CHAPTER 86: PLANS FOR THE HOUNDS

Max was truly surprised by the number of Spells Charlotte had shown. It was like she knew at least one Spell for everything, making her very versatile.

It had its demerits, as one could learn a limited number of skills, and if they just learned skills of every class, then they would just become average in everything but the best at nothing.

’What was it again? Jack of all Trades?’

But it didn’t seem to be a problem for Charlotte, as she still had more than enough healing and support spells, which were her specialties.

"Hehe, my sister is a prodigy of top class, and if it weren’t for me, she would be in one of the Major Academies by now," Stelle spoke with a smug look in her eyes. "She was invited by all of them for her powerful soul and comprehension. But she rejected."

’This happened? Whatever, it’s a good thing,’ Max smiled. "Then, we’ll have it a little easier here."

"My affinity is with the Light Element, so anything else costs me more mana than normal," Charlotte’s words poured cold water on his thoughts. "That Vine Stranglement cost me a lot of mana, you know."

Max shrugged, "You’re still the best healer, so let’s do our best."

Charlotte smiled warmly and nodded.

Together, the three of them proceeded forward and soon met another group of Duskmaw Hounds. But they didn’t attack immediately, as there were a total of five hounds this time.

They already had difficulties dealing with three hounds before, so they decided to split them and deal with them one by one.

It was the best choice, as it would also make their best skill useless. After all, it wouldn’t work if their comrade didn’t die within their range.

"How do we get one of them out?" Stelle asked, curious.

Instead of replying to her, Max focused his attention on the five hounds, who were standing there unmoving like statues, just like before.

’Hmm, last time they woke up when I got five meters close to them, so that should be their limit,’ Max thought. ’They are standing four meters apart from each other, making their range overlap, so if one gets attacked, the others also get alerted. Impressive.’

They were certainly showing signs of being intelligent—or maybe it was the tree that was intelligent and using these hounds like puppets.

It wasn’t impossible.

’Hmm, we can try isolating them then. If it works, future battles will be much easier.’

The only way the tree could control them was through the dark mist permeating throughout the Dungeon. Isolation would be hard...

’Ohhh, she has the spell!’

Max’s eyes glistened as he turned towards Charlotte and asked, "Can you cast the Isolation Spell again?"

"I can, but it takes time since it’s an E-Rank Spell, and the mana fluctuations would surely wake them up. Besides, its effects will be lower once we leave the area, as I need to be standing at one point for it to work properly."

Charlotte explained everything about her spell so Max could make a proper plan and not make a rash move just because of a lack of information.

"Do you still want me to use it?"

Max nodded, "The point of that spell this time is isolating the Hounds from the dark mist. Can you manage that?"

"If I stay at one place without moving, then yes, I can manage it," Charlotte said thoughtfully. "It’ll be a little complicated, but don’t worry. I’ll manage."

"Good! These hounds are only alive because of those Runes, making them average undead with some power. We can deal with them," Max grimaced. "The problem starts when they gain intelligence, and I think they’re getting it from the tree."

"I see," Charlotte instantly understood his plan and asked, "Do you plan to lure them towards myself using you or Stelle as bait?"

"I’m faster, so I’ll work as the bait. I have another task for Stelle," Max turned towards Stelle and asked, "Do you know Fire Wall?"

It was a fairly common skill that practically every fire user knew, as it consumed very low mana and occupied little space in the soul.

"Yes, but I doubt it’ll work against them," Stelle nodded.

"That’s even better since we need it just for a distraction," Max smiled. "They are intelligent, so they will definitely hesitate going towards Char because of her mana fluctuations."

"Wait! They can sense that too?" Stelle widened her eyes.

"Not them, but the tree. It has its dark mist everywhere, so it senses pretty much everything. Your Fire Wall will not only affect mana fluctuations but also blind the hounds. They’ll think it’s nothing much and happily jump into our trap."

The two sisters stared at Max, making him confused as he asked, "What?"

"No, it’s just that you’re good with strategies," Charlotte said, genuinely impressed by how quickly he always came up with his plans and always remained calm.

It was admirable.

"Yeah, I hate to admit it, but you have a good head," Stelle nodded in agreement.

"It’s just because I have the information about them, and knowledge is power. Without it, I wouldn’t have made any successful plans," Max snorted.

He was aware of his advantage and didn’t feel like taking full credit for it. Strategy? He was the last guy for it, as he had several times written main characters bulldozing everything with pure strength.

He wasn’t that intelligent to make his characters intelligent, after all.

"I don’t think I can make those plans even with all the information," Stelle shrugged her shoulders and said honestly. "So it’s definitely impressive to me."

"Same here," Charlotte smiled as well.

Max stayed silent for a moment, looking down, and then said, "Stop flattering me and just directly confess. I guarantee I’ll say yes the second time."

"Get off!" Stelle smacked him lightly.

"A-Ah! A-About that..." Charlotte fumbled with her words, her face reddening.

Max chuckled softly, "Be prepared because you’ll be facing one hound soon. But I can’t guarantee it, so be prepared to face all of them."

He turned towards Charlotte, who held her red face in her hand, and asked, "What happened to you?"

"It’s your fault!" Stelle glared at him accusingly.

’You ask me to seduce your sister and when it’s happening, you blame me? Make up your mind, woman,’ Max rolled his eyes and decided to play the classic oblivious MC route for now.

"I’m just asking how much time she needs to complete the Spell?"

"One minute," Charlotte answered, hiding her embarrassment with her wand. "I will increase the speed of chanting."

"Take your time. I’ll only go when you’re close," Max turned back to focus on the hounds.

After some time, he felt the mana fluctuations growing stronger around him and knew the spell was about to be completed, so he signaled Stelle to start her task.

She slammed her foot on the rotting roots as crimson flames erupted all around her, making a tall wall in a circular shape that covered the two of them completely.

Knowing that the flames weren’t meant to damage, Stelle didn’t include too much of her mana, so the flames weren’t hot enough to make them sweat, let alone hurt.

Max jumped out of his hiding spot and ran towards one of the hounds that was on the far right.

While their range of detection overlapped with each other, there were some areas where there wasn’t an overlap.

Max’s target was that particular area because only mana fluctuations or life force would make the hounds move. He was pretty sure of it even though he couldn’t remember it properly.

That way, only one hound would be alerted, and as it was an undead brought back to life through the Runes, it wouldn’t wake up the other hounds.

’Man, I hoped I could have just thrown a rock there.’

Sadly, it wouldn’t do anything, and they didn’t have a Ranger with them to kill them before they moved, and Charlotte’s offensive Spells weren’t powerful enough either.

Before the attack could reach, the hounds would detect it and move out of the way and then hunt them down mercilessly.

As those thoughts moved through his head, Max reached close to the area he had selected. Honestly, it was just through his rough calculations, and if he was wrong, he might wake them all up at once.

That would be a death sentence.

’They are all as strong as the previous ones. As long as our plan works, these should be good EXP material.’

With that, he lightly tapped on the withered wood glowing above the roots. Then, he dashed back with all his might without even looking back.

Soon, he heard rumblings behind him and knew that at least one hound had woken up. He gave a side glance to see the number of hounds following him.

One.

’Great!’

Only one was following him, but it immediately used its terrifying skill to close in on Max. This was the reason Max had started running with full strength, as he knew outrunning this hound would be tough.

But still, his plan had worked, as he could already see the wall of fire ahead.

Before he could feel happy about it, a shadow blurred past him and stopped a few meters ahead of him.

’Damnation!’