A sharp sword plunged right through its other eye, reaching the midbrain, instantly killing it.
"Again! Again!" I urged Miyaura as I got up, the lion collapsing in a heap of extinguished fire.
"You can see the kill message, it's already dead."
"Y'always gotta double check, y'know?" He clicked his tongue as he thrusted his sword back and forth in the eye socket of the lion a couple more times.
[You have slain Behemoth of Flames, lv. 29 Peak Stage Awakened]
Rewards: 300 xp, 2 gold
[Level up!]
Lv. 8 → Lv. 11 [Lower Stage Awakened Realm]
3/125 xp → 12 [Middle Stage Awakened Realm]
+3 Attribute Points
What?!
Only two gold??
That was a peak state awakened creature, cheapskate! Ughh, forget it, there's that massive bounty back in town.
Thinking back, the fight also quite infuriated me. My Arcanum wasn't of much use in this battle.
While the Abyssal Hand paired with my physique was easily capable of tanking the flames, the ferocious strength behind the paws could destroy my hand, so blocking attacks wasn't an option.
Moreover, because of the massive difference in strength and speed, my hand couldn't just latch onto the beast and siphon its mana and stamina. It could just shake or claw it off with its paws.
And even after I severed the achilles tendon, my hand still couldn't latch onto the wounded leg. Because of the sheer size of the lion, my hand could easily exit my range of manipulation when the beast performed certain movements.
But, in the end… the hand was what won me the battle, so I shouldn't complain too much.
Stretching my body, I let out a yawn, relaxing after that arduous battle.
"Wow! That was easy. Couldn't imagine getting so hurt in a catfight," I taunted as Miyaura poured a medium grade healing potion on his burnt hand. To heal my shallow wounds, all I needed was a low grade one.
He let out a snort mixed with a laugh. With a sly smile, he asked, "say… What did you get from killing the lion?"
Oh no, I have a bad feeling about this.
"Two gold?"
"Hahahaha! What a poor soul, so poor!" He said in a derisive tone.
"...What did you get?"
"Not much, only four more gold coins, its core, and flame fangs," he announced in a smug tone.
"After all, I was the one who inflicted by far the most damage and suffered the brunt of the damage."
"Hmph, I don't believe you. Whip it out," a skeptical look on my face.
"Huh— w-what!?"
I rolled my eyes. "Your supposed drops obviously."
"O-oh," he said, looking down as he took out the core and fangs. "See—"
He didn't finish his words as he noticed a shovel rapidly approaching his face at a dreadful velocity.
***
"Hey hey hey, six feet apart man. Social distancing," Miyaura said as he drew a line on the dirt as we were heading back to the village.
Unfortunately, my sneak attack didn't work. With his physique, he was able to sense my attack in time and dodge.
Though, if I really wanted the drops, I could've killed him. It would've been really easy too, I'd even feel bad.
After all, my Aether Reaping Vessel would just eat up the yin and yang marks he placed on me. So… his Arcanum essentially just gives me mana.
It was truly a terrible match up.
"Oh hey! How are you guys doing?" A friendly voice cut in from the distance.
Two men and women soon entered our vision, walking towards us. Though, I doubt they were actually women, probably guys in real life.
Three were upper stage and one was middle. They were all from the same guild, evident from their name. The middle stage 'girl' waved at us with a cheerful expression.
I narrowed my eyes as I gazed at them. You always gotta be wary of other people, you never know when you might suddenly find a shovel embracing your face.
"Uhh…" Ciel Winterforge, the man who spoke before, scratched his cheek, perhaps embarrassed because neither of us answered his greeting. I was thinking while Miyaura was socially awkward.
The group was now standing right before us, spread out like a wall, blocking our way to the village.
"So… Do you guys know each other?" He asked, seeing the space between us.
Miyaura didn't respond, perhaps wanting me to speak up because introvert things.
"I've never met this man in my life," I said, a suspicion in my mind.
Ciel's smile curled up, an ominous glint in his eyes. "Say… would you like to make fifty silver doing nothing?"
My suspicion grew further while Miyaura's gaze narrowed at him as well. Although he wasn't socially adept, he had good instincts and knew something fishy was happening
"Chump change, but I guess it's free, so I'm down. What do I do?"
Ciel's smile twitched at my comment before forcing it back to normal. "Block his path when we attack him."
Just then, the three other figures swarmed in on Miyaura, who immediately held a defensive stance, warding and nimbly avoiding the onslaught of attacks.
I turned to him with an amused expression.
Can he win?
He was now a middle stage Awakened, so the disparity in cultivation wasn't too drastic. Three or four people was also still in the realm of targets he could handle, normally.
Right now though, I'm not too confident. It hadn't been too long since the fight with the Behemoth of Flames, so he was still recovering his mana and stamina.
As I was in my thoughts, I suddenly ducked down and swung my shovel to the right, squarely hitting Ciel in the arm while avoiding the greatsword that cleaved down on me.
I was completely prepared, knowing something dubious was going on, and with my situational and spatial awareness, it was easy to dodge and counterattack.
"Aghhh…" He grunted at my hit. Looking back at me, he let out an astonished smile. "Heh, not bad. I didn't think someone with your name and skin w—"
Not paying enough attention to the battle from underestimating me, he was cut off when feeling the draining grasp of my Abyssal Hand on his.
I didn't give him any time as I launched a flurry of strikes and activated the windblade ability of my shovel many times.
They were capable of dealing a fair amount of damage to him, unlike the Behemoth of Flames.
This was due to his lower stage and the fact that humans, by nature, had weaker physical bodies than monsters or other other races without the aid of specialized Arcanums or physiques.
"Hmm… I don't think you're going to give me my fifty silver, I guess I'll have to take it off your corpse," I taunted.
"You…" He gritted his teeth, unable to do much against my assault.
Wounds accumulated on his body. There were some pretty deep cuts from my windblades and many bruises from the brunt hits of my shovel, causing internal bleeding.
Hmm… It doesn't seem like he's used his Arcanum yet, or is it so bad I can't even notice it?
As my onslaught continued, he took a desperate glance at the nearby battle.
Miyaura was holding off his three guildmates quite well. While he hadn't inflicted much damage, it didn't seem like he took much either. And it was a 1v3, with me finishing my fight soon, the tides of battle will turn.
At Ciel's momentary distraction, I took that opportunity to launch a particularly fierce strike.
That, was when his lips curled up again as he returned his gaze to me, a devious gaze.