Single Spell Sorcerer-Chapter 145: The First Monster

When the countdown reached 0, the display didn’t disappear. Instead, it transformed, the numbers rearranging themselves to show "Round 1" in bold, glowing letters. Next to it, a new number appeared: 5:00.

The five began counting down immediately.

4:59... 4:58... 4:57...

"Five minutes to finish the fight," Lucille said, a little surprised at the lack of time. Five minute wasn’t all that much in the midst of a battle. Early on, it might be fine, but later on, this would be problematic.

They quickly gathered at the mound, positioning themselves so they could see in all directions.

Then, from the darkness of the left gate, something emerged.

It came flying out –a massive bird with nearly five meters of wingspan. Its feathers glistened with brilliant green and blue hues that seemed to catch light that didn’t exist in the black sky above. The creature’s eyes were predatory and somewhat intelligent, and its talons looked capable of tearing through any old flesh.

"I don’t recognize that monster at all," Jax said with surprise. He had tried to learn about all the monsters out there, but there were still ones that he didn’t know. His hand moving instinctively to his axe, ready to fight.

"It flies, so there’s that issue," Melayne said, studying the creature as it circled overhead.

The bird let out a piercing cry that echoed off the arena walls, then began to descend toward them, spiraling as it prepared an attack.

"Let me fight it. You all move away," Ning said calmly, staying right where he was, watching the bird come down toward him. The rest of them moved away, giving him space.

The bird dove right into the ground next to Ning, missing him by inches. Its massive wings picked up dirt in the air, creating a small dust cloud. That couldn’t stop Ning.

Ning reacted at superhuman speed, despite having just dodged, and used his spell ’Spear Charge’ to speed himself forward. He wasn’t wearing any armor or heavy clothing, so with just his single spear, his speed was beyond impressive.

The bird couldn’t react in time.

Ning’s spear pierced through the creature’s neck, hitting what was the first Critical Spot. The bird let out a scream of pain and fury, but Ning was already in motion.

He used the bird’s own momentum to backflip off its body, landing with grace on the ground as the creature thrashed before him. Without hesitation, he rolled under the bird’s massive form as it tried to hit him with its beak, escaping to its back.

When he reached the back of the creature, Ning suddenly pushed himself off the ground and dashed backward. The movement looked wrong to anyone watching. ’Backdash’, one of Ning’s spells, was supposed to be a defensive Spell that was meant to be used for warriors to escape from danger at a moment’s notice.

But Ning used it to get closer to his enemy instead.

He spun his body in midair, building momentum, then stabbed downward at the base of the bird’s right leg. His spear found its mark perfectly, hitting the second Critical Spot.

The bird’s scream was even louder this time, and it crashed to the ground, its wings picking up more dust.

Ning landed softly and began walking around the wounded creature with no fear whatsoever. The bird snapped at him with its beak, but he stayed just out of range.

"There," he said quietly, spotting the third and final Critical Spot near the bird’s chest.

He circled the creature once more, waiting. When the bird gathered its strength for another attack, lunging forward with its beak wide open, Ning dodged at the last moment.

His slid underneath the creature’s head, and stabbed upward piercing directly through the ribs, hitting the third Critical Spot.

The bird’s eyes went wide, then dim. It collapsed in a heap of green and blue feathers that suddenly vanished as if it was never there.

What remained in its place were instead 5 Opal stones that floated in the air. Ning grabbed it and walked toward the group that waited for him on the sidelines.

"That was easy," he said simply.

The rest of them stared at him in amazement. Roman was still trying to process what he had just witnessed. He knew his party members were strong, but seeing it demonstrated so effortlessly was something else entirely.

"The timer," Jax said suddenly, noticing something.

They all looked up at the display. It should have shown nearly four minutes remaining after that short fight, but instead, it read just one minute. And "Round 1" had changed to "Round 2."

"What happened?" Jax asked, looking around at his companions.

Lucille studied the display thoughtfully. "It’s likely that killing monsters before the timer ends just sends us to the next round immediately," she said. "We’re now in the rest period."

"But we just killed a monster. Why shouldn’t we get all the resting time?" Roman argued, but none could answer.

"It seems killing early isn’t necessarily good," Melayne said. "We’ll need to pace ourselves."

But this early on, neither Ning nor Jax wanted to waste their time waiting.

"Each minute adds up. If in the next 10 battles, we kill all the beasts in 1 minute each, we will have fought just 10 minutes. Meanwhile, if we fought all 5 minutes, then we would be fighting for 50 minutes. I don’t know about you guys, but I would rather be done in 10 minutes instead of 50."

"But, it’s not 10 minutes," Melayne argued. "We’ll be fighting non-stop. So would you rather want 50 minutes of fighting 50 monsters or 50 minutes of fighting 10 monsters?"

Ning frowned. She wasn’t wrong.

"You both have good points," Lucille said in the end. "So, as the leader, I’ll make the executive decision each round whether we kill the monster quickly or take our time."

The other two nodded. That was the best recourse.

When the timer reached zero this time, the display shifted again. The 5 minute countdown started all over.

This time, the monster emerged from the gate to the left of the first one.

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