Rescue (2)

Kiara watched Little Cupcake creep to her side as the man fought the cursed beast. Liam had fallen a few paces away, his eyes drawn to their fight as well.

Kiara was just too helpless and consumed by pain and blood loss to pay any attention, not to mention the man and the cursed beast were moving so fast that her eyes were unable to follow.

Regardless, Kiara was content to have Cupcake back. She was fine letting the foreign man do their work.

The little bunny licked her face as she glowed in a white light. A slow, nourishing power coursed through her from Little Cupcake, healing her wound and driving away the deep sense of exhaustion. In no time, she was able to stand up again, though she was still far from drawing any energy. Casting any spell would revert her situation back to where she was a moment ago.

Kiara was about to caress the little bunny and burst into tears, but soon the man who was fighting the beast was sent flying in their direction. He was easily a head taller than Liam, who was already taller than most people, but more importantly, now he was about to crash into her.

Surprisingly, he did not. The man flipped his body over in mid-air and landed just before her, his eyes still glowing in the menacing purple light, though fainter than before.

The man didn't even give them a look and spat blood. He stood straighter, like a spear, and was about to charge back into the fight when Liam opened his mouth.

"Are you sent from the academy?" the worn-out archer asked. "Are the backup on the way? Can you—"

Liam stopped, noticing the man was already gone, barely giving him a glance.

*** 

Warden didn't have time to ponder whatever the guy had asked. His body was growing fatigued, literally contorting with the sheer amount of force he applied and used in blocking.

The wolf wasn't scared away as easily as before. He still had no clue how it had grown so much bigger and stronger in just a day, but that was not important anymore.

He somewhat understood that his physical and spiritual attributes were unbalanced, one being about threefold the other. The only reason his body continued to function was because of the 99 points of Recovery—it implied not only the recovery speed of energy but also the recovery of stamina and most physical attributes.

Only his low Strength was holding him back. So far, he hadn't managed to deal a critical blow to the huge dire wolf. True, he hadn't received any serious blows either, but at the rate it was going, he didn't see a good end to it.

The devastating power of his purple energy was top-notch; it was just that he failed to grasp it completely. It was as if something inside him was preventing him from unleashing all his power. The black spiral mark on his left palm burned with an icy sting the more he used the power. It seemed to be only releasing a small quantity of the power—lest he was unable to handle it.

But Warden was already losing his patience. He couldn't just overlook it when people were dying around him.

There were more wolves, wreaking havoc, killing innocent people. The village was obviously still standing because they managed to stop this abomination. However, if more people were to die in the meantime, he dealt with this monster... just killing it wouldn't be worth it.

He clasped his left palm tightly into a fist, the hilt of [The Divider] still tight in his arms, as he attacked the lower body of the creature. He pulled as much power as he could and changed his game plan to slow it down as much as possible.

The huge beast not only had tremendous physical prowess, easily over the three-digit mark, but it was also terribly agile—a walking terror among its regular counterparts. The only saving grace was that it was unable to heal the wounds he inflicted upon it easily. Its burned skin grew back within a couple of minutes, but all the cuts he inflicted hadn't closed completely.

Something about the purple energy infested the wounds, rendering its regenerative power futile.

If he managed to severely injure its legs, then he would have no problem dealing with it in a drawn-out fight.

A plan soon formed in his mind as he eyed the village.

It was simple: diminish the pack leader's mobility so that it wouldn't be able to hinder him when he eliminated the rest of the wolves. Finally, when he had ensured the villagers' safety, he could deal with the pack leader before it could harm the village anymore.

With that, Warden proceeded with his new game plan. He avoided as much contact with the beast as possible, as his body would be unable to handle them with the terrible stress he was under. However, he couldn't avoid some blows, as he needed to be close to the beast to injure its leg.

So when its claw dug into his light armour, Warden managed to plunge his sword into its foot, rendering one of its legs almost useless. The beast howled horrifyingly as he ducked below it, running his sword into its knee.

The wolf fell to the ground, causing Warden to draw upon all the energy he could and plunge his sword through one of its back feet.

With that, his first objective was clear. Still, the beast was far from being incapacitated. It would still take a good amount of time if he were to deal with it without getting seriously injured. But that wasn't his plan.

Warden drew the wolf into the village and found the smaller counterparts of the pack leader relatively easily. A couple of archers and a dozen villagers were already keeping a pack at bay. There were eight of the wolves, and over twenty people. Sadly, the villagers were clearly untrained or lacked the mindset to deal with the wolves. A few of them had already died, and many were critically injured.

Warden shot at them with the pack leader in pursuit. He picked up a wooden spear with an iron head with his feet and threw it towards a wolf in the back just in case it accidentally hurt any of the villagers. Before throwing, he had no idea if he had any talent or skills in throwing javelins, so it was better to be cautious.

However, seeing how the imbued spearhead dug through the wolf's neck, his worries were unfounded. Perhaps he should have more confidence in himself.

Warden threw himself into the fray, keeping a close eye on the bigger trouble at his back. For reasons unknown, he didn't feel much pressure under their attack, just worried that he might cause some villagers to be killed. He didn't let that thought consume him, as there was hardly time for second guesses.

Warden attacked with full force, his imbued sword ignited in a dark purple smoke. The smaller wolves barely stood a chance against his fury. 

[Copper grade energy harvested!] 

[+1.2 Strength] 

[+0.2 Spirit] 

[+1.4 Strength] 

[+0.7 Strength] 

[...]

[Congratulations! Imbuing has reached normal proficiency: 100%.]