Cathulhu Online, MUNYA!

Chapter 44 – Cat Dad's Gnoll Fishing Technique

Xiaomao glanced at the musket and rifle section and scoffed at them.

'Newbie traps.'

Although the rifles and muskets seemed useful and powerful, they were traps for dumb rich players.

In Xiaomao's previous life, many players tried borrowing the rifles and muskets as they thought that they were more effective than cold weaponry. However, they discovered a major flaw of hot weapons.

They came with no ammunition!

What was the use of the guns without ammunition?! Bonking monsters with the rifle's heel?!

Of course, the NPC wouldn't sell ammo to the players. They had to prepare the ammunition themselves. Thus, only the players that had done their homework could only use such weapons.

Xiaomao sighed. He also wanted to use the guns, but gunpowder in-game was extremely expensive. For example, one set of musket gunpowder cost 20,000 gold coins and one staple shell cost 5,000 gold coins. In short, the musketeer would always lose 25,000 gold coins per attack!

For now, Xiaomao was not rich enough for such expenditure, but he had something in mind.

The cat walked toward the crossbow rack. He scanned the fancy-looking crossbows, searching for something that he could use.

Several of them were so large that Xiaomao wouldn't call them crossbows. These ballistae were designed for 3-meter-tall Giant Race because the regular-sized crossbows were too small for them.

Fortunately, the racks featured many hand-sized and arm-sized crossbows that Xiaomao could handle. He picked the one that fit with his tentacle arms.

…

Rough Hephaestus Crossbow (Legendary)

This crossbow was roughly made by Hephaestus to arm his father's army. Because of the urgency, Hephaestus only focused on the quantity and ignored the quality of every crossbow. After the war, this crossbow falls into the hands of a battlefield looter before it was handed over to several merchants. And now, it is in your hands.

Because it was made for immortals, the weapon requires a lot of mana consumption upon use. No beginner or mortal with weak mental fortitude should play around with it if they don't want to die.

Item Type: Rental Magic Weapon

Effect: M.Attack + 1,000, AOE Fire Damage, Convert Physical Attack into Magic Attack, Ignore Magic Defense.

Requirement: STR 50, DEX 50, INT 50, WIS 50

Durability: 2,475 / 10,000

*[?????? Instinct]: This weapon consumes either 100 MP or 100 HP per use. The weapon is automatically returned to the Apostle of Chang'e after one hour.

…

As Xiaomao had expected, the weapon was brokenly overpowered. Even if it was a legendary weapon, the stats were too high.

But it came with a catch – Every bullet fired from the crossbow would consume either 100 MP or 100 HP of the user.

Xiaomao checked other legendary crossbows. However, all of the required level 40 or high DEX stats.

'I can't use anything else but this one. I'll take this.'

Xiaomao picked the Hephaestus Mini Crossbow.

Ding

<You have borrowed Rough Hephaestus Crossbow.>

The rainbow-named mini crossbow fitted in Xiaomao's tentacle. Even when he was using the arm with the claw gauntlet to hold it, the crossbow and the gauntlet didn't get in the way.

Xiaomao checked his combat status again to see how the game calculated his stats.

…

Combat Status

ATK: 0 + 15

DEF: 30 + 15

M.ATK: 1,470 + 15

M.DEF: 30 + 15

HP: 900 / 900

MP: 900 / 900

…

1,485 magic attack power!

Moreover, it ignored magic defense!

Xiaomao laughed. He didn't know how the gauntlet's attack power was added to the calculation, but he didn't mind it.

"This is why the game is perfectly balanced, munya!"

Xiaomao went back to the NPC and opened the spatial bank menu.

The bank was another inventory warehouse. It could store infinite items, and players could transfer items from the bank to their premium warehouse or the public marketplace. Also, Xiaomao could manage his public marketplace with this menu without going back to the city!

However, players were responsible for their spatial bank accounts. If they forgot their items in there after it expired, they would lose their items in the bank forever!

Xiaomao checked his market account through bank access. Surprisingly, he now had 161 PACTs. Several items were still on sale, but most Hyen Equipment was already sold out, especially the chest part and the helmet part.

Since Xiaomao had enough funds in his marketplace, Xiaomao added purchase requests. He listed blue-named fishes in his purchase quote so that players could sell fishes directly to him. Then, he put the Spatial Bank as his default warehouse storage for the day.

After everything was set, Xiaomao purchased a smelly salted sardine. He then closed the bank and shop menu. While walking toward the edge of the bridge, Xiaomao loaded a bolt onto the new crossbow.

He fired nine times at the west main suspension cable. Then, he looked up, grinning from ear to ear.

Xiaomao drank potions and recovered his MP back from 0 to 900. Then, he approached the east suspension cable and fired the bolt nine times.

Again, Xiaomao looked up and widely grinned.

The preparation was ready. Now, it was the time to bait the boss. He rested and drank more potions, waiting for his MP to recover to the max.

As soon as Xiaomao's MP returned to 900, he tossed the smelly salted sardine toward the bridge. A gnoll shaman caught it and glared at him.

GRRR

As soon as the smelly salted sardine appeared, the Gnoll General stood up and shove his retainers aside. He walked straight toward the shaman while the crowd of gnolls made a path for him.

While the Gnoll General was heading to retrieve his favorite snack, a rainbow bolt whizzed through the air and pierced a nearby gnoll soldier's iron helmet.

BOOM

5,600!

The gnoll's head exploded, scattering its brain, flesh, skull, and blood everywhere.

The explosion also harmed the other gnoll soldiers nearby!

2,958!

3,050!

2,975!

Every gnoll soldier within a radius of three meters suffered the collateral damage and was instantly burnt to ashes. Moreover, the explosion generated an incendiary shockwave, igniting everything in the radius of 10 meters on fire!

A dozen gnolls, including the Gnoll General, were caught on flame. The soldiers yelped in panic while the general only patted the fire off his skin.

Still, countless numbers appeared on top of their heads.

131!

179!

172!

157!

Every second, their HP bars decreased by a significant amount. Regular monsters like the gnoll soldiers lost 5% of their HP every second while gnoll shamans only lost 1% HP per tick.

As for the general, no sign of damage occurred to its HP bar.

"I missed, munya!"

Xiaomao was responsible for the attack just now. He had aimed at the gnoll general, but the wind from below the bridge changed the bolt's trajectory, causing it to hit the nearby target.

Xiaomao clicked his tongue as he put on a new bolt to the crossbow and tried again.

WHIZZED!

The aim was off again. This time, it hit the elite gnoll shaman, who was holding the sardine for the general.

The rainbow bolt punctured through the face of the gnoll shaman!

5,995!

Again, the 1,485 magic attack power was no joke. The shaman's HP dropped by half, and his robes were now on fire because of the flame shockwave.

Because of the two shockwaves just now, the sardine was burnt into charcoal.

The gnoll general stared at the black sardine with bloodshot eyes. He looked up and found Xiaomao, who had been sniping his men.

"DAMN CAT! GET DOWN HERE!!"

Surprisingly, it could talk.

Xiaomao smirked. He turned around and showed his butt.

PUU

The catopus farted and rained black ink on the gnolls. Then, he turned around and stuck out his tongue.

"Catch me if you can, munya!"

"BASTARD!"

The gnoll general was enraged. He rushed toward the bridge's cables and began climbing it.

Xiaomao grinned. Then, he glanced at the damaged suspension bridge cables.

'Hook, line, and sinker!'