The Hunt
That was the rule.
Resource-type dungeons were usually controlled by their discoverers, the teams that pioneered them, or the relevant administrative departments. Entering required a hefty payment, serving as both an admission fee and a charge for using the resources.
For the Lv.2 Shield Guard and his companions, two silver coins were a sum they had to grit their teeth to scrape together.
As for Su Ran's current wealth... well, he really did have only two silver coins and a few copper coins left in cash.
But he had just exchanged the token for a dozen mana potions and a precious ring, so his actual assets were hardly meager.
Without hesitation, he took out two silver coins and handed them to the Shield Guard. "My share."
"Oh, good, good!"
The shield bearer hurriedly accepted them and carefully wrapped them in cloth along with the silver coins he and the two spearmen had scraped together, eight in all.
"Let's go pay at the dungeon entrance," the Shield Guard called, shouldering his shield. His steps were noticeably lighter.
The group headed toward the entrance to [Crouching Tiger Slope (Easy)].
It was a hill-shaped gate of light shrouded in a faint yellow halo, with the sound of tiger roars coming dimly from within. Staff in simple uniforms and two guards with formidable auras stood at the entrance.
After they paid eight silver coins and received temporary resource-gathering permits, the guards stepped aside.
"Ready?" The Shield Guard took a deep breath and looked at Su Ran.
Su Ran nodded, his fingers unconsciously brushing the mana ring on his index finger as he felt the abundant energy within it.
"Let's go."
The four stepped through the gate of light into [Crouching Tiger Slope (Easy)], and their surroundings changed in an instant.
The desolate dungeon wilderness gave way to a stretch of low, rolling hills covered in knee-high, dark yellow-brown weeds and sparse shrubs.
The air was dry and carried the scent of earth and vegetation. Deep tiger roars echoed faintly in the distance, lending the seemingly peaceful hills an added air of menace.
"Careful! Tigers like to lie in wait and ambush their prey! Watch the bushes around us!"
Experienced as he was, the Shield Guard immediately warned them in a low voice. He tilted his greatshield slightly forward and warily scanned ahead and to both sides.
The two spearmen took positions to his left and right, gripping their spears tightly, their tips lowered slightly and ready to thrust at any moment.
Su Ran walked in the center, a little behind the rest of the party. His mental power had already spread out quietly, and he used it together with [Knowledge Insight Lv.3] and the sharper energy perception he had gained after becoming a mage to carefully probe their surroundings for movement.
He could sense several streams of scorching life energy carrying a bloody scent, moving slowly through the grass and behind the earthen mounds nearby, like hunters lying in wait.
They had not gone far when a dense thicket on their left suddenly burst apart!
"Roar...!"
A deafening roar erupted, and a gust of bloody wind hit them in the face!
A massive yellow-and-black figure shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bow, bearing a heart-stopping momentum as it pounced straight at the Shield Guard at the front of the party!
It was a muscular, striped tiger nearly three meters long and taller than a man at the shoulder!
Its gaping maw bristled with fangs, and its amber vertical pupils glinted with the pure ferocity of a predator.
[Lv.2 Fierce Tiger]
"Hold it off!"
The Shield Guard bellowed and advanced instead of retreating. Pouring all his strength into his arms, he drove his heavy hardwood tower shield forward to meet the tiger's head!
"Bang!!!"
The dull impact was so loud it made their hearts tremble!
In Su Ran's eyes, the force of the tiger's pounce far surpassed that of the skeletons and even the gnolls from before!
The Shield Guard grunted, his feet plowing two shallow furrows through the soft ground and his arms shaking violently. But in the end, his greatshield held firm against the tiger's swipe and charge.
The instant the Shield Guard blocked the tiger and brought it to a momentary halt!
"Kill!!" The two spearmen on either side seized the fleeting chance, roaring as they thrust their spears with all their might!
Pfft! Pfft!
The sharp spearheads struck true, piercing the tiger's relatively soft flanks and sides!
The shafts bent instantly, showing how deeply they had penetrated. Blood immediately welled out along the grooves in the shafts.
Yet for a tiger this large and tenacious, the two wounds were painful but far from fatal! Instead, they roused its ferocity to an even greater frenzy!
"Roar...!"
The tiger roared in pain. Ignoring the wounds in its sides, it violently twisted its massive body and swept its thick tail at the spearman on the right like a steel whip.
At the same time, it raised a forepaw, about to smash the spear of the spearman on the left!
The spearman on the right hastily retreated, narrowly avoiding the tail, but their formation was already in disarray.
The spearman on the left tried to pull out his weapon, only to find the spearhead caught between the tiger's tough muscles and ribs. He could not free it in time, and the tiger's paw was about to come down!
Just then, Su Ran, who had been calmly observing, moved.
He had already raised his right hand, pointing his index finger forward. With his mind intensely focused, the active mana in his body surged out, amplified by the mana ring.
Before his fingertip, it rapidly formed, took shape, and stabilized according to the [Energy Missile] model.
"Go!"
A fist-sized, much denser and faster pale-purple energy missile trailed a slender tail of light as it cut through the air.
It gave a faint hum as it shot with unerring accuracy toward the tiger's nose and roaring mouth!
The tiger clearly had not expected a ranged attack of this kind and instinctively turned its head to dodge, but the energy missile was too fast. It slammed hard into the tiger's wet nose!
"Yowl!"
This time, its roar of pain took on a distorted, miserable note.
The nose was a sensitive and vulnerable spot for many animals. Struck by an impact of pure energy, the tiger felt such sharp, stinging pain that tears shot from its eyes.
Its movements became noticeably sluggish and confused, and the paw swiping at the spearman veered off course.
"Now!"
Su Ran shouted under his breath. His left hand had already pulled a dark-red [Berserk] scroll he had made the night before from his belt pouch, and he tore it open without hesitation, targeting... the Shield Guard!
The scroll turned into a streak of blood-red light that entered the Shield Guard's back.
The Shield Guard's body jolted, his eyes instantly becoming slightly bloodshot as an inhuman growl escaped his mouth!
His muscles swelled at a speed visible to the naked eye, veins bulging as his entire aura turned violent and fierce!
"Rooaaar...!"
The Shield Guard felt an unprecedented surge of berserk strength well up inside him, sweeping away his fatigue and the aching numbness in his arms!
Roaring, he was no longer content to defend. He gripped the edges of his shield with both hands and used it like a giant battering ram, heaving it forward and upward with all his might!
"Boom!"
Still reeling from the pain in its nose and its confusion, the tiger was struck by the Shield Guard's full-powered blow in his berserk state. The entire front half of its body was lifted off the ground, throwing it off balance!
"While it's down, finish it off!" Su Ran's calm voice rang out like a command.
The two spearmen's spirits surged. Seizing the opening left by the tiger's loss of balance, they roared and thrust again!
This time, they aimed for the more vulnerable vital points at its throat and abdomen!
Pshk! Pshk!
The spears plunged deep, and blood sprayed wildly.