"Slow!"
Gyanav Regio the Curse Mage was again on the hunt for more Octorels and was targeting one that was quickly charging at him with its hungry eyes.
The moment he said the word, his ability activated and a dark green aura enveloped the creature that was a mix between a rodent and a tentacled animal. The dark green aura then quickly seeped into the monster, visibly slowing it down by a slight margin.
Gyanav himself had been boosted by Alfie's howl, increasing his speed. It was now very easy for him to see the enemy's movement. His body also felt very light as if he was walking on air.
"Let's see what happens if we apply the same ability again," he said in curiosity while waiting a few seconds.
Octorels were relatively weak, so he thought that they were the perfect enemies for his experiment. Besides, his abilities didn't cost too much spiritual energy, so he could use them repeatedly. The downsides were that they were not too strong compared to other Vocations' first abilities.
"Woof!"
Alfie, who was on guard on the side, barked in agreement without taking his eyes off the creature that was steadily approaching.
"Slow!"
The same dark green aura appeared around the tentacled creature again, enveloping it mysteriously before seeping into it. The Octorel, affected by the same curse, became even slower than before. Its eight tentacles were moving dully like their joints were rusted, although they possessed none.
"Squeeaakk!!!"
The creature let out a threatening howl that came out as slowly as it moved. It sounded like a broken recorder.
Instead of being threatened, Gyanav felt amused and intrigued that his curse could stack. He wanted to use another Slowing Curse on the Octorel, but his limitation caused him not to be able to reuse the same ability for at least five seconds, thanks to Alfie's howl which also cut down the cooldown time. Normally, he felt like he would have to wait for at least ten seconds before being able to reuse the same Curse.
"Slow!"
Yet another dark green aura enveloped the already slowed down Octorel, whose ravenous eyes were looking at Gyanav with hunger. The dumb creature acted solely based on instinct, and it seemed that it wasn't aware of the fact that it had been slowed down to that extent.
The moment the green aura seeped into the Octorel, something else happened. A much thicker dark green aura was now enveloping the creature's eight tentacles, seemingly binding it down to the spot where it was standing.
Only then did the Octorel come to a realization that it was in danger. It was now looking around in slow-motion, trying to find a way to escape, but the binding prevented it from moving.
Gyanav smiled in delight seeing how his ability worked. He approached the Octorel, running lightly on the grassland with the heavy book in his hand.
"Defense Break!"
This time, a dark blue aura enveloped the bound creature, lowering its defense.
Wanting to experiment more, Gyanav didn't kill the poor creature right away. He stood nearby it while keeping some distance in case the Octorel was suddenly able to attack.
"Slow!"
Nothing happened. There was no dark aura appearing around the Octorel.
"Defense Break!"
The same dark blue aura appeared, breaking the tentacled thing's defense even more. Now Gyanav had to wait three seconds before activating his ability again. The watch that he was wearing helped him tremendously in keeping note of the timing.
"Defense Break!"
At the third activation of the Defense Breaking Curse, something also happened after the dark blue aura seeped into the enemy. There was a dark blue glow on the creature's head, right in the middle of its skull. It looked to Gyanav like the glow wanted him to strike right at that spot.
"Hmm... let's try it, Alfie!" he said readily.
Gyanav got closer to the still bound creature. However, after seven seconds had passed since the binding started, the dark green aura began to dissipate, which meant the creature would be free soon. The young Curse Mage had to act fast if he wanted to finish the fight without trouble.
Swinging the giant book with metal plates around its edges, he hit the Octorel right on the spot where the glow was.
Smack!!
The dark blue glow broke, and along with it, the creature's skull was also cracked. With just one hit, Gyanav had managed to kill the Octorel!
At the same moment, Alfie's ability's effect on Gyanav wore off, and he felt slower and weaker suddenly, just like he normally was.
Looking at the dead Octorel in front of him with a smashed skull, Gyanav once again felt nauseated. He took a deep breath and controlled himself from vomiting, although the smell of the creature's blood wasn't helping.
Once he was alright, Gyanav grabbed one of the dead creature's tentacles and dragged it to the nearby red-fruit tree where another dead Octorel was being hung.
"Alfie, please cut open its neck," requested Gyanav, pointing at the furry neck of the creature.
"Woof!"
The golden retriever barked happily and bit the dead Octorel in the neck, wounding it. After that, Gyanav picked up the creature by the tentacle and hung it upside down on the branch next to the one he had killed earlier. That way, the blood would be drained out of the creature.
Luckily for Gyanav and Alfie, the plains where they were currently at had no other creatures besides Octorels, so the smell of blood wouldn't attract anything dangerous. The one he had just killed was attracted by the smell of the first one's blood, and if another came because of the fresh blood, he was ready to deal with it as well.
Sitting down under the tree to rest a little, Gyanav looked at his dog companion and smiled proudly.
"Alfie, so my Curses can stack. Let's see now. All my Curses lasts seven seconds, and the normal cooldown is ten seconds. It means, normally I wouldn't be able to stack them like that. It's all thanks to your ability, Alfie," he smiled and gave his pet a gentle rub on the head.
"Woof!" Alfie barked proudly. His eyes were glimmering with joy.
"With your boost, the cooldown reduces to five seconds, and each stack refreshes the duration. Three Slowing Curses become binding or let's call it Bind, I guess, and three Defense Break Curses become... a Weak Spot. I wonder what three Weakening Curses will be?"
The smell of blood kept on penetrating through his nose as the creature's blood dripped to the green grass below. The occasional gentle breeze carried the smell of blood farther away, but not far enough to reach the forest in the distance.
"Alfie, your boosts last longer than my Curses, you know that? I counted and they last for like, at least twenty seconds. I wonder if you can stack them as well. Give it a try, Alfie!" requested Gyanav.
The golden retriever tilted his head in confusion and then stuck his tongue out, smiling.
"I guess you don't understand, do you? Well, we can try it some other time. We should hunt some more while we still have spiritual energy. Now that I've found out a new thing about my abilities, I feel energized!" he smiled proudly, "Although my Curses are not as strong as a Swordsman's offensive strike or a Magician's magic spells, they are still very useful, especially combined with your boosts, Alfie."
"Now let's hunt some more Octorel. It seems that one is already on its way because of the blood smell, Alfie," Gyanav got up and looked in his left direction.
In the distance, there was a creature with a rodent upper part and tentacles at the bottom instead of feet. Using its eight tentacles, the creature crawled on the grassland rapidly, approaching the spot where Gyanav and his dog were resting.
"We'll now try to stack my Weakening Curse, Alfie," the young Caeco said to his dog companion.
Once he felt that the Octorel was in range, Gyanav quickly activated his ability, along with Alfie who knew what to do as well this time.
"Howl!"
"Slow!"
"Weaken!"
While dark green and red auras appeared around and enveloped the approaching creature, a bright green aura surrounded Gyanav, enhancing his speed and reducing his abilities' cooldowns. He quickly ran into position with his book ready.
"Three... two... one... Weaken!"
Another dark red aura appeared around the Octorel and seeped into it, weakening its attack even more. This time, Gyanav didn't stack the Slowing Curse because he didn't want to bind the creature. He needed the Octorel to attack him to feel its weakened attack power.
The slowed enemy was close enough to attack Gyanav, so it raised one of its tentacles and thrust it at the Curse Mage.
Clank!
Using his steel-plated book, Gyanav defended against the attack. Even weakened, he still felt some force coming from the offense launched by the creature just now.
"Weaken!"
The dark red aura appeared again around the Octorel, enveloping its whole body before quickly moving into it. Suddenly, its eight tentacles were twitching and trembling as if they had just hit something very hard. With that, the Octorel was no longer able to attack for the whole duration of the Curse.
Feeling threatened, it quickly retreated. Strangely, when used for moving, its tentacles were working normally. However, when it tried attacking again, the trembling came back, preventing it from launching its attack.
"Slow!"
Gyanav used his Slowing Curse to prevent the creature from running away and quickly smacked it using his heavy book. The metal edges of the book hit the creature right in the head, wounding it. However, it was not dead yet.
Fear was shown in the creature's face as it tried even harder to run away. However, the effect of the Curse made it difficult for it to escape.
"Grrr!!"
Alfie lunged at the creature and sank his claws into its furry body. The golden retriever's sharp claws tore into its abdomen, revealing its guts. The dog also bit the creature's neck without letting go. Slowly, the Octorel died of blood loss in Alfie's grip.
Feeling amazed by his animal companion's performance, Gyanav couldn't help but gasp.
"Wow, Alfie. I didn't know you're good at hunting. I didn't even know golden retriever can hunt at all..." he said in a tone that was both surprised and praising.
Grabbing the dead creature by the tentacle, as usual, Gyanav took it away from his dog's maw and hung its carcass on the tree branch behind him. The blood began dripping down, combining with the blood from the previous two Octorels that he had killed.
Gyanav felt proud that this time, he didn't feel as nauseated as before. Probably the awe from seeing his dog's prowess made him forget about his disgust.
"Alright, we've got three in less than an hour. It's all thanks to you, Alfie. Alone, it would have taken me too much time to kill even one-- especially since my weapon is only this book," he said bitterly, looking at the blood-stained book in his hand.
"Woof! Woof! *Pant* *Pant*" Alfie stuck his tongue out and began panting. It wasn't clear if he was tired or just smiling, but he was clearly happy because of the compliment. He was wagging his furry tail left and right the whole time.
"Anyway, stacking Weakening Curse will turn it into Disarm, by the looks of it. Back there it appeared that the Octorel couldn't use its tentacles to attack, but it still could use them for moving. I think if we are against something or someone with a weapon, the Curse will make them unable to use their weapon, although, abilities still can be used, I guess," he analyzed.
After that, Gyanav began hunting more Octorels with Alfie, killing them efficiently with his newly found knowledge about his abilities. After killing three more of the creatures and hanging them on the tree branch, he sat down with his back leaning against the tree.
"I think six Octorels should be enough to fetch us some money, Alfie. Besides, I don't think I can carry more than that. Let's find a river now and wash them clean," decided Gyanav.
After that, Gyanav waited for a few more minutes while resting, to wait for the carcasses' blood to completely drain before going to the river, which was located on the edge of the forest. It could be dangerous if the dead Octorels were still leaking a bloody smell as it might attract more dangerous creatures to attack him.