Capítulo 29: Den of Wild Dogs
"Samar, this is the last one!"
Zamir shouted as he plunged his dagger into the front limb of the Dog to hold it in place. I quickly stabbed the dog in its neck and removed the last sliver of its health.
The assassin then let the dead body fall to the ground, adding one more to the numerous corpses in the area around us. Many of them had slash wounds while quite a few had arrows embedded in them. Some even had their skulls bashed in and limbs frozen.
This was the result of our bitter fight in the past one hour. The packs of Wild Dogs just kept on appearing out of nowhere and we did not even have the time to collect the loot, let alone take a break.
Only now that the last dog was killed, the party could rest for a minute. HardBro took a look around and counted the corpses on the ground.
"41… 42… 43! 43 Wild Dogs! Whoa! We have killed so many of them!"
His exclamation drew the attention of everyone. While fighting, nobody had the time to pay attention to how many Wild Dogs had died at our hands. But HardBro's counting of bodies put things into perspective.
Just a day before, this same team had struggled to hold their own against a pack of 3 Wild Dogs. The Penance Quest seemed like an insurmountable task.
Yet, today, we had killed 43 Wild Dogs without facing any substantial danger. Moreover, these dogs were led by Elite Half Transformed Gnolls!
"This was only possible because of Samar. If not for his crazy rolling stone idea, we wouldn't have been able to upgrade our equipment."
The praise came from neither Stivi nor Zamir but BigSoftie. The big guy had not spoken a word with me since I joined the party and yet here he was, praising me.
After he finished speaking, everyone looked at him with surprise but no one refuted his words.
"It is true." MamaMia shyly seconded BigSoftie's words.
HardBro immediately rubbed the little girl's head and took this chance to quip in- "Now Samar should find a way to upgrade our equipment as well so we can also enjoy the power boost."
"Get lost! Do you think he can procure equipment from his ass?" Stivi scolded him jokingly, alleviating the awkward silence that was about to set in.
While the others rested and joked, I was looting the corpses nearby.
When we arrived here, there was only one pack of 5 Wild Dogs near the huge tree. They seemed like the perfect target. However, as soon as we attacked the pack, other nearby packs which were far from us were also aggroed and they came to attack us.
Logically, this should not be possible but it did happen. It meant this tree was holding some secrets and the Wild Dog packs were actually guarding it.
After I collected the White Fangs dropped by the last corpse near the tree's roots, I heard an immature bark of a puppy. The sound was so faint that it was quickly drowned by the rustling sound of tall dried grass.
I even thought that I might be hallucinating but I decided to check and confirm my suspicions.
The tree was quite huge with a girth of nearly ten feet. Its roots were widespread and exposed above the ground. Suddenly, I realized where the sound may have come from.
I began to check the crevices in the roots carefully. Soon, I found a gap big enough for a large Wild Dog to enter from. I could also hear faint growling and rumbling noises coming from the inside.
Found you!
I did not rush to explore it alone. I was an Archer and it would be unwise of me to enter such an enclosed space where I could not play to my strengths.
So, I decided to get some help and returned to where everyone was resting. That's when I heard HardBro's comment. "Seriously Stivi, The next equipment you buy should be a mage's equipment!"
Even though Stivi had dispelled some of the awkwardness with her joke previously, it was true that MamaMia and HardBro were feeling left out. Their emotions were clearly reflected in their eyes.
They knew that Magic equipment was hard to find, even in the Barbarian Village. The pieces that were available were prohibitively expensive, each costing a minimum of 30 White Fangs but it was human nature to want what others have. They simply could not help it.
As soon as they saw me return, the chattering party became quiet and waited for me to report our gains.
"Of the 43 Wild Dogs, I landed the last hit on only 17 dogs. These are our gains from them."
I showed them the 19 White Fangs I found after looting all 17 dog corpses.
We had secured just 10 on our way here. Including these 19 White Fangs, we needed 1 White Fang more to exchange for just one piece of decent Magic Class equipment.
Seeing the miniscule amount, the hope in the eyes of our two magic classes quickly dimmed. We would need to grind 10 more packs of dogs to collect another 30 White Fangs but it was impossible to do so quickly with our depleted stamina.
They gave up on upgrading their equipment today and accepted this fate. At this moment, they saw my lips curl upwards.
"It is not impossible to upgrade your equipment, but it depends on your luck."
"Huh?" Hardbro looked at me dumbstruck while a light of hope sparked in MamaMia's eyes once again.
Even the other Party members looked at me with questioning gazes. I quickly informed them of my discovery and smiles formed on the faces of Stivi and Zamir as well.
The reason behind their happiness was because the Den of the Wild Dogs I had discovered sounded exactly like the hidden Treasure Grotto their party had chanced upon before.
Not only had they found the two Magic Staffs, a Sword and a pair of Armguards inside, but they had also discovered three skill books in the grotto!
HardBro's Icy Wind, MamaMia's Healing Prayer and Stivi's Beheading Slash - All three of these skills had come from the skill books found in the grotto.
With such significant haul as a precedent, it would be a wonder if Stivi and her party was not excited to explore the Den of the Wild Dogs.
We rested until our stamina bars recovered to 30% and then I led Zamir to the entrance hole hidden between the huge root system of the Baobab tree.
Regalos
-- Regalo
recibido Estado de energía semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Piedra de
Poder