Unknown to them, someone with sneaking eyes was overlooking the event taking place below a lush tree just 250 meters apart.
'Should I ask for help?'
"No."
Sam quickly shook his head.
"I have to know their motive, but first, their reason for visiting."
With his cold and sharp eyes, he stared at the event unfolding before him.
The man who was instructing them took out a small bottle and lightly spread a few drops before climbing the tree.
The mood, which was light, was now becoming depressing as Sam could feel it.
His vigilant eyes stared at the tranquil ground with deep alertness.
"Hua-!"
A dark golden brilliance flashed through and stood at the same position where the few drops were spread.
"Mutated leopard!"
From his memories, he understood that the group held the upper hand since they knew the target, and it was right before them. But the issue was—did they have enough manpower to defeat it?
"Whoosh!"
"Whoosh!"
One sharp weapon after another was stabbed into the mutated leopard's body. However, all of them bounced off, leaving only faint marks.
These attacks brought the leopard back from its intoxicating expression, but it was still too late, as a burly man, clenching his right fist, attacked it. A layer of bizarre purple-black patterns spread along his right arm.
'Is this the rune ability?'
This was the first time Sam got to watch a real live-action battle involving a runic warrior, so he was excited and filled with hope.
"Bang!"
A frightening power exploded and engulfed the surroundings, causing the ground to be covered in dust waves in the air.
"Howl!"
The mutated leopard howled.
"Hum—"
A bizarre vibrating wave spread over.
"Pu!"
Blood spurted out of the burly man who had still held the upper hand.
'Spirit attack!'
Sam quickly understood that this was a spirit attack, which was the most difficult to guard against among all attacks. Now, he was curious to see what their next move would be!
Just like before, another burly man, clenching his right fist, attacked using runic ability.
"Bang!"
The fist cracked through the air. The leopard sprinted to the other side, narrowly dodging the attack.
All traces of its intoxicating expression disappeared, leaving only its scarlet vertical pupils staring coldly at the burly man.
"Swish!"
All the remaining burly men appeared, leaving only the boss.
"We have to clear this quickly!"
They discussed it since they knew that prolonging the fight could attract unwanted monsters, which could be fatal for them. All their cold eyes stared at the leopard before suddenly throwing out a net.
"Swish!"
The leopard, with all its strength, leaped, but before it could even get out of range, it was blocked by the burly man.
Holding onto its foreleg, his head was just an inch away from the leopard's snapping maw.
"Hurry up! I can't hold on much longer."
The net mindlessly fell on the ground.
'I can handle it!'
Sam clearly understood that the boss was a normal human, so interfering in the battle could get him killed at any moment. According to his memories, 1 attribute was the maximum stat a human could achieve, so his doubled strength could be of help to them.
He knew that this was the time to prove his worth.
Without overthinking, he jumped out and ran toward them to help.
"I'm coming to help!"
All the burly men's eyes swept toward Sam's direction.
They were shocked for a moment before realizing what was happening and continued handling the leopard.
"A kid? What are you doing here, kid?"
"Enjoying my vacation!"
Sprinting, Sam quickly closed the distance while all the burly men remained busy handling the leopard.
"Kid, use that net!"
Taking a deep breath, Sam grabbed the mid-portion of the net and could tell that it was heavy, but not enough to put stress on his body.
Tightly loosening and clenching his fists, he stared at the burly man battling against the leopard while the other two burly men pulled its hind legs, preventing it from gaining any advantage.
He grabbed the tail tightly along with the mid-portion of the net using both hands and instructed the burly men.
"When I count down from three, let go of the leopard."
They gave him a deep stare, but Sam just nodded.
1!
2!
3!
As the countdown ended, with all his force, Sam rotated while the leopard levitated in midair.
At the top of his lungs, he shouted,
"This is the time to cover the mouth part with the net!"
The burly men didn't waste any time and waited for the right opportunity to grab the net's mouth portion to enclose the mutated leopard.
Sam eyes suddenly widened as realization dawned on him—the cooldown of the leopard's spirit attack could wear off at any moment.
Reaching this conclusion, he suddenly shifted his direction and started to mindlessly slam the mutated leopard from one side to another, not giving it a chance to activate its spirit attack.
"What are you doing, kid!"
The burly men shouted, confused by his sudden action, but Sam ignored them and continued while they helplessly watched the events unfold before them.
At this moment, the boss also hopped to the ground.
"He is incapacitating the mutated leopard so that it can't activate a spirit attack."
The burly men's eye sparkled.
Blood started to paint the ground, but Sam ignored it all and kept going, till he was convinced that the leopard was now incapacitated.
He fell to his knees, breathless. His whole body felt as though it had just been through a meat grinder; even a large amount of adrenaline couldn't wash away all the pain, as his dried wounds reopened, smearing his arms with blood.
And yet, he was exhilarated.
The satisfaction of killing the leopard was so immense that he even forgot about his current condition.
"Kid! Are you alright?"