Authorial POV

A young Wolf-kin girl was sneaking through a Forest in the Savanna, looking through Footsteps, sniffing the smells of different monsters in the air, like a wolf hunting for a rabbit.

Fangs were showing through her smile, Lorient used the [Tracking] skill to find her snack, but what she saw, ~30m away from her, was a giant Bull eating her tender snack.

Standing 2m tall, 5m long, with two giant horns on his head, dark-blue and green skin, and a slightly longer neck than usual, he was an excellent mid-Tier 1 Monster, perfect for training.

Licking her lips, she approached closer and closer to what would be her dinner.

[Stealth] guided her every footstep and made her instincts more sensitive towards certain spots like shadows and soft ground. Her feet moved smooth and soundlessly as she circled her prey to position herself slightly diagonally from behind in preparation for the ambush.

She needed to be patient. She clearly remembered when she was kicked by a comparable creature last time, and she avoided repeating the same mistake.

Being only ~10m away, she knew that every further step would signal the monster in front of her that she was there.

Activating her [Aura] around her hands, a red-goldish mist slowly surrounded them and formed claws.

She crouched down and leaned her body as parallel as possible towards the ground, almost touching with her knees, for the most speed.

Concentrating, she activated the skill [Dash] and rushed forward like a meteor. Only leaving 2 small trails of her Aura.

Shortly before she was in range for an attack, the bull's tail swung at her with an enormous velocity.

She twisted her body, face towards the sky, and got even deeper towards the ground to avoid the tail.

As the tail was above her, she was so deep down that her whole body almost touched the ground.

Touching the ground barely with the tip of her leather shoes, she kicked herself off, parallel to the monster's side, towards the front.

While kicking, she worked a spin in as the momentum of the twist was further used.

It all worked perfectly as the tail's air pressure added to her momentum. She spun her body clockwise while flying close to the bull's side, and with every rotation, she hit him with her claws, like a small red-goldish tornado made from blades.

The first and last ones were shallow, but the middle ones slit right through.

After spinning to the front, she grabbed the ground and rolled away to the side, ~5m away from the bull.

Seeing the monster injured, enraged, and losing blood at a fast rate aroused her bloodlust.

Her ears stood up, her nose as sensitive as possible, and her eyes glittered golden as she looked at her prey, not even a doubt in her mind that she couldn't kill it.

The wolf-girl slowly formed her aura mist around her tail, readying the next attack.

The bull in front of her scratched the ground with his hooves and readied himself for a dash.

Lorient gave him no chance to attack as she dashed forward. The bull instantly accelerated, cracked the ground underneath him, and charged at this small wolf.

While dashing at the bull, she slipped, feet forward, while the bull brought his horns down to impale her. Her slip was intentional.

As she did it, she twisted her arm, so she could get a grab at the ground to get her momentum into a spin.

While spinning, she gracefully avoided the bull's horn.

While spinning, her tail acted like a blade, surrounded by her Aura. In the rotation, she tried to time it so that she could cut the bull's lower part of the throat. Slitting it multiple times.

After her rotational momentum ended, she slipped straight on her back between its legs, out from under the bull, instantly jumping up when she was no longer underneath him, ready for another round.

Although not her own, Lorient, full of dirt and blood, waited for the bull to turn around as her bloodlust reached a new height. After mooing quietly, the giant cow just fell down, "Mooo – grrrrrr…!"

*boom*

A giant pool of blood was gathering beneath him, and she sounded annoyed as her adrenaline slowly disappeared, "Tsk, how boring."

Her smile quickly vanished, looking disappointed. Lorient looked around and tried to smell through the intense blood smell for her protector, "LARRY, COME OUT! I DON'T WANT TO CARRY THIS THING BACK!"

From out of the forest emerged something gigantic – an Ox-kin, standing 2.20m tall, carrying a Mace on his back and wearing a half plate and half leather armor.

He slowly walked towards the girl, who looked like a pup beside him.

A deep-bass voice echoed through the forest clearing, sounding irritated, "Ms. Lori, why do you kill so many monsters? We have so much food already."

Lorient frowned slightly at what this big muscle said, "I know! But he looked so strong! Look how big he is. I thought I could train a bit while fighting him."

The giant Ox kin just scratched his butt and nodded towards Lorient. He then went towards the big bull, heaped him over his shoulders like a sack of potatoes, and stood beside her, waiting for her command.

Lorient's eyebrows twitched slightly, "Erm, Larry, doesn't the blood flowing all over you disturb you?"

Larry looked at himself and shook his head towards his Ms. She just stood there, like many times before, dumbfounded by the simpleness of her personal protector.

She knew that he was in no way dumb or anything. He was just… too caring for her needs. That would be how she would describe him.

After looking at herself, she thought that the saying "flocks of the same feather, flock together" really hits.

Smiling happily, she commanded the big Ox-kin, "Let's go back, Larry. We need to move back tomorrow."

The big Ox affirmed and hoped for a quick journey, as he was already annoyed by all the insects gluing to him, not knowing why, "Yes, Ms. Lori."

While walking back, she thought about the last months where she trained day and night, either with Larry, who was like an impenetrable wall or with all kinds of Monsters. Still, she always had a place for her family, and this is why she actually traveled back to the Estate, 'Narsi's divine legacy should be soon.'

Lorient had a smile on her blood-smeared face, fangs showing from it as she thought about her family. If somebody saw her, they would think she looked like something directly from hell.

...

They only needed around two hours till they were back at their camp, a small cave they used.

While both cleaned themselves up, Lorient looked towards the sundown and felt into thoughts. In her mind, she wanted to get even more powerful – reaching the next tier, but something like this was unheard of by someone so young as her.

If she could, she would go as a soldier for the coming thinning in the east, in the wild-demons area. She sighed, thinking that it was a nice dream.

After cleaning herself up, she and Larry made a bonfire and sat down to eat with a map lying between them while talking about what to do next, "Larry, how long till home?"

Larry looked at the map in front of them...

They were west of "Furri" and somewhat on the forest edge, "Ms., we should need a week or two if we march to Furri. From there, we could take a boat towards Wolfsteeth."

Lorient simply nodded. For many, this kind of distance was long and perilous. Even given three weeks, it should be barely doable while marching.

Just because of Larry, the burro on this trip, even heaving double the weight would bring no problems towards the Tier 2 Ox-kin who had an apparent physical build.

She merely smiled at her personal protector, who was always around since she was young, protecting her like his own child, so she trusted him with her life without any doubt that he would even sacrifice his own for her.

After checking the route together, Larry started preparing the meat for the following days while Lorient reviewed her System window.

The overambitious Wolf girl sighed about her not being good enough as her level was not even close to where she wished it should be.

Though, everyone else would think she was crazy if they could read her mind.

What really annoyed her were her Mystic skills. The problem was that they were too specific, which made them impossible to level up.

She needed to go against Demons to use her Mystic skills and level them up, but they don't exist outside Krakikal or the buffer zone.

Against Demons, she would be like a wolf inside a group of sheep. She could absorb the Aura from Demons, which usually poisons almost everyone under Tier 2.

But she couldn't just go there for a couple of reasons, and one was that she was too weak, even if she had some advantage. In numbers, they were like locusts, destroying and devouring anything in their way.

She thought about Mom and Dad's stories about the Demons, and they always talked about one thing, which annoyed them to no end. It was that, after they died, they would release all of their Aura at once, which destroyed all land, and it became poisonous and uninhabitable for at least a century.

You also need a robust [Constitution] to not get poisoned, 'Maybe I can help out in the Buffer zone? It should be less dangerous.'

But after some more thought, she clicked her tongue inwardly. Even if she were Tier 2, she knew that Dad or Mom wouldn't allow her to join the Demon run.

Mumbling to herself while watching how the rainbow-colored moons stood in the clear night sky, "This sucks…."

Leonandra's law, or rather the estate law, was that you must be at least 23 to join any military.

Throwing wood into the bonfire in front of her, she stood up and went into the cave while giving orders to Larry, "Wake me up in ~5 hours. I will take the second watch."

Larry simply nodded while polishing his mace, made from a mix of demon bones and Orichalcum. It was one of the sturdiest metals with almost no Mana conductivity, perfect for pure physical builds.

While she looked at the mace, she remembered how it was a present from her family after taking the position as her personal protector.

"HUUUAAAM," while yawning, she laid down on her improvised bed made from hides of previously slain beasts.

*****

Larry POV

Marching through the Savanna for already three days to Furri is exhausting, not physically but mentally, "How long, Larry?"

Hearing this, I sighed inwardly and ignored the question by playing deaf since I was asked more and more frequently, 'I couldn't answer it the first time and can't answer it the hundredth one.'

I had no idea how long we needed to travel. Navigation was the job of the intelligent Beast-kins, nothing for me, 'I fight, and I am good at it!'

…

Noticing that Ms. Lori looked at me, I tilted my head, "Yes, Ms. Lori?"

She frowned and sounded annoyed, which confused me more, "Nothing, just thinking there should be a village somewhere."

I nodded, 'It is good that everything is ok.'

Walking for another four to five hours in silence, I enjoyed the Savanna outside the woods. It is much safer, and I can lower my guard a bit.

Ms. Lori is always so reckless that I need to look after her more, or she will find some Monsters again to, like she said, train herself.

I noticed how her ears stood upright and focused Aura on them and her nose, "Larry, I can smell… Nature Dweller and … their blood…."

There was only one thought crossing my mind, 'Bad.'

Throwing all the bags to the ground, I grabbed my mace, "Where?"

Even with lower skill levels, Ms. Lori's scouting and tracking abilities are much better than mine, as I can't sense anything.

She looked towards a direction which should be south-west-west of Furri, "We need to hurry, go!"

At her command, we both bolted in the direction she pointed to.

******

Lorient POV

Running through the Savanna, I could smell it more clearly, 'Blood. Nature Dwellers blood.'

Why the hell are there Nature dwellers around this part? I can't ask Larry, he is literally a muscle-brain, and there is no time to contact any military camps.

Seeing in the distance, Fairies bound together and loaded onto the cart by… Vulcanic Dwarves…, "No…"

My blood started to boil. We are in Alliance with the circle... if they get abducted close to the Estate..., "LARRY!"

His answer came prompt, "YES!"

I remembered the motivational cry soldiers did at our Estate while training, "Blood for blood, slaughter the Dwarves and leave only some alive!"

Larry answered my war cry with the only appropriate one without hesitation, "Shall the souls burn!"

*****

Authorial POV

Larry raged towards the first Dwarf like a wild bull, who was armed to the teeth, Armor, a shield, and a one-handed ax.

He used [Charge] and was in a fraction of a second before the first Dwarf.

The Dwarf's look was full of bewilderment, but Larry ignored every bit of chivalry and fairness, only seeking blood as he swung with might from a vertical position before he could do something.

The mace landed fully on the helmet of the Dwarf. It could protect the head, but the force traveled towards the neck, which cracked his spine. He instantly died and fell.

Before the Dwarf's corpse touched the ground, Larry got into position and locked onto the next one, and like this, he used [Charge] again. Still, this time, the Dwarf he latched onto was ready because of the commotion previously created, and two of his colleagues were close to him and also prepared.

Larry would not just appear before him, no, he stopped ~0.5m before him, and as the Dwarves instantly tried to stab or slash at him, Larry was nowhere to be seen.

He appeared behind the one on the right and used the [Weight multiplication] skill as he bashed the Dwarf horizontally from behind with his mace that now weighed around 170kg.

You could hear bones breaking and metal denting as the hit connected.

The Dwarf flew towards another one, who stood on the left, and after *crashing* into him, they both flew away like a bird making a nosedive, just parallel to the ground.

Larry looked at the last Dwarf of this group, who raised his shield. He swung his giant mace again but activated his skill [Bloody Nourishment].

This Mystical skill considers all the ones you killed in a fight in the last 24 hours and multipliers his [Strength] Attribute accordingly with the number for 10 minutes.

The air around Larry became heavy. His muscles bulged. Veins popped out like giant snakes out of the river. He hit.

The Dwarf defended against the hit, but his hands and arms cracked. The bones broke.

He was partially buried to his ankles into the ground as he drifted a couple of meters away. He looked at the giant monstrosity that should be an Ox-kin.

He puked a bucket full of blood with red eyes as blood vessels popped. Dead, he fell to the ground.

Larry looked around and saw another 4 Dwarves standing and readying themselves. A vicious smile appeared on his face as he prepared himself, too.

…

While Larry charged toward the other Dwarves like an unstoppable train, two of the last Dwarves were getting ready to use the Fairies as hostages to stop the Ox-kin from killing their comrades.

They were lower-ranking members, as their equipment was subpar at best, but more was not needed as they only looked after the prisoners.

The Dwarf wanted to grab the first fairy, who was crying and protecting herself by holding her bounded hands in front of her.

A deep killing intent stopped the Dwarf, and he suddenly saw the world upside down.

Lorient jumped towards him from behind and cut his head off in a spin with her Aura-loaded tail. She was in [Stealth] and waited for the right moment to strike.

Lucky for her was that the dwarves she was facing were lower members in their group, or else she would have much bigger problems, even considering surviving would be difficult for her.

After landing, she readied herself and used [Dash] towards the last Dwarf, as he looked panicked, grabbed his rather big two-handed ax from his side, and slashed horizontally towards Lorient.

As the Axe came close, she stepped in the same direction as the ax was swinging. She kicked off the ground, towards the swing, and somersaulted, her back pointing towards the ground, over the ax.

Barely avoiding it and only thanks to the combination of the [Evasion] and [Acrobatic] skill was she able not to be split in half.

Landing gracefully, she did a spin on the ground while setting her Aura hastily around her left foot, and with a kick horizontally, which was like a blade, she aimed towards the throat of the Dwarf.

Blood spurted out, and he fell to the ground.

While breathing heavily, she checked her surroundings and saw that Larry was done, too.

It was perfect timing since she barely had any Stamina and Mana to power her Aura left.

While the Mana issue was typical for her low level, the Stamina issue came only because she used [Running] and [Dashing] to come here as fast as possible.

Turning towards the Fairies, only four were left. She strode towards them.

The Fairies looked now relieved since they were saved by this unusual duo.

Lorient was fascinated by them. They are no more than a meter tall, have four beautifully decorated wings, not like the Butterfly-kins but more in a "nature" kind of way, and have light green skin and hair. Well, the Leaf Fairies, at least.

She never saw them, though. The only knowledge she had was from books, and it is really true that they only wear Clothes from leaves, how interesting!

She looked around again, trying to affirm, "Are there any more of you or the Dwarves?"

They suddenly looked sorrowful, and one of them answered the wolf-girl question, "No, there are no more Dwarves and…."

The fairy stopped talking and looked towards their camp, or what was left of it, "… there are also no other Fairies apart from us..."

Another fairy stepped from behind, almost crying, "They killed and burned two of us..."

He was almost choking on his words, "...we don't know where the remnants are, but we hope they are one with mother nature by now..."

Lorient nodded. She tried to assure their safety and share their grievances, "Ok, you are safe now. Let me now look for the key for your handcuffs and interrogate the Dwarves who are still alive..."

She saw how they were downfallen, so she tried again to cheer them up, "...also ...I believe that we took vengeance for your fallen brethren. They can rest in peace now."

The fairies nodded gratefully. While they didn't believe in vengeance as peaceful folk, they understood the wolf girl's good intentions.

*****

Lorient POV

After finding the key, freeing the Fairies, tying down the only Dwarf left alive, and running back to get their bags from before, it was already evening, 'I am so damn tired.'

Talking with Larry, I learned more about the Dwarves, at least their fighting capabilities, as they were only around mid to high Tier 1, so around level ~25 – 40.

The one still alive was looked over by Larry, who ate his meat while cleaning his clothes and weapon.

I walked towards the group of Fairies who were sitting and chewing on some…stuff I wouldn't like to try.

It looked like a paste made from berries and leaves. They weren't omnivores. Actually, none from the circle were.

I was waving my hand to announce myself. They made space on the ground between them for me to sit, which I did.

Before I could say anything, they had already started their etiquette of thanking me. The first one to talk was a female who had a beautifully decorated wreath on her head, "We, as members of the circle of nature, want to…."

I was pressured on time and tired, so I interrupted them, "I am sorry dear Fairies, but I am a bit on a time crunch and tired – could we skip all the niceties?"

The fairy giggled and nodded, "The Wolf-kin are always so direct; it is very refreshing."

Nodding myself, I accepted the compliment and continued, "So, who are you?"

The fairy with the wreath smiled and answered nonchalantly while shaking her head, "I can't say dear wolf-kin, but I already guessed your next question, and we are traveling towards the Leonandra Estate, this much I can say."

Raising an eyebrow and pointing at myself, I tried to get more information from her since I was much more interested, "I am Lorient M. Leonandra. How about now?"

The eyes of every fairy went wide except for the one with the wreath. Instead, she smiled at me, "Hm, I expected you would be a prodigy of the Leonandra or Rosé family."

Smirking to myself, I could understand it. My fighting capabilities were top-notch in the middle of Tier 1 while only being 11 years old.

However, I asked them again, "So, will you tell me now?"

She shook her head.

I nodded. It was understandable if she was on a mission and couldn't say anything, so it was probably for Mom to hear whatever the Fairies needed to say or do.

Shrugging my shoulders, I wanted at least to find something out about the Dwarves, "What about the shovelers?"

The smile on the fairy's face vanished, "They are probably scouts to intercept us."

I was frowning and holding my head on top of my hands, 'It is too much for me. Not like I can do anything, and worst case, I will make it worse. I should probably bring all of them along and let the Estate investigate. Defending them should be now my priority.'

I looked at them and proposed, "So, do you want to travel with us?"

Before I could even inhale, the fairy with the wreath nodded heavily, "Yes! Thank you very much, Ms. Lorient!"

They were too enthusiastic for me... I could barely think, as tired as I was.

I stood up and observed them, "Good, as for now…."

They were…weak. It is nothing unusual as most Nature dwellers are peace-loving creatures. Their abilities are more appreciated in day-to-day life, like farming.

But there are no free meals, "You guys will be the second on watch – if something happens, just scream, and that big guy here will smash at anything stupid enough to attack us."

The fairy with the wreath giggled slightly and thanked me while I was already walking away and waving my hand with my back towards them, "Thank you, Ms. Leonandra!"

I walked towards Larry and the Dwarf, who was bound and gagged, "Hey Larry, we will bring all of them along to the Estate. We will switch and look after this shoveler, so he doesn't die on us."

While saying it, the Dwarf tried to move and talk but couldn't, so he just glared angrily at us.

Great killing intent radiated from me that I could barely hold in. These are the scum that tortured us for centuries just because we look different.

Crouching, I looked at him with a menacing smile, "Listen, little gnome.

I don't care about your pride as shovelers or some stupid shit – I know what you are doing in the west, and I will make sure to enslave your children as you did with ours…."

My last bit of Aura surrounded my hands, "Make your women into prostitutes for beggars and murders, as you did with ours…."

I pointed at him, "While you…."

I licked my lips as I felt bloodlust. "…will be nothing more than a shoveler – until you fall dead so we can feed our beasts with your corpse…."

Showing my fangs with my smile, I wanted him to learn what fear is…but I barely held myself back not to tear his throat out.

He was the reason we fled for centuries or even an eon and lived like Monsters… he is the demon that enslaved my ancestors… barely surviving…

The Aura wrapping around my hands became redder and more menacing while I watched the Dwarf sweating profusely with tears in his eyes.

Suddenly, I felt a hand on my shoulder. Bringing me out of my bloodlust, I looked to my side at Larry, "Ms. Lori, you gave me the command to ensure that he lives till we reach the estate."

Oh, I blanked out a bit. I frowned but nodded towards Larry.

While he was… well… Larry. He was also like a mountain, never weathering against anything.

The tiredness suddenly overcame me, "Hm, are you ok? Can you make the first watch?"

He simply nodded.

I stood up again and felt stared at, full of fear, not from the Dwarf, but from the Fairies who witnessed me.

Shrugging my shoulders inwardly, I thought that they wouldn't try anything stupid, at least. It should be a suitable warning.

Yawning and stretching, I informed Larry at last, "Huuuuaaaam! Good night, the second watch will be doing the Fairies."

So, I went towards my "bed" made from hides of beasts I slew and went to sleep.