Chapter 33: Field Assignment 4
Rich ran into the makeshift shelter and woke everyone up. He explained there was a wolf magic beast outside and that Jerod was fending it off. Everyone immediately gathered their belongings and took out their return runestones. They were prepared to teleport out the moment the wolf entered the shelter. None of them even considered going out to try to help Jerod fight the wolf, if he couldn't beat it then they wouldn't stand even a moment of a chance.
Jerod noticed the wolf's wariness and allowed it time to decide what it was going to do. In his mind, if the wolf continued to attack he would used a few more defensive counter strikes before going on the offensive, if the wolf decided to run, he would do what he could to bind it and kill it before it got away.
After smelling the fear of the other little humans inside their lair the wolf made up its mind to continue its attack. Since it seemed dangerous to get close to this human it decided to try to attack with some range. It found some rocks that were a good size and made its way towards them while looking like it was going to retreat. After backing over the rocks it suddenly swiped forward with its front paws, smacking the rocks straight at Jerod.
Jerod seeing that the wolf was only feigning a retreat cast a Light Shield to protect himself from the rock that was launched at him. Light Shield is a spell he copied from the magic duels and could protect a person from attacks that dealt damage equivalent to a Tier 2 spell or three Tier 1 spells. The rocks hit the barrier and both shattered to pieces.
'Wow this wolf hit the rocks hard enough to be considered a Tier 2 spell. I have used 1/3 of my mana so far. I need to go on the offensive before I start to run out. If push comes to shove and I take some damage then I will have to depend on June to help me recover.'
As the barrier shattered the wolf took this opportunity to jump at Jerod hoping to rip out his throat. With the visibility reduced due to the dust from the shattered rock it should be okay to launch another jump attack. As it neared its prey a cold glint shone in its eye. This little human's luck has run out there is no way he could counter me from this close.
Jerod pretended to be unable to see the wolf while Lindsay kept an eye on the distance closing between them. At the same time the wolf had a gleam in its eye so to did Jerod. Using Earth Wave to move out of the way and Earth Spike to counter Jerod successfully hit the wolf again. Before it could get its baring he launched an assault on the wolf.
(Earth spike caused 55 damage to Wolf! Critical Strike!)
(Wind Blade caused 20 damage to Wolf!)
(Wind Blade caused 22 damage to Wolf!)
(Wind Blade caused 45 damage to Wolf! Critical Strike!)
(Whirlwind caused 10, 13, 11, 15, 20 damage to Wolf! Wolf is caught in Whirlwind!)
(Wolf has been defeated! 256 Experience gained!)
The wolf's carcass fell to the ground with multiple cuts around its body. Jerod inspected the damage caused by the improved Whirlwind spell. The spell was modified to create a vacuum that would cause any cuts to widen and cause more damage. He was very happy with the results of improved spell however it was now a channeled spell costing a lot more mana. Out of his 60 mana which was full at the start of the fight he only had 2 mana left over.
'Lindsay, any idea how these magical beast keep sneaking up on us without even you being able to sense them?'
'I have a theory actually. Take a look at the wolf's coat color.'
Jerod inspected the wolf's coat like Lindsay asked. The fur was grey and filled with dirt and caked on dry mud. He didn't really see anything special about the fur so he waited for Lindsay to explain further.
'When the wolf first attacked it looked completely black. My guess is that some magical beasts are able to use dark magic to conceal their presence. They instinctually cover their bodies with a layer of dark magicles and this allows them to erase their presence. That would explain why the wolf had used its MP before the fight but when attacking didn't cast a single spell.'
'Ah, now that you mention it the panther was the same way back home. I guess we will have to figure a way to counter that for future beast hunts and also try to find a way to replicate it. It seams like it would come in handy in the future.'
Jerod made his way into the shelter and told his team that the wolf was taken care of. He asked Rich to place the whole corpse into his dimensional ring which caused it to fill almost to the brim with the rest of their resources. By his estimates Jerod felt like the team probably already had more than 300 points after including the wolf corpse if not being incredibly close.
"I believe we should be close to our goal for the resources so tomorrow we should find a better shelter to hole up in and gather resources from around there. This will allow us to gain more rank points and have a better defensive position in case we have any more magical beasts attacking us. I don't like how open the top of our shelter is, we could encounter magical beasts that could climb or if it rains we would lose any comfort it provides us."
The team discussed for a while and agreed that Jerod's plan was the best and decided to rotate the night guards. Jerod was able to recover his mana to full by the time he laid down to go to sleep. Wendy and June were on watch next.
The night passed peacefully on their watch and they woke up Bear and Zuman for their watch. The girls settled back into their sleeping area and Bear brought back in some firewood to keep the fire going. While Zuman was alone he took out a communication runestone and sent mana in to call someone.
Following the procedure that was explained to him he sent mana into the stone for 10 seconds then cut the mana flow. He then sent mana back into the stone after waiting for 10 more seconds and repeated the process for a full minute. After Bear returned Zuman told him he had to answer a call of nature and went into the trees some distance away.
Once Zuman made it into the trees he took out the communication rune again and this time made a normal call.
"Young master, I am calling to report information on the target. During watch last night he was able to successfully fend off a wolf magical beast on his own. I did not witness the fight however he did not seem to be injured."
"Keep an eye on him and keep your communication rune in hand today. I will alert you when I am enacting the plan so use your teleportation stone then."
"Yes, young master!"
Zuman made his way back to the camp and continued watch with Bear. After another two hours went by Jerod and Rich were woken up to prepare breakfast. The girls were left to sleep since they had the middle shift of night guard. The boys took turns going to the river to wash their faces and fill their canteens.
When no one was looking Jerod swiped his hand into the water and grabbed a fish. With his agility stat at 10 points he was extremely fast compared to most people. He grabbed a few more fish out of the water and took them back to camp for breakfast for everyone.
The girls woke up to the smell of fish being cooked over the campfire. They both ran to the river to freshen up and fill their canteens before rushing back to have breakfast. The team showed Jerod their gratitude for the food by eating every last bit. Rich took out some berries he had found along their walk along the river so far and filled out the breakfast some.
After eating the pleasant meal they dismantled their makeshift shelter by flattening the earth back down they decided to continue to follow the river in search of a better shelter. The day was bright and sunny and sticking close to the river they had a refreshing breeze. Jerod had instructed the team to do their best to stay close after the magic beast attack last night and because of the fact they were pretty close to the resource point goal.
They still managed to find some resources here and there in the search for the new shelter and just placed them into their bags since Rich's dimensional ring was mostly full. Zuman took the times he was alone to continue to send pulses through the communication rune he had to keep sending his location to his "Young Master".
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Arodicus
Arodicus What sort of trouble is looking for Jerod next? Who is the young master?
Thanks for reading!
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