NOVEL NEXT Chapter 99: Wrongness
"Okay, time to become a coward."
Kicking off the ground, Veer sprinted away just as the wolf lunged. The creature's fangs sliced into a nearby tree trunk, splintering wood like it was nothing. Veer glanced over his shoulder, eyebrows raised in surprise.
'Damn! This guy has high Physical Damage,' he thought as he maneuvered through the woods. The duration for Severing Fang was ten seconds, so he also counted while running.
As he dodged a wooden plank by slipping on his right, he thought about the battle as usual, 'Its physical strength and durability should be twice...no, thrice as mine. And it does Physical Damage and has good Physical Resistance. But it doesn't have Magic Resistance; otherwise, it wouldn't have tried to run from the Fire Bullet.'
His thoughts came to a halt as his hair stood up. Without thinking twice, he jumped to the sides, feeling something heavy crashing down on his former place.
Looking at the small crater and the Wolf lying in it, Veer clicked his tongue, "Tsk! You called your friends, big guy."
The Wolf was just rising back on its feet when the temperature went down and Frost formed on its feet. It instantly froze the beast, making its movement slow and unstable.
[Frost Grasp: Freezes the ground beneath a single target, slowing their movement.]
[Duration: 3 seconds.]
[Effect: -20% movement speed.]
The three seconds of confusion was more than enough for Veer, as he instantly cast another Spell.
[Mana Pulse: Emits a wave of mana that damages enemies in a small radius.]
[Radius: 5 meters.]
[Effect: AoE magic damage, weakens magic resistance for 5 seconds.]
As soon as the wolf felt its movements returning to normal, it was hit with a wave of mana, damaging its insides. Its already negligible Magic Resistance reached zero.
In that exact moment, Veer swiftly cast his most used Spell, Fire Bullet, right into the Wolf's eyes. Helpless, the beast tried to dodge, but the speed at which Veer cast the Spells didn't give it much time to react.
The Wolf howled in pain as two Fire Bullets landed on its eyes back to back. Robbed of its eyesight, the Wolf's rage reached its peak as it began thrashing around.
On the other hand, Veer stalked behind the beast, waiting for any opportunity. He knew even if the Magic Resistance was turned zero, the Wolf wouldn't die from the Fire Bullets, so he used his class to his advantage.
He used his mage side to make an opening and was now going to use his warrior side to kill it. And soon, the wolf gave him the opportunity he needed as it slipped into one of the cracks it had created upon crashing.
Using that to his advantage, Veer dashed towards the beast and muttered, "Blazing Strike!"
With a powerful upwards flaming slash, Veer cut open the beast's belly. Not stopping at just that, he proceeded to thrust his sword once again into the wound.
However, the Wolf still moved and tried to take a bite off him. Scared that the beast might use Severing Fang again, Veer fired a Fire Bullet inside the wound, roasting the Wolf's insides.
Fortunately, the spell had no cooldown.
The Salbarin Wolf's body twitched slightly before going still. Its mouth was still wide open, showing its razor-sharp fangs.
Veer would have definitely liked to check it more, but he could already sense many presences around him. After the Wheat Farm's experience, he had developed an instinct through which he could sense malicious intent directed at him.
And he could sense various.
'Bye bye!' Veer thought as he leapt into the air and left the battlefield. When he was a little far away, he heard some crunchy sounds and grimaced.
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Shaking those thoughts off, Veer once again began to maneuver through the jungle. This time, he was very careful, as the Salbarin Wolf had given him some information.
The forest housed many Magical Creatures, and even a random one would be at Intermediate Stage. He could handle one—at max two—but what if a group of them attacked him?
'Rain probably only survived because of her Assassin skills. She just hid from powerful magic creatures and took down weak ones.' Veer thought, as he suddenly stopped.
He quickly jumped down the tree and hid behind a boulder. His breathing lowered, as he tried to keep his presence as low as possible.
For a few moments, nothing happened, but Veer trusted his instincts a lot, so he didn't even move from his place. Even his heartbeat lowered significantly.
Then, the ground shook as leaves rustled. Veer didn't move, and the ground also returned to normal. Then, it shook again, this time much harder, as if something heavy as a mountain had collapsed.
Veer didn't move, as he even closed his eyes. He ignored his surroundings and focused on himself. Sounds, smell—everything disappeared for him.
Suddenly, a heavy pressure descended on the world as if the heaven itself had collapsed. The Magical Creatures tried to scream but were blasted into pieces by an invisible force.
Veer didn't move.
After who knows how long, the eerie silence of the forest disappeared and the normal atmosphere returned, as if nothing had happened.
[Host can now wake up!]
Veer stirred awake hearing the system's voice and looked around him. The night was as dark as before, but now there was a strange oddity in it. As if something was wrong with it.
'W-What the hell was that?' Veer panted, as he wiped the beads of sweat forming on his forehead. Even now, he could feel death lingering around him, waiting for him to make some mistakes.
While he was jumping, he had felt the same feeling but so much more stronger. He didn't know what it was, but he knew something or someone dangerous was approaching. He could only thank his ten years of torture once again.
He had heard a lot about powerful Magic Creatures, how they had bizarre abilities and how they could sense if someone was looking at them.
So, even though he was dying in curiosity to know what it was, he held himself back and closed himself off from the world. It worked. He had survived...for now.