the courtyard for a while, dejected at losing a day of leveling.
'At this rate, I can never compete' He thought.
'I can't just lose a day.'
He formed his resolve and walked out of the barracks. He would absolutely not waste his day.
He was going to level with or without help. He walked in the village's entrance direction .
He stopped in front of the barrier for a bit, wondering if this was just reckless, but he quickly threw that thought aside. He didn't care.
He wanted to get stronger. He NEEDED to get stronger.
Thus he walked out and started running into the forest, direction, the wolves' territory. As Astaroth had walked out of the barracks, someone had been staring at him.
Korin had seen his eyes go from shaken to steeled. He recognized that look on Astaroth's face.
The look of a fool about to do something stupid. Korin had blended with the shadows around him and started tailing Astaroth from a distance away.
When he saw the young man stop at the barrier, he thought Astaroth had gotten cold feet. But Astaroth quickly proved him wrong about that, and right about his assessment.
The kid was going to do something stupid. He watched as Astaroth walked across the barrier and started running into the wilderness.
He thought of going to warn the Colonel but quickly brushed that idea aside, knowing that he would lose the trail of the boy quickly if he didn't directly follow him. And so he did.
He stayed as best hidden as he could and followed Astaroth. After running for a few minutes, Astaroth could already hear the howling in the distance.
He didn't slow down and re-oriented himself towards the closest howl he heard. He no longer cared about his safety, only leveling.
He would use his skills to the limit and drain his mana dry if that meant he could fight alone. He soon found a small group of three wolves lazing about in a clearing.
Astaroth didn't stop running. He pulled out his longsword, wielding it with two hands, and cast 'Mana Skin', 'Spirit Melding', and 'Enhance Weapon' one after the other. After casting 'Spirit Melding', he felt all his stats go up.
He felt stronger, faster, and sturdier. Like he was unbeatable.
His hair turned white, and he could feel some fur had grown on his cheeks. His canines had also elongated, and he could feel them poking out of his lips.
He almost looked like a half-transformed werewolf! He looked at his status window really fast.
Status:
Name: Astaroth
Melded: White Death (Time remaining: 2m28s)
Race: Ash Elf
Level: 14 (4'995/6'450)
Stats:
HP: 6'325/6'325 MP: 953/1'150 Stamina: 100
Health Regen: 1% / second
Mana Regen: 1/second in combat, 5/second out of combat
Strength: 17 (+47) Agility: 20 (+27) Constitution: 20 (+55)
Intelligence: 20 (+20) Wisdom: 15 (+20)
Attack Power Str: 320 Attack Power Agi: 235 Magic Attack Power: 200 Healing Power: 175
Natural Defense: 7.5% Armor Defense: 14%
Luck: 0 (Stat unaffected by Level up and free points)
Available stat points: 0
Available skill points: 1
Physical Condition: Normal
Mental Condition: Normal
Skill Gained: Wolven Heart (Passive), Alpha's Howl (Active), Hyper Senses (Passive)
Wolven Heart (Passive): Gain the heart of a wolf, granting you high survivability. +1% Health regen per second.
Hyper Senses (Passive): Your senses become one of a canine. Your hearing, smell, and sight are greatly improved.
Alpha's Howl (Active): Howl to establish dominance. All enemies in a 50m radius face genetic fear of the Alpha (50% chance of fear for 5 seconds). Can only be used once per meld.
'What a monstrous boost.' He thought.
'I almost have the same stats as a level 36!'
As he was looking at his status screen, he never stopped running toward the wolves. Now he was right in front of one, and it was jumping at his throat.
The wolf was still quicker than him, but that mattered little, as he was prepared for them. He leaned his body to the side, barely clearing the wolf's lunge, and sliced upwards with his longsword.
*-343*
Astaroth looked at the number with wide eyes.
If you liked my story, add it to your library!
This story is in the Fantasy Carnival, so it needs Power Stones to up-rank. If I get into the top 100, I will drop an extra 2 chapters that day. Another 2 chapters for top 50. I will up the stakes at 5 bonus chapters for top 20, and another 5 for top 10! Please vote for me! :)
Also, I drop an extra chapter on Monday for every 100 PS I accumulate in the event!
We made it up to 57th! Huzzah! The competition is getting tougher, but we are still slowly inching toward our next objective! Let's keep this going!
Since its new year in the western part of the world, and I was already dropping an extra chapter for it, the bonus chapter for the 200 PS will be tomorrow :)
If you like the novel so far or think something could use work, don't be scared to leave a review :)
That was just a normal hit! He grinned as he inspected the three wolves in front of him.
Dire Wolf(1):
Level: 34
Grade: Common
Health: 6'907/7'250
Dire Wolf(2):
Level: 33
Grade: Common
Health: 6'750/6'750
Astaroth lunged back at the wolves, staying in constant movement. The more he moved, the less likely he was to get surrounded.
There were only three enemies to keep in check, so his job wasn't so difficult. After the two-minute duration of his 'Enhance Weapon' expired, Astaroth switched out his longsword for his daggers.
His transformation was expiring in less than thirty seconds, and he wanted to maximize its value. He had brought the three wolves down under fifty percent of their health, with the level thirty-four wolf being a little under thirty percent.
He quickly scanned them.
Dire Wolf:
Level: 34
Grade: Common
Health: 2'105/7'250
Dire Wolf:
Level: 33
Grade: Common
Health: 2'966/6'750
Dire Wolf:
Level: 33
Grade: Common
Health: 3'310/6'750
He was still trying to kill the strongest wolf first. He cast 'Enhance Weapon' on his daggers and used his temporary skill 'Alpha's Howl'.
*AAAWWWOOOOOO!!!!!*
Luck was on his side. Fear struck all three of the Dire Wolves in front of him and they stopped moving, trembling to their core.
Astaroth didn't miss a beat and dashed straight to the level thirty-four wolf. He stabbed it repeatedly in the neck until it died.
*-486!* *-486!* *-486!* *-486!* *-161!*
*You have killed a Dire Wolf (Lvl 34). 5100 Exp awarded for contribution (Bonus 200% for kill two tiers higher)*
*Level up! From leveling; you gained 1 skill point and 2 free Attribute points, and all Attributes increased by 1.*
The short five-second fear wore off as the wolf he was targeting died. He had eighteen seconds left to his transformation and then he would summon White Death out to help him deal with the wolves that were left.
But until then, he still wanted to dish out the most damage he could. Armed with his two daggers, he ran to the wolf with under three thousand health left and started dancing around it, cutting at its sides as he did.
He monitored the second wolf at all times, making sure it wasn't getting behind him. Astaroth heard a branch snap in the forest to his left, but he couldn't see anything there, so he paid no attention to it.
In the forest, Korin, who had been tailing him, was so enraptured by how Astaroth fought, that he had failed to notice a small branch on the ground and had stepped on it, producing a crisp cracking sound.
He immediately froze up, hoping that his stealth would hold. He watched as Astaroth quickly glanced in his direction briefly then focused back on his fight.
He sighed in relief and focused back on his footing while following the fight with his eyes. What he was witnessing was a miracle.
The young man was just level fourteen!
'How is he fighting three monsters of double his level and some?!' He wondered.
Now he understood why Kloud had called him dishonorable. With this kind of strength, he could have overpowered Konnor in a matter of seconds.
Of course, Korin had a different mindset than Kloud. To him, having a hidden ace in your sleeve was always a good thing.
Rogues fought with wits and tricks after all. But Astaroth was just brute-forcing the fight he was in.
The wolves were faster than him, but much less smart. Even if they tried to use pack tactics on Astaroth, he seemed to always think a step ahead of them, keeping the wolves from tag-teaming him.
Back on Astaroth's side, he had just killed a second wolf.
*You have killed a Dire Wolf (Lvl 33). 4950 Exp awarded for contribution (Bonus 200% for kill two tiers higher)*
There were five seconds left to his wolf form. Decided to give himself some breathing room for when he would turn back and lose all those bonus stats.
He would need a second or two to summon White Death. Astaroth got into a defensive position while the Dire Wolf charged at him.
When it jumped at him, he leaned back and kicked the wolf's chest as it passed over him, knocking him further away behind him. He quickly got back up, and the transformation ended.
He swiftly cast 'Spirit Summoning' and summoned White Death. White Death appeared next to him with a howl.
Astaroth ordered it to go after the Dire Wolf. White Death nodded and lunged at the enemy. After less than a minute of battle, Astaroth and White Death felled the remaining Dire Wolf.
*You have killed a Dire Wolf (Lvl 33). 4950 Exp awarded for contribution (Bonus 200% for kill two tiers higher)*
*Level up! From leveling; you gained 1 skill point and 2 free Attribute points, and all Attributes increased by 1.*
Astaroth sat down and rested for fifteen minutes. Once the exhaustion had passed, he got back up and ran further into the forest.
He ran and fought in this fashion for a good part of the morning, engaging all the groups of three wolves and less, and going around the bigger groups.
Most fights lasted between two and five minutes. With his rests and the running in between, he would get two to three groups of wolves per hour.
After 4 hours in this manner, he had felled a good measure of beasts. He had killed two Lvl thirty-one, six Lvl thirty-two, four Lvl thirty-three, four Lvl thirty-four, and 4 Lvl thirty-five wolves.
That had leveled him another four times, bringing his level to twenty. He opened up his status screen to see his progress.
Status:
Name: Astaroth
Race: Ash Elf
Level: 20 (15'411/34'950)
Stats:
HP: 2'300/2'300 MP: 705/705 Stamina: 100
Mana Regen: 1/second in combat, 5/second out of combat
Strength: 23 (+20) Agility: 26 Constitution: 26 (+20)
Intelligence: 26 Wisdom: 21
Attack Power Str: 215 Attack Power Agi: 130 Magic Attack Power: 130 Healing Power: 105
Natural Defense: 4.6% Armor Defense: 14%
Luck: 0 (Stat unaffected by Level up and free points)
Available stat points: 12
Available skill points: 7
Physical Condition: Normal
Mental Condition: Normal
He smiled as he looked at his stats in satisfaction. He was making good progress, good enough to take part in the tournament if nothing went wrong.
All this running and fighting had led Astaroth deep into the wolves' territory. And he was wondering how long it still went.
But that was a question for later. In front of him was the entrance to a cave, one that didn't seem too deep, or big, but the big scratch marks near the entrance scared him a little.
"This is where I made my den." White Death said in his mind.
"Why is the area so empty, then?" Astaroth replied.
"The new alpha probably didn't want to be just a replacement and moved the main grounds away." White Death said.
"Oh well. Let's go see inside if they left anything of value." Astaroth said, shrugging his shoulders.
And into the cave he walked.
Happy New Year, my western friends!
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