Chapter 19: Rune Weapon!

After making his decision, Nick quickly put it into action. The area he explored yesterday was to the left of the palace. Continuing to explore there would waste digging attempts and yield no resource rewards.

He came to the right side of the palace. When Nick had the idea of digging, a translucent light blue screen appeared before him.

[Dig 9 meters to the right, you will encounter the dungeon creature Cerberus. After killing it, you have a good chance of obtaining unexpected rewards!]

Looking at the hint before him, Nick frowned slightly. During yesterday's exploration, when he was digging alone, he had encountered this kind of dungeon creature, but the hint at that time was not optimistic.

But today, there was a change out of the blue.

"Could it be you, Python?"

Nick glanced at the clingy pangolin, Python. It was very likely that the reason was this little guy. After all, he was very clear about Python's strength.

He didn't dwell on it too much. Since he had a chance of winning against Cerberus, he had to try it no matter what.

Nick picked up his shovel and started digging at the wall. With a distance of 9 meters, it only took ten minutes to dig with all his might.

When he was only a wall away from going to the next dungeon, he stopped digging, took out the hand crossbow from his waist, and skillfully loaded it with bolts.

Facing a flexible dungeon creature like a dog, Nick didn't think the other party would give him time to prepare. Preparing in advance was the best way to be prepared.

"Python, when we go out... you stall that guy!"

Nick tapped the pangolin's hard black scales. As long as it could stall for a moment, he was confident that he could kill it with the hand crossbow.

Python, the pangolin, nodded obediently after hearing Nick's words. It also waved its claws, as if telling Nick that its strength was not bad either!

"Then..."

Nick could feel the adrenaline surging in his body. He kicked the thin wall directly. Under this huge force, a hole large enough for a normal person to pass through appeared before him.

Python, the pangolin, took the lead and jumped out of the passage.

Nick also saw the original appearance of this dungeon in the dust. It was about 50 square meters in size, quite cool and not stuffy.

The figure of Cerberus was not far away. It had been resting on the ground, but it suddenly woke up when it sensed the movement.

When it stood up, Nick could see the appearance of Cerberus. However, calling its body a dog was somewhat of a disservice.

Its size was similar to that of an adult lioness. There was no hair on its slender body. On its black skin, red patterns could even be vaguely seen.

The two ugly heads were ferocious, with two sharp fangs exposed on the upper jaw. If one were bitten by Cerberus, it would definitely not be pleasant.

Cerberus looked at Nick not far away. The killing intent emanated from its red eyes. It let out a low roar and decisively pounced towards Nick.

Its speed was so fast that it closed most of the nearly 10-meter distance in a single breath.

"Whoosh!"

Nick's face was solemn. With this speed, if he couldn't kill it in one hit, he would definitely not be a match for this dungeon creature.

He aimed the hand crossbow at Cerberus and pulled the trigger without hesitation. With a brief piercing sound, the crossbow bolt directly hit Cerberus's hind leg.

With a howl, black blood instantly gushed out from the wound, and the air was filled with a fishy smell.

Just then, in the dust that had not yet settled on the ground, Python, the pangolin, pounced towards Cerberus, directly hitting Cerberus with its hard scales, buying Nick a brief moment.

Python's explosive power could even knock away the huge red python, let alone Cerberus. Under this huge impact, Cerberus was directly knocked back several meters.

But when it staggered to its feet, what awaited Cerberus was only Nick's cold arrow, which pierced it accurately from its chest.

With Cerberus's howl, Nick, being cautious, even shot an arrow into each of its two heads, and Cerberus finally lost its breath.

"It's a good thing I brought Python..."

Nick looked at Cerberus's corpse on the ground, feeling somewhat fortunate. Without melee combat methods, facing the fast Cerberus, the hand crossbow might not have been very effective.

In a small space, the loading speed of the hand crossbow was a flaw. If Python hadn't knocked it away, there would have been no chance to load the arrow and fire a second shot.

Python, the pangolin, not far away, returned to Nick's side after sensing that Cerberus had no signs of life. As if asking for credit, it rubbed its small head against Nick's calf.

"..."

Nick gently patted Python's head, and then looked at Cerberus's corpse. When it was killed by Nick, a brass-colored treasure chest quietly appeared beside it.

The style of this treasure chest was also unprecedented for Nick, showing a flat, long shape.

Seeing this scene, Nick couldn't help but look forward to it. The shortcomings of the hand crossbow were quickly highlighted in this kind of close-range combat.

If he could obtain other weapons or armor rewards from the treasure chest, it would be of great help to his dungeon exploration.

"Even a small knife or short blade... would be fine!!"

With apprehension, Nick slowly opened the brass chest. But the next moment, his urgent desire to get a melee weapon was completely dashed.

Lying in the box was a bow, and nothing else. There weren't even any arrows this time.

This bow was about one meter long, and there were special patterns on the wooden grip. Nick glanced at it and knew that this was the so-called Rune in the dungeon civilization.

"This..."

Nick's expression was somewhat strange. The moment he picked up the bow, he felt its heavy weight. He didn't know what material the bowstring was made of. He gently plucked it and could feel the fundamental difference between this bow and the Ancient Hand Crossbow.

Although it was a bow, the one in Nick's hand belonged to the dungeon civilization.

"..."

At this time, Nick didn't have much of a clue. He opened the [Identify] function of the black panel and identified the bow in his hand.

However, when he saw the result, the smile on Nick's face never diminished.

Melee weapons? Get out of here!

[Rune Bow (Wind Attribute)]: A product of the dungeon civilization. It is made into the shape of a bow using special materials. With a Wind Rune as the core, the magic circle is engraved on the bow body, and special arrows are fired with Rune power.

[Note: Using the Rune Bow will consume stored Rune energy. After the energy is exhausted, it needs to be replenished before continuing to use!]