It All Started With Lightning

Hunting with Baldur

Running at full speed, they were out of breath by the time they reached the Worm Mountains.

William spoke out of breath. "One day I will kill all these wolves. They annoy me every time."

"Why is that?" Baldur was in better shape.

"I don't know, but I think it's because of that little wolf. He's as smart as a fox, and I don't even know what he's up to. Anyway, let's go." He said. He was rested.

He had avoided the last mountain he had gone to when he had taken Baldur to the Worm Mountains. He didn't want anyone to know about the metal heart inside of that mountain.

Last week he was able to get some information from some books. This information was about the metal heart.

Most of the information he read was just a guess, but even that was enough for him to realize the value of the metal heart.

This type of elemental heart would indicate that a creature was platinum level or higher. And it's a powerful one, even among the platinum levels. It was the embodiment of a creature's power.

As an elemental body part, the strength of the creature was absolutely enormous. William saw it as his ticket to advancing beyond the silver level.

He knew that a mage's senses and perceptions were definitely greater than his, so he didn't even come close to the bottom of the mountain. Besides, he did not want to warn the creature there.

They climbed down to the foot of the mountain in front of them. Since most of the worms lived underground, they would have to find a cave or something.

If they wanted to bring the worms to the surface, they would have to make a very loud jolt or noise. In a wilderness like this, that was the last thing they wanted to do. When they climbed to the top of the mountain and descended from the back, they found a large cave.

This cave was very large compared to the previous one. It had an entrance that was at least five meters high and four meters wide.

The path inside deepened in the same way.

William had a torch in his bag. He immediately took it out and wanted to burn it, but Baldur stopped him.

"You're not really going to light a torch with a mage by your side, are you?"

"Are you a light mage?"

"Dude, you really are ignorant." He said, and his lips moved as he cast a spell.

A ball of light appeared in Baldur's hand. Then he pushed it a few meters in front of his chest. It was much better than a torch. It was as bright as daylight.

"This spell follows us. It's one of the most basic spells." He said.

Indeed it was. As Baldur began to walk, the ball of light moved ahead of him.

The light problem was solved.

The cave was very deep. Even after a few minutes of walking, they hadn't reached the end.

As the cave deepened to the right, they realized that this might be a tunnel to the largest of the mountains.

The other mountains were like a chain attached to the large mountain in the middle. This cave deepened towards the joining point of this chain.

After walking a little further, they began to hear creeping sounds.

They had come to a ledge two meters high. Below them was a flat ground three meters deep, with the creeping sound in front of them. Neither of them cared about the three-meter depth and jumped down.

After two hundred meters, they encountered their first worm.

It wasn't just one. There were more than one.

Only one of them was at the peak of the iron level, while the others consisted of worms that were not even at the iron level.

It was like a mother and her children.

When the worms spotted the ball of light and the duo, they let out a battle cry as they treated any creature that invaded their territory.

"Ziii!!"

The large creature was very fast. It took only a few blinks for it to come to them.

William did not draw his sword. He used the metal skin and shifted the center of gravity to his fists.

"You kill the little ones! I will hold this!" He shouted to Baldur.

"Okay, watch out!" said Baldur, dodging a little to the right to avoid the two who were about to fight.

William jumped a few feet off the ground to hit the head of the worm coming towards him.

"BOOOOM!!" His fist landed right on the head. The creature felt only a small shock.

William's mighty fists were incomparably weaker than the creature's defense.

The creatures certainly had their advantages in this regard.

At the same level, the difference in strength between humans and creatures could be up to ten times.

William only wanted to play with it until Baldur arrived. He didn't want to waste any of its blood.

It would probably take him half an hour to kill this creature with just fists. So he wouldn't say no to help.

When Baldur reached the other creatures, he immediately took out a sword from his dimensional bag.

Baldur was also a powerful warrior. He touched his sword with his hand, and the sword began to emit a yellow-brown glow.

It was one of the most useful techniques used by those who knew the earth element. Not only would it increase the weight of the sword, but it would also make it easier to cut through places like earth as if cutting through the mud.

All the creatures before him were weaker than him. Even though he didn't have much experience, he got used to it in a short time.

After a few minutes, he was like a wolf in a herd of sheep.

When he had killed the last worm, he turned to look at William.

William was in a difficult situation. His face was covered with sweat. Baldur immediately ran for help.

William immediately drew his sword when he saw Baldur running towards him. He was sure that if he were as strong as Baldur, he would have been able to defeat this creature hand-to-hand faster. For now, he could only 'harass' it for a few minutes.

William's sword transformed into a lightsaber. Not even the creature's earth body could block this sword. Even if it couldn't go too deep, it was enough to cause him a lot of pain.

He was relieved when he pulled out his sword. He felt less pressure.

Baldur stopped fifty meters from the worm. He shouted before he began to read a spell. "Hold it one more minute!"

It was good for William. He could have held it for a long time since he had already drawn his sword, but he couldn't say the same for the 'expensive' sword in his hand.

He knew that since Baldur was a mage, a spell that lasted that long had to be enormous. So he continued to fight the worm patiently.

Baldur put both hands on the ground as he read the spell. As he slowly and tremblingly raised his hand, large boulders were torn from the ground fifty meters away.

With a push of his hand and a closing motion towards the creature, all the rocks were thrown towards the worm. They wrapped around its body, restricting its movement. The twenty-meter-long creature remained like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered. No matter how much it screamed in its high-pitched voice, it had no friend to come to its aid.

William fell in love with the spell. He immediately seized the opportunity and leaped at the creature's head. With a stabbing motion, his sword barely hit the creature's head. It was like hammering a nail. When he saw that this head was dead, he immediately ran to the head on the other side. He killed that head in the same way.

In the end, this huge creature died very easily because of their double work.

There was almost no blood coming out because William's sword had burned the creature. The wounds caused by his sword strike seemed to be cauterized.

Baldur immediately ran out of breath.

He pulled out a barrel and handed it to William. William took the barrel and began the 'dirty work'.

This time he knew enough about the creature. He knew that the largest vein would be in the middle of its body and from there he could draw blood quickly.

He made a small cut with the dagger Baldur had given him. The blood flowed like a fountain.

He quickly filled several barrels. The blood wasn't wasted like the last time.

He filled ten barrels!

William turned to Baldur happily.

"You're going to make me rich, man!" he said, smiling.

"Don't get too excited! We hunted together, so it's half!" Baldur scowled cunningly, in inverse proportion to his massive body.

"Doesn't the Academy already give you money? Why do you need this?" William asked in surprise. He didn't know that Baldur was going to share the reward with him. He wouldn't care if he did, because Baldur had helped him enough.

"You know... the Academy supports my work, not me. I work for a very low salary. Besides, I sometimes spend that money on research." He had a worried expression on his face. Obviously, he wasn't happy with this poverty either.

"All right. After that, everything will be half and half and you can cast the spell... how many times a day?" William was satisfied with the way things were going. He knew that he would not be able to earn that much in one go.

"Well...that's about it...I guess if I only do it twice, but the second time I'll be very tired and you might have to carry me," he said sadly. William was frankly surprised that he could only cast this spell twice a day. It was a powerful restraining spell, and its cost had to be enormous. Warriors also had techniques like this spell that required an excessive amount of qi. In general, people used these techniques as a last resort in life-or-death situations. An example of this would be the Eye of the Storm or the Volcanic Slash that William saw on the shelf of Fire Element techniques.

The Volcanic Slash was actually a nice technique, but it was very high in consumption. It would collect the wearer's fire element in any weapon and create a lava wave where the weapon cut. If you did this to a rock, the heat would melt the rock and turn it into lava. That's why it was called a volcanic cut.

"Eye of the Storm was cooler. He would gather the Fire Element in his fists, unleashing a burning power in the field. The place where the blows hit would instantly burn and melt.

William currently did not have such a technique. Even if he did, it wouldn't matter because the Execution Sword was something like that. Besides, in terms of qi cost, the Execution Sword was tremendously good compared to the others. The only problem with this technique was to find a suitable sword. The sharp edges and the tip of his sword were already starting to melt. He would only be able to deal with one or two more creatures with it. Of course, this was the most optimistic prediction. If the battle lasted long, he would definitely lose his sword even in a single fight. After thinking for a moment, William said, "That's enough, let's rest for the day. It's already late. Besides, carrying you... it would be really annoying," he said, looking at his three-meter-long body.

Baldur patted his bald head. He smiled, "My body is heavier than you thought." He said.

Baldur took some supplies out of his dimensional bag. Obviously, he wanted to set up a tent, but William blocked him.

"What are you doing? Are you going to waste time getting out of the tent in an emergency? I warn you, the tent may not be useful in the wilderness," he said.

He had learned that lesson from the bandit leader he had killed.

Without the tent, their mission would have been almost impossible.

"Well, okay then." He said and took the tent back. This time he took out a sack with a flour-like powder in it.

He sprinkled it around their camp.

William was curious. "What is this?" he asked.

"Are you good at hunting?" Baldur answered with a question.

"Of course I am!" said William, laughing and beating his chest.

"Then how could you not know about this powder? Never mind. This powder was made from the essence of various plants and ores. It is called a creature repellent. It keeps creatures away from us... at least at Bronze and below."

Hearing the function of this powder, William was amazed. It was an extremely useful powder.

"Is it expensive?" he asked.

"Not really. A bag like this, like five soul stones." As if considering the price for the first time, he continued.

"But it's definitely worth those five soul stones."

"Worth it. If five soul stones will keep me away from those creatures, then well done," William said.

He thought about buying a bag when he got back. Of course, he had to get the mission reward first.

The bag was not very big. It would last for four or five uses at most, but even that was enough.

The two of them began to meditate. It's still too early to sleep. Besides, it was good for them to regain their strength now. They meditated in silence for a few hours.

Then Baldur took out one of the barrels of blood and began to do something with magic. Blood flowed over his hands, similar to the water magic his mother had cast. Baldur pulled out a lens-like tool like a jeweler's and began to examine it carefully.

William stopped his meditation after seeing his movements.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Just looking at the purity of the blood." He said mumbling. Then he pulled the tool out of the blood and put everything back in his dimensional bag.

"We are lucky. This creature could be a bronze rank in a year or two. That's why its blood is so pure for me."

"Will that come back to me as an extra soul stone?"

"No," Baldur replied in a low voice.

"Then I am going to bed. Good night." He said, and William lay back on the small bed he had made.

But soon he had to get up. For the slow crawling sound was coming towards them. Both of them had enough sense to realize that the approaching creature was powerful.

William sat up immediately and asked Baldur.

"Do you have a stronger spell?" His eyebrows were furrowed. He drew his sword as he waited for the creature to come forward.

"There is, but you must delay it!"

"Then start reading your spell now!" said William.

Meanwhile, a creature appeared in the light that Baldur had created. It was the same worm, but this one was bigger!

It was a bronze-level creature!

When it saw its friend's body lying on the ground, its blood drying up, it let out a piercing scream.

"Ziiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!"

William thought they could handle this creature.

Most likely, this creature was the mate of the one they killed or something like that.

The fact that the creature was at the early bronze level gave him confidence.

William shouted before the creature ran towards him.

"Do you have an apprentice-level sword?"

"I have it! A peak apprentice-level sword. Catch!" Baldur quickly took a sword out of his dimensional bag and handed it to William.

This sword looked like a normal knight's sword. It was long and straight. But he didn't have time to think about its shape because at that moment the creature had charged at him.

He crossed the two swords and used the execution sword technique on both of them at the same time.

Taking cover on the back of his chest, he leaped at the creature that was rapidly approaching him.

The size of this creature was completely different from the others. William felt as if he was falling into a huge mouth as he jumped on its head. It could have swallowed William in one bite.

Fortunately, William was getting better at dealing with these worms.

He was able to use their slowness to his advantage.

He thought he had survived the creature's first attack, but the creature had never made a move to bite him.

While William was in the air, the creature gave him a head blow. William had fallen at least thirty meters. Receiving the blow without the metal skin, his left shoulder was dislocated.

Enduring great pain, William let go of the sword in his right hand and replaced his dislocated shoulder.

At that moment, the creature was already upon him again. He could only react with his sore left arm.

He slit the creature's mouth from top to bottom. It would be more accurate to say that the creature's mouth or lips had small cuts. What William did not expect was that the sword in his hand could not withstand the heat of the execution sword technique, and as he cut, the tip turned to molten iron and stuck to the creature's lips.

He felt sorry for the sword but was happy that the molten iron continued to harm the creature.

He immediately picked up the other sword and activated the execution sword again.

He quickly rushed to the middle of its body, taking advantage of the opening created by the creature's wounded mouth.

He aimed for where its heart was. He no longer cared for its blood.

He slashed several times, but he couldn't cut deep enough to cut one of its major veins. As the elements in the creatures' bodies increased, so did their defensive and offensive capabilities.

William's metal or fire element was not good enough to penetrate its defenses.

When the creature turned its head, William began to run again. This time, he ran toward its second, motionless head.

Worms lacked intelligence compared to other earth creatures. It would let itself be attacked, a classic tactic. He landed on the second head, jumping with all his might just as the creature was about to devour him.

The creature's mouth had bitten off its own second head. It was now like the snake in the legend that bit its tail.

The creature screamed in great pain. It took the second head out of its mouth and looked back at William. One of the creature's heads was gone. There was one left, but William had no confidence in him. As he considered whether or not to run, he heard Baldur's voice behind him.

"Jump as high as you can!"

...