So we continued our journey for about two weeks, gradually delving into the wild lands. Every day I became more cautious, but I didn't change the routine established on the first day. In the morning, there was body tempering training, then dinner, a short transition of a couple of hours, and then concentration and magical energy and star control exercises.
Of course, such progress was very slow, but I was in no hurry. There was still about a month until the family tournament for body tempering, and even more until the order for Luo Song. Moreover, we were confidently approaching the habitat of the Tian Shan ice armadillos; the earth ones lived nearby. Zhou Min, of course, didn't know who we were going to hunt yet, but I don't think it matters much. Soon we were in their territory, and they could easily attack us if they wanted, so I decided it was time to reveal my plans to Zhou Min.
"Hey, Zhou Min, tomorrow we're going hunting. Remember, I told you I needed some materials from magical beasts?" I asked her in the evening, the day before I planned the hunt.
"Yes? And who can be hunted here?" she asked uncertainly, looking around. The lush vegetation had been replaced by a rather cool picture a couple of days ago, so we even had to put on warm clothes.
"Yes, nothing special, just Tian Shan ice armadillos," I chuckled, watching her face turn a greenish hue of panic.
"Are you out of your mind! These are true pack leaders! How do you think we can defeat them! You're strong, but not that strong! How can a mid-level first-stage mage defeat such a monster! Even if there are two of them?" Zhou Min started shouting at me. Behind her, Jiaxing Er, who was sitting, quietly giggled; she had seen more of my true abilities.
"Calm down, everything will be fine. At least you'll see how to fight monsters properly," I said cheerfully. Her stunned and frightened face had become a little tiresome over the past two weeks, but it was still very amusing.
"Rather, I'll watch you get crushed and eaten! Fine, me, but don't you feel sorry for Jiaxing Er? She'll be left all alone!" Zhou Min continued to yell. "I still remember that incident at school, you said: 'I'm not as brave as some of our classmates,' clearly hinting at Mo Fan! When did you become so reckless?!"
"Really? Well, I've always been like this," I chuckled, shrugging. "It's just that back then I wasn't ready to face the danger that was there."
"And now you're ready to kill a true leader?!" she didn't stop protesting.
"Yes, for a long time," I smiled mysteriously. "Alright, tomorrow is a tough day, I'm going to sleep," I said, and sat down to cultivate.
The night passed peacefully. Zhou Min faithfully performed her guard duties from that day on. The next day, getting up early, eating quickly, we headed in search of armadillos. Finding them wasn't as difficult as it might have seemed; after all, they are quite numerous, and we are practically in their territory. Ice armadillos are monsters about three meters tall, resembling a hill of blue-ice color with spikes of pure ice. Their heads are small and can easily hide under the hill-like shell. Their main weapon is a massive tail, as well as their bodies; they curl into a ball and roll at the enemy. In addition to all this, ice armadillos possess ice magic with a power not inferior to mid-level magic.
We found one such armadillo in a clearing near a steep slope. It was standing, chewing on some grass-like plant. Jiaxing Er calmly watched it from cover, while Zhou Min stared at it with wide eyes, almost trembling with fear. I don't know why Jiaxing Er, being a beginner-level first-stage mage, stood so calmly before a true leader; perhaps she believes in my strength.
"Alright, I'm going, Zhou Min, watch carefully," I said, smiling, stepping out of cover and heading straight for the armadillo, which didn't seem to notice me at all.
"Wait, are you really…" Zhou Min tried to stop me, but it was too late.
I quickly formed a star map of lightning and directed a lightning strike straight at the armadillo's head. Their armor is very strong, and I need it practically undamaged, so I have to quickly shatter its head and burn its brain. However, my strike, which was almost equal to mid-level third-tier magic in power, had practically no effect. Although cracks appeared on its skull, only a little. But it noticed me and, quickly turning around, roared with all its might, and a wave of quite strong cold spread from it. If this were its magic, I would have frozen to death, but this was just a small, uncontrolled burst of energy.
But looking back, I saw the girls huddled together, shivering from the cold, wrapping themselves in anything they could. I, on the other hand, was standing in pants and a sweater. It seems my body is still much stronger than that of other people. Unfortunately, I couldn't admire this spectacle for long; the armadillo reminded me of itself with another roar, and jumping up, it curled into a ball and rolled straight at me.
The girls were behind me, so jumping away was dangerous, but for this situation, I had a recently learned spell – a gust of wind blades. Creating a star map, I swung my arms as if to push away the air and directed the full power of the spell not at the armadillo, as I might damage its precious armor, but under it into the ground. As a result, it flew into the air with a huge amount of earth, where it briefly opened up, losing all orientation, thus showing me its head.
The wrath of lightning immediately flew into it; the lower part of its head, which was actually visible, was significantly weaker than the upper part. However, even so, for a true leader, my enhanced lightning magic couldn't kill it so easily. But it must be said that it landed very badly, or rather, it fell on its side, which gave a good opportunity for an attack. Without thinking, I took advantage of it, using a wind rush, instantly appearing above its head and attacking it with two lightning wraths at once.
After two consecutive attacks, its head was already blackish, but this is a true leader, and defeating it is not so simple. Although lightning affects the nervous system, slowing down reactions, this is not the case with this monster; its skin is so dense that there were no muscle spasms even after all my blows! The armadillo itself recovered faster from them and tried to hit me with its tail. But that wasn't happening; I managed to regroup and push off its tail using a wind rush, so its tail was imprinted into the ground!
Landing on two feet, I finally finished the star map of lightning, and another lightning strike hit its head. There were many more cracks, the skull was almost crumbling, a little more and… But the armadillo quickly recovered from this and jumped to its feet, then roared and directed a wave of cold air at me.
This was already its magic, and as I said, it is not inferior to mid-level magic! If I were hit by something like this, even I would feel pain and discomfort. This time there were no girls behind me, so using wind boots, I quickly changed direction, moving out from under the attack and circling the armadillo so as to have a better view of its head. Everything could have ended very quickly if I had used an artifact, but Zhou Min didn't need to know about it, and besides, I myself like such intense battles. I literally feel like a hunter who traps his prey, then kills it and skins it.
However, it still had to be finished, so taking out my old dagger from my spatial bracelet, I used the remaining energy of the wind boots and space magic to accelerate it and direct it precisely at the armadillo's head. The dagger developed quite a high speed, but it was still far from the speed of artifact daggers; the artifact itself gives them significant acceleration, converting a significant portion of space energy into speed.
But even this speed was enough to completely destroy the already cracked head of the armadillo. It literally flew to pieces, splashing blood and brains all around, as well as scraps of armor. By inertia, the body continued to turn so that the icy gust followed me, but it gradually subsided, and the body slowed down until it fell on its own after a couple of seconds. After such a battle, I felt a slight fatigue throughout my body and a considerable depletion of my magical reserves; after all, three mid-level spells almost consecutively is a bit much for now, but nothing critical happened, I could have fought a couple more such battles.
Stretching, I headed towards the armadillo; I needed to quickly collect everything necessary and move on. Of course, its armor would be more than enough for both a shield and armor, but I still had to look for its soul, and besides, extra would come in handy for excrements and other artifacts. Spotting the girls, I saw that Jiaxing Er was quite calm, but it was also noticeable that she was very cold and scared. And Zhou Min stood with her mouth open, visibly trembling all over from the cold and not even thinking of wrapping herself tighter. In other words, she was simply in indescribable shock. I, as if nothing had happened, approached the armadillo, took out a special tool that helps cut such strong armor, and began my work.
"You… you… you…" Soon, Zhou Min's stuttering voice was heard behind me. Turning around, I saw her pointing at me.
"Yes, is something wrong? I'm a bit busy, do we have a lot more to do today?" I asked, annoyed, returning to work.
"You're so calm!" Zhou Min roared behind me as loudly as she could, and then even coughed. "Jiaxing Er, are you also so calm?"
"Yes, why worry?" Jiaxing Er shrugged, bewildered.
"What?! Don't you understand? Your brother just killed a true leader being only a first-tier beginner-level mage! Other mages of his level can't even take down a weak junior leader alone!"
"Well, brother is very strong," Jiaxing Er replied cheerfully, with a special warmth in her voice, smiling tenderly.
"And… and… that's it?" Zhou Min exhaled helplessly. "He just moved so fast that he surpassed that armadillo in speed! He used three mid-level spells throughout the entire fight, not counting beginner-level magic! And how long do you think this fight lasted?"
"Uh… maybe a minute?" Jiaxing Er stretched out, thinking. "Although maybe half a minute, it was all too fast."
"And what am I saying! A true leader in just over half a minute!" Zhou Min continued to yell. "Is your brother even human? How can someone of his level possess such strength!?"
"Well, I was lucky, I played the fight well, managed to hit the enemy's weak spot, otherwise I would have struggled longer," I said, shrugging, putting away the monster's armor, which had been divided into plates.
"But you still managed! This is simply incredible strength!" Zhou Min insisted. "We only finished school a year ago! A year ago, our city Bo was filled with monsters, and we and the kids hid from monsters like these three-eyed wolves, afraid to even squeak so as not to be found and killed! And you just killed him like this! By the way, where were you then? You didn't evacuate with us, and then you came back all beaten up and slightly roasted to the safe zone in the morning?"
"Brother lived in Bo city before meeting me? Is that the one that monsters attacked a year ago from the black church?" Jiaxing Er asked with interest, looking at me questioningly.
"Yes, I lived there. And now I easily kill three-eyed wolves. This dagger, by the way, is made from their fangs," I said, showing the dagger I pulled from its neck.