But all of these are barricades Mateo would test as each successful hunt of powerful monsters gives Mateo huge amount of EXP with occassional pair of levels for more powerful monsters defeated. Increasing the pace of his of catching up to his team.
It all started on Haired Eagle and there, the power of the monsters Mateo hunted increases in accordance to Mateo's strenght.
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Dragon Leech - An former parasitic gastropod who attached to gigantic dragons of the past now, turned into a dangerous ambush predator by digging into the snow and lunging to unsuspecting prey.
Mateo walks near the striking pit of the Dragon Leech. And just like what he expected, the leech with its mouth open jumps to devour Mateo. Only for the worm to got stabbed by Mateo's spear pulled from his BoS. The leech skewered from its mouth. Mateo hunted a total of 10 until the EXP gain from them dwindled after getting 2 levels.
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Icicle Mantis - Big insects half the lenght of a man which located in the frozen rivers and lakes of Dragons Crown Alps. Unlike their smaller relatives, Icicle Mantis are unable to fly. But they still reach great speed by skating on the flat ice with their specialized foot and then attack prey with their hook to snatch and a long solid pyke-like appendege to joust.
Mateo, stranded in the middle of the frozen river waits as the mantis skates around him.
He glances behind. Focused on the skating bug.
SKRRTTT!
By stepping backwards, he dodge a mantis lunging attack, with lance pointed and aiming to impale Mateo. The speed of the Mantis unables Mateo to counter attack.
Using its hook, the Mantis reorient its direction by stabbing the ice and redirecting its momentum back to Mateo with no choice but to dodge the attempt to hook his neck.
Mateo just continues to observe the insect while dodges and blocks the continued speedy hit-and-run assaults. He knows that he would never match the speed of the monster especially on its domain of the frozen land of water.
But he can read them.
The Mantis strikes again in a cacthing attack but Mateo finally got a good position and timing to finally use his strategy.
He opens his BoS and from it, he pulls a cast net and entangling the Mantis. Making it crash on the snow helpless.
Because of the jagged and spiky hook of the Icicle Mantis, it struggles to set free as the more it moves. The more the net just ensnare its body and weapon.
Mateo walks towards the trapped Mantis and finish the fight by cutting its thin neck.
Mateo hunted 8 Icicle Mantis which increases his level by 3 levels. Making him Level 34.
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Ice Wyvern - Considered as inferior dragons due to their smaller size but still highly dangerous due to their power and ability to cast magic.
"Nope."
Mateo and Sophia quietly walks away after seeing the sleeping ice wyvern.
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Freezing Cobaiu - A snow white carnivourous horse who using camoflauge to stalk and attack prey. Very intelligent and tactical animal and favorite steed among powerful warrior.
Mateo uses the wall ram again as bait as he hide under the snow nearby. After waiting, an cobaiu appears and easily spotted the Wall Ram tied and trying to run away.
"Closer..."
The cobaiu walks closer carefully, its eyes transfixed on the Wall Ram. Mateo is also doing the same as his eyes are focus on his next opponent.
But Mateo feels a cold air, even colder than the snow enveloping him as the cobaiu change its gaze toward his direction.
And run with impressive speed.
"Shit!"
Mateo rolls away and dodge the agressive slam of the cobaiu who now glaring at him with wrath and predation on its eyes.
"I knew it. This is not going to be easy."
Mateo then throws away the nylon lasso and pulls out his sword on the BoS. The cobaiu continues to growl while the Wall Ram runs away completely now the rope is set loose.
"Bring it on!" Mateo's taunt.
The cobaiu gallops, creating snow clouds on its path. Then stomps its front feet to smash Mateo.
Mateo dodges the attempt and prepares for a counterattack but it turns out the cobaiu have a surprise for him. It spins quickly and face its back towards Mateo to his shock.
"AUGUAK!?!"
Mateo recieves a devastaing kick and sends him flying and tumbling on the snow.
Mateo stands up and caugh up some blood. As he do it, the cobaiu just walking around with finesse. Like its mocking him.
"Heee... Aren't you a smug bastard?" Mateo smirks.
The cobaiu gallops again and jumps high to crush Mateo. Mateo rolls over to dodge only for him to see the cobaiu jumping again and tries to smash his body, following Mateo for each jump which Mateo continues to escape with.
"Enough!" Mateo after rolling few more times swings his sword downwards in attempt of slashing the cobaiu's front feet.
Yet the cobaiu escapes by standing and now follow it by stomping its front feet directly to Mateo still lying in the ground.
A cloud of snow happened as the impact of the smash disturbed the terrain. From the terrain appears Mateo running followed by the cobaiu galloping towards him.
"You really want to eat me that much?!"
The cobaiu comes closer and closer to Mateo. Closing to Mateo who slowly losing stamina.
"Sophia! Help!"
A yellow barrier suddenly appears between Mateo the cobaiu who crashed on it agressively. It falls to the snow and dazzled due to the impact.
"Let's retreat Mateo! It's something you can't fight right now!"
"No! Just summon a barrier that trapped us both!"
"What?! But that's dangerous!"
"Just do it! Trust me."
The cobaiu tries to run away only for its attempt to get thwarted after Sophia throws a barrier totem close to them and creating a barrier, trapping Mateo and the Uruk inside.
"Is this a good arena for you Mateo?!" Sophia's shout outside the Barrier.
"Yes! Thanks a lot Sophia!"
"Just be careful there on?!"
Mateo gives a confident wave then walks with his sword in his hand.
"This arena is too small for you isn't it?"
It's true. The Arena is sizable for Mateo to move freely. But to the cobaiu, it's a cramped space that limit its vast movement.
Mateo rush to the Uruk with confidence on more awareness after experiencing most of it attacks. The cobaiu respond by stomping its front legs.
Mateo escaped the stomp while the cobaiu follows up with a quick repositioning and sending a swift double kick from its back legs.
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Mateo barely even managed to dodge the kick by bending backwards and sliding in the snow, reaching the underside of beast.
Mateo unleashes a barrage of slashes and managed to land few cuts to the cobaiu who escapes the flurry by jumping away and running in circles inside the barrier dome.
Mateo follows the cobaiu and anticipates for its attacks which come in a form of a full-springed headbutt which Mateo didn't expected at all.
Mateo recieves the headbutt's full impact and send him crashing on the barrier. Her recovered quickly by gritting his teeth and enduring the pain.
"You really an annoying piece of work." Mateo then spat out blood.
The cobaiu continues the offense, retaining its momentum by running in circles inside the Barrier while Mateo watches until.
"Oh shit!"
Mateo in his focus to the cobaiu didn't notice that the horse didn't care at him at the moment, instead the cobaiu is rushing towards the totem in the middle of the barrier.
The Uruk opens its mouth full of sharp teeth in attempt to bite the totem and destroy it.
Only for the Uruk's face to crash in a barrier casted by Sophia from the outside.
"Leave the protection of the barrier to me. Just focus on fighting that horse." Sophia's words.
"Thanks!"
The cobaiu gives a murderous stare to Sophia which still outside of the Barrier then resumes its disdain to Mateo. Galloping to send a full-speed assault.
Mateo predicts what the cobaiu's attack would be. And his answer is to anticipate for a headbutt after seeing the cobaiu position its head lower.
"Another headbutt huh?"
Only to the surprise of Mateo after the Uruk suddenly shows its face after reaching a close distance.
And open its mouth.
CHOMP!
Mateo screams in pain after recieving the clasping jaw of the cobaiu on his shoulder, it's teeth digging deep in his flesh. Sophia watch in horror after seeing Mateo dangling on the beast's mouth.
The Uruk thrashes his head with Mateo still on its mouth. Mateo gritted his teeth and endure the suffering of the teeth tearing his shoulder which protected by mana.
"Mateo!" Sophia's worried scream outside the barrier.
As the cobaiu continues to swing Mateo like a ragdoll in its mouth, Mateo use all of his strenght and...
Stab his sword directly in cobaiu's head from the side.
"You cannot kill me that easily! I experienced worse than this!" Mateo's confident yet pained scream.
Mateo continues to stab the cobaiu to the head while the horse thrashes around even harder. Mateo feels like his shoulder is starting to get loose but he resist the pain just to send more stabbing attacks to the carnivorous horse.
And Mateo sends a more deep stab. With no more choice, he decides to finally use another one of his abilities despite how terrible it could be base on his situation.
Mateo use his power to twist the sword embedded deep into the horse's skull.
The cobaiu spins with Mateo still in its mouth. The flip is so sudden that Mateo got flunged in the air the moment the cobaiu lose its grip.
The cobaiu crashes to the snow badly while Mateo is still levitated due to the throw, he barely even awake after recieving the devastating bite yet he muster all of her conciousness, strenght and mana, his gaze focused on the cobaiu below who still disoriented due to the spin.
"AHHHHHHHHH!"
Falling like a guillotine. Mateo slash the cobaiu's neck downwards with his full power and bodyweight. The cobaiu's head simultaneously fall alongside Mateo who managed to land to the snow standing.
The headless cobaiu falls to the snow with its head a few meters away. Mateo sees the result and feel relieved knowing that the fight is finally over.
Now it's his own fight to survival as he sustained grievous injuries. He tries to step forward but with no strenght left, he slowly fall forward.
'Fuck..."
Only for him to carefully catched by Sophia who rushed towards him after seeing the fight is over. Sophia delicately lie Mateo down on the snow.
"Fuuuuck... I am going to survive Sophia?...." Mateo's weakened words.
"Your injuries is still manageable. But you might need to have rest for few days." Sophia's worried answer as she starts to give first aid towards Mateo's wounds.
"I should be more careful fighting that thing. No wonder adventurers rarely even fight an cobaiu head on."
"Yet you did you it dumbass. We can just retreat." Sophia pouts, annoyed on her leader.
"Hehe sorry... Ugh... It would be a safer fight if I managed to trap it."
"Just next time you should be more careful and avoid getting huge injuries."
"Got it... Still, thank you for trusting me Sophia. You didn't jumped and help me even in the brink of defeat."
Sophia tear up few drops yet she wipes them quickly and smile towards Mateo.
"Damn you Mateo. I'm so close on doing that you know? But I knew you going to get mad at me for ruining your Leveling." Sophia's sad and angry answer.
"I would not do that even on a slightest. Afterall, I'm probably dead by now if I don't have you."
"Enough of this. Just focus on recovering and don't die."
After the first aid and a minutes of rest. Sophia picks up his totems and assist Mateo on walking back to their safe camp where the rest of the healing process continues. As Expected, Mateo remains bed ridden for four days, recovering from the injuries which Sophia routinely heals with his healing totem planted inside tent and supporting healing magic.
Sophia also assissted Mateo on eating for the first two days until Mateo is now able to move his body and eat on his own.
"Your magic improves a lot Sophia." Mateo's comment as the two eats bread and roasted meat.
"Yes. It's thanks to Grandma Isther's guidance."
"Is your totem magic also came from her?"
Sophia nods.
"She must be a very amazing person."
"She is..." Sophia gives a calm smile.
"How does your totem works Sophia?"
Sophia gives a totem to Mateo who inspects it and see the magical runes engraved into it.
"See those runes? Each of them have different functions yet they unified to do a whole function."
The runes are etched in a downward pattern with three segments. The first rune is the totem's function and the one with different designs to signify its use. But the appearance of the totem is the better sign of what the totems can do. Represented by animals.
The second runes is Application which the same sign with all the totems. Responsible for casting the function runes and activated by the third rune.
The third rune is the Connection. It's same with all the totems while a rune also etched on Sophia's wand. It's a rune to connect and synchronize with Sophia mana, gaining mana to power up the totem completely in accordance to Sophia's will. Thus activating its effects.
"So the totems are activated separately from you. It means you can also cast hands on spells right?"
"That's true. That's why I manage to cast a barrier inside the dome."
"Amazing..."
"Still... My magic have downsides into it. When placed, the totems continues to drains my mana unless deactivated and they consumes a lot. So I can't just plant a bunch of totems and cast spells at the same time or else I go Mana bankrupt and I hate that feeling the most." Sophia answers as she spreads chees on her bread then eat it.
"But those totems are really efficient. You can just place it on secluded safe spot and it's good. How long is the totem's reach?"
"Hmmm... I didn't experimented the limits yet but from what we experienced on your leveling. I can say it's pretty good distance." Sophia sips on his hot cream coffee.
"Maybe we can test it once I recovered?"
"That's a great idea actually." Sophia smile.
Mateo observes the totem further and notices something within the runes. He looked at Sophia's wand and see the set of symbol he familiar it except for one that's different from the rest.
"Is it just me or the runes in the totem are different? They're not like what used by the church." Mateo can't hold his curiosity and ask Sophia directly.
The runes etched on the totem have more straight and sharp lines compared to curved, circular and symetrical runes used by the Church of Vivvily.
"Oh about that. Grandma Isther said that the runes are not Vivvilian in nature. From what she told me, she learned the runes from a tribe worshipping the God of Nature Creol. Grandma Isther just implemented that into the church's system."
"And the church are ok with that?"
"Hmmm I guess so? If Grandma Isther manage to use this without issue, then the church must be fine with it."
"Fascinating..." Mateo thinks that such action would be a great heresy on the church like what's common on the religious sect back in Earth. With punishment resulting to death.
"It seems the the church are more open minded than I expected."
"What exactly you expecting Mateo?" Sophia squints her eyes and stare at Mateo with disbelief.
.
.
.
Mateo finally recovers from his injuries. He's stretching outside of the tent as Sophia watch.
"Feeling better now?" Sophia asked with a smile.
"Yeah. I feel my body is in prime condition again."
After stretching. Mateo opens his Status Windows which he didn't see when recovering. A huge smile appears on his face.
"Sophia..."
"Yes?"
"I think hunting bigger prey and taking the risk is really worth it afterall."
Sophia is shocked.
"Huh?! Are you serious?!"
"I'm serious now. The cobaiu gives me 6 levels with just single kill. I'm level 40 now."
"That... Many?" Even Sophia is amazed.
"Yes. If we continue to hunt stronger monsters, I can level up faster. And this place of full of cobaiu level beasts that can become EXP."
Seeing the exitement of Mateo. Sophia just sigh.
"Fine, but we should be really careful. No. You should be really careful as I can survive, but you?"
"I know that. That's why I want to know the extent of your abilities first."
Mateo invites Sophia to an open snow field in the safe area.
"Plant a barrier totem please.
Sophia did what Mateo asked and pull a barrier totem inside her BoS and plant it in the snow. Casting a barrier dome around the two. Mateo estimates the size of the dome from the inside.
"8 meters in diameter huh? Not bad... Is this the limit?"
"That's the fix size of the barrier totem Mateo."
"I see... Now then lets see the aura totems' reach.
And thus the two test each of enhancement totems Sophia have. Power, speed, stamina, healing, defense. All barriers giving the same result.
"30 Meters in diameter. That's a very good distance and all of them possessed the same range. But I notice something."
"What is it?" Sophia's curiosity.
"The further I distance myself to the totem, the weaker I feel the effects in my body. And that thing kinda make sense to be honest."
"I see... Then what do you think is the optimal distance Mateo?" Sophia ponders.
"Staying half the distance from the totem is good, I think? The totems' buff is additive base on the fighters capabilities afterall. Getting just half effectiveness can still give huge benefits."
"That's true. This is a great learning for me." Sophia calmly smiles.
"As you should be. But why you didn't test your very own totems even further Sophia?" Mateo's genuine question.
Sophia is mildly surprised at Mateo's inquiry yet she knows that her friend is right as she really not tested her new abilities and spend her time learning it first.
Sophia make a cute teehee face.
"Sorry. I forgot. Besides we're kinda busy in the recent months right?"
Mateo sigh.
"Well you kinda right somehow. Well then, lets now test how far you need to be for the connection between you and the totem to stay linked."
"Yes!" Sophia agrees with glee.
Unlike the aura range. The connection range harbors different result as the distance required for the totems to work is 10 meters. The moment Sophia leaves the distance, the connection between the totem and her abruptly stops. Halting the aura and rendering it useless.
"You need to be close the totems? It seems you still need to stay close to us afterall."
"But the distance is still good. It's not like I need to glue myself to the totems in order for it work."
"That's true. The only problem is defending the totems from the attacks from enemies like what Dereia did, you can just leave that to us. The totem is also a great distraction to the intellectual enemies so that's a plus."
Mateo picks the totems and give it to Sophia which accepts it with gratitude
"Lets go back inside and devise a plan."
"A plan?" Sophia raise her eyebrow.
"A plan for a safer and faster way to level up." Mateo smiles calmly.