Man and wolf jumped in surprise as a bipedal fox creature appeared in the destroyed village.
It sniffed the air for a second, twisted its head in their direction, and charged at them! This thing was so fast that running away was impossible. They would prepare for combat.
The creature’s head seemed half rotting, its eyes lifeless and its claw long and sharp. Was that a zombie fox?! Was that possible? Hell no! Negative energy was very noticeable, and there was none here. Then, what was it?
— Dash! —
The little wolf bared the monster’s way, ready to fight to the best of its abilities as it growled menacingly.
— Growl! —
Soon it would be upon them. Jack had a decision to make. How would he deal with it?
“Stop growling at it and move aside. I got this!” He confidently instructed the little one.
“Woo!” (Excited)
The wolf happily complied, rejoicing to see its master at work again. It couldn’t wait to see the white feather plunged into that rude monster’s head!
It was showtime! Jack daringly grinned. Then, in one swift and powerful movement, he decisively…unequipped his weapon!
“Woo?!” (Confused)
Did its master want to face the enemy unarmed? Was he fighting with a handicap to equalize the challenge?
Jack stared at the incoming enemy with rapt attention. In 4 seconds, he would die…3….2….1….that’s when the creature stopped as it began sniffing the air. It seemed puzzled as it circled him.
“Hey, there, how are you doing?” Jack gently waved at the thing.
“He-ll-o…” The creature spoke very slowly, in a dissonant voice, as if trying to remember how greetings worked.
Why was this monster so peaceful? That’s the thing: it wasn’t one!
He was human, albeit so dirty it was hard to believe it! What about the fox head and paws? Well, that guy was wearing a fox corpse, one that was about to rot. This was the result of making fur equipment without the proper processing technique.
It was this rotting that had allowed him to guess that something was up with this monster lookalike.
“Take your time. So, how is it going?” Jack reassured him.
“I-it’s been so long….since I saw another human…Even simply speaking is troublesome.” The guy ever so slowly uttered.
But it turned out that in that guy’s case, talking was akin to riding a bike, very much so!
1. He quickly remembered how, and a few minutes afterward, he was babbling happily.
2. Akin to a cyclist ignoring all stop signs recklessly, he just wouldn’t shut up, no matter how many signals he sent his way! Plus, it wasn’t like he could beat him up either. He needed him.
Thus began the needlessly lengthy story of Hans the Ex-Hunter, a man commonly referred to as H ex H:
“This beautiful land used to be the town of Pripyta. Fifty people used to live here. Now it’s a ghost town. Well, only haters called it a village. Hell, we had a trading route and even an actual shop!”
An actual shop? Oh my god, how impressive!— Not. Still, Jack remained quiet, letting the poor man talk. He was evidently missing human interaction.
“…I laughed so much that night! Old man Hector really knew how to tell the most fantastic stories with a straight face. He made me want to grow up faster so I could hunt alongside the adults….”
Was the whole origin story necessary? He would have to stop him soon at this rate.
“…I cried so much that day. Who knew that such a magical feeling would accompany my first time? Sure, it was bloody as hell, but as I felt the fox’s warm insides, I felt so proud. I had graduated!….”
“Can you cut straight to the—” Jack tried to halt the conversation, but the man was an unstoppable talking machine.
“…At first, it was a blessing, but then it soon turned into a curse. What’s the point of having so much fur if no one even dares travel the merchant route because of the creatures?!….”
“Skip—” But sadly, it didn’t work against this guy, at all!
“….We fought valiantly, but without avail. We were hunters. We were good at tracking them down individually, but we were no army….”
“Skip!—” This guy was over-describing so fucking much!
“…Ah, I just realized that I missed many details in my excitement. Let me start again from scratch!”
“Hell no!” Jack shouted.
This guy’s story had taken at least ten fucking minutes! He didn’t have all day! No way that he was going to sit through this again!
“I understood everything perfectly! You guys had a fox infestation and couldn’t deal with it. Thus, the village was destroyed, right?” Jack summarized.
“Yes, but there is so much more to the tale and—” The madman wanted to talk some more!
“Look, I’m here to defeat the foxes! Please, for the love of God, just help me do that! That’s all I need from you! We can talk once they’re all eliminated, alright?” Jack pleaded— not that he would stay afterward.
“You’re right. Here, take this. This is a compilation of all our knowledge about the enemy. However, be extremely careful with it. It is worth the life of 49 villagers!” The man solemnly handed him a small thin booklet.
<How to hunt foxes!>
Finally, he could progress! Jack impatiently began skimming it. The thing included many warnings and tips. For instance, it contained information about their movement patterns and described how to butcher them in detail.
While it was all stuff he knew, it could potentially be handy to a new player. It would plant into them the idea to look further than to mindlessly kill and level up endlessly.
But, there was also bullshit like: “69 best spots to observe fox mating”….who the heck had written this book?!
He skimmed it very quickly, looking for something very specific, a clue that would actually help him beat this dungeon. He couldn’t help but smile as he found it:
<Top 4 scents that foxes abhor!>
1. Chili
2. Garlic
3. White Vinegar
4. Cayenne Pepper
Who even made top 4 rankings?! Either way, this information would be so valuable, even if it looked like mindless flavor text. This was their weakness!
“Hey, Hans. Look at this here. Do you have these ingredients?” Jack inquired.
“Well, you can get some Chili if you want. There might still be some remaining in the rubble of one of the kitchens. All the others would be more troublesome.”
“Sure, I’ll take it, but please do tell me where I can find all of those!” Jack begged.
There was a reason this thing was called top 4. Often in Infinite effects of items could be increased when mixed with others having similar properties.
Thus, if he mixed all four things that the foxes hated together, it would likely give excellent results. This was the optimal way to complete this dungeon, if he remembered correctly.
“You should be able to find garlic in the wild. I’m sure there will be some vinegar in old Hector’s cellar, and the cayenne…old Joe would brag about having some, but I don’t know if that’s true or not.” The NPC told him.
There it was! Now that he had a clear goal, it was time to get to it!
“…Now, how about I tell you about that time when…?!” The NPC kept babbling only to realize that Jack was long gone.
Hell, he had run away faster than when he had been facing the wolf Boss!
Finding the remnants of a kitchen didn’t prove too hard. In there, awaited the chili, one that smelled slightly spicy. Jack turned toward his companion. “Here, smell this. Can you help me find something that has a similar scent? We’re looking for cayenne.”
The little one excitedly darted forward as it began exploring the various destroyed houses. Eventually, it stopped next to a random piece of rubble. Pushing the mess aside, they found a chest, one that was locked.
What to do?:
1. Barbarian strategy —> Wreck it open
2. Delicate approach —> Look for the key
3. Nihilistic method —> Lie down and ponder the inexorable, dreadful death that will eventually claim humans’ pitiful existence…
“Alright, use your special wolf senses to find the key!” Jack excitedly ordered. Thus began a marvelous quest where they tried their best to dig the past up.
“Woo!” (Victorious!)
The little one managed to find it, bringing it to its master akin to an offering. At that moment, Jack felt important. How great it was to have minions doing his bidding! This was perhaps one of the few things he missed from the past.
As soon as they opened the chest, their reward sat there in all its magnificence— or not. It was a shitty and old unrecognizable bottle. But the smell checked out.
“Next step is to find the cellar. It shouldn’t be too hard.”
Outside they encountered the NPC. He was shivering a distance away while trying his hardest not to look at the destroyed buildings. He seemed guilty and perhaps even ashamed of something.
Jack was almost tempted to ask about it, but one super long village story was enough for the day. He’d clear the actual dungeon for now.
Soon enough, they found the cellar. They excitedly pushed the door open. After this one, there would only remain the wild garlic, but he would be able to get that one as they headed out.
But, there was soon a complication. The cellar was surprisingly lively, a little bit too much. As soon as they entered, 20 red glowing bloodthirsty eyes locked onto them. What the actual fuck?!
— Hiss! —
— Squeak! —
<Giant Rat lv 10> X 10
“Sorry, wrong door!” The duo ran out, hurriedly slamming the door shut.
They needed to either distract or defeat them. The problem was they were fucking level 10! Now what…
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[A/N] These chapters are sponsored by Imarques18 !!🔥🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃 So many super gifts lately. It helps so fucking much with promotion! I’ll have to work extra hard for the upcoming mass release! ^_^v
Creator’s Thought
Ten rats spawning in a level 5 dungeon was obviously overkill! This meant that direct confrontation wouldn’t be possible. This also meant that there had to be a way to cheese it. The only question was how?! Spoiler alert: there were many! (just Infinite things)