Capítulo 18: Wolf Hunting
A week later I opened up the [Screen] to check on my progress.
[Mana Management: To gain proficiency, grow your internal mana pool and claim mastery over it. (Progress to tier 2: 80%)]
[Umbramancy: To gain proficiency, master the shadow and the emotions within it. (Progress to tier 2: 60%)]
It was quite a slow process to be honest and I felt a little bad draining through so many Mana Crystals in such a short time when we wouldn't even use this many in a year.
Mother assured me that it was fine and was even praising me for finding such a method to increase my proficiency in Mana Management, though I felt the praise was a little exaggerated since I'm sure anyone could have thought of this.
One thing I found out quickly was that if I were to use my Umbramancy to drain my mana until there was nothing left, then top up my mana using the mana from the Mana Crystals, it helped increase the proficiency in both skills by quite a significant amount.
Not by a whole lot but enough that I might be able to make it within maybe the next two years for Umbramancy?
Well, I've got time after all~
As for what I'm doing tonight… I'm out hunting again but not for food this time.
Mother is now confident that I am able to fight monsters now so she's bringing me deeper into the island to hunt some. She even took my Umbramancy into account and chose to do this at night.
I still don't have my wings yet so I'm currently being carried in her arms underneath her.
Unlike the first time, she did not drop me but simply flew normally, not that I'm complaining of course.
Eventually, we came to a valley that had a river running through it, sparsely decorated by trees around the river bank.
Even from this height, I could see several figures skulking around the valley, which I guess must be the monsters we were hunting today since mother immediately descended.
We dropped at a small cliff overlooking said valley, giving me a clear view of just what was waiting below us.
Truth be told, I did not know what to expect when I knew I was going to fight monsters. Aren't cockatrices also considered to be monsters? Or are they considered to be animals? Or maybe even a subspecies? I'll have to go read up on that later.
But down below in the valley, the monsters here look like wolves with black fur and red eyes, though there's definitely an odd feeling coming from them that I've not felt in the animals I've seen so far.
"Are those the monsters, mo… Mommy?"
She giggled, "That's right my little one~ Do you think you can hunt one?"
I brought up my [Screen] to check their stats.
[Name: Hell Wolf
Race: Monster
Stats:
20 Strength
20 Dexterity
20 Endurance
20 Magic
Magic Skills:
Pyromancy (Tier 1)]
The base stats were all lower than mine so I believe I should be able to take one out by myself. The fact that it has access to magic shouldn't be a surprise considering they are a source of Mana Crystals so they should possess magic too.
I did notice that unlike the other animals that would have varying stats despite being of the same race, every single Hell Wolf I inspected with my [Screen] had the exact same stats and magic skills.
My surprise must have shown on my face since mother chuckled, "Ufufu~ My little one is wondering why all of them have the exact same strength, yes? That's because they are all created the same."
"Created?"
She nodded, "Hell is under the domain of the God Hiandoca, whom many believe is seeking to destroy the world as monsters come from their domain. That could not be further from the truth. Tell me, little one, what do you think happens to mana when it is used?"
I thought for a moment, "It… Disappears?"
"Ufufu~ That's not quite right. When mana is used, it is actually returned to Hell, where it will remain before crystallising into a mana crystal. The mana crystal then forms into a monster and appears somewhere in the world according to the type of monster it forms. Since the exact same amount of mana is used to create each species of monster, they would all be similar in strength."
"Does that mean that the more mana is used, the more monsters there are in the world?"
"Ara, ara? My little one truly is smart! That would of course be the case but it still takes time for the monsters to be formed and Mana Crystals that have been dropped from monsters do not reform back into monsters until they are used up and return to Hell. Unless there's a sudden boom in mages, the number of monsters in the world should remain the same. Not to mention the fact that mages also contain mana themselves so not all of the mana would return back to Hell"
I was about to nod when I suddenly gasped, "But… Us… The ones who came here from another world…"
Her smile widened, "Yes, it has already happened. The monster population in the world has significantly increased because of that. Not to worry, my little one, for the Dungeons are there for this purpose as well. It would certainly make the dungeons harder to clear now but no one would need to worry about monsters taking over the world any time soon~"
I nodded in understanding before turning back to look at the valley, already trying to find a suitable target for me to hunt.
Eventually, I settled for a Hell Wolf that was near the foot of our cliff.
It should be far enough from the other wolves that it should not aggro them during my fight; but also close enough to the cliff that if anything goes wrong, like if the monsters have some kind of hive mentality that will cause them all to attack when one of them is hit, I could still escape up here.
I took out my dagger and did a final check of my equipment before leaping off the edge of the cliff.
I learnt that as Meslatars, we are able to fall from a very high altitude without even taking damage, so there's really no need to have a fear of heights.
Landing on the ground without a sound because of [Shadow Glide], I made my way towards the Hell Wolf silently and quickly.
In addition to cladding myself with [Shadow Wall] I was practically invisible right now… Except for the other senses of course.
I wasn't sure how well its sense of smell is given that it was still a wolf, but whether that aspect of wolves carry over to monsters was something I have not confirmed yet.
Thus, I was still cautious when approaching it, which was proven to be worth it since the monster suddenly spun around and growled when I reached within five metres of it.
Ironically, it got confused when it found no one there but darkness, even though it most definitely smelled me.
I moved closer to it and it was getting more reactive as my smell got stronger, which seemed to confuse it a lot more than actually making it cautious.
I briefly considered testing if [Darkness Paranoia] works on it but decided against using it for now since it would be bad if this one runs off somewhere else and alerts the other monsters.
Continuing to approach it, the wolf snarled and swiped at my direction, only to hit empty air since I wasn't even close enough to be in range yet.
It was definitely confused now which was a good sign since it proved that they were susceptible to mental effects.
While it was still trying to make sense of what was happening, I leapt the last metre towards it and stabbed my dagger into its head.
It tried to let out a howl of pain but I wrapped my arm around its snout in a choke hold and slammed the wolf down like a wrestler with my superior strength.
That silenced the wolf and I took advantage of that by pulling out the dagger and stabbing it into its throat, making sure to give it a good twist before pulling it out again.
The monster wolf started thrashing around but eventually went limp after a while.
I quickly checked my surroundings and breathed out a sigh of relief when none of the other Hell Wolves had even reacted to my kill.
Yep, stealth is good.
Perhaps I should start learning archery soon, everyone knows stealth archers are also completely broken too.
I looked down at my newest kill wondering what I was supposed to do with it, right before I was brought in for another hug from behind.
"Ahh!! I knew my little one could do it!! Mama is so proud of you!!"
I mean… I've already fought bears before and they're stronger than these monsters in terms of stats. Though I guess the fact I did not let it use its magic might be a prime factor on how easy it was.
"What about the Mana Crystal?" I asked. "Do we need to cut it out ourselves?"
Mother giggled, "Yes we do, they are usually located on where the heart would be. Thus, when the main aim is to gather Mana Crystals, it's usually a good idea not to strike there, although destroying it would also kill the monster instantly."
Cool, I'll take note of that in case I meet with a monster I need to prioritise killing in the future.
"In that case… Should I start cutting this wolf up?"
Mother gestured to the other monsters, " Ufufufu~ We can do that later, my little one. First, I want my child to kill all the monsters in this valley!! Then Mama will show you how to cut these monsters up to get their Mana Crystals!"
All of them?
…
Alrighty then.
PENSAMENTOS DOS CRIADORES 
Draekai
Draekai Alright! Time for the staple of fantasy stories! Killing monsters!
Capítulo 19: You're Not Alpha Enough
With the task of eliminating the rest of the wolves around the valley, I climbed back to the cliff to scout out the valley proper.
I counted around fifty or so of those Hell Wolves, most of them scattered in groups of one or two, the biggest group being a pack of five wolves in the middle.
The good news is that the smaller groups of wolves were all spread out around the outer perimeter of the monster group with progressively bigger groups nearer to the centre, all of them maintaining a distance from one another. That meant that I could work my way around the circle dealing with the smaller groups first before moving on to the larger groups.
Dealing with the solo wolves was easy enough, I just basically used the same tactics I did with the first one and they fell over dead without knowing what hit them.
First, using [Shadow Wall] to make myself invisible in the darkness, then [Shadow Glide] to increase my speed and muffle my footsteps to get close to my target.
While they were confused over the smell of my presence, strike at their weak spots and kill them quickly.
I didn't need to worry about collecting their corpses either since mother seems to be picking them up behind me, allowing me to simply focus on wiping the monsters out.
With the solo monsters dealt with, it was time to move on to the duos.
I decided this might be a good time to test out how the monsters react to fear.
I intentionally chose a duo of wolves who were further away from everyone else to test this out. Even if the fear made one of them run off, it shouldn't run to any other groups close by that would force a bigger fight.
This also serves to test if anything would change if they had a companion nearby too.
Again, I approached them like how I have been for the other wolves, but instead of killing them, I used [Darkness Paranoia] on one of the wolves.
The wolf affected by it let out a yelp before swivelling its head from side to side, its vision suddenly robbed.
Its companion noticed its odd behaviour and let out a low growl in response.
The sound startled the blinded one so much that it immediately lunged forward and tried to bite its friend.
By pure luck, the blinded one managed to bite its companion by the throat, crushing its neck with its jaws and killing it instantly. But because the fear was still in effect, it did not let go of its dead friend's neck but continued to bite it while swivelling its head from side to side, looking for an enemy that wasn't there.
It was a simple thing for me to just sneak up near it and slit its throat from under it.
Easy.
For the next pair, I tried to kill them without resorting to the fear spell.
Using my invisibility again, I first killed one of them using the same tactics on sneaking up on them with my [Shadow Wall], which in turn caused the second one to panic even without me using any skill on it. I still find it a little ironic that monsters are susceptible to fear.
It tried to escape but I moved faster than it could with my [Shadow Glide], my dagger plunging into its neck before it could get far.
And just like that, both wolves were dead.
Hmmm… Am I starting to get a little too reliant on my magic now? I know there are cases where people obtained power and got so accustomed to using them that once they lose said power, they become utterly useless.
Alright, let's try the next fight without using magic.
For the next pair, I didn't use my magic to hide myself and simply walked up towards them. The two wolves spotted me and immediately started dashing towards me, one of them heading straight for me while the other flanking to my left.
Seems like they are still intelligent enough to use tactics, I'll have to keep that in mind when fighting the bigger groups later.
I lowered myself with my dagger held in an underhand grip, the tip pointed towards the wolf charging straight towards me.
Either it was confident of its own prowess or simply did not register the knife as a threat, it leapt towards me with his jaws opened wide.
I reacted quickly by driving my knife into the neck of the wolf while it was mid flight, using its momentum to swing it to my left just in time to smash it against the other wolf that had tried attacking me at the same time.
Unfortunately, I misjudged the weight of the wolf and I was unable to pull out my dagger before the body was sent flying away with it still embedded in its throat.
The good news is that the first wolf died quickly, the bad news is that the second wolf had recovered and I'm now without a weapon.
Ha… I got reminded of the description for [Martial Skill]
[Martial skill. Your armour will crack, your arrows will run dry. Your magic will fade and all your good luck will be of no more use. Your allies are nowhere to be found and your enemies have you surrounded. When you are against the wall, with nothing to your name, you will still have your body. And with that, you can win.]
Right now I only have dagger proficiency at tier one for it… Guess it's time to get some unarmed combat proficiency.
I moved into a wrestler pose with my arms stretched to my side and fingers opened, ready to grapple it the moment it leapt at me.
Predictably, it did just that and I was ready to grab it by its foreleg with my right hand before slipping my left under its belly, allowing me to utilise the momentum to flip it and slam it to the ground.
Cocking back my fist I immediately punched it in the snout, dazing it but not yet killing it. No, the killing blow came in the form of me holding the wolf's neck in a choke hold before snapping it with a twist.
…
Open [Screen] please.
[Martial Skill - Dagger Proficiency (Tier 1), Unarmed Proficiency (Tier 1)]
Nice.
This also confirms that eight extra points of strength seems to be quite significant, or at least significant enough to overpower the other person or creature in a contest of strength.
I reclaimed back my knife and as much as I wanted to continue this, that short fight had taken more energy out of me than if I had used my magic. If I wanted to kill all the monsters by tonight, I'll have to leave off the physical training for a later date.
With umbramancy, the fight became much easier especially now that I wasn't holding back.
With [Shadow Wall], [Shadow Glide] and [Darkness Paranoia], I'm able to sneak up on two wolves and kill them before they even have a chance to know what was happening.
Then when I moved on to the groups of three, I would start the fight with [Madness Infusion], causing one of them to go mad and start attacking one of its companions.
While those two were busy fighting each other, I would just simply kill the last one that was unaffected before killing the remaining one that won the teamkill.
After the group of three wolves would be the final group of five wolves, the last remaining group of monsters within this valley.
Unfortunately, all of the spells require channelled concentration of the spell for them to take effect. In order to cast it on multiple targets, I would need to split my concentration to cast it while also moving at the same time, a skill that is currently beyond me at the moment.
Still, just using one instance of [Madness Infusion] to turn one of their own against them was enough of a distraction.
While their attention was turned to the one I had affected, I had slipped in and killed one of the Hell Wolves that was in the outer fringes.
As luck would have it, the one incited with madness went in for the kill, bringing their numbers down to two when it was put down by its own brethrens in turn.
Right as I was moving towards the next wolf to slit its throat, a gout of flames was blasted towards my direction, forcing me to leap away to avoid it.
I've been killing them so quickly that I've forgotten they actually could use magic too.
I frowned, both my [Shadow Wall] and [Shadow Glide] was still active, so either the wolf who used the spell managed to sense exactly where I was or it got lucky.
Just in case, I checked its stats.
[Name: Hell Wolf Alpha
Stats:
50 Strength
25 Dexterity
20 Endurance
50 Magic
Magic Skills:
Pyromancy (Tier 2)]
Oh… Of course there's an Alpha… What's with that ridiculous strength though?! It's stronger than a damned bear!
While I was busy protesting its stats, it opened its jaws and another blast of fire came out from its mouth, barely missing me as I used [Shadow Glide] to dodge it.
The fact that it had to pause and sniff in my direction before locking on to me proved that it still could not see me, which meant I still had a chance, I just needed an opening.
An opening which I already thought of and hoping it would be enough.
Casting [Madness Infusion] on the last wolf, it did as I expected and lunged at its Alpha, biting it in the leg.
I was hoping it would go for the neck but whatever.
With the opening secured, I leapt onto its back, stabbing my dagger into the side of its head while it was distracted.
It let out a howl and tried to buck me off, only to find that it couldn't since its comrade was still biting on its leg.
I switched my grip on my dagger and started stabbing it repeatedly in the neck, ignoring the blasts of fire that it kept shooting out of its mouth.
A few more stabs later and I've got two more dead moves, the one incited by madness dying as soon as I stabbed it in the eye.
Hmm… That was easy.
Still, this was quite a workout, surely this--
"Ahhhhh!! My little one is truly the best and the cutest!! Mama is so proud of youuuuu!!"
Right… I forgot she was still around. Oh well, this feels good and I'm tired anyway, so I'll let myself be pampered.
This feels nice…
PENSAMENTOS DOS CRIADORES
Draekai
Draekai
Seriously though! Why does that wolf have higher strength than a bear?!
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