Chapter 145 - 144: A Hero Saving a Beauty Is Real
Chapter 145: Chapter 144: A Hero Saving a Beauty Is Real
Sure enough.
The moment Zelir’s voice fell, three bloodthirsty, furious roars suddenly echoed in succession from within the camp.
These roars were completely different from the howls of ordinary Gnolls. They contained a peculiar rhythm that made one feel inexplicably agitated.
Following the roars, three Jackal Wolf Barbarian Soldiers finally revealed themselves.
They were all over two meters tall, their muscles gnarled like rock and brimming with a sense of explosive power.
The manes of dark red fur on the backs of their necks and spines were standing on end with excitement.
They wore metal Chest Armor plundered from humans and wielded massive, heavy War Axes. They were immensely intimidating.
Empowered by the triple roar of the Barbarian Soldiers, all the common Gnolls and Jackal Wolf Hunters on the battlefield seemed as if they’d been injected with a stimulant.
Their eyes turned crimson, and they let out frenzied howls. Their attacks grew fiercer, and even their running speed and the power of their swings increased significantly!
The pressure on the front line instantly mounted.
"Now, Leiden!"
Zelir issued the command.
At the tip of his Night Peace Staff, an Arcane Missile was already fully formed.
Leiden’s charging speed was a bit slower, but after a few seconds, he was ready as well.
The Jackal Wolf Barbarian Soldiers had just raised their huge Stone Axes to charge into battle when they saw two brilliant blue lights, one after the other, sweeping toward them!
The Arcane Missile Zelir released struck the chest of the Jackal Wolf Barbarian Soldier on the left with pinpoint accuracy.
The violent Magic Power exploded in that instant, tearing its chest apart. A large chunk of charred entrails mixed with bone fragments flew high into the air.
The Barbarian Soldier couldn’t even let out a cry of pain before it died on the spot, crashing backward to the ground.
Immediately after, Leiden’s Arcane Missile arrived.
He didn’t make any mistakes this time; the Arcane Missile also hit its target.
However, the Arcane Missile he released was inferior to Zelir’s in both its concentration and Magic Power Strength.
"BANG!"
The explosion was loud, but it only blasted open the iron armor on the Jackal Wolf Barbarian Soldier’s chest, leaving behind a large patch of scorched flesh.
The Jackal Wolf Barbarian Soldier let out a roar of pain, stumbling back several steps from the blast.
It was severely injured, but far from dead.
’Good.’
Zelir thought to himself.
’This serves to train Leiden, but I don’t have to just hand over all the Experience Points.’
Zelir immediately followed up with another Arcane Missile, finishing off the heavily wounded Jackal Wolf Barbarian Soldier.
The last Jackal Wolf Barbarian Soldier stood at the camp entrance, staring at the corpses of its companions, completely stunned.
It couldn’t quite understand...
’How could that Mage, so much smaller and scrawnier than itself, so casually unleash Magic with such destructive power?’
’Taken out with a single ball of blue light?’
’Should I run...? But if I do, the whole camp is finished.’
’Keep charging?’
’No matter how I think about it, there’s no way I can stand up to that terrifying Magic... ’
Zelir gave it neither the time nor the room to make a choice.
In the instant the Jackal Wolf Barbarian Soldier hesitated, the ground suddenly churned. Several tough vines shot out, climbing up its body and binding it tightly.
Vine Entanglement!
"AWOO!"
The Jackal Wolf Barbarian Soldier stumbled and fell heavily to the ground.
Its ferocious demeanor was gone. Now, it only wanted to struggle free from its bonds, because it had seen with despair that the human’s Magic Wand was once again glowing with blue light.
An Arcane Missile streaked across the battlefield and blew the Jackal Wolf Barbarian Soldier’s head to pieces.
The three Jackal Wolf Barbarian Soldiers that led the Gnoll camp had all been eliminated!
Watching Zelir’s entire combat process up close, Leiden was filled with admiration.
Even though Zelir’s words just now had taught him that staying calm was the most important thing in battle...
’...the gap in raw strength between us is still enormous.’
’The power of his spells, the variety of Magic he knows, the speed of his Energy Storage Magic... I’m no match for Zelir in any of it.’
’And he even has outstanding physical Attributes.’
Leiden was already twenty-three this year. When Zelir had first become a Junior Mage, Leiden had been watching from the stands.
’I really don’t know how he improves so quickly.’
With the death of the three Jackal Wolf Barbarian Soldiers, the invigorating effect of their roars quickly faded.
It was as if a bucket of ice water had been poured over the Gnolls’ bloodthirsty frenzy.
No matter how savage they were, they knew that baring their teeth and pretending to be fierce was useless in the face of an absolute difference in strength.
Fear spread among them like a plague.
The encirclement tightened as the mop-up began. The number of Gnolls dwindled, and even Leiden joined the fray.
Although his Arcane Missile couldn’t take out a Jackal Wolf Barbarian Soldier in one hit, it was more than powerful enough to kill common Gnolls and Jackal Wolf Hunters with a single shot.
After sniping the Jackal Wolf Barbarian Soldiers, Zelir didn’t bother with the common Gnolls.
’The Experience Points from [Simple]-rated Demons aren’t much anyway. Let the apprentices get some practice. It’s not good to do everything myself.’
Soon, under the divided encirclement by the Marcus Squad and the ranged bombardment from the Mages, every Gnoll in the camp was wiped out.
Any that tried to escape from the edges were either backstabbed by Rivaya or killed by Valles’s Feathered Arrows.
The Gnoll colony, completely cleared!
Level 13 (158/400) -> Level 14 (118/425). Level Up!
Zelir stood still, feeling the warm current flowing through his body.
Power: 92 -> 93
Agility: 96 -> 97 -> 99
Constitution: 95 -> 96
Spirit: 107 -> 111
Intelligence: 114
Perception: 32
Charm: 54
Lucky: 51
Talent Skills:
Technique Celestial Calculation
Magic Contract
’I’ve already leveled up four times during this Monster Hunting expedition...’
Zelir felt extremely pleased.
He could feel his Magic Power Strength had increased yet again.
His Spirit Attribute was even about to surpass his Intelligence Attribute, which he had been focusing on leveling up in the early stages.
’There are still about two or three days left of the journey. I wonder how many more Experience Points I can get from Demons in this final stretch...’
As he was pondering, a sudden scream from nearby interrupted Zelir’s thoughts.
It came from Mili.
Amidst a pile of corpses, a Jackal Wolf Hunter wasn’t completely dead.
As Mili passed by, it dragged its heavily injured body—one of its hind legs broken—and lunged with the last of its strength.
In its wide-open, bloody maw, its yellow canines looked terrifyingly sinister!
Mili hadn’t expected this at all. Panicked, her mind went completely blank.
She froze on the spot, unable to react.
But the flash of a blade arrived before the Gnoll’s fangs.
"SWISH!"
Zelir’s reaction was incredibly fast. He drew his sword and stepped forward with an upward slash in a single motion!
The sharp blade sliced through the Jackal Wolf Hunter’s neck, severing its spine completely.
The hunter’s lunge stopped abruptly in mid-air. Warm blood sprayed out in a fan-like arc, creating a red curtain in front of Mili.
The headless corpse flew over Mili’s shoulder and fell heavily into the mud behind her.
Seeing this, Valles, who had drawn his bowstring from a short distance away, slowly relaxed.
Zelir turned his head and glanced at Mili, who was still frozen in place.
"Are you okay?"
Mili still looked shaken.
She stared blankly at Zelir for a moment before her jumbled mind began to function again, and she slowly recovered.
"I’m... I’m fine."
"Be careful."
Zelir advised with concern.
"Some cunning Demons play dead. In the future, if you see anything that looks off, finish it off first to ensure your own safety."
Looking at Zelir up close, the man who had just saved her life, Mili suddenly felt her cheeks grow warm, and her heart inexplicably began to beat faster.
She averted her gaze unnaturally, and her voice became quieter.
"I... I understand."
Zelir sheathed his sword, not paying much mind to the little incident. He turned to help Marcus clean up the battlefield.
"Um..." Mili suddenly called out to Zelir.
"What is it?" Zelir glanced back.
"My... my hand... I think I accidentally got scratched just now."
There was a bashful, almost coy tone to Mili’s voice.
She lowered her head and held out her fair right wrist.
On it, there was indeed an extremely shallow, fine scratch.
Zelir frowned slightly, confused.
’You call this an injury...?’
He asked with some uncertainty.
"Does it hurt?"
"It hurts..."
Mili’s voice was very soft as she moved a little closer to Zelir.
"Can you... take a look for me?"
"Instructor Manlin!"
Zelir shouted toward the rear, "Mili’s hand is injured!"
’If a scratch like that hurts, it could be poison. A professional needs to look at it.’
Mili froze with her hand still outstretched, her expression shifting from anticipation to astonishment, and finally to crimson embarrassment. She wanted to find a hole to crawl into.
Yanni, who had been silently watching the entire exchange from the side, had a moment of enlightenment.
’So that whole ’hero saves the damsel’ scenario is real...’
"What are you looking at, Yanni?"
Bev followed her gaze. "Is Mili hurt?"
"Probably... not from an injury?" Yanni shook her head.
Gnolls also have Demon Cores inside them—murky, dark-red crystals about the size of a pigeon’s egg.
Although they weren’t worth much individually, the income from over forty of them added up to a considerable sum.
However, collecting every single Demon Core from the carpet of flesh, blood, and severed limbs covering the ground was undoubtedly a time-consuming and exhausting dirty job.
If it were just a few Adventurers, there was no telling how long it would take.
Isaac and Riley stood to the side, their faces pale as they watched Marcus cutting open the Gnoll corpses to retrieve the Demon Cores.
They had never killed this many Demons before, so the battlefield was particularly gruesome.
"Don’t just stand there acting like young masters and misses."
Instructor Lena’s blunt voice rang in everyone’s ears. "If you’re supposed to be helping, then help."
Left with no choice, the few Magic Apprentices had to brace themselves, pick up small knives, and join the line to carve up the Gnoll bodies.
Thanks to everyone’s efforts, all the Demon Cores were finally collected a little over an hour later.
Watching Instructor Lena place the large bag of Demon Cores into her Storage Pouch, Zelir began to calculate in his head.
’After this Monster Hunting is over, how much money will I get?’
’It has to be at least several dozen Gold Coins, right?’