96 Multi-Training II (1/2)

Li led Azhar and the wyrm to their first target: a gathering of giant spiders. They skittered across a massive clearing in the forest, their tawny and hairy black bodies crawling across the carcass of a deer they had slain. Their sickle-like fangs sliced into the deer, tearing off chunks of meat and bone.

There were only three of them, and if there were more, Li would have reconsidered using them as a target. Giant spiders were tough creatures, and these were, judging from their banded red legs, jumping variants. Jumping giant spiders were, unlike regular spiders, active hunters, choosing to hunt down their prey with relentless speed and powerful pounces instead of waiting in a large web.

As a result, they tended to cooperate on hunts, though afterwards they dispersed to live independent and individual lives. They about half the size of a man – comparable in size to the wyrm – and three of them taking down a particularly large deer was not out of the norm.

”Whenever you're ready,” said Li. He hid behind a tree at the edge of a clearing, and Azhar stood behind another tree in front of him. The wyrm clung at Li's feet, but her back was arched and her fangs bared, sensing imminent danger.

”I was waitin' for your order,” said Azhar as he flashed an eager smile, his single good arm clutching the dagger to his chest. ”But if you're tellin' me to go whenever, then I'm off. Ain't no use wastin' time.”

Azhar leaped out the tree's cover with a yell, causing the three spiders to freeze, the hairs on their body stiffening as they sensed incoming and hostile vibrations. The spiders rotated arounds, their beady eyes zoning in on Azhar.

Li looked down at the wyrm. She looked out longingly to the fight. He patted her back and said, ”Go. Kill them all.”

The wyrm growled in happiness before she lurched out, her four feet crashing on the forest floor as she joined Azhar's charge.

Li watched from after, ready to cast a spell to heal or help the wyrm, but not Azhar. Of course, if the hinterlander was going to straight up die, he would prevent that from happening.

But anything short of death was up to the ranger to deal with. He also did not withhold help to be overly harsh, though being strict was a part of it. The wyrm just could not handle those spiders on her own, and so she would need Li's help while Azhar could reasonably stand his ground.

Li worried about the wyrm, knowing she was facing a massive amount of danger right now, but he also knew that she would not grow properly unless she fought to her fullest extent.

The fight lasted almost an hour.

Azhar used everything in his arsenal. He used ranger class buffs to speed himself up, increase his accuracy, deal critical hits on the spiders' eyes and legs, and dodge incoming hits. He used his spiritual shamanism to empower himself with agility and strength. In a way, it was a similar strategy to his fight with Launcelot.

To effectively wield his melee weapon, Azhar had to use [Bowman's Stand], and that made him extra fragile. The result was that he had to fight while dancing and darting around to never get hit even once for a single wound could prove fatal.

Li predicted that though the fight would be hard not so much because Azhar would rack up wounds and scars, but because the moment his concentration faltered and he took one hit, things would get exponentially harder.

One hit would make him slower, throw off his breathing, and poison him to make things even worse. One hit might be all the spiders needed to catch him and tear him apart.

But Azhar had not played by Li's predictions.

By the hour's end, Azhar stood victorious, a wreck of a man littered with bite marks, cuts, and bruises everywhere. The cuts on his body were lined with protruding purple veins engorged with venom, and it was only because he had preemptively chugged several elixirs beforehand that he managed to survive.

This was not the body of a man who would have fought with agility and only with himself in mind.

The wyrm chowed down on a spider's carcass beside Azhar. She also had wounds on her body, but none too serious, not to mention the fact that she proved resistant to the spider venom.

Li came into the clearing, and Azhar beamed a smile at him.

”How'd I do?” said Azhar in between heavy breaths, each of his exhalations spurting out blood from open and flowing wounds.

”Good,” was all Li said as he waved his hand, healing all of Azhar's wounds. Li knelt down by the wyrm, patting her head as it bobbed up and down, cracking spider exoskeleton to get at the white flesh within. ”Consider that a token of appreciation that you took all those hits for her.”

”Don't mention it, hah.” Azhar watched in wonder as the dozens of wounds etched into his body faded away, the split skin repairing, the venom-blackened veins fading. ”All part of yer trainin' anyhows. Gettin' me to watch her while I gotta watch myself – real good way to get my awareness up. She's a hell of a fighter, too, can't wait to see what kinda fierceness she's gonna pack when she's grown up.”

”I see.” Li had not intended for Azhar to cover for the wyrm. He was going to watch the wyrm's back to let Azhar focus on himself, but the ranger had take up much more of a burden than Li had ever intended him to.

Azhar collapsed onto his knees as he sucked in a recovering breath, sitting on the bloody and crumpled grass around him.

In this world, healing did not equate to recovering mental fatigue. This was why when individuals fell unconscious, perfectly healing their bodies did not awaken them. Azhar right now fell not because his body could not support him, but because he had expended too much mana and mental strain in keeping himself alive in the fight.

”That's the end of our training for today,” said Li.

Azhar gave a curious glance to Li. ”That it?”

Li nodded. He stopped controlling his Shadowfly, and it popped and faded into nothingness over a trio of rootbeasts that lay rooted in the ground twenty minutes away.

”You've earned some rest for now, and so has she.” Li tapped the wyrm's back, letting her know it was time to go. She started to scarf down on the spider corpses even faster, wanting to get as many bites in as possible before she had to leave. Her wounds were beginning to close up as she processed the spider flesh. ”Once she's done eating, we head back.”

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