"Crap, is my luck!"
As the monster continued to hammer its head into Lloyd's cabin, he couldn't just stay still; he had to make his move.
"Let's give it a surprise gift for ruining my journey and then make a run to the city," he said nervously, smiling as it was going to be his first time facing a monster.
He opened his dimensional ring and pulled out his sword. The longsword had a minimal design, with a blade displaying a wave pattern like a katana but distinct in its own way. The hilt featured two serpents imprinted on it—one white and one black. It seemed more than just a design, though its significance remained uncertain.
"Oh, it's quite light to use," he remarked casually.
Having used swords daily for half a year continuously, he had gained considerable experience and could discern the specs of a sword just by looking at it and picking it up.
He didn't waste any more time; he took a stance with his sword perpendicular to his body, facing the monster that was headbutting the cabin. Channeling his aura into the sword, he prepared for a single strike to create an opening and escape when the monster got blinded by the attack.
"Now!"
At the perfect moment when it headbutted the cabin and broke through the wall, he thrust his sword into its head, the condensed aura flowing around it. He then blasted its head using an Aura blast as the sword was deeply lodged inside. After the blast, the flesh of its head scattered in the air, some even falling on him.
"Eww, disgusting," his nose wrinkled in disgust as the fleshy debris touched him. He jerked his head instantly to throw it off without touching it.
"Damn, I used too much aura in it," he breathed rapidly, realizing that the single attack had consumed almost 1/10th of his aura, enough to instantly cause exhaustion.
The trouble didn't end with just that single strike. Rather than creating an opening for him to leave the scene, his loud and fancy attack had lured the remaining monsters in the surroundings, and they circled him.
"Larker," the name of the monster escaped from his sealed lips as he identified it by its distinct appearance and features.
It was a monster resembling a wolf, but three times bigger than the normal size. With a light grey coat, it had exceptionally large claws, ready to rip through anything in its path. Its sharp white fangs were prominently displayed, with drool dripping from the corner of its mouth.
"Ten of them... There's no escape when they are circling me like this," his breathing grew heavy as uneasiness replaced rational thought.
He didn't need to look around to confirm their number; he could deduce it simply by instinct and their predatory presence alone.
"I will only have one opportunity. If I don't take it and make a flight, then I don't think... I see that each one of them is already stronger than me." As sweat rolled down his forehead, a wrinkled smile of nervousness and a mix of feelings, combined with fear and excitement, arose on his face.
Complex emotions ran inside him due to adrenaline. He covered the hilt deeper, opening his grip and pushing the hilt into his palm for an even firmer grip, as if he was going to fight all of them instead of fleeing to a safer location where he wouldn't be traced by these creatures.
He stared into the obsidian eyes, which showed no sign of life but only hunger to kill and devour.
"Scary," he chuckled. His mind was in a state of chaos as he couldn't decide what he was supposed to do in this situation. It was malfunctioning, to say the least.
Rie was just spectating from above, observing how the situation unfolded and contemplating whether she should intervene or not.
"What a pain in the ass. If only Naya hadn't requested, I wouldn't be babysitting anyone," she gritted her teeth, smacking his head with a kick and pulling him out from the distraught.
"Thanks, but can you do another favor?" he thanked her for pulling him out of his distraught state but needed more help from her. She was the only one who could aid him in this situation, possessing the power to eliminate the monsters instantly.
"What?" she replied, uninterested in letting the situation drag on.
"Can you kill some of them to help me escape?" He knew Rie was sent with him to assist in situations like this, so he asked her to eliminate the monsters since that was the purpose of her presence – to aid in the face of danger.
After she smacked his head back to normality, his worry about the Larker seemed to have evaporated as he remembered Rie was there to help him out of these situations.
"No, I'm only allowed to interfere when you are in a certain death situation, and I was asked not to interfere with your progress," she refused to do him a favor with a straight face.
"What do you mean? I'm in a certain death situation," he complained.
"Silence!" Annoyed and not wanting to waste time talking anymore, she shut him up before he could say anything further. She wasn't in the mood for conversation or explanations.
"Darn, now isn't the time to seek the easy way," he realized, giving up on relying on her to eradicate the monsters.
"Fine, just buff me! I won't be able to kill them like this," he whined reasonably, acknowledging that he couldn't fight them without external support.
Rie understood his argument and agreed, so she looked back and began to put buffs on him using her power.
"Luminescent Blessing..."
"Xperz Resilience..."
"Dew Drop Infusion..."
"Sylph Amplification..."
She used magic to give him buffs, enhancing his abilities to face the Larkers surrounding him from every side. She cast buffs to increase his agility, strength, recovery, and the output and power of his aura. Not a single buff was wasted, each one serving a purpose in the impending battle.
*****
The reason this chap got delayed was cuz I was trying to find working Grammarly cookies since Gpt sucks at fixing grammar and does extraordinary things like changing the whole dialogue. In the end, I couldn't find working cookies and used gpt to edit. GPT is also why you guys see weird dialogues that I was too lazy to edit out.
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