The lantern shone and illuminated a few feet around Carter. Its light was softer and not as bright as the torch, but it dispersed more evenly, making the lit area bigger. Wrapping the heart of the lantern was a thin, opaque sheet that served as a very good heat shield, stopping Carter from sweating all the time due to the fire.
The lantern also shielded the fire from wind and other elements from the environment, extending the duration of the wax significantly.
Carter felt a little more secure now that he had a reliable light source.
"Soom A'leur!" Carter commanded the wolves to return to the previous formation. He and the four wolves kept on going forward inside the dark cavern.
The ceiling stopped going higher, but the ground became flatter and wider. This area always had the same layout, so Carter had been able to memorize it. He knew exactly where to go instead of traveling blind like in the dungeon.
On the ground, large footprints of an unknown beast had been left behind. Along with it were shoe marks the size of an adult. The beast's footprints were narrow and long, with three toes formed together into a triangle. Carter recognized the prints immediately. There was only one mob that had these triangular feet.
These trails led from the direction of the campfire that Carter had just come from. The shoe marks were around the same size and singular in their path. It didn't take a genius to know that the owner of these shoe prints was the hunter.
"Oh, Corvan. What did you get into this time?"
Corvan, the Daring Hunter, was one of the main eleven playable characters. As an avatar for a player, he was one of the better choices because of his survival skills and combat ability. As a companion, however, he was one of the worst.
It was all because of one hard-to-modify stat.
Carter followed the trail at a leisurely pace, not trying to strain his body even for a little bit. He could see bits and pieces of black fabric on the ground and even some arrows scattered. These must belong to the hunter.
Carter collected all the usable arrows and brought them with him. Resources were scarce in this dungeon, he had to be conservative to maximize his survival chance.
Nineteen at the front became more and more anxious the longer they followed the trail. It could smell something big and angry. Something that could kill it. The fur of the wolf stood up and could visibly be seen from a distance.
Carter approached it and patted its head gently.
"Calm down, boy. Calm down."
The other three wolves were calmer than nineteen. They weren't in the front and had to take the responsibility of being the lead. Nineteen collected itself after a few encouraging words from Carter and shifted its focus back to the task at hand.
They followed the trail for quite a while. Almost an hour passed, and finally, Carter heard something interesting.
At the far end of the cavern was a wall with giant holes that served as pathways leading to other locations in the dungeon. Many of those holes, however, were dead ends.
Corvan, the Daring Hunter, found himself in this predicament and mistakenly ran into one of the dead ends. The hole was small enough for a human to pass through but not for the beast.
It was a two-meter-tall beast with giant chicken feet and a giant chicken head. Its wings were no longer, and in their place, a pair of feathered arms. The body of the beast was large and round, resembling that of a black bear.
Corvan retreated back to the end of the cave he was in, trying not to be hit by the chicken's beak.
The beast was too large to crawl in, so it shoved its head into the hole. Its neck was able to elongate so the head extended and tried to crush Corvan.
The official name of this mob was, literally, Bear Chicken. However, the community called it the Bricken.
Carter commanded the wolves to spread out, surrounding the Bricken. They hid in blind spots, concealing themselves by using the environment. As for Carter, he unstrapped the shield on his back and brought it forward, holding onto its handle with his left hand. His right hand held the spear tightly, and he slowly walked toward the Bricken.
"Hey!"
Carter slapped the wooden spear onto the shield, creating some noise.
"Hey!"
His scream was provoking and high-pitched, a tone that irritated the Bricken a lot.
The Bear Chicken withdrew its head from the hole and turned back to face Carter. Its head was covered with dust and dirt.
"Come here! You ugly bastard!" Carter slapped the shield a few more times.
The Bricken's eyes dilated, and it jerked its head repeatedly. That was a sign that it was pissed off. This type of creature hated high-pitched and high-frequency noise with all its being.
The Bricken ran at Carter. It had a funny and imbalanced running form, its body swung from side to side as if it could fall any moment. But it didn't, and it kept on going forward.
"That's right… Come here, you stupid chicken!"
Carter shouted even louder. His face was filled with euphoria and devious intention.
In his mind, if he had to arrange the threat level of all the creatures he had encountered. Mutated Prisoner was one, as you could easily run from it. Hunting Wolves were two, they were much weaker alone and only posed a real threat as a pack. Minor Spider was three, its attacks were the deadliest but also very easy to cheese if you knew about it beforehand. Then, the Bricken would be four.
The Bricken was fast, relentless and agile. It also had the resilience that the Mutated Prisoner possessed. There had never been a good strategy to cheese this mini-boss. You had to be prepared when facing it.
Corvan exited his hiding hole and shouted, "Run! Run away! It will kill you!"
Carter smirked, ignoring the hunter.
"Soom I'stor!" He shouted.
Nineteen jumped out from nowhere and opened his wide mouth to take a bite at the Bricken's neck.