My Joker System: From Low Mana Trash to the Mightiest Wizard!
Chapter 75: Master of Ambush

Chapter 75: Master of Ambush

"H-Hal..."

Hal stopped as he treaded the inclined forest floor and turned to look at Liora.

"Yeah?"

"I’m... hungry..."

They had been carefully advancing alongside the flowing stream for hours, and it was already well past lunchtime.

Yet, the source was still nowhere in sight, and it didn’t seem to be close either.

At least, not within the Spirit Sparrow’s visible range, though the limited vision was all due to Hal’s extra caution.

They couldn’t afford to lose the tiny avian, or their chances of survival would plummet hard.

"I see...let’s look for a place to rest, then. I need to do some checks, anyway..."

And so, Hal controlled the sparrow once more, flying it closer to where they were.

Once the summon got close enough, Hal spotted something moving in the bushes beneath the massive oak to their left, causing his eyes to widen as he hurriedly left the sparrow’s vision, leaving it hovering in place.

He then madly bolted towards Liora, pushing her away while summoning a [Mana Barrier].

The startled young maiden groaned as she landed on her butt a few meters away from Hal and what appeared to be a blazing viper.

Its maroon, armor-like scales pulsed faintly with a vermillion glow, emitting gray smoke like smoldering charcoal.

"F-Firevenom Viper!"

The creature wasn’t too lengthy or girthy.

However, it was fast, strong, and cunning, clearly a master of ambush.

If not for the sparrow’s vision, Liora would probably be in her few final breaths by now.

’K-Kuhh..’ Hal gritted his teeth.

The barrier was shattering faster than he expected, and he knew he needed to get out of the way.

He quickly dismissed the barrier and decisively ducked.

His evasive maneuver sent the viper flying over his head, crashing into another oak. The tree cracked loudly as the serpent’s sharp, crimson fangs sank deep, setting it ablaze the next moment.

The oak was clearly done for.

Liora slightly paled at the sight.

If even such a massive and sturdy tree couldn’t survive a weakened attack from the C-ranked viper, then she would have perished earlier had Hal not saved her.

But then, another realization struck her...

They were in the presence of a C-ranked beast. Who was to say they would survive?

Liora trembled, unable to do anything but watch as the Firevenom Viper shook its head, turned around, and zigzagged toward Hal at a horrifying speed.

It was clearly furious.

Hal, fortunately, didn’t know what rank the beast was, or he probably would’ve been cold-sweating like his comrade.

All he knew was that if his barrier could delay the creature by even a second, there was still a chance of winning.

He assumed that such a small creature was probably only D-ranked at most.

Sometimes, being a bit less informed really helped...

Hal’s adrenaline pumped at the realization that another deadly battle had begun.

The viper was faster and stronger than the Red Goblins, so he couldn’t be too stingy with his spell usage.

’Tch...doesn’t seem like I would be able to catch this thing with my chains easily...’

Upon arriving at the optimal range, the reptile lunged once more, leaving a trail of smoke and flames in its wake as its crimson fangs made their way toward Hal’s neck.

Fortunately, he had activated one of his physical enhancement spells, [Swift], while the viper was still recovering earlier, allowing him to barely sidestep out of the way of the crimson fangs this time.

’Shi–’

It was too late by the time he noticed the viper’s tail whipping toward his ribs.

The strike sent him crashing into a nearby oak.

"D-Damn it, that hurts, you damned snake..."

While Hal was struggling to get up, the viper turned red firing quills from its mouth

The thought of her comrade perishing right before her eyes while she did nothing but stare like an idiot Liora awake.

"Hal!! Watch out!"

Her warning prompted Hal to glance forward, vanish the next moment, and reappear beside her, clutching his slightly broken ribs with gritted teeth.

He was moderately injured.

’Tch, there goes another charge of [Blink],’ Hal thought inwardly.

He only had seven uses left.

The white-haired maiden was dumbfounded for another before forcing herself to stand and focus on the furious viper.

She couldn’t lose her mind at such a crucial moment.

Liora knew Hal had just used the blink spell, but this wasn’t the time to ask him about it.

Soon enough, the viper shot six flaming quills their way again and then quickly slithered forward.

Hal’s [Mana Barrier] was now off cooldown, though, so he was able to easily defend both himself and his comrade against the fiery projectiles.

Liora also noticed the viper’s sneaky follow-up and prevented it from lunging at Hal by firing Glow Needles.

Her speedy projectiles struck their target, but to her horror, they only cracked the smoldering scales slightly.

She would need to hit the exact same spot several more times before dealing real damage.

But at the very least, her spell veered the Firevenom Viper’s lunge off course, giving Hal the opening to cast a [Glacial Shard] and [Weak Mana Blast] combo on its head.

His spells inflicted slightly more damage than Liora’s, but Hal wasn’t the least bit satisfied.

His level 12 [Glacial Shard]—the pride of his common-tier arsenal—had barely damaged the beast?

’What the hell is the rank of this darned snake?!’ he cursed inwardly in disbelief.

He had expected a decent injury, but the viper’s maroon scales begged to differ.

Shaking its head to shrug off the mild pain, the reptilian beast shifted its gaze toward the white-haired maiden.

It seemed to realize that taking Hal down wouldn’t be as swift as it had hoped.

Perhaps the other young human would be the easier target...

Liora sensed the viper’s gaze, the hairs on her body standing on end as she began shaking again.

She wasn’t confident she could survive for as long as Hal did...

But then, just when fear was slowly consuming her heart, a massive spirit bear appeared in front of her, followed by the voice of her ever-reliable comrade:

"Listen, Liora. Once I manage to immobilize the snake, hit it with your strongest spell."