Chương 52: Chapter Fifty-Two: Bounty Hunting

FIFTY-TWO Roan looked between the paper and the plant that rested in the roots of the lightning struck tree. The plant, a Lightning Blossom, looked right, but Roan wasn't a botanist. When a faint trickle of blue electricity zoomed over the delicate petals, Roan was decided. The last few hours had been a learning curve as he worked on the best way to harvest plants. Plucking them from the ground by the stem hadn't been a winner.

Storing them was an issue as well as he didn't have anything to keep them from being crushed, but Roan was determined to get a few of the bounties in before everyone showed up and started to flood the market." They'll get there and rush off to earn money for the temporal chambers. I'll already have earned extra money and be using them. When I'm out of funds, they'll be done with their hunts and we rotate.

No being stuck waiting in line," Roan told himself as he bent down and started to carefully dig away the ground around the roots until he could carefully pry the entire Lightning Blossom free.

"Heavier than it looks," Roan complained as he grabbed his pack next to him and found the remnants of his old clothes. He ripped it further apart and wrapped the plant, placing it into his pack as carefully as he could. The small backpack was quickly filling up as he found that many of the plants and rocks needed by the bounties were close by. He was getting the easy pickings as fast as he could while he knew others would be stuck ranging further and further.

Roan threw his head side to side and felt a relieving pop as a slight degree of tension eased. While this wasn't hard work, not like fighting was, being constantly alert for any goblinoid was slowly wearing on him. Preparing for an ambush in the lush, verdant, forest was much different that preparing for one in the stone and steel sarcophagus of Las Vegas. Grass parted not far from him and he brought his warhammer up, but nothing came from the grass aside from the breeze.

It was a gentle thing, bringing with it the scents of blooming flowers, fresh grass, and blood. Roan paused as he sniffed again. The copper-tang of it filled his nose and he lowered himself to a crouch as every sense went on alert. Nothing stirred and the breeze died down, but Roan was too curious. If he could find more gear to raid or injured goblinoids to put down, he'd be foolish not to. With practiced slowness he moved through the brush.

It was different than stalking though the desert, but enough of it held true. Move slowly, move carefully, and be alert. There was just a lot more cover here for something to hide behind. Roan took his time and the smell of blood grew stronger and stronger as he worked his way forward in a crouch.

"YARGH!" The roar went up followed by a shriek that raised the hairs on Roan's neck, the caterwaul of a pissed off cat amplified by a dozen. It reverberated in his chest as he winced, but otherwise he didn't move as he waited patiently. Another bestial roar came, followed by a softer cat screech." Sounded similar to the ogre I fought earlier. But what the hell is that cat screech?" Roan was wary as he started forward again, pushing his way through the tall grass with only his eyes visible.

When he passed by a tree he saw what had happened. The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. The goblinoids and dragon weren't the only monsters in the woods apparently. An ogre was leaning against a tree, black blood dripping from its wounded belly as it tried to hold its intestines in. A wounded… mountain lion? Roan paused as he tried to figure out what he was staring at. It looked like an oversized mountain lion, or possibly a lean tiger.

Ten feet long from nose to tail, its green coat blended into the thick grass if it wasn't for the bright red blood dripping from its shoulder to drench the grass it lurked in. Roan saw several ripped apart goblinoids, their bodies shredded and spread across the area." Shit. I wonder if there's a bounty for the cat? Should have looked at all of the offers before leaving. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid." Roan berated himself even as he slid the pack off and to the ground.

The ogre and the cat were hurt, bleeding, and focused on each other. This was the closest he was going to get to free money in the tower." Which first?" was the only thought he had as he got ready to lunge into the battle trampled grass. The cat was faster. It yowled as it shot forward, belly sliding across the grass as long fangs sank into the ogre's knee. Bone crunched loudly as the ogre lifted its meaty hands up and brought them down on the cat's back.

Once, twice, the doubled up fists hammered into the other monster's spine until there was a loud crack and the big cat's mouth released its death grip. Roan cut across the area and caved in the ogre's skull from the back. The monster fell like a stone, slumped to the ground as Roan got the kill alert. He turned his attention back to the big cat and almost fell sorry for the beast as it tried to rake at him with its front paws. Its back paws didn't move, the ogre likely haven broken its back.

"Peace," Roan whispered as he ended its suffering. The cat twitched as Roan waited to see what the beastie was called. POOR-GRADE GRASS LION CUB MANA MUTATED MONSTER 100 CREDITS"That's new," Roan said. He wiped the gore off the warhammer as he efficiently searched the dead ogre, another two-hundred credit lieutenant. He'd seen the different types of mob generated, mostly officer class or level guardians, but this was the first time seeing a monster tag.

A third necklace was deposited into his bag, the ogre having nothing left of value. Roan looked down over the grass lion and sighed as he realized what he had to do. It was a big animal, but close up he could see its ribs and hips. It was half-starved. Roan left it for a moment to grab his pack and strap it tightly to himself before he went back to the lion. Deadweight was hard to lift but already the time in the tower was changing Roan's body.

A part of him wondered just how strong he was now, but as he threw the oversized front paws of the lion over his shoulder and stood with a grunt, he knew he was nearing superhuman levels. Maybe not there yet, but his endurance and strength were becoming unbelievable in the mortal world. It took him a second to settle the weight as evenly as he could. Warm blood ran down his back and stained his new clothes. An irritation that he could ignore for the moment as he started his march back to Village 3.

The excursion for bounties hadn't taken more than an two hours and he knew people would soon be flooding out of the village to strip bare the forest." Got a slight edge and hopefully the lion will be worth something. Need to sit my ass in a chamber and get through some of these manuals." Roan talked to himself as he tried not to think of the near crushing weight on his shoulders.