A brown creature now stood in front of Arthur, its claws threatening to slash him but the Black Tear Sword prevented it.
'Let's see what we got here,' Arthur used the Inspect Skill.
~DING~
>Inspect Successful!<
——
Target: Brown Fur Mongoose
Rank: Common
Level: 5
HP: 100%
MP: 100%
——
The level difference had increased greatly and this was just the most basic enemy Arthur was facing in the forest. There were several stronger ones in it too.
Reeeee!
The mongoose let out a cry as its eyes flashed with bloodthirst.
"You're really angry for a small guy, huh." Arthur said, finding the beast to be a little too violent.
CLANG!
Arthur deflected using the Short Sword and pushed the beast to the side, allowing him to go around it. The beast couldn't recover in time and was struck with the blade's edge.
[-10% HP!]
A red streak of blood trailed out from the beast's back making it cry in pain.
[-10% HP!]
Arthur left no opportunity for the beast to respond and struck again, leaving a gash on the beast's front limb this time.
Eek!
The mongoose quickly changed its position while ignoring the pain glaring at Arthur.
As the mongoose monster charged towards the Arthur, its razor-sharp claws and teeth glistening in the sunlight, Arthur quickly drew his short sword back. With a steady grip on his weapon, Arthur braced himself for impact and dodged to the side at the last moment, narrowly avoiding the beast's attack.
Taking advantage of the mongoose's momentary confusion, Arthur lunged forward with his short sword, aiming for the creature's exposed flank. However, the mongoose was fast, and it twisted out of the way, causing Arthur's sword to graze harmlessly against its fur.
Undeterred, Arthur quickly stepped back and assessed the situation.
'It's fast… My agility isn't enough to match it directly. Will have to look for the right moment.' Arthur thought.
The mongoose was agile and quick, but it was also small and vulnerable. With a determined look in his eye, Arthur rushed forward once more, this time feinting to the right before lunging to the left with his sword.
The mongoose was caught off guard by the sudden change in direction, and Arthur's sword found its mark, slicing deeply into the creature's side. With a shriek of pain, the mongoose stumbled backwards, but it was far from defeated.
[-24% HP!]
"Now we're getting somewhere!" Gritting his teeth, Arthur continued to press the attack, striking at the mongoose with quick, precise movements.
But the creature was tough, and its claws and teeth continued to rake against Arthur's armor, leaving scratches in the leather.
"Ugh!" Arthur finally got struck by the beast his HP falling.
[-15% HP]
"The clothes are not enough for this and its claws can get between the leather armor." Arthur said while letting out a breath.
For several intense moments, the battle raged on, each combatant trading blows and struggling for dominance.
[-10% HP!]
[-13% HP!]
[-18% HP!]
But in the end, it was Arthur who emerged victorious, his short sword finally piercing the mongoose's heart and bringing an end to the fierce fight.
[Critical Hit!]
[Fatal Hit!]
[-33% HP!]
As the creature fell to the ground, Arthur breathed a sigh of relief, his hand still clutching tightly to the hilt of his sword. A string of notifications popped up and he looked at them briefly.
>Brown Fur Mongoose has been Killed!<
>5% Experience has been obtained<
"Haaah… This is definitely on a different level." Arthur said as he looked around for more enemies.
Having fought the Dire sewer rats, Arthur had become a bit confident, but the Brown Fur Mongoose had shown him that he needed to be careful.
'There are different mobs of different Stat spreads. I need to be careful about which ones I fight head on.' Arthur reminded himself.
There were thankfully no more enemies near him which did make him a bit surprised. Usually there should be quite a lot of mobs in the northern forest.
"Now that I think of it, the Brown Fur Mongoose was a little too aggressive. Do they even attack first?" Arthur wondered.
As far as he could recall the Brown Fur Mongoose weren't like this. They were a common mob that could be found in several areas and were passive mobs that only reacted upon being attacked.
"Did something trigger it perhaps?" Arthur guessed.
It wouldn't be unusual for something like this to happen either. After all, Morpheus Online was ever changing and could be different at different times.
"The inconsistencies are still reasonable so far..." Arthur's face stiffened.
He continued onwards for five minutes before encountering the second mob.
Stepping slowly, Arthur peeked over a large rock.
There stood a large deer with twisting horns. It's horns split into ten and looked rather gnarly, especially with what was stuck in them.
"What the fuck...?" Arthur saw the buck which had several carcasses stuck in its horns.
They were skewered thoroughly while dried blood stained its horns and face. But that was not all, as its eyes gleamed with malice.
This was further amplified with what it was eating, a beast corpse!
"Alright, something's definitely wrong here..." Arthur muttered.
He watched the deer for a few seconds ensuring that it hadn't noticed him. He then used the inspect skill.
>Inspect Successful<
——
Target: Ten Pronged Deer
Rank: Common
Level: 6
HP: 100%
MP: 100%
——
"This doesn't make sense." Arthur said finding the stats to be mismatched to what he was seeing. "are these mobs infected or something?" he wondered.
There were many status effects in Morpheus Online and Arthur had nearly seen most of them.
'But there shouldn't be anything that causes a status like this... They seem to be inflicted with madness.' Arthur thought.
Madness was one of the more rare types of status effects and would usually be seen around areas that were meant for 80-90 leveled players.
This was why Arthur was so confused. He couldn't confirm it either as the Inspect skill was not good enough to get detailed information about the mob.