Mutated Hyena

"Is that a cat???"

"Have you ever seen a 2-meter-long cat? Its claws are so long! Even a leopard isn't as fierce as it is!"

"Let's get out of here, let's get out of here. This thing doesn't look like something we can handle right now."

Thin Dog, Demonic Fox, and Lin Tang tiptoed away, undetected by the feline mutated creature on the mountain.

They knew they could take down the Raider mainly because the green-skinned Big Muscle Man was too clumsy. Although its running speed was the same as a human's, its turning speed and attack recovery were relatively long, allowing them to exploit these weaknesses to kill it.

As for the feline creature... putting aside whether it had mutated any special abilities, just its species and size made it difficult to handle. They wouldn't dare compete with a cat in terms of reaction speed.

If it were smaller, it would be different. But such a big one... the best option was to run!

The three fled in a panic and encountered a black-furred hyena with blood-red eyes and a gaping maw in the woods ahead.

Its tongue was green and dripped with saliva, causing the vegetation on the ground to sizzle and smoke.

The sensitive hyena heard the commotion and immediately discovered the three passing by.

It let out a low growl at them and began to circle them.

Thin Dog: "Huh? This scene... looks familiar."

Demonic Fox observed for a moment: "Don't panic. It's just a minion. Judging by its size and species, it's much easier to deal with than that big cat on the mountain. This beast has poison in its mouth, so don't let it bite you directly. Be careful, and we should be able to take it down."

"Alright!"

Seeing the three humans holding weapons, the mutated hyena showed no fear. Its small, scarlet eyes locked onto Lin Tang, and it lunged forward.

It opened its mouth wide, aiming for Lin Tang's neck.

Lin Tang hastily raised his crowbar to defend himself.

But the tremendous impact force from its incredible speed sent the hyena crashing down on him.

Thump~

The hyena's mouth was stuck on the crowbar, and it was frantically gnawing at it.

Saliva dripped onto Lin Tang's face, emitting wisps of black smoke. Green numbers appeared before Lin Tang's eyes.

[Received Radiation Damage, HP -2] [Received Radiation Damage, HP -2]

Bang! Bang!

Thin Dog and Demonic Fox's attacks landed on the hyena a moment later.

[HP -20] [HP -18]

Two physical damage numbers popped up above the hyena's head. The damage wasn't high because the two blows were delivered hastily, hitting its tough back.

However, the hyena's health was significantly lower than the Raider's, only a little over 200 points. These 38 points of damage still took a considerable toll.

The hyena yelped in pain and released its bite, deftly twisting to the side and launching another fierce attack.

Before Lin Tang could even get up, the hyena tackled him from behind again.

"Aowwwoooo!"

It made a mad-dog-like sound from its mouth.

Lin Tang felt a pain in his backside and quickly swung his crowbar, smashing it hard against the hyena's head.

Bang! [Critical Hit! HP -28] Bang! [Critical Hit! HP -30]

At this moment, Demonic Fox and Thin Dog's maces landed on the hyena's neck and head, respectively.

[Critical Hit! HP -45] [Golden Critical Hit! HP -200]

Thin Dog's powerful mace blow directly splattered the hyena's brains.

The dead hyena's mouth was still clamped tightly onto Lin Tang's backside. Green saliva and mucus mixed with red blood soaked Lin Tang's rear.

It was a particularly gruesome sight.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch~ This beast bit me to death! Its speed was so fast, my reaction couldn't keep up."

Demonic Fox asked, "Does it hurt? How much HP did you lose?"

"It doesn't hurt too much, it's within an acceptable range. This game must have weakened the pain sensation. Oh, right! That bite on my butt just now cost me over 50 HP, and it also triggered Bleeding and Radiation Damage. I'm still losing health, 3 points per second."

"Bleeding duration is approximately 2 minutes remaining. Radiation Damage duration is 5 minutes."

Thin Dog calculated slightly: "Not good! It didn't kill you, but this continuous damage could take you out. Demonic Fox, quickly clean the wound and bandage it!"

"Alright!"

The two of them simply rinsed Lin Tang's backside with leaves and water, then tore off a strip of clothing to wrap him up.

Lin Tang: "Huh? The bleeding status disappeared early! The radiation damage also lessened. Now it's only losing 1 HP per second."

Thin Dog finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Glad we saved him. My guess was right, the stat design in this game respects some real-world logic. Bandaging a wound stops bleeding, and reducing residual radiated material lessens radiation damage. If these stats were fixed, Lin Tang would have been killed by continuous damage."

Demonic Fox: "This kind of design... the stat designer's workload must be immense. It's quite interesting."

Lin Tang touched his backside with his right hand: "I suspect this is a new engine that can simulate various data from the real world. Otherwise, even sacrificing an entire office building full of programmers wouldn't be enough to complete this workload."

After finishing their busy work, Thin Dog finally had time to check his watch.

[Jointly killed Mutated Hyena, Experience +3]

"Minions like this give little experience, much less than Raiders, but the kill efficiency is still acceptable. At most, it takes just over a minute, it just hurts the backside a bit."

Lin Tang heard this and looked dejected.

"This minion's speed is quite fast. I was paying attention, but it still pounced on me. If I were alone, I might have been killed by it."

Demonic Fox looked at the combat damage record on his watch: "You wouldn't have been directly killed. If it didn't bite a vital spot, its attack power isn't too high, but it probably could have traded kills with you. After all, one bite from this thing causes bleeding and radiation. By the time you killed it, you'd be in a similar state."

"Looking at its HP... it should be the lowest-level minion in the game, and it can still pose a considerable threat to us. This game really has a bit of that Wasteland feel."

"First combat, not understanding the minion's speed and attack patterns, it's normal to get injured. We'll get better after fighting a few more. Let's go, keep moving."

Demonic Fox slung the Mutated Hyena's corpse over his shoulder, and the three continued onward.

They were quite a distance from the Base, so sending back just one like this wasn't worth it. They planned to get more loot to bring back together.

In the Four Mountains region, there were still quite a few huntable prey.

After all, this area was sparsely populated, and mutated creatures occupied most of the territory.

Mutated Hyenas were a relatively common type of prey, but due to their speed and ferocity, they wouldn't let go once they caught someone. Hunters wouldn't easily provoke these mad creatures unless they were confident.

Otherwise, even if they won, what if they lost a hand or a leg?

Hunters preferred to hunt mutated creatures that didn't actively attack humans.

Lin Tang: "Huh? There's another dog up ahead!"

Demonic Fox: "This thing is called a hyena, not a dog."

Lin Tang exclaimed: "Hyenas aren't dogs?"

Thin Dog nodded: "That's right. Don't let the way it looks like a dog, or its name having 'dog' in it, fool you. It's not a canine. It belongs solely to the Hyaenidae family. Although it's mutated and looks a bit strange now, you can still see the characteristics of the Hyaenidae."

Lin Tang pondered for a moment and suddenly understood.

"I get it! It's like an African Thin Dog. Even though its name has 'dog' in it, and people can be 'dog-like', in reality... it's probably a person, right?"

Thin Dog: "...What do you mean 'probably'!"

"Stop talking, it's noticed us. Prepare for battle!"

The three were much more experienced this time. They grabbed their weapons and charged, taking the initiative. The Mutated Hyena bared its teeth and didn't back down, its small eyes fixed on Lin Tang's rosy backside as it accelerated.

This time, Lin Tang anticipated its pounce and dodged with a roll. Thin Dog, quick as lightning, struck the Mutated Hyena mid-air with a club.

The Mace's attack range was also longer than the hyena's, and the damage was sufficient.

After a few rounds of combat, Lin Tang rolled around on the ground in a sorry state, but he ultimately took down the Mutated Hyena without taking any damage.

Each received 3 Experience points.

"Another prey acquired. This thing is quite light. I estimate these two combined will barely make up one portion of Biological Raw Materials."

"So now, we have enough Biological Raw Materials. We can extract loot from any monsters we kill from now on!"

"Hiss~ This feels great! Let's keep grinding!"

The three were in high spirits.

What could be more satisfying than grinding monsters for loot?

At this point, the three were nearing the Raider camp where Cheng Shaofeng had been abducted earlier. Perhaps they would soon encounter Raiders who gave more experience.

"Clang clang clang~"

"Ding ding ding~"

Suddenly, the sound of bells came from the forest ahead.

"Take cover!"

The three quickly hid behind a large rock.

There will be another chapter later. I work during the day and only have time to write at night, so most updates will be around midnight. It's recommended to read in the morning. My apologies.