章 10: Chapter 10

After killing the second Mutated Stag, Siegfried immediately hunted the third one down to complete the quest.

[Alert: You have completed the Quest: 'Qualification Assessment'!]

"A Mutated Bison…" Siegfried muttered as he checked his last remaining quest.

Mutated Bisons were incomparably stronger than rabbits, squirrels, and stags. This was a given since a bison was a strong animal with a large body that even apex predators find it burdensome to hunt it. And the fact that unknown energy had mutated the animal made it more imposing and exhausting to hunt.

"Let's not get cocky. We have to be careful," Siegfried told himself before he went out to hunt a Mutated Bison.

***

The place Siegfried went to after leaving the forest was a plain with plants of all colors and sizes growing on them. There was a saying that one had to enter the tiger's den to hunt the tiger, and that was precisely why he came to the plains to hunt a Mutated Bison.

"I wonder where those bisons are…" he muttered while scanning the vast plains.

It did not take long for him to find a Mutated Bison in the distance.

"Found you," he said.

He immediately activated his Rune of Insight and scanned the details of the large animal covered in thick black fur.

[Mutated Bison]

[A bison mutated by unknown energy.]

[HP: 1,300]

[Defense: 25]

[Magic Resistance: 25]

Mutated Bisons possessed stats much higher than Mutated Stags.

"Great" Siegfried said with a smile on his face.

The Mutated Bison seemed to have felt Siegfried staring at it, and that could be why it turned toward him and snorted aggressively.

"Puff…! Puff…!" the Mutated Bison snorted while lowering its stance before suddenly darting toward Siegfried.

'It's coming. I'm dead if I get hit by that charge. I'll have to avoid it and counter-attack,' he thought as he braced himself.

It didn't matter whether he was the Debuff Master or whatnot; he would end up getting forcibly logged out if the Mutated Bison managed to slam into him.

'Three… two… one… to the right!'

Siegfried immediately evaded to his right.

Whoosh!

The Mutated Bison narrowly missed Siegfried.

'It's my turn,' he thought as he immediately cast Circle of Mortality and reduced the Mutated Bison's defense. Then, he tightly gripped his steel rod and swung it as hard as he could against the bison's body while using Smite.

[307.5 Physical Damage!]

He dealt a decent amount of damage because his attack became a critical hit.

No, rather, a Level 2 character dealing 300 damage against a Mutated Bison could no longer be considered decent since even a Level 10 character needed at least 5 minutes to hunt a Mutated Bison.

'Let's keep attacking with basic attacks until Smite cools down,' he thought as he attacked the bison while evading its attacks at the same time.

Pak! Pak! Pukeok! Pak!

Siegfried continuously attacked the Mutated Bison.

After a minute, Smite went off cooldown, and he immediately slammed his steel rod into the bison's head.

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[307.5 Physical Damage!]

As expected, it was another critical hit. The Mutated Bison only had 305 HP left.

Puk! Pak! Pukeok! Puk!

Siegfried unleashed a chain of four basic attacks against the stunned Mutated Bison.

Thud!

The Mutated Bison collapsed to the ground.

[You have successfully hunted a Mutated Bison!]

[Experience Points +200]

[Alert: You have completed the Quest: 'Final Qualification Assessment'!]

A message informing him of clearing the chain of quests from the Mercenary Guild appeared in front of him.

"Easy peasy… It took me less than three minutes to hunt a Mutated Bison, even though I'm just Level 2," Siegfried said with an arrogant smile on his face.

This was only possible thanks to the high percentage damage of Smite and the defense reduction from Circle of Mortality.

"Let's go back to town and get my license…" he muttered.

Of course, he did not forget to butcher the Mutated Bison and collect his loot.

However, while he was diligently skinning the bison, a person's scream could be heard in the distance.

"Kyaaaaaaaaah!"

The scream was not the only thing he heard.

Rumble rumble… Rumble rumble…

The ground started shaking as the sound of hooves got louder and louder.

'What the hell?'

He turned in the direction where the scream had come from.

"Ah…" he muttered before his face crumpled. "Why the hell are you bringing a herd of bison over to me…?" he muttered weakly.

It was because a random woman was running in his direction while being chased by twenty Mutated Bisons.

***

One thing anyone should be careful of while hunting Mutated Bisons was their herd. A bison was an animal that lived in a herd of at least ten to twenty, and this meant that one could end up stumbling upon a herd of bisons full of Mutated Bisons. When that happened, one could potentially attract the attention of the entire herd of Mutated Bisons.

That was why the golden rule when hunting Mutated Bisons was to hunt the stragglers that had strayed away from their herd, which was what Siegfried had done a while ago.

However, what if someone ignored that golden rule and aggroes an entire herd of Mutated Bisons?

Then, that would be no different from opening the doors of hell since a low-level player would have to deal with possibly more than a dozen Mutated Bisons at the same time.

A novice who had ended up aggroing a herd of Mutated Bisons would always end up with the same fate—being skewered by their sharp horns and trampled in a stampede.

Just like what was happening right now…

"Help me! Kyaaaaaah!" the woman screamed at Siegfried.

[Antoinette]

[Level: 9]

[Class: No Class]

Antoinette, who was a Level 9 No Class novice, had accidentally aggroed an entire Mutated Bison herd while hunting for one. As such, she ended up being chased by all members of the herd.

She squeezed every single ounce of her strength to run from the angry horde of bison.

"H-Hey! Please help me! Please! Kyaaaaaah!" she screamed.

Unfortunately, Siegfried could tell that she was intentionally running straight toward him.

***

"Ah… what the hell…" Siegfried muttered with a hint of annoyance at the woman.

He would have probably found her to be bothersome anyway if she walked up to him and tried to talk to him, but the fact that she was bringing a herd of Mutated Bison along made it even more annoying.

"Is she trying to drag me down with her or what?" Siegfried grumbled.

The chance of beating this herd of Mutated Bisons was absolute zero. Even though he had obtained the hidden class, Debuff Master, it was still impossible to do so, as he was just Level 2.

"I guess I have no choice…" he muttered as he made his mind up.

Tak!

Siegfried kicked off the ground and started running away. This was the sensible thing to do when facing the charge of a Mutated Bison herd.

***

A strange caravan was created.

"…" Siegfried was quietly running at the forefront.

"Kyaahk! Kyaaaahhk! Kyaaaaaaaaahk!"Antoinette screamed while running right behind him.

Rumble rumble… Rumble rumble… Rumble…

A herd of Mutated Bison was still chasing her.

"Hurry up and do something!" Antoinette shouted at Siegfried.

However, Siegfried maintained his silence and chose to ignore her.

"Hey! You! Come on!" she screamed at him in an effort to draw his attention.

'I'll be at a disadvantage fighting here. I will be trampled to death for sure,'?Siegfried thought.

He was trying to come up with a way to get out of this predicament rather than just running away for his life.

'Can I really not handle them? I think I'll gain at least two levels if I were to wipe that herd out,' he thought while greedily glancing at the herd of bison.

The ability to turn a predicament into an opportunity…

He suddenly remembered his master's words…

"Fights will never be always in your favor. In fact, you will find that most fights will have odds stacked against you. What you have to do by then is quite simple… Just try to come up with a way to turn the tables and make the fight unfavorable to your enemies instead of trying to make it favorable for you. It doesn't matter what kind of solution you come up with as long as you can have even a slight advantage over them. Then, start turning things in your favor one by one, and you will eventually emerge victorious without realizing it."

Deus had basically told him to do whatever was necessary to turn the tables.

'They have the upper hand when it comes to numbers, but I'm certain that I'll win in a one-on-one battle. The only problem is if they gang up on me… Is there really no way for me to fight them one by one…?'Siegfried pondered while analyzing the situation.

'This place is too wide and vast. I will have to find somewhere narrower if I were to fight them. I should win as long as I can make the terrain more advantageous for me,' he thought while looking around.

Siegfried was looking for a place to fight the members of the herd one by one. He had to render their strength, which was their numbers, useless if he wanted to win.

'Is there really no place nearby that I can use to fight them one by one…?'he thought while anxiously looking around.

'Over there!' he inwardly exclaimed the moment he found a suitable spot.

There was a steep hill in a distance not that far from him. The steep hill was similar to a ravine with walls on both sides of it. The hill was only five meters wide, but it should be more than enough to block the majority of the Mutated Bisons.

'That's where I'll face those bastards…'

Siegfried immediately made a sharp turn toward the hills.

"Hey! W-Wait for me!" Antoinette shouted and chased after Siegfried.