The wolf Luis had previously killed with the dagger had been unexpected for him. In the heat of the moment wanting to help the Lynx to get its blessing his adrenaline had not made him realize what he did.
When Luis and Sera followed the Lynx it didn't immediately go to the wolves' camp. It spent the next eight days slowly picking off small groups of wolves with Luis and Sera, maximum numbering four, then heading back to camp and repeating.
Unlike before when Luis had killed the wolf with the dagger though. He was hesitating now, while Sera and the Lynx moved tirelessly, like this was usual business for them.
Every time they encountered a lone wolf or pairs of lone wolves now Luis hesitated. He didn't want to put a dagger into a living being.
Unlike the golems, the wolves showed more emotions and intelligence, which made Luis more compassionate towards them. The thought of killing the wolves made him feel uneasy. His strikes wouldn't be accurate, he wouldn't channel aura properly.
It was on the second night after the Lynx would go hunting lone wolves with Sera and Luis that Sera called Luis out on what he was doing.
They had found a lone wolf drinking from a stream in a clearing. Sera patted the Lynx and put her hand in front of it from stopping it from going forward.
She looked at Luis
"Kill it, Luis"
Luis gripped the daggers in both his hands, slowly moving forward, the blessing activating making small arcs of electricity appear around his body periodically. He felt his speed double.
However, Luis didn't move fast enough the wolf turned to face Luis.
Luis knew that the wolf was dangerous and that it would kill him, but he believed in this situation his life wasn't in danger making him hesitate.
He knew the wolves would keep fighting with the Lynx and potentially kill it but he still couldn't bring himself to do it he couldn't kill a living being, especially when he was not in danger.
It seemed as though the wolf's instinct sensed his hesitation, it lunged at him, but Luis barely dodged its claws even with his blessing.
Before the wolf could attack again Luis struck it not in any vital spots, just surface-level wounds. The wolf tried to attack again but Luis did the same and more surface-level wounds.
Luis kept doing this until the wolf decided to run away. But before it could even run five meters away Sera appeared In front of it kicking it towards Luis's feet, the wolf whined in pain, until it got knocked out by the pain from the kick infused in aura.
Sera started at Luis with sharp eyes her tone firm. Her figure started to look scarier in Luis's eyes because of the anger she looked at him with.
"Luis, what was that? Why are you letting it live, you have the upper hand, you could have finished it many times."
Not being able to look into her eyes, he spoke in a whisper his voice barely coming out
"It feels wrong to kill the wolf."
Sera sighed as she walked closer.
"Luis listen to me, you are protecting the Lynx right now and if you hesitate to kill the wolves, they might retreat and then regroup and come together to attack. We are not getting blessings just for fun, your parents should have told you what the fate of your future will be if you're not strong enough, you can never hesitate to kill you will have too many enemies."
Luis nodded
Crouching head level to Luis speaking in a kind tone.
"Luis it is not bad to be compassionate, I understand that you think it's wrong to kill it when the wolf hasn't done anything to you, but right now hesitation will get you killed. It is not a weakness to have compassion, there's actually a low amount of people who are good-hearted enough to have compassion for others, but you need to have it in the right situation. Your hesitation right now will not only put you in danger but everyone else, remember that okay? It's fine for today and tomorrow I will kill the wolves with the Lynx but you will still fight I want you to take this time to think over it okay, for now, it looks like the Lynx still plans to hunt more wolves for the next few days."
The next eight days were grueling for Luis. Each time they hunted a wolf it was a test for him, a test for him to overcome his doubts and hesitations. He had to act decisively. Sera would leave a wolf for Luis to kill after the third day, the daggers still felt like they weighed more whenever he went for the kill, but as each day passed the weight on his dagger felt less and less.
After eight days, it seemed as though the Lynx had thought it was time to go after the main wolf camp. Luis wasn't sure if the Lynx knew that he had become less hesitant in killing or not but Luis knew he would be able to fight against the wolves in the main camp.
Before that though the Lynx went back to its camp and took a two day rest before waking Luis and Sera up and making them follow it again.
During the eight days that Luis was helping the Lynx hunt wolves in pairs or lone wolf.
Luis was beginning to better control his lightning blessing. The two times speed was exhilarating but hard for him to control sometimes.
During intense battles when facing more than one enemy, he would end up stepping too far close or back.
Sera also helped him focus more on activating the blessing when he needed to move instead of having it on the entire fight because he would run out of aura after ten minutes of continuous activation. This also didn't account for Luis putting aura in his hands or legs to strengthen them to punch or kick harder.
Sparring with Sera was where Luis had gained experience in controlling his aura. Luis also watched how the Lynx battled, how it used it quick speed to attack enemies.
By the time they headed to the main wolf camp, Luis had greatly improved, he was better able to control and calculate his moves conserving more aura.
After the two days of rest, the Lynx took Sera and Luis to where the thickest smell of wolves was. As they walked in the forest the Lynx and Sera slowed down, Sera signaled to Luis, her eyes scanning ahead of the bushes into the clearing
"We are finally here the main camp"
she whispered
Luis peered through the bushes, getting nervous about the sight he was seeing, there were more wolves here than they had faced before. They also seemed on high alert scanning their surroundings.
"There are eleven of them,"
Sera said, her voice low.
"This is what we've been preparing for, I will take three. The lynx will take two. You will take on six."
Luis stared at her, with disbelief for a second before his facial expression turned into acceptance.
"How am I supposed to take on six"
Sera spoke in a nonchalant voice.
"You have plenty of experience now, use your speed, keep moving, keep striking while not letting them come close. Move in a way so they can't surround you"
Sera then turned to the Lynx she used her hand to gesture to the Lynx, pointing at the Lynx and then the two more separated wolves in the camp. The Lynx growled softly, its yellow eyes glowing, seemingly unable to wait any longer.
Sera turned to Luis and patted him on the back
"You got this Luis, this should be easy for you."
Luis took a few deep breaths trying to get his nerves down, he then nodded his head telling Sera to begin, with his will resolved.
The wolves were split into four groups in the camp. There were two wolves on the east of the camp, three on the north, two on the west, and four in the south the direction they were coming from.
Sera signaled for Luis to go first to attack the group of four wolves to draw the attention of all the wolves from the camp. Right after Luis moved the Lynx moved as well heading east to where Sera pointed.
Sera disappeared from where she was standing appearing in the middle of the three wolves in the north.
The Lynx's speed made it approach its enemies before Luis began his fight. It moved with purpose. Launching attacks on its unsuspecting targets.
Sera engaged with the three wolves after Luis began his fight with the four. She used just a branch, seeming very bored that she had to do this.
Luis on the other hand darted full speed towards the four wolves. Making sure he could take them by surprise. The first wolf barely reacted in time, as Luis slashed at its neck from the side with a dagger on his right hand, using aura in his arms to strengthen them being able to cleanly slice its neck off.
The other three wolves quickly organized forming a semi-circle and launching attacks at him.
Luis focused on the far-right wolf. He dodged its claws going to his ribs. He slashed the sides of the wolf once with both daggers horizontally, as he was dodging the attack.
He tried to turn it to follow it up but the wolf from the middle jumped above the wolf Luis was attacking.
Luis dodged to the side while blocking the side swipe with his daggers from the wolf claws.
The third wolf however came from where Luis dodged to. Luis quickly dashed back, moving his hands to block the wolf's attack. He was able to block with his daggers but not fully the claws nicked at Luis's fingers through the small gaps in Luis's defense with the daggers drawing blood.
After dashing back, The wolf Luis slashed horizontally looked like it had difficulty moving. The other two wolves next to it went in a defensive stance. Instead of focusing on them, Luis focused on the footsteps coming from his sides to watch for the other two wolves.
After he heard the footsteps, he used the blessing to run to two wolves coming at him from the side instead of the ones in front of him. He knew he was faster than them.
Charging straight at the wolves. The wolves in response both lunged at him. He didn't focus on dodging he just made sure their claws wouldn't hit any vital spots or go too deep. He took the hits and focused on attacking the legs of the wolves. Being able to cleanly slice off one of the front of one wolf and one of the back legs of one wolf.
Luis felt a stinging sensation on his side and shoulder but he didn't have time to wait. He kept running forward after the exchange for a few more meters. Turning around after the sound of the first two wolves chasing him lessened. After turning around he saw the two initial uninjured wolves ten meters away from him.
The injured wolf bleeding from its side also made a beeline towards, seeming filled with rage, about thirty meters away.
Instead of lunging straight at him, the two wolves close to him sidestepped, lunching at him diagonally from his left and right. With both the wolves coming at the same time Luis took one step back and got into a defensive stance.
When the wolves lunged at him they spread their claws to the sides with their mouths open. Luis used this opportunity to launch one dagger into the right wolf's head as his claws were not protecting it. He then gathered as much aura as he could on his left hand, which was about three percent. Using the power boost he jumped into the wolf's face. Slicing vertically through it front to back.