18 18. Slaughter

"And what happens if they get strong enough to break through the limits of a rank?"

Noah asked.

They had been running for thirty minutes, and traces of sweat appeared on Noah's face, yet his Master seemed completely fine and continued to explain.

"They evolve, or to put it simply, they hibernate themselves for some time and, when they wake up, they will feature a boost in all their natural abilities. Let's say, for example, that a four-eyed wolf of rank 1 was to evolve. Its rank would be 2 'cause of its body, but it would also have a rank 1 mental attack which makes it extremely more dangerous than it was before the process."

Noah finally had a better understanding of the evolution of magical beasts and could not help but feel a bit envious.

They just had to eat and sleep to get stronger while humans had to train nonstop only to take small steps toward a higher level.

This time, William took notice of his disciple's expression and smiled a little.

"I know what you are thinking but don't worry, you will see humans' advantage when you fight those beasts."

Noah was surprised but did not fully understand his Master's words.

He started to focus his mind on the imminent battle trying to anticipate the worst outcome possible.

They moved for twenty more minutes till they reached a small hill, there William stopped and took a pouch of water from inside his suit.

He passed the sack to Noah and said with a serious face.

"Over this hill, there is the wolves' lair. Their number amounts to fifteen, so you should be careful not to get surrounded. You will go alone while I will be watching closely enough to intervene if something bad happens. Remember all our training, and don't be stingy on using the "Breath" until you have a complete understanding of your strength. Catch your breath a bit and then go, don't worry, you won't be in any danger."

Noah became even more serious in hearing these words.

He took a small sip from the sack and sat cross-legged on the ground to steady his breath.

He looked inside his sea of consciousness, where the faint shape of some lines was forming at the center of the sphere and checked that he was at peak condition.

'Do not hesitate, do not make mistakes. Be wary of your surroundings. Fifteen wolves to go.'

He exhaled with force and then stood up, his mind was ready, and his body felt no fatigue, there was no reason to waste more time.

He unsheathed his sabers and started climbing the hill paying extra attention to anything that got perceived by his senses.

When he reached the top, he could see the wolves' lair at the bottom of the other side of the hill.

The wolves were three meters long and two meters high and had four big and sharp eyes and yellow fur.

Ten of them were lying on the ground, seemingly sleeping, while the other five were on guard on the sides of the sleeping group.

A slightly bigger wolf was at the center of the pack, it was probably the alpha one.

'If I charge, I will be completely in the open, there is no way I can catch them by surprise, but there really seems to be no other option. Maybe if I run at full speed going down the hill and using the "Breath", I can land a couple of hits on one of them. Yet will it be enough to kill it? And then what about the other fourteen? Fucking Master, why can't you explain things properly?!'

He thought for a bit more, but he really could not find other ways to get an advantage over them.

'Well, if I screw up, Master will just come and save me, so I might as well go all out.'

Steeling his mind, Noah focused and then jumped downward toward the lair.

He boosted his speed with the "Breath" in his legs and crossed his sabers in front of him.

He was fast! A rank 1 body using the "Breath" and going downhill reached an explosive speed.

Yet, Noah seemed not to notice as his mind was focused entirely on taking out a wolf before they could surround him.

In the blink of an eye, he was at the bottom of the hill with one of the wolves staring at him.

As if it recognized some form of danger, it inhaled as to prepare a howl to warn the other members of its pack.

Before it could though, Noah jumped horizontally and slashed at full strength toward the head of the wolf.

The saber, empowered with the "Breath", cut the wolf horizontally from its head till half its body like it was butter.

The wolf was dead on the spot!

Even Noah was stunned for a second by the perforating ability of the twin saber style.

Still, he was immediately forced out of his amazement, seeing that the other four awake wolves were ready to give the warning signal.

"AUUUUUUUUH"

Hearing the howl, Noah hurriedly took out the saber from the wolf's corpse and jumped toward one of those that were howling.

He was right in front of it before it even finished howling, and without wasting any time, he slashed at his head.

Even though he used less "Breath" than the first time, he still felt almost no resistance from the skull of the wolf as his saber pierced right through his brain.

The light in the wolf's eyes disappeared the moment it died, and this gave Noah the signal to rush to another target.

Suddenly, a shockwave hit his sea of consciousness, the remaining three awake wolves attacked together to stall for the other members of the pack to get up.

The attack was like a shrill sound inside Noah's mind, yet his sphere did not even tremble when hit.

'So weak!'

Noah thought while launching right at the pack slashing at two wolves that were almost on their legs.

Two half-circles of blood created in the air as the twin sabers cut through the heads of the wolves vertically.

That time Noah felt some resistance as he used even less "Breath" than the last time.

'I can use even less of it and still manage to efficiently pierce their skulls with my body strength. Eleven to go!'

Blood continued to flow as Noah moved around, slashing at the heads of the wolves in the pack until a shrill sound way stronger than the one before made his mental sphere lightly tremble.

The alpha wolf was staring at him with venomous eyes as it used a mental attack together with the remaining seven wolves.

Noah felt a bit of pain coming from his head, but it was so soft compared with what he had been through that he didn't even stop for a second in his slaughter.

He would use less and less "Breath" to deal with the wolves as he had estimated the strength of his body, besides he moved too fast for them to encircle him.

If a wolf jumped at him, he would cut it in half with a double vertical slash, if it came from his side, he would rotate on himself to deal a devastating blow.

The onslaught continued till only the alpha wolf remained, it had a large wound on his neck since he had managed to avoid one clear hit on his head.

'This one is a bit stronger than the others, after all, it was the only one that dodged one of my attacks even if barely. Well, I must consider that I'm getting tired, so my speed is diminishing. Next time, I must aim for the stronger ones first.'

The wolf was still looking at him with anger, but there was now fear in its eyes.

Noah slowly got closer while the wolf retreated, yet the wound on his neck was too serious to heal on its own.

The beast then tried a desperate attack, jumping with its jaws open toward Noah.

He watched the fangs of the wolf getting closer and then dodged at the last time to his right, delivering an upward slash to its neck.

The body of the alpha wolf fell on the ground, and its severed head rolled for some more distance.

After killing all of the fifteen wolves, he finally had some confidence in his ability!

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Edited by: Alessandro Sica