At this point, Manco had figured out the reason for the strange absence of predators. It was due to the Sacred Deer's presence.
He recalled the hunt with Brennda yesterday. Most of the predators in they ran into were of the corrupted kind: Gray Panther, Wicked Coyotes, Diseased Wolves and so on. They had all been warped in varying degrees. Normal predators often hunt only for food or fight for territories, but the corrupted ones were always ferocious and would kill or maim indiscriminately. As the Sacred Deer are capable of purifying corruption, It naturally repelled these creatures.
Fifteen minutes later, he ran into the first predator of the day: a Diseased Gray Wolf. The thing was chomping on something that looked like a rabbit carcass.
Readying his crossbow, Manco activated 「Crippling Shot」 then pulled the trigger.
*Twang
-12!
A red number floated off the wolf as the bolt embedded itself into its rear leg. Growling with pain and anger, it turned around and glared at Manco. Blood and bits of flesh dripped from is gaping maw. Its face had numerous boils and rots, its eyes blood red, giving it a sinister appearance.
While the creature limped toward him, he calmly loaded the second bolt.
「Crippling Shot」
-22!
The second shot hit it between the eyes, both Blinding it and Dislocating its neck. Blinding was the default effect of attacks that land near the eye and Dislocated Neck was the effect of Crippling Shot. The creature's neck was bent at a bizarre angle and it struggled to walk straight.
Wasting no time, Manco held up his left hand and let loose one Mana Bolt after another. He tried his best to hit it in the head.
-10! -11! -21! -23!
After the Dislocated Neck debuff wore off, the wolf slowly got up, but remain blinded. Manco shot another 「Crippling Shot」 at it for good measure.
After a minute, the last bit of HP was gone and the wolf lay still.
〔Creature "Weak Gray Wolf" (lv 12) killed〕
〔1462 xp gained〕 (680 x 215%)
He then harvested the creature for its pelt, fang, meat, sinew and retrieved the crossbow bolts lodged on its body. The meat was poisonous, but still edible after being processed. Besides, he could use it as bait.
Then he heard the sound of footsteps approaching from behind. Turning around he saw three Diseased Dingoes. Upon realizing they had been seen, they stopped approaching and watched him, as if trying to look for an opening.
Reaching behind his back with his right hand Manco unsheathed his knife. Giving it a slight twirl, he held it in a reverse grip, edge facing forward.
Simultaneously, he bent his knees and lowered his body into a fighting stance. His muscles coiled, anticipating actions.
Extending his left hand, he made a "come hither" motion.
"C'mon you sons a' bitches," he said with a cocky grin, " let's dance!"
The dingoes were experienced pack hunters. They split up and attacked from three directions, one rushed straight in, while the other two flanked him.
The one at the front rushed in but stopped just before getting within his arm's reach. The real attacks were from the other two. The one on his right aimed at his leg, counting on his attention being focused on the front. The one on the left jumped straight for his throat.
That was a pretty well-coordinated attack. Against any less experienced fighter, they might very well have succeeded.
Too bad they were against a former assassin.
「Mana Bolt」!
-23!
He greeted the dingo aiming at his throat with a mana bolt to the face. Twisting his body, he avoided its blind lunge. At the same time, his right leg shifted, avoiding the second dingo's jaw. The dagger in his hand stabbed down its neck, drawing blood and pumping poison as well as a paralytic agent into its vein.
-20!
-2!
-3!
The dingo at his front stared at him in confusion, as if wondering how their coordinated attack did not work. He blasted it in the face with another mana bolt.
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Taking advantage of the three dingoes being incapacitated, he slashed at each of them with the knife, letting the poison and paralyzing potion take effect. At the same time, he shot off one mana bolt after another to chip away at their health.
The dingoes never recovered from the initial assault. At least one was always kept in a paralyzed state and had its mobility reduced, while the rest were either stunned, blinded or both. Manco only got bit once and scratched twice for negligible damage.
After two minutes, two dingoes lay dead and the third turned tail and limped away, only to be cut down with a 「Crippling Shot」 then several mana bolts.
〔Creature "Diseased Dingo" (lv 10) killed〕
〔 1268 xp gained〕 (590 x 215%)
〔Creature "Diseased Dingo" (lv 11) killed〕
〔 1398 xp gained〕 (650 x 215%)
〔Creature "Diseased Dingo" (lv 12) killed〕
〔 1548 xp gained〕 (720 x 215%)
The combined effects of 『Well-rested』 and 『Blessing of Growth』 were doing wonder for his leveling speed. He had only killed four creatures and his xp bar to level 11 was already 30% full.
"Whew!" Manco took a rest to let his (virtual) heart slow down and his stamina recover. It felt good to be able to fight with the close quarter style he was used to. He knew it was only possible against low leveled mobs like this. For creatures that were stronger and possessed more resistance to status effects, his tricks would not work, only raw firepower would. Nevertheless, he would enjoy this while it lasted.
After harvesting the slain dingoes, Manco resumed hunting. With the Tracking skill, he identified a frequently traveled path and designated it as his leveling spot.
Manco selected a few big trees with plenty of branches. He took out a coil of rope and cut a dozen shorter lengths from it. Climbing one tree, he secured one end of the rope to a solid branch and let the other end drop to the ground. He repeated the step with two more branches.
Eventually, he rappelled to the ground using one of the ropes, then used another to climb up. Inspecting his handiwork, he nodded in satisfaction. This tree would serve as his emergency escape if he got overwhelmed. Once he made it up to the branches he would be relatively safe from animal attacks, except when the animal in question could fly or climb trees.
As he was working on the second tree, a Grey Panther walked by, carrying a leg in its mouth. After sizing up Manco, it dropped the leg and stalked closer.
"Oh? You wanna play, big cat?" He smiled, drawing his dagger. The corrupted animals always thirsted for a hunt, even when they were full. This made this forest perfect for leveling if one could deal with them.
The fight was over in a minute. As he had grown more competent with using mana bolt, he could easily hit the creature's eye, blinding it. Even without the poison and paralyzing potion, he made short work of the panther and went back to his task.
Fifteen minutes, two Diseased Dingoes, and three Wicked Coyotes later, Manco was the proud owner of five "escape trees" scattered over an area of about three hundred square meters, and an assortment of pelts, teeth, sinew, and meat.
"Now for the bait," said Manco as he dropped several pieces of raw meat on the trails. He also threw several more in each direction to attract the animals.
His hunting ground complete, he settled on one of the trees to observe. Once in a while he opened his crafting screen to create more potions and process the pelts.
Several minutes later, three dingoes approached the area, drawn by the scent of raw meat (which might have belonged to their own kind). As they were fighting over the bloody scraps, a panther showed up.
After staring at each other for a few moments, the two sides began approaching each other. Then in a blink of an eye, they converged and became entangled in a blur of claws, teeth, and fur. The sound of growling, biting and tearing filled the air. The moss-covered forest floor around them was splattered with blood and viscera.
When the fight neared the end, two dingoes were lying on the ground with grievous wounds, panting. The last dingo was barely standing, with several deep gashes on its side and one of its front legs was reduced to a bloody stump. The panther fared no better, with a shredded hind leg and a missing eye.
They stood one meter from each other, unwilling to continue, but also hesitate to show weakness.
「Crippling Shot」!
「Mana Bolt」! 「Mana Bolt」!
That was when Manco decided to intervene. Having incapacitated the dingo, he engaged the panther. After the big cat was dead, he killed the dingo. Then he finished off the wounded dingoes.
〔Creature "Diseased Dingo" (lv 12) killed〕
〔 1548 xp gained〕 (720 x 215%)
〔Level up! Your level is now 11!〕
〔Int +2; Wil +1〕
〔Free attribute points + 2 (Total 19)〕
Noting he received full experience despite only dealing the last few blows on the half-dead mobs, he climbed up one of the trees again after harvesting the body.
The next few hours followed the same pattern. He instigated the monster to fight amongst themselves, swooped in to finish off the victors and the half-dead losers, then harvested the body.
It was not the most "honorable" way to fight, but he did not care. Efficiency was king here.
Occasionally new predators would join the fight before he could claim the kills and kill steal from him, but then nothing was perfect.
Once the place was crowded enough, Manco did not leave the tree. Instead, he stayed on the branches and trained his Mana Bolt spell or finish off the heavily wounded animals.
A few hours later…
The hunting ground was littered with a couple hundred of bodies of wolves, dingoes, panthers and other four-legged predators. The smell of diseased blood and excrement became so overwhelming that Mahn Li had to turn down the intensity of the sense of smell in the game option.
Once every few minutes, two or three new packs of predators would show up. There was more than enough food for them to just ignore each other and eat in peace. However, the creatures were wired to kill everything not belonging to their kind. They kept fighting each other, while Manco reaped the rewards.
Manco had gained another four levels, bringing him to level 15.