Clank!
Viktor swung his tier 2 ax with all his might. However, even with his 34 points of strength, all the attack did was leave a faint scratch on the creature's body. It felt as if he was trying to cut thick leather with a dull knife.
Even so, that scratch was enough to attract the creature's attention. The moment Viktor's ax hit its skin, the mutated leopard seal loudly wailed in pain, turned toward Viktor, and heavily swung its massive tail toward him.
Swissshhh!!
Fortunately, with his 60 points of agility, Viktor was able to dodge the attack perfectly.
"One more!!"
With determination, Viktor swung his ax towards the creature's skin one more time.
Clank!
Viktor used more strength in his swing this time, but it only bore the same result. Still, it prompted the seal to glare at him and loudly roar with rage.
To his surprise, the moment the creature roared, the seal opened its huge jaw, exposing rows of sharp teeth that did not belong there. Waves of cold air gathered around its mouth and merged into thin ice shards.
With another roar, the ice shards dashed towards him like bullets.
"What the heck!" Viktor stared at the mutated leopard seal in shock. "This damned creature can use magic!?"
As the sharp ice shards launched toward him, Viktor raised his ax on instinct to block the incoming magic attack.
Crack! Crack!
From the vibrations the impact caused, Viktor could feel that the attack was neither particularly sharp nor strong. Nevertheless, those ice shards would still wound his body if they managed to hit him.
The creature had means of long-range attack, a terrifying bite attack, and a powerful smashing attack using its tail. However, what concerned him the most was the creature's hard skin.
Now that he more or less knew the range of the mutated seal's power, Viktor used his advantage in speed to try and overwhelm it. Thanks to his agility, he was able to land a few more swings to the creature and run before it was able to retaliate.
As if it finally understood that it would not be able to lay a hit on Viktor, the mutated seal decided to turn around and flop into the frozen lake. Upon seeing the creature's body hit the water with a loud plop, Viktor narrowed his eyes in irritation.
What a waste of energy!
"What the f**k!!"
Nonetheless, he had no intention of giving up. He decided to go for another mutated seal, only for the same pathetic scene to happen. Even if he landed a dozen hits on it, the seal would remain mostly unharmed and jump into the water before Viktor could reap any benefits from it.
"Come on!! You cowards!" he uttered in annoyance while glaring at the water where the last seal dove.
Viktor was irritated, but he was confident in his speed. After a brief thought, he decided to attack the seals who were not sitting alone.
Of course, this did not mean that he was going to recklessly charge. To minimize the risk, he took out a piece of metal from his storage and cast a spell on it.
[Metal Bending]
Under Viktor's control, the piece of metal warped and folded onto itself, shaping a durable thick round metal shield.
With his ax in one hand and a shield on the other, Viktor advanced toward the seal he had chosen.
As he expected, upon noticing his arrival, the seal turned to stare at him, and right after, two more mutated leopard seals simultaneously came to attack him.
Now that there were three of them, the seals did not seem to have any plans of running away. With his 60 points of agility, Viktor maneuvered his attacks so that the creatures could not touch him. However, in a twist of irony, he could not hurt any of them either.
Crack!
Multiple sharp ice shards swiftly came at him from different directions. Fortunately, Viktor was fast enough in raising his tier 2 axe and tempered metal shield to block. He planned to immediately charge at them after blocking the attacks, but to his surprise, the recoil on his left hand felt much harder than the other, almost numbing his arm.
After only blocking the shard three times, the tempered metal shield cracked and broke.
Shocked, Viktor barely managed to dodge and hold the remaining barrage of attacks with his ax. Even after he avoided their simultaneous attacks by a hair's breadth, the attacks did not slow down at all.
Viktor broke out in a cold sweat. If he could not come up with a better way of attacking soon, he would be forced to retreat from exhaustion.
"Can you help me with anything here, Djinn?"
"Woof woof!"
<Nope. Unfortunately, my teeth aren't even as strong as that ax.>
While gritting his teeth, Viktor continued to evade. Unfortunately, due to a moment of carelessness, two ice shards scratched his left arm.
This hardened his determination. There was no way he was going to return empty-handed.
Without much thought, he decided on a risky idea.
"Okay, just make sure to warn me if any more come."
As he stared down at the three mutated seals around him, Viktor quickly used [All Might].
Immediately, the usual golden symbol flashed in his mind before the skill activated.
[You have received 42 points in strength.]
[Strength - 30 (76)]
[Duration: 4 minutes]
An exhilarating feeling coursed through his body as strength poured into his limbs from within. Every time he used the divine skill, he would feel this rush of power, and he would never get tired of it.
"Now, let's see if I can make sushi out of you!"
Swisshh!
Splaattt!!
With his increased strength, the ax was finally able to carve a deep cut on the creature's hard skin. Now with its skin open, the mutated seal loudly cried in pain. It tried to retaliate, but before it could move, Viktor swiftly attacked first.
Like the first swing, the creature was unable to endure the second one.
With each swing, Viktor felt as if he was cutting salmon. As he sliced one open with ease, he saw light orange flesh alongside a gush of blood. With the torrent of red staining the snow, the mutated leopard seal shrieked in pain for the last time before it stopped moving.
[You have received the spirit energy of mutated seal - level 42.]
[You have received 2 points in endurance.]
Viktor's eyes immediately lit up. Endurance points!
These creatures really were the answer to his prayer!
However, with the death of the first mutated seal, the other two quickly became furious. Without a moment's delay, they shot a barrage of ice shards towards him, forcing him to dodge once again.
Using the moment he had to dodge, the two mutated leopard seals immediately rushed toward the sea.
Of course, there was no way Viktor would let them go that easily.
Upon noticing what they were doing, he ran as fast as he could and jumped toward them, using the momentum to slash on the nearest creature's back. The attack created a huge, long slice wound and gushed a massive amount of blood, instantly killing the second seal.
In his mind's eye, multiple notifications kept on appearing over and over.
[You have received the spirit energy of a mutated seal - level 45.]
[You have received 1 point in endurance.]
[You have received 1 point of spirit force.]
[You have reached a breakthrough into a new realm.]
[Earth Realm - High stage]
[You have received 1 magic point that can be freely distributed!]
[You have received 10 status points that can be freely distributed!]
"Finally!!"
However, in his glee, the notifications distracted him as he chased the last seal. As a result, it was able to hit him with its tail, tossing him back several steps away.
Fortunately, Viktor managed to stabilize himself enough to land on his feet, albeit unsteadily.
The attack was not lethal, but it was powerful enough to make him groan in pain for a second. When he found his bearings, the seal was already gone.
The rush of power he felt tempted him to follow the creature into the water, but he held back and stopped chasing it.
Viktor glanced at the timer and saw that he had only spent 2 minutes of [All Might]'s duration. With two minutes left, he suddenly thought of an idea and decided to use his remaining time to skin the two dead mutated seals and clean their meat.
He grabbed a big piece of the meat and a sheet of its hard skin. Then, without wasting time, he used the last few seconds of his increased strength to run back into his boat.
"Let's go, Djinn!!"
[The duration of the Divine Art: All Might has run out.]
Luckily, Viktor managed to reach the boat just before the notification came. Not wanting to take any chances, he drove the boat away while carefully avoiding any mutated creatures around.
He especially reminded himself to keep his distance from any group of penguins.
When the sun started to dip in the west, Viktor could feel his weakened body recovering, and he decided to go back to his bunker straight away.
As he entered the place, Eva quickly approached him in her comfortable pajamas, almost running.
"Dear, you're back! I was really worried," she greeted him. It was only after she scanned him up and down and made sure that he was fine that the princess smiled with relief.
"Haha, I was hunting for dinner," Viktor explained with a sheepish look.
After the two talked for a bit more, Viktor left the meat to Barry and Eva to handle and went back into the vault. After ensuring that no one had followed him there, he checked his stats.
[You have 1 magic point.]
[You have 10 stats ready to be distributed.]
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