NOVEL WEB Chapter 19: First blood
"Some demonic beasts are making their way towards us as I speak!"
I could only guess that despite the showcase that I just presented, Eve was still wary of the dangers that a wild animal of this world could pose to me. Even if the strength of my sword was immense, without the required skills and most importantly - a proper mindset, one could easily turn from a hunter to the prey.
"What are their numbers?"
Why asking that question, I swing my sword without even thinking about. Just by turning myself around to face Eve, the ease at which I could move it around caused the blade to almost escape my hand! Thankfully, nothing wrong happens, Eve's body isn't cut with the ranged slash or hit by a wind-wave.
"I think there are seven different demonic beasts out there. While alone, neither of them could pose us any harm, but a group of them is capable of doing it, so please, be on your guard!"
What a sweet girl! If what she said before was right, just a single slash from my windslord would be enough to cut those beasts down at the distance of fifty meters! How could I be scared of them?
In just a few moments, I understood Eve's warning. It's not that I was surprised when the enemies showed themselves in a full-speed run. It seems that I forgot one crucial thing. They were in their natural habitat, while we were the invaders here!
In front, two huge, grey wolves entered the scene. Unbothered by the girl at all, they focused all their attention to me! Running in only a slightly roundabout way to avoid the greater aura of the girl, they rushed to catch and kill me first!
Not daring to take this situation lightly anymore, I swing my sword. The moment that the peak of the momentum is achieved, I bump my hand to cross the trajectory of a hit with where the animal would land after jumping. Just as I was about to slash at the other enemy, I trust my instinct and duck.
SWISH!
If I were to be only a half a second late, my head would suffer a powerful hit from an eagle-like creature. Flying without the tiniest bit of the noise, it even managed to dive at me without alerting my hearing at all!
That was close! Too close!
I have no idea how should I translate my attributes to stuff like my vitality or endurance. While I might have insane resistance, maybe it translates only to poisoning or bleeding out? In the old but well Leak of Legends game, HP was the core stat. While armour and spell resistance could lower the output of enemy attacks, vitality points would fall by a certain amount. And how I'm supposed to translate lose of HP into my real state? What if I lose a quarter of my red points and it will result in me losing my arm?
But it's not a time for idle thoughts!
Evading the flying beast strike cost me a few precious seconds that the charging wolf used to close more than half of the distance. If I don't react soon, I might be dead in a matter of seconds! This image of rushing wolf resembles the sight of a certain character named Wurwic using his ultimate spell to leap at the enemies and deal them a staggering amount of the damage. There is no way I will allow that to happen to me!
With the sudden bout of adrenaline, my senses burst out as I swing my sword once more.
BANG!
This time, before I even see the cut appearing on the wolf's body, an immense power tears the poor demonic beast into the shreds! But it isn't time to celebrate! I jump to the side to avoid another attack of the flying beast. If I allow it to roam freely during this fight, I will have to constantly keep my guard up against it!
But even if I want to deal with it, I can't!
While Eve faces off with three boar-like creatures, I see a shadowy tiger leaping at me from a short distance! It had to close the gap by staying in the dimly lighted areas under the trees and attack only when the opportunity arose! In the end, both the eagle and the wolves were just a distraction!
From the overwhelming aura crushing on me, I can say for certain that this is the leader of the group that attacked us. From the tomes that I read back in my memories from the time spent in the clan, every pack follows the strongest individual. This applied to most of the human's organisations as well as it did for the demonic beast!
Unable to execute a full swing with the enemy so close to me and my right hand already extended after the last attack, I can only jump away from the tiger's landing spot. Just when I'm about to execute it with a slash of the windslord, a red lamp lights itself in my head, forcing my humble self to duck yet again!
This is infuriating!
Feeling the rage arising in me, instead of fighting it off, I lovingly embrace it! At times like this, when the fate of my life is hanging on a tiny tread, I can only entrust myself to the years of training forced on me by my dad, when he still believed that I will become a cultivator one day!
While lowering my bottom all the way to almost just falling on it, I still manage to launch my own attack!
"Swish!"
This time, the enemy is so close that my hit seems to almost physically connect! Before it even has time to be shredded, it's torn into two parts along its spine! Before even a single drop of blood gets spilt,
As if a strange wave reverberated in the entire area, the trio facing off against Eve shakes and turns tail to run! Just as I want to celebrate my first victory in life, my sights darken and my head erupts in a bout of unbearable pain!