Chapter 236: Cow Tipping

"Boss?"

Basil called. Moon suddenly jerked his head forward, searching for something intently.

Yet Moon was oblivious to his calls; he jumped to his feet, eyes rapidly darting around, looking for something.

"EVERYONE. WE’RE MOVING NOW!" he shouted and started running in a certain direction without Gustav leading the way.

"What’s going on?"

"Already?"

Some voiced their complaints, but Moon was already on the move.

He wasn’t waiting for anyone, but moving ahead on his own. Soon Raiju, Gustav, Talia, Dorbish and Basil approached him.

Moon didn’t even check if Mishu was in the bag or had jumped off on his own somewhere.

"What’s going on?" Talia asked first.

"A gate," Moon answered curtly and certainly.

"Sir Moon, we didn’t receive any quests regarding a gate," Gustav said sceptically.

Whenever a gate opened, a quest was issued to all ascenders within the range to defend against it.

Yet, for Moon, who came from the first floor, no system had existed; thus, he didn’t know about the quest.

He had never even met a single ascender on the first floor or known it was a floor of a Tower in the first place.

Moon didn’t argue; he didn’t justify either.

He just ran to where it was.

And soon... He stopped.

In the middle of nowhere, Moon had brought everyone to stare at nothing.

"This is... where the gate is?" Dorbish asked.

Moon nodded. "It’ll open here... I’m sure," he said with certainty again.

"How do you know?" Dorbish asked again, still not convinced.

Moon thought for a moment. "It feels like the air is smashing into my head; my ear starts ringing."

"Which ear?" Basil asked.

"My left ear most of the time," Moon answered seriously.

"Do you think which ear is important now?" Dorbish shot Basil a look.

Basil only shrugged innocently.

The hundreds of ascenders started gathering closer behind Moon. They ran a wild sprint, but thankfully, the distance wasn’t long.

The place where Moon ran to and stood now was only several hundred meters away, which was fortunate considering they were trying to catch their breath.

Turning around, Moon found the dubious faces of everyone around staring at him with a hint of question.

Wondering what exactly was going on.

Including Emrys, whom Moon didn’t seem to like for some reason.

Moon ignored him, along with everyone else, and waited. He seemed too sure that a gate would open for some reason.

Those who stood close to him knew why he had come, but the farther back one stood among hundreds of individuals...

It was impossible for them to catch the conversation ongoing at the forefront.

Minutes passed slowly, so slowly that Basil dropped to the ground, resting his face on his fist while looking at the empty spot where Moon was looking.

Ding!

[Emergency quest]

All Ascenders follow the indicator, suppress gate creatures.

Detecting Creatures type and numbers....

A new quest appeared before every Ascender around.

"Boss, you really are a living gate detector!" Basil exclaimed, jumping in front of his face.

Moon gave him a disgusted frown. "Did you, bastard, doubt me?" he asked.

"Of course not, how could I?" Basil denied it readily, his tone as light as ever.

BOOM~

Wind currents gathered, producing a sonic boom ahead of everyone standing, just meters away from the front line, where Moon was.

White radiance emerged in the empty space, forming a round circle that began expanding rapidly, producing a vacuum in the process.

The air currents grew more violent, and soon... The creature made its appearance.

"A scorpion cow?" Moon exclaimed with a frown.

A creature that was white and black spotted, had a long and wide head like that of a cow with a pair of huge horns. It also had six armored legs, spikes on the back along the spine and shoulder bones that produced a faint hue.

At the end of the body crept a huge sharp tail that seemed to belong to an oversized scorpion.

Dorbish’s mouth fell open for a second. "That’s the scorpion cow you spoke of?" he asked.

He remembered Moon had once mentioned they used the milk of the scorpion cow to make very bad cheese that had him traumatized of all cheese for a while.

Moon nodded. "Yeah, though it was never that big on the first floor," he said, leaving a small but significant detail between the lines.

"How did you hunt there?" Dorbish asked. "The barrier and the tail? How do you deal with them?"

"Barrier?" Moon frowned, but he gave a proper answer.

"PREPARE FOR BATTLE!"

"PREPARE FOR BATTLE!"

Gustav and Talia shouted, bringing everyone into motion to fight. Their weapons unsheathed, Echo gathered and was ready.

"Bruh, tis just a big scorpion cow," Moon said with a hint of disappointment in his voice.

"What are you doing?" Dorbish asked, raising his axe... ready for battle, but what Moon did wasn’t part of what they were doing.

His body leaned back tensely; every muscle in his body contracted, and his Spark Echo showed faint, almost indecipherable radiance on his arm holding the weapon.

"JUST A SCORPION COW I SAID!" Moon shouted, throwing Liquid Mountain, aimed at the cow’s head.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Dorbish shouted in frustration.

Moon ignored him, now that he was in combat. He didn’t bother himself with whatever anyone said. Moon believed he could hunt it alone, so easily that the first thing he actually did was throw his prized weapon away.

Against everyone’s expectations—

Stab~

The blade sank in an inch into the cow’s head, just enough for it not to fall.

"A thousand arrows in the head can’t kill that thing." Dorbish was about to lose his mind and composure.

The eloquent fellow ascender who could talk his way through most situations was apparently weak under pressure.

Combat pressure, to be exact.

Still, his problems had nothing to do with Moon — for what followed was the game changer...

Moon jumped to the head, where Liquid Mountain was, under the stunned gaze of both the group and the creature alike.

He landed on the hilt with a kick, using every ounce of momentum he had.

Against everyone’s expectations.

The huge body swayed, unable to stay in balance.

MOOOO~

The creature cried once, before—

SMACK~

Falling to its side, eyes wide open, staring at Moon, who was around as big as its eye, or maybe even smaller.

"That’s a very big one indeed." Moon shook his head in disbelief, doubting his eyes even after seeing it up close.

Moon placed his foot on the inner orbit bone of the eye, holding his blade that had landed right between the frontal, nasal and lacrimal bones of the skull.

Exactly under the glabella spot of the creature.

Moon tightened his grip and yanked, rotated, one time after another.

The creature screamed, but couldn’t resist.

Moon gritted his teeth. "Damn tough." He let a small amount of his Spark Echo coat Liquid Mountain.

"COME OOON!"

Crunch~

One time after another, small creaks and sounds started to faintly radiate from the wailing creature’s skull.

The creature, for some reason, seemed to be paralysed, unable to properly thrash around or fight back in any meaningful way.

"HAAAAA!" Moon shouted once again, and finally—

Crack~

A clear cracking sound was finally heard.