"Ah, you need my help now?" Celia said with a little smirk on her face, despite the serious situation, she was unable to stop herself from sounding sarcastic. After all, Leo was so confident and boastful when he asked her to not intervene in the fight. And she was naturally displeased when looked down in such a way.

'He is still young after all.' She thought as she let go of her displeasure and focused on the fight. She would have all the time to be displeased and get back at him once they survived their current predicament.

[I know you don't want to waste your experience, but it is the best choice.] Even Luxia who usually stayed silent unless Leo asked her something chipped in and gave her opinion.

"Why do you think so?" Leo asked curiously and continued to watch the wolves that slowly emerged from the forest. His face became more serious when he saw that more than fifty wolves already exited the forest.

[Remember when I told you that your attributes can't be considered individually and more or less affect each other?] Luxia asked.

"Yes."

[Have you ever wondered about your stamina consumption and regeneration?] Luxia asked another question.

"That? Well, I am still wondering about many things. Also, I just evolved, so I can't say I have a good understanding of my abilities. Why are you asking?" Leo was intrigued by Luxia's goal in asking those questions.

[Well, let me tell you that your stamina is the resource you have to be the most careful about. Everything you will do will cost you stamina, absolutely everything. Even using magic will cost you some stamina. You won't be able to fight with your full power if you lack stamina. But, that isn't all, unlike mana, your stamina won't recover continuously. For it to recover, you have to rest or eat. Your stamina recovery only indicates how quickly you can recover your stamina in such a situation. Despite it being a magic world, common biology is still viable.]

"I see." Leo muttered with a look of realization on his face.

[I am not saying that your stamina is insufficient. Far from this, you have a monstrous amount of stamina for your level and can fight at a high level for very long. However, it would be too risky for you to fight the wolf and its whole pack alone. A rank C beast isn't something you can ignore. Even less if it is a king level beast such as the one you are about to fight. He is not weaker than you and you will need your all to kill him. So the more energy you waste fighting it pack the more difficult it would be to beat him.]

"I understand what you mean. But is the wolf king really that powerful? I mean I can already take care of a peak rank D quite easily. So with my current power, I should be able to manage a rank C." Leo asked, he was a little confused by Luxia's serious warning. He never planned to underestimate the wolf king or something like that, but he didn't think his current abilities were lacking either.

[Oh, that is because, with each rank up, the growth in power is vastly different. For example, if a rank D is two times more powerful than a peak rank E, a rank C is almost three times more powerful than a peak rank D. And that is in terms of raw stats alone. The power gap will be even bigger If we have to add the various boosts and skills a rank C has. Anyway, I am not trying to scare you by saying all this.  Your power isn't inferior to his. Even if it would be difficult, I am sure you would have killed him even without the help of Celia. The only trouble is its pack. Look, there are almost a hundred of them and the weakest is a peak rank E.]

"Hum, I get it. Don't worry I will do my best." Leo muttered and looked at the wolf king that finally left the cover of the forest and walked proudly in the middle of his pack.

"Oh!" Leo squinted his eyes as he saw the wolf king. A beast as big as a small car, with abundant grey fur, sturdy body, razor sharp claws and fangs, and the threatening aura that showed his status as the hunter. What impressed Leo the most was the violent winds surrounding him and the fact that despite his size he made almost no noise while moving. No need to talk about the result of the Appraisal.

[Violent Wind Wolf King: Rank C

HP: 21000/21000

Danger level: High]

"A fucking troublesome fellow indeed." Leo swore as he glanced at the beast that certainly deserved his title as an overlord of this forest. Unless he could behead him in one move, he would be annoying to kill.

As Leo was sizing him up, the wolf too was looking curiously at the two standing in front of him. A winged lion and a catwoman? The winged lion was a novelty but he wasn't surprised by such a matchup. What surprised him was the power displayed by the other party. A peak rank D and a rank D? The aura of the winged lion was a bit peculiar but he didn't think much of it.

'How were they able to kill my scouting party in such a short time? Could the rest of their team be lying in ambush?' He narrowed his eyes at the two and sniffed around a little.

'Nobody?' He was surprised to find that none else was there besides the two standing in front of him.

However, when he saw the ten wolves dead on the ground, he was convinced that those beastkins were trying to play a trick on him. There was no way those two alone could kill ten of his subordinates so easily. As for the hiding beastkins, he had no idea how they could escape his senses, but he didn't care. He was the wolf king!! Did they really think they could challenge him? He would be the one getting the treasure and nobody would stop him. The wolf king thought as he let out a growl.

'They are coming.' Leo thought as he heard a loud growl coming from the wolf king and saw that the pack that was slowly nearing them was becoming more aggressive.

"Be ready." He said to Celia.

"Yes." Celia muttered as she cast what looked like a barrier around herself.

"Don't need one." Leo said when he saw she was going to cast one around him too.

[Oh, a reminder, avoid getting injured. Your stamina depletes quicker when you regenerate from your wounds. Small injuries won't matter but big ones can suck you dry.]

'Shout.'

[Common sense.]

'I know.'

AWOOOOOO. Once again the wolf king let out a long and violent howl that sent a half of his pack bolting toward Leo and Celia.

Without hesitation, Leo too let out a deafening roar, and tried to overwhelm the wolves with his aura. However, things didn't go as planned and the wolves just ignored him.

'The wolf king uh.' Leo scowled when he saw that his aura was ineffective on those wolves. It was probably due to the presence of the wolf king.

'It would be more fun then.' He grinned as he cast Earth armor around himself. However, just as he was about to charge into the pack of wolves, he felt a disturbance behind him. Glancing back he saw ten flaming arrows floating above Celia. Each arrow was a half meter long and was made of a deep blue flame. As he looked at the flaming arrow, Leo couldn't help but flinch a little. Those things were damn hot, he could feel it. The flames were perfectly controlled by Celia and weren't letting out any heat. However, Leo could feel the tremendous energy they contained. Even he wouldn't escape unscathed if they all hit him.

"I am a Blue Fire Witch. Even though I may not be as powerful as you, I can still help you burn some weeds. And my fire burns especially well." She smirked and waved her staff down. Immediately, the ten flaming arrows each shot towards a wolf. Their speed wasn't inferior to the speed of his shadow ball.

'Witch? Since when are witches considered mage.' He thought as he watched the ten flaming arrows fall in the middle of the wolf pack.

Whoosh, whoosh. With their speed, it took only an instant for each arrow to reach its target. With incredible precision, each arrow pierced the eye of its target before bursting, the fire of the arrow quickly expanding on the wolf fur and even reaching some of the nearby wolves. The ten wolves under the immense pain brought by Celia's magic lost control and start running amok in the middle of their packs. Fire was the natural enemy of wolves after all. So when they saw their ten companions turned into walking torches, they spared no efforts to avoid them and thus created chaos in the pack. Unfortunately or fortunately, Celia's fire was too efficient and the ten wolves were soon burned to crisp.

"I am good, right!?" Celia said smugly.

"Ten rank E in one move. Impressive indeed. Sorry for earlier." Leo said with admiration as he too readied his attacks. He wasn't going to be left out of the fun.