"The 1st wave will begin in 30, 29, 28, ..."
As the party of 6 regained their bearing an ethereal voice could be heard. The party members immediately started inspecting their surroundings. They were all standing on one side in the middle of around 300sq.m clearing. Behind them was dense cluster of trees, the gap between 2 trees wasn't enough to pass for most of the monster present in the forest.
The cluster of trees in the other 3 sides decreases in density the further it was from their summoned position. Straight from their position ahead was a gap of 5m in between the cluster of trees. Anything beyond the tree boundaries is obscured by thick layers of mist.
The situation seems like the main force of the wave will come from the front while some scattered monsters will come from the sides.
"Alright, we don't know how many monster will be there in the first wave. So, we will go with the earlier formation." Sword genius after examining the surroundings said to her 5 female companions. She then turned to look at Sunny and opened her mouth to speak, "I don't know anything about your fighting style, so I can only ask you to pay attention and improvise according to the situation. We will discuss the proper arrangements after the first wave."
The original party of 5 girls got into their formation and waited for the timer to reach zero. Sunny stood adjacent to Yu'er and started recalling information about the [Instance Dungeon]. 'First 3 monsters will come from the front. Then, 2 more will come randomly from the sides after 30 sec. In that time 1 monster must die. Okay, let's go. You can do it.' He thought to himself.
"..., 3, 2, 1, Start."
Instantly, 3 rabbit sprang out from the layers of mist and sprinted towards the party. The rabbit in the middle was slightly bigger in size than its companions, hinting towards its D grade monster status.
[Single Horned Rabbit] (level-1-E)*2 / (level-1-D)
HP: 100 (100%)*2 / 150 (100%)
Sword Genius and the rogue Xuan Bing ran forward to intercept the rabbits in-between. The D grade rabbit sprinted faster than the other 2 and reached in front of Sword Genius earlier. Just as she was 5m in its range, it jumped forward with its horn aimed at SG's chest.
Sword Genius reacted by executing *Parry* with perfect timing. *clang* with a ringing sound of metal clashing the rabbit bounced back as she took 3 steps backward and negated the impact. The rabbit-D lost 14 HP from the exchange, while SG remained unharmed.
Just as she stabilized herself, she spun 360 degree and executed the skill *Slash*. On the swords path was one of the rabbit-E in mid air performing its jumping attack. The sword made a inch deep wound across the rabbit's back, which also deviated its direction toward the ground. After colliding onto the ground it bounced 2 times and slide some distance away before its momentum stopped.
A red *-53* floated above its head.
The rogue Xuan Bing closed the distance between herself and the other rabbit-E to 2m before it got into jumping position. As it launched itself from the ground. Xuan Bing appeared behind it's back due to her superior speed and executed *Backstab* on its butt. *-34*
*screech* It screeched in a high-pitched tone as it was sent flying for 7m. Just as it landed a blue bolt hit its stomach and sent it tumbling to the side. It suffered the loss of *-59*.
The mage Qin Ming was preparing her own *Mana Bolt* when she saw the target being hit with another and blown away. She was stunned for a moment with the skills timing and accurate execution.
Xuan Ming sprinted towards the rabbit-E with remaining 7 HP and before it could properly regain footing she ended its life with a normal slash on the sides of its neck.
Only 12 seconds passed before a level-1-E [Single Horned Rabbit] died. While in this time frame Sword Genius clashed with the level-1-D rabbit once and Yu'er helped fend off the rabbit-E with a *Mana Shield* on SG.
SG defended against another of rabbit-D's attack. When the rabbit-E was about to jump a arrow suddenly lodged on its back limb. *-28*
It stumbled and fell while screeching when Sunny's *Mana Bolt* found its way to the rabbit's body. Rabbit-E died with its HP reaching 0. Sunny instantly shifted his attention to the remaining target while the ranger, rogue and mage were stunned, unable to keep up with the changes happening in the battle. The ranger didn't even chance to get participate.
Just as the rabbit-D and Sword Genius separated from each other after another clash, Sunny casted another *Mana Bolt* which connected with rabbit-D in mid-air. *-49*
Suddenly, another 2 level-1-E rabbit emerged from the sides and sprinted towards the party. Xuan Bing instantly went forward to intercept them. Xie Ying used *Quick Hands* and shoot 5 arrows in a row in quick succession. One of the rabbit was hit with 2 arrows while the other was only hit with 1 arrow, successfully slowing them down. *-(23+27)* / *-24*
Xuan Bing went in front of the rabbit with 76 HP and executed *Stun*. *-12* 1 second passed and it recovered from the stun effect, but before it could move an arrow lodged on its hind legs. *-36*
Meanwhile, Qin Ming casted *Mana Shield* on Xuan Bing to protect her from the other rabbits attack. Sunny casted *Mana Bolt* on this rabbit which connected with it the moment it landed from the rebound force of the collision. *-50*
In this short moment, Xuan Bing and Xie Ying had finished the other one. Sunny, Qin Ming, Xuan Bing and Xie Ying shifted their attention to Sword Genius's fight and noticed that rabbit-D was left with 71 HP. They finished it within 4 sec.
"1st wave- Cleared; Calculating rewards...
Time taken: 44 seconds...
Player level: 6 level-0 players...
...
Rewards: 5% Exp each, 10 Coppers each, 5 Rabbit Horn, 6 Rabbit Meat.
2nd wave will begin in 15min and 30sec."
Sunny watched as his Exp bar went from 89% to 94%. Coppers were sent to their respective inventory, while the horn and meat appeared in the middle of the clearing.
Sword Genius went forward and picked the monster drops. She then looked towards Sunny and said, "Drop distribution will be done at the end, okay?"
Seeing Sunny nodding to show his consent she addressed the whole party and continued, "In the next wave, Chaos, Xuan Bing and Qin Ming will work together to finish weaker opponents faster. Xie Ying, you assist me in stalling the remaining monsters. When I am capable of contending with my side, you can help them slow down some monsters, okay?"
"Okay." Everyone chorused together in acknowledgement. Then they rested for 15min before the 2nd wave started.
This time 2 level-1-E and one level-1-D [Steel Clawed Wolf] came from the front and 2 level-1-E [Steel Clawed Wolf] from the sides 30 sec later. 3rd wave monster was [Iron Headed Boar] with the same setting as the 1st and 2nd wave.
The party cleared the 2nd and 3rd waves in 71 and 76 sec respectively.
2nd wave Rewards: 9% Exp each, 15 Coppers each, 5 Wolf Claws set, 6 Wolf Pelt.
3rd wave Rewards: 14% Exp each, 20 Coppers each, 5 Boar Iron Skull, 6 Boar Meat.
After the 2nd wave reward distribution, Sunny reached level 1. With 5 equally distributed stat points and 5 FP (which he allotted to Int and Agi in the ratio 4:1), Sunny easily breezed through the 3rd wave.
With 45min rest time after clearing 3rd wave, the party members were well rested and refreshed.
'In this round the 3 monsters type will come together for a total of 5 monsters. According to the pattern found in the future one wolf and one boar will come first from the front, one of them being D grade. Reward will be better if the boar is D grade. Then 3 rabbits-E will arrive from the three sides.' Sunny thought to himself. 'Oh yeah! The 4th wave is a dividing chasm. So, 1 of the 3 monster type will come as C grade after the initial 5 are dead. Hope its the boar type.'
The fourth wave started just as Sunny speculated.
[Steel Clawed Wolf] (level-1-D)
HP: 170 (100%)
[Iron Headed Boar] (level-1-E)
HP: 135 (100%)
Same as previous times Sunny, Xuan Bing and Qin Ming, quickly dealt with the weaker one i.e. the boar before the 3 rabbit-E joined the fight. Since the second batch contained 3 monster this time, the time took to clear the 5 monsters increased.
It took the party 98sec to deal with the 5 monsters. Sword Genius dealt the last blow to the wolf-D, while everyone except Sunny relaxed their guards.
Just as Sword Genius was about to order the party to rest, Sunny said in a serious but unhurried voice, "There's one more."
[###] (level-1-C)
HP: # (100%)
Wanna know which monster came? Find out in next chapter. *tehee~*
~~~~~
There's some changes done in ch.8 about the Exp gained from hunting monsters. It's described in Author's Thoughts.