Seeing the big tiger dare to attack him with its claws, Wang Zhifan immediately swung his blade to strike back directly.
But what a cunning beast the tiger is, as agile as a wild cat. Just as it extended its claws, before touching the weapon coming towards it, it swiftly retracted them. It was a premeditated feint!
If a novice swordsman encountered such a false attack, it would easily cause their blade, swung with full force, to hit nothing but air, exposing a fatal gap in front of them.
However, Wang Zhifan's swordsmanship is at level 3, already considered adept by general standards. Naturally, he would not be easily fooled by a mere tiger.
Although the slash he just made was powerful, he didn't use his full strength. From beginning to end, he left room for transition. Just as the tiger retracted its paw, he took a sudden step forward, simultaneously making the Wolf-Slaying Blade follow a beautiful arc with a sharp upward tilt. From an extremely tricky angle, he swiftly slashed upwards, cutting through the base of the tiger's retracted paw, sending a claw as large as a human face flying, accompanied by a spray of blood, onto the ground nearby!
With just one strike, he sliced off the tiger's sturdy paw as if cutting through a straw, demonstrating the Wolf-Slaying Blade's quality as a rare-grade weapon!
However, merely chopping off one of the tiger's claws does not resolve the fundamental problem. The severely injured tiger, not even having time to feel the pain in its body, angrily turned and pounced at Wang Zhifan with the force of Mount Tai pressing down!
At this moment, Wang Zhifan could choose to rely on his excellent swordsmanship to counterattack head-on, precisely targeting its weak points and attempting to kill it with one blow. But if he did so, he might be crushed to death by the enraged tiger, or if not crushed, he might be torn to shreds in its dying fury.
So, to save his life, Wang Zhifan decided to avoid the immediate danger. He instantly rolled to his rear side, swiftly and accurately moving behind a large tree, letting the tree trunk take the brunt of the raging tiger's desperate attack.
Bang!
Amidst the sound of the tiger crashing into the tree trunk, Wang Zhifan moved to reposition himself and shouted loudly:
"How long do you plan to wait?!!!"
He wasn't shouting at anyone else but the hooded and cloaked middle-aged man who had yet to attack the tiger!
Wang Zhifan already had some dissatisfaction towards this person, and during the previous man-tiger confrontation, he hadn't seen this guy expose even his face once. It was apparent that the person didn't seize the opportunity to ambush the tiger, not because of slow reflexes, but more likely due to ulterior motives, attempting to put Wang Zhifan in danger through laziness!
It's known that Wang Zhifan's original owner had been mingling in player forums and gathering various intel even before becoming a player, already aware of the player community's dirty dealings.
For example, when players team up in dungeons to fight monsters, although outright attacking and harming each other would trigger penalty mechanisms, if a player deliberately slacks off during a fight, intentionally moving slower to put more pressure on a teammate, placing them in a dangerous situation, there's a low chance they'd be driven into penalty zones!
Such behavior exists not only due to some players' malicious delight but also because some players discovered that, while they can't directly steal a teammate's equipment, they could find ways to let the teammate die at the hands of monsters. Then, the weapons and armor on the dead teammate become unowned, and they can take them without fear of triggering penalty mechanisms, potentially a quicker path to wealth than honestly fighting monsters for loot!
Considering the strange feeling that middle-aged player gave Wang Zhifan earlier, he had reason to suspect that this person intended to harm him right from the dungeon's start. Suggesting Wang Zhifan wait and confront the tiger was likely a setup for him to fall prey to the tiger, only for the man to seize his equipment afterward!
This isn't Wang Zhifan being overly sensitive. The Wolf-Slaying Blade and wolfskin armor he possesses, though others can't discern their precise quality, anyone with a decent understanding of equipment could see they weren't ordinary items. Hence, it's entirely possible for the middle-aged man to have sinister designs.
Shhh~
Roar!!!
Just as Wang Zhifan finished his furious outburst, he heard the sound of a sharp weapon piercing flesh from where the tiger was, followed by the tiger's pained and furious roar!
He immediately ducked behind a big tree and looked back, discovering that the hooded and cloaked middle-aged man had finally revealed himself, retreating among the trees while loading a crossbow in his hands. In front of him, the fiercely roaring tiger had a crossbow arrow deeply embedded in its eye socket! Evidently, the middle-aged man's handiwork!
"Girl, don't just stand there, load your gun, and shoot."
The ferocious tiger had been deprived of a paw by Wang Zhifan and blinded in one eye by the middle-aged man, becoming significantly less dangerous. Therefore, the middle-aged man not only fully exposed himself but also had time to remind the nearby, still slightly panicked female gunman to stop fleeing and get to work.
Upon seeing this, Wang Zhifan felt a sense of relief. He had initially prepared for the middle-aged player's continued pretense of inaction, ready to engage solo with the tiger, but it now seemed the man at least had some decency. Perhaps he genuinely reacted slowly due to age, but after Wang Zhifan's roar, he started acting seriously.
At this stage, Wang Zhifan essentially only needed to watch. The half-crippled tiger would struggle to pursue them in the woods, leaving the task of finishing it to his two teammates with ranged capabilities. He saw no need to risk himself with close-quarters combat any longer.
Thus, after a few seconds, amidst several gunshots and crossbow arrows slicing through the air, the once immensely fierce tiger met its end on the forest floor and quickly dissipated like smoke. Each of the three players who had completed the dungeon received a treasure chest in front of them.
The hooded, cloaked, middle-aged assassin player was the quickest to act, immediately storing his treasure chest in his personal space upon its appearance, then disappearing entirely.
The gunwoman player was either frightened or intensely excited after clearing the dungeon, shedding tears as she opened her treasure chest.
Only Wang Zhifan didn't rush to open his chest; he put his hands together facing the sky, murmuring as if praying for more luck in obtaining good equipment, while actually using this moment as a guise to read from the reward selection screen that appeared before him.