Avalon Online 008 Mana

The ugly zombie pack of wolves chased after him, as Rin crept at the top of his speed.

Blood dripped from his face, and fortunately, most of it was from those disgusting zombies, still, the amount of his own blood that he lost was enough to make him bed-sick on any normal day. But not today.

[Mana: 56/140; Health: 47/124]

The sun was on the horizon, drafting a golden-orange glow over the land, as one single male rushed with a sword and shield in both arms, while a pack of five undead wolves, taller than his waist, chased after him. There were eight of them in total, but Rin killed three of them already, which exhausted more than half of his mana, and even his endurance was at a risk.

The zombification seemed to have taken some effect on the wolves, though the way of their relentless chase didn make it seem so. They were fast, though they seemed to lose some part of their dexterity. Through the zigzag of the thick forest, twisting and turning between the trees, Rin advanced, dealing a blow now and then and also getting blows from them.

Gasps of breath escaped from his mouth as he clanged to his weapons. Soon, he reformed the coating of the mana cloak—the ability he got from integrating with the Seed of Protection.

A thin semi-transparent glow appeared on his body, over his clothes, head, and even on his weapon, driving him and the weapons tougher.

His bodyweight got lighter as Rin could control his body better now. He never felt this much freedom of movement, not even in the game, where he was just a mini version of Superman. Well, there was the distinction between real and seemingly real.

Rin moved more of the clocking glow to the sword, considering it would toughen it up further. Just as he was preparing himself, one of the undead wolves lunged at him from behind, leaping off the trunk of a tree.

Rin spun and ignored the others in close proximity. His narrowed eyes found the disgusting varmint almost immediately as he shoved the shield to block against its disgusting slimy mouth, full of foul liquids, blood, and whatever other disgusting thing one could hope for.

However, Rin didn just stop there after shoving the shield into its mouth. He rammed his short sword into its skull. The Mana cloak ability wasn anything offensive, however, it did make everything tougher, and so was true for the sword.

Exerting all his strength, Rin penetrated the skull, as dark slimy blood bobbled out almost immediately. The undead wolf made for the last of its attempt, trying to force Rin to the ground, and it almost succeeded. Fortunately, Rin twisted his sword and pulled it back, giving the dead thing what it deserved.

[You have killed an Undead Wolf Level 4, a threat to Avalon and the universe. You have gained 10 Avalon coins.]

[You have gained 57 evolution points.]

[Congratulations, you have levelled up.]

The transparent text came to his view, but Rin had no time to ponder on that, cause there were 4 more still on his back, ready to snap any part of him they could.

[You have reached Level 3. 1 attribute point each is allocated in physique and spirit.]

A gentle wave of energy washed over him, soothing some amount of his fatigue, but it was not nearly enough. Rin triggered the healing effect of the Ring as 100 health points recovered almost in an instant, recovering most of his endurance as well as the lost health.

All the scratches and claw marks healed, or anything deep closed up within a few seconds. Rin felt stupid for not using it before.

Doing a kick-up he stood up, as four pairs of hungry dead eyes looked at him, screeching, howling.

"Come on," Rin shouted at them, taking his stance. Power swirled inside him, and unknowingly he drew in the unfamiliar, yet so fascinating power. "I ain got it all day."

All four wolves crept at him, their legs moving like a bolt. Rin shouted and rushed at them too, but when he came to a couple of strides away from them, he took advantage of his lighter body to make a somersault over them, like the finest Olympic athlete.

He didn escape, however; but lurched at one of the undead abominations at the back, hacking his short sword into a reverse grip. The undead beast didn feel most of the pain, it only knew madness and hunger. It ignored the sword in its neck and tried to take a bite at Rins leg.

Rins eyes glinted as he withdrew half a step, before coming back again, with his knee ramming against the beasts jaw. The sword was still stuck to its neck, however, the impact from the knee burst its head off, like two or three shotguns had been fired at the same time at the same place.

The congratulatory message came again, but Rin ignored it with a glint in his eyes. He looked at the gore he caused and grinned, finally understanding that only drawing mana could do something so atrocious.

Two undead wolves leapt at him, but Rin stood there grinning like an idiot.

"Come on, come on." His mind jolted at the rush of power, as so did his body. He shoved the shield against the one on his left, running his knee on its body. It impacted directly on its gut, undulating it like how drops of water ripple the calm surface of water. It didn blast off like the other one, though it was flung away a couple of metres.

The other wolf gave him no time. Its claw dug into his chest, tearing his shirt into the blood mess of rags. Rins back hit against the ground as his dexterous fingers readjusted the sword into a reverse grip before ramming it into its neck.

The wolf didn die. Well, it was dead before, but somehow managed to become undead, he would need to spend a little more effort to kill it again. Gritting his teeth, Rim pinned the sword entirely into its neck, then jerked downwards, half severing its neck.

That did the work. So its unnecessary to entirely sever undead creatures necks all the time. Well, it depends on the levels, creatures, and whatnot.

Rin stood back up again, gasping for breath. He killed three wolves in quick succession, which got to exhaust him, not to mention he was already injured before. But he decided to rest after putting off these two, growling at him.

Well, the worst was done, now against two wolves who were somewhat stronger than, he could deal with comfortably. These undead wolves might be stronger than him, but they couldn utilise mana. They were too stupid for that, nor did they awaken any abilities, but that was not the case for Rin.

The one closer bolted like a rabid dog, while the other that he tossed aside followed behind.

Rin waited, checking on his arms and the sword. He had no idea how he did it, but he was using mana. It was almost natural, as if instinctively.

He didn let the wolves take the higher ground this time. Before they could leap at him, he lurched at them, utilising his lighter body to a higher scope. He moved like the finest ballerina, sneaking minor attacks which turned out to be big, just because of the mana infused in the sword.

Within half a minute, Rin dealt with several moves, a hack here, a cut there, but this would only make the undead weaker. If he wanted to kill them for real, he needed to sever their head, or blast the head off.

Both were suitable options and would come easily, but Rin continued on with superficial moves, leaping off the wolves, lurching to escape close claws, and evading the blows of two opponents at the exact time.

Yes, he was doing that, just to see how well he could move, and it turned out he was pretty great.

Only after getting a rough estimate of his level of strength and movement, he deal with the wolves.

[You have killed an Undead Wolf Level 4, a threat to Avalon and the universe. You have gained 9 Avalon coins.]

[You have gained 67 evolution points.]

[You have killed an Undead Wolf Level 3, a threat to Avalon and the universe, you have gained 2 Avalon coins.]

[You have gained 42 evolution points.]

[Congratulations, you have levelled up.]

[You have reached Level 4. 1 attribute point each is allocated in physique and spirit.]