“The Magical Beasts in Stanineburg have already become this rampant?”
Xia Li clicked her tongue in her mind.
Forest Wolves were not like Slimes, those “docile” Magical Beasts that only ruined crops.
These ferocious carnivores would actually eat people!
If she hadn’t reacted quickly enough, Ainis—the foolish rookie adventurer—would have had her throat bitten through by a Forest Wolf on their very first encounter!
To have Forest Wolves appear this close to the city, the guards and Sentries of Stanineburg were truly a bunch of insects.
No wonder they outsourced the extermination contracts.
Xia Li’s silent grudge was quickly suppressed by a more important thought.
Right now, this was 15 Copper Coins delivered on a silver platter!
The Forest Wolf slowly moved its heavy steps, claws scraping the ground with a faint scratching sound.
Its crimson eyes locked onto Xia Li with deadly focus, ready to pounce at any moment.
Xia Li didn’t care what this beast wanted—she was already chanting the incantation for the ice-element spell Freeze.
When dealing with Magical Beasts with high burst power and speed, the simplest solution was to use control magic to restrain them.
After that, she could casually butcher it.
This was a great method in the game for farming experience without taking damage.
Xia Li finished the chant in just half a second, forming a magic circuit inside her body.
But without any warning, the magic circuit broke again.
Why was this happening?!
“Xia Li, watch out!” Ainis shouted.
The Forest Wolf had already lunged at her.
…Too slow.
Xia Li was slightly stunned as the Forest Wolf’s movement seemed to slow down in front of her, like someone had pressed slow motion.
She sidestepped and took a step back; the wolf’s claws grazed her cheek but missed.
“Awooo—!”
The Forest Wolf let out a sharp, piercing roar and spun to counterattack, its claws sweeping with the sound of cutting wind.
Xia Li only moved slightly, and the claws didn’t even touch the hem of her clothes.
Ainis was dumbfounded.
What kind of magic was this?
No, rather… was this really magic?
“Too slow.” Xia Li raised her hand.
Hand up, sword down.
The blade struck precisely at the Forest Wolf’s waist, sinking deep into flesh and bone.
Wolf blood splattered the ground, and the crack of breaking bones was audible.
The Forest Wolf let out an agonizing wail, its huge body stiffened, and it collapsed heavily onto the ground, twitching its limbs a few times before going completely still.
“Guh…” Ainis tiptoed over and gave the wolf’s corpse a gentle kick.
Only after seeing it truly didn’t react did she breathe a long sigh of relief.
“Xia Li, I knew asking you for help was the right call!” Ainis looked at Xia Li with eyes full of admiration. “Did you use some kind of body enhancement magic?”
“…Sort of.” Xia Li tugged the corner of her mouth.
That was a lie.
After this incident, she was certain of her situation.
She couldn’t use magic.
Instead, her physical capabilities—strength, speed, reflexes—had all been enhanced comprehensively!
It was as if all the attribute points that should have gone into ‘magic power’ were instead dumped into ‘constitution’ and ‘speed.’
Her strength was enough to throw a stone and pierce a Slime.
Her reflexes were fast enough to toy with a Forest Wolf.
The absurd reality left Xia Li speechless.
This did not fit the heroine’s role at all!
The heroine, as a magic prodigy, would have become a Magic Swordsman if she chose close combat.
Not a Demonic Muscleman!
Tch, how did it come to this?
Among the hundreds of story branches in the game, none had ever unfolded like this.
Could this be related to her other self, the Demon King?
She couldn’t figure it out…
Better to investigate later under her Demon King identity.
Xia Li put the question aside for now.
She pulled the longsword from the Forest Wolf’s back and carefully cut open its heart, extracting a red Crystal Core the size of a coin.
Hey, freshly minted 15 Copper Coins.
How beautiful in the sunlight.
“Help me clean it,” Xia Li held out her bloodstained hands.
“Okay!” Ainis cast Water Magic, summoning a stream to wash away the blood from Xia Li’s hands and sword.
As Xia Li’s “little follower,” it was only natural for Ainis to do small tasks like this.
“Let’s go.” Xia Li sheathed her sword. “The smell of blood will attract other Forest Wolves nearby. I don’t want to get entangled with them.”
Though the 15 Copper Coins were tempting, it would be too costly to miss out on a 10 Silver Coin contract because of it.
“Xia Li, let me handle the next monsters!” Ainis’s eyes sparkled with eagerness as she saw Xia Li’s skillful moves.
“Sure, but don’t scream for help,” Xia Li teased with a smile.
“No way!”
……
They walked along the dirt road toward the riverbank.
Occasionally, they crossed paths with other adventurer teams.
Those teams centered around mages would have others herd the Slimes into a cluster, then the mage would cast a single area-destruction spell to wipe them out.
Ainis was much better.
Without anyone to lure monsters, the Slimes just hopped straight at her.
Of course, dealing with them was just a matter of casting one Fireball.
If only she could use magic.
Most of the time, Ainis nervously failed her chants.
Or she’d get slimed mid-cast and panic, throwing the fireball straight up into the air.
Then she’d be chased around by several Slimes for several laps.
Her magic was decent, but unfortunately, she was a bit foolish.
Xia Li couldn’t help but recall a character from the game very similar to Ainis.
The Elf Saintess of the main party.
Usually responsible for blessings and healing magic.
In critical moments… responsible for providing ‘benefits.’
The Saintess was known as a team wipe trigger in the story.
She often did foolish things like pressing big red buttons in the Secret Realm; opening treasure chests that were already showing teeth; or yelling loudly in dungeons full of Dragon Eggs…
The Saintess alone had caused many of the group’s devastating defeats!
Not only that, she was the most frequently captured member.
Xia Li had several times gone in to rescue the Saintess when she was being interrogated by enemies, only to get herself trapped as well.
In the end, she could only watch tearfully as the heroine and Saintess were sandwiched together, toyed with by the Villainous Beauty.
Thinking of this, Xia Li looked at Ainis before her.
The Priest Robe, the Elf long ears, the cheerful personality, and a not-so-sharp mind… all perfect matches!
If it weren’t for the different name and appearance, she would have sworn Ainis was the Saintess of the main party.
“Xia Li!”
Ainis bounced up, clutching the Crystal Core she’d taken from a Slime. “Look, we’ve collected so many already in such a short time! Xia Li, I’m awesome, right?”
“Mm, very awesome.” Xia Li patted Ainis’s head.
This girl’s foolish personality was exactly like the Saintess.
Including the ‘benefits’ she handed out—the Priest Robe Ainis wore had several more holes, and slime stains smeared across the chest, faintly revealing pink contours.
She herself was completely unaware!
Xia Li thought silently, “I can’t just rough her up,” and reached out to pull her clothes together, covering her exposed chest.
“Be mindful of your image outside. Don’t let ill-intentioned people set their sights on you.”
“Ugh!” Ainis finally realized, tugging her robe tighter with a blush and mumbling softly, “Luckily, Xia Li, you’re not that kind of person.”
“That’s not a sure thing~”
“Eh!”
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