Richard focused his attention on Erin again. "Alright, this panther will be our meal. Our stay in the forest won"t be much longer. After you master this skill, we"ll go back to the castle. There will be a war to be fought."Saying so, Richard took the panther and moved to their camp.
Erin felt too uncomfortable. "I knew it! He will bring me to the battlefield! What should I do now? Do I really need to fight? Will it be alright?"
Erin had a lot of questions in his mind. Still, he followed Richard.
In the next few days, Erin trained really hard. Trying to use the skill for sneak attack, dodging attacks, and sometimes running from the opponent. His progress was fast. Richard was happy to see this. "Guess I"ll bring her to the battle with the werewolf. It would be a good experience for her. Let"s see if she can survive or not. After all, I won"t be able to protect her forever. But still, I should watch her from time to time. She is still too weak..."
Richard had some mixed feelings about Erin. On one hand, he wanted Erin to start being more self-dependent, but on the other hand, he couldn"t stop himself worrying for her safety.
"There is an ogre close to us. You will go hunt it now. That will be your last task before we return to the castle." Richard said.
"I-I understand," stammered Erin. He felt apprehensive. Weren"t ogres those huge creatures that could turn you into a meat paste with a single hit? That would be a really dangerous hunt! Erin was too nervous to think more.
After traveling for half an hour, they finally came to the ogre"s lair. The ogre was just coming out of its cave. Richard indicated to Erin that she should start.
Erin took a deep breath. Merging with the shadows, he moved really carefully, afraid of catching the ogre"s attention. He managed to move to the back of the ogre. With a swift and sudden acceleration, Erin attacked the ogre"s neck. Unfortunately, the attack was a failure. The ogre"s skin was too thick, so there wasn"t much damage. But still, that attack made the ogre a bit dizzy.
The ogre tried to get rid of its opponent. It waved its hand at Erin and almost hit him. He didn"t expect to not be able to kill the ogre, so he was a bit slow to react. In the end, he managed to merge back with the shadows, but still, he took some damage from the attack. He had received a blow at his chest.
Erin suppressed the blood gurgling in his throat and concentrated on his fight again. He decided to attack the ogre"s legs next so that he could immobilize it. Thinking of this, his hand was already moving to the right joint of the ogre"s leg. He was able to pierce it and make a small wound there.
The ogre stumbled. In the next moment, there was a tremor as it fell down on the ground. It started thrashing everything around it. Erin hastily moved back.
Waiting for the ogre to calm down a bit, Erin attacked again as it tried to stand up. This time the attack came to its eyes. The ogre managed to close its eyes in the last moment, but that didn"t help. Its eyes were pierced and it went into berserk.
Erin waited patiently for the ogre to exhaust itself. After about twenty minutes, the ogre finally stopped. It was breathing heavily, truly exhausted. Seeing that, Erin attacked again at the back of its neck where the first attack was made. This time he managed to pierce its neck deeper and end the ogre"s life. He started drinking its blood to replenish some energy from this battle.
Richard was really satisfied with the performance of Erin. His lips curved upwards. "Guess it"s time to go back to the castle and prepare for war," he thought.
As Erin finished drinking the ogre"s blood, Richard said, "Alright, let"s go back to the castle. We have other tasks at hand that need to be finished." Then he started moving in the direction of the castle. Erin followed him close by.
The training in the forest finally ended. Now it was the time for Erin to go into some real battle.