Chapter 38 – Before the Boss Raid (2)

Not long later, the first group arrived at Wulf’s coordinates.

It was the group of D’vina, Aleen and Ana. They were relatively near when Wulf’s message arrived so it didn’t take them long to come to his position.

Fortunately, the group did not face another attack after the ambush led by the level four brooder, but D’vina said that some monsters were keeping track of them, so they could be attacked at any moment.

Aleen noticed that the group of wolfkins had reduced from fifteen to six, but when compared with the fourteen deaths on his group, their losses were noticeably lighter.

“You are here.” The level five wolfkin said. “It took you less than I thought.”

“We were pretty near when the message came.”

“I see.” Wulf moved his sight from D’vina to Aleen and Ana and asked with a raised eyebrow. “You look like you had trouble.”

D’vina ice-cold expression did not change while she replied. “We were ambushed for a group of monsters. They weren't much trouble for me, but unfortunately, most of the level one died.”

“Hahaha, we also faced something similar, but some of my boys managed to survive. Way better than your group.”

D’vina frowned hearing the wolfkin's joke but ultimately chose to ignore his words and sat down to recover more of her mana.

“Better use this time to recover your mana and adjust your condition, boy.” D’vina said to Aleen. “You will have better odds of survival then."

Aleen also changed his expression when he heard the level five's words, but this time he obeyed D’vina’s words without complaint and chose to ignore him.

Sitting down, he crossed his legs and circulated the mana through his body while trying to absorb the mana in the air. It was a technique he learned and practiced during the time he was on earth. According to D’vina, it was nothing great, but at least covered the basics.

Ana imitated Aleen when she saw it. Aleen already explained her the basics about mana while they were walking to this place, and she was able to learn a few things. Though it was not enough to make her an expert, it was better than nothing.

Like that, half an hour passed and Aleen finally recovered all his mana. He also felt that the amount of mana he has increased slightly, but he could not be sure.

During this time, the mage woman, Caira, also reached to the point of encounter; and her losses were as tragic as D’vina’s. Aside from her and the elf girl, only twelve of the fifty four humans remained, and every one of them had tragic expressions, though Aleen noticed a few with determined expressions among them.

Seeing that the last level five was not here yet and his mana was recovered, Aleen decided to take advantage of the time to check something.

He remembered D’vina saying that skills were the most important weapon to an enlightened and he must understand them completely and train to eliminate their limitations.

His only skill was ‘Lightning Rush’, but Aleen knew almost nothing about it. He determined that the cooldown of the skill was fifteen seconds, and knew the range of the acceleration, but anything beyond it was unknown.

Fortunately, he noticed something in the last fight.

When the level four attacked, Aleen recalled using the skill for just an instant before it was forcibly stopped by the monster’s blow. But the interruption of the skill caused it to remain in a ‘semi-activated’ state, allowing Aleen to use it again without waiting for the cooldown.

Though Aleen was not sure, he had the feeling that he could do the same thing willingly.

Like that, he could activate the skill only to move the necessary distance before pausing it and using the remaining ‘charge’ on the next move.

Putting his thoughts in action, he activated the skill carefully and prepared to stop it.

The feeling of stopping time returned to Aleen and lightning coursed through his body. Aleen thoughts accelerated and the surroundings paused momentarily. He then moved.

Different from before, he tried to take just a step before stopping; so, taking advantage of his heightened senses, he ordered his body to stop after taking a step; and it obeyed.

For an instant, Aleen’s body stopped in the middle of his skill; but unfortunately, only his body stopped but the skill continued.

The strength of the lightning continued pushing his body despite his will, and the rune inside his mind pulsed strongly; Aleen’s body charged forwards quickly without his control and advanced fifty meters in an instant before stopping.

The people in the surroundings instinctively looked towards the commotion, only to see Aleen falling embarrassedly to the ground; even D’vina stopped her meditation surprised.

For an instant, nobody said anything.

Then, someone laughed.

“Hahahahaha, is that boy crazy!? Hahahaha.”

Aleen blushed deeply hearing the level five wolfkin's laughter and stood up awkwardly. On the other hand, the level five mage furrowed her brows.

“What are you doing!? Do you want to attract all the monsters here!?”

Aleen looked towards the ground embarrassed. “I’m sorry.”

“You are sorry!? Did your guide not teach you anything!? Miss D’vina! What is the problem with your assistant!? I don’t understand why you chose someone like him!?”

Hearing Caira words, D’vina furrowed her brows deeply.

“Enough. Though my assistant is in the wrong, he already apologized, and you don’t have any right to scold him.”

“You!!!”

D'vina ignored her and gestured to Aleen.

“Boy, come and sit beside me.”

Aleen walked towards D’vina and sat ashamedly.

“I’m sorry.”

“Though your idea was good, this is not the place to experiment with your skills.” D’vina first nodded in praise before reprimanding him slightly.

“You understand what I was trying to do?”

“You were trying to pause in the middle of your skill, right? It’s a good idea, but you will need more practice if you want to succeed. Now, recover the mana you wasted with your previous stunt and wait here; the final battle will begin soon.”

“I understand.”

Aleen nodded briefly and closed his eyes to meditate. Caira tsked seeing it, but at the end closed her mouth. D’vina simply ignored her.

While Aleen was meditating to recover his mana, the last level five finally reached, accompanied by his group of level one.