Cathulhu Online, MUNYA!

Chapter 31 – Cat Dad's Serious Dungeon Raid (1)

"Cathulhu Essence Core, you said?" Tang Yuan narrowed his eyes.

Cathulhu Essence Core was a jewel-like crystalized monster blood, which could be found from an extremely dangerous alien monster, aka Cathulhu. This monster didn't exist in this world, but it would appear in the Constellation Age Chapter, which happened after the invasion of cultivators and Heavenly Dao Patch.

Cathulhus were Galactic-Class boss monsters, who indiscriminately every hunted player and NPC they found. They were known to be the agents of calamities and planet eaters because of their massive size and their menacing appearance.

However, some of the crystallized blood was left behind in this third game world, and the local NPCs treated them as precious jewels. None of them was aware of their usage yet, but Xiaomao needed them for his future evolution.

"Yes, munya. Do you have one? I'll buy it as well, munya."

"May I ask what you're going to do with it?"

Xiaomao's expression turned solemn. He lied, "I'm a collector. I collect rare objects, munya. Coincidentally, I heard a rumor about this precious jewel, and I want one for my collection, munya!"

"I see. I see," Tang Yuan beamed Xiaomao with a bright smile. "Currently, our branch has no Cathulhu Essence Core, but I remember that the main branch has one in the warehouse. Would you like to place a commission for the item?"

"How much, munya?"

"It's a lot cheaper than the ship. Only one million gold coins per gram."

"Get me ten grams, munya."

Xiaomao placed ten tokens of PACT on the tea table. He was never stingy when he invested in his future growth.

Tang Yuan collected the token and signed another commission contract with him.

"The core will be directly delivered to your premium warehouse within a month. You can keep the contract as proof of commission, sir."

Xiaomao collected the papers and put them in his premium inventory slot.

"That will be all for the day. Thanks for businesses, munya!"

"Thank you, too. I shall escort you out."

…

Slave One and Xiaomao left the merchant guild building, which was a luxurious mansion in the middle of the residential district. They headed back to the player's marketplace next.

They reached the crowded plaza, where the auction house marketplace NPC had been sitting there. A hundred shops lined up nicely on the roadsides. Stalls of NPC and players blended in, and nobody could differentiate them apart.

Xiaomao didn't bother setting a stall. He went straight to the auction house NPC and deposited all boots and the remaining set of Hyen equipment. Then, he set the price to one PACT each.

As for the cards, Xiaomao didn't sell them. He kept it to himself for now, hiding the clues of the Gnoll Island.

While Xiaomao was at it, he searched for a better weapon for a character level 10 and above. He filtered the search and added a few keywords.

A new panel appeared in front of Xiaomao, showing the list of available equipment that other players had put on sale. Most of them were guns, bows, crossbows, and range weapons.

It didn't take long for Xiaomao to pick a few weapons from the list.

…

Old Hunting Crossbow (Common)

This old wooden crossbow once belonged to a goblin crossbowman, but it's too worn out to be useful. Novice archers and crossbowmen might find it hard to use as it requires some strength to fully utilize it due to its strong crossbow strings.

Item Type: Weapon

Effect: ATK 10

Requirement: Level 10, 20 STR, 30 DEX

Durability: 100/100

…

The attack power of the crossbow was the same as Fuiyoh Cleaver. However, it cost only 500 gold coins as it was a common weapon, which could be found in popular goblin dungeons.

Xiaomao purchased 10 of them right away as he prepared for a long intensive hunt. He also purchased crossbow bolts.

…

Rough Crossbow Bolt

This crossbow bolt can be used on any crossbow. It's light, but the lance-like arrowhead is not that sharp as it was roughly made by an amateur fletcher.

Item Type: Ammunition

Effect: ATK + 2

Requirement: None

…

Rough crossbow bolts were also cheap. Ten of them were sold for one gold coin, so many archers used them as their primary ammunition.

Xiaomao also purchased 10,000 of them at once since it only occupied only one slot of inventory. However, he bought more types of bolts.

…

Explosive Crossbow Bolt

This crossbow bolt comes with an attached mini-TNT. Once this bolt hit a target, the bolt will explode and deal AOE damage in a radius of 3 meters.

Item Type: Ammunition

Effect: ATK + 15, AOE

Requirement: DEX 30

…

Barbed Crossbow Bolt

This bolt's arrowhead is refined by an adept hunter. As the arrowhead comes with barbed parts, victims of this type of arrow may suffer a bleeding status effect if they recklessly remove the arrowheads from their skins.

Item Type: Ammunition

Effect: ATK + 5, Inflict Bleed Status Effect

Requirement: DEX 15

…

The two types of ammo were cheap as well, but it was more costly than the staple rough bolts. Each of them cost one gold coin.

Xiaomao didn't fret. He purchased 10,000 for each type! Then, he restocked some healing potions and mana potions.

He checked his character's money in his game account. A bit over 10,000 gold coins and 7,101 PACTs remained.

Seeing his crypto tokens decrease from 33,000ish PACTs to 7,101 saddened him, but it was a necessary investment for his game character and his real body's transformation.

Once the shopping was done, the two of them returned to their ship, which had been parked at the shipyard to recharge its motor engine.

When they got there, the shipyard clerk came to report.

"It's fully charged and repaired. 5,000 gold coins, please."

The maintenance was cheap. Xiaomao paid the bill and passed all his available gold coins to Slave One as extra pocket money.

They sailed back to Gnoll Island. This time, they would seriously grind for levels and items!

…

After returning to the gnoll dungeon, Xiaomao gave the wok shield to Slave One and ordered him to kill every gnoll he found!

"Go ahead and kill everything on sight, munya! I'll support you, munya!"

Xiaomao brought out his crossbow and loaded it with a rough bolt. He hopped down from Slave One's shoulder and rushed toward the first squad of gnolls.

Currently, two elite gnolls and 18 minions had been patrolling the cave. When they saw Xiaomao and Slave One, they howled and charged at them.

Slave One expressionlessly charged forward and swung his club at the first oncoming gnoll.

BONK

It was a direct hit to the gnoll's unprotected head.

250!

Unlike Xiaomao's cleaver, the Hyen Club was a blunt weapon, and the weapon was a longer reach than the short-ranged cleaver. However, the damage range was unpredictable as it depended on the point of impact, momentum, and attributes of the attacker.

Still, dealing over 200 damage was enough to one-shot the first gnoll. It vanished, and loot items entered Slave One's inventory.

WHOOSH

SUEK

A crossbow bolt whizzed and pierced into the eye of another gnoll!

HEADSHOT CRITICAL!

435!

The second gnoll dissipated into thin air.

While Slave One charged forward, Xiaomao had positioned himself on a large boulder next to a wall. His eight tentacles systematically moved and reloaded a new bolt. The three front arms stabilized and aimed the crossbow while his third tentacle coiled around the trigger.

It took one second for Xiaomao to reload and fire.

WHOOSH

POEK

Another bolt penetrated the head of the gnoll, but it failed to puncture through its skull.

195!

No critical. It failed to kill it in one shot.

Slave One glanced at the injured gnoll. He smashed the elite gnoll with his club while he bashed the injured gnoll with the wok.

DONG

20!

The injured gnoll dissipated into sparkling lights.

ROAR!

While Xiaomao and Slave One were on the offensive, the gang of gnolls counterattacked as well. They bit and clawed on Slave One.

1!

1!

1!

Unfortunately for them, Slave One's defense was high enough to negate most damages. Moreover, Slave One's level was similar to the monster's, so he didn't suffer from the level penalty.

GROWL!

On the other hand, the elite gnoll's attack power was different. It swung its club at Slave One.

Slave One failed to block it. The club landed on his skull helmet.

12!

It was weak, but the gnoll gang surrounded Slave One and hit him from all sides. The small numbers added up over time, and Slave One's HP bar decreased by 10% within a few seconds after the fight had started.

Slave One also fought back, but his speed was much slower than the gnolls.

POEK

The one behind the gnoll got hit by a bolt to the head. It disintegrated into dust.

"Slave One, breakthrough the encirclement and run toward the exit, munya!"

Slave One turned around and ran. He got out of the encirclement in an instant.

Xiaomao loaded an explosive bolt and fired at the center of the gnoll squad right away.

BOOM

The bolt exploded upon impact. Various numbers appeared on top of a dozen gnolls' heads and sent them flying.

The explosive damage ranged between 100 to 250 points. A few died, but the rest of their HP bars were left with less than 50%. As for the elites, the explosion only reduced 10% of their HP.

The two elite gnolls and a dozen gnolls fell to the ground and struggled to get up. Orbits of stars appeared, being stunned by the explosion and noise.

"Slave One, come back and finish them, munya!"

Slave One u-turned. Although Xiaomao didn't order him to use a skill, he pointed his finger at the furthest gnoll.

Water Bullet!

POEK

A water droplet appeared out of nowhere and punctured the injured gnoll's head.

112!

A blue number appeared and decreased the victim's HP bar to zero. Meanwhile, a blue bar appeared on top of Slave One and decreased by a little. A new icon of water droplet appear, but it was darkened.

The icon represented the cooldown timer of the water bullet skill. Slave One needed to wait five seconds before he could use it again.

BONK

Slave One reached the nearest gnoll and bonked him. Another one perished.

Xiaomao's crossbow was like a machinegun, spraying bolts at the confused elite gnolls.

After being hit several times, the first elite gnoll regained his senses. He turned toward Xiaomao and leaped at him.

Exploiting the small stature and light weight, Xiaomao jumped up with all his strength and latched on the wall, using his four back tentacles. His four front tentacles aimed the crossbow at the big guy and fired another shot.

POEK

The bolt entered the eye and dealt critical damage!

BONK

As if Slave One had reacted to the danger of his master, he smashed at the back of the elite gnoll, delivering the finishing blow.

Xiaomao continued hanging on the cave's wall. He sniped the other elite gnoll.

Slave One turned around and went for the other injured monsters.

…

Two minutes later, the two-man party wiped out the first squad of the gnolls.

Slave One's nostrils flared as he was elated by the achievements. Xiaomao giggled while he poured HP potions on Slave One's head to heal his wounds.

From here on out, the true dungeon raid began.