Snap.
The sound was heartbreaking.
Lin pulled his arrow out of the crack in the cavern wall. The carbon-fiber shaft had splintered near the head, rendering it useless.
"Garbage aim," Vane muttered as he walked past, kicking a dead Cave Spider out of the way. "Stop wasting ammo on walls and carry the damn bag."
"Sorry," Lin mumbled, tossing the broken arrow aside.
He picked up the supply pack, his heart sinking. That was the second arrow he'd lost in the last hour.
[ Inventory: 18 / 20 Arrows ]
They had been in the Slime Caverns for three hours now. The Viper Squad was efficient, he had to give them that. They cut through the upper tunnels with brutal speed, clearing out nests of Spiders and Slimes.
But for Lin, the dungeon wasn't just a battlefield. It was a math problem.
Revenue: +1 Max HP per kill.
Expense: Durability loss on bow and arrows.
He was profiting in Health, but he was bleeding capital. If he ran out of arrows before the Boss room, his [Eternal Hunt] talent would be useless. He couldn't throw rocks—the talent specifically required "ranged weapon attacks."
"Rest break," Vane ordered, dropping his heavy shield with a clang. "Ten minutes. Silas, drink a potion. You're casting too slow."
The squad collapsed against the cavern walls. They were sweating, dirty, and bruised. Dungeon fatigue was setting in. The constant dampness and the threat of ambush drained mental stamina fast.
Lin sat a few meters away, near the edge of the torchlight.
He wasn't tired.
His Constitution (40) was doing its work. His stamina bar regenerated almost as fast as he spent it. While Vane was gasping for air, Lin's breathing was even and steady. He felt like he could run a marathon.
He had to hide it. He deliberately slumped his shoulders and breathed through his mouth, mimicking exhaustion.
"Hey, kid," Rat called out, tossing a ration bar at Lin. "Eat. Don't pass out on us."
Lin caught the bar. "Thanks."
While the team ate, Lin scanned the ground. He was sitting in a debris field—a spot where previous adventurers had camped or fought.
His eyes—sharp with 29 Agility and 11 Wisdom—spotted something in the rubble.
He shifted his position, blocking Rat's line of sight with his body. He reached into a pile of rotting goblin bones.
His fingers closed around a shaft.
It was a crossbow bolt. Short, thick, made of wood. The fletching was torn, but the iron tip was rusted but solid.
He found another one. And a third.
[ Item: Damaged Crossbow Bolt (Trash) ]
[ Damage: 2-4 ]
They were too short for his Recurve Bow. You couldn't fire a 10-inch bolt from a bow designed for 30-inch arrows. It would fall off the rest.
Unless...
Lin looked at his broken arrow shaft.
He took out his bone dagger. Working silently and quickly, he whittled the end of the broken arrow shaft into a notch. Then, he took the crossbow bolt and jammed it into the notch, tying it tight with a strip of cloth torn from his sleeve.
It was ugly. It was unbalanced. It looked like Frankenstein's monster of projectiles.
[ Item Created: Makeshift Heavy Arrow ]
[ Accuracy: -20% ]
[ Durability: 1/1 ]
"It works," Lin whispered.
He didn't need accuracy. He had volume. And more importantly, he had True Damage. It didn't matter if the arrow wobbled in the air; as long as it touched the target, the 1% HP damage would trigger.
He made three of them, salvaging parts from the debris.
[ Inventory: 18 Standard Arrows + 3 Makeshift Arrows ]
"Movement!" Rat hissed, standing up abruptly.
The break was over.
From the ceiling, a high-pitched screeching echoed. The stalactites seemed to come alive.
[ Monster Identified: Cave Bat (Lv. 2) ]
[ Monster Identified: Cave Bat (Lv. 2) ]
A swarm of them. At least twenty. They weren't strong, but they were fast, erratic, and annoying.
"Bats! Formation!" Vane roared, raising his shield as a bat dive-bombed his face.
"I hate bats!" Silas yelled, firing a bolt of magic. He missed. The bat zig-zagged in the air, mocking him.
"Hit them! They're scratching me!" Mira shrieked, swinging her mace wildly at the air.
Lin stood at the back. This was the hardest target for an archer. Small, fast, flying in low light.
But Lin felt... calm.
Everything seemed to slow down.
His 29 Agility wasn't just about running speed. It rewired his nervous system. His dynamic visual acuity locked onto the chaotic flight patterns of the bats. He could see the rhythm in their chaos.
Dive. Swoop left. Flap. Dive.
He drew his bow. He didn't use a good arrow. He grabbed one of the ugly Makeshift Arrows.
He tracked a bat diving toward Rat.
Lead the target by six inches... compensate for the unbalanced weight of the arrow...
[ Talent Activated: Eternal Hunt ]
The crimson aura wrapped around the jagged, taped-together projectile.
LOOSE.
The arrow wobbled in the air, flying clumsily.
But the bat flew right into it.
SPLAT.
The heavy bolt slammed into the bat's chest. The True Damage flared. The bat didn't just die; it disintegrated under the force of the energy, exploding into a puff of black mist and fur.
[ Target Eliminated: Cave Bat ]
[ Max HP +1 ]
"Got one!" Lin shouted, feigning surprise. "I got one!"
"Pure luck," Rat grunted, slicing a bat in half with his daggers. "Keep shooting!"
Lin didn't stop.
He grabbed a second makeshift arrow. He saw another bat harassing Silas.
Aim. Adjust. Fire.
The arrow spiraled through the air, hitting the bat's wing. The True Damage shockwave tore the wing off, and the creature spiraled into the wall, dead on impact.
[ Target Eliminated. ]
[ Max HP +1 ]
He switched to his standard arrows now.
Thwip. Kill. Thwip. Kill.
He was efficient. Brutally so. Every time a bat dipped low to attack a team member, Lin punished it. He wasn't stealing kills from Vane—Vane was smashing them fine—he was stealing kills from the air, taking targets that the melee fighters couldn't reach.
By the time the last bat fell, Lin had fired seven shots.
He had killed five bats.
[ Max HP +5 ]
The cavern went quiet again. The floor was littered with small, furry corpses.
"Clear," Vane breathed heavily, wiping guano off his shield. "Everyone okay?"
"I'm fine," Silas panted. "Just... dizzy."
Rat didn't answer immediately. He walked over to one of the bats Lin had killed. He pulled the arrow out.
It was the makeshift one. The ugly, taped-together monstrosity.
Rat looked at the arrow, then looked at Lin. His eyes narrowed.
"You made this?" Rat asked, holding up the arrow.
Lin froze. He nodded slowly. "I... I ran out of money for ammo. I found some bolts back there. I didn't want to be useless."
Rat studied the arrow. "This thing is unbalanced. It's garbage. You shouldn't be able to hit a barn door with this."
He looked at the dead bat. It was a clean kill. Center mass.
"And you hit a moving bat in the dark?" Rat asked, his voice low. "Twice?"
"I panicked!" Lin said, widening his eyes. "I just sprayed and prayed. I guess I got lucky?"
Rat stared at him for a long moment. He spun the arrow in his fingers.
"Luck," Rat repeated. He didn't sound convinced. "You have a lot of luck for a Porter, kid."
"Leave him alone, Rat," Vane called out. "He killed the bats, didn't he? Good job, trash. At least you're earning your 500 credits."
Vane didn't care about skill. He only cared that the monsters were dead.
Rat dropped the arrow. "Yeah. Good job."
He walked back to the front of the formation, but Lin saw him glance back over his shoulder twice.
Lin picked up his arrow.
He suspects.
A Rogue's job was to be paranoid. Rat realized that F-Rank stats couldn't pull off those shots.
Lin checked his status.
[ Current HP: 799 / 799 ]
[ Experience: 90 / 200 ]
He was close to Level 3. One more skirmish.
He looked at Rat's back. The Rogue had 280 HP.
Lin had 799 HP.
If he asks too many questions, Lin thought, sliding the arrow back into his quiver. He becomes a monster, too.
"Let's move," Vane ordered. "Boss room is close."
Lin shouldered his pack. He ensured his bone dagger was loose in its sheath. The dungeon was dangerous, but the real threat was walking ten meters in front of him.