The early bird catches the worm. Petal Flame. Earth Crash!

I do admit I have no idea about any real combat tactics and all the “tactics” or “strategies” I’ve learned from fighting and living in the world is purely guesswork without proper testing, and I don’t think any of my limited video game knowledge will help me here. All I know is that taking out the leader sounds like a sure way to win a battle.

The "petals" from my spell [Petal Flame] began to shoot towards the wolf monsters, giving me an opening to materialize a massive boulder that I intend to squash the garm with.

“Kraaaaah!”

Like a rocket, I cast [Wind Blast] behind myself to close in the distance between me and the garm and slammed the giant rock.

“Grrr! Graouh?!”

Urgh, I missed…

With a big squish sound, my boulder seems to have squashed something so technically, I didn’t miss.

I only miss the hit on the garm but…all this blood and viscera lying on the ground and under the boulder…

Did that warg just sacrifice its life to save the garm's? I heard wolves would try to protect the alphas in a pack to safeguard the entire pack's future, but losing their life for them?

Flame Spear. Flame Spear. Flame Spear.

Tsk, that doesn’t mean I will stop trying to kill this bastard.

“Grrrrr. Graouh!”

While howling, a circle began forming under me, with magical runes slowly forming until it was finished. This magical circle is something that I should know just by feeling the flow of mana; the garm is casting a spell!

With the activation of the spell, multiple thick, black tendrils erupted from my shadow, slithered towards me, and began entangling me in their shadowy grasp.

Argh! Owwww!

“Kraaaargh!”

Verdammt, it hurts like heeeeeeeeeell!

T-This has to be a [Dark Magic Spell]! Due to the time I tried to get [Water Resistance], I knew my titles were making dark and water elemental attacks extremely effective on me.

This pain, however, is dreadful! Despite simply touching me, having the tendrils ensnare me feels like wrapping metal rods, still glowing red hot from being put under fire, around me. It burns. Unholy fire would be a good way to describe it, as it simply feels like the mana is searing through my scales, then my skin and damaging my flesh.

Looking at my Health, it looks like the pain isn’t an illusion with how much damage I’m taking.

Gritting my teeth, I took advantage of [Battle Mind] calming my senses and shot out three [Flame Spears] towards this spell’s owner.

…And all three were dodged. No matter how fast I cast, if I can’t aim under this pressure then I can’t hit something as agile as this garm.

While I was complaining about my inability to hit the garm, it managed to prepare another dark-colored magical circle for its next spell, which I was only able to recognize in this creeping darkness with [Night Vision]. [Petal Flames]’s fire was completely extinguished, and the lack of light was troubling.

I cast [Terra Wall] to block a dark projectile-like spell that was shot at me. However, it seems the garm wasn’t done with the assault, as it started to move around the wall, continuously shooting spells.

With my mana supply, I could afford to counter each attack with a new wall, but this predicament will be a burden on my parallel minds, due to arcane corruption…but I think the warg pincer coming from behind should also be addressed soon.

For fuck’s sake, [Dark Magic] is really pissing me off! Minor Heal. Shine!

“Groouu…”

Surrounding my body in incandescent light, the shackles dispersed into thin air. Having the pain removed by the healing spell, I could finally think clearly again. I cast a [Terra Wall] in the form of a lesser “Great Wall of China” to separate the garm from the wargs.

With that done, I began my attack on them.

With a giant boom, my [Flame Explosion] sent ripples of heat and flame around itself, interrupting the advances of all remaining wargs so they could avoid my spell. However, two wargs were still caught in the shockwave of the explosion so I swiftly took them out with [Wind Slash] while their guard was down.

Afterward, I dashed towards the spell’s flames and coated my body in it using [Pyrokinesis]’s control over fire. I would have preferred fabric, but clothing made from my own flames seems to fit this setting so much better.

Warm-up’s over. The show starts now! Spark Flame!

I unleashed my dragon ability onto these wargs with an extra oomph. All I needed from this ability was a ground-sundering explosion to split up the wargs into smaller groups. Together they may be annoying but alone or in a pair? Easy enough.

Oh, you should stay put Mr. Garm. Have a taste of your own medicine. Earthen Shackles.

Bursting through the ground, a group of roots made from earth started to chase after the garm.

That should give me enough time to take these wargs down.

The garm is a tricky foe to kill if all these wargs are willing to lay down their lives for him. Taking out fodder is my specialty anyway.

It really doesn’t matter which warg I target but the closest and the least surrounded one should be the least tedious.

Running towards one of the wargs that matched my requirements; I manipulate and tore off tiny fire fragments off my, otherwise, grandiose flame dress and shot them towards the wargs. As you might expect, this warg didn’t last long under my tremendous firepower.

With its life ended, I marked the two closest wargs and made my way towards them,

This is close enough, and now br…arck!

[“““rIwaREc lE EWuCaSe rOn; Bo oFoneTe tIP To siMoMiD mI TerEElAr rEtE dINa HeRa”””]

[Mental Attack (Minor)] inflicted on [Young Crimson Spark Dragon *]

‘Ahhhh, too much information. Too much information!’

‘These damn wargs are attacking us with [Telepathy]. It’s a mental attack!’

[““rIwaREc lE EWuCaSe rOn; Bo oFoneTe tIP To siMoMiD mI TerEElAr rEtE dINa HeRa””]

‘Argh scheiße, another batch. Who deactivated [Mental Stability], [Mental Warfare] or [Battle Mind]?! ‘

‘None of them are deactivated, you idiot. Stop complaining and help #4 and #5 block them.’

‘Kuck, I’ll let you guys handle that. I’m still able to cast some magic.’

As I could feel my mind being cleared up a bit, the wargs began to whimper in pain like innocent, little dogs.

How do you like the taste of your own medicine, dogs?

These wargs are really testing my limits with this information dump. They were either overflowing my head with incomprehensible information, or they were shouting at a ridiculously loud volume that my own thoughts was being drowned out.

In any case, my head was splitting apart and the fog of information began affecting my judgment and thinking.

…Luckily, my parallel minds have begun to launch the counterattack with my own [Telepathy]. In a clash between five wargs and my comrades in arms, my side seems to be winning the mental warfare.

While those wargs are in pain, I, the sixth mind and original mind, will be the one to end this quagmire.

Flame Spea…

[“STOP RIGHT THERE!”]

Multiple proficiency requirements fulfilled. [Mental Stability Lv. 3] [Battle Mind Lv. 4] [Mental Warfare Lv. 4] gained

STOP SCREAMING IN MY HEAD!

I recoiled from the powerful mental attack. Loudly shrieking and yelping in anguish, I desperately rotated my head to each side, until I saw the garm smirking, still dodging every single root from [Earthern Shackles]!

I wanted to take the garm out now, but understanding that it was simply distracting me, I calmed down. The garm wants me to take my attention away from the wargs. I can’t do what it wants. I want to, at least, complain about that attack but I don’t have the time nor concentration to do that correctly.

I need to kill these wargs before the garm is freed. Flame Spear…

["DO NOT IGNORE ME, CHILD!"]

[“STOP DOING THIS! SCHEIßE, it hurts…!”]

The pain inside my head grew and grew. I never felt this amount of head pains before, that it caused me to yelp excessively, having finally completely abandoned any grace, elegance or pompousness I had before this fight.

Seeing me whine and complain like a child, he continued to taunt me, chuckling.

[“It seems taunting you is far easier than I thought.”]

[“ARGH, what you’re doing is unfair as hel…”]

By instinct alone, I stopped my thoughts and lowered my body, avoiding what would have caused more than an aching head.

Woah, where did that dark magic spell come from?!

[“Hmph, you dodged it…Concerning your statement, this is how wargs hunt stronger prey and I am well acquainted with it. To survive, you must use all that is at your disposal without consideration of what is fair or not. No monster survives on goodwill alone.”] With a dismissive tone, he explained to me the hunting style of a warg.

Why did the description not tell me this? HEY, System Voice, this is important information that you should be putting into the description of these monsters.

Verflucht nochmal!

If you want to tell me that monsters need to forget about being considerate, then I will just do that then! For only a moment, I will extinguish all of you!

Come, my flames!

All the surrounding fire began swarming around me, burning anything flammable into cinders to fuel its growth. I began beating my wings, hoping that the updraft caused by my flame will be enough to bring me to the sky.

“Kriaorrrrrrhhhhhh!”

Gather my flames. Burn this forest into ashes. Burn brighter than anyone who dares to steal my spotlight!

Custom magic gained: [Imperial Hellfire]

Imperial Hellfire!

Roaring the name of this spell in my head, I flew up into the sky and gathered all the fire that is in this area into a huge cloud of inferno above me.

With the wargs and garm still attacking me mentally; my mind, parallel mind included, has fully descended into anger and chaos from all this pain. All moral decisions were cut off as I fully embraced my draconic wrath.

With my mana being released and used to activate this spell, I turned my body and began diving towards the ground.

On impact, the inferno cloud crashed and started to spread across the ground similar to the shockwave caused by a meteor crashing on a planet. A sea of fire was all that I can see. The grassland that we are fighting in, the trees of the forest, and all life were consumed by this unnatural disaster created by those taunting words of an arrogant, piece of shit garm.

He speaks so noble but behaves like a common street thug!

Experience has reached multiple breaking points. [Young Crimson Spark Dragon *] has risen from [Level 10] to [Level 11] Attributes have increased due to level up Acquired 400 skill points

Something died…and my mind seems to be free from inference now.

The experience I gained is too little for it to be the garm. How did he dodge that? He couldn't possibly have tanked this attack if a mere glancing hit from my [Inferno Blast] was enough to shave off over half of his health. He probably had the chance to heal himself a bit, through [Health Recovery], but there is still zero chance that he can survive a hit.

With the ashes and embers starting to settle down and dispersing itself from my view, I could only watch in horror how black everything now looks. My eyes widened up enough to call myself an anime character, I swallowed my dry spit, now realizing that my actions have caused something terrible.

This green and lush piece of the Belzac Forest was eradicated by my spell. The damage was widespread, but I managed to contain my flames from spreading any further. My efforts still weren’t able to prevent this place from becoming a fleeting memory of a, once, beautiful woodland.

[“You…how could you?”] A voice filled with horror entered my mind.

I flinched upon hearing those words, but my guilt was quickly overshadowed by the remnants of my anger. I defiantly rebuked his words with an emotion-filled answer.

[“To survive, you must use all that is at your disposal without consideration of what is fair or not. That is what you told me.”]

[“Our ancestral home…There is a limit to what you can and cannot do!”]

[“Don’t lecture me on this. I know what I did is rather cruel, but the forest will grow back after a few years, while my life will not. To survive, I will do what I must. Don’t be a hypocrite, old man.”]

[“…It seems I have done another mistake. I shouldn’t have provoked a dragon, no matter how young. Maybe it was also a mistake to not make peace with you, considering your titles…”]

My titles? What does he mean with that?

[“If I had taken your offer to leave in peace, maybe my young wouldn’t have perished. The pride of my bloodline compelled me to repel you…but it seems this will be our undoing…”]

[“…Blame your stubbornness. It’s too late to stop this now, so raise your head and come!”]

[“As you wish…”]

With that said, the garm lunged towards me. While it might seem like a simple frontal attack, it was actually a feint for his true intentions. A magical circle began forming under my feet, in my shadows.

He probably expected me to not notice it while in my anger, but the same trick won’t work on me twice. It was his fault for not having [Silent Casting], a skill that blocks any sound and trace of mana from the spell. It was essentially [Stealth] and [Presence Killer] in one skill for magicians. Do you seriously think a real mage, like me, would not see through it…ok, now I’m rambling.

Oh, the spell is nearly finished. That was some quick thinking there.

Skill acquisition requirement fulfilled. [Thought Acceleration Lv. 1] acquired

Ah! Awesome~

‘Stop getting distracted, original mind!’

Oh.

And then the garm swiped his claw towards my face.

…

Everything went black.

Hmmm. Well…Uhhh. I guess I shouldn’t have been so deliberately distracted by my own thoughts there. His speed accelerated in the last few moments when I had that “Oh” thought come into my head.

Hmm. That is what you called messing up by being overconfident in your abilities, and everybody is mad at me again. Ah, my parallel minds will get even madder, if I say that any louder.

Actually, I’ve been pretty childish lately. It’s weird that [Humanize] would deliberately downgrade your mental age, depending on the humanized form’s physical age. I like the carefree feeling of being a kid again but…the ramifications for acting stupid around these “mature” individuals is harsh. Those guys should loosen up a bit…or maybe I should just stop being a brat. Ha ha, I had to laugh at this nostalgic thought…sad memories of the early days of my idol trainee days…

I could hear the sizzling of the last embers of a life. I heard it so many times already, but it never gets old I heard it so many times already, but it never gets old. How weird that I'm not nervous at all in this situation. Usually, if something that goes against my planning happens, I would freak out and won't be able to function for a few seconds until I can calm down. Such a weird thing to be completely calm now. My anger is finally gone.

[Humanized (Minor)] inflicted on [Young Crimson Spark Dragon *]

“Kuck…”

The taste of blood. I hate this taste so much. It’s too much iron.

[“H-How…?”]

[“You need to see my shadow to activate the spell. Nothing hard to counter.”]

Dark Tendrils Erupts dark elemental tendrils from a targeted shadow. Requires the user to see the shadow of the target

While it won’t stop the spell after it activates, I can still interrupt the casting itself. Using [Humanize]’s mana cloud, I was able to block the garm’s field of view, which caused the magic circle to disappear.

Despite only have 2/3rd of my stats, my smaller frame helped me maneuver around easily to land a counterattack.

[I see…It seems you have won this battle. I would like to apologize for the insults and hostility.]

[“Yeah…good fight. I-I also would like to apologize for acting like a stubborn child. This…really shouldn’t have come to be…”] Spitting out the blood that came into my mouth, I gave a proper apology for being the cause of this whole debacle.

I provoked a fight by acting stupid. I burned down this forest in my anger tantrum. Everything that happened just now, was my fault.

Guessing my current thoughts, it gave me a proud smile a father would give his daughter to reassure her that everything is alright.

[“Don’t despair… Bask in this victory. You have earned it…congratulations.”]

“Whroooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!”

Experience has reached multiple breaking points. [Young Crimson Spark Dragon *] has risen from [Level 11] to [Level 16] Attributes have increased due to level up Acquired 2000 skill points

Pff…even in death, he just had to act cool. A six-year-old just showed me, a 15-year-old, how uncool I am. This attack was truly the most devastating.

With the mana mist dispersing, the sight of my [Spark Claw] deep in the garm's chest was the first thing I saw. It was a split-second made move, but it was nothing but brilliant.

I pulled out my claws, the sharp sickles now covered in blood. His lifeless corpse fell down on the ground, like a broken marionette, and the once proud, but arrogant, wolf was no more.

‘Why, did you have to be this complicated. That last moment scared us so much. No matter how strong we get, no matter how much we shine; you should never, ever forget our roots. Keep up your guard in battle.’

'Ahaha, you guys heard that, huh?'

‘Of course, we would. We are you. You can’t hide anything from yourself.'

'I am thou, thou art I. Even if thou art plunged into the depths of darkness, we shall always watch over thou. Thine conviction shall be the beacon for thy light to shine through.’

'Awesome. That sounds exactly what a Persona would say. Now I only need a mask.'

I laughed at my parallel minds’ attempt to reassure me that what we did was necessary.

‘Phew, let’s go to sleep.’

Can’t argue with that. I also have to find another place to sleep as everything is gone now. Urgh, this mental fatigue is terrible.

“Whroooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!”

…Huh? Let’s ignore that. Nothing good can come from following that howl.

“Whroooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!”

Would I even be able to escape from it? It has been some time now and last time we met; it was close to evolving to a C rank monster. It is definitely demanding me to come over to it with that loud howl…and it will probably not end peacefully. I don't want to go, but I also don't feel like I can just run away now. I can probably recover quite a bit of stamina until I get there.

I turned back into a dragon and made my way towards the place the, probably, garm with the [Pack Leader] title is calling me from.

*******************

Urgh, why am I even doing this? This is stupid. This is so very stupid. All these skeletons are creeping me out.

Identify.

Garm Skeleton The skeleton of the monster wolf that hunts in packs to take down its prey. Rank D Darkness Garm Skeleton The skeleton of a darkness garm that uses dark elemental magic to cripple its enemy. Rank C Shadow Garm Skeleton The skeleton of a shadow garm that uses advance dark elemental magic to severely cripple enemies and preys alike. Rank B Fenrir Skeleton The skeleton of the mystical wolf type monster, the Fenrir, a descendant of the wolf monster Belzac. Rank A

Skeletons of garms and a fenrir…On the other side, there are…

Human Skeleton The skeleton of a human Dwarf Skeleton The skeleton of a dwarf Leonid Skeleton The skeleton of a beastman that possess the blood of a lion monster Panthereon Skeleton The skeleton of a beastman that possess the blood of a panther-like monster

Well, that proves this world is filled with fantasy humanoid races. There is no equipment or clothing on the skeleton. A shame.

Still, Belzac, huh? Never knew this forest was named after a Fenrir called “Belzac”. No wonder that garm mentioned this being their ancestral home or something like that. Kinda selfish of him to try to kill me for it but I understand that it would be annoying to learn somebody is rampaging in your home.

I wonder what happened in this forest for there to be this many skeletons. It really looked like a battlefield where a bunch of humans, dwarves, and beastmen waged war against a ton of wolf type monsters.

After walking a bit further into the area, I arrived at an open grassland. In the middle of the field, a bird's nest or something, is surrounded by a myriad of additional skeletons.

Standing up in front of the nest is the garm. The pack leader. The real alpha of this former pack of garms and wargs.

Pack Leader Garm's Status Board Profile: Name: * Level: 28 Race: Darkness Garm Age: 9 Years Status: Health: 1498/6998 Mana: 403/3609 Strength: 3461 Intelligence: 1903 Vitality: 2102 Wisdom: 2269 Agility: 4901 Stamina: 431/4590 Effects: [Exhaustion (Major)] [Bleeding (Moderate)] [Stress (Major)] [Depression (Moderate)] [Rage (Minor)] [Adrenaline (Moderate)] Skill:

Magic Skills and anything related

[Arcane Mind Lv. 5]

[Mana Control Lv. 7]

[Mana Efficiency Lv. 6]

[Arcane Mind Lv. 5]

[Wind Magic Lv. 6]

[Wind Amp]

[Dark Magic Lv. 9]

[Dark Amp]

[Dark Magic Efficiency]

[Cast Revocation Lv. 4]

[Mental Stability Lv. 4]

[Mental Warfare Lv. 4]

Physical Skills and anything related

[Stamina Strike Lv. 9]

[Mana Strike Lv. 7]

[Sundering Enhancement Lv. 6]

[Piercing Enhancement Lv. 7]

[Enhanced Claws Lv. 10]

[Enhanced Fangs Lv. 10]

Senses and Movement Skills

[Concealment Lv. 2]

[Accuracy Correction Lv. 4]

[Concentration Lv. 8]

[Prediction Lv. 7]

[Danger Perception Lv. 5]

[Probability Correction Lv. 3]

[Detection Sensor Lv. 2]

[Primal Senses]

[Tracking Lv. 10]

[Night Vision Lv. 10]

[Silence Lv. 1]

[Odorless Lv. 1]

[Evasion Lv. 7]

[Acrobatic Lv. 9]

[Terrain Maneuvering Lv. 9]

[Thought Acceleration Lv. 4]

Resistance Skills

[Physical Resistance Lv. 7]

[Pain Resistance Lv. 6]

[Arcane Corruption Resistance Lv. 3]

[Bleed Resistance Lv. 5]

[Poison Resistance Lv. 2]

[Paralyze Resistance Lv. 4]

[Torpor Resistance Lv. 8]

[Fire Resistance Lv. 2]

[Earth Resistance Lv. 5]

[Wind Resistance Lv. 7]

Stat Growth and related Skills

[Health Recovery Lv. 5]

[Mana Recovery Lv. 6]

[Stamina Recovery Lv. 7]

[Enhanced Health Growth Lv. 5]

[Enhanced Health Capacity Lv. 3]

[Enhanced Mana Growth Lv. 5]

[Enhanced Mana Capacity Lv. 3]

[Enhanced Strength Growth Lv. 5]

[Enhanced Strength Enforcement Lv. 4]

[Enhanced Intelligence Growth Lv. 5]

[Enhanced Intelligence Enforcement Lv. 3]

[Enhanced Vitality Growth Lv. 4]

[Enhanced Vitality Enforcement Lv. 2]

[Enhanced Wisdom Growth Lv. 4]

[Enhanced Wisdom Enforcement Lv. 2]

[Enhanced Agility Growth Lv. 8]

[Enhanced Agility Enforcement Lv. 5]

[Enhanced Stamina Growth Lv. 7]

[Enhanced Stamina Capacity Lv. 4]

Others

[Identity Blocker Lv. 8]

[Identify Lv. 6]

[Terror Aura Lv. 6]

[Leadership Lv. 5]

[Kin Controller Lv. 3]

[Dismantle Lv. 3]

[Pregnancy Lv. 5]

[Starvation Lv. 9]

[Telepathy]

Spell List:

[Dark Bolt] [Dark Tendrils] [Shadow Dash] [Dark Slash]

[Wind Bullet] [Wind Cutter] [Air Shield] [Wind Slash] [Swift Winds]

Titles: [Pack Leader] [Belzac’s Successor] [Protective Mother]

Gulp, no way. Nein, nein, nein, nein.

Belzac's Successor A title given to a descendant of Belzac that is destined to be the next Belzac. Boosts experience gain and skill proficiency gain. Increases Dark Elemental resistance and proficiency, while also improving the effectiveness of Dark Elemental spells. As a descendant of the mystical three-eyed Fenrir, Belzac, the possessor gains heightened parameters, when fighting with other of its pack Protective Mother A title given to a mother that will defend its family to the bitter death. Heightens parameters when fighting with its kin

Impossible. Just impossible.

[“I-I am sorry. I didn’t want to fight them.”]

…

Gulp, her aura is becoming even fiercer. Come on, I don't want to fight against you. Please, you're even wounded, so, please!

This place is suffocating. Not only is it super creepy due to skeletons laying around but this garm has her [Terror Aura] active. This pressure is daunting.

[“I’ll get out of this forest. I have enough food in my Storage magic. I can give you all of it if we can end this peacefully.”]

…

[“Uhhh, hello?”]

…

[“Can you please speak? I know you have [Telepathy].”]

…

Uhh, maybe it wasn’t a good idea to mention that I used [Identify] on her. I still think that this skill is an extremely intrusive skill that ignores the very concept of personal privacy. It would have been a sin if [Identity Blocker] hadn’t existed.

This situation is still very awkward. I'm trying to communicate with her, but she isn’t responding to anything I say. I still think my decision to come was idiotic. She does have [Exhaustion (Major)] so she wouldn't have been able to pursue me even if she wanted to.

I’m also curious about what she’s guarding behind her. She’s been standing in front of that nest, this whole time without moving an inch. Guess a look can’t hurt…

[“Do not come any closer to the nest.”]

[“J-Ja, ma’am!”]

Scary.

[“Fight me.”]

Uhh, no thank you. I’m tired.

[“Thank you for the offer but I have to decline.”]

[“I did not suggest, I ordered you to fight me.”]

This one is also very stubborn. If we can communicate with each other, then why must we fight against each other. I just want somebody to talk with that isn’t obsessed with killing me.

[“If this is about revenge, then I am really sorry. I said it already, but I offered your partner and children peace. Your pack wanted to kill me, so I was forced to do it. It wasn’t my fault. I also don’t want to fight you.”]

It's kinda a half-truth? Revenge was tempting, but I really was offering them peace to stop any bloodshed between us. In the end, I only acted on self-defense.

[“You will fight me.”]

…These stubborn wolves. Ok, ok. This seems to be the only way out of this situation. She is heavily handicapped with low health, mana and stamina while having both [Exhaustion (Major)] and [Bleeding (Moderate)]. Her other stats are still ridiculously high and there are also the effects of her titles. If my [Detection Sensor] is correct, then something is behind her and I bet it is one of her children.

However, I personally know how detrimental [Exhaustion] is for the body. It should even out the playing field. I just need to be careful of her attacks, both magical and physical. I should be able to dodge them…probably. I ought to keep an eye on my own stamina. The last thing I need is being inflicted by [Exhaustion] myself.

[“Ok, I am ready…”]

[“Good. Let us begin.”]