Night had long since fallen and the trees blocked whatever vision might have remained. Yet, two beasts flew through the forest as if it was an open steppe with a blazing sun overhead.
This was obviously Wulfarth and his very own companion, Alice.
After finishing off the 'task' that Faruth had given him, Wulfarth immediately rushed back in an attempt to help his Master. He knew that fighting Fulbash was a near impossible task with the both of them combined, never mind himself alone!
He dreaded to think if anything had happened to his Master while he was gone. He wouldn't be able to forgive himself if something had. Glancing down at Alice panting heavily, but still keeping up next to him, a warm smile seemed to dispel all the negative thoughts that he held, allowing him to press onwards even faster than before.
After only a few minutes of running, Wulfarth came across the opening in which the Goblin campsite had been set up. Only to see his Master and the Hobgoblin chief locked in fierce combat, neither one gaining the upper hand.
**********************************************************
Faruth's sword collided with his enemy's side once again, drawing another thin line of blood on his opponents body. Due to his [Berserk] state, Fulbash never made any attempt to change his attacks again after the first skill that he used, nor could he react to Faruth's swift and precise attacks.
During the extended combat with the monster, Faruth had gained three new skills, all at level one.
The first being [Precision]. As it sounds, it increases the precision of Faruth's attacks, acting as a sort of guidance system, though the effect was only minimal as it was only level one.
The second being [Swordsmanship]. Again, the skill is as it sounds. It improves the swordsmanship skill of the user, allowing for faster and more damaging blows.
Finally, he also gained a skill named [Tactics]. [Tactics] was slightly different to the other skills he had gained. Though still gained from direct combat, it didn't affect the user's ability in said direct combat. Instead, it allowed the user quicker thought processing when thinking of tactical ideas, increasing how readily they could think of these ideas too.
But what set it apart from the other skills that he had gained was something major. I also affected his ability to give tactical commands to his soldiers or those under him, it was a group based skill as well!
These three skills had helped greatly in fighting Fulbash, shaving his HP directly from 4450 to 1600!
Although it was still far above his own HP, he could feel that victory was soon in his grasp. He still remembered the words of the mysterious spirit however. He didn't get too hot headed and rush straight into direct combat, Fulbash was still enough to kill him easily.
As he was thinking this, Faruth dodged backwards to avoid the blow of the Hobgoblin once again, leaving only the wind pressure to give him a close hair cut.
But just as he was going in for another strike, he noticed a rustling in the bushes next to him, leaving him distracted towards his enemy for the briefest second.
Bursting through the bushes on the side, was of course, Wulfarth and Alice. Upon entering the scene, Wulfarth was both shocked and gladdened. Shocked at the state of Fulbash, who should be overwhelmingly stronger than his Master covered in blood, but gladdened to see his Master in almost perfect shape. Bar the bandage on his arm of course.
Disregarding the distraction for the moment, Faruth turned his head to stare at his opponent again, only to see a fist soaring towards him. It was too fast for him to dodge, too fast for him to avoid!
The wind pressure built up even stronger as the fist got closer and closer, now only a metre or so away. He could hear a shocked shout and a worried howl to his side, but he disregarded them again. Instead, the only thing that came into his mind was the [Tactics] skill relaying information straight into his brain.
A hesitant smile appeared on his face as he listened to the information, but he knew that it was the only way to survive the blow. Instead of dodging the blow, he raised his sword pointed towards the oncoming fist.
He decided to meet the fist in the middle, activating [Precision], [Swordsmanship], [Strong Blow] and [Slash] simultaneously, resulting in a weakening feeling brought on by losing so much of his MP all at once.
But as a result, his sword let out an even more radiant silver glow, nearly blinding all those in the surroundings, except for Faruth himself, who felt like the silver light was like warm sunshine in comparison to the pure white room. As a result, he could see the sword moulding the air around it, seemingly causing cracks in the fabric of reality.
Sword and fist collided with a resounding bang, causing the silver light to expand and envelop the forest around them in a blinding circle.
Wulfarth was worried. Extremely worried. Even that might be an understatement. He lifted his hand away from his eyes after a dozen seconds, only to see a cloud of dust concealing the fight between the two.
["MASTER!"] {Wulfarth}
But the fearful Gnoll's shouts met with only silence. He lifted his legs in an attempt to run towards the site of the conflict, but was met with a bite from Alice pulling on the back of his leg.
Though the Gnoll had fallen flat on his face, he immediately looked up and tried to verbally clash with the wolf, only to see that the dust had cleared.
In the centre of the now crater, stood to beasts. His master, Faruth and the vicious Hobgoblin, Fulbash. His Master Faruth laid on the floor, presumably in an unconscious state. The Hobgoblin, Fulbash was stood over him, looking down at the newly fallen Gnoll.
A hearty laugh came from the presumably sneering Hobgoblin, before he spat out a viscus mouthful of blood straight onto the dirt beside him, causing him to collapse too, a sword embedded straight through his chest.
Though Faruth was unconscious, he didn't miss the string of windows appearing in his mind. Finished only by one.
__________________________________________________________
[[Congratulations! You have reached the Maximum level!]]
[[Would you like to evolve? Yes/No]]
__________________________________________________________
.
.
.
.
.
END OF VOLUME 2