Billionaire Legacy: I Became Overpowered With My Spending System
Chapter 79 - Snow Panthers
CHAPTER 79: CHAPTER 79 - SNOW PANTHERS
They rested for half an hour beside the riverbank, pulling out food and water they’d prepared before entering the dungeon.
’’Let’s go now,’’ Livia said, standing up to take the lead. ’’We only need to walk one more mile before we reach the icy terrain.’’
’’Alright,’’ Logan answered, smiling.
Derek also gave a small nod, stepping out of the shadows to follow them.
As they walked, Logan checked the timer.
’Still 43 hours left,’ Logan thought. ’Thirty more miles should take eight hours. That gives us nearly a full day to hunt.’
He nodded, still in thought. ’That should be enough time.’
Logan caught up to Livia to share the news.
’’That’s perfect,’’ she answered, keeping her attention on her map. ’’We should be able to hunt a few of them in that time.’’
The reason she’d chosen the snow panthers as her target instead of the blue wolves or the spiders was simple.
The snow panthers were the only C-rank creatures inside the dungeon that did not hunt in groups, making it possible to single them out to kill them.
Logan looked ahead of him, finally seeing the ice mountains through the blue tree leaves.
The thick forest trees around him stopped as the terrain under his feet slowly turned white.
Stepping onto the snow, he heard the soft thumping sounds from his feet crushing the snow.
’’Halfway there,’’ Logan said, squinting his eyes as he saw snow mountains come into view.
Glancing at the ceiling above him, he couldn’t help but wonder how the dungeons actually worked.
’The ceiling here is far higher than in the previous part,’ he thought, narrowing his eyes. ’And the snow...’
He’d been taught about the different kinds of mana crystals that could appear on the ceiling of caves, causing different kinds of terrains underneath to appear, but seeing it in person was something different.
’It would have been beautiful,’ he thought, shaking his head with a wry smile. ’If it wasn’t the perfect terrain for panthers to camouflage themselves.’
Logan knew that just because they weren’t at their main destination didn’t mean they wouldn’t encounter other creatures or lower-ranking panthers.
’’From here on, we need to be careful and stay together,’’ Livia reminded them, looking mainly at Derek who was walking several feet behind them.
’’We’ll also need to take turns with our detection abilities,’’ she continued, assigning everyone their role and when they needed to switch.
Logan nodded. Derek was up first, then him, with Livia taking the final shift.
In that order, they would change the scouting role every hour until they got to their destination.
It didn’t take long before they faced their first ambush.
Midway through Derek’s watch, a creature hiding under the snow was spotted and quietly reported to the group.
’’He’s just past this hill,’’ Derek said, pointing past the tiny hill in front of them expressionlessly. ’’Seems to be around D-rank.’’
Logan and Livia nodded, all three of them quietly sneaking up the hill with their weapons drawn.
Livia gestured for them to walk around the hill and surround the creature while she planned on using herself as bait.
Both Logan and Derek listened to her plan, surrounding the creature quietly.
’Livia can handle it herself,’ Logan thought, sneaking up the hill. ’We are just here to prevent it from running away and returning with its parents or siblings behind it.’
As a D-rank creature specialized in snowy terrain, the panther was far faster through the snow than any of them.
Activating his mana sight, he saw the panther coming straight toward him.
’’As expected,’’ Logan mumbled, holding his glaive horizontally beside his body.
With one clean move, he jumped forward as the snow panther entered his sight.
The panther immediately tried to jump sideways, but Logan was prepared.
Pushing more strength into one leg, he launched diagonally and slashed his glaive in front of him, cutting cleanly through the creature’s front legs.
The panther roared as it slid forward through the snow, leaving a large trail of blood behind as it rolled off the tiny hill.
’Its fur really is indistinguishable from the snow,’ Logan thought, walking over with his glaive upside down. ’Except for the wounds on its body.’
As the panther desperately struggled and roared, Logan ended its misery by pushing his glaive’s blade through its head.
’Better it than one of us.’ Logan thought, feeling no remorse as he yanked his glaive free, splattering blood across the snow.
’’These creatures have some great reaction speed,’’ Livia remarked, walking down the hill slowly.
Logan gave a nod, looking at the burn wound that he hadn’t inflicted on the creature’s side.
"Same plan for the C-ranks later," Livia announced after Derek also joined them. "But once one jumps at me, you two need to move right away."
Derek stared at her, his expression unreadable as the floating recording device powered off its camera and drifted closely behind him.
Logan watched him out of the corner of his eye. Something about him felt off.
He crouched down and dug out the snow panther’s core, but the feeling lingered.
As he stood up again, he slid the core into his belt pouch, then sent it to his space ring with a thought.
’They are just a tad bit safer in there,’ Logan thought to himself, taking a quick glance at the silent Derek. ’In case something happens.’
Continuing on their way, the air around them slowly grew colder, causing their breath to fog with every exhale.
"From now on, we’ll ignore D-ranks unless they’re directly in our path," Livia said, a small foggy cloud escaping her mouth. "Wasting time and energy on lone D-ranks just isn’t worth it when C-ranks give way more points."
’’Sounds good,’’ Logan answered, thick plumes of smoke rising from his mouth due to his body heat.
He shook his head slightly. ’Well... there’s nothing that can be done to hide my temperature in situations like this.’
Even breathing in and out through his nose left clouds of fog three times the size of Livia and Derek’s.
If it wasn’t for his body suit, he would’ve been a walking sauna melting everything around him.
As the hours passed, they moved as efficiently as possible until a massive mountain, stretching as far as they could see, came into view.
’That’s our destination,’ he thought, squinting into the distance as an uneasy feeling settled over him.