Chapter 27

I quickly release an iron arrow, this time, hoping to save on costs of arrows, but the hound dodges to the left. The hound is now too close for me to get another arrow in, so I use intermediate fire magic to push it back and give myself time for another arrow. This iron arrow is enough to hurt the wounded hound badly, and I kill it after one more arrow.

With the hound dead, I lay down on the snow covered ground. I am exhausted, my mana is low, and I used more arrows than I wanted. I need to think of a way to kill the wolves without using my whole supply of arrows. Unfortunately, I can't get back any of the arrows I used against this hound, so I'm out a demon arrow. Next shop day, when I refill my arrows, I will think about going full Orchelium and having a decent amount of demon arrows to hold me up during a pinch. In the meantime, I am glad I have the skill trapper. I take the hound into my inventory, and then I set off.

As I approach the second hound, I step almost 100 feet away from it. Instead of attacking it, or trying to snipe it with my bow, I get started with making traps. I don't want to use any mana, of which I have recovered all of it, so I stick to rope and rocks. I make a few traps that will hoist the hound into the air, and a few traps that will drop a rock on it. In total, it took about 20 minutes to prepare, in which time the hound wandered off a bit.

I easily track down the hound and shoot an arrow at it from far away. The iron arrow bounces off the side of the hound's hide, and it turns my way.

"Come get me, you stinky sack of shit!" I yell, and the hound runs towards me.

I start to book it towards my traps as fast as I can. The hound can run much faster than me, but I had a very decent headstart. I turn back one time to shoot an arrow at its head, and then I reach the traps.

The hound was moving too fast to be hit by the dropping rocks, but that same speed was what doomed it for my other traps. As the hound ran, it interested with a string trap, tripping it. I shoot another arrow at its head, this time going in a little bit.

The hound gets up and starts to move forward, but not before my next trap goes off. A rope on the ground is wound tight around the hound's front leg, and a falling stone pulls the hound into the air. Once in the air, I am able to attack its unshielded underside with my bow. With three arrows to the soft skin, I kill my second Iron-Hide Devil Hound. Seriously bad-ass name.

>**Level-up!**

Baller, but I don't know what to spend the points on. With Vitality, I could spend more time running from place to place. With Wisdom, I could cast magic for longer. With Strength, I could mine for more iron. With dexterity, I could... Climb faster? Intelligence was really the only choice. Once I can use my magic to burn through stone to retrieve pure iron, then I'll work on the other stats.

>**Status**

>Name: Homogeneous Khalidius

>Level: 7

>Class: Novice

>Credits: 1730

>Health: 50/50

>Stamina: 50/50

>Mana: 50/50

>Strength: 25

>Dexterity: 15

>Vitality: 10

>Inteligence: 20

>Wisdom: 10

>Luck: 10

>Stat Points Available: 0

But I also forgot about luck. If I increase luck, who knows what might happen. For now, I'll stick to making myself stronger. If I get too good of luck, I might become weak. I'm also happy to see that my credits are at a cool 1730. Each hound must be worth 200 credits, the same as the Black Mountain Snake Mother.

The remaining eight hounds died similarly. The terrain became gradually more mountainous and less forested, but my fire magic was enough to knock the hounds over so I could get their unprotected side with my arrows. My magic was a little stronger, and I thought about saving up for the next magic skill book, Advanced for 4000. I might get Intermediate Earth and Basic Lightning magic next to increase the range of things I can do with rocks and just to see what lightning can do.