Blood

Leus' attacks hit their mark almost instantly!

The Hydraulics struck first, cutting through the air with blinding speed, followed closely by the Spears.

The spears pierced deep into the Rhino's back, but strangely, something felt off ...

There was no reaction. No roar of pain. No movement.

Nothing at all ...

'What the ...'

Leus took a couple of steps forward, and to his shock ...

'It already died!'

The Hydraulics had sliced through the Rhino’s skull effortlessly, like a hot knife through butter. As a result, the massive beast had been slain before it even had a chance to react.

What he thought would be a challenging battle had ended in an instant.

'That's ... puzzling'

The two were stunned by the outcome ...

They just stood there, staring at the now lifeless Rhino.

"No resistance at all?!!!" Leus muttered, his tone still having a tinge of disbelief

He turned to Blaze

"Is that normal?"

Blaze shrugged

"Well, it's a Knight Level creature."

He couldn't help but smile bitterly

"I mean ... its exposed body parts should be slightly stronger than a human's of the same level, so it isn't that strong compared to you."

A thoughtful expression appeared on his face as he continued

"But I've noticed something. Your attacks are stronger than Mages at your level, which means that the quality of your mana is higher, but I don't know the reason for that."

"You're quite strong." He murmured under his breath

Leus was still at a loss for words, so he only replied briefly

"... I see"

Both Leus and Blaze thought about the same thing

'No wonder that kid died immediately'

But neither dared to say it out loud ...

The silence lingered between them for a while before Blaze suddenly spoke with enthusiasm

"Leus! Experiment with the corpse"

Leus furrowed his brows

" ... What?! What do you mean by that?"

"Practice your attacks on it. This way, you can learn to control your power.

It’ll help you figure out the right amount of force to use without hurting your opponent too much."

Leus was reluctant about that; the idea of attacking a lifeless body seemed strange to him ...

But then, his thoughts drifted to the vow he made earlier ...

Quickly, he resolved himself

'I promised to do better'

'Better to start now ...'

And so, Leus started experimenting on the corpse ...

He started by aiming 4 Daggers and 4 Hydraulics at the Rhino's back, each at a different speed ...

25% 50% 75% 100%

And the results were like this:

100%: Fully penetrated. This would enter and exit a human’s body, causing instant death.

75%: Fatally penetrated, likely to cause death to a human.

50%: Will cause serious injury, but wouldn’t necessarily be fatal.

25%: Minor Injury, more like a deep cut but not life-threatening.

Leus noticed that Hydraulics are both faster and penetrate deeper than daggers

'Since it's much smaller I guess that makes sense?'

' ... Or is it because I have an Affinity for Water?'

Leus had no idea, but he was able to reach a conclusion

'Somewhere between 30-50% of the full attack speed should be a non-lethal attack'

'60% or higher if I want to kill or fatally injure, and .....'

' ... I better not attack Soldiers or Mortals at all except with my fist'

' ... Or maybe in their legs.' He thought with a chuckle

After he was done, he looked back at Blaze

"I'm done"

Blaze put his hand in his pocket, took out a tiny sack, and handed it to Leus.

"Cut the horn and put it here"

Leus' eyes darted between the massive Rhino horn and the sack a couple of time

'That's ... too small'

He was perplexed, so he asked Blaze

"How will it fit?"

Blaze replied nonchalantly

"Cut the horn then add a little bit of mana to the sack and bring the horn close to it, it'll fit inside."

Leus unsheathed his sword and began cutting into the Rhino's horn.

However, it wasn't as easy as he thought; the task quickly became messier than expected ...

'So messy ...'

As he worked, it became clear that extracting the entire horn without severely damaging the Rhino’s skull or mutilating its face was nearly impossible.

And when Leus tried to crack into Rhino's skull, blood splattered everywhere—on his sword, his hands, and all over his clothes. The stench grew stronger by the second, overwhelming his senses.

Leus fought to push through, but the nauseating smell was too much.

After only a few minutes, his stomach twisted painfully. He couldn’t hold back and started vomiting ...

Blaze, watching calmly from behind, asked in an easygoing tone

"Do you need help?"

Leus shook his head

"No, I can do it. Just a second"

" ... Don't push yourself too far"

Leus used Water and quickly washed all the blood off himself, drenching himself and his sword in the process.

He even gargled the fresh water, feeling the cool liquid soothe his senses.

It was the first time Leus actually drank the water he created with magic, and it made him feel a lot better

'It really is fresh'

He then directed water over the Rhino’s head, cleaning off the excess blood to make his task more manageable.

Cutting and washing at the same time made the process smoother, and after a while, he finally managed to extract the Rhino’s horn.

The horn was brown, thick, and long, like a sturdy piece of rock.

Leus inspected it for a few seconds, running his fingers along its surface.

'It feels just like a rock, or maybe it actually is just a rock'

'An ore, perhaps?'

But after a moment, he lost interest

'Well, it doesn't matter'

He put some Mana in the sack and brought the horn close to it. And as soon as the horn touched the sack, it vanished inside it ...

Leus gave the sack to Blaze

"Here is it"

Blaze genuinely complimented Leus

"Good job Leus ... Good job. Your persistence is amazing"

It was one of the few times when Blaze openly complimented him ...

He put the sack back in his pocket and asked Leus

"Now what?"

"Shouldn't we do the other mission?"

"We don't have to; we can go home and come back later if you are tired.

It's also late, Knights don't travel in the forest alone at night as getting help is very unlikely."

He added playfully

"At least in the day, someone might hear your pleas for help if you're in a bad situation, though it's still pretty unlikely."

Leus chuckled

"I'll keep that in mind in case I'm alone. But for now, let's do the second mission, I'm not tired"

Blaze nodded

"Alright then"

Leus looked at the west and was about to sprint, but Blaze’s hand firmly gripped his shoulder, stopping him in his tracks.

"What do you think you are doing?" He asked in a solemn tone ...

Leus was taken aback by Blaze's move

"Going to the west?! The second mission is there"

Blaze sighed and gazed sternly into his eyes

"Didn't I tell you that going deeper in the forest is dangerous? You have to get out of the forest then run to the western side and walk in again"

".... I see"

'It'd save time if we go directly' He thought, but didn't dare to voice that out ...

And so, Leus pushed mana into his legs again and started sprinting out of the forest, back to where they entered from.

Once outside, they started running west.

The journey took about three hours, and by the time they reached the western edge of the forest, the dawn of the next day was breaking on the horizon ...

Leus turned to Blaze

"What do these wolves look like?"

"Like blue dogs but bigger, and with longer fangs"

Leus looked forward

"Let's find them ..."