The First Legendary Beast Master

Chapter 1025: Good Trades

When everyone else woke up for the morning, Rae was in a wonderful mood.

Not only did she get her fight, she also managed to get a good trade out of the Orcs. After she won a flute carved from monster bones in the first fight, and an antler handled dagger in the second, she managed to trade the Orcs the rice she brought as a wager for a necklace made of Sand Mouse skulls.

She was currently wearing it to annoy Hawk.

To him, mice were nothing more than food. But Rae found that the small skulls made wonderful accessories. The Orcs even gave them war paint and stuck shiny stones in the eye sockets.

”Did you get your power level stabilized?” Karl asked as Rae sat down with them at breakfast.

Rae nodded. ”Yeah, I went to stretch my legs a little last night. There is a group of Orcs not too far away, and they agreed to spar with me. Thatʼs where I got my new necklace.”

”How big is the tribe? Should we go offer them a trade?” Tessa asked.

Rae shook her head. ”There are only like twenty of them, with two Totems. Itʼs more of a hunting group than a full clan. I traded them two bags of rice for the necklace after the sparring match, and that will last them for weeks.”

Tessa nodded. ”Did you remember to ask them about monsters in the area?”

Rae smirked. ”What do you take me for? Of course, I did. I even drew a map of all the spots that they found good fights and tasty things. Karl isnʼt the only one that is good at talking to Orcs.”

The War Cleric examined the map, then passed it to Karl and Thor, who would be the only ones outside as they travelled.

Hawk went to scout, and Rae activated [Night Haunter] and transformed into her natural form before taking a seat in the cargo area at the back of the wagon. That way, she could watch the scenery pass in comfort.

If there was something dangerous enough that they could sense her, they should be dissuaded from attacking by the fact that both her and Karl were outside the Tiny World.

”Where are we headed?” Lotus asked from the window of the carriage as Thor began to move.

”Hawk found a whole group of Sand Howlers from a monster spawn. I thought we should start the day off by eliminating the truly dangerous creatures.

They have a few Totems with them, but the group is mostly Overlords.

A bit over level, but I have a theory that this is actually the fastest way to push everyone to advance.” Karl informed her.

Lotus retreated into the carriage, and Thor trotted happily across the hard grass.

The monsters were confirmed to be from a spawn, so he just had to head in their direction and they would attack. That gave him plenty of time to prepare, as Hawk already knew where they were.

Nothing had really changed with his tactics, but Thor had some new ideas on how to look epic while they were in battle.

After all, what was the point of being a behemoth if you couldnʼt look impressive?

Karl tried not to laugh at Thorʼs plans, which mostly revolved around ending charges and defensive manoeuvres with impressive poses without putting himself out of position for the next move.

”Five hundred metres. Everyone, get ready.” Karl called into the carriage as Thor slowed to a stop so he could put the wagon away before the battle.

The ladies piled out of the carriage, and Rae made preparations for the battle.

With her pair of Golems out, and then the [Undead Army] of Spectral Knights, she had a full force ready. She was still incorporeal, but the summoned force would be enough to terrify the Sand Howlers.

Karl advanced on the Sand Howlers while Rae led her group to flank the right side.

That put everyone else on the left, as the few Totems in the swarm moved to engage what looked like the largest threat. Raeʼs summoned team.

Once they got close, Karl called on his Bodyguards, and brought out the Haint, so she could fight alongside the Epic Guard.

The two looked a lot alike, and they had a similar fighting style, so they worked well together.

If they needed to, they could merge to increase their power level, but that was unlikely to be necessary now that Karl was at Totem Rank, and the strongest enemies had all diverted to the side of the group, where Rae was attacking.

The Yeti-like Sand Howlers made a wailing noise like the sound of an incoming sand storm. That was how they had gotten their name, but they were also skilled in sand magic, and they were forming their own sandy blizzard to reduce visibility.

Normally, that would also be a deadly area spell. But with the Epic Guard putting [Void Body] on the group, they could simply ignore the damage from the spell and work around the limited sight restrictions.

However, Ophelia was not impressed with this sort of enemy. She would be shaking sand out of her fur for days.

That didnʼt stop her from fighting, though. The Sand Howlers were an intelligent enemy, and even with Danaʼs Golems, they were still heavily outnumbered, and the creatures were determined to outflank and encircle them.

Fortunately, Remi had joined their side, and her Bodyguards could hold the back of their formation, while Remi herself was in the middle, throwing Lightning at them.

At least, she was for the first minute, before realizing that Lightning magic didnʼt work particularly well against these creatures.

Fire didnʼt either, though not to the same degree of resistance, but water turned them to a soggy mess, and cut through their fur much more effectively than either of the other elemental effects that they had tried so far.

The fur that was so effective at protecting against the lightning and fire elements effectively trapped the water on their bodies, and increased the lingering damage that they were taking.

A victory for Remi.