Chapter 19: Mutant Hyena
"Is that a cat???"
"Have you ever seen a 2-meter long cat? Look at those long claws! It's even fiercer than a leopard!"
"Let's get out of here quick, this thing doesn't look like something we can handle right now."
African Thin Dog, Ghost Face Fox, and Lin Tang quietly slipped away, avoiding detection by the feline mutant on the mountain.
They knew they were able to take down the Raider mainly because the green-skinned brute was too clumsy. Although its running speed was similar to humans, its turning speed and attack recovery time were longer, so they could exploit these weaknesses to defeat it.
As for feline creatures, leaving aside any special mutant abilities it might have developed, just its category and size made it difficult to deal with. They didn't dare to compete with a cat in terms of reaction speed.
If it were smaller, it might be manageable, but one that big? The best choice was to flee!
The three hurriedly escaped, only to encounter a black-furred hyena with glowing red eyes and a gaping mouth in the forest ahead.
Its tongue was green and dripping with saliva, causing the vegetation on the ground to sizzle and smoke.
The keen-eared hyena heard the disturbance and immediately spotted the three passing by.
It growled deeply at them, circling around.
African Thin Dog: "Huh? This scene... feels familiar."
Ghost Face Fox observed briefly: "Don't panic. It's just a small monster. Judging by its size and species, it's much easier to deal with than that big cat on the mountain. This beast's mouth is poisonous, so don't let it bite you directly. If we're careful, we should be able to take it down."
"Alright!"
Seeing the three humans with weapons, the mutant hyena showed no fear. Its small red eyes locked onto Lin Tang, and it pounced with all four limbs.
Its gaping mouth aimed for Lin Tang's neck.
Lin Tang hastily raised his crowbar to defend.
But the tremendous impact from the hyena's incredible speed knocked him down.
Thud~
The hyena's mouth was caught on the crowbar, frantically gnawing at it.
Saliva dripped onto Lin Tang's face, producing wisps of black smoke. Green numbers appeared before Lin Tang's eyes.
[Radiation damage received, HP -2]
[Radiation damage received, HP -2]
Bang!
Bang!
African Thin Dog and Ghost Face Fox's attacks landed a beat late on the hyena's body.
[HP -20]
[HP -18]
Two physical damage values popped up above the hyena's head. The damage wasn't high because these two strikes were rushed, only hitting its hard back.
But the hyena's health was clearly much lower than the Raider's, only about 200 points. So this 38 points of damage still dealt a significant blow.
The hyena yelped in pain and let go, nimbly turning to the side before launching another fierce attack.
Before Lin Tang could get up, he was pounced on from behind by the hyena again.
"Awooo!"
It made a mad dog-like sound from its mouth.
Lin Tang felt pain in his buttocks and hurriedly swung his crowbar, smashing it hard against the hyena's head.
Bang!
[Critical hit! HP -28]
Bang!
[Critical hit! HP -30]
At this moment, Ghost Face Fox and African Thin Dog's two spiked clubs also landed on the hyena's neck and head in succession.
[Critical hit! HP -45]
[Golden critical hit! HP -200]
African Thin Dog's powerful blow with the spiked club directly smashed out the hyena's brains.
The dead hyena's mouth was still tightly clamped on Lin Tang's buttocks, with green saliva and mucus mixed with red blood soaking Lin Tang's bottom.
It was particularly gruesome.
"Ow ow ow~ This beast nearly bit me to death! Its speed was so fast, I couldn't even keep up with my reaction time."
Ghost Face Fox asked, "Does it hurt? How much health did you lose?"
"It's not extremely painful, within an acceptable range. This game must have reduced the pain sensation. Oh right! That bite on my butt from behind took over 50 points of health, and it also triggered bleeding and radiation damage. I'm still losing health now, 3 points per second."
"The bleeding effect will last for about 2 minutes, and the radiation damage... 5 minutes."
African Thin Dog quickly calculated: "Not good! It didn't kill you outright, but this continuous health loss could finish you off. Ghost Face Fox, quickly clean and bandage the wound!"
"On it!"
The two used leaves and water to briefly rinse Lin Tang's buttocks, then tore off a piece of clothing to wrap it.
Lin Tang: "Eh? The bleeding status disappeared early! The radiation damage has also reduced. Now I'm only losing 1 point of health per second."
African Thin Dog finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Good thing we saved you in time. I thought so, this game's numerical design respects some real-world logic. Bandaging the wound stops the bleeding status, and removing radioactive residue reduces radiation damage. If the numbers were fixed, Lin Tang would have been killed by the continuous damage."
Ghost Face Fox: "This kind of design... the workload for the numerical designers must be enormous. Quite interesting."
Lin Tang rubbed his buttocks with his right hand: "I guess this is some new engine that can simulate various data from the real world. Otherwise, even sacrificing an entire office building of programmers wouldn't be enough to complete this workload."
After they finished, African Thin Dog finally had time to check his watch.
[Mutant hyena killed together, Experience +3]
"These small monsters give less experience, much less than the Raider, but the kill efficiency is still decent. All in all, it took less than a minute, though it does cost some buttocks."
Hearing this, Lin Tang looked dejected.
"This small monster's speed was quite fast. Even though I was on guard, I still got pounced on. If I were alone, I might have been killed by it."
Ghost Face Fox looked at the recent battle damage record on his watch: "It probably wouldn't have killed you outright. If it didn't bite a vital spot, its attack power isn't too high, but it would likely be a mutual kill. After all, one bite from this thing causes both bleeding and radiation. You might kill it, but you'd be done for too."
"Looking at its health... it should be the lowest-level small monster in the game, yet it still poses a significant threat to us. This game really has that post-apocalyptic flavor."
"It's our first battle, we didn't understand the monster's speed and attack pattern. Taking some damage is normal. We'll get better after fighting a few more. Let's keep moving forward."
Ghost Face Fox hoisted the mutant hyena's corpse onto his back, and the three continued onward.
This place was some distance from the base, so it wasn't worth going back with just one. They planned to gather more spoils to bring back together.
In the four mountain areas, there were quite a few prey animals to hunt.
After all, this area was sparsely populated, with mutant creatures occupying most of the territory.
Mutant hyenas were one of the more common prey, but due to their speed and ferocity, they wouldn't let go once they caught someone. Hunters wouldn't easily provoke these frenzied creatures unless they were confident.
Otherwise, even if they won, what if they lost an arm or a leg?
Hunters preferred to hunt mutant creatures that didn't actively attack humans.
Lin Tang: "Huh? There's another dog up ahead!"
Ghost Face Fox: "This thing is called a hyena. It's not a dog."
Lin Tang was surprised: "A hyena isn't a dog?"
African Thin Dog nodded: "That's right. Although it looks like a dog and has 'dog' in its name, it's not a canine species. It belongs solely to the Hyaenidae family. Even though it's mutated and looks a bit strange now, you can still see the characteristics of the hyena family."
Lin Tang pondered for a moment, then had a sudden realization.
"I get it! It's like African Thin Dog - although his name has 'dog' in it, and he's quite dog-like, in reality... he might actually be human, right?"
African Thin Dog: "...What do you mean 'might be'?!"
"Stop talking, it's noticed us. Prepare for battle!"
This time, the three had more experience. They charged forward with weapons ready, taking the initiative. The mutant hyena bared its teeth, not backing down at all. Its small eyes locked onto Lin Tang's plump buttocks as it accelerated.
This time, Lin Tang anticipated its pounce and dodged with a roll. African Thin Dog was quick, landing a blow on the mutant hyena in mid-air.
The spiked club had a longer attack range than the hyena and dealt sufficient damage.
After several rounds of combat, Lin Tang was rolling around awkwardly on the ground, but they ultimately took down this mutant hyena without injury.
Each of them gained 3 experience points.
"Another prey acquired. This one is lighter, I estimate these two together might make up one portion of biological materials."
"Well, looking at it now, we have enough biological materials. We can go claim the spoils from all the monsters we've killed!"
"Ah~ It's getting exciting! Let's keep grinding!"
The three were in high spirits.
What could be more enjoyable than grinding monsters for loot?
At this point, the three were almost at the Raider camp where Cheng Shaofeng had been taken earlier. Perhaps they would soon be able to grind more experience from Raiders.
"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 updates are mostly around midnight. It's better to read in the morning. Thank you for your understanding.
(End of Chapter)
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