Raising the meekly reddish book with metallic words on the front, the man started quickly. “This one here is about reaching a meditative state. Relaxing your mind to think solely on the mana flowing through you, you can increase its speed and efficiency. Then, we have this one.”

  Saying while raising the yellowish-brown cover in his left hand, Lutiel’s eyes immediately settled on it as he saw a golden heart engraved below the title. Flowing up at the man’s face, he listened intently.

  “It’s littered with tens of different motions and positions of the body to help you increase mana flow around your system. Though, I don’t how it will behave if you aren’t able to use your mana,” the man spoke, lingering around both faces whilst Lutiel froze over.

  Burying his gaze into the book in his left hand, he kept silent for a few breaths, wondering before Zyponia’s soft fingers grazed along his arm.

  “I will take this one,” he said suddenly, eyeing the same one as before, making the shopkeeper smile lightly.

  “Good choice,” the man spoke before placing it on top of the inks. Then, he turned his eyes to the lady. “Your highness, let this be a gift from me. It’s for the years of great lordship your family has served our people,” he spoke calmly while glancing into her eyes, the lady omitting it with a nod before crossing her arms.

  “I’ll accept it,” she said lightly. “Now, sell me the other items,” adding whilst pointing at her servant’s arms, the man urgently walked over behind the counter.

  With a few moments passing, the duo walked out to the group of demons gathered at the entrance, Zyponia’s first step already parting them away.

  Then, they swiftly approached the carriage, venturing inside before Lutiel’s mien soured somewhat. Right as he placed the items to his right, the carriage moved further forward, taking the fastest route he knew of towards the higher parts of the city.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll keep you safe,” a soft voice swept through his face, a pink smirk painted across his eyes. Still, he could only breathe a bit deeper to ease himself.

  …

  A painful whimper came forth nippily, Lutiel’s daze staring deeply into the wolf ahead of him as his blade befell on the creature. Crimson droplets tainted the grass, smeared across the tip of the shining metal.

  With a concise breath, the man readied himself before quickly running forward, after the hindered animal. Constantly in his eyes, the beast hopped to move even somewhat, its front leg lacking. Despite that, it could only get ever so far before the human had fully caught up.

  Right behind the animal, Lutiel’s prepared position screamed out. His arms pointing the sword to the trees behind him, the legs promptly leaned towards the beast, a breath before his whole torso turned to the right, slashing through the air.

  Effortlessly, a faint whistle of the wind played within his ears. Then, he grimaced slightly, feeling some resistance coming from the front. Regardless, he never closed his eyes. Staring while his blade halved the animal, it swiftly fell down, its tongue stirring through the short grass as it lay there, completely lifeless.

  Immediately, peering down at the wolf he had just murdered, Lutiel clenched his jaw and stomach, fighting the deep urges within.

  However, he couldn’t just keep standing there and watching the carcass. “Next one!” A louder voice battled through the soft winds and faint rustles before he quickly turned around, putting his longsword ahead of him, holding it tight with both hands.

  Right as it pointed at the ground, a similar beast as before came straight at him. Yet, Lutiel’s eyes squinted somewhat as he witnessed its size. Undeniably bigger than the former one, its head was at least a half larger.

  And, the man swiftly felt its might. Right as the teeth embedded themselves onto the blade, his footing staggered. Unable to stop the thrust of the growling beast, his jaw clenched up before he himself fell and crushed the corpse of the previous animal.

  “GRRRR,” the wolf snarled. Keeping its mouth tensed against the blade, the brown eyes glistened with hatred, directed solely at the man ahead.

  The sword began to slice through his palms, however, Lutiel didn’t care. Grasping each end of his sword to stop the ferocious beast from getting closer, he pushed against the monster. Then, he nimbly moved his right leg to kick the beast’s throat.

  Thumping against the ground harshly, air swiftly dissipated from the wolf. Once more, a whimper tainted the man’s ears, though it swiftly came back on its paws, already running towards him and growling fiercer than before.

  Still, he had already used the occasion to regain his foothold. Keeping his focus around the incoming beast, his hands ascended towards his right shoulder before he pointed the tip at the wolf. The dark leather of the hilt squeaked as he gripped it harsher.

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  Within a quick breath, he already pierced ahead, targeting the area between the wolf’s eyes.

  Yet, he could only crease his brows as the blade grazed through the fur, leaving but a shallow cut along the surface. Evading the man’s blow by lowering its body, the wolf promptly jumped ahead, opening its mouth to try and nibble away at his left arm.

  Scouring through the space quickly, Lutiel clenched his muscles before moving slightly to the side, at the same time changing his rhythm to slash to the side. Before the beast could burrow its teeth into his flesh, a large gash spread through it, parting its skin slightly and letting crimson shades cling to the darkness sprawled across its bulky figure.

  Leaving a line across the top of its head as well, the black wolf swiftly jumped away, lingering with its gaze at the man while swiftly circling around him.

  Steadily turning around to follow the wolf baring its teeth at him, the man constantly kept his stance at bay, the sword hovering above his right shoulder. But, right as he kept turning, the wolf suddenly disappeared behind one of the trees.

  The woods silent throughout, only his steps rustled through the grass as he searched for the enemy. Looking around the tree the wolf had disappeared behind, he found nothing however, making him sweep through the surroundings again, quicker than before.

  Suddenly, a breath of nippy sensations gathered at his back before tightening the skin around it.

  Turning around vehemently, Lutiel slashed to the side, his breath gradually quickening. Slicing right through the mouth as though it was a stream of water, the wolf came at him regardless, catching onto his left shin.

  “ARGH!” A harsh scream reverberated while the beast thirsted for flesh, clenching its jaw even tighter. Immediately, his agonizing screams grew, feeling as the wolf’s teeth scraped along the bone. With squirmed eyes, the man grinded through his teeth, swiftly bringing the sword up before stabbing down.

  Yet, as if aware of his actions, the wolf swiftly pulled away before darting off to behind one of the trees, the same motion as before.

  Groaning from the painful pulsations deep within his left leg, Lutiel limped whilst walking, however, he could only throw the pain away for later. Turning around once again, he searched for the wolf. Albeit a bit slower than before, his looks carried more urgency.

  Filling the silent space out with his faltering breaths, the man grunted suddenly as he made a quicker motion to the side, slashing his sword down as he felt the wolf reappear on the right. Nonetheless, the wolf easily omitted his strike, rushing around the attack before jumping for the man’s throat.

  Because of its sheer size, Lutiel could already feel the warm breath enveloping the skin around his collar.

  Yet, suddenly, the beast flashed through the space, vigorously flying through the space before bending one of the smaller trees inside the forest.

  With a thud, the tree threatened to tear off at the trunk, only for the wolf to fall down before anything could happen.

  On the other side, Lutiel’s right leg fell back to his normal stance, his face grimacing as he put all of his weight on the injured limb. Walking through the space with blood tainting the whole lower portion of his pants, unfortunately, the man failed to arrive before the beast got up again.

  Facing the ferocious racket it produced whilst barings its canines, the beast lowered its head, slowly starting to walk before exploding in velocity. Though, not at him directly. Dashing behind one of the trees, Lutiel sighed before once again increasing his focus.

  He glanced to the left suddenly, peering around a tree’s trunk as he heard a rustle. As soon as he did however, he quickly needed to turn left once more.

  Lying in wait behind a nearby tree, the wolf finally revealed itself, rushing at the awkwardly placed man.

  A breath later, the beast’s jaw easily met with the blade, hacking onto it before jerking its head harshly. Trying to pull the sword out of his grasp, it pushed back with its legs.

  Gritting his teeth, Lutiel promptly buried his right sole into the wolf’s maw, only for it to bite ever so harsher. Shaking its head back and forth, the beast tried its hardest to get rid of the sword. One by one, each time it didn’t obey his actions, he slammed his right foot on top of the black head.

  By the fifth, finally, the beast eased the bite somewhat, though not enough for the man to get away. Moving his leg up for the sixth strike however, the man was forced to stop. “AHHHHHH!” He screamed his throat away, feeling the wolf get away before biting his already wounded leg, making him fall to his butt.

  Puncturing and mauling through the flesh, the sharp teeth had a much easier time from the earlier attempt, immediately reaching to the bone.

  Biting down fiercer, Lutiel shrieked with a ruptured voice, shivering in pain as he felt the hard material shatter. Glaring at the beast from the pain, he quickly used his sword, thrusting with the tip at the wolf.

  Yet, it stopped all of a sudden, the metal barely brushing through its fur before the beast’s lowered head calmly gazed at the man. Shaking incessantly as he tried to raise himself, Lutiel’s rough breath traveled through the forest constantly, not stopping in the slightest.

  Glancing down at his maimed leg, at the same time making sure the beast didn’t get close, his chest went apace. ‘I’m starting to feel weak already. Too much blood is going away,’ he thought to himself while tossing hateful glances at the animal, barely even keeping his stance from falling apart.

  ‘Fuck, I can’t even walk properly. I need to kill it fast,’ he wondered, peering deeply into the wolf. However the wolf simply remained in its space calmly, waiting for him instead.

  ‘Are you making fun of me?’ He mused with a straight face, the skin wrinkling up as he grimaced from the pain. Yet, he quickly eased his facial muscles, seeing that the beast moved as soon as he did.

  Grasping his sword tighter, Lutiel’s mien changed suddenly. Describing no such thing as pain anymore, his stance immured in place, at the same time opening his eyes wide to engrave the wolf’s movements into him.

  Calming his breathing slightly, the sword fell, obstructing the animal’s path.

  Witnessing it all, the wolf swiftly opened its mouth, whimpering away as it was abruptly thrashed to the ground, the face split apart and the front right leg hindered. Releasing short, quick breaths as the beast remained on the ground, Lutiel’s body kept in place after the attack, staying there for a moment before moving back to a more leisurely position.