Life and Death in the wilderness

"'My first trophy' huh…"

Cleaning his bloodstained hands in the flowing water of a nearby river, Tom admired the purple, cloudy fingernail-sized gemstone he had just cut out of a formerly living being he had just killed with his own hands.

(Killing something was surprisingly easy…)

While Tom wasn't thrilled to have fought to the death and eventually killed another creature, he didn't have strong feelings about it other than how easy it had been. Tom was calm, surprisingly so, while his hands were steady.

The fact that he could behave so nonchalant after taking a life scared Tom more than anything else, but he still continued to stay calm at the same time.

(I guess I'll just have to get used to this feeling… Or not, killing is wrong isn't it?...)

All these feelings and the lack of them at the same time combined to make Tom's head stir for the rest of the day he, Lizzy and Anne moved around to look for more monsters. Luckily for Tom, the two goblins were the only thing they encountered that first day in the wilderness.

"Okay, we're camping here."

As the sun had already started going beneath the horizon, Lizzy casually dropped her backpack in the middle of a clearing of forest, declaring it their camp for the night.

"I'll go hunt for something fresh to eat, Anne, set up a fire with the kiddo."

"Okay."

As the two of them had set up camp together countless times already, Anne and Tom immediately went to work while small talking.

"Are you hurt anywhere?"

"No, I'm in perfect condition. Thanks for asking."

"... It is my job after all."

"..."

Although the two of them would normally talk about what they had seen throughout the day and stuff like that, as Tom's mind was still stirring the campsite in the making quickly fell quiet. Even as quiet and matter of fact Anne was, she could see that there was something eating at Tom. After setting up the fireplace, Anne wordlessly walked over to Tom who was busy collecting kindling. With Tom sitting down on his knees, Anne could reach the top of Tom's head which she started gently patting without a word.

"What?"

Initially confused by Anne's actions, Tom turned to see a look of concern on the instructors face that made Tom at a loss for words.

"... It seemed like you needed it."

"Thanks."

"It is my job after all."

While Tom wasn't entirely convinced that patting him on the head was part of Anne's job, he nevertheless held his tongue.

-

In the middle of the night, Lizzy had suddenly woken Tom and Anne up. This wasn't some kind of prank like she would usually pull, but because they were about to have some uninvited nighttime visitors.

"Slow down the ones on the left, I'll handle the one coming from the right in the meantime. Anne, support the kid with all you got, and kiddo, dying is unacceptable."

Forming her pair of ice claws, Lizzy disappeared into the twilight darkness as Tom and Anne went to work.

"...Light."

With little effort, Anne wove together a spell that created countless small red flames that started spreading throughout the area, lighting up the forest so she and Tom could see the area clearly. It didn't take more than a few seconds before sounds of fighting started to ring out from the direction Lizzy had run towards along with the loud roar of some kind of monster.

"Let's get to it."

"Mmm."

Needing to keep whatever monsters were heading towards them away from the camp, Anne and Tom ran into the forest in the direction Lizzy had indicated. As the two of them moved through the forest, Anne's spell followed them, lighting up the area along the way. Soon, the clear sound of snapping trees and loud, stomping footsteps could be heard just ahead, making Anne and Tom come to stop.

"... A big one is coming."

"Two, the footsteps are out of sync. I'll use half my mana on the first one."

"... Okay, I'll cover you."

Normally Anne would be the one calling the shots in these kinds of situations, as she was the more experienced one, but somehow Tom gave out an aura that just made her follow along.

Not that it wasn't a bad plan, in fact, Anne was just about to suggest the same. Although that was only because she didn't have much experience fighting against the kinds of monsters who made the wilderness their home.

With an ear-shattering roar, the first of the two monsters made its entrance. Standing 5 metres tall, the vaguely humanoid creature had dull green, jade-like skin and sharp, faintly glowing red eyes. With limbs as wide as the trees around it composed of compacted muscles and thick bones, the bald creature's identity immediately became apparent to Anne.

"... An orc?"

Or so she believed anyway, as she would realize in a few seconds, misidentifying a monster in combat could be fatal.

"It doesn't matter what it is as it is going to die!"

Stepping forward with a strong conviction to kill his opponent, Tom channelled about half of his mana into his [catalyst] while imagining a cone stretching out in front of him, covering the monster that was charging him with its massive, blood-stained club. Having timed his attack right at the moment the monster put all its weight on a single leg, Tom's spell showed immediate results as the monster's leg first buckled, then failed under the sudden attack. With a sound not unlike the earlier sound of trees snapping, the monster's leg broke as the bone snapped and priced through the skin as the monster collapsed with a pain-filled roar.

"Take care of the rest!"

Figuring that Anne should be able to take care of the monster from there, Tom moved the mass of mana away from his [catalyst] and started circulating it throughout his body instead of as he made the fatal mistake of taking his attention off the monster in front of him. Having stopped paying attention to the first monster, Tom instead started looking towards the second incoming monster which he started running towards. But as Tom took his first step something strange happened which Anne didn't notice, but when Tom took his second step she did.

"TOM!"

"Eh?-"

Initially confused at Anne's uncaracaclisticly loud voice, Tom then noticed what was wrong.

They weren't fighting an orc, as Anne believed, but a troll. A troll was a monster known for two things, first its extreme hate towards intelligent life which even surpassed other monsters of its same ballpark and its impressive, outright monstrous vitality which made it able to heal most non-fatal wounds in just seconds.

Feeling the hairs on his neck stand on end, Tom had his intuition screaming at him at that moment, to move, move now or die. If he didn't move he was going to die, he might even die even if he moved, this was the first time Tom felt death so close to him, it breathed down his neck as Tom's [combat awareness] skill activated, showing a blurred red line going through his own head.

(Move!)

Almost on instinct, Tom moved his remaining mana into his legs with such ferocity that he felt his bones bending, his muscles tearing themselves apart.

(MOVE!)

Jumping forwards as his legs screamed out in pain, Tom's mind went blank as he felt a strong gust of air at his back. Having narrowly avoided death, Tom tumbled a few meters before turning to face the monster to find it distracted by Anne's flames which she had used to light up the area, those flames were currently attempting to burn out the monster's eyes.

"Can you kill it?"

Taking full advantage of the monster's confusion, Tom regrouped with Anne and moved in to cover her while the monster smashed a nearby tree as it continued its raged frail which was slowly smothering Anne's flames.

"... No, the skin is too thick. Even if I could hurt it, the monster would just heal like before."

While Anne was starting to panic, Tom remained eerily calm as he had been the first time he killed a monster. It seemed that time ran at about half the normal speed ever since Tom had laid eyes on the monster, moreover every single detail which was important at the moment seemed to turn clear whenever it was required for the situation.

(Thick skin, small eyes and ears with a large nose and mouth, then there's the healing…)

"I got it, be ready to follow my move, Anne."

Displaying an unusually cold smile, Tom glanced down at his fist as he clenched it. Tom was still unusually calm, his mind sharp and senses honed, while he wondered if this was the effect of some kind of [skill], Tom decided to table that line of thought until he had killed his current opponent.

"... Okay, be careful."

As Anne saw it, the two of them were in danger, their current situation only maintained by the fleeting amount of [lantern flames] she used to keep the monster distracted. In a few moments the flames would run out and Anne highly doubted her own ability to create more before she or Tom had their head smashed open by the monster's club.

If there was any hope in the current situation, it was Tom's idea.

"Be ready to burn it!"

Moving some of the mana still inside his body into his legs while diverting the rest towards his [catalyst], Tom charged the monster to enter the effective range of his own attacks.

(If long-range attacks don't work, then isn't it logical to close the range?)

Preparing the only of the two spells he knew, Tom imagined a half metre long lance extending out from his fist, but this time he wanted to maintain it for more than just a few moments like Lizzy did with her claws.

(Does she just continue to pour mana into the spell?... No, Lizzy doesn't have that much mana, in that case, I just need to let it flow back into my [catalyst] and create a loop!)

While the idea Tom just happened upon was simple in theory, in practice creating and maintaining a repeating or persistent spell was something only experts could do.

Of course, nobody had told Tom about this, so he completed his looping spell in just a few seconds it took him to close in on the monster. Closing into the range which could be covered by about 5 steps, Tom used [strengthening] to leap towards the monster which had just smothered the final of Anne's [lantern flames], striking it in the stomach and carving a deep wound as he passed. Tumbling a few times as he landed on the other side of the monster, Tom didn't even have to check his [combat awareness] skill to know that a retaliatory attack was coming. Jumping blindly to the side, Tom felt a sharp and then scorching pain spread out from his right arm, looking down he saw a massive bruise covering most of his forearm.

(... It seems while closing the range seemed to have been a good idea, it also sharply reduced the time I have available to respond to counterattacks. Good thing I'm left-handed.)

Attempting to clench his right hand, Tom only created a slight twitch in his fingers.

(My right arm is useless for the rest of the fight, good thing my [pain resistance] skill is so high.)

"Burn the wound, Anne!"

"Mmm!"

Following Tom's intuition which instantly proved correct, Anne summoned new flames with which she targeted the monster's fresh wound, forcing the flames directly into its flesh. Releasing an ear-shattering scream as Anne's flames dug into its open wounds, it was clear that the monster was hurt worse than what its absurd amount of vitality could deal with immediately.

This was Tom's chance and he had no need for someone else to mention that, Tom was already making the most of the opportunity.

-

Letting out what seemed to be its final scream of pain, the monster fell flat to the ground, with multiple seared wounds on its torso, legs and arms.

"... Is it dead?"

"No idea."

Answering as if it was a matter of fact, Tom closed in on the monster for the final time, creating an even larger lance spell than the one he had maintained doing battle. The second his spell was done, Tom used it to price the monster's head, destroying its brain without even leaving the stem behind.

"Now it is."