Astaroth and the party slowed down their march after the howls. They could meet wolves at any moment now, so they tightened up their formation and walked in a loose circle, observing their surroundings.
As they trudged along, Aj'axx, who was at the vanguard, lifted his hand, stopping the group. He then pointed farther up ahead and made a four with his fingers.
Just across the tree line was a small clearing and in the clearing were four wolves, chewing on what looked like the remains of a deer.
The party stopped advancing at the tree line, to stay out of sight. Then they discussed their attack plan through inaudible whispers.
"I'll go in and taunt them, then the Colonel can keep aggro with me while everyone attacks." Aj'axx said.
"Astaroth, you can attack them, but at the smallest sign of one turning to you, run back behind me or the Colonel, whichever one is not aggro'd, so we can keep them off of you. Got it?" He added.
"Yes, sir." Astaroth nodded.
Although Chris was the highest in rank among them, all of them had fought enough together to know that once the fight began, Chris would no longer be giving out orders. So it fell on the tank in their group to coordinate all of them.
Once all of them were clear on their roles, Aj'axx dashed through the tree line and yelled.
"Eyes on me, you dumb dogs! Today you die!" He hollered, smacking his shield with his mace.
'Nice taunt' Astaroth thought, holding in a snicker.
The four wolves in the clearing all turned their heads to the man, growling and snarling, drool mixed with blood dripping from their mouths. All the others in the party then ran into the clearing, getting into formation there.
Astaroth then inspected the enemies, to know what they were up against.
Dire Wolf:
Level: 30
Grade: Common
Health: 4'250 Mana: 800
Dire Wolf:
Level: 32
Grade: Common
Health: 5'750 Mana: 915
Dire Wolf:
Level: 34
Grade: Common
Health: 7'250 Mana: 1'030
Dire Wolf:
Level: 35
Grade: Common
Health: 8'250 Mana: 1'100
The level values were higher than theirs, but he still stayed confident. As the combat started, he enhanced his weapon with magic, then he roamed around and went in and out, dealing one hit to every mob, to get all the Exp from the kills.
Wielding his longsword with both hands, he hit the strongest enemy first, going down in levels as he went.
*-176* *-176* *-177* *-356!*
During his hit-and-run tactic, he caught the level thirty wolf off guard and hit it in the neck, landing a critical hit! The wolf, which had not yet been hit by anyone else, immediately turned around to face him after that.
He had overtaken aggro with the high damage number. Astaroth tried running back toward the group to have Chris sap away the aggro, but both he and Aj'axx were busy, so he couldn't rely on them.
When Korin saw the situation Astaroth had put himself into he clicked his tongue.
'Amateur' He thought, changing trajectory to go help the newbie.
Meanwhile, Astaroth's brain worked at super speed, thinking of his potential solutions. He decided now was as good a time as any to try his hand at solo killing the beast.
He could see Korin running in at high speed to help him, but he wasn't gonna let the rogue steal away Exp from him!
"Stay away!" Astaroth yelled.
"I got this one!" He added.
Then he swapped out his longsword for the short sword and shield. He cast 'Mana Skin' and another 'Enhance Weapon' but this time on the shield, to focus purely on defense.
His defense shot up to 26.8% with the armor bonus and his shield went from 10% blocked to 20% blocked. Of course, all this cost him a lot of mana.
These three spells all cost him fifty points each, bringing his mana to 235/385. And he wasn't done.
He then murmured another chant.
"Spirit Summoning: White Death."
Another hundred mana points left his mana lobe, leaving him slightly fatigued. But it was all worth it, as the next second, an ethereal wolf lunged out of his body, biting at the Dire wolf's neck.
*-260!*
White Death had used his 'Soul Bite' ability, draining away 5% of the enemy wolf's stats.
While White Death held the wolf in its maw, Astaroth stabbed its eyes with his short sword, making sure the aggro remained on him.
*-298!*
He hit the bullseye, and the crit kept his damage number comfortably over his summons. Korin, who had been dashing in for support, finally halted to a stop.
He watched on for a few seconds and judged that the rookie didn't need his help for now. The wolf ghost he had summoned was helping him enough, so he went back to the primary group of enemies.
Of course, not that Astaroth had the situation completely under control, but he still blocked the attacks that would hit him every time, reducing the damage taken significantly.
And when he dropped under fifty percent of his health, a cool wind washed over him, restoring a whopping 315 health to him. He looked around to find where the healing came from and understood.
I'dril, the reaver, was a half-caster, half-healer class. He would attack a monster with a red and black tendril, then the tendril came back to him and blew back out as a healing wind.
'That's an interesting class' Astaroth thought.
He had brief eye contact with I'dril and nodded his way. I'dril nodded back.
The fight went on for a few minutes until the only fighters left fighting were Astaroth and his wolf. The others had cleared the other three wolves already but didn't want to take away anything from the rookie, after seeing him fight so fiercely.
They had a newfound respect for him, again, this time for his battle prowess. Astaroth fought and fought until the Dire Wolf finally succumbed to the onslaught.
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 have made it to the 64th position today. We are slowly inching toward our next objective! Let's keep this going!
If you like the novel so far or think something could use work, don't be scared to leave a review :)
As it died, White Death's timer also ended, and he evaporated, going back to being just a flame attached to Astaroth's soul.
Astaroth could finally look at his notifications.
*You have helped in killing a Dire Wolf (Lvl 35). 149 Exp awarded for contribution (Bonus 300% for kill three tiers higher) (2.31% damage done)*
*Level up! You are now level 8. From leveling; you gained 1 skill point, 1 free Attribute point, and all Attributes increased by 1.*
*You have helped in killing a Dire Wolf (Lvl 34). 165 Exp awarded for contribution (Bonus 300% for kill three tiers higher) (2.43% damage done)*
*You have helped in killing a Dire Wolf (Lvl 32). 147 Exp awarded for contribution (Bonus 200% for kill two tiers higher) (3.08% damage done)*
*You have killed a Dire Wolf (Lvl 30). 4500 Exp awarded for contribution (Bonus 200% for kill two tiers higher)*
*Level up! Level up! Level up! Level up! From leveling; you gained 4 skill points and 6 free Attribute points, and all Attributes increased by 4.*
"Wooooh!" Astaroth sighed loudly, laying on his back.
He felt exhausted from the fight. He had to constantly refresh 'Mana Skin' and 'Enhance Weapon' on the shield, just to mitigate as much damage as he could.
That plus counter-striking on every chance he got, just as to not lose aggro. Next fight he wouldn't try to keep it.
It was too much trouble for him, for now. He would let White Death tank it, as he had planned originally.
This fight was just a test of his capabilities. From this combat, he also gleaned another detail.
Most attacks were best avoided altogether. He couldn't dodge the wolf's attacks this time, because its agility stat was probably much higher than his, but he knew that when he got to the same level, that would no longer be a problem.
He had also withheld the active skill gained from his armor set in that engagement. He wanted to find out his capabilities before using all his tricks.
"Nice moves, for a rookie." Astaroth heard from his side.
He turned his head and received a flick on his forehead. The voice had come from Korin, the rogue.
"Next time, if you want to fight a creature on your own, just say so, instead of acting so carelessly." Korin added, a disapproving look on his face.
"Ahh, yes. I'm sorry, I only wanted to know my strength." Astaroth responded, rubbing his forehead.
"All right, lads. I think we have rested enough. We should get a move on." The Colonel said, grabbing his broadaxe from the tree he had rested it on.
"Aye, sir!" Everyone replied, getting ready to move.
Astaroth got up from the ground and they all got back into formation, with Korin scouting up ahead like earlier. Astaroth walked towards the back of the formation, where I'dril was.
"Thanks for the healing, by the way." Astaroth said to the reaver.
"Only doing my job." I'dril responded, nodding lightly.
'Not much of a talker, I see.' Astaroth thought.
"Err, I have a question for you." He said to I'dril, scratching the back of his head awkwardly.
"Hmm?" I'dril said, turning his head to Astaroth.
"Where would one go, to learn your magic?" Astaroth asked.
"To a city." I'dril answered, not offering more words or conversation.
...
"Thank you." Astaroth replied, walking back forward.
I'dril was the silent type, and he didn't know how to deal well with those. So he walked back to his spot in the formation and peeled his eyes to his surroundings.
His silence didn't last very long, as their tank, Aj'axx, walked back to him, leaving Chris in the lead.
"Say, rookie. That wolf of yours, can you use it as many times as you want?" Aj'axx questioned.
"Ahh, you mean White Death? Yes. I can summon him back right away when he disappears. There is no cooldown." Astaroth answered.
"And can it be used to take some weight off me?" Aj'axx followed up, with another question.
"I originally intended to, yes. Would you want me to do that?" Astaroth replied.
"That would be great!" Aj'axx exclaimed.
"If you can take even one enemy off of me every fight, this patrol will be much easier." He added.
"Then it's as good as done." Astaroth said, smiling and giving a thumbs up.
Aj'axx patted Astaroth's shoulder, smiling, before going back to the front. The next voice Astaroth heard came from within.
"Boy. I received no experience from that fight. Have you not activated the Exp share?" White Death spoke, in his head.
"Ahh, I might have forgotten." Astaroth replied with his mind.
He quickly opened his skill page and switched the Exp share from 0/100 to 25/75. While he did that, he heard a snicker of contempt in his head.
"How did I lose to an airhead like you?" White Death derisively said.
"You tell me." Astaroth replied with a smidge of mocking.
He then ignored the wolf's complaining.
They soon came across another group of wolves. They again arranged their formation before combat, this time letting Astaroth grab one monster on his own.
They supervised him from the corner of their eyes but never interfered. They knew this patrol was training him and strengthening him.
The most trouble they got into was when they stumbled upon a group of wolves with higher average levels. There were no weaker enemies for Astaroth to bait to the side, therefore, he had to fight with them, only doing hit-and-run tactics.
He still gained much from the entire ordeal and leveled up two times. He was happy with his progress.
Although he knew he was far behind the main level of players, he was closing the gap quickly. They had also got some good loot in the progress.
Astaroth noticed that monsters in this game did not drop coins. So he requested a part of the loot.
He could probably sell it for some coin later.
Thus they returned to the village and Astaroth went to rest and logged off.
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 are still in 64th position today. We are slowly inching toward our next objective! Let's keep this going!
If you like the novel so far or think something could use work, don't be scared to leave a review :)
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