Diether was diligently training and he was slowly improving.
His stance was now starting to possess an aura of aggressiveness and his strike together with the utilization of his spiritual energy was getting more and more powerful as time passed.
On the other hand, the kid also notices that his master was getting even more adept at floating.
Although it was still unable to do any attacks or defend itself, Diether notices that his master floats higher and higher every day. It can also make some quick turns now and was looking agile.
'Master was improving and slowly awakening his true strength, I can't be left behind!'
Pah!
He was hit on his head by the hanging wood. He was already filled with bruises and lump on his forehead.
There was even a time that he asked whether his master can heal this light wounds. As expected, he was denied since it was a precious ability that can't be used with such wounds.
At the very least, his master was kind to give him some time to treat his wounds using the medicines and bandages he bought at the village. They wouldn't lack such things since many hunters were passing here.
The time seems to pass as another regular day for the young man and the shinai but a sudden howl from an evil beast disturbed Diether's practice.
Hooowwwl!!
"Master?! Did you hear that? Should we postpone our training? The origin of that howl doesn't seem to be too far from here..."
"Mhmm..."
"I don't think it is safe here, master..."
"Very well... Pack up your things... Also, try to lighten your footsteps."
Reiji instructed and even though the kid was confused, he just followed his master.
There was still about an hour before the sun would set and some hunters who went deep into the forest weren't returning yet.
As a matter of fact, those that returned earlier was now trying to quickly return to the forest.
"Hide..."
"Yes..."
Reiji swiftly instructed Diether. The latter has the same intention when he heard several footsteps coming at him.
Soon, he briefly saw eight hunters wearing some old leather armors rushing towards the origin of the howl.
"Follow them..."
"Yes?!"
Diether wasn't sure what his master was planning but he followed them and kept more than 100 meters of distance away from the group. He can easily track them as they aren't bothering to erase their traces as they were hurrying somewhere.
As he was slowly getting closer to them, he heard several shouts and sounds of sword's clashing. He steadied his breathing and made sure not to get noticed by the people.
As soon as he had a better view, he saw a bloodied large Phantom Wolf in a nearby tree. It was still breathing as one of the swords from the hunter stabbed the wolf on its stomach.
But looking at the situation now, the group of eight hunters seems to be arguing over the spoil.
"Master... I think it is better to leave..."
There's a total of twenty hunters surrounding the dying wolf and there was no way that he'd add to the current tension.
Clang!
The two groups suddenly distanced themselves after a brief clash. It seems that they were only gauging their strength. It was twelve versus eight but the latter group doesn't seem to be average hunters.
"We got here first..."
The leader of the twelve said.
"My men did that critical strike. Just look at that sword stabbed on its stomach..."
The other didn't back out.
"We can also kill that beast without your intrusion..."
"Then you'd probably damaged its high-quality fur if that happens..."
"Hmph! What do you want!"
"I don't need the core. You can take it but I will take everything else..."
The leader of the eight demanded. This confused the other group since the value of the core was probably ten times that of the evil beast's other body parts.
'Tsk... Is there something I missed?'
The leader thought as he was confused by his opponent's demand.
He wanted to avoid another battle because there would surely be casualties once he planned to take everything with him.
"Fine... We'll take the core... Wait there..."
He quickly instructed his men to finish off the wolf and take its core.
It didn't take long and as soon as he confirmed the quality of the fist-size core, he grinned and instructed his men to move out.
The eight remaining hunters just watched the others leave before getting close to the Phantom Wolf.
"Hahaha! Leader! You're truly impressive..."
"Hehe... It would've been a disaster if they continued fighting us. Cough! Cough!'
"Leader Wang!" The other seven called the name of their leader as they worriedly approached him.
"Don't mind me. Just take the Phantom Wolf. The other group might suddenly return and fight us."
"Yes!"
They quickly acted and in a matter of seconds, the group disappeared and left the surroundings.
They were also worried about the current blood left around the place. It may attract other beast so they have to quickly leave.
Then, the sun was also about to set. It means that the real deal or the super strong evil beast will start to be active and hunt some food.
Because of this, they didn't notice a small figure watching the whole scene.
The kid didn't immediately reveal himself after they left and continued hiding for about a couple more minutes to ensure that it was really safe.
"Good! Throw me to that pool of blood. Stay here!"
"Yes, Master!"
Although it could float there, it would be very slow so he asked to be thrown instead.
Pak!
Reiji failed to properly control himself as he splattered the blood due to the impact. He just realized that the kid used his spiritual energy to throw him.
It might be due to his stance and swing training.
Soon, he received the mission completion notification.
[ Blood has been detected. ]
[ Consuming blood... ]
[ A High-Quality Blood has been consumed. ]
[ Bonus Reward: Durability increased by 15 ]
[ You now have Durability of 125/125. ]
[ Congratulations! You have completed the More Blood Mission! ]
[ You have received 55 Skill Points. ]
[ New Mission Created ]
[ Duel Victory ]