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"Two… more!" said Arthur in awe, the strong F-Rank monsters, Shadow Lynxes, had great vitality and agility, and deadly claws, he was left almost hopeless against such creatures, and even Timassa, his protector and maid were not able to kill them with her strong Bolt Arrow Skill.
The feline beasts glanced at Noah and his group and seemed greatly angered.
Noah realized that these Shadow Lynxes were in fact way bigger than the one they killed…
"Could these be its parents? Do monsters even breed? But how?" wondered Arthur, who was very attentive and also realized the same thing as Noah.
"It doesn't matter what they are, if they try to attack us, we'll kill them, that's how this world works, Arthur," said Noah, charging towards one of the Shadow Lynxes who was startled by his offensive!
"GROAR!"
The second Shadow Lynx tried to attack Noah's side, opening its jaws, and pointing its sharp claws towards Noah's torso!
"Bolt Arrow!"
Timassa assisted Noah, as she conjured an arrow made of lightning, throwing it towards the Shadow Lynx and electrifying it, throwing it not the ground!
Noah smiled as he realized that such a fast projectile attack was very useful, and was also more impactful than his Blood Projectiles.
"GROAR!"
The Shadow Lynx in front of Noah roared, suddenly gathering darkness around itself as several magic circles emerged, large watermelon-sized shadow spheres emerged in an instant, launching themselves towards Noah!
"Blood Claw!"
Noah roared, as he slashed his crimson claws, releasing a scarlet energy force, exploding against some of the Shadow Bullets, although others managed to get through his attack and impacted his stomach and shoulder!
Clash! Clash!
"Blood Spear!"
Noah simply ignored the damage he took, forming a Blood Spear through the blood he had saved on his Blood Sphere, it was fired right into the face of the Shadow Lynx in front of him!
CLASH!
"NGRRAH…!"
Poof!
One hit kill!
Noah managed to immediately slay the creature by penetrating its skull with his Blood Spear, by getting near it so it could not easily evade the fast-speed crystalized blood projectile.
Noah fell to the ground as he consumed some of his stockpiled blood, recovering his wounds slowly, as he glared at the other Shadow lynx, the one that was hit by Timassa, which was now fighting Iris.
"GRAAR!"
The Shadow Lynx leaped towards Iris, raising its claws coated in shadows as Iris used her long black nails coated in poison while enhancing her attribute values with Demon Phantom Fox and Rage Mode, making her numbers a bit over the Shadow Lynx, enough for her to be able to deal severe wounds on its body where poison seeped in, weakening the creature.
"Bolt Arrow!"
Timassa once more helped with her strong Skill, as a bolt of lightning crashed against the Shadow Lynx, blowing it away into the air!
"Now!" said Iris, leaping out of the ground and unleashing a constant barrage of slashing attacks, filling the Shadow Lynx with poison while being on midair!
Slash! Slash! Slash!
"GRRAOOH…!"
Poof!
The Shadow Lynx finally perished, as it exploded into black smoke, alongside a few Cores that Iris grabbed.
"A-Amazing…" said Arthur.
"Thanks for the help, Timassa," said Iris with a gentle smile.
"It is the least I could do," said Timassa.
"Nice, with this… we have around 6 Cores, 14 more to go," said Noah with a confident grin.
"We are doing this pretty fast, it has only been an hour since we started the test," said Arthur, praising Noah and Iris's strength.
"Strong…" said Jon, glancing at Noah with its single eye with admiration.
"W-Well, let's continue then, thanks for your help… Although I am still incredibly surprised about your changes… Why do you want to hide your abilities, Noah, Iris? You seem to be extraordinarily strong, if you revealed them, you might even become more respected…" said Arthur, as the party explored more of the forest.
"Well, as I said, it's a secret… Although we have an intention to do so… Being looked down is not so bad, it helps us lower the guard of those we want to target," said Noah with a calm smile.
"That's right, fufu…" said Iris with a slight chuckle.
"Lower the guard…?" wondered Arthur, as Timassa patted his shoulders.
"Arthur-sama, it would be better for you to stop asking questions…" she said.
"O-Oh, was I being unpolite? I apologize…" said Arthur.
"Not at all, it is normal to feel curious, Arthur…" said Noah.
"Indeed," said Iris.
"Anyways, have you found any type of way to heal back your legs?" asked Noah, as Arthur was a bit surprised by the question, but then glanced at the floor.
"Oh… No, not yet… There are rumors about an A-Rank Hunter that specializes in healing, but it doesn't live in this Sector, and it is employed by even richer corporations and organizations, although my family might have some money, we are not an organization nor we hold a great monopoly, so our connections are limited to this Sector, bringing people from other Sectors is hard…" said Arthur.
"I see… What would you do if someone could give you those legs for free, what would you do for that person?" asked Noah, shocking the whole party except Iris.
"Eh? What… do you mean?" asked Arthur.
"What would you do, Arthur? Tell me," said Noah rather calmly with a soothing voice.
"I… I would be very grateful, in fact, I might really be very grateful… I guess?" said Arthur.
"How grateful?" asked Noah.
"I… What with that question? There's no way that you could…" muttered Arthur.
"Noah, please don't tease Arthur-sama's condition…" said Timassa with a sharp glare.
"I am not teasing him. But perhaps I might have a way to help him," said Noah rather carefreely.
"What?! R-Really?" asked Arthur.
"That's why I am asking you, how devoted are you to get your legs back. Would you become… something else for that? How important is it for you?" asked Noah.
"I… Since I lost my legs when I was very young that my life… even with all of this money… has not been good… Not even being able to go to the bathroom by myself… to not be able to freely move around… I… Every day I wish I could walk again… to finally… be independent…" said Arthur, as Timassa was a bit shocked by Arthur's confession.
"Arthur-sama… Have I… not done a good job?" asked Timassa with trembling lips.
"Timassa…! No, you've… done an excellent job. You're perhaps the only person that… brightens my life and makes it a bit worth it," said Arthur with a gentle smile, caressing Timassa's hands.
"Arthur-sama…" muttered Timassa as she flushed a bit, although she looked older than Arthur, they were off around the same age, but Arthur was rather small and looked even smaller while sitting on a wheelchair.
"I wonder if Timassa would be willing to follow you on this path," murmured Iris.
"Path…?" wondered Arthur.
"This is already getting quite odd… Could you two please reveal your intentions with Arthur-sama?" asked Timassa.
"Heh, that would have to wait, we got company," said Noah.
"Monsters?" asked Arthur.
"No… humans…" said Jon at Arthur's side, who had detected a few figures coming from beneath the shadows of the trees.
Five figures emerged, although they were not that familiar to Noah, they were a few of his classmates.
"Well, well, what do we got here? Fernand missed the opportunity to catch you I guess, I will gladly take those Cores you have gathered, Useless," said a young man with brown hair and yellow eyes, grinning.
"You're… Esmond? I am sorry but we can't do that, we would be disqualified from the test if we don't bring any Cores!" said Arthur.
"Hah? And what do I care about that, crippled, give it or you're getting a beating," said Esmond, one of the students from Noah's Class.
Noah, however, glared at him rather carefreely.
"Come and get them," he said.
"Oh?! Have you finally gone insane, Useless?" laughed Esmond.
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Author's Note: If you like the story please give any powerstone you could spare, if we reach a nice number there will be bonus chapters at the end of the week, it all depends on you!
Thank you very much for reading!