Saber-toothed Tiger

'So, this is the subterranean world,' said Clovis in amusement while looking around. This city had been built after humans invaded back as a base to protect the people on the surface.

When he looked back, he realized that there was a giant stone pillar leading to the sky. Its diameter seemed to be more than a hundred meters, far bigger than the tunnel. It was probably to make the beast or the human destroy this pillar. 

In fact, the humans had dropped a hydrogen bomb to cut the connection, but destroying the tunnel was similar to destroying a meteorite. The materials were also so hard that they couldn't even mine them.

This base had been built with this pillar as the center. Clovis could see a tall steel wall on the horizon with a lot of weaponry at the top. 

There were a lot of explorer groups establishing their headquarters here. The base was also filled with a lot of utility buildings and shops just like in a normal city.

Once stepping out of the elevator, their identities were checked to ensure the safety of the base. Only after everyone was checked were they allowed to leave. The people who wanted to return to the surface would be the ones to go next. 

While walking down the street, Clovis thought, 'Now that I've arrived here, where should I go? Checking the map to find a good place to hunt should be the first thing, so…'

Clovis looked around and entered a public toilet. He took out a hand-sized device and inserted his ID card from the bottom. The device was activated and showed multiple tabs.

The purpose of having the ID card as the basis of everything was so that anyone who found a person's corpse outside the base could bring it back and report it to the military so that it was easier to change the status of the people. A lot of people never did it, whether it was due to annoyance or simply because they murdered them.

As expected of the Gold Class Map, as soon as he accessed it, the map immediately expanded. The humans in this base had explored about one hundred kilometers in all directions. While it looked small compared to the world, the exploration was hard since there were beasts looming around.

It also contained the information about those beasts that had been neatly compiled.

Unknown areas meant they wouldn't know if those beasts were strong or not.

'I think I can go to the west of this base. There are a lot of Tier 0 Beasts in this area.' Clovis muttered inwardly.

Without hesitation, he stored everything in the weapon's bag and started heading west. Once again, the military confirmed the explorer's identification before allowing Clovis to leave the city. 

"The process is quite smooth," Clovis murmured while taking out the weapon from his case. He put on the gun holster for his pistol, wore the bracelet that was connected to his short sword, and held the long sword on his other hand.

With this, he was ready to go. He looked foolish at first glance, but the reason why Clovis went alone was because he didn't think he would find any group that would take in a 15% explorer like him. Even if they did, he would be looked down on, and his share wouldn't be good.

So, rather than wasting his time, he chose to go alone, even if it was more dangerous. 

After walking for two kilometers, Clovis finally entered the dangerous zone. He raised both weapons, focusing on both his eyes and ears to pick up any movement.

Because he had just awakened, he didn't dare to go too far from the base. This area was covered with trees and wild grass. However, the trees had been thinned a bit, so people had an easier time spotting a beast.

Suddenly, Clovis heard the cracking sound of a branch. When his gaze followed the sound, he saw a beast resembling that of a tiger. It had distinctively long, curved canine teeth that extended to 7 cm in length.

Its robust build and sharp teeth made it look like a formidable carnivore.

He was pretty lucky that he managed to find this creature before it found him. 

'If I'm not wrong, this tiger is a Saber-toothed Tiger. But if it wanders around here, it should only be a Tier 0 Saber-toothed Tiger. It should be quite young,' thought Clovis while moving toward it. 

He imagined the tiger's movement when it noticed him, coming up with a counter.

When he was about five meters away from the tiger, Clovis abruptly stopped, not out of fear but because the Saber-toothed Tiger had entered his range. 

The pistol might be an easy solution, but if he caused too much noise, the other beasts might pick it up and swarm him. And the special bullets to take down these beasts were quite expensive, so he chose to use his swords to kill this tiger. 

Before the tiger noticed him, Clovis threw the short sword at the tiger's abdomen in a swift and precise manner, almost piercing through the tiger's body. 

"!!!" The tiger let out a pained groan, trying to see the attacker. Clovis, however, had rushed to the tiger and swiftly hit the tiger's big fangs with all his momentum. 

The sword cracked the teeth, and the momentum ended up knocking the tiger's head in the opposite direction. Then, he pulled the chain attached to his short sword with perfect strength, causing the short sword to land right on his left hand.

These were the weapons he had played with since childhood, so he had a good sense of how much strength he should put in.

As soon as he got his short sword back, Clovis impaled the tiger's neck from above. The pain made the tiger's feet weak.

Clovis took this chance to push down the tiger and swiftly cut the tiger's neck with a fast and ruthless strike. 

But Clovis had still underestimated the robustness of the saber-toothed tiger. When it fell down, it shook its body so that Clovis, who was still holding his short sword, would sway to the side.

After Clovis missed his neck, the tiger's head turned around with its mouth wide open. It was ready to riptake Clovis's arm apart with those giant teeth.

Clovis had to let go of the short sword once again and took a step back. The chain kept expanding again until he pulled out the short sword after reaching a safe distance. 

Before the tiger could stand back up, Clovis threw the short sword right at the tiger's head, only to have the tiger open its mouth. If the tiger managed to get the short sword, it could pull Clovis in with its strength. Hence, Clovis seized the opportunity to pull the short sword back.

The short sword was just a distraction. After the tiger's eyes focused on the short sword, Clovis approached the tiger and struck its neck.

The tiger managed to move fast enough to put its teeth in the sword's path, but this time, the sword actually shattered the giant tooth and cut a portion of its mouth.

Clovis cut the tiger head with a fierce stab from below before the sword severed its neck.

The tiger's blood splashed to the side, dyeing the ground red.

"Hu…" Clovis let out a breath of relief. While swinging his blade to splash the blood on the blades, Clovis thought excitedly, 'I can defeat a Tier 0 beast. While it's hard at first, once I get more comfortable with life-and-death combat, I can swiftly kill a Tier 0 beast.'

The path that was blurry at first suddenly lit up, showing the possibility. 

He took out a syringe from his bag, inserted a small tube, and stabbed the tiger's body. The syringe let out a beeping sound before it began extracting a reddish green liquid from the tiger's body. 

"I don't know how much I can get from a single beast, but I should sell this first and get enough money to buy the mall's membership. Those items aren't affected by my evolution rate after all." 

After a minute, the green light on the syringe turned red. It looked like he managed to get 10 ml of essence from this tiger alone. After wiping the needle with a small towel, he put everything back into his bag. 

"Alright. Each tube can contain 50 ml of essence. My aim for today should be ten tubes. This should be enough to fund everything I need for the next two days." Clovis looked to the front, ready to hunt another beast. 

*Roar!*

*Roar!*

The groans of a dying tiger continuously rang in the forest, giving Clovis more and more confidence. He pushed through the woods with his brute force alone.

…

In the opposite direction of the base, a brown-haired guy quietly waved his saber, killing one beast after another. 

"Tsk. Those people are useless. They can't even handle these beasts and run away?!" The guy let out a long sigh. "I guess I should have just gone alone in the first place. It's not like there's anyone that can match me."

As someone who was born into a good family, he had been showered with all kinds of training and talent that normal people wouldn't have. 

However, living with that kind of family was also suffocating. The people's gazes were filled with expectations, wanting him to be a great person in the future.

Once he saw a talented person, their greed was bound to come out and it felt like his life wasn't his anymore. 

In the end, he ran away from home. Even if he was bound to become someone strong in the future, he wanted to do it in a way he enjoyed. 

Unfortunately, after entering the hunting area, his party couldn't keep up. Even a Tier 0 beast was too much for them to handle. On the other hand, he could kill a beast in less than thirty seconds.

To avoid being taken advantage of by those people, he decided to speed up the hunts, causing those people to be exhausted and forcing them to retire. This way, he could haul everything he hunted for himself. 

Unbeknownst to him, his action led to an encounter that could only be described as fate.