The raptor pounced on the last grung and looked straight at Noah once more.

Wasting no time, Noah sat back down and instantly activated [Charge]. Krall wanted to roar out, but his master was against it.

Noah wanted a sudden blast of movement to catch the monster off guard, bestial roars had to be tempered and restricted for other, less covert moments.

The bush made it impossible to see on the other side. There was a fleeting thought that it may have changed positions, but it was too late as Krall’s empowered legs blasted through the bush. They targeted nothing, the raptor had vanished.

A sinking feeling grabbed hold of Noah’s heart as he heard the air above him swish.

The corner of his eye spotted the leaping raptor approaching from the side. Before Noah could react. Its claws dug into Krall’s armour and sent sparks scattering.

It continued toward Noah who was on Krall’s back. Noah had managed to raise his shield in time. The claws raked across his shield and then continued to claw into his back.

Noah seethed in pain, and despite making the wound worse, rotated his waist. He activated [Overpower] and swung his mace to the raptors chest. With a thud, it impacted the beast's chest as it crashed onto the jungle floor.

The beast's attack had also cut his makeshift bag, scattering his weapons to the floor.

The beating sun from above just made his wound worse as it throbbed from the searing heat.

Quick to clamber back to its talons, it roared at Noah. It was like it compressed the air within its lungs, then forced it out, causing a high pitched screech that scratched at his ear drums.

The velociraptor was a menacing creature. A streamlined maw built to strip flesh from its prey's body, talons to rip, shred, and rake, and powerfully slender legs. The muscle contracted and expanded at every movement, but it seemed to be injured.

It limped and the bone within its chest seemed to poke out in a peculiar way. The blood from its mouth made it difficult to tell if it was its own, or the previous prey it had torn into.

Was it level fifteen? Noah thought warily to himself.

Using [Overpower] already threatened to turn his arm numb. By the weakness pervading his body, he calculated that he could only use it once more. Placing his mace to his waist with a piece of jungle vine, he reached down and grabbed a spear from the ground and quickly got back into position.

Just as he did so, the beast took advantage of it and bolted forward with a sudden increase in speed.

It moved into a spot where Noah found it difficult to attack, mainly on the left that was his shield hand. But Noah had already thought of such a situation. He dropped off Krall’s back and readied a [Thrust] from under Krall’s arm.

The beast latched onto Krall’s shield and brought its talons to his chest with a leaping attack. Before it could swipe its razor-sharp talons across Krall’s chest, Noah’s spear flashed from underneath his arm and penetrated the beast's already injured chest.

It managed to miss the bone, or perhaps the bone was already turned to powder from his [Overpower] attack. Whatever it was, the jagged shell blade had an easy time eating into the flesh underneath the feathers.

“Grab it!” Noah commanded internally.

Krall used the fact that it was injured and latched his own claws around the velociraptor. One around its throat and the other where its hips were located. Despite the presumed level difference, Krall’s Strength was a notch above the Dexterity focused beast as it was unable to move.

Using [Thrust] once more, he aimed straight for the face of the beast hoping that it would go through the eye. But the dino was unlike the kobolds before. It shifted its head to the side at the last second and its long neck used the opportunity to bite into Krall's throat.

Krall roared and bashed the monster's chest repeatedly with his fists. He was too close to effectively use his weapon. Then, he opened his own mouth and bit into the monster's throat.

It was a battle against beasts, and for them–this was their life.

Noah appeared from the side with his dagger and repeatedly stabbed the velociraptor look alike in the throat. Blood poured out from the multiple wounds and covered Krall in a deep, viscous red.

It was only a moment later and Krall slammed the powerless scaly monster to the floor. Krall roared once more with ferocity as he punched, kicked, and stomped the monster's skull into a bloody pulp.

You defeated a - Level 15 Feather-maw.…

Lenid, the Monster Hunter has sponsored you.

Grace Coins added.

“Stop.” Noah commanded and urgently grabbed hold of Krall’s head with both hands, then tilted his head to the side as he gazed at where the monster had bit him. Thankfully, the wound wasn’t very deep.

Sighing in relief, Noah scoured the floor as his supplies were scattered all around.

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Noah wiped the sweat from his forehead. Even defeating a level fifteen wasn’t enough for him to level. Although it was close. Another couple of kobolds and he would level up once more.

Without waiting around, Noah bought a backpack from the shop with the Grace Coins he had earned from the battle, and thanks to Lenid. It seemed like the Monster Slayer enjoyed his battle.

Level 5 - Basic Backpack 10L: A basic backpack made of high density material to stop rips and abrasions.

After filling his bag with his supplies, he thought back to the fight. Although the extra weapons on his waist, namely the sword and mace didn’t weigh much thanks to his current Strength stat, they were annoying as they dangled. Especially the mace.

But if he had to choose one over the other, it would be the mace. He could hit from any angle, and didn’t have to worry about edge alignment when striking. Especially when mounted behind Krall. He wasn’t able to control his body like he could on his own two feet.

Instead, he clipped the sword sheath to the outside of the bag for quick access, along with the bow. Then he placed the quiver in the side pocket and used the side strap to secure the arrows. Finally, he put the bag on. That left him with a spear in one hand, a mace tied to his waist, and the System granted dagger sheathed to his thigh.

He would just need to use the dagger as a last resort, instead of the sword. Although if it was damaged, the sword was there for backup in an emergency.

The bow was only to be used for ranged combatants as it was the thing he was least experienced in. The System kindly reminded him of that by not even adding a Skill to it when he arrived. Still, it would be useful as he got better with it.

Mongolia almost dominated the entire world with nothing but bows and horses, after all. So it was something he had to improve at.

He would learn anything if it gave him the advantage.

Noah took a rancid sip of a health potion as the itchiness from his back was evidence it was working. It also reminded him that when he had the points for it, he needed an ointment for flesh wounds. It had more uses instead of wasting an entire health potion for a small wound.

With everything sorted, the air above the feather-maw crackled as a blue light shone. Noah’s eyes sparkled as he unhesitantly took a step toward it since he had to pick up all his equipment.

But, the moment he did so, a rustling was heard from a bush.

Noah felt the fine hairs on the nape of his neck tingle, it felt just like his days spent skulking the streets within the gang. Someone, or something, was watching him. He readied his spear and commanded Krall to stand in front of him.

Leaping onto Krall’s back, his vision was glued to the rustling bush. Then, just at the corner of his eye, a pair of beady red eyes looked straight at him from behind a tree. Its green snout twitched as it gazed at him as if he was nothing but a donated meal.

Then, one emerged from the bush.

Noah twitched his head to the side, another one of the beasts was taking its time to flank on the left. Three of them had arrived.

The monsters glanced at the dead body of the feathered-maw and vibrated a screech.

Fuck. Noah grimaced.

It wasn’t a fight he could win.

“Run Krall!” Noah shouted.

Krall could feel the urgency within his master's words and turned his body into a full on sprint. Although the strength in his legs was incredible, and the [Mounted Combat] Skill strengthened it further. The feathered-maw trio was in close pursuit. No, they were catching up.

After only a moment, the fastest of them–the strongest–caught up, and snapped its mouth toward Noah’s back.

Noah [Thrusted] the butt of his spear straight for the beast's mouth. The feathered-maw caught it within its strong jaws and snapped them shut. The spear splintered, then with a yank, it was torn from his grip.

He lost his spear, but now the strongest of them was quite far behind. Even with its extra Stats, it would take a few moments to catch up. Just as he was thinking of a plan, the other two arrived.

One of them leapt up onto the high ground as they passed by a hill.

“Focus on running, Krall, don’t stop!” Noah shouted as Krall nodded.

Noah glanced up at the monster as it was bolting past the trees, then, he lost sight of it for a split-second, only for it to jump at him from in between the tree line.

He only had enough energy left in his muscles for one more [Overpower], even using [Thrust] was draining him by the second.

The monster tore straight for him in mid-air with its talons on full display. It wanted to rip his face clean off, but it was a perfect opportunity for Noah. Its legs may be powerful, and its claws were no doubt life threatening, but it also relied on them to move.

Noah took hold of his dagger and plunged it into the monster's incoming foot, straight in between its claws. However, he wasn’t fast enough in taking his hand away to keep his dagger.

One of its claws sliced straight into his palm. Hot red liquid trickled down.

Noah leaned back as the monster passed in between his head, and Krall's back. His heart sank as he reached for Krall’ shoulder, or anything to grab onto as he was falling backwards.

Krall ignored his given command and stopped for half a second. It allowed Noah to grab back onto his shoulder and hug him tightly.

The feathered-maw slammed into the ground. Noah’s dagger was impaled within its foot. It attempted to climb to its feet, but it fell back down before Noah lost sight of it completely.

With Krall stopping for only half a second, the other monster was right next to them, while the strongest was approaching at high speed at their flank.

Noah’s back was drenched in sweat. He was out of ideas. There was nothing but trees, and fighting within them was far too advantageous for the feathered beasts. Not that it would matter anyway as they outlevelled him by quite a few Levels.

Especially the larger one of the two. Maybe it was even level sixteen, or seventeen?

He readied his mace as the feathered-maw by his side snapped at Krall’s leg in an attempt to stop him.

Noah swung his mace underhanded as it throttled toward the beast's face, but it managed to move its long neck to the side and latched onto Krall’s shield instead.

Krall ignored it while Noah prepared a second swing. He was about to smash its skull when it suddenly let go of his shield.

Noah was certain the feathered-maw smirked as it touched the ground, then leapt straight for him. It had faked him out.

The monster opened its jaws wide and slammed them shut straight for Noah’s head. As the feathered-maw collided against Noah, he was struck off Krall’s back.

Both monster, and human rolled on the ground, and then fell into a dark hole of unknown depth, or size.

Krall expelled a monstrous roar as he watched Noah disappear from his sight.

You have entered the dungeon - Mole’s Lair.