Mark fought with a halberd, sometimes called a spear-ax. It tapered into a long, pointed blade like a spear with a massive ax head on one side and a sharp spike called a pick on the other. He wielded it expertly, switching grips to match the situation. From horseback, he slashed at the wolves’ throats and brought the ax down to break their necks.
Letia had used a different, Western-style sword the last time I saw her fight the behemoth. She’d chosen a rare weapon called a katana, the design of which was said to have been passed down to a master Blacksmith from an ancient Hero. It had a razor-sharp edge, and you could thrust with the tip as well. She guided her horse with her knees as she wove between the wolves’ attacks. Her blade sliced in precise, smooth arcs; every strike landed where it would maim the beast or end the fight outright.
Lynn surprised me the most. She swung her enormous hammer one-handed from atop Leon. Every time she brought it down onto a wolf’s skull, I heard a heavy crack and the monster would collapse, stunned. She then switched her grip to both hands and—thud—smashed their head flat.
Yuck… It may have been thorough, but the way she finished them off was grotesque…
I slipped between them and cast spells whenever I saw an opening, careful not to get in their way.
“Air Cutter!” A blade of compressed wind shot out from my palm, slicing the wolf’s throat in a clean arc.
Ever since I was little, I’d exhausted my mana fully before bed every night. That meant I had plenty to defend myself with now.
Before long, we’d wiped out the pack, which had contained ten wolves in all.
Incidentally, my stats had grown quite a lot recently.
Daisy von Preslaria
Second Daughter of a Viscount
Health: 120/120
Mana: 4520/4525
Occupation: Alchemist
Skills:
(Appraisal: (6/10))
Nature Magic (MAX)
Alchemy: (6/10)
Wind Magic: (6/10)
Water Magic: (6/10)
Earth Magic: (5/10)
(Conceal)
Rewards and Crimes: None
Gifts: (Beloved Child of the Nature Spirit King) None
Titles: (Master of a Divine Beast,) Royal Court Alchemist, Savior of Women’s Skin
Honestly, even knowing how much I’d trained for it, my mana pool was ridiculous.
I’d also picked up a skill called Nature Magic. I was pretty sure that came from the Nature Spirit King. The Rose Whip spell I had used before probably fell under that category. But even though it was at MAX level, I still hadn’t learned any new spells yet; maybe I should’ve asked Leaf to teach me some instead of spending all my time on Alchemy. If the skill was already maxed out, surely I could use the spells immediately if I just learned the incantations.
My Appraisal level had gone up as well. And there were new titles. But “Royal Court Alchemist”? I didn’t remember ever being granted that title. And people had been calling me the savior of women’s skin since I developed that face powder, but I didn’t realize that counted.
Oh, well. My stats could wait. Letia was just starting to toss the wolves’ bodies into her own magic bag when we heard a rustle in the bushes that made us all tense again. Something big was coming.
“Smelled the blood, huh? Looks like the boss is here.” Letia clicked her tongue in annoyance. She must have thought we’d cleared everything.
A huge shadow burst through the branches, with a single, sharp white horn jutting from its forehead and two thick gleaming fangs curling from its jaws. Its body was almost twice as large as the other direwolves, nearly as big as a Fenrir. It had golden, glowing eyes.
Direwolves were wild beasts, not monsters, but this one…
“Tch, the alpha must’ve mutated into a monster,” said Mark. “If there’s something like this prowling around, it could make trouble for the miners. We need to take it down. Lynn, Daisy. Don’t push yourselves!”
“Right!” said Lynn.
“Ice Storm!” I tried to freeze its legs like the others, but the instant the frost spread across the ground, it kicked backward and leaped free before it could be caught. Snarling, it lunged forward, aiming its claws at Mark.
He managed to catch the blow with the handle of his halberd, but the other paw was already rising. Just as it swung, Letia darted in, her blade flashing up to intercept.
One of the monster’s arms was pinned by Mark’s weapon, and the other deflected by Letia’s katana. Now that it was upright like that, its belly was exposed and completely unguarded.
“Mine!” Lynn sprinted forward, gripping her hammer with both hands. Grunting loudly, she rammed it into the beast’s stomach. The impact threw the monster backward, crashing into the trunk of a nearby tree. I heard its spine snap on contact. The whole tree shuddered and then toppled over with a groan.
“Take this!” Mark leapt high and brought the axe head of his halberd down upon the monster’s neck. We heard a sharp crack and the beast’s head rolled to the side, its neck broken.
“What a dumb beast, showing its belly like that,” Lynn muttered, sounding almost bored.
These three were too powerful for me. I hadn’t contributed anything to the fight; all I could do was stare, feeling totally outmatched.
Still, the mutated direwolf—or whatever it was—was dead. Letia began to casually toss its corpse into her magic bag.
“Think this variant’s worth anything?” She sounded curious about how much they could sell it for.
“The fur’s impressive, and since it’s rare, I bet some noble would love to mount the head,” Mark said.
“Hmm,” she said. She gave a small, pleased smile, apparently satisfied.
That was when I noticed a cut on Letia’s arm.
“You’re hurt. Let me heal that.” I reached for a potion bottle in my satchel.
“It’s fine. Just leave it,” she said.
“No, I actually want to try something out.” Ignoring her protests, I pulled out the cork and began to pour it onto my hand.
“What are you doing? You’re just wasting…”
Instead of splashing my hand, the liquid potion floated above my head, maintaining a perfect sphere.
The three of them stared at me, speechless.
I took a careful step back to get some distance from Letia, and then…
“Go! Potion Shot!” I hurled the glowing sphere straight at her injured arm. The potion hit it with a splash, and just like that, her wound closed completely.
“Huh?” said Letia.
“What was that supposed to be? I’ve never heard of a potion shot in my life!” Mark looked totally baffled as he stared at me.
“It’s a combination of a potion and water magic,” I explained. “This way, I can heal someone from a distance in the middle of combat, just like a Healer can. See? I can be useful in a support role too!” I puffed out my chest, thoroughly satisfied with my little experiment.
“This Alchemist we’re escorting is absolutely ridiculous,” Letia muttered under her breath.
“Yeah, but what about Lynn?” I pointed at where she stood with her giant hammer casually slung over her shoulder like it weighed nothing. “She’s supposed to be escorted too, and she’s out here bashing monsters on the front lines!”
“Hey, I’m a dwarf. I’m supposed to be strong!” she retorted.
“That’s exactly what’s so wild about it!”
“You’re the wild one.”
Mark and Letia just watched us bicker in exasperation.
“Hey, Mark.”
“Yeah, Letia?”
“Is this even an escort mission? Because right now, it feels more like we’ve recruited extra firepower.”
“We’re A-rank adventurers, yet they’re keeping up with us, no sweat,” Mark said. “We’ve got an unholy hammer-swinging dwarf and Daisy over there who can’t decide whether she’s a Healer, a Mage, or an Alchemist.”