Chapter 55: The Lair
Chapter 55: The Lair
"Pack up, we need to move as fast as possible!"
"We can't let them react before we do."
The female hunter gave the order.
The four quickly packed up their camp and, led by Dan, rushed through the forest.
The recently killed Ice Boar had provided them with valuable information.
In a normal situation, discovering and successfully hunting it would mean they were getting closer to their enemy.
But the current scenario was different—the Ice Boar had actively approached them!
Based on the worst-case assumption, they had already been discovered, and the Ice Boar's corpse was a scout sent by their opponent to gather information.
So, at this moment, every second counted!
The fact that the enemy sent the Ice Boar to scout indicated that they were also unaware of the expedition team's details. And the Ice Boar, killed almost instantly, had no chance to relay any information back.
Both sides, hidden in the unknown mist, had their secrets.
But there was one crucial difference—
Lindsay and her team were now deep in the wilderness, far from the frontier town, and much closer to the enemy's base.
By striking as quickly as possible, they aimed to deny their opponent any reaction time.
This was the greatest advantage they could strive for! The four Awakened figures swiftly moved through the forest.
Except for the brief pauses when Dan judged the tracking direction, no one spoke during the journey.
From morning to noon.
The group only chewed on some dry rations and took a few sips of water while they hurried along.
From noon to afternoon.
They even encountered a tiger along the way.
This unlucky big cat, usually the king of the forest, didn't even have time to pose a threat before Alan, at the forefront, slashed its throat, taking its life almost before it realized what was happening.
This continued until dusk.
The atmosphere within the group became tense and subdued as they silently rushed forward.
As nightfall approached, the situation would immediately become dire for them.
Even though Awakened individuals could handle the darkness better than ordinary people, the limitations of night vision would still pose a challenge.
However, it was also at this dusk that Dan, leading the way, suddenly stopped.
She signaled to the others to halt, and they immediately complied.
"..."
The rushing team became silent, and the only sound was the faint chirping of insects in the forest.
And this time.
The female hunter didn't instruct her companions to stay quiet and scout ahead as she had done before. Instead, she said:
"Alan, you're the vanguard, 150 meters ahead. I'll cover you from behind, aiming to kill anything that stands in our way. Lindsay, Torch, you two stay on our flanks, left and right, ensuring nothing escapes!"
The female hunter's tactics were straightforward.
Alan, upon hearing this, immediately drew two long daggers and crossed them in front of himself, rushing forward without hesitation.
Dan followed closely behind.
Lindsay and Torch obeyed the command, ready with their bows in hand, always at the ready, moving with the team.
The four Awakened individuals quickly moved through the trees.
With their charge, the 150-meter distance was nothing.
After a few breaths, the trees thinned out, and the terrain suddenly rose. Between the trees and the elevated hill, a giant boulder concealed a cave that extended underground.
Lindsay peered inside.
It was pitch black, but the stench of wild beasts filled the air.
"Let's go!"
Alan shouted and charged in without a moment's hesitation.
The next second, the wail of a beast echoed.
But at the same time, a blue glow flashed—ice spikes, unique to the Ice Boar, shot out from within the cave.
Even in the darkness, Alan showed no fear of the beast's attacks.
In the third stage of his ascension, the Warrior's Heart allowed him to anticipate the ice spikes and his body's movements in advance. Alan dodged the beast's attacks while wielding his long dagger, each strike imbued with the power of Advantage Strike, occasionally emitting a brilliant flash of light in the darkness.
In an instant, the den became a chaotic scene of flying dirt and stones, with the warrior's figure flickering in and out of the shadows.
Witnessing this, the female hunter, positioned further back, quickly joined the fray.
She didn't rely solely on Alan to handle the dangerous task; she drew her hunting knife and fearlessly charged into the den to assist in the fight.
The hunter and warrior's combat styles were starkly different.
Whether under attack or taking the initiative, Dan always managed to position herself in a spot where the ice boar found it challenging to land a hit. Simultaneously, each swing of her hunting knife precisely targeted the beast's vital areas.
The ice boar, a formidable foe for ordinary people, was like a helpless child before the female hunter, who had thoroughly grasped all its information. It could only succumb to the overwhelming power disparity and face slaughter.
If someone were to count carefully, they would find that the female hunter's seemingly simple and unadorned movements resulted in an even more astonishing speed in slaying the ice boar than Alan, a dedicated fighter.
At the den's entrance, Lin Sai and Ju's task was relatively straightforward.
With Alan and Dan already inside, entering would only make the already cramped space more crowded, so they remained behind, drawing their bows and shooting arrows.
Alan's attacks provided assistance, and the flashes of light from Advantage Strike were meant to temporarily blind the ice boar, which had adapted to the darkness.
However, for Lin Sai and Ju, who were in a safe position, this light was sufficient to illuminate the area, allowing them to aim carefully and shoot at the beasts.
Every few arrows, they had a chance to claim a kill.
The four had only hastily devised their tactics, but their success lay in the swiftness of their surprise attack.
Just a few minutes later, the stench of blood permeated the air around the den, and no more roars of wild beasts echoed within.
Caught off guard, the ice boars were nearly annihilated in their lair!
"..."
Alan and Dan emerged from the pitch-black den.
The lead female hunter frowned, and as the battle concluded, she untied her backpack and took out a torch to light it.
She signaled to the other three to inspect the battlefield:
"Don't let your guard down."
"Let's go in together and check the situation inside."
In reality, this ice boar's lair wasn't particularly deep, with a total length of less than 30 meters.
After a thorough inspection, Lin Sai and the others confirmed that there were no hidden spaces. It was a simple natural cave now occupied by the ice boars as their nest, with only a few cubs hiding in the deepest part.
"This is the troublesome aspect of low-stage beasts."
"Powerful beasts influenced by Source Essence, like high-tier Awakened humans, struggle to reproduce. But lower-stage ones..."
At this point, the female hunter slashed at the ice boar cub on the ground with her knife.
"They even have a chance to pass on their Source Essence to their offspring. If it's a species with high reproductive capacity, it often wreaks havoc on the entire environment."
Without hesitation, Dan dispatched the ice boar cubs in the lair.
As Dan eliminated the cubs, confirming the successful hunt of the beasts, Lin Sai's attribute panel displayed new information.
[Mission Complete]
[Hunting Simulation Module Skill Upgrade, Level: 4]
[Hunting Simulation Module Acquired New Skill - Hunt Materials]
Just as Lin Sai was about to examine the attributes of her new skill, the female hunter at the front suddenly paled, as if she had sensed something amiss:
"Something's wrong!"
"These ice boars have lived here for too short a time. This is a trap meant to deceive us."
"Let's go, get out of here now!"
(End of Chapter)
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