Leon had been hit in the back by one of the [Darkness Wolves], and the pain he was feeling right now was beyond anything he had ever felt in his life.
And yet…
[Devour it =)]
"Fuck..." Leon gritted his teeth as he turned his head so fast toward the other wolf that it almost looked like he was about to snap it, "YOU..."
His aura was surrounding his body as a vortex of it formed in his eyes.
And so…
~FWISH~
While the wolf was still in the air after successfully striking Leon, the boy grabbed its head with his two hands and… snapped it.
~CRWISH~
The level 7 [Darkness Wolf] fell dead.
[Holy, Host!]
But he wasn't done, since there were still two more wolves.
Not wasting time, he turned once again, and noticed that the wolf he had initially dodged was getting ready to attack.
But…
~FWISH, SLAM~
He yet again avoided the blow, then smashed its head to the ground.
And finally, he drop-kicked the last one, who tried to back down as it saw the human kill all its companions.
"A job well done," Leon sighed before falling to his knees: the pain from the wolf's attack was still omnipresent.
[Leon HP: 53/300]
[You are currently bleeding!]
"Fucking hell…" Leon had a hard time even breathing.
"-1! -1! -1!" and he was also losing HP from the constant bleeding.
"Any ideas, EGO?" Leon smiled at the ball of fire.
[=)] EGO though just smiled, [You'll be fine.]
And then…
EGO rose up in a space in between the three remaining wolves, then opened his mouth and used [Devour], sucking their souls.
[You have devoured 'Darkness Wolf', gaining 5 stat points!] since this one was level 7.
[You have devoured 'Darkness Wolf', gaining 4 stat points!]
[You have devoured 'Darkness Wolf', gaining 4 stat points!]
[+6 souls]
"…" Leon could already figure out what he needed to do by now, and so, using his last bit of vitality left, he got up and pointed at the four wolves around him, "EGO! Use [Partial Healing]!"
[On it!] EGO smiled as he went up to each of the wolves, and this time devoured not a white aura, but a red one that was emitting some strange particles, almost as if fueling the small ball of fire.
Leon felt the rush of energy surge through him as EGO obeyed his command.
A warm light made out of the same red aura that EGO absorbed enveloped him, knitting together the torn flesh on his back, and the burning pain faded, replaced by a tingling sensation.
"Thank God for that," he muttered, straightening up.
[Healing completed! HP restored to 300/300.]
He took a deep breath, testing his body. Still a bit shaky, but functional.
[Isn't that great?] EGO smiled.
"I mean, we do have to defeat them in the end, but getting healing after each [Devour] is indeed good, make sure to automatically use it from now on if I'm injured!"
[You don't have to tell me =)]
"Put all 13 stat points on vitality," the more Leon fought, the more lessons he learned, and this time he had learned that having only 300 HP was a terrible decision.
[Your Vitality Stat has increased by 13 stat points!]
[Souls (Experience): 13/15]
[Woohoo, one more wolf and we'll level up!] EGO smiled.
"Yahoo," Leon said with the most neutral and sarcastic voice ever.
To be honest, Leon didn't know how many people were still alive, but if each of them had gone through the same situation as he did, he truly wondered how many could have escaped.
Would Dan even be able to overpower this many wolves with a single golden fox?
Noah and Alice could probably do it since their attacks were long-ranged, making it easy for them, but what about if the wolves got close enough for them to not be able to aim right?
He had just left a situation where he almost died, the wound only closing up thanks to [Partial Healing], but he still needed to keep going, meaning the chance of meeting MANY more monsters.
And this was only the first zone…
[Just use the incredible strategy of: get hit, kill, heal; I highly recommend it, Host!] EGO smiled, [Although you're going to feel the pain, so it will indeed build your resistance!]
"Well… doesn't matter, let's just go," Leon sighed before continuing to walk, but he had lost the original direction he was in so he took another one.
All of it looked the same anyway.
"I do have a question though, EGO," Leon asked after two minutes, the forest extremely calm after the first two encounters for some reason.
[Do ask!] EGO, who was resting on Leon's head, replied.
"How many monster types are there in the forest?"
[How the fuck am I supposed to know?] EGO raised his imaginary eyebrows, [I know stuff about the world and about being a devourer, but nothing else!]
"…"
[The only thing I know is that there aren't only wolves!]
"And how do you know that?" Leon was skeptical, it just told him it didn't know anything, yet confirmed something that maybe wasn't even true.
But EGO's reply sent a shiver down Leon's spine.
[Because there is a tree branch slowly restraining your leg.] this is all EGO said.
And once Leon looked down… what EGO said revealed itself to be true.
"I have another question for you, EGO," Leon grabbed the small ball of fire, actually able to physically touch it, then squeezed it between his hand and smiling, "Why the fuck didn't you tell me about this earlier ^^?"
[Because I just noticed it too, remember that your stats are my stats!]
"…" Leon yanked his leg, but the branch tightened its grip, still slowly rolling upward toward the boy's knee.
He couldn't do anything to shake it off, and he even tried to hit it several times with no results.
"We need to find the source-" he tried to speak, but before he could even finish his sentence.
~FWISH~
Leon felt the branch tighten around his leg, then it literally lifted him up from the ground, meaning that his entire body was attached to it, his face facing the ground.
"Ah… shit…"
~SLAM~
And then he was slammed against one of the sturdy dark trees.
"Garh-" the pain was insane, even more so than the claw attack of the wolf.
"-394!" and it made sense, since the damage was higher.
But it seems like he had made the right choice in increasing his vitality, otherwise he would have died.
And now… he needed to find whatever was attacking him.