Leveling Endlessly With My Harem

Stelle didn't have any problems with Max's decision so she dodged a tail coming at her and backed away. Standing some distance away, she looked at the battle with interest swirling in her eyes.

On the other hand, Max felt overwhelmed getting attacked from every side. Deadly paws that could flatten his head, tails that could snap his bones, fangs that could rip apart his throat—everything was coming at him from every direction.

However, instead of feeling despair, he felt a sense of excitement building within. He resisted the urge to grin and fought back... which was just dodging around.

His dull blade wasn't sharp enough to pierce their thick fur, but it was fun. He was fighting them to increase his reaction speed, which was improving at a visible rate.

His thoughts halted when he noticed the rat backing away. Then, it ran towards him on all of its four limbs and its horn pointed towards Max.

There was no way to dodge, too, because other One-Horned Rats were surrounding and attacking him from other sides. He ducked under one of its paws and quickly thought of a plan.

'I need to be fast,' Max thought, his heart pounding against his chest, adrenaline rushing through his veins. 'Wait...Wait... Just a little more!'

Just as the One-Horned Rat was about to slam its horn on his torso, Max spun on his toe, barely dodging the horn attack and a following tail-whip attack that would have surely taken away his skin.

The rat collided with one of its own, piercing its thick fur and drawing blood from it. The bleeding rat screamed in pain and slammed its paws on the other One-Horned Rat.

'Now is the timing,' Max grinned and thrust his dull blade at the base of the tail of the rat who had dared to attack him.

As the tail came off, he heard a pleasant sound in his ears.

[You have slain Level, 4 First-Grade Monster, granted 3 EXP]

Taking advantage of the surprise attack, Max quickly jumped around the rats and pierced the bleeding rat's weakness, as it followed its brethren soon.

[You have slain Level, 4 First-Grade Monster, granted 3 EXP]

Now, only two remained.

Max took a deep breath to calm his raging heart, but there was no time for him to rest. The two rats were already upon him, filled with fury because of their brethren's death.

From the corner of his eyes, Max noticed Stelle asking him if he needed help. He just smiled in return and got back into fighting.

'It is so much fun! Am I becoming a sadist?' Max thought, dodging a paw that landed on the ground and making cracks in it.

[Pretty sure it's more because of the thrill of battle rather than killing, so I don't think so.]

"True," Max smiled and once again began to dodge their attacks, finding it easier to evade them now that he had some experience.

He was adapting to fighting monsters at a monstrous rate and he knew that too. That was why he was over the moon with his adaptation skill.

However, soon he noticed that he was getting tired and gave a glance at his status.

[Stamina - 50%]

'Damn, it's depleting quickly! Whatever, time to end this battle then,' Max sighed, his eyes turning cold.

He stopped dodging around and quickly sliced the bases of their tails, while dodging the fountain of blood that followed their death.

Ignoring the notifications, Max turned towards the two ladies and said, "You can take out their Mana Shards and absorb them."

Charlotte didn't really need them as she was a Silver Rank, but Stelle was different. She nodded at him and quickly got into her work.

They understood that Max was still pretty weak and he needed some rest before fighting again. That time period was more than enough for Stelle to absorb the Mana Shards.

As he sat on the side, resting his back against the wall, Max asked Charlotte, "Can you check if there is any danger around here?"

"While you were fighting, I already checked it," Charlotte said, as she stood beside him. "Your fighting style... is very strange. At first, you looked like a newbie, yet you progressed at a visible rate."

Before Max could say anything, Charlotte continued, "It's fine! I won't delve into your secrets. I'm just surprised by your skills and talent. At this rate, we should be able to fend off those Shamal Clan people, if they attacked."

Max nodded and took deep breaths as he wiped the sweat from his forehead. He didn't speak much, simply listening to Charlotte's words.

After a few minutes, Max stood up, feeling much better and in a state to fight again. He gave a sweet smile to Charlotte and said, "Thanks for being by my side. Just your presence increased my recovery."

Charlotte rubbed her nose as she looked down to hide her red cheeks and said, "It's fine! We need your strength too if we want to work as a proper Cohort."

"Oii! Why did you leave me behind?" Stelle's annoyed voice sounded as she came running towards them.

Glaring at Charlotte, she said, "Just because you got a man now, you're ignoring your little sister?"

"Stelle!!" Charlotte wanted to scold her, but her voice came out low and soft, making Stelle speechless.

'No way my big sis falls in love at first sight, right?' Stelle blinked, refusing to believe it. She shook her head and said, "Anyway, shall we go now? I still need more Mana Shards to reach Level 8."

"Sure!" Max winked at her and said.

Stelle harrumphed but didn't say anything. The newborn cohort then proceeded to go down the tunnel to hunt the monsters.

The next target they found were just a bunch of low-leveled One-Horned Rats. Stelle slaughtered them in a matter of seconds, especially since she knew their weakness.

Everything in the world had weakness—one just needed to find them and be able to use them. And they could certainly use the monsters' weakness with their strength.

As he had promised, Max didn't take any of the low-leveled Mana Shards, since they wouldn't benefit him anyway.