"Master, Apollo already left the tower's territory and has now entered the outer layer of the Afra forest "
A deep enigmatic voice echoes through the quiet research office. Inside the office full of research materials and a stack of papers three figures can be seen talking, two spirits and one woman.
"Ifrit follow my son to the forest, make sure nothing dangerous happens"
The fire spirit nodded his head before disappearing right in front of his master. Isabella remained sitting on her chair staring at the pile of papers on her table.
"Amihan go to the duchy and tell me everything that's been going on in there"
The wind spirit Amihan nodded, slowly she strides towards the window letting her sensual curves and unworldly beauty blend into the wind's calm breeze.
Seeing her white hair spirit finally left Isabella could only sigh feeling nervous whenever her son went on a trip to the forest.
"Isabella calm down for sure nothing will happen" she said to herself.
While Isabella continued to worry Apollo had started to venture the outer layer of the forest.
"It's as big as I remember"
He smiled looking at the abundant life inside the forest.
"Master we have to be careful here"
"I know Bulan we will be careful"
Soon Apollo unmounted his spirit wolf deciding to walk beside him. While walking they found many kinds of flora which made the boy excited soon he began collecting them.
[Expansion is now completed will the Creator like to see the new features of Jeremiah?]
A voice devoid of emotion rang in his head.
"And here I thought I needed to wait for tomorrow"
Apollo was about to ask Jeremiah when Bulan suddenly spoke.
"Master a pack of Ivory wolves are on their way here"
"That's strange we shouldn't encounter them here...unless.."
He suddenly looked at the floras he had picked up and suddenly it dawned on him.
"Shit!" He could only say.
Ivory wolves are a type of magical beast that has the element of wind. They often hunt smaller magical beasts or human hunters that stumble upon their territory. One of the smaller beasts they hunt is called the purple haze rabbit. This small rabbit is poisonous however it wasn't life-threatening for ivory wolves but it could still cause some pain so they would eat a certain plant to negate the effects. And unfortunately, Apollo had just plucked that specific plant.
"They didn't mark the plant right?"
[They did, unfortunately]
"That sucks"
He had no choice since if he left the plant there it would leave his scent those wolves could still track him down.
"Since my purpose of coming here is to hunt then I should just start"
The boy started cracking his knuckles feeling motivated then he began setting up traps.
"How many are coming here?"
"7"
[7]
"Alright the number is fine"
Typically a magical beast such as an ivory wolf would have at least a hundred pack members depending on the alpha's rank.
Magical wolves have this certain ability to track their pack members. If one were to kill them they would be marked and hunted by the alpha but it was only the case if a huge amount of wolf blood was shed.
"I won't kill many so it should be fine"
Killing some of them won't attract the alpha unless their den is close by.
"Master they are approaching fast"
"Alright I'll finish setting up the traps"
Traps vary from who made it for hunters foothold traps are common but for a mage like Apollo he would often use magical scrolls for traps. Some mages may use spells to create traps but for the boy conserving his energy is more essential. Taking out the scroll he made himself, he spreads it out to lay out his trap.
A few minutes pass and the seven mid-size wolves came.
"It seems like we have young wolves here"
Standing behind his traps the boy held the herb that the wolves were searching for.
"GRRR!"
The wolves began to growl but instead of attacking immediately, they began to surround him not leaving any room for escape.
"They assessing me clever.. let's see the level of the first wolf"
[Scanning ..... Statistics complete
Type: Ivory wolf
Status: Poison
Rank: Warrior
Level: 15
Strength: 50(-5)
Agility: 52-5)
Dexterity: 50(-5)
Endurance: 45(-5)
Stamina: 52(-5)
Defense: 50 (-5)
Intelligence: 52
Mana: 50(-5)
Mana regeneration: 0.5 per second
Vitality: 100
Skills/Abilities
Damage reduction (Active) (Rank D-)- Can be used once every five minutes.
Wind Howl(Active) (Rank D-)- Creates a power wind attack whenever you howl
Iron Pelt (Active) (Rank D-) - Turns the hide or fur into iron for defense
Noise and scent tracking (Passive) (Rank C-)]
Apollo was quite surprised by the added attributes however he doesn't have time to inquire about it.
More floating screens appeared above the other six wolves all have similarities with the first one.
"So the poison from the purple haze rabbit can cause debuff effects on the wolf's attributes but their stat are still deadly"
While Apollo had his dialogue three of the wolves already lunged forward each targeting his vital parts.
"Activate!"
His voice was the activation and the trap triggered. Four magical circles appeared which created a synchronized attack. The first magic circle was a gravity spell dragging the three wolves on the ground. The second comes after it was a spell called earth spike just like the name said it is a spell that turns the ground into spikes. However the ivory wolves activated their skills, damage reduction and iron pelt making the effects of the earth spike useless. Apollo already anticipated such a thing based on how he saw the hellhound defend.
The third spell activated as the wolves tried to dash towards Apollo.
A freezing spell froze the legs of the three wolves then the fourth and last spell activated. It was a fire spell called birnen it could create a strong flame that could suddenly burst like a bomb. Due to the small explosion, the three wolves were blown away still alive but their legs were useless.
"Done for the first phase"
Apollo said then he felt the two remaining wolves were two feet away from him. One on the back and one in front the problem was the remaining two.
"Impressive they use the smoke to mask themselves"
The boy commented as he saw two beasts opening their mouths to attack he was about to cast a spell when Bulan and Jeremiah alerted him.
"Master on your Left!"
[Creator on your Left!]
His body tensed up when he heard that then he saw a wind attack ravaging its way towards him. Since his front and back have two wolves already ready to kill while his left side has a wind spell already coming towards him naturally he should dodge to his right. However, he won't do that because he doesn't have to.
"The fourth wolf should be on my right side" he said while looking at the teeth of the wolf ready to bite him down.
"Your breath stinks" he only said before another trap triggered. The entire area was covered in a magic circle the trap was triggered due to the wolves using one of their skills.
Another gravity spell struck down making the four wolves hit the ground then Apollo finally cast a spell.
"Let me show you one of my favorite spells"
His hand suddenly sparks and the heat intensifies. The four wolves used their skills iron pelt and damage reduction ready to tank the spell Apollo was preparing.
"Thunderclap!"
A thundering roar echoed throughout the forest as lightning struck from Apollo's hand. Surrounding the boy is a burned ground with four wolves dead.
"The smell of burnt flesh is really revolting"
He said while covering his nose then he felt something come out of his shadow it was his spirit wolf Bulan.
"Master what should we do with their bodies?"
"Eat them if you want I don't mind"
"How about their cores master?"
"Hmmm?.....well leave them to me if I don't need them I'll feed them to you"
After careful consideration, he said that.
After all, he needs to see how he could get a skill by extracting a magical beast core.
"I should test it as soon as I return home"
[Creator please don't leave the area since I am not done yet]
"It's okay Jeremiah I am not really in a rush" he replied then he looked at his trembling hand.
"It's not perfect yet"
Thunderclap is a higher-tier spell but Apollo changes the spell in a way it could suit him. He minimized the mana consumption but the process of casting the spell was prolonged. As soon as the fight started the boy was already casting the thunderclap spell fortunately everything went according to his plan.
"I still can't use the spell properly"
The mana consumption was still high for him even though he had minimized it.
"Never mind Jeremiah are you done?" He asked but before Jeremiah could answer a howl made the boy tremble.
"Argh!"
The strength alone of the howl made Apollo and Bulan kneel. Every lower-level beast inside the outer and inner layers of the forest felt the pressure of howling making them cower in fear.
[Run Creator!]
Jeremiah's voice rang in Apollo's head and immediately he ordered Bulan to take him out of the forest.