The Achievement Junkie

Slivia was now busy replenishing Troni and Brunar's MP, as they had to rely on their learned skills and techniques to quickly finish off the injured lizards. With Rydel taking the defensive and Maynard busy with the pack leader, something had to happen to tip the scales of battle.

Jack's mind was running on all cylinders trying to come up with a solution to their current predicament. With all his focus on searching for a solution, he almost overlooked Bowser's comments.

'Me help!' Bowser yelled proudly.

Torn and not wanting to endanger the fox pup, Jack was reluctant. 'Bowser, I'm not sure you should do that. The lowest level lizards are at least lv. 13 and most are closer to lv. 20. I'm sorry but I don't think you should.'

Ignoring Jack, Bowser leaped off Jack's shoulder and dashed into the perimeter of fire. Jack yelled, 'Bowser! Come back!'

Everyone was surprised by the dashing fox as he passed the two samurai and neared the oncoming horde of lizards. But before they could yell or chase after it, the fox howled and its entire body was bathed in flames. Bowser tripled in size, looking like a blazing fire wolf with a foxtail.

Jack instantly felt Bowser's power double, becoming lv. 16. Without any warning, the flaming fox bit off a lizard's head and pounced towards its next target without prejudice.

All the lizards stilled momentarily, hesitating to near Bowser and the powerful bloodline that they sensed. The pack leader and Maynard both noticed the change in the battlefield, perplexed at the sudden outburst from the fox pup. Furious, the pack leader screeched and commanded the scared lizards to charge forward.

Fearing their leader more than Bowser, they continued the charge. With the addition of Bowser to the battle, the advantage fell to Jack's party as the lizards were again being killed faster than they could enter the circle.

Sighing in relief, Jack calmed his mind and returned to his search for a faster solution. Bowser's interference was a huge help but Jack didn't want to rely on it. He would bet that Bowser's explosion of strength wouldn't last for long, and he wanted to be ready for that moment.

The good thing was now Jack was gaining bursts of EXP again and nearing lv. 9. If he could reach lv. 10, then his arrows would finally start to affect the lower leveled lizards and he could bet on his lv. 2 bow skill to bridge the level gap.

After a couple of minutes and the slaughter of another dozen lizards, Jack reached lv. 9 and was waiting for the moment he broke through to lv. 10. Sadly, Jack's bet on Bowser's temporary power boost was right and Bowser's doubled power began to decline. The surrounding lizards noticed his ferocity diminishing and they swarmed the fox.

Using the last of his boosted strength, Bowser escaped the lizards and dashed back to the party like lightning. Returning to his normal self, he jumped onto Jack's shoulders. 'Tired…'

'Good job Bowser, you did your part.' Jack cheered him up as he let Bowser close his eyes and rest.

Looking back to the battlefield, Jack drew his bow and fired at the oncoming lizards. They were back on the defensive now, and Jack wanted to know how much damage he could do as a lv. 9.

The arrows were able to pierce the tough scales, but only the low leveled lizards were slowed from injuries. Any lizard over lv. 15 was only annoyed by Jack's arrows but they could power through the minor injuries without much trouble.

Shaking his head, Jack cursed the fact that he hadn't reached lv. 10. If he could reach that level, he'd probably gain enough skill points to upgrade bow to lv. 3 and be able to help the party. But without that, he was practically a burden that would need protecting.

Seeing the battlefield in perfect balance, neither side having an advantage, Maynard decided to go all out. At the current rate, he would eventually finish off the pack leader with about half his MP left. But being impatient, Maynard began to activate his high-level skills with disregard for MP cost.

The pack leader felt the raise in Maynard's attacks and went on the defensive, wanting to drag this out long enough for his horde of lizards to eradicate the party. Not giving the pack leader much hope, Maynard's two katana began to emit a blood-red glow, sending shivers down the pack leader's spine.

"Bloody cross!" Maynard activated his trump card skill, spending a third of his max MP in the process, leaving him with only a fraction of MP remaining.

Lucky for him, the pack leader didn't dodge but blocked instead. Unlucky for the pack leader, the bloody cross attack forced its way through the tail blocking the strike and struck the leader's head. It was too late for the pack leader to escape as his head was cut into four by the crossed swings of Maynard's blades.

Not wasting time, Maynard dashed further into the perimeter before the leader's carcass could fall to the floor. The lizards were caught off guard and were sliced into smithereens by the time they noticed their leader's head was missing.

The waves of lizards ceased and retreated after their leader was finished off. Jack's party didn't give chase, Just trying to catch their breath.

Troni's left arm was paralyzed and Brunar's right leg was completely numb. Rydel wasn't out of arrows, but he only had about one-third of his MP left, and that would be important in case they ran into more trouble. He had mana potions, but drinking too many in succession would carry some backlash.

Happy yet unsatisfied, Jack grinned. Thanks to Maynard finishing off the pack leader, his level was at the peak of lv. 9 but it hadn't yet reached lv. 10. So close to his achievement, he wished that Maynard of Rydel had killed just one more lizard.

'That makes thirty-one for me,' Rydel boasted.

'No fair! Ya didn't have to deal with that pack leader,' argued Maynard, not admitting his kill count of twenty-three lizards.

'I couldn't help it, that thing was stronger than me and only you could handle it,' joked Rydel.

It was common knowledge that beasts of the same level were naturally stronger than adventurers. Unless they had a way to jump levels or powerful battle techniques, adventurers would struggle a lot to fight an equally leveled beast.

Maynard finishing the lizard without a scratch on him was a testament to his strength. If it were a normal beast, Maynard wouldn't avoid minor cuts or bruises. However, he fought so carefully with the lizard's neurotoxin in mind. If he had been poisoned, the pack leader would have gained the advantage instantly. Hence, Maynard had to take his time with such a tricky monster.

Jack pet Bowser's head and asked, 'How close are we?'

With a few sniffs, Bowser remembered the trail. 'Ahead, we very close.'

Keeping that in mind, Jack examined the others in his party. Slivia was busy healing Brunar and Troni while Maynard was busy drinking a high leveled mana potion to recover his MP.

Seeing him finish the bottle, Jack's motivation to level up increased. Once he reached lv. 10, he would be able to start learning basic battle skills and techniques. They wouldn't do much for him in the long run, but anything was better than what he had currently.

"What's up with your fox?" Brunar asked, breaking the silence.

Rydel was the one who answered. "It's a descendant level fox, falling from the inferno fox bloodline."

"Tell the truth," blurted Brunar. "Sure, a descendant level beast is crazy powerful, but that little pup was able to fight and kill fully grown Light-tailed Lizards. Besides, the Inferno Fox was never recorded to have an ability that let it grow and explode into flames."

Understanding what Brunar was getting at, Jack hesitantly admitted the truth. "I can tell you the truth, but this information stays here and doesn't leave this mine."

"Fine," said Brunar, catching the hint that this was an association secret.

"Bowser is a Hell-flame Fox."

That sentence struck fear into the hearts of three young adventurers. Hell-flame Foxes only existed in legends, and each legend ended in the complete annihilation of a city or region. Slivia was especially conflicted, imaging the cute fur-ball she had often played with as an earth-shaking monster made of flames that wrought destruction.

"That's the truth, but you all know Bowser. That was the first time I'd ever seen something like that happen." Jack was startled by Bowser's earlier transformation like them, and they all knew it from Jack's shouting. "He's not some apocalypse waiting to happen, he's just the childish Bowser we all know."

"But how can you guarantee that?" Brunar questioned. "Can you promise that he would never outgrow you and forcibly break the beast seal?"

"I can actually, and Rydel is my witness to that." Jack's casual answer caught everyone off guard. "If you trust me, then trust Bowser too. We're a package deal."

Not wanting to reject the promise of both Jack and Rydel, Brunar accepted their ideology for the time being. Troni and Slivia also agreed, only distancing themselves a little from the fox pup.

"Now that the discussion's over and you're feeling better, let's hurry up and loot the bodies. We're racing against a clock, so we can't waste any time." Rydel turned and began to retrieve each of his many arrows among the strewn bodies he had killed. The others followed suit as they groaned from their soreness and began to loot the lizard bodies they had killed.