Monster Hunting Expedition - Part 1

The week passed by rather quickly and it was already the day of the departure. The students that were chosen gathered at the academy gates. Everyone had their gear ready. Some wore armor and some wore fitter clothes with their weapons and their sides and some just brought their wands. Of course, everyone brought rations and bought them in packs.

There was no carriage and soldiers that came along and we only saw Instructor Brandon and Katie Mills.

"Okay, everyone quiet down." Brandon commanded and soon enough all of the students looked towards him to listen. "We will be hunting a Wolf King that has recently migrated its pack into Willow Forest. Since the Wolf King will be too hard for any of you to handle, Katie and I will be fighting it personally, while all of you will handle the wolves in its pack." He added.

"What's the difference between the Wolf King and the other wolves, sir?" A student asked.

"Good question. The Wolf King has a third eye on its forehead that looks like a bright ruby. It is much larger than the average wolf and has the capability to use wind magic. It can also command the wolves in its pack and is much more intelligent than the rest." He answered.

"If you encounter it and me and Katie are unable to get to you, focus on defending and retreating. Do not fight it head on unless you have no choice. Understood?" He added.

"Yes, sir!" The students answered in unison.

"The expedition will mostly last up to three days. You will also be paired into groups of five and most of your team will be composed of people in your class. Now team up and get ready to depart." He said.

Hannah, Luna, Julius and I were already a team since we came from the same class. We were still missing one more person so we waited for the others to team up and look for the odd one out.

As we were looking, a male student came up to us and asked. "My name is Martin. I am a commoner. Is your team full?"

"No, we're still missing one person. You can join our team if you want." I replied as I walked nearer to him.

"Are we really letting a commoner join our team? What if he's just dead weight?" Julius' voice sounded from behind me.

I look back at him. "The Royal Academy only enrolls students with talent. I think we can trust his skill, Lord Julius."

"Yeah! It's fine Julius, we were missing one person anyway and everyone seemed to have teamed up already." Hannah added, showing her approval of the new guy.

Hannah walked up to Martin and shook his hand. "My name is Hannah, daughter of an Earl. You don't have to use honorifics since we're gonna be risking our lives as a team." She said with a smile as she shook his hand.

"I do not dare, Lady Hannah." Martin replied. "I appreciate the thought, but I must show due respect to the nobles." He let go of her hand and gave a bow.

"My name is John Colton, son of a baron. Although, I prefer no honorifics, I won't force you not to." I came up to him and put my hand on his shoulder.

"This here is Luna Thomas, daughter of an Earl. This is Lord Julius, son of an Earl." I introduced him to the members of our team outside of Hannah. He introduced himself with respect, showing the differences in social ranking. "What do you specialize in?" I asked Martin.

"I have little to no talent in magic but I do excel with the spear. I know a bit of earth magic so I can be a vanguard, Honourable John Colton." He replied with a slight bow.

"That's great! We have Lord Julius, who specializes in wind and fire magic as our main attacker. Hannah and Luna as our main mages and I will be the rearguard, protecting them since I can use both magic and have a little bit of sword training." I said.

"That does seem like a good idea…" Julius begrudgingly admitted.

"If I may ask, Lady Hannah and Lady Luna, what magic do you specialize in?" Martin asked both of the girls.

"I have talent in all the basic elements like John over here." Hannah said proudly.

"Um, I specialize in water, wind and light magic…" Luna said shyly.

Martin stared at both of the girls in awe at their magic talent. "Amazing…" He uttered.

'Damn, it's a good thing I didn't use dark or light magic during training… Things could've been troublesome if people knew that I had talent in all the elements.' I thought to myself as I saw Martin's reaction.

"Great! We have a support mage and one offensive mage. And with you in the vanguard we can feel a lot safer." I complimented Martin.

"Thank you for your kind words, Honourable." He replied.

Suddenly, we heard the sounds of the academy gates opening and Brandon's voice sounded out. "Alright, everyone walk with your teams and let us depart. I will be leading in front and Katie will be at the back as the rearguard." We headed out to start the expedition.

It took half a day to reach Willow Forest. It stayed true to its name and consisted of mostly willow trees. The trees were huge and the narrow leaves on the trees covered most of the sunlight, unabling it to peek through the dense forest.

"We received reports that the Wolf King and his pack were located in the heart of the forest. We will rest for the rest of the day, make camp here and start early tomorrow morning. Also, take one fang of each wolf you killed and we will count them as your team's contribution. Understood?" Brandon asked the group of students.

"Yes, sir!" The students replied.

We set up the camp and ate our rations, waiting for the next day. The different teams stayed together, their tents clustered nearer one another. We spent the night discussing our strategy and formation for when we are inside the forest.

Day broke and we gathered at the entrance of the forest. Instructor Brandon and Katie led the group inside and then left to look for the wolf king. Hannah, Julius, Luna, Martin and I headed deeper into the forest.

We heard growling in the bushes and soon enough four wolves jumped out to meet us in battle.

"Formations!" I screamed out.

Smoothly the entire team went into the formation we discussed, weapons and wands out and were ready to face the wolves.

[Identify] skill activated.

[Wolf]

Level 8

HP: 200/200

Mana: 0/0

[Wolf x3]

Level: 6

HP: 150/150

Mana: 0/0

'Shit, they are higher level than me and have more hp.' I thought to myself as I used my [Identify] skill.

The wolves began to slowly surround us and soon after they began to attack. Julius and Martin handled a wolf each and the other two went to attack Hannah and Luna.

"Raise Earth!" I scream as I raise my hand towards one of the wolves attacking Luna as I run towards the one attacking Hannah. A block of earth raised in front of the wolf blocking its path and view of Luna.

I raised my sword and slashed downwards at the other wolf.

[-80]

[You have cut deeply into the target. Wolf is now bleeding. 5 damage per second]

A small screen popped up on top of the wolf. 'Huh, so there's something like this?' I never knew that it showed damage numbers as well as status afflictions I can give to enemies.

'So all it takes are two hits to finish off the lower level ones. Sadly, the one attacking Luna is the highest leveled one.' I regained my stance and lunged my sword towards the weakened wolf.

[-100]

[You have killed a level 6 wolf. You gained 15 experience.]

I look back at the others to see that they were handling the other wolves well. The wolves that were fighting Martin and Julius were nearly dead with stabs and cuts all over their bodies. Hannah and Luna were successfully holding back the other one.

"Wind Bullet!" I scream as I form my hand into a gun shape and aim it towards the head of the wolf attacking Hannah and Luna.

[-200]

[You have killed a level 8 wolf. You gained 20 experience.]

'Oh shit that was strong!' I thought to myself and ran towards Hannah and Luna.

"You girls alright?" I ask them

"Yes, we're fine." They reply with gasping breaths.

"We're all done here as well!" Julius' voice sounded out.

"Is anyone hurt? I can heal if you are." Luna said worriedly.

Everyone gathered together and checked for injuries. After ensuring that everyone was fine, we set off to gather the fangs.

I went to one of the wolf carcasses I killed and saw the blood leaking out from the wound I inflicted. Memories of the man I killed, his body, head and blood on the carriage flashing in my eyes.

Darkness began to enshroud my sight and I felt my heart tighten. I grabbed the part of my clothes where my heart should be and felt it beat faster and faster. The memory of the head falling into the carriage floor and the blood spurting out kept replaying in my mind.

"It's okay, they're just monsters." I whispered over and over again.

[Indomitable Will] skill activated.

The darkness began to dissipate and I saw Luna in front of me, grabbing my shoulders and shaking me.

"John! John! Are you okay?! What's wrong?" Luna said as tears started to form in her eyes.

"I-I-I'm fine. I just… remembered something unsightly." I said in a low voice.

I mustered up the courage and sliced off one of the fangs of the wolf. 'Fuck… I can't lose focus like that. It's just a monster. It's killed or be killed here. Get yourself together.' I kept the fang into one of my pouches and walked with the party.

[You have killed a level 6 wolf. You gained 15 experience.] x5

[You have killed a level 8 wolf. You gained 20 experience.] x2

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[Status]

Name: John Colton

Age: 14

Level: 5

Experience: 450/500

HP: 100/100

Mana: 40/80

Strength: 17

Intelligence: 16

Dexterity: 15

Agility: 15

Wisdom: 16

Unspent points: 0

Skills: Identify, Intermediate Magic Focus, Primal Instinct, Indomitable Will, Sword Training - Intermediate, Magic Creation - Beginner

Spells: Fireball, Light, Aqua, Wind Slash, Raise Earth, Blind, Fire Bullet, Earth Bullet, Wind Bullet, Water Bullet

Boons: Wadur's Blessing

Curses: -None-

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We killed the wolves as we went deeper into the forest. Using the same formation as we did the first fight. We met multiple groups of wolves but not one of them having more than four in a group. The sun was about to set and I looked towards my group.

Everyone was getting tired and it was very evident that Hannah and Luna were almost out of mana. They were gasping for breath every after each battle we had lately. Julius and Martin had small cuts on their arms which we decided not to heal to lessen the burden on Luna.

"How many have we killed?" Julius said with heavy breathing.

"I have 5 fangs on me." Hannah said.

"I have 4." Luna replied.

"I have 4 as well." Martin added.

"I have 6 on me." I replied.

"Since I have 5 on me, that makes it 24 wolves all in all. Not bad." Julius said.

"We should start heading back, the sun's about to set and wolves are more active at that time." I said to the whole group.