Practice

Mayton saw a streak of green coming toward him like a crossbow bolt from his right as he instinctively raised his dagger to parry. Unfortunately, the dagger was just a normal weapon, incapable of guarding against a ferocious beast using all its might. With a loud sound, it broke in two as Mayton dodged the assailant in the nick of time.

''Damn it. This is already the second dagger I broke this way. I must change my combat habits, or I won't have anything left to skin my preys soon.''

Mayton muttered to himself. They were out in the wilderness, so naturally, there weren't any shops around selling daggers. Every single one lost meant one less, and he had only a single dagger left.

''This isn't only my fault of course.''

Mayton thought out loud as he glared at the green snake hissing at him from a short distance away. With a shout, he darted toward the snake with a speed much faster than the snake while trying to grab it. Before, the green snake saw Mayton as prey but seeing Mayton's speed it realized that their roles were the exact opposite of what it assumed, so it tried to slither away in a bid to escape. But it was already too late.

''You broke my dagger, and want to get away with it?''

Mayton roared as he grabbed the tail of the snake. As soon as his hand touched the snake's glossy green scales, sizzling sounds came from it, as the snake's tail charred black in the span of a single second. The snake winced in pain and tried to bite Mayton's hand to free itself. Unfortunately, when it bit Mayton's arm, its head also got burned, and before it drew its head back, Mayton grabbed its head with his other hand. In next to no time the snake's last struggles ended as its head got burnt to a crisp.

It has already been more than a month since Mayton's group arrived at the edge of the Demonic Forest and Mayton has been training in the first layer of the Fire Manipulation Art ever since. Now he could be counted as having a general grasp of the technique. He may not be able to melt iron with it yet, but he was proficient enough to burn ferocious beasts to death without harming himself.

He was particularly skilled in getting the desired effect quickly. For example, he shifted the focus of the technique from his hand to his arm quickly when the snake bit his arm. He was also ready for the venom of the snake as he evaporated it before it can spread through his body.

Putting what was left of the snake into a sack he brought with him, Mayton continued on his way. Today was the third time he entered the forest alone, and he planned to go deeper than ever. After all, ferocious beasts living closer to the edge of the forest tended to be considerably weaker than him, so much so there was almost no meaning to fight them anymore.

What he wanted was a close fight in which he could hone his abilities further. He knew that Leyzhen wouldn't let him die under any circumstances and this greatly emboldened him in seeking out strong opponents.

After killing two more ferocious beasts comparable to the green snake in strength and putting their valuable parts into his sack, Mayton finally encountered a worthy opponent. A huge dire wolf.

Thanks to the green cloak of the hunters which masked the scent of humans, the dire wolf wasn't aware of Mayton's presence yet, and Mayton wanted to use this to his advantage. After getting as close as possible without alerting it, Mayton took the bow strapped at his back and shot an arrow at the dire wolf. Unfortunately, he was still incapable of any ranged attacks using qi thus his only option was using the bow.

The dire wolf heard the whistling of the arrow as it tilted its huge body a little to escape it and looked furiously toward Mayton's direction. It was only at these parts of the forest because of its mission.

Normally, ferocious beasts as strong as it lived in the much deeper parts of the forest. There was rarely anyone daring to provoke it around the edges of the forest. Thus it was thoroughly angered by the sudden attack. But what it saw a moment later made it panic a little.

Mayton wasn't expecting the arrow to harm the dire wolf in the first place. He just used it to distract the wolf for a split second, enough time to halve the distance between them and take the initiative in the fight by attacking first.

Mayton threw a punch to the dire wolf's face with a shout, but the dire wolf leaped back with agility one would not expect from its huge body, making Mayton's punch miss the target. After dodging, the wolf howled furiously, not only to intimidate Mayton but also as a form of attack. And it indeed worked as Mayton got disoriented for a moment.

Pressing its advantage, the dire wolf swiped its claw at Mayton and grazed his chest. Even though the wound was shallow, the blood seeping through the shredded clothes of Mayton made it seem much more serious.

If not for Mayton's quick reflexes he might have been seriously wounded. It really was a close shave. But this wound, instead of making Mayton careful and reassess the situation, made Mayton lunge at the dire wolf after releasing an animalistic roar. From the flames dancing in his eyes, it was easy to see that he was losing control.

Mayton, ignoring the incoming claw of the dire wolf and getting a huge wound on his right arm in the process, tackled it to ground as they started to wrestle. Despite his small body, Mayton was equally matched with the dire wolf in terms of physical strength. The second boost to his physical strength when he broke through to the mid phase was enough to close the gap between them.

It was not only Mayton getting angry and losing his cool, the dire wolf was also fuming. It didn't realize it was dealing with someone familiar because of Mayton's cloak at first, but after it smelled the blood, it immediately associated Mayton with the villager who stabbed it back then*.

This made both of them ignore their wounds as they rolled on the ground. Mayton let go of his self control completely as he used the Fire Manipulation Art without any regard for the consequences. His body was red all over and signs of severe burn could be seen on it. With the various cuts left behind by the dire wolf's claws, he looked like he wouldn't be able to hold on for long. But of course, the dire wolf, unlike Mayton, didn't have any resistance to fire and therefore was in a worse situation.

Patches of its fur were burnt as the blackened skin underneath could be seen. It was also having difficulty breathing because Mayton was gripping its throat with both of his hands as he choked and burnt the dire wolf at the same time. The dire wolf tried to force Mayton away after the first few seconds of their close contact, but the difference in their body sizes was preventing it from targeting Mayton effectively who looked like some kind of parasite clinging to one of the places its host couldn't reach**.

Now, the anger of the wolf was replaced by fear of the incoming death as it whimpered in pain and thrashed around to toss Mayton away. But Mayton had no desire to let it go as he gripped even firmer.

Just when the dire wolf was dying, an earth shattering howl was heard. If Old Mert was nearby, he would definitely recognize it as the howl of the demonic wolf. This unusually powerful howl made Mayton gain a bit of clarity. When he did, he realized the horrible situation his body was in.

While it was obvious the dire wolf was about to die, Mayton himself wasn't that far from death. The wounds inflicted by the dire wolf was indeed severe, but they were not enough to kill Mayton. What really made his condition critical were the injuries caused by the reckless use of the Fire Manipulation Art.

Mayton didn't have to check his body to find out the severity of his situation, the sharp pain he felt as soon as he gained his consciousness was enough for him to understand it. He immediately let go of the dire wolf and jumped back to increase the distance.

''Hiss''

Even the mild summer breeze was feeling too painful right now, so when he jumped, Mayton couldn't help but let out a hiss of pain. His vision was darkening rapidly due to the pain, and before long he fainted.

The dire wolf, in a terrible condition but still conscious, started to drag its body towards Mayton in a bid to deal the finishing blow. It didn't know why the demonic wolf didn't show itself, but it knew that its survival was already guaranteed since the demonic wolf was nearby.

Just when the dire wolf was close enough to Mayton to land a blow on his head, it felt an unknown terror taking hold of its body as it started to shiver uncontrollably. Even the demonic wolf it revered didn't induce such a reaction on him. Without being able to kill Mayton, it lost consciousness not because of its wounds but due to intense fear.

A moment later, Leyzhen, in her usual spotless white robes, descended from the sky near Mayton. After glancing at his wounds briefly, she took out a medicine pouch from her sleeves and sprinkled some colorful dust on Mayton's body. Mayton's wounds scabbed over in a short time as the dust landed on them. Done with the first aid, Leyzhen waved her hand and Mayton started to float next to her.

''If you want to take your tribesman back, come to the edge of the forest.''

Leyzhen said to seemingly no one and left together with Mayton. After a few seconds, a sky blue wolf with three tails appeared among the trees, looking toward the direction Leyzhen disappeared at with fear, but also with a bit of expectation and gratitude.