[September 25th, 2978]
[Mountain region to the east of Oarwood]
A lone boy walked through the woods in the mountain side, his right hand firmly on the katana strapped to his waist as he moved.
He stayed vigilant ready to attack at any point as he walked forward.
[
'No.' Ryan replied curtly as he remained vigilant while walking.
[
'First of all, We? And secondly, I'll be there soon, so relax okay?' Ryan said trying to sooth his Ai companion.
[
'Tch. Stupid Ai. It's not even doing any of the work, just complain after complain. Haaa. Why is a mere Ai acting so.... human. Haaa. Don't read too much into it. It's a gift from a god, it has to be capable of something.' Ryan consoled himself at the end as he continued walking.
Just then—
Crunch!
A sound came from a nearby bush, immediately drawing Ryan's attention as his grip on his blade tightened instantly.
'Is that—?'
[
'What?' Ryan asked.
[
'If you knew that, why didn't you say something sooner?!' Ryan questioned full-on panicking now.
Now that they were in his sensory range, he could tell. The were each as strong as him and they outnumbered him by a lot.
Then, one by one, they came out of the bushes they were hiding.
Wolf-lion hybrids, with enlarged horns on their nose that made them look like rhinos somewhat. And compounded with their humongous size, they were much, much taller than Ryan despite still being on all fours.
'Varynx' Ryan thought. They were a hybrid monster race born of lion, direwolves, and rhinos.
Though despite their size, they were still much weaker than one would think. Though, this depended on which pack one would run into as these beasts could reach [B] rank.
And on rare occasions, [A] rank.
'Guess I should consider myself lucky they're only still [E] rank.' Ryan thought as he drew out his sword, looking round at the pack of Varynx that surrounded him currently.
'I sense around twenty of them. Am I right?' Ryan asked G.A.I.A.
[
'Yeah. I will.'
Whoosh!
The Varynx lunged at him from each side.
Channeling aura into his feet, he leapt into the air as he aimed to escape their encirclement.
Clang!
He swung his blade at one of the Varynx that leapt after him but it clashed with it's claw as they bounced off each other.
As soon as Ryan landed, he launched himself at the Varynx.
'Need to make sure it's at most always two on one. Ideally I would rather it be one on one tho.'
He reached the Varynx in an instant as he swung at it's throat.
Whoosh!
The blade cut through the air at relative speed but the Varynx twisted it's neck at the last moment as the blade swept past merely grazing it's fur.
"Tch." Ryan clicked his tongue in frustration as he noticed a shadow suddenly loom over him.
Immediately, he spun round, dragging his sword low as he slashed at the incoming Varynx.
Clang!
Steel met claw again, this time, the impact rattled his arm far more than expected as he slid back across the dirt, while constantly keeping a close eye on his surroundings.
For now, he was still only facing two as he was positioned in a way they couldn't rush at him, lest they risk injuring their comrades as well.
Seeing this, Ryan heaved a quick sigh of relief, as he took a stance again.
One of the beasts pawed the ground, growling as it glared at him. Possible surprised that what was supposed to be an easy, and quick meal was proving difficult.
Then—
Whoosh!!
It charged at Ryan, who decided against trying to meet it head-on as he twisted his body at the last minute causing the Varynx to rush past him.
And in the brief opening it provided, Ryan struck at it.
Shhk!
His blade cut across its exposed side but...
'...Tch. The cut's too shallow.' Ryan thought as he clicked his tongue in frustration.
A shallow cut wouldn't even do nearly enough damage.
But before he could take a breath and think, the second Varynx lunged at him.
Ryan quickly ducked under it's outstretched claw as it swiped nothing but air.
In the same quick motion, he rolled away from the Varynx's body as he attempted to catch his breath.
"Haa, haa." He breathed out, heavily.
Taking a deep breath, he channeled aura into his feet as he launched himself at them.
Whoosh!
The Varynx reciprocated as it lunged at him as well, aiming for his throat.
Then Ryan halted mid-step as he moved his body slightly to the left as the Varynx moved past him, it's intelligent eyes seemingly recognising the situation as it met his.
'It's over.' Ryan thought as he swung his sword from above, as it contacted the neck of the Varynx and in a smooth motion....
Shhk!
Cut through it like butter as it's crimson blood sprayed everywhere.
Ryan looked at the nineteen still surrounding him as the blood dropped down his face.
"Nineteen to go." He muttered silently.
[300 Exp gained]
The fight had only just started.