Time flew by peacefully in the village, a whole week to be precise.
With the morning sun streaming through the window, Ren rolled out of bed and greeted the new day with a yawn. Over this past week, Roxy's intense schedule had kept him in a constant state of exhaustion, as much as Ren wanted to complain he couldn't deny that the torturous regiment had been effective.
Ren had now grasped the basics of the three sword stances, although he hadn't mastered them, Ren was fairly confident that he would be able to use them in live combat.
Ren was most proud of his progress with the Firebolt spell, after seven days of practice, he could now hit the Scarecrow consistently, incinerating a large section of its torso with one spell. Ren felt that it wouldn't be long until he could meet Roxy's requirement of completely destroying the scarecrow in one go.
His advancements with the Firebolt spell also led to an interesting development. Ren could now summon a small golden flame that danced around his fingertips, without the use of chanting and hand signs. This was true magic of the fire attribute, although it was just a tiny and useless flame that looked like it be blown out by a stiff breeze, it opened the door to many future possibilities.
After Ren had washed the dirt of his face and his drowsiness along with it, he made his way downstairs, where he was greeted by the ever-cheerful Olivia.
"Morning Ren, how did you sleep"
Olivia asked with a radiant smile. Ren didn't answer right away, in truth, his sleep was often plagued by reoccurring nightmares of his sister, with last night being no different.
"I slept fine"
Ren lied like a seasoned professional, he saw no value in telling her the truth, it wasn't like Olivia could magically make his problems go away and even if she could, the nightmares kept Ren focused on his goal… Revenge.
"That's good. Roxy said she would be back soon so we can start eating."
These words brought a smile to Ren's face. His meals had now become the highlight of his day, it was his short moment of respite from all the blood, sweat and tears induced by training. Ren watched Olivia bring over a plate of steaming food with eyes like a starved wolf, the pleasant aroma that wafted towards him was enough to cause a small amount of saliva to spill out of his mouth.
As soon as the plate hit the table, Ren was like a runner who had just heard the starting pistol, immediately stuffing his face without a care for his tongue that was burnt in the process.
Olivia sighed, she had become well accustomed to this scene by now, no matter how much food she gave him, the plate was licked clean within seconds. Olivia often wondered where all that food went because Ren's stomach always remained as flat as a washboard. She couldn't help but feel a bit envious.
By the time that Ren had started licking the plate clean, the door swung open and in walked Roxy, who seemed to be brooding over something.
"Welcome back, there's some leftovers in the kitchen if you're hungry."
Olivia said while grabbing Ren's plate. Roxy who was lost in thought, suddenly grabbed a hold of Ren's arm.
"I'll eat later, I've gotta take the Brat somewhere first… Oh yeah, make sure you do that thing we talked about."
Roxy said to Olivia, who's face lit up. She gave Roxy a thumbs up and ran upstairs, forgetting that she was still holding Ren's plate.
Although Ren didn't know what Roxy had told Olivia to do, he did know where his master was taking him. After a week it was finally time for him to put his progress to the test by fighting another demonic beast in the forest.
Ren was somewhat nervous, the last time he had tussled with a demonic beast, he had almost died several times over but behind that nervousness was an unwavering eagerness to see how far he had truly come this past wee-.
"Oi brat, we're leaving."
Roxy didn't wait around for Ren to finish his inner monologue and the two of them vanished abruptly amidst a blinding flash of purple light.
***
Ren recovered from his dizziness quite quickly now, it seemed that his body had built up some form of tolerance against being forcefully relocated. Ren got to his feet and noticed that Roxy had brought him to the same clearing where he fought the Scaled Rhino. Ren guessed that this place must be some sort of hotspot for Demonic beasts.
"Alright brat, that wolf cub over there is your target."
Roxy said while pointing into the distance, Ren followed her finger and immediately breathed a sigh of relief. Unlike the monstrously oversized rhino he had fought before, his target seemed to a lot smaller this time.
After straining his eyes, Ren could vaguely make out a small blurry figure covered head to toe in dark red fur. Ren mentally prepared himself and started to take off the Suffer-Ring but a fierce gaze that stabbed into his back made him freeze.
"Oi brat, did I say you could take that ring off."
The rough and frankly terrifying voice of his master made him quickly shake his head.
"Then stop wasting my fucking time and get on with it."
With those words, Ren wasted no time in descending the valley. Roxy had been in an irritable mood since this morning and Ren wasn't willing to test her patience. Although the burden of the Suffer-Ring would make the fight significantly harder, that seemed a lot more appealing then facing his master's temper.
Ren cloaked himself in shadows and slowly made his way onto the bank below, using the tall grass that grew beside the stream to conceal his approach. Ren made sure to move downwind so that his scent wouldn't give away his position.
He was now close enough to his target to get a good look at it. The wolf-like beast had a body that was around twice the size of the seven-year-old Ren. It was covered in a thick crimson fur and had a long bushy tail which was covered with small yellow spikes, giving the appendage the appearance of a furry mace. The beast had a permeant snarl on its snout which revealed two long, yellow canines that looked dangerously sharp. The Wolf had four lanky limbs that ended in sharp black knife-like claws, seemingly perfect for tearing into flesh.
Ren wasn't deterred by its fear-inspiring appearance and decided to name the beast "Blood Wolf" on account of its blood red fur.
From the safety of his shadows, Ren calmly formulated a plan of attack, it looked like the Blood Wolfs attacks would revolve around biting, slashing with its claws and whipping with its spiked tail, all of them were close range attacks. If he could deal it critical damage with a stealth attack and then put some distance between them, he could finish the Wolf easily by bombarding it with Firebolt spells.
With a game plan in mind, Ren slowly approached the Blood Wolf while brandishing his sword, Nightfall. The last time Ren tried a stealth attack with Nightfall, he had failed miserably due to the Scaled rhino's… well, scales. However, this wolf was more cuttable, which reassured him.
With his confidence skyrocketing, Ren infused Nightfall with flesh eating shadows that chaotically wrapped around its blade, sinking into the Lightning stance, he patiently waited for an opening.
Ren wasn't kept waiting long, the Blood Wolf had made the same fatal mistake as the Scaled Rhino… quenching its thirst. The Blood Wolf lowered its head to drink from the stream and Ren shot out of the tall grass with his sword on a fatal trajectory towards the beast's exposed neck.
However, things didn't always go to plan. Unbeknownst to Ren, this so-called species of wolf was renowned through the kingdom for their quick reactions and agility, even a cub like the one Ren was facing, outclassed him in this regard many times over.
The Blood Wolf noticed Ren's slow attack and simply moved its head out of the way. Ren's blade had lost its target and the momentum carried him across the beast's side, where he met the wolf's tail. The spiked tail slammed into Ren's stomach with tremendous strength, with its lethal spikes tearing into Ren's flesh. Ren was sent somersaulting through the air, where he crashed into the ground a few meters away from the Wolf.
By the time Ren had crash landed, he was already in immense pain. Biting his lip, Ren got back onto his feet with a small amount of blood trickling down from the corner of his mouth, he didn't have the luxury of staying on the ground when he was on the receiving end of a vicious beast's attacks.
Though the situation looked bad, the Blood Wolfs attack had resulted in the distance Ren needed to use the firebolt spell. He placed his hands together forming a tent like shape and began to chant.
"Ignis Lorem"
Ren felt his hands begin to heat up, as a familiar orange light began to glow fiercely from his palms. During this time the Blood Wolf hadn't been standing still, it began to dash towards Ren at high speeds, almost closing the gap in an instant. Unfortunately for the Blood Wolf, it thrown back Ren too far, giving him just enough time to launch his attack.
The orange light in Ren's palms had already transformed into a ball of golden flames. A streak of fire shot out of Ren's hands in a flash, hurtling towards the Blood wolf. The beast noticed the attack in the nick of time and once again leaped to the side, with the Firebolt grazing it enough to singe its fur but not cause it any actual harm.
Still, this was still enough to startle the beast and make it halt its advance, it slowly started to circle around Ren, locking its beady black eyes onto him. With the failure of his last attack, Ren was feeling quite anxious, if the beast was that fast, was it even possible for him to land a hit.
Ren still wasn't that experienced in head on fights, his talents lied mainly in sneak attacks and now that he had lost the element of surprise, he was struggling to come up with a solution. Ren could only stall for time by keeping the Wolf at a distance with his magic but this was only a temporary solution. His low aether capacity only allowed him to use around eight full powered Firebolt spells. Using less aether in his spells would make them too weak and slow to pose any threat to the Blood Wolf.
While Ren struggled to think of a solution, the Blood Wolf cautiously approached him, seemingly trying to probe out his attacks. Its actions startled Ren, who was put off by its vigilance.
"Dammit, why the hell did Master tell me that beasts had no intelligence, this one seems to be smart enough."
Ren cursed in his mind, afraid that Roxy would somehow hear him. In truth, Ren's blame was misplaced. What Roxy had said was indeed true, demonic beasts lacked intelligence… but what she had failed to mention was that they had superior instincts that in some cases were far more useful.
"Ignis Lorem"
Once the Blood Wolf got close enough, Ren launched another firebolt, hoping that a shorter distance would give the Blood Wolf less time to react. Yet again, his hopes where shattered, when faced with Ren's spell, the beast quickly backed off, avoiding the firebolt completely this time.
This process seemed to repeat itself a few more times, with the Blood Wolf getting more used to Ren's attacks with each failed attempt. So far, Ren had cast the spell a total of five times, giving him roughly three more attacks. This fact was more than enough to make Ren break out into cold sweats
Seemingly sensing Ren's fear, the beast started to charge ferociously towards Ren at blistering speeds. Seeing this, Ren could only cast a Firebolt once more in the hopes it would slow the Blood Wolf down but the beast had other plans.
Noticing the streak of fire that was racing towards it, the Blood Wolf twisted its body, avoiding it by a hair's breadth and not slowing down at all. It quickly appeared in front of the gobsmacked Ren and raised one of its front paws, brandishing its sharp black claws and swiping down onto Ren's exposed chest.
When Ren saw that the beast was almost upon him, he was instantly filled with dread. The looming aura of death that surrounded him in that moment, triggered something within him. Ren's irises glowed a bright scarlet as he felt the world around him slow down. Ren's chaotic mental state quickly settled down and his fear faded away. This event was due to the activation of his trait.
Ren had completely forgotten about this live saving ability of his that seemed to activate whenever he was in dire straits. Even though the wolfs paw was dangerously close to his chest, Ren now had the time to think.
He calmly assessed his situation and immediately realised that he still had one last ace up his sleeve, something that he been neglecting out of sheer panic. Although, he may still have to take some damage in the process, there was still a small chance at victory if he gritted his teeth and played his cards right.
As the paw was about to reach him, Ren moved his sword Nightfall into the path of the Blood Wolf's paw, at the same time, thick writhing masses of black shadows burst forth from Ren's body, filling the surrounding area with a black haze and robbing the beast of its sight.
The Blood Wolf couldn't see what Ren was doing but even if it could… it was already too late. The beast had already started to bring down its claws and its momentum carried its paw straight into Nightfall's sharp blade, which pierced through the paw, using the Wolf's own strength against it.
Ren was knocked down onto the ground due to the wolfs immense power but this time he was prepared and had braced himself, rolling backwards to break his fall. At the same time the Blood Wolf who realised it had been injured, let out howls of agony, apparently the attack had been a success
Ren's sword arm cried out in agony due to the force behind the Blood Wolf's paw but Ren had no time to feel sorry for himself, The Blood Wolf would soon regain its sight so he had to act quickly. Using all the strength he could muster, Ren pulled out Nightfall from the beast's flesh and picked himself up off the ground. Not willing to waste even a second, he immediately started running into the trees at the edge of the clearing.
While he was running, Ren ran his thumb across Nightfall's blade, inflicting a deep cut which started spewing with dark red blood, he continued sprinting into the trees leaving a visible trail of blood behind him that the beast would be able to follow. Ren hadn't forgot that his goal was to defeat the beast, not run for his life. After putting some distance between them, Ren finally had enough time to prepare himself for their next clash.
***
A few minutes later, the Blood Wolf had finally caught up to Ren. Its speed had been severely reduced due to the injury on its front paw but it was still much faster than Ren. Once the beast had caught sight of the human that injured him, it was filled with a blinding rage and charged at Ren without much thought, hatred and anger was clearly visible on its snarling visage.
Ren, who had been patiently waiting for the Blood Wolf to catch up to him, took a deep breath and started chanting while placing his palms together releasing his seventh Firebolt.
WHOOSH.
A streak of golden fire leapt out of Ren's hands, shooting towards the Blood Wolf. The beast didn't even bat an eyelid and met the attack head on. The firebolt erupted directly on its snout, covering its entire head in fierce orange flames. The Blood Wolf burst out of the fire with its head charred black, paying no attention to the damage it had just received. Its eyes locked onto Ren and it pounced.
Seeing the beast soaring towards him, Ren twisted his body sideways, leaning his shoulder towards the beast, Nightfall was gripped tightly within Ren's tiny hands and he swung the blade towards the incoming beast.
Although the Blood Wolf was filled with fury, it still remembered what the sword had done to it previously, not wanting history to repeat itself, the Blood Wolf took advantage of its superb agility and twisted its head out of the way of the blade, clamping its jaw onto the shoulder that Ren had leaned into the beast with, the wolf sunk its sharp canines deep into Ren, viciously twisting its head to try and take a chunk out of Ren's shoulder.
Ren was being pushed back by the beast, his body bending back under the beast's weight. He had to use all of his strength just to remain standing and surprisingly small amounts of blood began to flow out of the area that the Blood Wolf was biting into.
Despite this, Ren, who should have been in immense pain had a huge grin on his face. His sword attack had been a feint and as soon as he saw that the beast had avoided it, he had already begun sheathing Nightfall, freeing his hands which he now placed together.
"Ignis Lorem."
Ren chanted at the top of his lungs, sending a ball of flames into the side of the Blood Wolf's head at point blank, it was too close and far too sudden for the beast to even react. The spell struck the side of the beast's already burned head, erupting forth with a huge amount of force and fire, causing the Wolf's head to be thrown back and burning Ren's hands to be severely in the process.
Now it was time for Ren to grit his teeth, although the Firebolt had resulted in the beast letting go of his shoulder, the heavy body of the Blood Wolf was still pressing up against Ren.
Ren took advantage of the situation and allowed the beast to push him back into the lunge-like mountain stance, while simultaneously unsheathing Nightfall and using his front leg to spring upwards, using the strength of his lower body to drive Nightfall across the beast's soft stomach… cuttable indeed.
The Blood wolf was thrown backwards, landing on its back. It whimpered weakly while twitching on the ground. There was a nasty wound across the beast's stomach, the cut was so deep that it's pink innards where exposed and blood flooded out uncontrollably, seeping into the ground. When Ren saw this, he could finally sigh in relief.
The battle had only lasted around ten minutes but felt like a life time. Ren stuck his hand into the sleeve of his shirt and pulled out a small plank of wood that had been covering his shoulder when the Blood Wolf bit into it.
While Ren had been running from the blinded Blood Wolf, he had actually been searching for something. He had quickly come across a tree similar to the one he had used to trap the scaled Rhino, having already seen how tough the bark of that type of tree was, Ren used the unnecessarily sharp Nightfall to carve out a thick square shaped chunk of bark, which he had turned into a makeshift armour.
This armour that nature had gifted him with, gave Ren the confidence to use his own shoulder as bait and thankfully the Wolf had taken it.
Now the battle was over and the adrenaline was gone, Ren felt all of the exhaustion that he had accumulated during the battle wash over him all at once. He wasn't seriously injured but His trait took a massive toll on his vitality, making it hard to stay awake.
Ren quickly assessed his injuries, his hands were heavily burnt and he had some nasty looking wounds across his stomach from being tail whipped but those were nothing compared to when he tussled with the Scaled Rhino.
While Ren was thinking this, he heard a faint whimpering that made him look up. The Blood Wolf was not dead just yet, although it looked like it was on the verge of drawing its final breath. Ren was once again impressed with the vitality of these demonic beasts. He decided he should put the beast out of its misery, it was the least he could do for such a fierce opponent. He slowly walked over to the Wolf and hung Nightfall over the beast's neck, ready to deliver the fatal blow.
Just as Ren was about to finish the beast off, he felt a strong gust of wind and saw a long whip-like shadow flicker towards him. The Blood Wolf at deaths door had decided to take Ren along with it, gathering all of its remaining strength attack, it lashed out its spiked tale at Ren, aiming it directly at his head. Ren who was not at all prepared to face an attack couldn't even react in time and could only curse his own stupidity, he closed his eyes, waiting for the attack to hit him.
But the attack he was expecting never came, all he felt was a rush of air across his face. Confused by the lack of pain, Ren opened his eyes to see what was going on, what he saw just confused him even more, the Blood Wolf's tail had stopped inches away from his face seemingly frozen in place.
A wave of heat caused Ren to stumble back, falling onto his rear. The tail, along with the rest of the Wolf's body flashed with a bright orange light, instantly turning into a wolf-shaped heap of grey ash that dispersed into the wind.
"You fucking moron. You were so close but you had to fuck it all up. Didn't anyone teach you that the most dangerous beast is an injured one."
Roxy had appeared in front of Ren amidst a purple flash of light and started angrily berating him. Ren had finally come to a realisation of what had happened, his master had saved his ass.
"How can you be so smart while being so damned stupid at the same time."
Roxy yelled at him while picking up a transparent gem from the ground.