As Rejoke stood atop the dead body of the Great Wind Bird, he looked in Aurora's direction, hoping to see his alpha's reaction. Unfortunately, the only thing visible on the little white fox's face was a slight, serious frown as she stared down at the ground.
This behavior of hers quite perplexed him. His simple mind couldn't find a reason why his alpha would have such a look on her face. After all, they just hunted a powerful enemy and managed to level up! If that was not a reason to celebrate, then what was?
However, it seemed like Aurora didn't see it like that. Actually, she had a very good reason for looking so serious. Because what was coming would be probably the most difficult trial she would have to face. Even more difficult than when she fought the Iron Wood Berserker.
Just as Rejoke was getting very confused about the way Aurora was acting, the ground shook as tremors reverberated throughout the forest. From the distance, clouds of dust rose to the air, indicating that something was approaching.
'Here it comes!' Taking one last deep breath, Aurora steadied herself, preparing to face off against whatever was coming. It didn't matter what it was. What mattered was that it was very strong!
As the ground began to shake more and more fiercely, Rejoke also understood that whatever was coming wasn't to be taken lightly. But now that he had healed up, he could at least support Aurora in the battle!
"Roooooar!!!"
As a terrible roar that could probably be heard from kilometers away sounded from the distance, something huge appeared on the horizon. A body of a living creature. A massive one at that.
Compared to the size of that thing, the Great Wind Bird seemed like an insignificant ant. The creature was massive. It was tens, maybe even a hundred meters long. Yet it had no distinct features.
Though it was still far away, the creature didn't seem to have different body parts. No head, arms, or even legs. Just one massive body, with an extremely large mouth at the front.
The creature was a worm, probably. Actually, faced with such a horendous monster, Aurora wasn't even sure if she could call it a worm anymore. It was like a walking force of nature, something that could level mountains with ease.
'I'm crazy.' Aurora thought to herself. Honestly, facing such a creature seemed like something only a madman would do, yet here she was, planning to take it on.
'Whatever, that day after my first kill, I decided to never back down from a challenge. I either kill that thing and win or die trying.' Steeling her resolve further, she cleared her mind of any doubts and prepared, both physically and mentally.
Her eyes locked onto the approaching giant; a strange glint of determination and resolve flashed in her eyes. Clearly, she had made up her mind.
'One of us is dying here, and it's not going to be me.' As the worm's massive body grew even bigger and bigger as it got closer, Aurora briefly glanced at Rejoke.
The wolf had a peculiar expression on his face. But one thing was clear: he was afraid. Faced with a monster of such magnititude, he naturally felt his instincts screaming at him, telling him to run.
But, no matter how scared he was, he didn't move even an inch away from the approaching threat. His alpha was clearly planning to fight that monster, and a pack always stuck together.
Though his face was full of fear, Aurora could see the unyealding determination in his eyes. Originally, she was planning to tell Rejoke to leave, but seeing how determined he was to stay and fight together with her, she changed her mind.
'Don't worry, little wolfie. We got this.' Without looking back anymore, Aurora turned her head back to the front, her eyes locking onto the massive worm.
And finally, that monster was here.
"Roooooaaaar!!"
As if to signal its own arrival, the worm roared even more horrendously than before. Its massive mouth was wide open, allowing the party of two beasts to see right inside it.
'Ugh, you smell.' Aurora grumbled internally and jumped back in an attempt to not smell the foul odor coming from the monster's mouth.
Yet even after she moved, the worm didn't do anything. It just stayed in one spot.
Maybe it was being careful, or it was something else. But that didn't matter to our little fox at all. No, she wasn't here to just stare at each other.
After jumping back, and without the slightest bit of hesitation, she immediately cast an Ice Bolt. Before the worm could even react, the spell swiftly landed on its body, bursting into pieces on the spot.
The worm's defense was very clearly high, such that the spell didn't seem to do any substential damage. But it did.
"Rooooaa!!" The worm let out another roar, but this time it was one of pain.
The Ice Bolt definitely did wound it. The proof of that was the gross-looking green blood coming out of the spot the spell hit. However, despite its pained roar, the wound was pathetically small compared to the size of the worm's body.
Before Aurora or Rejoke could do anything else, the worm shifted on the spot as its massive mouth faced downwards. And with one simple motion, the worm dug down, and soon, its entire body was hidden under the solid ground.
In an attempt to quickly find the monster, Aurora spread out her aura as much as she could. However, there was simply no way for her to sense the worm's location.
'Tsk, this thing's aura is absurdly strong! It's everywhere!' She complained internally. It was quite clear that the worm's sudden action made her panic.
Right now, when Aurora tried to find the worm using her aura, she could obviously feel the worm's aura. It was simply too big to ignore, and that was a problem.
Due to how strong the aura of that thing was, it was impossible for her to tell where exactly it is. The aura was spread out everywhere, and due to its incredible power, it well concealed the worm's location.
What's more is that the worm was constantly on the move, considering how much the ground was shaking underneath them.
"Kyu!" Aurora wasted no time, knowing that the monster would attack sooner or later.
After giving a quick warning to Rejoke, which she had no idea if he even understood, she focused her senses to the max, ready to dodge an incoming attack at any second.
Rejoke did the same, clearly understanding that the worm could not be taken lightly. What a joke! He was on the verge of fleeing in fear when he even saw that thing; obviously he knew better than to underestimate such a terrifying monster.
The two waited. They waited for any sign of an incoming attack, but nothing seemed to happen. The worm just moved around underneath them without an obvious intention of attacking the two.
However, it didn't take long until Aurora felt something. It was subtle, but there was change in the tremors she felt.
"Kyu!" Giving a quick warning to Rejoke, she jumped back without any hesitation at all. She trusted her senses.
Even though Rejoke didn't notice the change at all, he naturally followed his alpha's orders and quickly did the same as she did, jumping backwards.
Just as that moment, the worm's huge form came into sight again as it lunged into the air right from underneath the ground. The two dodged just in time.
Seemingly, the worm didn't expect the two tiny creatures to dodge his attack; however, its very limited intelligence didn't really allow it to think too deeply about its failure.
"Kyu!" However, before the worm could even land back on the ground, Aurora had already called out to Rejoke.
The wolf quickly reacted and swiftly dashed towards the airborne body of the massive monster, reaching it also in an instant. With a nimble lunge, he jumped towards the monster and slashed forward with his claw.
*Swish* *Booom!*
The air shifted around, and a loud sound boomed out. The force that the air currents produced by the even pushed Aurora back almost a full meter.
'Holly!' She quickly stabilized her stance in order to not get blown away. And only after a few more seconds did the air currents seized to blow.
'I mean, I knew he was strong, but even when the two of us fought, he didn't produce such force.' Aurora let out the breath she's been holding in and stared at the clash happening a few meters away from her.
"Rooar!" The worm roared in pain once again, though less than when he was hit by the Ice Bolt. Yet, when using full force, Rejoke was actually able to leave a claw mark on the creature's body.
As the worm roared and Rejoke lost the strength and momentum behind his strike, he quickly used his hind legs to jump away from the worm.
With a quick spin of his body, the wolf landed back on the ground and quickly returned to Aurora's side.
At this moment, the worm landed back down on the ground, its body going limp for a second. However, before Aurora could even take advantage of the opportunity, the worm recovered almost instantly and dug back down underground.
'Tsk, annoying.' Reacting immediately, she quickly ducked down a bit and once again focused everything on sensing the tremors.
Rejoke also did the same, even without Aurora telling him to do so. After all, he was smart enough to know what to do after he had done it once.
"Kyu!" Soon enough, Aurora sensed a quick, slight change in the worm's movements, so after quickly warning Rejoke, she jumped back in order to get out of the way.
And just like before, the worm shot upwards from the ground, its massive body bending to the side under the effect of the planet's gravity.
"Ky-" Just as Aurora was about to call out to Rejoke, she already saw him rushing in towards the falling worm.
Though she was quite confused at first, after a second that took her to process things, she couldn't help but smirk internally.
'You're quick on your feet, wolf. Not bad.' In the end, she just shook her helplessly.
Rejoke was a fast learner, and above all, he was very intelligent. This is something that Aurora gradually realized.
Although she had known him for not even a full day, just from the few interactions she had with him, she could realize that the wolf was even smarter than she thought.
Honestly, he wasn't even that far off from human-level intelligence. Obviously, he wasn't really at that level yet, but in some aspects, he was maybe even more intelligent than a human being.
Yes, he couldn't understand complicated emotions and social relationships, but he had no need to understand such things. He was able to think quickly, react accordingly, and would rarely hesitate.
Humans tend to often overthink things, which is also often counterproductive. Sometimes, their intelligence and tendency to overthink things could even become their downfall.
This, however, wasn't the case with magical beasts. Beasts are simple. They don't care about useless things such as prestige, wealth, or power. They only care about survival.
And Rejoke wasn't any different. He was more intelligent, but his focus was still mostly on survival. However, he also understood other things. For instance, honor.
Back when Rejoke was defeated by Aurora, he was prepared to die. He lost fair and square, and so he would die. However, the white fox let him live despite them being enemies. This made Rejoke accept her as his alpha, and naturally, he respected her a lot.
Not only that, he even seemed to understand what Aurora was telling him to do. Of course, he didn't exactly understand what she was saying, but from her actions, gestures, and the tone of her voice, he was able to understand her intentions.
Thanks to this, he knew when to dodge and when to attack the worm. He learned, adapted, and strode to overcome.
*Swish* *Booom!*
Just like before, the wolf's claw collided with the worm's tough skin, leaving a green, bloody mark right away. The massive creature roared in pain once more, which served as an indication for Rejoke to jump back.
'We're hurting it, that's for sure. But that doesn't mean we're doing any significant damage.' Aurora quickly assessed the situation, realizing that their current strategy won't cut it.
At this moment, she couldn't help but think that her luck was annoyingly bad. When she fought against the Iron Wood Berserker, whose defense was incredibly high, she thought that she wouldn't meet an enemy whose defense would be so high in comparison to her stats.
However, not even two full days later, she encountered this worm, whose defense was even more monstrously high. What's more is that its health stat probably isn't any lower!
'Tsk, fine. Time to change plans!'