48 Slaughter

Jered spread his arms upward. Behind him, dozens of 'Mana Orb' glowed brightly. He wouldn't let those primate creatures make the first move. Therefore, with a simple tug from his mind, the orbs sailed forth and showered upon the pack of Wolfkins like a trail of shooting stars. Of course, even though it was a Neophyte-Tier spell, Jered had leveled it up enough times that it had become a dangerous spell, if used correctly.

The charging Wolfkins were briefly stalled by the powerful blunt force of the spell. Evelyn quickly capitalized on that and conjured a whip of lightning, and exactly like a Valkyrie, she went on a rampage. Three Wolfkins were struck, their fur burnt, and the skin underneath charred. Jered intervened with another 'Giza's Gaze'. An anguished howl sounded out as two more Wolfkins dropped.

Santiago stepped back when a Wolfkin got dangerously close to him, and in his panic, sent it railing through a tree with a powerful gust of wind. It drained a huge chunk of his mana, but at least he was safe. Eun-Kyung, on the other hand, was sweating buckets. The three mana circles around them had faded to the point it barely protected them. The fear of being a target had distracted her.

"Behind you!" Santiago warned in a fluster.

"H-Huh!?" Eun-Kyung's heart thumped when she heard a growl. She turned around, fast enough to put up a mana shield just in time. The Wolfkin's claw easily tore through it, and the rebound force from the broken spell pushed her to the ground, miraculously dodging the swiping attack. Santiago rushed to help her, standing in front of the towering creature. The pressure coming off of the Wolfkin was like a weight on his chest, making it hard to breathe.

He raised his hand, but the Wolfkin didn't let him conjure another spell. It was not stupid. It knew the human in front of it was dangerous whenever he lifted his hands. The cries of pain of its kin could testimony to that. The entire pack was being slaughtered by just two humans. How ridiculous! However, even though it knew its death was inevitable, it still wanted to bring one of them down with it.

With a growl, the Wolfkin pounced on him. Santiago's mana couldn't execute the spell as fast as Jered's, therefore, he had to roll out of the way to avoid being shredded. He gritted his teeth, scurrying as far from the Wolfkin as he could. Eun-Kyung was not about to let Santiago die. She practically dropped the three-mana circles' defense that had been flickering in and out, and conjured a powerful golden shield in front of Santiago.

"You fool! Keep the defense up!" Evelyn reproached, beheading a Wolfkin with her whip, "Oh come on!" she groaned when saw the situation behind her. Individually, Eun-Kyung and Santiago were incredibly talented, but once the situation looked slightly dangerous, their field inexperience made them lose all their bearings and go into panic mode. She didn't expect them to put up an exemplary fight, but she hoped they would at least provide them with some reliable support.

"Careful," Jered warned.

More shadows jumped out of the trees, supplying the perishing pack with reinforcements.

A beam of fire went through a Wolfkin's head, successfully intimidating the others.

[Giza's Gaze has become Lv.2]

[Experience: 2%]

It was short-lived, though. The Wolfkins were ready to forfeit their lives. Moreover, without Eun-Kyung's circles, the enemies' confidence skyrocketed. Jered's artillery easily mowed them down, but he couldn't afford to keep up such expenditure. He couldn't rely on 'Pharaoh's Flame' either. If he cast it, it would have been game over for everyone. Not to mention, he doubted Evelyn had a spell potent enough to put that fire out.

A solution had to be found.

Jered sensed a Wolfkin leaping at him. Fortunately, Evelyn intervened with a telekinesis burst before ending its life by wrapping her whip around its neck, and slitting its throat. Blood splattered all over Jered's face, "Are you okay?"

"Well, I could be cleaner."

She smiled lightly, and proceeded to twirl her whip around, creating a vacuum around them where no Wolfkin dared to approach. Jered didn't have to catch his breath, he turned around and sniped the Wolfkin scaring the shit out of Santiago. The creature's head blew up right before it could go for the kill. Eun-Kyung rushed towards him and knelt down, bringing her hands over the gash on his arm. It was bleeding profusely, but he wouldn't die because of it.

"Get up, if you can whine you can still fight," Jered said, firing off two 'Mana Beam's at the incoming Wolfkins. They dropped down with a thud, blood pooling around their heads.

Eun-Kyung exploited the short reprieve to chant a healing spell. She closed her eyes, muttering words in her native tongue. A golden glow went off in her hands, and Santiago's laceration began to mend back, "T-Thank you..." he uttered with a cough. The veins on his heart were throbbing from the exertion. There was no way he could continue fighting in that condition.

She nodded at him.

However, something all of a sudden was slightly off. There was a surprising lack of sounds. They both turned around, their eyes visibly widening at the display of pure savagery in front of them. Corpses upon corpses of maimed, beheaded, and disfigured Wolfkins were strewn all over the place. The blood trickling off them had joined into a stream that would have fed the wildlife—if there were any left.

Jered was breathing heavily, his clothes caked with Wolfkin's blood. Evelyn was by his side, her hair in disarray, and her clothes sporting tears in various places. They looked worse for wear, covered in filth and dirt. However, besides the obvious signs of tiredness, they were unscathed.

"How are you two doing?"

Evelyn approached them, her eyes not giving off any emotion.

"I-I'm fine..." Santiago said demurely.

Eun-Kyung nodded, "Yes..." then she averted her gaze, feeling exceedingly ashamed of her lackluster display on the battlefield.

If Evelyn had anything to say, she didn't say it. She nodded back at them, "Let's take a ten-minute break before we go on," she said, running the back of her hand against her forehead, "If you need anything, I'll be over there," she pointed at where was Jered sitting at, and then walked off to join him. The sudden change in attitude was a telltale hint of her dissatisfaction with them.

"Fuck!" Santiago cursed, laying down.

"..."

----

Jered sighed, feeling a bit exhausted. A break was exactly what he needed to ensure he wouldn't suddenly run out of mana mid-fight. The tang of blood didn't really bother him, but it was not a smell you'd cozy up to when craving a nap. Well, maybe Jasmine would. He unconsciously chuckled, "What are you laughing about?" Evelyn flung herself next to him, as tired as him.

"Oh, nothing. Just a random thought."

"Hmhm. That was not an easy fight, was it?"

He hummed thoughtfully, "It could have been handled better."

"I agree..."

"Are you mad at them?"

Evelyn leaned her head against the tree, "Am I supposed to? They're kids..." she blinked, covering her giggle with a hand, "Pfft. It's funny. Calling them kids in front of you when you're clearly younger than them. I guess it just shows how talent is not everything. Then again, I didn't expect anything less from you, Jered, really. I don't even care if they join Ashy Petals at this point, as long as you do."

He briefly glanced at her, a smile buoyant on his lips, "Well, Miss. Smith. With a teacher as pretty as yourself, any normal teenager would never dare to say no."

"That's such a lie, and you know it!"

He blinked innocently, "I don't know what you're talking about."

She narrowed her eyes, "Oh, you don't. Hah, okay. And I'm just a normal teacher."

"You would be if you dressed less scantily, not that I or any other male student that I know of is complaining. As a matter of fact, it's what drives us to wake up every morning. If you weren't there, I'd be skipping school way more often."

"..."

At least she had the decency to blush.

"I can't believe this..." she sighed dramatically, "The Jered Von Jacobs has actually flirted with me. If any of your girl friends at school were to know about this, they would immolate me."

"Let's keep this a secret then."

Evelyn ran a hand through her damp hair, "Honestly, we've never talked this much before, have we?"

"Hmm... well, we never had a reason to I guess," Jered shrugged.

"Exactly. I'm sorry to say this, but at the beginning, I thought you were kinda boring," at his blank stare, she had to stifle another chuckle, "I mean, you were so quiet, hardly paying attention, and always hanging out with that kid, Kenny. Reputation is a big thing in high school, but you never seemed concerned about it. I didn't know if you were special, or just another problem child... but..."

He smiled, "But here we are... talking about life and hunting magical creatures together. Who would have thought?"

"Yes," Evelyn smiled back, "Who would have thought?"