Kian Goldmaul POV

  We spent two hours hunting—sweeping, to be exact.

  Every animal we encountered was a different breed each time, ranging from tier 5 soldier strength to tier 1 soldier strength.

  It wasn’t random either; it was intentional, as Niko wanted us to see the full range of what evolved beasts were capable of before throwing us into it ourselves.

  They had just killed an animal that looked like a deer, though calling it that felt almost insulting to it.

  It was more than four times the size of one, its body covered in gray, dragon-like scales instead of fur.

  A long tail extended from its back, ending in a sharp stinger at the tip. According to Niko, it had the strength of a 1st-tier soldier. At least, that was his estimate.

  For the knight, however, the difference between a 1st-tier and a 5th-tier soldier seemed nonexistent.

  He handled both In same speed, the same calm movement.

  As the knight returned from finishing the creature, Niko nodded at him before setting his eyes on us.

  “Well then, this should be enough watching for you two,” Niko said. “Now I’m going to take you to fight an animal. Early warning—the one you’re going to fight has close to the same strength as you two.”

  After he finished speaking, they started running in a certain direction while picking both of us up.

  After a while, we arrived at our destination.

  We stopped in front of a cheetah with a different skin color than normal ones, gray with white spots instead of its normal yellowish pattern.

  It was bigger than a regular cheetah while still maintaining its original slim shape. Its muscles looked slightly denser and with longer and sharper claws.

  “Well, this is an evolved cheetah,” Niko explained. “It’s quite aggressive compared to the normal ones. It has the strength of a 5th-tier soldier who just entered the military—someone in his first week. Keep in mind, what makes it that strong is its evolved physical ability.”

  “It’s twice as fast as a normal cheetah, with sharper senses and reflexes, slightly tougher skin, and strength comparable to a tiger.”

  “So now, which one of you is going in first?” Niko finished.

  I was about to speak, but I lost by a split second as Nicolas spoke before me. “Me! I want to fight it!”

  Niko nodded at him, and the knight holding him put him down. “Use your sword. It’s sharp enough to slice through it easily,” Niko said. Nicolas nodded and unsheathed his sword from his waist.

  He started approaching quietly, likely trying not to alarm it and catch it off guard. But it didn’t go his way. The cheetah noticed him almost immediately.

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  The moment it locked onto him, Nicolas reacted. He used water magic, targeting the ground around them in a wide circle, leaving the center dry.

  The cheetah growled at him. Then Nicolas used fire magic on the leaves behind it. The flames began to rise, but they didn’t spread outward because of the earlier water preparation, forcing the fire to focus inward toward the cheetah instead.

  The cheetah panicked as the fire started to surround it, its tail twitching violently.

  Nicolas followed with wind magic, stirring the surrounding air and creating loud and chaotic leaves noises.

  Immediately after, he used light magic directed at the cheetah’s eyes, blinding it. Its sight was cut off, its hearing overwhelmed by the noises caused by the wind, and with the fire’s heat interfering with it heat senses, and turning it sense of smell unreliable.

  He rushed toward it from the side before the cheetah could fully regain its vision.

  As it began to recover its sight, it noticed Nicolas—but it was already too late.

  Nicolas had raised his sword and slashed downward, cleanly cutting off its neck.

  After doing that he started cheering.

  I stared at him in surprise because of his tactic.

  He can already think of such a complicated strategy at his age? Cutting off its senses before approaching to kill it safely. I thought to myself, genuinely amazed.

  Niko noticed my expression. “It’s only natural. He’s still Thaddeus and Ophira’s son. Two giants can’t give birth to a dwarf. Just like you, he’s quite talented—though not as much as you.” He slapped his mouth at the end. “Don’t tell Nicolas that last part.”

  I nodded.

  The knight erased the cheetah’s corpse before we continued moving.

  After a while, we reached the one I would be fighting.

  It was a jaguar. Its size was the same as a normal one, but thin, sharp tusks came out from its mouth. Its build looked heavier than usual, muscles thick beneath its hide.

  “Unlike the cheetah from before, which relies on its senses and speed, this one is different,” Niko said. “This one is stronger, with tougher skin and slightly higher intelligence. On top of that, its eyesight is quite sharp. Its speed is slightly slower than a normal jaguar because of its weight.”

  I nodded as I unsheathed my sword and brought the bow from behind my back.

  I walked toward it carefully, making as little noise as possible.

  When I reached twenty meters, I paused—that was my preferred range for moving targets.

  Two seconds later, the jaguar noticed me.

  I inserted the sword into the ground for easy reach. As it began walking toward me, I pulled an arrow from behind and set it on the bowstring.

  I aimed at the approaching jaguar.

  As it started rushing towards me, I wrapped invisible heat around the arrowhead using fire magic and released the arrow, not caring much whether it hit the head as long as it struck any part of its body.

  The jaguar saw the arrow but was a step too slow to dodge.

  It stumbled slightly, losing some footing. The arrow didn’t pierce deeply due to the thickness and hardness of its skin, but that was enough for me.

  The arrow lodged in its back near its left front leg.

  It ignored the wound at first, growing angrier as it rushed at full speed.

  But suddenly, the jaguar screamed in pain and stumbled to the ground five meters away from me because of the heat spreading from the arrow, especially since it was embedded right next to its leg joint.

  As it stumbled, it crashed toward my direction, sliding through the grass.

  I activated the Fool’s Line to prevent any surprises as I rushed forward. Noticing me coming closer, it tried to scratch me with its injured arm, but I had already predicted that movement.

  I dodged the attack and slashed downward, cutting off its arm before stepping closer and severing its head in one clean motion.

  The accompanying knight looked at the arrow I had shot with surprise.

  “He has a mutation?” he asked Niko.

  “Yes. A fire mutation. His fire doesn’t have a visible form,” Niko replied. “Do not mention this to others. The longer it stays a secret, the better. Who knows when this kind of surprise will be needed—like now.”

  After that, Niko called for the other knights once the corpse was erased.

  “It seems you guys took your sweet time. You even reek of meat and fire,” he said with a smile.

  “Alright, the mission is finished. Let’s return home.”

  Chapter End