Second World

Jack turned but didn't manage to dodge. A shadow whizzed past him, and he felt an impact that pushed him back. He suffered 42 damage at the same time. Jack glanced down and saw a claw mark on his scale armor, then looked at the creature that had attacked him. It looked like a large cat with ears that pointed skyward. Its fur was grey, and two tusks protruded from its mouth. He inspected it with his God-eye monocle.     

Grey Sabrecat (Basic monster, Beast), level 13     

HP: 1500     

Yep, it was his target, the Grey Sabrecat, all right.     

Seeing that its prey was still alive, the Grey Sabrecat dashed forward to claw at Jack again. Jack armed himself with sword and magic staff. He blocked with Magic Shield, and the Sabrecat slammed onto it with force. It dropped to the ground, disoriented, but Jack was rock steady. Jack delivered a Power Strike to the cat's neck. It received critical damage and suffered 275 damage.     

He slashed twice more while the cat was still reeling. Jack was about to cut one more time when it suddenly jumped away. Even wounded, the agile cat sprinted around Jack with incredible speed. Jack waited for it to make its move. When it disappeared, Jack checked his radar; it was sneaking up from behind. Jack immediately spun around and invoked Swing. Jack's sword cut through the beast's body at the same time that its claws scratched Jack's head.     

Though they both received damage, Jack was thankful he had worn his new helmet and did not receive critical damage this time, as he often had in the past from blows to the head.     

The Sabrecat turned to put distance between them again. Jack didn't give him the chance to run and cast Energy Bolts. Five Magical bolts flew toward the Sabrecat from different directions, sealing its path of escape. Jack used Charge to get close to it while the Energy Bolts trapped it, and he started slashing until the bolts exploded on its body.     

The Grey Sabrecat was fast, but Jack completely outclassed it in both offense and defense. His speed could keep up with the Sabrecat's burst movements too. After several more clashes, the cat fell to the ground and disintegrated, leaving behind some coins and a claw. It was its trophy item.     

Jack stored the loot and continued through the woods.  He still harvested Green Leaf, but now he paid more attention to his radar.     

Eventually, he saw another red dot approaching. He didn't hear any sound until the dot was very close, then he heard a similar growl. He turned as another Grey Sabrecat lunged at him.     

The Sabrecat's steps didn't make any sound at all. They were silent hunters. Without the radar, Jack would not know of the Sabrecat's approach until it was too late. Its first strike damage was also exceptionally high; Jack would have suffered much more damage if not for his high stats and rare armor. Now that Jack was on his guard, the cat couldn't do impressive damage. As long as Jack evaded its first strike and coped with its speed, a Sabrecat wasn't much of a menace.     

He continued to tread through the woods while hunting Grey Sabrecats and foraging leaves. Apart from Green Leaf, he also harvested some Red Leaf, but these were less plentiful even though both kinds were common ingredients.     

After around two hours roaming inside the woods, he had finally killed thirty Grey Sabrecats to complete his hunting quest.     

He had no idea where he was and was about to use his map system to return to the spot where he had entered the woods when Peniel pointed out the way to Thenias mountain. He followed her directions and soon left the woods. The mountain rose not too far away.     

The sun was close to setting, so he picked up the pace. He still had five more hunting quests to complete.     

He did not think he could finish them all before the dungeon tomorrow morning. He might need to continue the hunting quests after finishing with the dungeon.     

As he got nearer to the mountain base, he met and confronted two teams of Lizardmen. Both groups consisted of two Lizardmen. Peniel was right; they were weaker, despite being the same level as the Lizardman Blood Guard he had fought before.     

These Lizardmen wielded spears, and their scales were green, not the red of the Lizardman Blood Guard. Their strength and speed were decent, but they could only deal melee damage. Nothing special to take note of, Jack thought, after disposing of the four Lizardmen.     

He continued forward and saw some structures up ahead.     

"What's that?" He asked Peniel.     

Peniel floated higher to take a look. She soon came back down and urgently suggested, "Let's take a roundabout route."     

"Why?" Jack was confused.     

"That is a monster settlement," she said.     

"A settlement?"     

"Yes, sometimes an encampment, nest, or lair might appear when a group of monsters of the same type comes together. In this case, it's a Lizardman encampment."     

"Lizardman? Then why should we avoid it? I'm looking for more of them; I should go there to slay some instead."     

Peniel rolled her eyes at him. "I will forgive your ignorance once again, and I will explain it to you, slowly, so you can understand. When you kill a monster in the field, the nearby monsters will be oblivious unless you are within their limited range of perception. However, if you kill a monster inside or near a monster settlement, all the monsters in the settlement will come swarming after you. Do you think you can manage to fight against one hundred Lizardmen at the same time?"     

Jack went pale at the thought.     

"Not to mention that every settlement will have a Boss. So, as well as dealing with a huge number of monsters, you will also be dealing with a stronger version of the monster. Therefore, unless you are attacking the settlement with a large party, you can forget about raiding it."     

"Does this mean there will also be a benefit if we manage to raid a settlement?" Jack asked.     

"Of course," Peniel answered. "There is always a treasure trove at the center of the encampment, so raiding an encampment is a favorite activity for adventurers. You have to make sure you have enough members in the Party to raid settlement successfully. Judging from the number of structures in this Lizardman encampment, I'd say it's a tiny settlement. A group of thirty level 12 or 13 adventurers should be able to take it down."     

Jack looked at the encampment. 'What a pity,' he thought. If he was allowed to take out the Lizardmen one by one, he should be able to raid the encampment despite having to fight one hundred of them. But if he had to face them all simultaneously, he didn't have confidence he could do it.     

But he was curious about the encampment; after all, this was his first time encountering such a thing. He crouched down and sneaked closer.     

"What are you doing? Are you crazy? Didn't I just now explain to you about the danger?" Peniel asked in a panic.     

"Don't worry; I'm just trying to get a better picture of the encampment. I'm not going to storm in. I'm not suicidal!"     

He sneaked behind a row of large rocks that stood close to the encampment. He peeked out from those rocks while staying hidden. Several Lizardmen were patrolling the perimeter of the structures. The encampment had a number of wooden huts built close to each other. At the center was a large cabin that looked different from the rest. Jack figured that was where the Boss stayed and where the settlement's treasure would be.