44 Restriction

Shesmu looked at the red wolf in front of them and used Inspect to find out its stats.

Red Wolf

HP: 1000/1000

Ryan dashed in, eager for a fight.

"Let me test the power of this new set. I have been dying to try it out!"

With a silver flash, he disappeared from everyone's sight before reappearing behind the wolf's back flying. He raised his dagger and performed an aerial Slash Cancel on the monster's nap. The red wolf's Hp quickly depleted before it fell on the ground dead.

Ryan was also about to land when he noticed the color of the tile he was about to fall on. It was black!

"Argh!"

An electric shock stunned Ryan for a second. Arcs of lightning zapped away at his body before dissipating. All the while, a red number appeared above his head.

-200

The damage from standing on the tile took out around 20% of Ryan's HP. After the stun duration wore off, he quickly rolled out of the black tile into the safety of the white terrain.

"Hey, Ryan, are you alright?"

Leo hopped between the white tiles before finally reaching Ryan. The latter took Leo's hand before saying, "Thanks dude. Yeah, I'm alright."

Shesmu hopped from one tile to another before reaching the duo.

"Oh, so there is a stun function. We should keep that in mind when fighting the boss later."

"Yeah, you're right," Ryan responded. "We don't wanna get stunlocked into oblivion."

"Mister Ryan, are you alright?" Ryuji ran as fast as he could to catch up to Shesmu's party.

"Mister Ryan?" Both Ryuji's worried eyes and his usage of the word "Mister" surprised him. "Ehh, yeah, don't use that. Just Ryan is fine."

"Yeah, Ryuji. Don't use that, in fact, stop calling me Master too. You can call me Shesmu."

"Ehh, yes, Mast-Mas-I mean, Sh-Shesmu."

Even though it took a few tries, Ryuji was finally able to say it right. Looking at this side of him, Shesmu found it a bit less annoying, and kind of cute. At the end of the day, it was just a little kid that met his idol, he couldn't fault him too much.

Sakura followed after Ryuji. Seeing him call Shesmu by name, she was about to say something in response before she stopped herself. She looked at her childhood friend and smiled.

With Ryan now standing up, he undusted his silver wolf coat and unsheathed his dagger.

"Shes, I'm up one wolf over you. Don't fall behind too much or it won't be fun!"

Ryan once again took the lead and jumped from one tile to the next. All the while, Shesmu sighed before looking at his comrades.

"Well, since this turned into a competition, let's make use of it and kill as many of these wolves as we can."

"Sure, that would be fun," Sakura responded.

"Oy! If master-I mean, if Shesmu wants it, I'll kill as many of these monsters as they come!"

"That's the spirit!" said Leo.

Shesmu's gaze lingered on Sakura. It seems like she was no longer upset. He shrugged her off earlier as just another always angry, always complain person, but it seems like she had a much gentler side to her.

Now, if only that would translate to skills too…

Shesmu's first impression of the duo wasn't the brightest. He was concerned whether they'll be able to take care of themselves.

"Okay then. Well, let's start fighting," Shesmu concluded the discussion before unsheathing his sword. His eyes scanned the battlefield, looking for places with a high density of monsters. He located a pack of five and ran towards them. He jumped from one white tile to the next in a zigzagging motion.

Looking at the incoming Shesmu, the wolves bared their fangs and claws. Shesmu unleashed his ki. Black and green energy clashed within his sword leaving a rainbow of terror as Shesmu jumped high in the sky. His ki formed a trailing arc before his blade cleaved the first wolf's head, splitting it in half.

The tile on which Shesmu was about to land was black. Looking around him, all of the other tiles were occupied by red monsters. Shesmu clicked his tongue before using his Dash skill. He appeared above the wolf that was at his right and slashed his nape open.

"Awoo!"

The wolf wailed and howled, but it didn't stop Shesmu from plunging his deep into its chest.

He looked up to see the rest of the wolves growling. The three readied themselves before pouncing at Shesmu with strength.

"Demon Slash!"

The dark energy took over the Cambione's Blade and Shesmu slashed at his enemies. A long and wide black crescent of energy engulfed the incoming wolves, before splitting them in half.

"Wow."

Shesmu looked around at the direction of sound only to be greeted by Ryuji's glittering eyes. His expression was that of pure, unbridled adoration. Somehow, that made Shesmu cringe.

"Master you're too good! That was insane!"

By that point, Shesmu gave up on making Ryuji stop calling him "master". He just shook his head and said, "Stop looking at me and focus on your own opponents. You don't want to hold us back, do you?"

"Shesmu is right, Ryuji. Focus on the wolf in front of you!"

Ryuji was facing a level 10 wolf, while Sakura stood behind him as support. He raised his sword high, his eyes the epitome of focus. Green energy overflowed from his blade before he roared with might and slashed.

At the ground.

Shesmu fought hard the urge to burst out laughing.

"Careful Ryuji, run!"

Sakura shouted in warning towards Ryuji, but the latter couldn't regain his balance. The wolf jumped on him and bit at his arm.

"Damnit." Sakura gritted her teeth and summoned her staff.

"Shuma meru!"

An orange magical circle with elvish runes appeared in front of Sakura's staff. A basketball-sized fireball materialized from it before launching towards the growling wolf.

"Awoo!"

The fireball exploded in the face of the wolf, burning its fur in the process. The wolf jumped away from Ryuji's body in pain.

"Thanks, Sakura."

Freed from the beast's claws, Ryuji stood up using his sword as support. The wolf was on top of a black tile, so Ryuji couldn't attack it. Sakura understood his predicament and as such she waited. She waited until the wolf could no longer, and pounced at Ryuji.

"Rava meru!"

A magical circle, this time violet-blue appeared in front of her. Lightning flashed from within before streaking towards the jumping wolf.

The beast was stunned in midair before falling flat on the ground. Helpless and defenseless, even Ryuji was able to slash it to death.

Throughout the whole fight, both Shesmu and Leo watched with bated breath. With the wolf finally dead, Leo couldn't help but exclaim, "Good job! You both did great, that was a marvelous fight!"

Shesmu disagreed. Sakura carried that fight like a champ. However, just as he was about to voice his opinion, Sakura's expression stopped him dead in his tracks. She was smiling.

Shesmu understood not to talk from that simple hint. If she was satisfied, there was no reason for him to say anything.