Chapter 35: First Blood
Hu!
He took a deep breath to calm down and control his fear and excitement as both could prove deadly in a fight where his life was in constant danger.
Fear could make him unable to perform well while the excitement could make him careless. He couldn’t afford either, so he had to calm down.
Thankfully, his control over his emotions wasn’t too bad. So, he quickly managed to subdue his fear and control his excitement.
Following the fluctuations in his emotions, his control of his mana slackened and the layer on the sword blade started flickering. Lukas had to pause to stabilize it.
Behind him, Amara was staring at him in astonishment, various thoughts flashing in her mind.
While the Basic Mana Manipulation Technique was easy to learn, among her siblings, the most talented one—Natalie—had taken 3 days to comprehend it and use it on the same scale as Lukas was using.
Lukas, however, had taken barely 3 hours? This was really... incredible!
’He is really talented.’ She thought, biting her lower lip.
A moment later, the look in her eyes became determined. Also jumping down from her horse, she followed him but stayed a few meters away from him to allow him to fight however he wanted, but once she felt he was in mortal danger, she was going to rush in.
...
As battle raged between the reinforcements and the beasts, Lukas approached a two-meter-tall and bulky black bull at the back of the tide. It had a front leg missing and there was a deep gash on its neck.
Step!
Taking a deep breath, he stepped behind it and raised his sword to slash at one of its rear legs, wanting to check how much damage he could do.
However, before he could slash, the bull who was seemingly disoriented until now, seemed to sense him and suddenly turned its head around, an ominous red glint shining in its black eyes.
’Oh shit!’ Lukas noticed it tilt slightly forward and immediately jumped to the side.
Swoosh!
Right as he did, the bull kicked at the spot he was standing at lightning fast speed.
Lukas took in a cold breath, feeling chills run down his spine. If he hadn’t reacted fast enough, he would have been kicked in the chest and seeing how powerful the kick was, all his ribs would have broken.
But he didn’t have time to waste on thinking what could have happened because he was still behind the bull and in range of its other leg.
Just as the bull started to tilt to the other side in preparation to kick him with its other leg, he slashed at its thigh with all his might.
Puchi!
"Moooo!"
The sword cut through its tough skin and flesh easily, causing the bull to cry out in pain. Enraged, without properly shifting its weight to its left front and hind legs, it raised its right hind leg Lukas had struck and kicked toward him.
Meanwhile, immediately after Lukas slashed, he frowned because while he was able to cut through its skin and flesh, he failed to cut its bone. So, without wasting time, he took a few steps back, which allowed him to dodge the kick.
Thud!
Then he watched as the bull fell to the ground. Before it could struggle to its feet, he rushed forward and arriving beside its head, he stabbed the sword through its eye, piercing its brain and immediately killing it.
Ha! Ha!
Heaving deep breaths, he stared at it and was about to check the rune in his mind-sea when an earthen furred feline beast, also seriously injured, lunged at him from the side.
Hurriedly pulling out more mana from his mana nodes, he coated the sword blade and taking a step to the side and lowering his body so its claws would miss him, he slashed at its neck.
Katcha!
Grrr!
Thud!
Just like before, he managed to slice its hide and flesh but failed to slash through its bone. Fortunately for him, he had sliced its neck, a vital point. Adding with its already serious injuries, it was immediately incapacitated and limply fell to the ground.
Again arriving in front of it, he stabbed through its eyes and ended its life.
Ha!
Pulling the sword out, he swept his gaze across the beasts and saw that a few had noticed him.
Immediately, he turned around and rushed back toward Amara.
"Kill them but try not to create too much disturbance." Saying this to her, he went to his horse and leaned against it, heaving deep breaths. After taking two lives, he was feeling nauseated and almost wanted to throw up.
Swoosh! Shing! Slash!
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Less than a minute later, Amara calmly walked over and stood beside him, "You feeling better now?"
"Yeah," nodded Lukas and looking at the four new beast corpses, he said, "You are strong."
Amara shook her head, "I’m not. They were already half dead, so it was easy to deal with them. But I understand what you meant."
Looking at him, she added, "You have just become a mage. So, don’t compare yourself to me or anyone else for that matter."
Lukas nodded. He was aware he shouldn’t do it but he couldn’t help when he saw how effortlessly she killed them.
"Also, congratulations on your first blood! You did very well for your first time, especially considering you were never trained for battle." praised Amara sincerely.
"..."
Lukas stared at her, unblinking. But knowing she was referring to his first kill, he nodded, "Thank you."
Seeing his strange expression, she thought he might have thought she was just trying to console him, so she said, "You seriously did very good. When I first faced a beast, I was terrified out of my wits and couldn’t even grip the sword properly or circulate my mana."
Lukas smiled, "I understand. Thank you."
Following his words, Amara nodded and went silent and Lukas closed his eyes, his consciousness arriving in his mind-sea.
Blood Quadrant of the Lust Rune was shining but the illumination hadn’t reached its peak yet. From what he could see, he needed to kill one more beast before it was full.
Opening his eyes, he glanced at Amara who was calmly watching the ongoing slaughter, seemingly deep in thought, and asked, "The two beasts I killed, can you tell what stage and tier they were?"