The Strength of an Elite

Swish

The knife thrown by Wolf arrived first, it was fast and precise, targeting the right side of the monster's neck. With a silent sound of cutting through the air, it arrived at its target.

Clang

It was stopped by the beak of the cockatrice right before hitting its neck, its speed and reflexes were far above those of the enemies they previously faced. It looked at the approaching Wolf who started sprinting as soon as he threw the knife, alas he was still too far away, thus it cocked its head forward at the first enemy it discovered, Reign.

"Dammit, even though I wasn't expecting to do any serious damage, I didn't think it would be able to just block it like that, this thing is stronger than we thought, I have to hurry up and help them."

Thought Wolf as he ran, his intuition sharpened by his years of training was telling him that this opponent was even more fearsome than they thought.

The cockatrice moved, it tried to charge at Reign but the pain from trying to move its wing that was impaled to his body made it scream out of pain again and briefly stop.

Screeeeeee!

The pain from its wound made the beast angry, angry at its inability to move its wing and angry at the enemies that made it so. Again it charged, this time not moving its right wing.

"It's fast!" Thought Reign as he brandished two daggers in front of him. "I'll throw the dagger in my left hand at it and when it tries to dodge or block it I'll have my shot at hitting in, I have to be f-"

Before Reign could do anything the beast lunged at him, its beak aimed straight at his chest. The beast's legs weren't enough to make it jump high without both its wings but they were more than enough to propel it forward with incredible speed.

Reign quickly crossed his daggers in front of his chest and tried to jump back to negate some of the momentum but failed as the beak hit the daggers right before that.

Clang!

A loud sound of metal colliding was heard as it hits, the strength of the attack was enormous, managing to push Reign back by 2m and dropping him on his knees.

"Cough, cough"

Reign violently coughed, some blood escaping his mouth, he tried to get up but his knees were still weak from the attack, the strength of the cockatrice with the help of the forward velocity it gained with its lunge was incredible, of course, it didn't come without a price.

Screeeeeeeeee

The beast screamed again, its beak slightly deformed from the hit, it was feeling a strong pain from it, but the enemy was still alive, injured but alive, it moved again, going for the final attack in order to end him.

Swish

Right before it could do so it stepped back as an arrow passed in front of its head.

"Dammit, it dodged!"

Beast cursed as he pulled out another arrow from his quiver, its slick design and black color matched the bow as they are parts of the same weapon.

Name: Bow of the swift

Att: 20

Def: 10

Agility + 2

Description: A bow commonly used by elven trainees before their coming of age, even though its power leaves a lot to be desired the user can use mana with it to make its arrows faster, thus increasing its penetration. The quiver automatically generates an arrow, focusing mana on it will make the arrows more aerodynamic thus making them faster counterparts of the usual ones.

"I have to hurry, Reign could die if I don't attack it on time."

Thought Beast as he pulled the arrow back with shaking hands, just as he aimed he saw something that made him ease up a bit.

"Thank god, he arrived".

"Got you, you bastard!"

Thud

Shadow stabbed the open backside of the enemy with full force. The beast, fueled by anger, completely forgot about the enemy behind it. With a cry of pain, it tried kicking him away but it hit nothing but air. Shadow moved as soon as he stabbed it, watching it move previously he knew that stopping for 1 second would give it enough time to hit him. Using his ability he blended in the shadows of the trees and threw a knife at it.

Clang!

The poorly thrown knife was easily blocked by the cockatrice as it had already turned around to face him.

"Tch, as expected it blocked it, but I never intended to hit you with it."

Thud!

A second knife pierced through the side of the beast, Wolf had already gotten close and with his skill with a knife, there was no way he would miss an opportunity such as this one.

The beast was now wincing in pain while observing the 3 enemies around itself. Shadow who it could barely see as he was moving through shadows of the trees stealthily, Wolf stared at it like prey, and the now standing Reign furiously stared at it. Wolf was the one it felt the most danger from, it was like a helpless little chick observing its predator every time it saw his eyes.

Buzzzzzz

Blue arcs of electricity started forming around Reigns' hands and knife, the knife a bit bent from the blow it previously had to endure.

"That blow, I'm going to return it to you with a bonus you know, ya overgrown chicken!"

Angrily said Reign while spatting a mouthful of blood on the side.

"Oh, why didn't I think of that too?"

Wolf cocked his head to the side while observing Reign. He brought his hands a bit forward and focused.

His hands heat up and slowly the knives in his hand turned slightly orange.

"These should cut through you a bit more easily I reckon."

Mockingly said Wolf as he started approaching the now panicking cockatrice.

It could see the electric arcs and the changing color of the knives, even though it didn't fully understand what was happening, it knew one thing, they have become even more dangerous to it now.

Reign and Wolf glanced at each other and simultaneously nodded. They charge at the wounded enemy. Shadow slowly moved forward as well, waiting for a chance when the beast started fighting with his 2 teammates.

Reign and Wolf arrive at the same time and slashed at the cockatrice, one from its right side and one from the front.

Clang!

Ignoring the pain, the cockatrice jumped and opened up both wings, blood spurted from the open wound on the right one. With its two claws, it managed to block both knives, but right away it felt pain from both of them.

Sizzzlee, ziiiip

Its left claw and part of its body got shocked by the electricity Reign used, while the right claw started to burn because of the heat generated by Wolf. Confused by the pain, the cockatrice again briefly forgot about the danger behind it.

Thud, slash

Shadow again pierced one of his knives in the exposed back of the beast while slashing with the dagger. The stab dealt more damage as his slash just gave it a superficial flesh wound.

Swish

Another arrow was released from the bow, hitting the beast on the right wing again. With a sharp shriek, it started falling down, and Reign and Wolf acted right away. With their two knives, they immediately started hacking and slashing from the front and side while Shadow continued his onslaught from behind.

While all three were giving it their best Wolf was clearly the more skilled one as he looked like he was dancing, his knives never stopping and making deeper wounds compared to the other two.

The cockatrice was dying, it knew that and it was angry, angry that it didn't manage to at least bring down one opponent before perishing. Using up all of its remaining strength it cocked its head back and delivered a strong thrust at Wolf. It was too sudden, he had no time to react and try to block the attack, and the cockatrice managed to hit him straight on his chest.

Clang!

The hit connects but luckily Wolf's armor proves to be strong enough to protect him, blood spurts from his mouth while he raises both of his knives in the air and uses his ability to its fullest. With a loud cry, he furiously stabs the cockatrices neck from above, a thin layer of fire forming on his knives.

Thud, sizzle

The knives go deep inside and burn the surrounding flesh and feathers, a smell of burning meat permeating through the area. The cockatrice raised its head and tried to hit Wolf again but, Reign and Shadow emerged from both sides and plunged their knives into its skull.

{Battle has been concluded, distributing experience...}

-Lvl6 Elite Cockatrice killed, 120 exp points gained -

- 10 S coins gained –

- D rank Iron Sword gained –

{Congratulations players, you are the first party to hunt and kill an Elite monster, additional awards will be given. }

-50 S coins gained –

- 1 Mysterious item box gained –

"I didn't expect we would get so many things from this guy"

Reign said while removing his knife from the now-deceased cockatrice.

"So, it seems like we are the fi-"

Wolf coughed violently as some blood leaked from the side of his mouth.

"Hey Wolf, are you alright man?" Shadow asked with concern as he looked at Wolf.

"Yeah, that attack just did a bit more damaged than I thought, but I'll be good after a bit of rest, now, what shall we do with the carcass and the rewards?"

In front of his face was a notification.

{Will you receive your rewards now?}

[Yes] [No]

"I think we should hold off from those rewards until we get back, the more things we have to carry the more tired we will get."

Said Beast as he got close to everyone.

"Agreed, now, what about this sword, it already dropped after we killed this thing."

Reign held the sword and asks everyone.

"I think you should use it, Beast doesn't need it as he has his bow, Shadow has his dagger and the knives, and I don't like using swords that much, I'll need your knives also, mine got damaged too much during the fight."

Wolf showed everyone his now deformed knives, the heat from his ability and the multitude of blows he gave the cockatrice had made them almost unusable.

"I'm ok with that" (Shadow)

"M-me too," Stutteringly said Beast.

"Thanks, guys"

Reign said as he gave Wolf the 2 knives he has, although a bit bent they were in a better shape compared to the rest. The 2 knives the cockatrice blocked with its beak were deformed at the peak and unusable for stabbing.

"Guys, so what do we do with the body, do we take some parts?"

Beast said as he came closer to the cockatrice and nervously watched it.

"In games, Elite monsters usually give more exp and drops, that is true here as we already saw, their parts are also often used to make weapons and armor so I suggest we take the whole body with us, it will slow us down a bit but the rewards should be very good."

Reign said as he grabbed a claw with both of his hands.

"We better hurry up than, the smell of blood will draw more monsters nearby, luckily we are quite near the safe zone now so I think we'll make it."

Wolf said and went to grab another claw, Shadow and Beast glanced at each other and nodded. They each grabbed a wing and started moving toward the safe zone.