Chapter 301 - Bullying Ashenwolf (Patreon)

A day has passed. Vega is progressing nicely with her skills, and we even found some low-level monsters for her to fight. Most of them are young ones, protected by their herds. So I would just kill most of the group and have my pocket half-demon deal with the rest.

Each of the fights are dangerous as even such young monsters are surprisingly strong thanks to this environment. Or it's just that the weaker ones died quickly.

As for me, I'm loving it. I would like this place even more if I didn't have to take care of Vega and just lurked around on my own. It slightly reminds me of the 1st floor, where death could wait behind any of the trees, a forest full of deadly monsters. Yes, the 1st floor was where I felt really alive, being forced to fight for my life or die.

Now that I think about it, maybe I'm not fully normal either, and it's not just the rest of group 4. But then I remember Lily's happy smile as I recommended her to cut off her limbs and store them for sacrifice later, and it quickly wears off. I am the normal one here.

I notice a presence sneaking closer and activate one of my anchors, sending a thermal burst through.

A small part of the forest explodes in sky-high flames, and even here I feel a bit of heat.

[You have defeated Battle Kobold - lvl 201]

[Lvl 221 > Lvl 222]

I turn my attention back to Vega, who is fighting a level thirty-one Kobold. The monster is multiple times taller, something akin to a bipedal lizard with dark brown scales.

The fight has been going on for a few minutes already, and I think it could have been over some time ago, but my disciple keeps trying to use kinetic energy during the fight. Her heart keeps beating, and her [Kinetic Barrier] absorbs some. All while I keep my [Mana Domain] around her and am extremely careful to do so.

Unlike the monsters that were born here, Vega isn't used to these high mana levels. Hell, even I have trouble working normally when not using my skills to defend against it. I don't want to see what it would do to her.

[Mana Domain - lvl 33 > Mana Domain - lvl 34]

Oh, nice, that's something.

Vega, frustrated and unable to shoot kinetic energy at the monster, just uses it to push her body to the side and then again to shorten the distance. Her dagger flashes, stabbing multiple times into the monster's chest.

She lands back on her feet, and the Kobold throws her with a punch that gets absorbed by her barrier, and she pushes herself up again, stabbing the neck while using her left forearm to block a bite from the monster.

The Kobold tries to tear through the [Kinetic Barrier] on her forearm, but before he is able to, the life disappears from his eyes.

Knowing the mood my disciple is most likely in, I don't say anything and give her time to calm down.

More presences start pushing closer from all sides, and I send explosions through a few more anchors and grab Vega.

Then, while the forest burns behind us, I push us into the air and then quickly towards one of the smaller mountains.

Keeping our flight as short as possible, I land and then continue running on my feet, strengthening my body. But, as a few times before, even this is enough, and plenty of flying monsters start circling around, searching for us.

I hide our presences, and when I find an entrance on the side of the mountain, I enter, and pushing through for a few seconds, I enter the cave.

A thermal orb flies in the air, lighting the area and the monster that seems extremely surprised as it just woke up.

[Ashenwolf - lvl 149]

The monster wolf isn't even that big; his eyes are at the level of mine. His fur is gray, and his eyes are light gray.

Somehow I find the monster pretty and cute. A poor fella awoken by intruders from its nap.

I use [Redistribution] to hold its movement, and the wolf tries to radiate some fire-based attack, but I absorb all of the heat, storing it in the thermal orb I'm using to light the cave. Then I disrupt its attempts to use a reinforcement type of skill and a few more attempts it tries. I let Vega go, and she starts looking around and in between me and the wolf.

Yup, that's me, the Bully. I'm totally bullying the poor guy and continue to do so for a few more minutes until the monster barely catches a breath after attempting to escape.

There is also almost no mana left in the wolf, and its eyes change. The monster recognized the difference and expects death. Yet it stays proud.

The wolf reminds me of the Crimsonwolf me and Tess fought on the 1st floor. Back then, I felt something akin to respect for the white wolf that caused us so much trouble and that inspired the creation of one of my first skills.

I take a few steps and stop an arm's reach away from the monster, still holding its movement with my skill. His eyes meet mine, even growling sounding in the cave.

Then I pet him.

The wolf's fur is nice and soft, and his body radiates a comfortable heat, most likely because of his fire skills.

As I continue to caress his head, I feel renewed attempts to escape, but there is no way he will be able to. Using my position as a winner, I step closer and continue. It feels nice, and the confused, yet angry wolf is somewhat cute.

Sure, it is close to a level 150 monster that would kill me given an opportunity. But now its life is in my hands, and I want to pet it. It might be because I miss Biscuit, but I even boop the wolf's snout a few times. It's nice and cold, but it just can't compare to Biscuit's, so I stop.

“Wanna pet it, Vega?” I ask my disciple. Yup, I lost in our bet again. Losing concentration when we found ruins of a building, and I found weird inscriptions on it.

I start thinking maybe our bet wasn't a good idea.

Vega doesn't even bother asking if it's safe or hesitate. Nope, she just moves towards the wolf that stands there, frozen in his movement, and climbs on his back.

“It's so soft and warm!” she says happily, her mood a bit better now. She moves closer to the wolf's head that is almost as big as she is.

Yet the little half-demon isn't scared at all. She seems to trust me fully and taps the top of the majestic wolf's head, “Can we keep him?”

“It would be annoying, just pet him if you want, and we will leave in ten minutes.”

She is disappointed but then continues to snuggle the wolf for ten minutes.

Then, as we are leaving, I release the monster, and he almost falls, his body not held anymore by my skills. He doesn't even attempt to attack me, just stands there, fur on his back lifting and a deep growl sounding in the cave.

I throw him a piece of deer meat I dried and exit.

Taking Vega into my hands, I jump off the mountain, boosting us only slightly to not hit the cliff. After ten seconds of freefall, I absorb our kinetic movement and slow us down to land on the branch of one of the bigger trees.

Two dozen or so miles in front of us is the sleeping Calamity, and I wonder how much closer I can get to it safely. We already shortened the distance by a third, so theoretically, we could reach it in a few days if we wanted to. But something tells me it wouldn't be a good idea.

So I once again check the map I got from Darren, the one with information on the Mirror. Obviously, the map is terrible. It shows a much smaller Valley, and there are even some of the mountains missing, but I use it as a rough estimation and, according to it, the Mirror should be nearby.

***

It takes an entire day. Meanwhile, Vega levels up a few times, her usage of kinetic energy getting better to the point where I think it's enough.

There are 5 days left, so I tell her to practice creating mana orbs and start explaining to her the logic behind my tricolored orb. She has a skill similar to [Focus], so she should be capable of something similar. If she wont be able to do it right away, she can fill them with kinetic energy instead.

That day, we also get attacked by a snake that is as thick as a car. The monster moves extremely quickly, spewing acid at all times, and radiating mana I can't fully block.

It causes me to become lightheaded and makes it more difficult to keep up my external use of mana. It's unable to pierce the Mantle, but the slithering moving debuff of a monster is extremely annoying.

I run between the trees, more of them falling behind us. Dodging to the side, a long patch of the forest in front of us gets covered in green acid that starts to melt them.

A dozen of my mana projectiles trash the forest behind us, but the snake avoids them all, and as it moves, more trees fall.

A few monsters attack from the sky only to be hit by the debuff, slowed down, and then either snatched from the air or their entire bodies melted in green acid.

I create a few layers of barriers, and acid lands on them, slowly corroding them until I use more mana, and the attack just slides and drips down.

The thermal orb floating near me shoots a laser-like concentrated thermal attack, cutting trees apart with a smooth burned cut. It slashes against the snake as well, causing deep burns and a loud hiss sounding in the area.

I create anchors near the monster, but they get disconnected from me by the field the snake constantly generates.

Vega, already passed out, starts breathing heavily, even though the barriers I keep around her.

Pushing us further away, three tricolored bombs explode where the snake is, but I only see its long body slithering like a blur away from the explosions.

[Redistribution] fails to grasp the monster, and it never gets close enough to get into the reach of my kinetic attacks, and it avoids my ranged ones, detecting them as they are shot. Yet another asshole picking on me and using the fact that I can't fight properly with Vega in my arms. And yet another fella to my ever-growing list of beings that pissed me off on this floor.

When my [Perception] locates the tunnels below us and a way heading there, I lure the monster further away, dodging the attacks.

Then I create hundreds of mana projectiles, all of them orbs the size of golf balls. Thermal energy floods into each one of them, and I start my bombardment towards where the snake is. They shoot like from a minigun, all hundreds of them in just a few seconds, obliterating a big patch of the forest and some of them hitting and burning the annoying snake.

The monster hisses, an even more concentrated attack with acid shooting towards us, splashing against my barrier. I keep the barrier supplied with enough mana and even use [Infusion] to infuse them with [Resonance], and gradually the acid slides down, melting the earth, stones, and trees underneath.

Meanwhile, the snake leaves, the annoying field it was generating gone.

I check on Vega, and her body is slightly heated up, the little half-demon still unconscious. Carefully, I use my mana to push the barely noticeable remains of the snake's aura away, and her breathing calms down.

Then I spend a bit of time testing my skills against the green acid that still remains behind. The effect it has on [Resonance], how it clashes with kinetic or thermal energy. The amount of mana I need to use for [Regalia] to face it. That kind of stuff.

But one good thing comes from the attack of the snake.

Its acid melts a big chunk of the stone off of one of the hills, revealing an entrance into a crude tunnel that was shielded by the material around it. That allows my senses to reach inside, and I send them through the tunnel, slowly creating a map in my mind.

Then deep inside that tunnel, I find something interesting.

A massive circular iron door not dissimilar to the ones of the Sanctuary.

Checking the map in the mana stone and the area, I come to the conclusion that we located the place where the Mirror can be found. Whatever it is.

***
Author's Note: So, the upgrade is here! I will add the remaining 4 chapters right away, so if you wait for a moment, the "Next Chapter" button will appear - you might need to refresh the page.

As always, thanks for being patrons, and enjoy the chapters!

***
Next Chapter