Volume 1: Awakening Chapter 6: Dog Killing Adventure
We returned to Campnavia and sold the spoils we had gained in the previous battle. During the transaction, Niu Baiwan was delighted to find that pharmacists were a very common profession for the Tauren tribe, who worshipped strength and were close to nature, but very rare for humans living in the city. There was not a single pharmacy trainer in the entire Campnavia city. Apart from the pharmacy of pharmacist Elder, there was no other place to buy the potions people needed.
So, he set up a temporary stall in front of the pharmacy and sold the potions he made at two-thirds of the price in the pharmacy. Although he could only make small doses of life potions with the worst efficacy, their price was undoubtedly fatal to those novices who wanted to take risks but were short of money. Before long, more than thirty potions were sold out, and his wallet was much fatter than that of adventurers of his level.
In addition to the potion, we also brought some things like chicken feathers, cat skins, and dog bones. Apart from selling them to grocery stores at a low price of a few copper coins as raw materials, these things have no more value to us. But even with this small business of a few copper coins, Niu Baiwan wanted to maximize his profits. He encouraged Xian Ge Yayi to hand over all the things on his body to me, and I would sell them to the grocery store owner in order to make my human "mercenary" racial characteristics work and get an extra 20% of the transaction profit.
To be honest, I really don't understand why the God of Creation only gave humans this "mercenary" nature. Looking at Niu Baiwan's eyes shining like gold when he got the money, I think the word "mercenary" seems to be more applicable to him. The shrewdness and sharpness he showed in this kind of business transaction are very inconsistent with his rough image, and are also very different from people's general perception of the Minotaur race. According to traditional habits, Minotaur should be...
Forget it, who cares about traditions these days? In just half a day, I have seen too many things that go against tradition: the sudden silence of darkness, the alternation of identities, the brave and valiant hens, the short-sighted elf rangers... I don't know if it's my good luck today that I happened to encounter so many incredible things, or if this world is originally without rules and we can't guess.
Before leaving the city, we did not forget to visit the weapons and armor shop. After some selection, Xiange Yayi bought enough arrows for the next hunt, and also changed his weapon to a strong bow. The solid wood and more elastic animal tendon bowstring of this bow have improved its range to a certain extent, and its attack power has also increased by ten points compared to the original longbow. However, in my opinion, for this blind elf who can see a target as two shadows beyond five steps, even if he uses this legendary elven magic longbow "Wind Player", his effective range will not change at all; and considering the objective fact that his archery is seriously inaccurate, I think the increase in the lethality of the weapon in his hand may not be a good thing.
Niu Baiwan chose a set of sturdy leather armor. In the previous battle, the long-horned warrior, who was only wearing a pair of leather pants, suffered a lot, and the low defense power always bothered him. Now, he finally got rid of the embarrassing life of being naked and looked very excited. Not only that, the shiny armor wrapped around his tall body made his already very strong muscles look fuller and showed his majestic demeanor. This change in appearance inevitably made him feel proud. However, judging from the fact that he fell three or four times in a very embarrassing way after walking out of the store, it would probably take more time for this guy who lacks a sense of balance to adapt to this set of armor.
As for me, I kept most of my equipment, but I sold my iron helmet and bought a light metal round shield with more money. I felt that it was a torture to carry such a hard and narrow thing on my head, and it only added a little defense, while this shield could do more for me.
When we walked out of the city gate again, it was very different from before. The new weapons and equipment gave us a lot of confidence. We passed through the crowded city gate area and headed deeper into the jungle along the way. Along the way, several mountain cats and wild dogs attacked us, which was a good opportunity for us to test the quality of the new equipment. After more than a dozen small-scale battles, we were quite satisfied with the performance of the new equipment, and Niu Baiwan and I also collected the wild dog skins required for the mission. With the full cover of Niu Baiwan and me, Xiange Yayi could shoot as close to the target as possible, greatly improving his hit rate; and his strong damage also made our hunting upgrade faster. Not long after, Xiange Yayi had reached level 7, and Niu Baiwan had reached level 5. I was only fifty points away from reaching level 5, with a HP of 240, a douqi of 120, and an attack and defense of more than 20. Usually, beasts of level 5 and 6 could no longer pose a threat to me.
It took me a long time to realize that killing is actually a very scary thing. The scary thing about it is not the terrifying violence and the bloody and cruel killings - these things only make people feel disgusted and afraid, and then stay away. The scariest thing about it is that it will give everyone involved an illusion that they are strong enough to conquer and dominate other lives, and that they have full rights over those weaker beings. When seemingly vicious opponents are killed one by one in your hands, you will feel happy all over your body, and a strong and abundant sense of satisfaction will fill your chest, driving you to quickly look for the next opponent. It is a kind of addictive happiness that makes you ignore the blood and brutality caused by killing, and only revel in proving your own strength again and again.
At first, I just hoped to collect enough wild dog skins to complete my work and exchange them for the reward I deserved.
But gradually, things got out of control. I found that I fell in love with this kind of killing uncontrollably, using the souls of violent beasts to exchange for my further strength. I used my shield to resist their claws and fangs, and used my long sword to cut their bodies, finding pleasure in their blood and screams of pain.
"They are vicious beasts that attack humans!"
"I am doing this to protect the residents of the town!" I told myself this over and over again, finding excuses for my cruelty.
It's a lie , a lie to myself. I just want to kill them to make myself stronger, and then maybe I'll kill more. That's it!
Just as we were all immersed in the joy of slaughter, a silvery-white shadow suddenly slipped into our sight from the depths of the jungle, and slowly prowled behind a dense bush.
This is a huge wild dog. I have never seen such a beast before. Its body is thick and slender, comparable to a strong calf. If it stands on its hind legs, its front legs are long enough to reach my shoulders. The biggest difference between it and other ordinary beasts is its unusual silver-white fur. The fur is as smooth as satin, and it seems to be glittering with a faint light.
It was obvious that this big guy had a bad temper. It paced slowly while uttering cruel growls from its throat. It would occasionally grin and shake its head, revealing two rows of strong and sharp teeth. Its claws were also very thick, almost twice the size of an ordinary wild dog. The sharp claws were tightly hidden in the flesh of its four paws, but they could not hide their dangerous and bloodthirsty breath. The sticky saliva that flowed from its teeth from time to time showed that this ferocious beast was hungry. It patrolled the bushes around it with extremely greedy eyes, as if searching for a fresh and delicious dinner.
In line with its unusually large size, this ferocious beast also has a name that is completely different from other wild dogs: "Mad Dog Kaplan". I used the Soul Mirror to observe its level. It is an eighth-level beast. Unlike other beasts, next to its level, there are two small words written in silver handwriting: Leader. If I had fully understood the meaning of these two small words at that time, I can guarantee that I would never make that bold and dangerous decision.
"We..." Niu Baiwan also discovered the beast at the first moment. He subconsciously licked his lower lip which was a little dry due to nervousness, and his voice was full of obvious hesitation and vacillation: "... Let's not provoke it. I think it's safer to kill ordinary wild dogs like we did just now."
On my other side, the elven ranger Xian Ge Ya Yi showed a completely different kind of militant enthusiasm:
"It's one level higher than me, and it's also the leader. It should be stronger than the ordinary level 8 monster, but..." He paused, and then said in a positive tone, "...there are three of us. If we cooperate well, we still have a chance."
What they both said made sense, and it was hard for me to make up my mind. Seeing me hesitating with my head down, Niu Baiwan was a little flustered. He looked at Xiange Yayi in a panic, and then at me:
"Are you serious? This is an eighth-level boss monster. It looks very difficult to deal with. To be honest, I have a bad feeling about it."
Xian Ge Yayi was obviously very disapproving of the Minotaur warrior's caution - of course, people usually call this kind of behavior "cowardice" - "Your premonition has never been good! I don't think it's anything special, it's just a little big. And..." He glanced at the tall horned warrior beside him with some ill intentions, and said sarcastically: "...The fact is that being big doesn't necessarily mean being powerful."
After being ridiculed by the Elf Ranger, Niu Baiwan's face turned red with anger - I always found this strange: the Minotaur's face was so thick with cowhide, but it turned red immediately - he immediately retorted: "You 'see'? Can you 'see' it? How dare you say that. In your 'eyes', this monster is just a slightly larger shadow. If it weren't for the name display, I'm afraid you would think it's just a big white mushroom."
"You...I..." Niu Baiwan's weakness was exposed without hesitation, and Xiange Yayi was immediately embarrassed, but he had nothing to refute. He hesitated for a long time, but in the end he didn't say anything constructive. He could only helplessly argue:
"Anyway... I strongly suggest that you kill this boss monster. If you can't defeat it, you can just run away. And..." He paused, then said in a very tempting and gentle tone: "...Boss-level monsters should be able to drop some good things..."
There were three of us, and since the two of them couldn't reach any conclusion through argument, they all turned their eyes to me at the same time, waiting for me to make the final decision.
I have to admit that although Xian Ge Yayi lost the verbal battle with Niu Baiwan, his last sentence was so persuasive that it was hard to ignore, and it was hard for me not to be moved by it.
I knew that this rabid dog would be a difficult opponent, and I also knew how dangerous this battle would be, but greed for a valuable trophy encouraged me and drove me to make a dangerous decision.
Moreover, the easy killing of prey has made me overconfident, and the lack of suspense in the long battles has made me feel a little bored, which has given rise to the idea of challenging stronger opponents and seeking greater stimulation. Perhaps this impulse is more due to the stimulation of killing. Once you start, it is difficult to stop. You know, feeling yourself getting stronger is an indescribable addiction. Overwhelming slaughter and victory can only temporarily quench your thirst, but it arouses a desire in the deeper part of your heart. This desire makes you want to face a stronger opponent and use his blood to prove your growth.
Now, my body was being controlled by this strong desire, which made me unable to restrain myself and wanted to vent my strength. I looked at the mad dog fiercely, then drew my sword and nodded to my companion:
"Let's go!"
A moment later, the elf ranger Xian Ge Ya Yi quietly approached the mad dog from behind. The unique lightness of the elves helped him. Even in the forest full of dead leaves, his footsteps were very light, and the rustling sound was almost completely covered by the breeze blowing through the forest. Soon, Xian Ge Ya Yi came to a place about five steps away from the mad dog Kaplan and took out his bow and arrow.
Even at such a close distance, facing such a huge target, the incredible archery skills of this physiologically mutated elf man still deeply shocked us - he missed, and twice in a row. I can't even understand how he did it. At this distance, just a little bit away from stabbing the whole long sword into the mad dog's ass, the position where the mad dog's big ass can occupy two-thirds of your vision, an elf ranger actually shot an arrow into a big tree trunk thirty steps away from it. Even if I wanted to do this, it would be difficult to do it. It is far from enough to describe his archery skills as "poor" - this is simply a miracle!
Just as we were considering another plan, the Elf Ranger finally succeeded in attracting the attention of the mad dog Kaplan - not because his arrow successfully hit the target, but because the beast, which had no idea that it had been attacked three times, just stretched and turned around.
When he found that the dog's butt that had remained silent had suddenly grown two rows of fangs and let out a threatening roar, Xian Ge Yayi's erratic and strange eyes froze for a moment. Then he suddenly realized what had happened, and with a piercing scream, he turned and ran. The agility and lightness of the elves once again came into play, and the mad dog chased him desperately, but only had time to leave two wounds on his back.
Although the process was not quite what we expected, we finally achieved our first goal of attracting the mad dog Kaplan. The ferocious giant dog chased after him, and it seemed that he had already decided to treat the thin guy with long ears in front of him as a snack for dinner. Just when it was about to get close to the target again, the "snack" it was expecting suddenly made a sharp turn, bypassed a thick tree beside it, and disappeared in an instant.
The mad dog Kaplan turned around and chased after him. But just as he rushed past the tree, a thick and solid wooden stake suddenly flew out from behind the tree. This violent weapon, with a strong whirlwind, hit the mad dog's waist fiercely, making a loud "bang".
Niu Baiwan's powerful sneak attack had a better effect than we expected. The huge silver-white beast was smashed into the air and lost more than one-seventh of its vitality. Not only that, it staggered when it landed, as if the bones in its waist were seriously injured by the heavy blow. However, this did not make the mad dog Kaplan retreat. On the contrary, our sneak attack seemed to have stimulated the last part of the ferocious factor in the blood of this giant dog. It crouched down, looking at the two people who suddenly appeared in front of it with vigilance and anger. The muscles on its face looked particularly ferocious because of the two rows of sharp teeth bared out. From time to time, threatening roars came out of its throat, and its manic nature and vengeful anger gathered in its eyes, dyeing its pupils into a bloody color that was frightening.
Seeing the violent appearance of the mad dog Kaplan, the tall and strong minotaur warrior immediately displayed the unusual "bravery" that came from the depths of his blood in a very different way -
He immediately retreated behind me, timidly pushing me forward. He huddled his huge body and tried to hide behind me. But it was a complete waste of effort. Apart from anything else, his two majestic horns had nowhere to hide. They were pitifully exposed from my armpits, like two flags of shame, showing the embarrassing "amazing" courage of its owner.
Although he pushed me to the front row, Niu Baiwan forgot the huge weapon in his hand - the huge wooden stake in his hand was so big that I could not block it no matter what.
As soon as the injured mad dog saw the big wooden stake, it immediately recognized that it was the culprit that had caused it such a great loss just now. It roared, rushed out quickly, and shot straight at Niu Baiwan like an arrow. Although the wound on its waist made it limp a little, its speed was amazing enough. In a blink of an eye, the silver-white behemoth rushed in front of the minotaur warrior.
I have no doubt that when a person is extremely frightened, the emotion of fear can often drive his limbs to exert great potential. This is what happened to Niu Baiwan. At the moment when the rabid dog was about to pounce on him, he screamed "Ah", raised his heavy wooden stake with both hands, and smashed it head-on at the approaching opponent without thinking, while closing his eyes tightly, desperately turning his head to the right, and shouting loudly: "Don't come over... Help... Come and help me..."
When I was still guarding the city gate, I vaguely heard the "airmen" who passed by talk about a disease called "mad cow disease", and it sounded like a very fatal disease. I think they were probably talking about the current situation. Facts have proved that a mad minotaur is extremely terrifying - even if he is scared crazy because of cowardice - his attack is completely indiscriminate between enemies and friends, and he actually shrouded me and the wild dogs that were approaching in a huge shadow. Moreover, this forced attack came quickly and urgently, completely beyond his usual level, so I had no way to resist it, let alone "help him".
I rolled on the ground in a panic, and finally escaped from his indiscriminate and powerful attack, leaving the silver-white giant dog in Niu Baiwan's attack range. When I stood still, I heard a gust of wind passing through the back of my head with a "buzzing" sound, which scared me into a cold sweat.
However, it was also because this attack was so dangerous that it was difficult for the beast to resist. We watched the big wooden stake fall towards the head of the silver wild dog leader inch by inch, and we all thought that it would be difficult for it to escape this heavy blow.
However, just when the stake was about to inflict another heavy blow to the mad dog Kaplan, the cunning beast suddenly turned its head to the left and pounced on a tree trunk nearby. Its hind paws pushed hard on the tree trunk and bounced back to Niu Baiwan's back. As they passed each other, a piercing sound that scratched people's hearts came from behind Niu Baiwan, and then we saw that his brand new leather armor had been easily torn into three cracks by the giant dog, and blood immediately spurted out from the damaged leather armor.
"Ouch..." Niu Baiwan, who was caught off guard, screamed in pain, and tears seemed to appear in his huge round bell-like eyes.
"...What do you mean the pain control system is absolutely safe for the human body? Bullshit! Let those irresponsible programmers try it themselves. It hurts more than being bitten by a wild dog..."
Niu Baiwan was still howling like a ghost, and the silver-white beast kept running. It turned around and rushed towards me. I wanted to block the attack with my long sword, and then strike it back with my sword. But just as I was about to do so, the bloody wounds on Niu Baiwan's back came into my eyes, and I suddenly felt timid. At the last moment, I gave up the idea of counterattacking, and used my left hand shield to support my head and face, and my right arm supported my left arm, and suddenly pushed forward...
A gust of fishy wind blew in my face, almost suffocating me. I only felt a huge force hitting the shield, which made my left arm numb, and then my chest suffocated, and I was so sad that I could hardly breathe.
The mad dog Kaplan was also pushed back by me, and it rolled on the ground, staring at us again with a fierce look.
It turned out that my last-minute retreat was a wise move. Three claw marks appeared on my brand-new shield, and the marks of worn metal were clearly visible.
I chose this shield because it is strong enough that even the sharp and heavy swords and axes cannot cause significant damage to it.
And now, the beast before us had left marks on my shield with ease. Could it be that its claws were sharper than swords, stronger than axes and hammers?
I couldn't help but wonder, what would happen now if I had bravely taken the blow head-on?
I don't expect to know the answer to this question...
