35 Of Ice and Men

As my body was slowly healing and mending the numerous wounds, I suffered in that fight, I started to ponder about my first encounter against magic.I have to remember that I am currently fighting against novices. While my cheap tricks and diversion may work against a group of people who underestimate their enemy and lose their focus if things become too dull. But if I ever would have to face, a squad of veterans I would be toyed to death by them. The sad thing is that if even a veteran squad as weak as the players I just faced can beat me, I do not want to imagine how strong a real veteran of war is.

Watching the little ants systematically devouring every single object in the close vicinity, I started to worry how much had to be destroyed every time he would get hurt. Even though his body becomes slightly stronger after each wound he takes, he still gets hurt at the moment and that makes my body even more vulnerable in that fight.

There was no feeling of actual risk in all of that fight, but at the end when I was about to give the finishing blow to that girl I was just barely able to beat, there was a very strong feeling of imminent doom if I were to get any closer, This lingering sensation, was so strong, that even I was shocked. I have seen many men and women, but this sensation was something otherworldly. So I threw one last glance at the sleeping beauty and got the hell out of there. The feeling of doom only disappeared after having moved away for close to 4 minutes. This lady is pure trouble, I will avoid her as much as possible.

Come to think of it, I have killed my first 2 humans there. Normally there should have been some sort of emotional response. Be it disgust or even satisfaction, but there was just the confirmation in my head both of them died due to my hands. Well, maybe I am subconsciously aware, that they will respawn anyway. There is just no need to spill tears over such a silly topic.

After 5 Minutes my body became whole again. After not looking like a humanoid version of swiss cheese anymore, I started to cover as much ground as possible, because the destruction left behind by my ants, is quite similar to a distress signal. But instead of help, it leads me into danger.

I started to think about it, what the possible consequences of my actions are. The system has no direct influence on me, so I do not have to worry to be just deleted. But I don't doubt that if anyone is able to link me to the whole shitshow that keep on happening around me, that they will try and find a way to get rid of me. I wish I had a way to understand them, without the help of the Observer, I am utterly lost in translation.

The language barrier also leads to the escalation of the fight in the first place, so I either have to avoid coming into contact with other players or learn the language if I do not want to provoke everyone left and right. I mean they just could have asked how the weather is and the felt irritated because I just kept staring at them and did not answer at all. But in the end, regardless of the context they had the choice and decided to start the fight, even though I gave them plenty of time to reconsider their actions.

Although I have to admit, fighting against the last lady, was really fulfilling. I hate to admit it, but there would be no winner at all in this kind of fight if I had avoided getting hurt. Also, it hurts to say so, but most likely I only won due to her not being serious from the start, I had the feeling as if she wanted to crush my illusion of being able to beat her no matter how hard I try. But if you play with fire you will end up getting burned sooner or later.

As I was walking forward I came to the conclusion, that I have to fight many more times, to get stronger. I had to develop and heighten my senses, have to be able to fight for a long time, without losing focus in the mind, because the higher the stakes get, the more likely it is for one mistake to prove fatal. A fight against 3 little girls already proved to be this difficult and if I face enemies with a multitude of different spells, the things I have to be aware of add up quite fast. What if they had a water mage. Even if the water alone does not hurt me, but what if the water is combined with ice magic and wind? Can the freeze me on the spot if I am covered with water? Each battle has mana variables I have to know, before making a plan on how to fight them. Relying on basic instincts is only helpful if you want to escape or find a gap. If you want to win the war you have to be prepared.

After walking for an unknown amount of time, a group of wolves stares at me viciously, tearing me apart with their eyes alone. But instead of starting to attack them, I waited for their attacks. I have to be able to dodge with my body as well, relying on my rocks to carry me into a direction, takes away many options to attack. It should only be used as a last resort.

The wolves closed in on my growling and without waiting for any kind of response from my side they began to engage. When wolves hunt in a pack, they normally expect that their prey begins to run. They deal many small wounds, on the chase until the prey bleeds out. At least that is true for the wolves I knew from Planet Earth, but I have no clue where the similarities end. So I was extra careful and always had a way out in mind. One wolf started and aimed for my thigh, it was quite easy to dodge it, buy simply sidestepping it, without being able to execute this action safely, the next wolf began to aim at my torso, I was forced to divert its launch with my right hand, leading the wolf to hit nothing but air.

Not even a single second passed, before the next wolf was already pouncing towards me, suppressing the urge to just kick the wolf right there, and decided to avoid it by jumping over it. But after landing 2 wolves started to attack simultaneously and I was forced to use my rock to get pulled out of that situation. Training like that is a lot more tedious, than I previously imagined, as soon there is some sort of coordination, my possible movements are getting less and less and right now I still am unable to react subconsciously that takes away precious time that would be needed to dodge.

Iguess it is not enough to just dodge the attacks, the key to such fights is to anticipate their movements and move accordingly to get the most out of such a situation. So now I have to start and take notice of the group dynamic as well if every wolf moves according to a pattern, then the wolf who is going to attack becomes predictable. The wolves attacks also expect a certain kind of defensive movement and attack the weak point, that an evasive movement would produce.

There is always a leader, who orders the wolf-pack. So I have to see, how they react to certain situations, even though that trial and error period will lead to some injuries here and there. But as long as I am covering my weak spots I do not have to be afraid of bleeding out. My body got much stronger since the last time I got bitten by a wolf, let me see how much damage they are still able to do to me now.

During the time he was busy thinking, the wolves were already running towards him with full speed. I just barely dodged some of them, with the help of my rocks. After making several observations, I could deduce that it was nearly always the same wolves that attacked me. The Wolfpack consisted out 10 wolves. 4-5 Wolves were always attacking me keeping me busy, while 3 wolves were guarding the flanks keeping me in check if I wanted to run away from them.2 Wolves were standing in the back quietly observing my acts and if necessary ordered something with a low growl. This must be the Alpha-Wolf and highest ranked female wolf.Even though that information resulted in me getting some bite wounds here and there. But those were far from incapacitating me or hindering my movement. Having next to no pain response is quite helpful if you want to keep a calm mind.

My methodology was quite crude and simplisitc. At first, I was just focussing on a single wolf as much as I could and observed what he was doing. After getting a simple overview of his general behaviour I began switch mine. I noticed how each wolf would react if I showed tendencies of panic, futile attempts to flee or aggression.As soon as my behaviour pattern changed into something unusual, the wolves began to wait for the order of their superior before continuing. That is why if there is a slight time gap, that can be taken advantage of. That is the difference between expectation and reality. So it was quite easy to deduce who the leader was.

If the target of the wolves is in panic and moving irrationally their first target is to reduce the mobility of their prey. Therefore they aim at my legs. They position themselves in a manner that enables them to attack me no matter in which direction I try to flee. Though such a formation leaves quite a lot of space between each individual wolf. They compensate that deficit by being in constant motion and only making contact with the prey for a few seconds at a time , trying to create a small wound and then disengaging to let the next wolf attack. While the prey is under constant stress, the wolves take their time, wearing it down until it collapses due to utter exhaustion.

It is an interesting concept, that takes advantage out of their numbers while not endangering themselves for too long. Though this is why they are so easy targets if you use magic against them. I did not sense any magic coming from them, in their world, they are already extinct. If they are still alive, then only due to mana changing their development drastically. It might just be a wolf in name only.

But after having learned their group dynamic it was quite easy to dodge their attacks because their attack pattern while strange at first was now limiting their effectiveness. After dodging most of their attacks with next to no effort, I grew tired and started fighting back.The wolf was just preparing to attack my leg once again, was greeted by a rock violently heading for his head. Without any suspense, his head caved in and his body fell down devoid of any life. Before the rest of the wolves could react, the other rock claimed another life as well.

The wolves did not even flinch after their comrades died hideously, they began to once again attack with the same pattern. That's the limit to beasts, they can only resort back to the ingrained tactics.Wolf after wolf fell to the rocks, they did not recognize the danger that rock posed to them. But the more wolves I killed the more unease I feared as if someone was just waiting for the right situation, I had a hunch, that this fight was far from being over. Something began to itch on my skin, as if something was wrong, but I disregarded that feeling after all those wolves were no threat to me anymore.

All out of the suddenI received to fierce bite wounds in each shoulder, disrupting my balance and pulling me down to the ground and one wolf was aiming for my throat intending to rip it apart. Caught by surprise, I found myself in this kind of predicament, the only option I had left was used my right leg and kick the wolf with all my might. The wolf yelped and flew 2 meters before coming to a standstill, not moving anymore, whether it was alive or not couldn't be determined in the heat of the battle.

The itching on the skin was right all along, those 2 vicious creatures used the same tactic that I did, a false sense of security really is deadly. He kicked both wolves away, some flesh came with their teeth. but their pain I felt was still bearable. Trying to use my arms I notice, that there is a slight delay due to damage to the nerves, without giving the wolves an opening to attack, I kicked the rocks at them hurting them, whenever they got hit. This kind of fighting was a lot more inefficient and messy, but far more brutal. As time passed and wounds were traded left and right, The wolves growled one last time before succumbing to their inner wounds.

The queen ant escaped out of my mouth and began to get the samples with a speed I did not imagine to be possible and then escaped into my mouth before, I could even close it because I was that baffled. Well, I had to continue to move and heal on the way before I draw unnecessary attention, I want to catch a break sometimes as well.

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As I embarked to my journey once again, Idid not notice that something dropped from a tree. The figure was swearing," They promised me that they use this poison to force even wild bears to sleep in seconds and yet even after I fired 10 shots into his body he still was not even affected in any way by it?"

" At first my little boy-toy escapes and is unable to be found anywhere, then I find an interesting man that is capable of beating even the Icy Maiden without magic, just relying on his body alone. Then I decided to follow him, to see what he was doing. It was quite hard to follow him at first, he pays a lot of his attention on his surroundings, but after the forest was destroyed, I was able to easily spot him and follow him. Then all I had to do was wait for the right time and drug him, so he can be my toy alone, but why does every toy that I find interesting has to be so weird."

Right now there is no way I can get him after all my magic is not suited for combat. Seems like I will have to keep my tabs on him after I do not like to share my toys with others. But it is strange that is the first human I found an interest in. The rest is just so plain boring.

She disappeared and walked into the opposite direction but the time of conflict between these 2 was far from over.