Jahi and I looked at each other, our eyes wide with fear as the roar got closer and closer.
Looking over, we saw the Marquess pursing her lips as she looked towards the source of the noise, her eyes narrowing before she turned to look at us.
"I think you''ll be fine."
Saying that, we watched in horror as she flickered away, and we quickly readied our des.
"Damnit, I swear to all that is holy that I will tell mother about this!"
Hearing Jahi''s shout, I nodded in agreement before quickly casting my Mana Cloak.
Jahi copied me, her light magic wrapping around her body and de.
The roaring stopped, and soon arge head loomed past one of therge trees.
It was a huge smander head, the moist skin a shiny red. Itsrge eyes flickered over to us, the red pupil meeting our gazes.
Opening its mouth, it let out a low growl before moving past the tree.
It was roughly ten feet long and four feet tall, and I shivered as I saw the small mes coiling around its legs.
"Alright, I''ll keep it upied while you target weak points! Also, use support magic! Your water will be absorbed by its skin!"
I nodded, before jumping backwards.
Jahi moved forwards, swinging her de towards the smanders head, only for the de to score a tiny cut.
I ran towards its side, darting forwards and stabbing the dagger deep into its side.
Quickly pulling the de out, arge amount of orange viscous liquid seeped from the wound, and the smander roared in pain.
I had to roll back as it swung itsrge tail towards me, and I felt wind rush past my face as I narrowly avoided the blow.
Jahi took the opportunity to stab her de deep into its front shoulder, twisting the de as she yanked it out.
We watched as the smander''s shoulder shivered, the red skin slowly turning grey as the Stygian Silver''s poison took effect.
Sadly that wouldn''t be enough to kill it, at least not quickly.
It mmed its front legs, a wave of fire roaring towards Jahi.
I dashed forwards, my hands moving as fast as they could.
Arge rune appeared in front of us, and a disk of water took its ce.
Standing with Jahi, I summoned another disc as the first one evaporated, before watching the wave of fire flicker out.
Panting, I staggered back slightly.
Rushing forwards with a shout, Jahi cleaved her de towards the same leg that she wounded earlier.
Her de cut deep, and I watched as her light magic red, shearing the bone in two before cleanly slicing through the remaining muscle and flesh.
The leg fell to the floor, the smander roaring again as it tried to ram its head into Jahi.
My hand shot forwards, and I watched as my dagger spun towards the smander, sinking hilt deep into its skull.
Staggering backwards, the smander shook its head, only to let out a cry of pain when Jahi''s buried her sword into its neck.
It shivered a few times, the mes flickering before sputtering out.
It copsed to the ground with a thud, and Jahi and I tookrge gulps of air, trying desperately to calm our pounding hearts.
Withdrawing her de, Jahi gingerly withdrew my dagger as well, tossing it to the floor in front of me.
Panting, I used my magic to clean us off, feeling my core straining as I used up more mana than I should have.
I staggered to the side, my vision blurring slightly, when I felt someone catch me.
Looking up, I blinked a few times when I saw arge silhouette, two sharp horns pointing towards the sky.
"Well, maybe that was a little to much for you both..."
Hearing the Marquess'' voice fade, I felt my eyes m shut, my body copsing into hers.
~~~
My head felt like someone was taking a hammer and chisel to it, with sharp pains hitting my head in random spots every few moments.
Groaning, I opened my eyes and blinked a few times to clear my vision.
Looking around the dark room, I saw the lights shining under the door frame, voices whispering to one another.
Sitting up, I put my head in my hands, feeling like I had just drank twenty bottles of hard liquor and lived to tell the tale.
Thankfully, each breath I took eased the pain slightly, and I eventually managed to feel just dull aches instead of the previous sharp pangs.
Other than my head, my muscles ached slightly, while my core felt tense.
That was much like when your heart clenched, however it wasn''t as bad, just a dull ache there as well.
That was also easing up with every breath, as my core slowly drew in more mana from the surroundings.
Taking a few more deep breaths, I looked towards the system, hearing the familiar ding of a notification.
[Fire Smander killed (assist)! 1232 xp]
[Achievement Unlocked! Big Game Hunter]
[Big Game Hunter: unlocked for killing a monster with at least double one of your stats.
Reward: 2 Stat Points, 1 Skill Point.]
While that was an amazing notification, it was the third one that really made me happy.
[Skill: Growth (Novice) -> Growth (Apprentice)]
[Growth (Apprentice): Increases Quest XP by 50%, and Combat by 50%]
However, after reading it I had to ask ''Why is it only a small increase?''
[Small increase? I can revert changes right now if I so wished. Small changes... 50% of 300pared to 25% of 300 is arge increase! Hmph.]
I pursed my lips, before nodding.
I was being greedy. After all, it was already such an amazing skill at Novice, it would be weird if it increased the Combat XP as well when it ranked up once.
''Sorry, sorry... However, could you tell me if I was right in my theory? That I needed to receive 1000+ Xp from one source to level it up?''
[Apology epted... and yes, that is indeed correct. It is an XP skill, and can only be improved by Xp. Now, as for improving it again, that is something you are going to need to figure out on your own...]
I nodded again, before flopping back onto the bed.
My gains from just doing my normal everyday things will go up now, as they are all made up of quests.
Turning my gaze to my stats, I quickly put the points into Agility before grinning at the totals listed.
[Stats:
STR - 15 (30)
CON - 14 (28)
AGI - 16 (32)
DEX - 15 (30)
CHA - 17 (34)
WIS - 16 (32)
INT - 16 (32)]
I could see now why some people were so obsessed with stats in video games; it was just so satisfying seeing them rise, and not only that, but be even as well.
Hearing the door open, I looked up to see Jahi and the Marquess peering in, before letting out sighs of relief.
Walking in, they sat on the bed next to me, Jahi pulling me onto herp while the Marquess gave me a wry smile.
"So... I do think I should apologize. I didn''t think you would have to exhaust your mana to kill the smander. However, you did quite good!"
I smiled at her, my irritation at her just leaving us to fight therge monster lessening slightly after therge increase in experience and leveling up of my [Growth] skill.
It only lessened, though. I still very much nned on telling the Countess of this.
Seeing me smile, the Marquess took another breath, her tense muscles rxing.
Getting up, she made her way out into the kitchen before returning with...
A bowl filled with...
Something.
Staring at the offered bowl, I watched as both Jahi and the Marquess looked away, embarrassed. Due to the low light I couldn''t tell if they were blushing, but I felt Jahi''s cheek warm up on my neck, so I guess she was.
Sighing, I got up with a groan, stretching before slowly making my way towards the kitchen.
Seeing the almost war zone like appearance of the counters, I sighed again.
Jahi and the Marquess gave me wry smiles, scratching their cheeks as they looked at the counters.
Setting about clearing everything up, I prepared an edible meal for us, much to their delight.
---
Man if I didn''t have my parents surprise me today with a ''You gotta take the dogs to get groomed, oh and pick them up too, oh and make dinner, oh and...'' I probably would have written this, a chapter for the Naruto fic, and maybe even one for the Danmachi one too.
Sigh...
Welp, that''s all for today, but hey, three in one day is pretty good, and I may actually write one of those after devouring this ice cream they used to bribe me...
---