Hellbents
Chapter 5: Hunting
It took a long time to adjust, Ava never rode a horse, let alone a wolf. The back, top and bottom, feels sore and painful. The feeling is nothing compared to riding a motorcycle. Seeing Ava who was clearly uncomfortable and exhausted, River rushed to get to the nearest village to stay at one of the inns and continue the journey tomorrow. Although River had stressed that the distance to Tezia could be reached in one day if riding Lig, in the end it had to be stretched. The man prefers sympathy over being right, and Ava thanks him for that.
Fifty coins per night, including 3 meals a day. Ava's money is dwindling. Because he did not have money at first if not from the sale of the monster carcass that River took care of, Ava hurriedly prepared to catch other monsters to maintain financial stability, and the, reject River's offer to rest first. In order to be safer, Ava targets a statistically low-level, individual-living type of monster in order to avoid situations that overwhelm her. Looking at the surroundings that only consisted of grassy grounds, it seemed like the available and suitable monster on condition was the Horned Rabbit.
Horned Rabbit is a type of herbivorous monster commonly found in grassland areas. Their weapons in the form of a sharp horn on the head, hit by the sign of this monster will cause bleeding like a knife impaled. The attack pattern is simple, they will jump as hard as possible to the target if they feel threatened by the presence of the enemy.
More or less that's what he remembers from the book, and once confirmed, Ava's memory is correct.
The main plan is to make a trap, even if it must be faced directly Ava will use the knife. Given the setting of this world that is still far from its original civilization, Ava doubts that there will be people who sell bullets, so that the gun, even though he always carries, will only be used in emergencies.
As Ava exited the room, she immediately found River focusing on her luggage. Despite the silence, the girl knew what River wanted to ask. Got the load to answer, Ava said, “I'll hunt for a while.”
“I'm coming.”
“Yeah, I won't ban.”
Following clues from the locals, Ava arrives at a stretch of grass at the western boundary of the city. From a distance he had already seen two rabbits jumping around, their horns glittering like unicorns were extremely eye-catching.
Ava immediately set up her trap using a long rope, a thin stick, and a few pieces of carrots that she had bought earlier. River who just saw finally said, “You look good at this.”
“There was a time when I had to hunt so as not to starve.”
The ability to survive comes from your own experience. Slowly River's sympathy grew. It seemed like he had been living hardship all this time, he thought. Instinctively his hand raised to stroke Ava's head that was only as high as his chest, “You so grow to be strong, yes.”
Ava was glued for a moment. She is not used to being treated gently and lovingly honestly, aside from her interactions with Lexa of course. His work was closely connected with criminals, most of his social situations were also false.
“I'll wait until my trap catches something.”
“Then I will hunt some distance from here so that your prey does not run away, you can see me while waiting.”
River's idea wasn't bad actually, Ava was also curious how the people here fought using their skills. Several hundred meters away, River finally set his target. “[Summon: Ako].” This time an animal that resembled a knee-high cat with reptilian scaly skin appeared before them. The brownish-green furry cat skips under River's feet, looking more like a pet trying to get his master to play than a monster to fight, although Ava can see the horned scales that can be used as a weapon.
“[Observation].”
Name: Ako (owned by River Doyle)
Race: Primordial paint
Level 18
Level 9
Hm, a monster without possession would not give rise to a name.
Moreover, doubling the level of the enemy, was really a favorable situation, compared to her who was still level 1, it was fortunate that Ava did not choose to fight directly first.
“Ako, claw!” At an extremely fast and agile pace, River's cat monster darted towards a Horned rabbit busy chewing grass. His claw immediately imprinted deeply on his white skin that was stained with red blood seepage. But after realizing the presence of the threat, the rabbit took a swing to jump and tried to hit Ako, although avoided by the cat with high determination, Ako, she is in the feline category. “Gigit!” With a pair of sharp fangs appearing, Ako repeated her movements earlier, only this time she gripped the entire neck of the rabbit with her jaw while thrusting her teeth. For a while the rabbit huffled, but Ako who immediately tightened her bite caused a loud “krak” sound before the Horned rabbit did not move anymore.
River approaches Ako and retrieves the rabbit monster carcass from his mouth. Taking out a knife, the man slaughtered, skinned, and took out the stone which was inside the Horned Rabbit painstakingly and instantly stored it in the [Inventory].
Ava confirmed her assumption, “By processing her own monster corpse, the selling price went up?”
“True. Because that way Guild centers or stores that buy it do not need to pay for labor, so carcasses that have been taken care of are more appreciated.”
Guild center, a facility created by each kingdom in each city to take care of the gate, buying and selling items and carcasses of monsters or medicinal plants, clan formation, etc, up to the quest center for those who need it. Actually for the sale and purchase of items and others, [System] also provides features [Shop], Ava had seen River wearing it when preparing their departure yesterday, but when checked, Ava, there are so many prices that deviate from what Guild centers offer, the quality of the goods is sometimes also questionable, so you have to be careful in choosing. In comparison, economic transactions in [Shop] are more similar to online store websites.
After capturing three more Horned Rabbits, River finally ended his hunt. The two of them then returned to the place where Ava laid her traps. Out of the five traps, only two were caught. Standing just at a distance that her target rabbit could not reach, Ava waited for a pause between their attack patterns to stab the rabbits in the neck when they had just landed on the ground.
Level increased!
Reward: 1 status point
Process error!
Level increased!
Reward: 1 status point
Process error!
Crat! Some of the blood splashed on Ava's sleeve. Assuming that the horned rabbit's body structure was not too far away with ordinary rabbits other than the horns on the head and which stone was inside their hearts, the girl did the same as River. The parts of the body that have been separated into [Inventory] according to the category. By the way, the boxes in [Inventory] can stack items if they are the same type. For example, which stone he just got, can be stored in the same slot with which stone from another Horned Rabbit. But even though it can be overcome, there is still a limit. Each slot can only hold objects weighing five kilograms.
“Hunting success!”
Ava only nodded to the enthusiasm of River. His black bead then stared deep at the sky which was starting to turn purple. “We should rest for tomorrow's trip, it's night.”