Desperate situation

The shockwave sent reverberations all throughout the cave. Both Lumen and the Elite wolf were sent flying dozens of metres from their original spots.

'What the f*ck was that black mana??'

All Lumen could think about was the scene of the wolf suddenly going onto the offensive at the last moment and counter attacking his own mana reinforcement skill.

This was the first time he had encountered a situation like this, no beast he had fought so far had the ability to wield mana like humans do, which left an extremely bad taste in his mouth now that he had been caught off guard by one that could.

He had been ignorant to think that only humans were able to wield magic, and now he was suffering for it.

Lumen's thoughts suddenly came to a halt as he lay there on the ground, knocked out by his impact on the cave wall behind him.

-----------------

2 hours later, in the same cave.

'Ugh.... what is this pain?!!'

Lumen awoke from his forced slumber on the cold and hard rocky cave floor.

He opened his eyes in a numb state as he took note of the blurry, haired figure standing over his legs.

As his eyes regained their clarity, he quickly identified the haired figure as a level 9 rabid wolf, who just happened to be chewing on a piece of Lumen's leg which had been hanging off after the powerful explosion of mana that caused him to be in this state.

"Get the f*ck off me you stupid wolf!"

Seeing the low levelled wolf gnawing happily at his leg, a burst of rage came from the depths of his stomach as he practically roared at the wolf.

Unable to stand due to his injuries, Lumen looked all around him for his spear, thankfully finding it lying within reach of his head.

In one swift motion, he lifted the spear and powered by all of his upper body strength, he stabbed the wolf straight through its eye, not giving it a chance to defend.

Once he had dealt with that minor nuisance, he fished out a healing potion from his inventory and gulped the whole thing down in one swig, not wasting a single drop.

He also made sure to cast [Basic Heal] on himself to heal his wounds enough for him to be in a fighting stance again.

Once he managed to get back on his feet, he inspected his surroundings with caution.

He found that other than that lone level 9 rabid wolf, the only other living presence he noticed within the vicinity was the unconscious Elite wolf lying over a hundred metres away from him.

Joy filled Lumen as he realised that he had managed to escape death not only from a measly level 9 rabid wolf, but also from the level 12 Elite wolf who seemed to be also have been very largely impacted by the explosion of mana. Even with it's mighty defence, it still didn't manage to withstand the shock enough to stay conscious.

But the most joy he felt was from the fact that he was the first to wake up out of the two, meaning that he had the perfect opportunity to finish the job as the wolf was practically offered on a platter to him in this state.

He stealthily approached the beast as he didn't want to risk awakening it before he could even get an attack in, not wanting to waste the one opportunity he was given to defeat the beast.

As he approached, the threat of death was still lingering in the air between them, which confused Lumen a little bit but he threw his questions aside as he just assumed that it still lingered due to the beast not being dead yet.

In a short time from awakening, he had already arrived next to the beast as he prepared his strongest strike, the [Fire bolt] skill to attempt to finish the Elite Rabid wolf off once and for all.

Suddenly, just as he was about to deliver the finishing blow, the Elite wolf clasped it's eyes open and jumped from it's spot in an instant before Lumen could even cast his spell.

It was almost like the wolf had anticipated Lumen coming over to deliver an attack while it was 'unconscious', which completely caught him off guard.

He was the one who fell for a trap, not the wolf.

'Sh*t!' Was all he could think before the wolf's claws came crashing down onto his chest, causing him to cough up a large amount of blood and be unable to stand.

Thankfully, the effects of his heal spell and healing potion still lingered as he had used them not long ago.

However he was still in a dire state and if he couldn't escape or defeat this Elite wolf, then it was safe to say that he was done for.

Realising how serious his situation was, he threw all caution to the wind and decided to use his [Fire bolt] skill even at such a close range, knowing that he would suffer from the explosion as well.

He didn't waste any time in conjuring the skill as in less than a second, a miniature sun was floating above his palm, waiting for Lumen to send to to it's intended target.

The Elite wolf was about to attack once more when it noticed the intense heat and light coming from Lumen's hands, and once it noticed what he was planning on doing, it immediately halted it's trajectory and hurriedly tried to flee away from where Lumen was aiming.

This somewhat benefited Lumen as the more distance there was put between them, the less the explosion would affect him.

He sent the powerful fireball flying towards the wolf, praying that it hit it's target.

A loud bang and the explosion ensued, sending dust and debris flying all over the place as Lumen concentrated his gaze from his kneeling position, focused on the cloud of smoke where the Elite wolf just was.

There as no movements and silence ensued as the smoke still lingered in the area, no breeze or wind being present in the cave to dissipate it quickly.

Lumen knew that it wasn't dead yet, he had yet to receive any notifications from the system regarding it's death so he knew it was still alive, he was just hoping his attack had at least severely injured it.

But when the smoke dissipated, the wolf was still standing there staring at Lumen with vigor in it's eyes.

It had clearly been injured by the attack as it was limping with it's hind leg now dangling by a thread of skin.

But it wasn't enough as the beast knew it was at danger of dying, and stopped all of its defensive measures, opting to go completely on the offensive.

Lumen stood there, knowing how his mana was almost spent, only enough for a single mana reinforcement on his spear.

He simply sighed and fell back down onto his knees, accepting his fate.

The wolf saw him accept his death and didn't slow it's sprint down at all, rapidly nearing in on him until only 10 metres separated the two.

It was in this moment of acceptance that Lumen had an epiphany.

'How have I been so stupid, how did I not think of this before...'

A distant memory unearthed itself from the depths of his mind as he attempted to do something he had never done before.

[New skill created!]

[Obtained skill: Fire infusion]