Chapter 61 - Cougar and monkeys (2/2)

With the cougar charging at the monkeys, biting and swiping its claws at the monkey, they didn't need the previous plan and all they needed was to quickly hold down and kill the monkeys as much as possible to gain an advantage. Luckily for them, the cougar seemed to have an interest in the monkeys more than the players and as long as they didn't attack it, this wouldn't probably change.

Even Tetsujin being a martial artist could use skills like choke and toss to stun and pull out individual monkeys and they soon began to increase their kill count. But, as the number of monkeys decreased, they realized that the odds were against them and started to retreat.

Once the monkeys reached the trees beside the path, they started to swing their way into the forest. They were a lot faster on the trees than they were on the ground. The cougar wouldn't be able to attack them now.

By this time, they managed to kill 14 of the monkeys while the cougar itself killed three of the monkeys. Each of the monkey was level 7 and was two levels higher than the team providing extra experience. These few monkeys provided enough for everyone in the team except Tang and Little White Feet to raise up by a level.

The cougar which realized that it can't catch the monkeys came back on to the path. looked at the team, who were looting the monkey corpses. With the monkeys gone, the team became its new target.

A monster which tends to follow and hunt other monsters wouldn't allow players to safely retreat. Though the team were a bit apprehensive to fight such a monster, Shadow had no issues combating the cougar. He had original meant to temper his team with the cougar but due to the monkeys he had to deal with them first.

Despite, the red fanged cougar was also injured by the monkeys during the fight and its current HP was about 1800 HP. Moreover, even Tang and Little White Feet needed only little experience to move to level 6 and killing a level 8 monster would definitely provide them the required experience.

”Get ready Tetsujin, need you to help control it,” said Shadow Tyrant in the chat. He had already moved into stealth when he saw the cougar returning. ”I will stun it and at the end of stun, you need to control using choke and toss,” he added.

Due to the enhanced stealth provided by the mask of shadow, he could fool any monster 5 levels above him. The cougar couldn't perceive him either. He was already waiting for the cougar and quickly got by it side and used cheap shot to stun it signalling his team to attack.

The team attacked frenziedly as they wanted to kill it as soon as possible. The cougar fighting the monkeys by itself had left a formidable impression on them. Shadow had also used his clone skill to increase the DPS.

Also, their attacks wouldn't be as effective as a higher leveled monsters would have better defences and also control skill tend to not have the expected efficiency. But luckily magical attacks seem to have better effect than the physical ones.

Both Merlin and Shadow immediately noticed this and commanded all those who had magical attacks including priest to continuously attack and not do anything else. The cheap shot would normally stun for four seconds, had the cougar stunned only for 3 seconds due to level difference. Luckily, Shadow had his clone ready increasing the stun for another 3 seconds with its cheap shot.

Though it was only 6 seconds, the combined attack concentrated on a single stunned monster was rather disastrous for it. By the time, the stun expired it was already in critical health, in an enraged state and chose Blinding White who was right beside its head as the target for its bite and toss attack.

The toss by the cougar left it open to attacks and Tetsujin wasn't one to leave an opportunity, he immediately used back throw, toss and choke attacks in succession leaving it in a state of confusion for another 2 seconds.

System: Your teammate Blinding White bled to death.

The announcement shocked everyone. The cougar had used only one attack to successfully kill a player. It was obvious that it had a very high attack value. Though it was a shocking change, the team continue their attack as the monster was on its last breath. Merlin had also had his terror wave skill ready in case of emergency, but the monster succ.u.mbed to assault before that.

”WHAT KIND OF CRAZY BEAST DID YOU LURE!!! IT EMPTIED HALF MY HEALTH IN ONE ATTACK,” shouted Blinding White. She had already resurrected and called them as soon as she got the notification that they killed the cougar.

”Sorry, I didn't expect it to have such high attack in its enraged state,” replied Shadow. ”How could I know that the cougar had such high attack. All I heard was that it had an attack pattern similar to wargs,” thought Shadow as he berated himself for not finding out more about the earlier stages of the game. When he joined as a vice-guild leader in his previous life, he focused mostly on the various resource areas and special quests which could improve their funds.

”That was a crazy monster. Why did you lure it?” asked Merlin. He too found it hard to believe that Shadow would do such a mistake.

”It was the only monster in isolation. After the monkeys, I thought it would be best to handle individual monsters. Moreover, its attacks were only charging to swipe and bite. I thought we could easily evade it,” replied Shadow.

”It is true. If it is an isolated monster and by its attack pattern, even I would have done the same,” said Tetsujin agreeing with Shadow. ”We should have been a bit more prepared and expected that the stun wouldn't last that long.”

Tetsujin was quite satisfied with both Merlin and Shadow's play. He also saw the potential in Quiet Fire and Blinding White. What killed her was just a rookie mistake.

The ones who were most happy were Tang and Little White Feet, the experience from the cougar had pushed them both to level 6. Unexpectedly, Blinding White who was already at level 6 went back to level 5 due to her death in the wild. Such a death resulted in loss of 10% experience. Blinding just managed to level up after killing the monkey and unfortunately lost experience and went back a level after death.

Even though the team leveled up, Shadow had a small confusion about something. He calculated the experience he received and by his estimates, it wouldn't be possible for them to level up after the monkeys. He didn't cross check at that time because of the cougar, but now he gave in to his curiosity.

He asked Tang to send a quick snapshot of her attribute panel. In the panel, he saw that the experience required for her to reach level 7 was 2300, instead of the 2500 it showed in his attribute panel. He repeated the same Quiet Fire and found the same result. This confirmed his doubts.

”The unique equipment!! It wouldn't give more attributes for a single level up just like that. It forces the player to gather more experience for a level up,” though Balthazar. ”No doubt, the players who had these complained about them. There would obviously be no free meal. If it really provided more attributes for the same levels, it would be considered unfair.”

The more he played the game the more he realized the issues his simple plans had. ”It wouldn't be simple even with my knowledge of future. I wonder what other requirements would prop up, if I acquire the unique weapons I had in my mind,” thought Balthazar.

On the other side, Merlin had looted the cougar. It didn't provide any weapons but did provide the materials. Cougar fangs, cougar fur and meat. On enquiring, he found that the loot of the monkeys also didn't yield any equipment. It was just meat and fruits.

Luckily, the fruits were directly consumable. Though they couldn't be consumed during combat, they refilled both HP and MP. They also provide a temporary buff of higher HP and MP and fill up the HP and MP faster than bread and water.

As Blinding White was already at the village, Shadow asked her to check for Slaine and meet up with him. She also told him that the credit exchange and auction house had already opened up. Moreover, the village population was already reaching its limits and she advised him to tell his friends to come and register as soon as possible.

Now that most of them reached level 6, Merlin, Tetsujin and Quiet Fire asked to attempt the Hell mode dungeon. It looked like they got a taste for first clears and first kill rewards. That was their previous plan too. So, Shadow also agreed and they channelled their hearthstones to go back to the village.

Though they told that they wanted to go back to village to replenish potions, it was obvious that they wanted to check the auction house to see if they could find anything useful. Especially Tetsujin, he wanted to go to both the credit exchange and the auction house.