Eli didn't dare move while the creature circled him. He didn't know its speed, its attack patterns, or anything about it at all.
'The big frostfang sure takes its sweet time.'
Meanwhile, Julianna crept towards the nearest tree and unsheathed her sword.
"Don't!" Eli said without looking at her. "I got this."
"You said that nineteen wolves ago and you've been bitten six times!"
"Seven. But who's counting, right?"
"Please take my advice!"
The big frostfang swung its head toward the loudest voice and rumbled a warning growl.
"No, no!"
Eli frantically sidled toward the wolf.
"Hey! I'm over here, big dog!"
At his call, the beast swiveled toward him, its claw gripping the earth. Up close, one of its bared teeth glowed like crystal, each facet reflecting a different tint of blue.
After a few more seconds of the deadlock, Eli sensed its hind legs tensing up.
'There!'
[Maid's Intuition] fired. From this angle, the most likely attack would come from his left, low at the legs. Eli read it clean and shifted his weight to dodge right.
But the alpha frostfang didn't commit. It stuttered its charge, pulled back, and came from the opposite side instead.
'A feint!?'
But it was too late the moment he realized it. A claw raked across his ribs before he could correct, leaving a shallow wound at his chest. The force spun him sideways, and he hit the ground shoulder-first, sliding through jagged frost heaves and dead leaves as his sword tumbled beside him.
"ELISE!"
"I'm fine!"
Julianna stepped out of the shade with her golden sword in hand.
"No, you're not. Stay back. I'm finishing this."
Eli clutched his bountiful chest. He was not fine. His side burned and his shirt was torn open where the claws had caught him. His torso was beaded with three thin red streaks. Luckily, the alpha's claws were blunt from ice coating them, which meant the damage mostly came from the impact rather than the edge.
Still, he couldn't just let Julianna steal the kill.
Eli panted, one hand clawing at the ground as he looked up at Julianna and the alpha locked in a standoff.
"Juli, I swear… Let me."
At his desperate plea, Julianna glanced at him with a concerned look. Her shining emerald eyes seemed to have lost their luster after witnessing Eli battered on the ground.
Then, [Maid's Intuition] screamed.
Eli's eyes darted to the alpha. The moment Julianna's gaze shifted, it pounced at her as if it had been waiting for this exact moment.
"JULI!"
But Julianna didn't even flinch. In a flash, her eyes snapped back to the alpha mid-leap, and in one fluid motion — so fast Eli almost missed it — she angled her blade perfectly and redirected the wolf's own momentum against it.
The flat of her golden sword slammed the alpha square in the jaw. The impact sent the beast careering sideways like a ragdoll, and it crashed into the tree trunk hard enough to crack the bark. Rime ice and wood splinters showered the ground, alongside leaves and dew.
The alpha slumped at the base of the tree, dazed, its legs twitching.
Julianna hadn't even shifted her footing.
'Holy… crap. Yeah, Two-Song is a different beast. Isn't she only 23 also? That's only four years older than Elise…'
After the one-sided clash, she decided to end it early and retreated into the shade.
"You finish it."
Eli didn't need to be told twice.
"…Thanks."
Eli gritted his teeth and pushed himself to his feet. His ribs protested every inch of the way, but he didn't have time to baby a wound.
He snatched his sword off the ground and locked eyes with the injured wolf. It was already recovering from Julianna's nasty blow, as expected from the boss of these frostfangs.
'Well, now or never!'
Eli focused on the only active skill sitting dormant in the back of his mind — the one he hadn't touched this entire hunt. Just as he would imagine himself in a game, he echoed the skill name and its image in his mind.
[Rapid Step].
His legs fired off to the moon. His body shot across the clearing, covering the distance in less than a second. The world blurred — ice, trees, moonlight, all dissolving into a reckless streak of light.
Then, his feet struck the ground, sending a shockwave that whipped the leaves into a frenzy. Before the beast could rise, Eli swiftly closed in and stabbed the blade into its neck. It broke through the thick fur first, then the soft flesh beneath, and when the edge drew first blood, it drove straight through and punctured the bark.
The frostfang's legs spasmed once more before giving out completely. Its enormous body collapsed into the frost as a chant of victory.
[Frostfang Alpha slain.]
[Crystalline Fang (Uncommon) obtained.]
[+10 EXP] (Partial)
[LEVEL UP!]
[Level 1 → Level 2]
[STR 30 → 31 | AGI 35 → 36 | END 20 → 21 | MAG 5 → 6 | AUR 6 → 7]
[END has reached Grade E!]
[Rapid Step has reached Level 2!]
[Hunt Quest: Frostfangs — Complete!]
***
The night was still young, yet Eli felt as if he'd aged twenty years after the hunt.
After Julianna treated his wounds and bruises, a change of clothes, and some nagging here and there, Eli could finally lie down and rest near the bonfire Mr. Cross had prepared.
'Let's check my stats.'
Eli quickly opened the familiar status window.
╭────-·ˋˏ-༻𖤓༺-ˎˊ·-────╮
[────HERO STATUS────]
Name: Elise Moreau
Title: [Hero Successor], [Lady's Maid]
Class: None · Rank: I · Level: 2/20
EXP: 5/200
[────STATS────]
STR 30/120 (E)
AGI 36/120 (E)
END 21/120 (E)
MAG 6/120 (F)
AUR 7/120 (F)
[Stat Point Available: 4]
[────ABILITIES────]
Passive: [The Hero] (EX-1), [Maid's Intuition] (S-1), [Maid's Dexterity] (B-1)
Active: [Rapid Step] (D-2)
Songs: —
╰────-·ˋˏ-༻𖤓༺-ˎˊ·-────╯
Eli felt a rush of exhilaration as his progress crystallized into numbers and notifications. Better yet, he had some spare change from leveling up!
'Four stat points to spend… Let's think about this.'
In HOTA, stat allocation was straightforward. Magic-based heroines prioritized MAG. Melee heroines prioritized AUR. Tanks prioritized END. You never split resources unless the character had hybrid skills, and even then, there were optimal breakpoints every player memorized.
But Eli wasn't playing HOTA anymore. He was living in it.
'Strength is damage across the board. Agility is speed and dodge rate. Endurance is basically my health bar. Those three, I can understand. I felt them in those fights.'
He rubbed his ribs where the alpha had clawed him, and his hand grazed something that definitely wasn't ribs.
'…Right. Those are still there.'
Eli yanked his hand away like he'd touched a hot stove.
'Moving on! STAT POINTS! We were talking about stat points!'
In any case, MAG and AUR were a different story. In the game, MAG was magic damage and AUR was physical damage. Simple.
But what did that actually mean in a real body? Eli had [Dual Mastery] from [The Hero], which meant he could grow in both directions. That was supposed to be an advantage, but right now it just meant he had two stats he didn't understand instead of one.
'If I dump points into Aura, does my sword hit harder? But I don't even have aura. And Magic… I don't even know if I can cast magic yet. Elise never learned any.'
Eli stared at the stat window, tapping his chin the way he used to stare at his phone screen for hours on end before committing to a build.
'This feels like the old days! Ah, so traumatizing!'
Eli sighed.
'Alright. I'll put two into Agility and two into Strength for now. Speed is crucial for Maid's Intuition and Rapid Step, and strength is just bonus damage. Safe bet until I figure out what the hell Magic and Aura actually do in this body.'
[AGI 36 → 38]
[STR 30 → 32]
'The rest can wait. I got a ton of points waiting down the line.'
Eli could argue he should have saved these stat points, but there was no advantage to holding them in the early-game. He'd almost died taking a hit from that big wolf when it was supposed to be among the trash mobs.
'I mean… Julianna didn't even budge when striking that thing. But she died, in the end.'
He closed the window and looked past the fire, where the road to Florentine disappeared into the dark.
'I need to get stronger. Fast.'