-Mysterious Dungeon(5)-

Douglas and Kenshin ran towards the ascending monster. Although its descending was rather fast, its ascending was very slow. They both jumped and grabbed hold of each of its claws before ascending. Between intelligent people, words weren’t necessary. Douglas already understood Kenshin’s intentions the moment he called for him. Kenshin and Douglas climbed up the prehistoric bird’s legs and reached its main body.

“Alright, let’s do this,” Kenshin shouted before unsheathing his sword. Douglas also did the same and unsheathed his buster sword. Then without warning, they started hacking the underbelly of the gargantuan monster.

Kii!!!

The massive creature wailed in pain at the sudden attack. Then it started to fly erratically. It went up and down hastily and even rolled around in mid-air. It even tried to accelerate and decelerate in an attempt to throw off its attackers. However, were Kenshin and Douglas average hunters? Definitely not! Even if it rolled around for a whole day, it would still not manage to shake them off.

Kenshin and Douglas continued to hack and slash, going as far as using their respective intents to increase the penetrating power of the swords. The underbelly of the large bird became riddled with wounds as blood spurted out like fountains. It dyed them both with the color of its blood.

Kwa!!

Unable to keep itself afloat, the bird descended. The pain on its abdomen was also excruciating. This pteranodon had an HP around three million. This little attacks shouldn’t have done it as much damage. However, due to the location they targeted, before the bird could land, it had already lost 5% of its HP. As for the remaining 95%, it depends upon everyone’s efforts.

“Matsuri, jump up the moment it lands on the ground. Then use your oversized arrows to impale this thing to the ground. Got it?” Osamu quickly thought of a plan. Being a tank doesn’t mean he would only have to endure the hardships. In a team, Tanks were as valuable as main damage dealers. A tank should always be calm and collected. He must keep an eye on both enemy and their allies. According to that, they must strategize themselves in a way that was most favorable to the team.

It was no easy task.

Matsuri nodded and waited until the bird was about to fall. For what she was tasked with, timing should be perfect. The bird freefell to the ground while screeching at the top of its lungs. Just as it was about land, nine massive glowing arrows descended from the sky, impaling through its wings and other body parts.

Kii!!

It screeched and tried to struggle. But the arrows were buried too deep into the ground. It's every struggle was a painful episode. Gradually it gave up and just laid flat on the ground.

“These arrows would vanish in ten seconds,” Matsuri informed. After hearing her, everyone went to work and started to attack it in reckless abandon.

Ten seconds and ten people, 3 million HP. It was a race against time. Fortunately, at 9 seconds mark, the bird let out a bloodcurdling screech and breathed its last air. It was the end of the monster that probably lived for millennia in this abandoned area.

[You have killed Evolved Pteranodon. Received 444,022 EXP]

To Kenshin, this bit of EXP was just a drop in the ocean. However, to Chiba that guy, Toru, it was more important. Chiba hadn’t reached level 100 yet, the same was true for Toru as well. Moreover, from what Kenshin studied from his stats, he had taken a different approach than the rest.

While everyone hurried along to level up so that they could awaken some strong skills, this Toru had mastered each existing skills to an absolute maximum. Toru had only three skills at his disposal. Two movement type and one that would give him burst damage for a short while. But, all those skills had reached the maximum level. He was able to bring out more than 150% potential of those skills.

There was a theory circulating among the upper echelon hunters. It was that, if a hunter maxed out all his/her skill before going through their awakening, there was a slight chance of them evolving to a B-rank or A-rank skill.

Awakening an S-ranked skill was also within the scope of possibility.

Perhaps this Toru was vying for that mythical possibility. Either way, Kenshin didn’t ask about it. As for Chiba, it was he who had devised her growth plan. Chiba was also not following a standard path. She was following a somewhat similar path to this Toru.

“Hey, look what we have got!” Suddenly Osamu shouted loudly, attracting everyone’s attention. Gathering around him, they followed his line of sight and were flabbergasted at the things before them.

Piles of gold coins scattered around like discarded rice grains, but that wasn’t what surprised them. It was actually a thick book with white covers that surprised everyone. On the edges of it were golden borders. Although no one could read the characters on the cover page, they could recognize this book from a glance.

Isn’t it a skill book?

Moreover, from the golden edges, it was a pretty high-ranked one too. Aside from Kenshin and his company, everyone else looked at it with a coveted expression. The allure was too great to pass up, bringing out their inner greed. Even Matsuri took in a few deep breaths.

These skill books were so rare that it would be lucky if a hunter could even find it throughout his/her life. Forget about learning the skill in it. They can exchange it with any organization for anything they desire. That’s how valuable this book was.

“What should we do with it?” Kunita asked as he gulped a mouthful of saliva.

“We should distribute the items and gold. As for the book, we should think about it after we leave this place. What do you think, Mr. Kenshin?” Douglas proposed before asking Kenshin the last bit. Everyone gathered there knew about him and his strength. They also knew that if he were to stake a claim, they should just forget about it altogether. Therefore, it was just a low key way for them to enquire his stance.

How could he not aware of their intentions? But with his system, there was really no need for him to fight for this pie. As for Chiba and Joy, they were looking as disinterested as him. But, although they look disinterested, one shouldn’t say no to money.

“I suggest to auction it. We will share the money among ourselves.” Hence he came up with this idea. No one here could actually afford the price of the book, because there was no fixed price. Since its supply was so low, everyone treated it as a rare treasure. Therefore auctioning was the only outcome without a conflict.

“I like this idea. We should auction it off.” Osamu clapped his hand while showing a bright smile on his face. He was fully supportive of Kenshin’s idea.

“I don’t agree.” Matsuri voiced her opinion, attracting everyone’s attention. As everyone looked at her, she cleared her throat and continued, “This book obtained from our own efforts. Instead of auctioning to outsiders, I suggest we auction it off amongst ourselves.”

When she said that, everyone fell into a contemplation as they thought about it seriously. Though what she said was true, they couldn’t agree to it. That’s because if the person who won the auction has to resell it outside, he/she would gain massive amount of wealth. If that happened, wouldn’t they all incur loss?

But before anyone could voice their disapproval, she continued, “Of course I know what everyone here thinking. So I have a condition. Who won the bid, must lern the skill infront of us. How is that?”