World Awakening: The Legendary Player-Chapter 117: Practice

"It was definitely fifty-seven," Nox said, his voice full of smug satisfaction. "I counted."

Mela looked like she was about to pop a blood vessel. "You did not! There were at least sixty-five of those corrupted boars, and I personally dispatched thirty-three of them with my needles. That means you only got thirty-two."

"Nah," he aid with a lazy shrug. He was having way too much fun with this. "A bunch of yours just ran off with needles sticking out of them. They probably got better. Doesn’t count. My kills were clean. One-shot punches to the face."

He looked down at his own fist, admiring it. "Also, thirty-three is a weirdly specific number. You sure you’re not just making stuff up to feel better?"

"I am a master of my craft!" she shot back, her voice getting a little too loud. "I know precisely how many I felled!"

’Hook, line, and sinker,’ he thought, a grin spreading across his face. ’This is way more fun than just walking in silence.’

Serian let out a quiet sigh from a few feet behind them. "Does it truly matter who was victorious over the boars? We are a team. The victory belongs to all of us."

"It matters because he’s a liar!" Mela snapped, not even looking at her.

"It matters because she’s a sore loser," he countered, his grin widening. "It’s okay, pointy-ears. Maybe you’ll get the high score next time. Keep practicing."

Mela’s face went from angry to furious. Her hand moved to her blowgun, but she stopped herself. He could see her physically restraining herself from just shooting him. It was hilarious. freēnovelkiss.com

"Fine," she finally spat out, her voice dripping with venom. "You can have your imaginary victory. But your ’efficiency’ means nothing if you lead us into a trap." She pointed ahead, her expression changing from angry to genuinely concerned. "You’ve been leading us west for the last hour. Do you even know where you are going?"

"North-ish," he said. "The direction the princess wants to go. It’s not rocket science."

"This is the Blackwood Reach, you fool," she snapped, the frustration of their argument finally giving way to real alarm. "Elder Theron’s territory. They shoot trespassers first and ask questions never. Your kill count is about to become zero, permanently."

That actually got his attention. He stopped walking and turned to look at her.

Serian caught up to them, her own face now etched with worry. "Mela is right, Nox. We should not be here."

Mela crossed her arms, a smug look of ’I told you so’ finally wiping the anger from her face. "Yes, he should have listened. The Blackwood clan values strength and stealth above all else. They see my people as weak. They see outsiders as target practice."

Nox just stared into the dark, tangled woods ahead. The trees here were different, blacker, with sharp, jagged branches that looked like claws. The air felt colder.

His annoyance with Mela was completely gone, replaced by a jolt of pure, unadulterated excitement.

’Elder Theron, huh? I wonder what his level is.’

A slow, dangerous grin spread across his face. He looked at Mela, then at Serian.

"So what you’re saying is," he said, his voice dropping to a low, eager whisper, "is that this is the hard-mode part of the forest."

Mela’s smug expression vanished, replaced by horror. "No, what I am saying is that we need to turn back immediately!"

"We can’t," Serian said, her voice tight. She was pointing at the trees around them. "Look."

Nox’s eyes followed her finger. He hadn’t noticed it before, but now he saw them. Faint, dark shapes moving in the high branches. Dozens of them. They were silent, blending into the shadows so perfectly that they were almost invisible. But now that he knew they were there, he could see the faint glint of moonlight on sharpened arrowheads.

They were already surrounded.

Mela cursed under her breath, her hand flying to her needles. "We’re too late. They’ve been following us."

Nox just laughed. It was a quiet, happy sound that was completely out of place. He summoned the Brutalizer gauntlets to his fists with a loud clang.

"Good," he said, cracking his knuckles. "I was getting bored of walking anyway." He looked up into the dark canopy. "Hey! You guys wanna see my kill count?"

The canopy above them rustled, and a dozen dark figures dropped to the ground, landing in a perfect circle around them without a sound. These elves were different from Fena’s people. They wore dark, hardened leather armor and their faces were painted with black streaks that made them blend into the shadows. They moved like predators, all coiled muscle and quiet menace.

One of them, a tall elf with a nasty-looking scar across his lips and a pair of cruel, hooked blades, stepped forward. He looked Nox up and down, his eyes lingering on the heavy gauntlets, and a dismissive smirk touched his lips.

"A noisy child with heavy fists," he said, his voice a low rasp. "You are either very brave or very stupid to make a challenge in Theron’s woods."

"Can’t it be both?" Nox shot back, his grin not fading.

Mela stepped forward, her hand on her weapon. "Kalion, we mean your clan no disrespect. We were merely passing through. This human is an... associate of the Ashen Glade."

Kalion just laughed. "An associate? Fena’s people are getting desperate if they’re hiring human thugs." He ignored Mela and fixed his gaze on Nox. "You want to test your strength, boy? Fine. I will grant you a proving. You will face one of my hunters. If you win, you may pass. If you lose..." He drew a thumb across his throat. "We feed your corpse to the shadow cats."

"Nox, no," Serian said, her voice tight with alarm. "This is a trap."

"Of course it’s a trap," Nox said without looking at her. He pointed at one of the elves in the back, a wiry-looking guy who was practically vibrating with nervous energy. "I’ll fight him."

Kalion’s smirk widened. "You wish to fight Renza? You have bad luck, that is the strongest hunter after me and the elder."

"You picked our fastest hunter. Bad choice, kid."

Renza stepped into the center of the clearing, and the nervous energy Nox saw before was gone. It was replaced by a dead-calm focus. He drew two short, wicked-looking daggers, holding them in a reverse grip.

Nox just grinned, cracking his knuckles inside the Brutalizers. ’Fast, huh? Good. This’ll be more fun than punching pigs.’

"Ready when you are, twitchy."

Renza didn’t answer. He just vanished.

One second he was standing there, the next he was gone. Nox’s senses screamed, and he spun around just in time to see a silver flash coming at his neck. He brought his gauntlet up, blocking the dagger with a loud CLANG.

The force of the blow was way stronger than he expected from a wiry guy like him. It sent a jolt up his arm.

’Shit, he’s strong too.’

Before he could counter, Renza was gone again, melting back into the shadows of the Blackwood trees. He wasn’t just running, he was using the darkness itself, moving between shadows in a way that looked a lot like a low-level version of Nox’s own Void Step.

"He’s using the clan’s Shadow step technique," Mela whispered from the sidelines, her voice tight with worry. "He becomes one with the darkness. You can’t track him."

"Come on, human," Kalion taunted from the edge of the circle. "Is that all you have? Standing there like a statue?"

’So he wants to play hide-and-seek? Fine.’ Nox closed his eyes, ignoring the taunts. He couldn’t track him by sight, but his Void-Touched Core could feel the thrum of mana in the air. He spread his senses out, a thin, invisible layer of his own corrupted energy covering the clearing.

He felt a sign of movement to his left.

He didn’t open his eyes. He just activated Void Forging, a thick plate of black armor solidifying over his ribs a split second before Renza’s dagger slammed into it.

BAM!

The dagger hit the void-forged plate over his ribs with a sound like a hammer hitting an anvil, and the impact sent a shockwave through Nox’s whole body.

’Damn, this guy hits hard for a twig.’

Before he could even counter, Renza was gone again, melting back into the shadows like he was never there. The other Blackwood elves were just watching, their arms crossed, smirks on their faces. They thought this was a game.

"Is that all you can do, human?" Kalion taunted from the side.

’They’re trying to piss me off,’ he realized. ’They want me to get angry and make a mistake.’ He almost laughed. He wasn’t angry, he was having fun.

’This is perfect practice.’

He closed his eyes again, ignoring the insults, and spread his senses out. He could feel the faint hum of Renza’s mana as he zipped between the shadows, a mosquito buzzing around his head.

’There.’ He felt movement behind him and to his left.

This time, he didn’t just make armor.

He Void Stepped.

He vanished a split second before Renza’s daggers sliced through the air where his throat had been. He reappeared right behind the skinny elf, a heavy Brutalizer fist already swinging.

Renza’s eyes went wide with shock. He twisted his body with an unnatural flexibility, barely managing to avoid the punch. The wind from the missed blow alone was enough to make him stumble.

’I am still too slow it seems.’

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