47 Fists of M
The sound came from right next to him. Worried about Sturm, he turned around, and a bright light almost blinded him. The usually calm teenager had an evil smile on his face while his fists were clenched tightly next to his body. Around the fists, lightning crackled, illuminating the whole forest. It seemed like hundreds of lightning serpents danced around his hands as if announcing the arrival of a lightning god.
It was pure lightning matter, fueled by discharged mana cells and without the constraint of a mana construction. The energy started dissipating, but new mana matter kept being pumped out, preventing the lightning from completely disappearing. Sturm was not able to keep this up for long. Soon, he would be as drained as a teenager after a succubus's nightly visit.
Before it could come to that, Sturm would make quick work of the two wolves Reinhardt assigned him. The fang wolves were just as blinded as Reinhardt, and their natural fear of lightning made it even worse. Lightning zipped through the air as a right straight dug deep into the closest wolf.
Sturm felt the impact on his fist, the feeling he had missed so much. Despite all the conditioning, his hands still started bleeding, but Sturm welcomed the pain like a long-lost brother. [Black Room] had already spread out and copied the surrounding 20 meters. Through it, Sturm saw the numbers representing weight distribution heavily shift the moment the lightning he conjured entered the wolf.
Its balance was broken, and the fang wolf was close to collapsing. While shivering and trembling, it tried sinking its teeth into Sturm's arm, wisely avoiding biting his fists. Unfazed, Sturm stepped back and countered with a left hook, expelling and converting as many mana cells as he could at the moment of impact.
The result was lightning sparks exploding into the air, resembling a blacksmith's sparks when hammering metal on an anvil. Convulsing, the fang wolf dropped to the ground, foaming out of its mouth.
<<Like a hammer hitting metal? I like it. will just call this technique [Fists of Mjölnir].>>
There was nothing intricate about the [Fists of Mjölnir], as it was just a simple application of expulsion and conversion of energy. But simple did not mean ineffective. Sturm lacked the ability to hurt magic beasts with sheer physical ability, so he supplemented martial skills with arcane power. Although the convulsing wolf proved it was effective, the strikes themselves that had landed on the wolf had only caused slight bruises.
One would question why Sturm did not opt to cast a lightning bolt and be done with it. Why was there a need to use fists as a conductor if the lightning could just be thrown from a distance? There were multiple reasons that caused Sturm to opt for this approach instead. First, throwing a lightning bolt was a lot more boring than striking with your fists. If this was the only reason, then it would be nothing more than stupid, but the biggest reason was practicality. Skipping the process of building a mana construct and launching it at the enemy made it many times easier and faster to shock the enemy.
Most mages were not trained in close combat. Why should they? Launching magic from a distance and raining death upon their enemies was their mission. Defending could be left to those simpletons people called warriors.
There was a world of difference between these spoiled nobles and Sturm. Evident by the calmness the boy displayed as another wolf lunged at him. He did not need any warriors blocking enemies for him.
<<I will have to reduce the output; I'm almost out of fuel. I hope Reinhardt is taking care others.>>
Reinhardt had been stunned when witnessing Sturm's magic, but the wolf wails jolted him out of the daze. A mercenary needed to prioritize. Questions could always be asked later. First, the imminent threat had to be taken care of. Unlike his student, who could only paralyze the beasts but not threaten their lives, Reinhardt's axes had no problem hacking deep into their bodies.
It only took two well-placed strikes to finish off two of the disoriented canine beasts. An alpha wolf was responsible for its pack, therefore killing two of its members and paralyzing another one made it lose its senses. The alpha was clearly less intelligent than the one Edgar had struck down with lightning. With a howl, it commanded its two remaining brethren to attack the mercenary in a pincer movement.
Once the big human was distracted, the alpha would rip his throat out. One of the wolves was still entangled with Sturm. It had been unable to finish the young human off. Every time it tried to bite or slash at him, the human seemed to dodge before it even attacked and shock it with a slap.
When it heard the alpha's command, it decided to abandon the fight with the annoying two-legged cub and help deal with the grown one first. It was not worried about getting shocked again, as the human cub was a lot slower than it—a mistake.
<<Damn it. If I had more will, then it would have never come to this,>> Sturm complained.
*German Chant*
A lightning bolt struck the wolf, sending it tumbling towards the mercenary, who promptly decapitated it before it could get up. A pincer movement required two separate bodies to converge on the enemy, and with one of those bodies taken out, the remaining wolf did nothing more than a direct attack. It realized its predicament and tried to stop, but the momentum pushed it forward for an additional split of a second.
Enough time for the mercenary. Another wolf head rolled on the ground. The alpha had been waiting for the perfect moment for its attack, but now this moment would never arrive. Apart from it, only the paralyzed wolf was alive; the rest of its pack had been annihilated. Two hacked apart, their innards soiling the ground and another two decapitated, one of them heavily burned, spreading a nauseating stench through the area. An alpha that lost its members was considered a disgrace between fang wolves, and joining another pack was impossible.
The only way out for it was to find a female wolf to start another pack from the ground up. No matter, it was better than dying. It was sure its paralyzed kin would gladly sacrifice itself for it. Even if the giant human was strong, it would never compare to a Tier 5 bronze fang wolf.
*Thump*
A huge axe embedded itself into the alpha wolf's head. It had underestimated human resourcefulness, bringing a quick end to its dream of raising a new pack.
"Nice throw!" complimented Sturm.
"Thanks. I have been practicing this move a lot lately. Take your hirschfanger and finish off that other wolf, and then would you care to tell me what the hell that was about? Since when are you one of those arrogant magicians? And if you can just burn those beasts with a wave of your arm, why didn't you just kill them all at once?" Reinhardt had trouble believing what he saw. Even forgetting they were here for training and insta-killing a few wolves would be no aid in that.
"Awesome, isn't it? Edgar has been teaching me over the last two years. Remember that deal with Tibron and that lightning strike in the forest ambush? That was the start of it all. The reason I could not kill more of those wolves with my lightning is something called will. If you lose control of it or use too much of it, then you will end up hurting yourself just as much as the enemy." Sturm explained.
The image of Edgar's two burned arms flashed through Reinhardt's arms. "I see. I'm glad you limited yourself then. Now, why didn't you nor Edgar tell me about something so important? I am officially the guard captain of the Thunder Merchant Group. Shouldn't I know about such a liability? Do you even know what the nobles will do to you two if they find out?!" Reinhardt was furious, and rightly so.
"This is something you have to discuss with Edgar. Did you see my lightning fists? Now, even if I can't kill them, I can disable them, then you just make quick work of them with those sharp axes of yours. What do you think?" As much as Sturm appreciated Edgar, this discussion was the merchant's responsibility, not his.
Reinhardt was clumsy, not stupid. If Sturm avoided the question and shoved it to Edgar, that meant the merchant was responsible for the information withholdment. It was not right to blame Sturm for that.
"Yes, it was hard to miss it. My eyes are still hurting. Make sure to only use it when no one is around. I don't know what kind of restrictions you have on that lightning thing, but if you can keep taking out two wolves for each pack, then our hunting speed will progress a lot smoother than I thought."
To the detriment of the local fang wolf population, those words proved true. No less than 11 other wolf packs greeted the wolf god upon encountering the combination of thunder and fury. Every time the forest lit up, a foul stench of burned fur followed. While Sturm made sure no other mercenaries were close, unknown to him, the occasional magic spells attracted a completely different type of attention.
