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Chugum

*swoosh*

*thud*

*whimper*

Beta thrusted his staff forward as if it was a spear, releasing his scythe at the same time, thus, creating a gushing wound on the first one that attacked. The Black Wolf was confused as to what caused the wound when it obviously saw its prey only holding a staff. Beta, on the other hand, was quite confident for finally unleashing the might of his weapon. He never got to showcase it in front of the others as to hide his true skills and stay lowkey at the same time. Another reason is also to keep it as one of his trump cards in the future.

However, the Black Wolf wasn't dead. It was severely wounded but that didn't make it easier for Beta. It's a beast, after all, known for its sturdiness, craftiness, and ferocity. The attack wasn't enough to finish off the wolf, instead, it got enraged and started bearing its fangs while looking at him. The other two wolves had a similar reaction after seeing their companion bleeding. They stared at Beta as if he was their worst enemy.

"These dogs sure have a rather good sense of community. For their pack, they'd chase someone for so long and even suffer through a fight in an undesirable terrain just to get their justice. A truly admirable behavior. Too bad that I will have to kill them...", Beta thought while looking at the wolves in pity. He truly felt that way. It was something he had wished for, for a long time. A family that truly cares for each other.

The wolves didn't care about his thoughts at all nor waited for his next attack. They only wanted revenge for their dead comrade. They rushed forward but they didn't dare to leap anymore, so they used all the space on the ground they had to try to get closer to Beta. Beta, on the other hand, prepared himself for the incoming attack. He held his staff like a spear, aiming at the incoming wolves. Since he couldn't attack using his scythe with the blade out constantly in the narrow pathway, he retracted the blade again and positioned himself steadily while facing the Black Wolves.

Not only Beta was having a hard time with using his weapon but also the wolves which didn't fit next to each other, not allowing them to properly team up on him and making it hard to evade Beta's staff. This is exactly the situation Beta had hoped for but he didn't expect what happened next. The wolf on the very front let himself get hit by his staff, and fell down. The wolf after him took advantage of that to bite into Beta's staff. Although Beta was quite strong, he wasn't able to get rid of the wolf, dangling and hanging on his staff for its dear life. The third one then took the chance and leaped at Beta.

Earlier, they were still prodding Beta's strength and abilities within this narrow pathway but things had changed after that one attack. They somehow came up together with a plan to render the staff immovable. Beta was surprised. He would've never expected the beasts to came up with a strategy so fast, executing it with full determination. But he wasn't sure if they really were smart or if they just thought that they will somehow pull through, because they forgot one thing.

*shing*

The staff's blade extended again, going through the jaw of the second wolf who was dangling on the staff and then entering the first wolf's shoulder that took the full blow. In that whole process, Beta also ducked, evading the third wolf's leap. But that brought him another predicament, due to him dodging the third wolf, he positioned himself in between them. There was one wolf on his right side and two on the left one.

Both wolves on the left were moderately wounded and still looking fierce while the other one that took a full hit from him was crouching in pain, severely injured, and close to death. Beta pulled off his scythe, splitting the wolf's jaw and ripping the other's shoulder open. He then got into a defensive stance, trying to cover both sides as much as possible. Others might go after the kill right away after seeing the wounded state of the beasts, but actually, this state was the most dangerous when fighting against beasts. They will be fiercer and stronger with the aim of dying together, thus, rendering any attacker helpless and in great danger.

Beta watched his enemies closely while showing them his sides wide open. That was the only way he could think of to watch both sides at the same time. But this stance was also dangerous. Exposing his weak points to the wolves would raise their chance of harming him. He didn't panic though and just kept on being alert and on his guard to ensure that he won't struggle against any incoming attack.

Suddenly, the two wolves on his left side ran up to him. With a slight delay, the one on his right side followed their actions. Beta blocked the wolves on his left side and kicked away the one on the right. But this time, he couldn't help evading the attack without getting scratched. His right leg had a few claw marks on it, bleeding profusely.

"If this keeps up I will definitely incur more wounds. But what can I do? So far, I can only emit soulpower with both hands free, thus making it not possible when I'm holding on to my staff. But, if I don't wield it with both hands, my actions will be slower and I won't be able to fend them off... Now that I'm thinking about it... why would I need to emit the soulpower from my hands? Although we were told to do so for the spell... didn't Croobie emit soulpower from all his limbs to cover himself with it as an armor? There's no apparent reason for it to only work to create armor though. Can't I just emit the soulpower I need, to create the arrows throughout my whole body?", Beta thought to himself while fending off the wolves and receiving more and more wounds.

Just as that thought crossed his mind, desperate from getting out of being disadvantaged, he tried it out. He didn't have the time to dawdle around and muse about its feasibility after all. He started releasing his soulpower on certain places of his body where his robe was torn. If he still had to send it through the fabric of his robe, he deduced that some of the arrow's power would be lost, eventually causing his arrows to deal less damage which he definitely doesn't want to risk.

But before Beta could even finish casting the arrows, the wolves took the chance of him being distracted and attacked again, interrupting him mid-cast. Even though he was a fast learner and trained to be faster when casting arrows, he still needed to concentrate very hard to be able to cast through his body. But of course, that was obviously something the wolves noticed as they felt the changes in his aura which they find threatening. They wouldn't allow him to gain back his momentum so they attacked him incessantly.

The longer the fight took, the more wounds appeared on Beta's body. There were scratches and bite marks riddled over almost his entire body. But instead of feeling threatened or afraid to lose his life, Beta became even calmer. He was determined on his goal and soon it worked. He finally succeeded with creating two void arrows. As soon as they appeared, he shot out both towards the two already wounded wolves on his left. Earlier while defending himself, Beta also made sure to attack their legs every now and then, so now, when it came to the most important dodge of their lives, they weren't fast enough nor even able to escape what's coming after them.

The arrows hit both of them on their snouts. The arrows completely disappeared and only left a gaping hole in the middle of their heads. It was a hole so huge that they died within seconds. No matter how much they struggled before, it was deemed nothing compared to this invisible vicious attack. Seeing this incredible power, the third wolf was surprised. So, this was the attack their prey was trying so hard to achieve and caused them to feel threatened? Even though they were quite heavily wounded, as a beast species, it wasn't hard for them to heal up in no time, as long as they get a good rest and food to eat. Thus, they had been bullying the boy for quite a while and grew fond of doing so.

It was completely unexpected for them to experience such a defeat against a young prey at that. Shortly after the other two had been dealt with, the third one didn't last long and died as well. The last one couldn't help but lose its fighting power after seeing its two comrades died a miserable end and it eventually died the same way, pierced by their prey's invisible arrow. Beta, exhausted and wounded, just slid down with his back on the wall, sitting in a puddle of blood. It was a mix of his own and the wolves' blood which stench filled Beta's nose, though this strangely made him happy.

"Ahh, how I missed this... A truly challenging battle that lets me improve faster is still the best!", Beta thought with the typical warm smile on his face.

"You have the technique but you're lacking in experience. Although, I must say that you learn quite fast. Your adaptation to the situation is astoundingly good as well."

Beta froze. At some point in time, a middle-aged man suddenly appeared right in front of him without him noticing anything. He looked to be around forty to fifty years old, with a small stubble of a beard. His big violet eyes stared at him amusedly. A slight smile was on his face as he looked at Beta.

"Even now you are calm. May I ask why? In a situation where an old man suddenly appears in front of someone, people would usually start screaming or running, wouldn't they?"

"You have watched my battle the whole time and appeared in front of me instantaneously. And all without me noticing your presence. Even if I wanted to resist, it wouldn't make any sense. You're obviously much more powerful than I am. Also, if you had wanted to hurt me, you could've done so from the very beginning. Rather than losing my rationality over some things that I cannot change anyway, I choose to stay calm and gather more information about my current situation.", Beta answered honestly as he looked straight into the man's eyes.

"Now that you have told me that you're after gathering information, why should I give you any?", the man said with a smile that got bigger and wider, looking even more interested at this strange young man in front of him.

"It's not as if you hadn't already thought of that, right? So, instead of choosing the normal way to hide my intentions, showing them might just be what I have to do in order to get the information I need.", Beta answered with a shrug.

"You're a rather interesting kid. What's your name?"

"I'm Beta. May I ask what your name is?"

"Hahaha. Pretty straightforward, huh? I'm Chugum!"

Hey, rottencorpse here! Starting from this chapter a new character whose name has been chosen by the very first patron makes its entrance! Chugum has pledged $50 and thus gained the right to name this mysterious master! Once again, thanks for your support!

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