There was a gap of at least ten minutes between the first party's entry and the last party's entry. With that gap, everything changed. Even if they worked twice as fast at normal hunting, they would not match the harvest the first party had gained. Given the speed of those people, Max's party might have to work five times faster simply to match their eventual gains. Thus, abandoning the regular idea of collecting normal cores and targeting Bosses instead would be wise.
Once the party before them entered the gate, the teacher instructed them to wait for five seconds before they could enter. This was to avoid a teleportation failure. Whenever someone entered the Dungeon, they would appear at random locations. Thus, if people entered at the exact same time, they would become tangled with other parties.
Once the waiting time concluded, Max and the final party entered the gate. His consciousness shut down for a second before returning, and he stood in the middle of a lush forest. By his side, his party members stood.
They possessed the entire day to hunt monsters, as the time limit was fixed at five in the evening. With this long time period, they might find enough luck to surpass the people who had entered earlier.
"Let us move toward a damp location; that is where Slimes mostly live," Max stated.
However, upon looking at the surroundings, the forest appeared slightly dry. Slimes mostly lived near water resources such as streams, pools, or ponds. Yet, those were merely regular Slimes. Since this was an E-Rank Dungeon where the primary monster was the Slime, a plethora of Slimes lived in all kinds of places.
Recalling the theories he had read over the past two days regarding slimes, he remembered that two main kinds of slimes lived on dry land. One was the Star Slime, and the other was the Titan Slime.
Of these two, the Titan Slime, as its name suggested, possessed a size as large as a boulder. It held no particular skills, instead jumping onto aggressors and crushing them with its weight. According to the descriptions, it could definitely crush an adult's bones into dust.
As for the Star Slime, it possessed a single skill that put aggressors into hypnosis. He was not sure if these two slimes could work together, as he did not remember any such mention within the book. However, if they did, it would form a deadly combination, putting someone into hypnosis and crushing their body into dust, killing them.
"Everyone, let us move out. Be careful, let us hunt together," Max stated as he walked toward the more open locations. That was where those slimes lived, as more boulders existed there. They fed on rocks and boulders to grow big.
By following the vegetation growth, they eventually found a terrain filled with boulders. Just as Max had guessed, this was the territory of the Titan Slimes and Star Slimes. The rocks and boulders across the terrain appeared black in color. Yet, they could not see any slimes as far as their eyes could see.
"Why can't we see even a single Slime monster so far?" Anne asked with frustration. A total of fifteen minutes had already passed since the first team had entered. Still, they had not hunted even a single monster. Not only was Anne agitated, but the other members of the party were also restless.
"Everyone, please be alert. The monsters are in front of us," Max quickly issued a warning to the members who were currently in a relaxed state.
The Titan Slimes were disguised as the black boulders. If they were to walk into their territory, the monsters would land on their legs without warning, crushing their bones and crippling everyone.
"Shaun, attack the large boulder that looks like a polished stone," Max commanded, staring at the massive boulder situated in the middle of the smaller rocks. Looking at its sheer size, Max guessed that it was definitely a Boss Slime.
Although he calculated the probability of successfully hunting a Boss the moment they entered the Dungeon, given the strength of these people, it would be nothing but a cakewalk.
Shaun cast a quick gaze toward the other party members. He felt highly confused by Max's request. Why would he ask him to attack a mere boulder? However, obeying the command, Shaun activated his Earth Affinity. He gathered an earth stone the size of an adult's head and hurled it toward the large, polished-looking boulder.
Thump!
When the stone struck the target, instead of scattering into dust, it sank into the boulder like a sponge. Before Max could even explain the situation, everyone had already guessed the truth for themselves.
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The object the stone had hit was not a boulder, but rather a massive, black Titan Slime. Without anyone issuing instructions, everyone immediately hurled their attacks toward the monster. However, every attack that struck the Slime bounced off it like a spring; absolutely no damage was dealt.
"Everyone, take cover! It is a Boss monster!" Max quickly instructed.
If a regular Titan Slime was the size of a boulder, this Boss looked to be double that size. Thus, they would need a strategic attack in order to defeat the monster.
"Let us lure it toward the vegetation," Max issued another command.
This was not a blind command. Max had read that Titan Slimes were allergic to vegetation and trees. Thus, if they were to enrage it to the maximum and eventually lure it into the forest, its attack power would be greatly reduced.
Upon hearing this command, everyone spread out and began attacking together. Max also joined the fray, sending a few volleys of arrows toward the Titan Slime. However, the issue was that the Slime did not even care that people were attacking it. It simply lay there like a boulder.
Max realized he might have to use his Inborn Skill to make the Slime react. Otherwise, they would simply exhaust themselves by attacking without making any advancement.
He took out his bow, nocked an arrow, and aimed directly at the center of the Slime, exactly where its Living Core existed. They had to destroy that core in order to claim the actual core drop.
While aiming, a sudden idea arose in his mind. He could combine two of his Archery Skills to attack, directly destroying the Slime's Living Core while the monster remained in a dormant state. If successful, they would not need to lure the Slime and engage in a difficult battle to destroy it.
Although this action would expend all of his Mana, and replenishing it would take some time without a high Mana density location like a training ground, they could hunt regular Titan Slimes in the meantime.
With his decision made, he aimed his arrow at the center and quickly released it. The arrow pierced the air and collided with the Slime. However, instead of lodging into the target, the arrow directly penetrated the surface, disappearing inside the Slime. Before long, another arrow struck the exact same spot. This arrow landed directly on the previous arrow's nock, pushing the first arrow deeper inside.
A final arrow followed right behind, repeating the entire process. The third arrow struck the nock of the second arrow, driving the first two arrows further inward until the arrowhead of the first shaft pierced and destroyed the Living Core.
Once the Living Core was destroyed, the dormant Titan Slime moved violently and bubbled. Eventually, its surface cracked open, and the monster evaporated into nothingness.
Through the combination of [Celestial Arrow] and [Rapid Reload], Max had successfully killed the Titan Boss Slime.
In the next second, all the party members received a kill and EXP notification. Everyone who had been attacking continuously was utterly shocked by this sudden notification. How could the unmovable Titan Slime, which had ignored their attacks as if they were mere ant bites, be killed just like that?
[E-Rank Boss Titan Slime killed. Received 180 EXP + 50 EXP Bonus for First Kill.]
"Wow, 230 EXP on my first Dungeon kill," Max muttered, feeling surprised by the generous EXP.
"Status." he muttered, soon an Translucent blue screen open before him.
[Personal Details]
Name: Maximus Bransford
Class: [Swordsman, Archer, Healer]
Level: 0
EXP: 230 / 500
Attributes: Strength 6, Agility 3, Endurance 8, Intelligence 6, Vitality 5
Unallocated Attribute Points: 0
Inborn Skills:
Swordsman: Sword Tempest, Heavenly Cleave, Fighting Spirit, Sword Barrier
Healer: Divine Miracle, Paradise Field, Guardian Aura, Salvation
Archer: Celestial Arrow, Binding Arrow, Eagle Vision, Rapid Reload
Almost half of my EXP came from my very first kill. How lucky.
If he were to kill another Boss monster, he would definitely level up. He simply could not wait for that to happen. Everyone had obtained their fair share of EXP based on the overall contribution they had made. Naturally, their share was much less, as the killing blow had been landed by Max's arrow; thus, he had gained a massive amount of EXP alongside the bonus. Soon after, everyone walked toward the monster's location, desiring to see exactly what materials had been dropped by the Boss Titan Slime.
The items lay scattered across the ground, causing everyone's eyes to shine brightly. The first item was the Core, which was highly important for their rankings. Other than that, there were two vials of raw Slime Substance that could be used in alchemy to create potions or other items, two pieces of Dark Iron Ore, one piece of Dark Gold Ore, and one Dark Coin that closely resembled a token. Max instructed Anne to collect every material so they could eventually divide the loot among themselves, as the Academy would not demand they submit the materials they had hunted.
Max stood up, his gaze sweeping across the rocky terrain that stretched far beyond the limits of his vision. If the party were to continue hunting along this rocky terrain, they would definitely discover more Mutated and Boss monsters. He could take his time to slowly replenish his Mana until they encountered another Boss or Mutated Slime.
Meanwhile, he would let the other members hunt the regular Titan Slimes. By doing so, they could constantly gather ordinary cores and materials, and most importantly, slowly accumulate EXP to level up. This would definitely increase the overall strength of the party.