Before Elvis could react, the sword’s tip flashed into view, already bearing down on his waist.
Despite sitting in the snow, Elvis felt as though he were surrounded by wafting steam.
However, the expected pain never came. Instead, the sword sank into the snow beside him with a sharp squeal from below.
A moment later, blood seeped up through the snow, a red blotch blooming around the buried blade.
[Your Spirit Beast has slain a Lv. 2 Snow Rat!]
[50 Life Mana Extracted]
Elvis remained frozen in place for a few moments before springing to his feet.
Snow rats were a sneaky species in the Frozen Forest dungeon that moved beneath the snow and ambushed Awakeners. Although Elvis knew this, he had let down his guard when he hadn’t seen any around.
"Snow rat?" Luke asked as he ran up to them.
"Yes," Caelithia replied, digging into the snow and pulling out a white, rat-like monster, except it was half a meter long.
"Let’s go. We don’t have time," Luke said.
They all nodded in agreement.
Luke led them deeper into the hazy forest, which became clearer the farther they went.
The number of wolves had dwindled. Now, they encountered packs led by a Level 4 Arctic Wolf, accompanied by at least two Level 3 wolves and several Level 2 wolves. All the Level 1 Arctic Wolves had disappeared.
Luke always battled the Level 4 wolves.
They would sneak up on the group unnoticed and lunge out from beneath the snow in the middle of intense battles.
Despite their frail bodies and limited strength, snow rats possessed exceptionally high agility and powerful jumping abilities. They could vault out of the snow and lunge straight at exposed faces, consistently targeting vulnerable areas of the body.
Although they were easy to kill, practically offering free Life Mana, their treacherous and frustratingly timed ambushes proved fatal in the midst of intense battles.
Hayden almost died because of them.
However, that wasn’t the most dangerous incident. It occurred when Luke forgot to use [Life Inspection] on a group of six arctic wolves, assuming they were Level 3 wolves with a Level 4 alpha—since there was no physical difference between most arctic wolves.
Elvis believed him because he had also assumed Luke had used [Life Inspection] to determine their levels.
Unfortunately, they were all Level 4 wolves. It was the most arduous battle Elvis had fought, requiring insane reaction speed. He took down two arctic wolves and three snow rats.
The battle brought his Awakener System to Level 3, with ten percent of the level already filled. He even received his first monster core.
Caelithia killed one wolf, Luke killed two, while Hayden and Freda finished off the last one.
After they were done, they agreed to take a break, which they desperately needed.
Caelithia, who had battled alongside Elvis, took the body of his Level 4 arctic wolf that bore the monster core, leaving her own on the floor.
It made Elvis wonder if she could see his notifications. Otherwise, how would she know which body contained the monster core?
Then she left under the pretense of easing herself. She paid no mind to the peculiar looks from Luke, Hayden, and perhaps Freda, though Freda’s gaze was more subtle.
After placing the large body of the Level 4 Arctic Wolf into his nearly full storage bag, Elvis leaned against a tree beside the others. He had learned his lesson—not to let his guard down.
The trio gazed at him as if they wanted to ask an uncomfortable question but didn’t know how to begin.
Hayden finally broke the silence. "Your sister—"
"Mind your business," Elvis shut down his question with an uninterested look.
From the corner of his eye, Elvis could see Hayden clench his fist, but he was too lazy to exchange words with the cocky brat.
A minute after Caelithia disappeared, Elvis received notifications for the absorption of two monster cores and a level-up—one of the monster cores being one she had obtained from a snow rat. Enjoying the story? Read on at novelping(.)com.
Unfortunately, there was no new skill.
A tinge of disappointment welled up in his heart, which he quickly dismissed.
Caelithia returned as swiftly as she had left, and they resumed their hunting five minutes later.
Now, they encountered very few wolves, and all of them were Level 4. Fortunately, the packs were small, with the largest consisting of only four wolves. The previous pack of six Level 4 arctic wolves were an anomaly.
Thirty minutes later, the group crossed paths with a lone Level 5 arctic wolf. The five swiftly bombarded it to hell. Even the hazy wind had vanished, leaving only an invisible, howling wind.
They battled five more lone Level 5 arctic wolves, with Elvis and Caelithia each managing to snag the last hit on one.
However, this also revealed something to Elvis—whenever he and Caelithia attacked the same monster, his Level was used to calculate the Life Mana extraction when it died, even when Caelithia got the last hit.
Finally, they reached a point where they could see the dungeon’s return portal in the distance.
However, not far from the dungeon portal stood a tall creature.
A bald, burly orc with savage blue skin, protruding lower tusks, and a crude loincloth stood some distance from the white, swirling portal. Its massive, three-meter-tall frame was covered in scars, and it gripped a brutal black club studded with jagged spikes, its end resting against the snowy ground.
Elvis scanned it with 〈Blood Appraisal〉 and it had Strength as its dominant attribute.
Luke explained in a very low voice, "That blue orc is level six. They’re as slow as a level four arctic wolf... without any Skill. However, in this dungeon, they have a 0.01% chance of possessing [Predatory Rush].
"This Skill makes blue orcs explosively faster when pursuing fleeing prey. So, if you don’t run, the Skill is somewhat useless. But it shouldn’t have that Skill unless we are too unlucky."
Elvis snapped his head toward Caelithia when he heard Luke’s last sentence.
Caelithia met his gaze with a warning glare.