Chapter 116

Chapter 116

“Why am I so bad at this?” Ben yelled out after hammering his twentieth monster that day. They’d been hunting for demons for the last two days now without luck, and while everyone else would be busy fighting stronger creatures that Thera would draw to them by removing her cloak and resistance band, Ben was put in charge of handling the smaller beasts, making sure to call out for help if things got too bad, and he was hating every minute of it.

Aside from how unpleasant it felt when bones broke under each of his blows, the attacks left everything he killed practically unusable for materials, meaning not only could he not make use of the parts later, but he also couldn’t get any practice for his dismantling with the condition he left them in. Since he’d just finished taking apart everything he’d gotten with his knife training, that meant he would only be able to practice with whatever the others killed.

“It’s not good to be in such a rush,” Wedrow told him as he observed everyone fight from the side. “The zeroth level can sometimes take weeks or months to learn, instead be grateful you got the first one so fast.”

“I get what you’re saying, but the sooner I get it the sooner I can relax and focus on training the skills I really care about, I think it should be pretty clear I’m not a fighter.” He’d already had to have Steph heal him a couple of times today when something got too close or he got careless. It was nothing major, but he wouldn’t be able to survive the things the others had been fighting, especially the current one.

Calling it a dragon would be too generous, but it was some sort of lizard monster. About the size of a lion with six legs and dark green scales, it seemed to be able to use air magic, whipping the winds around its attackers and battering them with dust and debris, trying to push off both them and their attacks, though to no avail.

Against it, Will, Steph, and Thera stood strong. As mages, Steph and Thera stood to the back to avoid being swept up by the gale and fought with a strategy they’d worked out after the first day of fighting, with Steph opening gates between Theras attacks and the beast to reduce its ability to react to the small boulders flying towards it, while Will would run in between spells to attack head-on, and was doing surprisingly good as well.

The creature was surviving her attacks easier than most had in the past, but they were deep in the wild instead of towards towns, and since there wasn’t a large amount of hunters and adventurers out to train and cull dangerous creatures, the apex predators around were able to get the time to grow stronger and more deadly. Even combining her magic with Steph’s, the creature was able to react and attempt to dodge or lower the severity of the blow with a blast of air between the attack. While those attempts had few successes, it did keep them from landing a critical blow, instead just wearing down the beast's defenses.

Still it was enough. Scales cracked and a body that was battered and broken, once Will pulled away after his final round of punches Thera fired one more spell and brought the creature down.

Once its death was confirmed Ben quickly reapplied the enchantments to Thera’s staff and checked its condition before he got to dismantling it as the rest tried to lure in more monsters to train against.

As he was taking it apart he couldn’t help but think that Thera looked like she was enjoying herself. This was how she’d always wanted to hunt after all, head-on against powerful creatures, pushing herself and her magic to its potential, and with Will and Steph she could. Even if Ben finished this trip with the knife and hammer wielder skills, he wouldn’t be a fighter, he simply didn’t have the drive.

What that meant then was that she needed to find a real party to adventure with, a thought that left him feeling more complicated than he’d expected. Their hunting together was always supposed to be just until she found a new party, but he’d had fun doing it with her. Getting to test out his tool was exciting, and constantly trying to figure out how to improve her staves gave him a good challenge. Not to mention he just liked her company. Back when he’d go out hunting alone to gather supplies for his crafting it was a boring affair aside from when he’d actually get his catch, now he had someone he could talk to, to pass the time, and through that had grown their friendship. It wasn’t like they would lose that if they stopped hunting together, especially not while they lived under the same roof, but it was a change he wasn’t sure he’d like.

Still, I should probably talk to her about it at some point. Enough people in Stonewall seem open enough with her now that she could probably find a real party and grow her skills with them.