"Shield!"
Instant spell cast.
A level-1 shield, like a transparent film of energy, spread across a few meters, covering both Marcus and Logail.
Like arrows falling on wood, the first few projectile antlers struck the shield and exploded, sending shrapnel flying outward and creating an extra force that affected the shield more.
Cracks quickly appeared on the surface of the shield, and a second later, it shattered.
It wasn't strong enough to withstand the Elk's antlers, but it bought Marcus and Logail enough time.
Within that short span of the shield appearing and shattering l, they had jumped out of the range of the attack.
Thud! Thud!
The remaining antlers struck the surrounding trees, blasting holes through their trunks and even snapping some in half with their explosive force.
The Elk charged forward, as though it was aware that its targets had dodged its attacks.
With an angry whine, it jumped forward, moving faster than the other knights that were already rushing towards it.
Grasping the intelligent nature of this Beast, Marcus was unwilling to take any more chances.
Opening his Heart Pulse, energy began flooding into his body.
Marcus charged forward, even faster than the Elk.
Within a second, he appeared beside the head of the Beast and punched.
His fist tore the air. "Die!" Marcus grunted.
Thud!
A dull, blunt sound echoed out as fist met skull. Followed by the sound of bones being crushed.
The Elk stumbled to the side. A flood of blood poured out of its orifices, causing its thoughts to be clouded for a moment.
Before it could get itself, Marcus attacked again, striking the same place he had struck previously.
This time, his fist penetrated the head of the Elk and got stuck within.
Splurt!
Silence ensued.
Both Marcus and the Elk paused, and so did the knights when they saw what had happened.
Unable to even make a sound or cry for help, the Elk collapsed on the floor, and Marcus removed his hand from its head, causing blood to pour out.
The young lord was more focused on his hand and how his clothes had been stained with the warm blood of the Beast.
He didn't notice the incredulous look his knights were giving him.
None of them could believe that Marcus had killed a Beast with his bare hands.
One has to take note that the skin, muscle, and bone formations of the Beast were absurdly hard and strong, relative to their rank.
And for his knights, in this redo, his knights haven't seen the young lord in action. Or at least to this extent.
Moreover, whatever gains Marcus had gotten in the previous life had always followed him to the next redo.
So what felt like steady growth to the young lord looked like a monstrous jump to his knights.
Joshua, unwilling to believe that it was that easy, approached the Beast while Marcus was cleaning the blood off his arm.
He punched another part of the Beast's skull, causing a loud thud that drew Marcus's attention
"Ouch!" Joshua grabbed his fist. The Beast's skull was harder than he imagined.
Marcus gave him a questioning look, but it didn't last long. He looked at the Elk corpse, and a thought crossed his mind.
Would it be possible for him to hunt down a Prowler-level Beast?
If he could achieve this, then he would use its blood essence to awaken his Blood Force.
Theoretically, this would grant him a stronger and purer Blood Force, boosting his overall strength. But the risk was also high.
After clashing with this Elk, he was aware of the gap between himself and the young Beast.
As a Peak Radiant rank warrior, besting a Low-rank Feral Beast should be normal; although the way the battle would play out may vary, the result would be the same.
However, against a Prowler, Marcus wasn't conceited enough to think that their chances of success were very high.
Just a Low-rank Feral Beast possessed some intelligence that it used to bait them, almost harming them.
How intelligent will a Prowler be?
But Marcus was willing to take this risk. When the thought of the upcoming fight against Maney came to mind, a Prowler didn't seem as risky anymore.
He felt that with the right strategy and their Marc Steel weapons, they should be able to take a Low-rank Prowler Beast down.
Do I truly need a strategy? Prowlers shouldn't be able to compare to Tier 1 beings. When fighting Maney, depending on how much I'm able to build and achieve then, strategies wouldn't be able to do much.
Marcus reasoned.
In the face of absolute power, strategies were nothing but sticks and stones.
If he is to come head-to-head with absolute power, he would have to get used to fighting those stronger than him.
Whether Beast or Man.
"Lesley, Brown, Asad, Oner, and Mercidin, take this corpse back to camp and drain it of its blood. You all should already be aware of how to prepare the blood bath."
The five of them nodded their heads.
"Good. Lesley, can you recite the mantra on your own?"
"Yes, sir."
Marcus nodded. He wasn't going to return to the camp with them. He and the rest of his knights would be going deeper into the forest to hunt more Beasts down.
With a full corpse, Marcus didn't know how many people would be able to benefit from it.
And since he had asked Bradley to send half of the boys he picked to guard the mansion here, he had to prepare for their arrival.
As for assisting Lesley's breakthrough, Marcus wasn't particularly worried that his absence would cause the young knight to fail.
Marcus knew that he couldn't be there for everyone all the time, so letting them learn how to do such things on their own was the best…
He turned his gaze to Brown and Asad. "If it looks like he's about to fail his breakthrough, interfere by chanting the mantra and absorbing the blood energy with the tub. That way, his backlash shouldn't be life-threatening."
"We'll keep that in mind, sir," Brown said.
"As for the rest of us. We'll continue hunting." The young lord began. "Since we have seen a bit of what these Beasts are capable of, we will be going out in two teams. Scout for Beasts that are weak and take them down. It will be best if you can kill them without damaging their body too much so that we don't have to worry about their blood wasting."
"Once you have found a target and killed it, take it back to the camp and prepare to accommodate the apprentice knights that will be coming."
"Brown, Asad, and the rest will be a part of your team. Once any group returns with a corpse, switch with them. They'll watch over the camp while you and your team will head in to hunt.
"Lesley, you will have to return to the mansion after your breakthrough. Is that clear?"
"Yes, sir!" Everyone answered, excited.
Marcus paused and looked at his knights.
Yeah, there's no point in sheltering them too much. Since we will all be facing opponents more powerful than us, we all need to become accustomed to fighting the powerful.
Help them put their feet down, and let them do the rest. This can be a good form of training for them, as it will be for me.
…
"Move out!" Marcus ordered.