The demeanour of the beast flickered at once when it saw the size of the crystal. The sight did notify an ominous premonition in its heart. But what it felt the next second was a relaxing warmth in its inside, followed by a searing wave of heat and later, the manifestation of a star itself!
"Explode."
A loud boom veiled under a cloud of bloody mist emerged from the beast's stomach. The rupture of the prideful beast like an over-inflated balloon stunned the crowd.
"What the...?"
Theo almost cursed out watching the scene. Peeking at Gary and Tara, he saw their jaws dropped in astonishment.
The panther pack wasn't cool either. The unprecedented event made them fragile. Each one of them felt their heart crumbling and hopes disintegrating.
When they came back to their senses, a cognisance hit them.
Rawur...
The remaining few tens of panthers felt threatened at the sight of their leader popping like confetti. A desire to survive overshadowed their rationality and they immediately fled.
Walter was awake by now and he too witnessed this unbelievable spectacle. His fatigue was replaced by a ton of amazement and a tinge of awe.
"Phew..."
Adam couldn't maintain his posture and his legs gave away immediately. Thrusting the spear to the ground, he prevented kissing the ground. The sudden depletion was too much for his body and his tiny reserve.
Rather than chase after the scattered pack, the adventurers rushed to help Adam. They supported him on with their shoulders and attempted to raise his torso to stand up, but Adam asked them to let him sit and rest for a while.
"Who are you? Why are you at a low level when you can fight like a war god? How did you kill the beast? How did you acquire Auto-healing?"
A barrage of questions was showered upon the earthling as the party couldn't contain their marvel.
"This..." The earthling could only scratch the back of his head while rummaging his blank brain in the hope of finding a couple of words.
Gary was at once knocked back to senses and he apologised, "I apologise for displaying our stupid side." With a bow, the party leader extended his apology.
But he still was curious nonetheless.
"How did you manage to do all these?" Pointing at the spoils of war, Gary pivoted his head right and left refer to the scattered corpses of panthers and bloody mess made by the Crowned Silverline Panther carcass.
Adam hesitated a moment before humming in an attempt to answer. But in actuality, he was constructing an excuse that leaves all doubts about him as serendipity.
"Umm...I don't where I was born or who brought me up. All I remember is a good bunch of villagers taking care of me..."
Within a minute, the pathetic and gloomy life story of an orphan was illustrated before the adventurers. Maybe it is the present circumstances or his relation with brute, untamed strength, they brought it.
"Hmm... makes sense. To wander around the forest aimlessly, you'll try to avoid as many beasts as possible." Walter agreed with Adam's statement that he avoided almost all of the beast's along his journey to prevent himself from getting killed. As a travel addict, Walter couldn't concur more with him.
"That also explains why you don't have any Magical Arts!" Tara spoke while nodding in contemplation.
Theo wasn't left without a doubt. "How did you obtain the Auto-Healing skill?"
Even if Adam wanted to answer the query, he couldn't come up with a plausible explanation. Thus he shrugged cluelessly. "I don't know. Ever since I have awareness, my wounds automatically heal."
The answer wasn't up to his expectation and the dwarf rubbed his chin while pondering, "Maybe if I wander the forests like him, my children will have that skill."
Gary rolled his eyes and expressed his gratitude to Adam.
"You take some rest. We'll collect these beast corpses. It could fetch some real money." Tara spoke as she stood up and paced at the nearest corpses. Her hands extended towards the bodies and they vanished into her storage ring.
Minutes later, Theo's whining could be heard.
"Gary, does your ring have any space left?"
The reply was quick. "Nope, my ring is filled to the brim and I still have corpses to store."
Their gazes instantly shot at Tara and Walter who were sitting near Adam.
"Don't ask. We won't be sitting here if our rings weren't full."
Instinctively, four pairs of pupils targetted Adam. Sensing their stares, he slowly stood up and moved to the corpses. One by one, the remaining panther remains were thrown inside his storage ring.
And when the last remnants vanished into the ring, the dwarf was amazed. "Brother Adam, how the hell do you have a ring with such huge storage space?" Awe was in his voice.
Brother?
Gary and Walter couldn't help but frown as they turned to Theo.
This shameless guy...
"It's probably because my ring is empty." Adam answered vaguely.
"Yeah, that seems to be the case. Tara's ring is filled with a ton of cosmetic pro...UGH!" Before Walter could finish, a fist pressed against his stomach and he immediately rolled on the ground in pain.
"Why did you do that?!" His face was warped.
Tara's hands were akimbo as she answered, "Don't interfere in a beautiful girl's personal matters."
A few kicks to his rear and Walter was literally wriggling on the ground. Watching the bonding of two bosom friends, Gary and Theo let out a chuckle.
"Shall we return?" Adam asked while pointing at the sky. "It's getting dark."
While they were engaged in hunting the panther pack, time had drifted past them. When the storing ceremony concluded, the sky was already smeared with a vibrant golden-orange hue.
Gazes rose to witness the beauty of the world's largest canvas and the eyes savoured its indescribable beauty. The unparalleled magnificence reigned over any artwork of any world.
"Yes, it's time we return to the village." Gary swung his sword and it created a dull noise while cutting the air. Shortly, they picked up the pace and walked to the village. As they proceeded in their tracks, the darkness was steadily devouring the light of the day.
***
"Elder Durian, they're back!"
Relaxing on his patio, the village elder almost spilt his tea on his dress when a villager came rushing at him. At once, he placed the teacup on the table and shot up, "Let them in."
The villager led the way and Durian followed the lead. Soon, they saw a heap of corpses placed casually piled up. Under the light of illumination of the mana powered lamps, the species was revealed to Durian.
"Silverline Panthers?" The query had an astonished tone as he found the sight before him unbelievable.
Shoving the multitude buzzing around the pile aside, the village head moved forward. But before he needs to exert too much force, someone recognised him and a path was paved.
With confusion written all over his face, the elder surveyed the carcasses. The dismembered limbs and heads were repelling to commoners but the old man was fine.
At one point, his eyes narrowed and he immediately squatted, "Crowned Silverline Panther? The leader of the pack?!"
With amazement and bewilderment, Durian blurted out his thoughts. Those who have crowded nearby heard his words and covered their mouths in astonishment.
The Crowned?
The leader?
That means...the entire pack...
Gazes began to turn towards the party of four. Adam wasn't avoided. It's just that he was a low-level rookie and he wasn't given much credit for the subjugation.
"We can't express our gratitude for what you have done. If you hadn't defeated these beasts, we would have become their hunting ground..." Durian was ecstatic with the revelation and began to speak ceaselessly. The pack of C-grade beasts led by a B-grade beast was nothing short of a full-fledged A-grade beast or maybe a teen S-grade monster.
"Ah, this...we only did what we should do. There's praiseworthy in it." Gary spoke nonchalantly. "Besides, we cannot let these beasts wander around freely. They multiply quickly."
Durian and the crowd were in awe of them. To be selfless after hunting a pack of Silverline Panthers along with its leader and not taking credit for it, that's a true adventurer.
"Mmm...this is interesting." An unfamiliar voice interrupted their union and the heads turned to witness a woman in her eighties keenly observing the corpses. Her eyes displayed puzzlement and there was a deep frown on her face.
Though Gary and his party didn't recognise her, the villagers didn't fail to distinguish her identity. The artificial radiance exposed her wrinkly skin. Under the incandescence, her soothing gaze was revealed.
"Grandma Mera, what is it?" Durian was already near the woman and followed her gaze at the corpse. He couldn't find anything specific. Thus he could only enquire the reason for her evaluation.
"Ah, there's nothing. I was merely wondering how these dungeon beasts ended up patrolling around the village."