System's POV
chapter-141

Two hours after sunset, the surroundings had become completely dark.

Cristopher felt suffocated by the darkness, so he asked Jasmine and Ariel to sit beside him as he tended the campfire.

Unlike the two Humans in their group, Adira, the Ogres, the Trolls, and the Tigerkins were in their environment.

They were creatures who could hunt whether it was day or night, so they weren't too bothered by the darkness around them.

Even so, they had to admit that it was still unnerving since their vision could only extend up to twenty meters.

Anything past that was hard to see, making them raise their guards.

What they didn't know was that the Monsters in the Furvus Grasslands had an improved version of Dark Vision.

Unlike the Monsters who didn't live in their environment, the creatures of the Grasslands could see up to fifty meters in front of them.

That was more than twice the range of what the others could see, but this was not a problem for Thirteen.

After dinner, the boy went to the first wagon to make his preparations.

"Brutus, light the fire in front of my wagon, then get away after it's done," Thirteen ordered as he began to assemble the weapon he had bought for the trip.

Unlike the other Wagons, which were parked sideways, the rear of Thirteen's wagon was facing the grasslands.

Slowly but surely, the boy assembled his secret weapon, which he had personally crafted for this trip.

It was none other than a mounted crossbow with a scope.

This crossbow could hit targets up to a hundred meters with great accuracy.

With this kind of weapon, Thirteen could hit his targets, before they even knew what hit them!

After mounting his crossbow properly, the boy put on a set of comfortable leather armor, which would help mitigate the crossbow's recoil.

He then laid down in the wagon and adjusted the crude scope that he had made before they embarked on this trip.

Vassago, who already knew what to do, took off to the skies and circled around the camp.

Giga Chad, who had accompanied the boy inside the wagon, laid beside Thirteen and kept the latter warm with his fur.

The Trolls, who were on guard duty, also knew what was happening.

They remained in their position and kept an eye on their surroundings.

Half an hour later, a whistling sound reached the boy's ears.

'Right side,' Thirteen mused as he moved his crossbow to the right and peered through its scope.

As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he saw an "eye shine" that belonged to a creature, whose faintly glowing eyes allowed it to see in the darkness.

Thirteen didn't know what kind of monster it was because the only thing he could see was the shine of its eyes.

Even so, it was enough for him to lock on to its position.

He watched as the Beast slowly crawled in the direction of their camp like a moth that was attracted to an open flame.

Although it was moving through the grass, it didn't make any sound, proving that it had perfected the art of hunting in the Grasslands.

However, the prey it had targeted was well aware of its approach and even planned to give him a very warm welcome.

Thirteen smirked as his index finger rested on the trigger of his crossbow.

He was letting the creature move a little closer so that the Trolls wouldn't have to move far in order to retrieve it.

The bolts he was using were dipped in the Scorpion's venom, which had already been used up.

He wasn't planning to kill the creature.

What he hoped to do was capture it alive.

His original plan was to directly kill the Monsters in the Furvus Grasslands and dismantle their bodies to get the important Monster Parts.

However, after knowing that Adira could lock them up in cages, the seven-year-old thought that it was more profitable to capture them alive rather than kill them.

When he deemed that the target was within his effective range, the boy pulled the trigger of the crossbow, which let out a faint "thwack" as the cross bolt was sent flying.

Even though the monster heard the weird sound, it didn't know what it was.

Because of this, it was already too late when something hit its chest area, making it howl in pain.

Adira, who was seated on the roof of First Wagon, saw the commotion in the distance and smiled.

'He really came here to hunt at night,' Adira mused. 'Unbelievable.'

After securing a hit on the monster, Giga Chad yanked on the lever of the crossbow, allowing it to pull the string back in preparation for another shot.

Thirteen had asked it to help him with the reloading operation earlier because it would be faster if they worked together.

While this was happening, the seven-year-old had already placed another bolt on the crossbow and prepared to fire a second time.

The beast that was hit by the bolt was surprised and confused, which prompted it to run away.

Fortunately, the paralyzing poison of the Desert Scorpion was quick to take effect, allowing Thirteen to shoot another arrow, hitting the monster's back in the process.

Since his target was still in his effective range, Thirteen didn't have a hard time landing his second shot.

"O1, O2, Charge!" As soon as Thirteen gave the order, the two Ogres ran toward the Grassland, holding torches in one hand and bone clubs in the other.

Since they didn't plan to kill their target, they didn't bring their jagged swords and left them in the camp.

When they arrived at their destination, the two Ogres saw a Rank 2 Black Panther, who seemed to only want to investigate their camp.

Since it was already paralyzed, they had no trouble dragging it back to the camp. They presented its body to the seven-year-

old, who had a disappointed look on his face.

"Too bad. It wasn't the Black Hound that you were looking for," Adira said while patting the seven-year-old's shoulder. "Even so, this Panther is still worth a decent amount of coins. So, not bad for your first hunt."

Adira then casually tossed a black cube onto the Panther, trapping it inside a cage, which the Ogres moved to the rear of their camp.

The other Monsters, who were paying close attention to Thirteen's camp, had no idea what had just happened.

All of them hastily retreated when the two Ogres came running in their direction.

Although they didn't understand how the Black Panther was neutralized, they became wary about approaching the camp for the rest of the night.

Because of this, the seven-year-old, who was very eager to catch another Monster, gradually fell asleep, with his finger still resting on the trigger of his crossbow.