The blast broke the perfect circle of the hounds around him, they all scattered in different directions, and two of them got stuck beneath the shards.
The remaining three of the hounds then dashed forward, rushed towards him. One came from the front, and the others came from both sides.
A bead of sweat welled up on his forehead as he took his knife out of his inventory. 'Hand-to-hand combat, I might die.'
His hand slightly trembled as he took a deep breath and exhaled fully.
Raised the knife to his eye level and put his right leg back, and slightly leaned forward on his left leg.
Eyes were moving in slow motion from one hound to the other. The hounds finally reached him, the one in the front leaped towards his head.
The other two didn't stop and hit their head on the ribcage of his. A loud sound of his bones getting cracked filled the chamber.
A loud groan escaped through his mouth, saliva shot out when he groaned, and one of his eyes closed as he gritted his teeth. "Ugh-"
But he swung his hand towards the hound, which had leaped towards him, and the knife pierced the throat of the hound.
He pulled the knife out, and the blood of the hound fell onto his face as he still groaned under his breath.
The other hounds ran backwards, creating a distance between them and Leon.
His legs gave up, the muscles were aching, his body was begging him to give it some time to rest, but he still forced himself to get back onto his two feet.
He raised his hand as he wiped the blood of the hound from his face with the help of the back of his hand.
A small smirk curled up on his lips, breathing was ragged. Blood of the hound, which was on his hands, he marked his face with it.
He made three stripes horizontally and three vertically. 'I don't know why I did this, but it feels like something inside of me wants them dead.'
The hounds were trying to circle him again, but he moved first.
Feet were steady, but body still trembled, the grip on the hilt of the knife tightened slightl,y and his eyes were locked onto the hound in front of him.
When he reached the first one, the hound tried to hit him with its head once again.
But Leon grabbed the head of it with his bare hands, and his hands got brutally bruised as the blood started to come out of it.
A loud shout escaped his mouth. "AGHH!" But he didn't stop and lifted the knife up in the air and shot it downwards, breaking the skull of the hound.
The last hound hitched, the morale of it broke down as it saw its pack members dying one by one, but it still charged forward without thinking about anything.
"Yeah, you're a dumb creature. What can I even expect from you, charging like this alone?" He muttered under his breath.
He raised his hand up in the air, directed it towards the hound and used his skill [Mana Blast].
The blast of the mana escaped through his palm as it hit the hound straight on its face, and it fell onto the floor with a loud thud.
His head moved towards the direction of the hounds, which were still under the effect of [Shadow Bind]. He tilted his head slightly as his smirk disappeared, and the emotions on his face became blank.
The hounds started to howl, their howls were full of worry, and they were getting scared of death.
"Oh? You're scared of me? Because I killed your friends, eh?" His eyes frowned slightly.
He approached them, kept his hand on the head of the hound which was beside him.
"I'm not so evil that I'll let you stay away from your friends. Why don't you go and accompany them too and give me my EXP and cores?" His eyes closed, and a warm smile curled up on his lips.
He raised his hand as he pushed the knife into the skull of the one beside him and used the [Shadow Pierce] on the remaining ones.
═══════════════════
◈ ITEM STATUS UPDATE ◈
═══════════════════
[Item] – Metal Knife
[Durability] – 0 / 100
───────────────────
[Condition] – Broken
[Status] – Unusable
───────────────────
[System Notice]
The item has exceeded its durability limit.
Structural integrity has failed.
└ The item has been destroyed.
═══════════════════
A small sigh escaped through his lips as he muttered under his breath. "That knife was sturdier than I thought. It helped me kill many... Rest in peace, friend."
He then straightened his back, made his way to all of the cores which fell through the body of the deceased hounds, and he picked all of the cores up and put them in his inventory.
═══════════════════
◈ LEVEL UP ◈
═══════════════════
[Level Increased]
└Level 5 → Level 8
───────────────────
[Experience]
└ EXP Gained: 10,000
───────────────────
└ Mana +240
───────────────────
[Unallocated Stat Points]
└ +30 Stat Points Available
═══════════════════
He then raised his hand and kept it under his chin as he scratched it. "Hmm, I'm level 8 now. Let's check the stats window. System."
The blue screen appeared before his eyes, flickering with bright colours.
═══════════════════
◈ CHARACTER STATUS ◈
═══════════════════
[Name] - Ragnar
[Race] - Human
[Class] - Dark Mage
───────────────────
[Level] - 8
[Mana] - 560+20
───────────────────
[Attributes]
└ [Strength] - 5+5
└ [Agility] - 10+5
└ [Endurance] - 15+5
└ [Intellect] - 20+5
───────────────────
[Skills]
└ Mana Blast
└ Shadow Pierce
└ Shadow Bind
───────────────────
[Titles]
└ Brewed Executioner (Rare)
└ True Path Initiate (Legendary)
└ The One Who Walks Alone (Elite)
───────────────────
[Unsolicited stat points: 30]
───────────────────
A sigh escaped through his mouth as he took his hand to his waist and rested it there, and he muttered under his breath. "Let's assign the stat-points."
He started tapping on the system screen, and after a while, a satisfactory smile crept on his lips. "Chef's kiss."
═══════════════════
◈ CHARACTER STATUS ◈
═══════════════════
[Name: Ragnar]
───────────────────
[Level] - 8
[Mana] - 560+20
───────────────────
[Attributes]
└ [Strength] - 6+5
└ [Agility] - 14+5
└ [Endurance] - 22+5
└ [Intellect] - 38+5
───────────────────
[Unsolicited stat points: 0]
───────────────────
"Let's leave all of this and go do the delivery of the cores."
He made his way out of the dungeon as he stepped back into the jungle, the air was full of pure oxygen, and the buzzing of the birds and other animals was mixed into the air.
A/N
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