Water Wolves

For hours, Blaze and Leus searched the forest, but there was no sign of the Water Wolves.

'Ughhh, where are these wolves!'

He glanced up at the now-bright sky

'It's already morning ...'

By now, the forest has become much more lively.

Leus could hear insects' buzzes, birds' chirps, and rustling caused by squirrels and other small animals running around.

Every once in a while, Leus would see a magical beast walking by

'Beasts are easy to discern because they have different colors or strange characteristics'

'Probably because they can use magic?'

'Not sure ...'

He sighed and looked around again, scanning for any sign of the wolves they were after ...

After walking for a bit more time, Leus started getting bored

"Where are these wolves, Dad?!"

Blaze shrugged

"I don't know, we just have to keep searching."

He moved his hands around

"Try to enjoy the scenery or something"

Leus looked around him with a bored expression

"Scenery huh ..."

Then he murmured

"Next time, I'll make sure to choose only huge animals"

Blaze chuckled at Leus' comment, but he didn't say anything...

After many hours, when it was around evening, Leus' eye finally caught a blue wolf running to his right

"GOT YOU!" He shouted

The wolf was just average in size, and in essence, it didn't look any different from a regular wolf, except for the color.

Immediately, Leus started chasing after it

"I'LL MAKE YOU PAY!"

The wolf was quite fast, so Leus had to use Boost to be able to keep up with it.

'Sadly I can't Sprint inside the forest'

'I'd just smash into trees'

Blaze followed behind him, and both of them kept chasing the wolf until it reached a small pit of water.

Around the pit, there were another 6 wolves ...

Leus took a quick breath, feeling the rush of adrenaline returning.

"We found the pack!" He shouted to Blaze

Upon seeing Leus, the wolves started howling at him, trying to scare him away ...

But he wasn't fazed

'Bastards, I finally found you, even if you scream, I'm not going anywhere'

'Let's finish this!'

Not giving the wolves a chance to react, Leus swiftly summoned 7 Daggers, launching them with deadly precision.

The air crackled as the daggers tore through the space between him and the wolves, each one hurtling toward its target with terrifying speed.

Within moments, cries of pain echoed through the clearing ...

Four wolves collapsed to the ground, squirming in agony as blood poured from their wounds, staining the forest's green floor with crimson.

Two of them managed to dodge at the very last second, narrowly escaping the deadly assault, and the one Leus was chasing jumped into the water pit and disappeared inside it.

The two wolves started shrieking in fear and ran in opposite directions, with one of them disappearing behind a tree, and the other turning around and jumping into the water pit as well.

Without hesitation, Leus decided to chase the wolf that ran behind the tree ...

He went after it, and once it was in his sight, something interesting caught his eye; each time the wolf was about to collide with a tree, it cast a quick Splash, reducing the impact and allowing it to slide away with ease. ...

'That's an interesting use of the spell'

'And ... that's a pretty clever wolf'

The chase continued, with Leus circling here and there, and the wolf jumping from tree to another.

'It's like I'm chasing a cat rather than a wolf'

'This is leading us nowhere'

The wolf was quite fast, and it was expertly avoiding Leus' attacks by twisting and turning around the dense forest ...

'I don't think I can catch up to it or hit it with so many obstacles in the way'

So Leus decided to change his tactics ...

He started placing random stone walls around, trying to hinder the wolf and confuse it.

At the same time, he unleashed a flurry of Daggers and Hydraulics, forcing the creature into a frantic escape.

The random walls popping up disoriented the wolf, and in its confusion, it made the mistake Leus was waiting for.

A dagger found its mark, piercing the wolf's left hind leg, and causing it to stumble and wail in pain.

'Finally'

He rushed where the wolf had fallen, locking eyes with the creature ...

The wolf's mouth was agape, revealing its gleaming fangs, but Leus could see beyond the facade—fear, undeniable fear, flickered in its eyes.

'Ah ...'

'It is terrified'

Leus' expression remained indifferent, unaffected by the sight of the horrified Beast, however, he wasn't really pleased by seeing its agony

'Let's end this'

Leus waved his hand, and a Hydraulic exploded forward, striking the wolf's skull with lethal precision.

The light in its eye flickered for just a moment, then it vanished ...

'Well, that was troublesome'

After he was done, Leus was about to turn back, but he remembered something

'Ah yes, the ears'

He unsheathed his sword, cut the wolf's right ear, and cleaned it from the blood with water, then he made his way back to the pit of water where Blaze was waiting for him.

In front of the pit, there were the corpses of the 4 dead wolves, all decapitated with blood pooling beneath them.

"Ah, you finished them off ..."

Blaze nodded curtly

"Yeah, the screams weren't pleasant"

Leus silently agreed, then he asked

"Are the last two still in the water?"

"Yes"

Leus went and cut the right ear of the four dead wolves and gave them to Blaze to put in the sack, then he asked

"Now what? Do they breathe underwater or something?"

"Yeah, they won't come out. They can stay down there for days."

Leus shouted

"DAYS?!"

"Yep"

Frustration flared in Leus' eyes

"We don't have that much time."

When Leus thought about what he could do to get them out, only one thing came to his mind ...

A smirk appeared on his face ...

He looked around him to make sure there were no trees nearby

'I don't want to set the entire forest on fire or something like that'

Luckily, the pit was in the middle of a relatively clear area ...

Still, Leus used wind magic to push aside the fallen branches and leaves, clearing the ground of any potential fuel for a blaze.

He then stepped to the edge of the pit, his eyes narrowing as he tried to measure its depth.

The water pit seemed deep, but it had a diameter of only 5 meters

'More like a wide well or something'

Standing directly above it, Leus began forming a Fireball in his palm. He poured more mana into it, rapidly expanding its size and intensifying its heat.

Leus grinned

'Let's see how long they can hold their breath now'

The fireball grew larger and larger, crackling with energy ...

Smoke began to rise from the surface of the pit, curling up into the air as the water beneath it started to simmer.

Blaze watched in awe

'That's a pretty big Mana Pool ...'

The fireball grew in size until it became so big that Blaze had to take several steps back

'It looks like an asteroid'

Finally, Leus unleashed the orb into the pit with a shout.

The impact was explosive, sending a torrent of steam spiraling into the air.

In an instant, the surroundings transformed into a thick fog, obscuring everything within.

The hot steam enveloped them, swirling around like a living thing, and it got so foggy that Leus and Blaze could barely see each other through the cloud ...

At that moment, something different happened ...

As the thick steam enveloped Leus, an unexpected sensation washed over him.

'What's this feeling!'

He felt the urge to close his eyes and focus solely on this feeling ...

'Strange ...'

It was unlike anything he had ever experienced before—a profound connection to the mana of the steam that surrounded him.

To him, the steam was no longer just an element; it felt like an extension of himself, as if he had been entwined with it since the beginning, the very beginning ...

'As if the steam is a part of me, and as if I am a part of it ...'

The realization struck him, and his eyes shot open

"THIS IS IT!"

'This is definitely the element I'm attuned with!'

He was so conscious of the steam's Mana that he was able to sense the entire area it covered very distinctly.

'As if the steam is a part of my existence'

'It is like the entire area is connected as a whole, and I'm feeling all of it'

Within a few seconds, the steam dissipated in the air, and the feeling faded with it, leaving Leus both exhilarated and yearning for more ...

While Leus was lost in his thoughts, Blaze went to take a look into the pit ...

There was absolutely nothing in it; only a vast, empty crater where the water pit had once been.

'Poor wolves reduced to ash'

He turned Leus, but Leus seemed to be in another world

"Leus?"

" ... "

He had to call him a couple of times to get a response

"LEUS?"

Finally, Leus snapped back to reality

"Ah yes ..."

Leus looked into Blaze's eyes and spoke with excitement

"Dad! I found it"

Blaze was puzzled

"Found what?"

"My affinity ... This element, it's steam or smoke or whatever, that!"

Blaze was surprised by this revelation

"Are you sure about it?"

"Yes! I'm certain"

"That's ..... Amazing"

Blaze scratched his chin in thought

"I heard of mythical elements like Lightning and Nature, but I have never heard of Steam ....."

After a moment of contemplation, he concluded

"You need to tell this to Arno"

Leus agreed

"Yeah, I will ..."