Chapter 374 Hunting Monsters

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The moment I jumped into the fray and slain a Mega Rat with Ignatius, Aquarina and Zack also attacked, emerging from their disguises within the shadows, they raised their weapons and clashed against the beasts. Although already alerted by my surprise attack, some of them were able to evade and step back from their powerful blows.

Zack, however, managed to swiftly secure a kill as he enhanced his new Silver-colored Axe decorated with green lines made out of Wind Spirit Stone dust that channeled his wind attribute mana, and unleashed a thunderous blow that generated a shockwave of slicing winds, engulfing one of the nearest rats into an overwhelming wind pressure.

CRASH!

"SCREEECH!"

The rat cried, but Zack mercilessly chopped the creature's head off, as it rolled over the ground, with blood flowing like a crimson river from its beheaded neck, the body still twitching by the shock of such a sudden death.

Ding!

[You earned 200 EXP]

[Ignatius] earned 280 EXP]

As I had thought, I can earn half of the EXP of the kills from my "Party Members" an innate function of the System. I remember that my family had slain monsters before and I also gained EXP out of them by merely watching them, this was probably the same thing.

"Damn it!"

Aquarina cried with frustration, as the Mega Rat managed to evade her attack and jumped away. Immediately after, it swung its long and sharp tail, attempting to pierce through Aquarina's eyes.

CLASH!

Aquarina intercepted the tail with her dagger and the swiftly sliced the tip of the tail.

SLASH!

"SCREECH!"

The rat cried, as Aquarina's Dagger was suddenly covered in water, while her other dagger shrouded itself in… darkness?! Both of her daggers suddenly swung in a cross-shape, as a double slash attack of slicing water and shadows clashed against the Mega Rat, slicing the creature in half.

CLAAASH!

"Good job, Aquarina!" I congratulated my friend, as I saw the System Window pop up again below my vision.

Ding!

[You earned 200 EXP]

[Ignatius] earned 280 EXP]

[Ignatius] has reached Level 2!]

"Ooh?! I suddenly feel slightly stronger!"

The moment Ignatius finally leveled up, a spark of golden light covered his body for just a split of a second, enough to suddenly enhance all of his capabilities by a small amount permanently. It was barely noticeable, but it seemed as if he had become less translucent.

Without wanting to stop there and just watch a floating egg grow stronger, I pointed my hand at a Mega Rat that pounced towards me, gathering several Embers within seconds and forming a column of flames.

"Small Fire Wall!"

FLUOOOSH!

I conjured a smaller version of Fire Wall made out of hundreds of little Embers without even needing to use complicated magical circles, the wall of flames engulfed the rat from below, burning through its black and brown fur. The creature screeched in agony as Ignatius suddenly began rolling in the middle of the air and clashed over its head, cracking its skull!

CRASH!

"GRYEEE…!"

Ding!

[You earned 400 EXP]

[Ignatius] earned 560 EXP]

Four Mega Rats were slain in merely half a minute, as the last, the fifth one, began to run away after seeing her comrades being massacred. Zack was a quick thinker, roaring back at the rat and suddenly conjuring a small lighting bolt with the help of his spirit.

"Electric Shock!"

ZAP!

CLASH!

The lightning strike hit the Mega Rat from afar, knocking it down into the floor immediately after, half-roasted. The rat, however, was somehow alive, perhaps due to their big sizes, they had a lot of HP. Aquarina went for the easy kill, throwing her knife into the struggling creature's forehead and ending it.

"GRYYY…!"

Ding!

[You earned 400 EXP]

[Ignatius] earned 560 EXP]

"And done!" I said while nodding. "Been a while since we had this much action. That was fun."

"Indeed, it felt different from before, like… aren't we stronger?" Asked Zack.

"Yeah, though I missed that one quite easily at the start, we have totally gotten better at it." Aquarina nodded.

"These rats are more resilient than the Goblins we fought back then and seem tricky as well. I suppose we have indeed improved." I said, as I quickly retrieved the Rat corpses and pilled them up all together. My father clapped from behind.

"Amazing job! I am so proud of you kids!" He said, clapping desperately and feeling like crying at any moment. It seems that my father enjoyed being an overexaggerated man. However, I could also detected a lot of sincerity with his emotional expression.

"Okay, it wasn't that good, papa… We just killed five rats." I sighed while crossing my arms. I felt embarrassed that my father was praising me for just killing some rats. But he was just so happy, hugging me and congratulating me as if I had done the best thing ever.

After Pyuku ended eating a rat all by himself, we decided to continue. My father used a special bag he brought that can store things inside a special dimension. In there, he threw all the rats and said we didn't had to worry about them.

"With this we have defeated five rats. We just have to show proof we killed them, like their ears." Said my father. "Let's search for Rogue Goblins and Large Centipedes and then head back."

"What? What about the Boss?" I asked.

"The Boss… Hm, well, if you show me you're qualified for it, we'll do it. But let me tell you that even a Boss in here is way stronger than the Goblin Champions you've slain before. Usually, they're also just a bigger and more scary version of the smaller monsters residing here." My father said with a rather thoughtful look on his face.

"Alright, we'll show you." Said Aquarina.

"But more importantly, we didn't got any loot or treasure chest." Sighed Zack.

"Those are not very common, so never go into a dungeon expecting any of such rewards, Zack. They're just random most of the time." My father said.

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