Chapter 126 - Pangolins (Patreon)

Hera walked through the path that crested over the cave entrance. It was already dark, and if it weren't for the moonlight, she wouldn't be able to see a thing. Looking at the sky, Hera couldn't believe she was inside a room. The stars were so bright, and even the milky way was there. The only time Hera saw the sky so bright was when she went camping by a mountain during a field trip. Part of her wanted to keep going and look for the pangolins. However, she knew that it was a bad idea. The moonlight wasn't enough to give her a clear view of the area. Going now would be incredibly reckless.

She looked for a wider area on the path, a place big enough to set up her bed and the perimeter alarm that she had. It was a set of twelve small spikes that she could place it in the ground. If anything crossed the boundary, a loud noise would ring inside the perimeter. That and the monster repellent fire should be enough to keep her safe during the night. Not that she would be able to sleep very soundly. It was one thing to fight monsters during the day and go back to the city at night. Sleeping in the middle of the wild was very different.

Hera grabbed the air mattress that came with a mana powered pump. It had enough charge for a single use. Then it would need to be charged again, but at least she wouldn't need to tire herself inflating her bed. It took her less than thirty minutes to have her small campsite ready. The only thing missing was to light up the fire.

She opened the pack and realized that she would also need some wood to keep the fire going. The only thing that came with the package was a set of six green lighters. The instructions said that after light, the repellent would burn for 1 hour, and each 100grams of wood could make it burn for an extra hour to a maximum duration of 12 hours.

"I really should have read the instructions earlier," Hera sighed.

She looked back to the path. She wasn't sure if she should go back to look for branches. She didn't need a lot of wood, but getting near the woods could be a risk. Looking through her belongings, Hera tried to find something that could work as a substitute. The only thing that could potentially burn was the rations that she got.

"Crap, it's either that or sleeping without the repellent," Hera got up, "Screw it. Let me light it, so nothing comes close to the camp, and then I go grab more wood."

Hera placed one of the green lighter disks on the ground towards the edge of the cliff and lit it. A green flame formed on the top of the lighter. Hera waited for a moment, expecting something else to happen, but everything stayed the same. It was almost like she had lit up a candle.

She headed back to the woods with the flashlight in her hand. When the moonlight stopped helping, she activated her pulse spell before walking forward. There seemed to be nothing around, but she wasn't sure how much she could trust the spell right now. The panther never showed up in the mana ring.

She avoided going deep into the forest and looked for broken branches or easy to grab pieces of wood. Instead of carrying it all at once, Hera made a small pile a few meters away from the trees. It would take longer, but it was safer than having a bunch of twigs on her hand if something charged at her.

There was no way to weight the amount of wood she had, but after grabbing a few twigs, Hera couldn't find any more branches on the ground. Holding her handaxe, she looked for a tree with low enough arms that she could cut it without having to climb. She had to go a bit deeper into the woods. On the edge of the forest, the trees had tall branches, and she wasn't too keen on taking down an entire tree just for a bonfire. When she finally found one low enough, she started cutting the branch.

Hera was halfway through when Yarnball started to vibrate. She touched the relic,  "Why are you..." realizing that it was the Danger Sense triggering, Hera activated her Pulse and managed to see something flying towards the back of her head.

Ducking, she turned around and looked for her assailant, but there was nothing there. She activated her Pulse once more. The mana wave that came out of her only hit the trees and foliage. There was no creature there. Or was there?

At the edge of her spell, there was an odd formation in the tree. She knew that the trunks were never perfectly cylindrical. They all had their wounds and bumps. Yet, there was a shape that didn't seem to fit the trees behind her. It was almost like a set of claws of a creature that was hugging the tree. Hera flashed her light towards that direction to make sure she wasn't going crazy. The claw-like formation had the exact same color as the trees, even following the pattern on the trunk. Still, that was bothering Hera. If the panther were strong enough to hide its name, making an illusion to match the area wouldn't be impossible.

If that really were the monster, it would be better to strike first, "And since you showed me your ranged attack, allow me to reply in kind," Hera thought as she prepared a fire arrow. As the spell went flying towards the formation, she realized the danger of what she just did. If that was really a tree, it could start a wildfire. She held her breath, watching the arrow impact the odd protrusion on the trees. To her surprise, the claw-like shape moved, and something fell behind the trunk.

Hera rushed towards it, with her axe in one hand and the flashlight in the other. The creature was purple, with the same pattern as the trees, and it was as big as a pig. When the light hit its face, Hera saw that it could move its eyes individually. Not only that, but its legs were not changing shade and pattern. Instead of the deep purple bark, they were turning into violet, just like the leaves on the ground.

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Giant Chameleon (Illusion Affinity)
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Hera froze for a moment. It wasn't the panther. Did it really leave? Or was it still lurking around? She looked to the sides, trying to find the monster that chased her.

With its prey distracted, the chameleon attacked with its tongue once more, hitting Hera's stomach and pulling her towards it. The explorer tumbled forward, using her hand to fight back the pull of the monster.

"What is with you lot trying to eat me!" Hera yelled as her axe came down on the monster's tongue.

The impact cut the creature, freeing Hera while it recoiled from the pain. She jumped towards it and gave a few more strikes on the monster's head, killing the chameleon.

"What? That's it?" Hera stared at the corpse, "I was expecting more."

She finished cutting the branch that she needed and dragged the dead chameleon to the place where she left all her twigs. Since she was already there, she could get some meat for dinner. That way, she could save up on rations. But carrying the entire body was a bit much. She cut some fatty bits and stuck it into a smaller twig. Leaving the corpse there, Hera headed back to her camp with what she hoped to be enough wood for the bonfire.

As she got close, she saw that the repellent was still burning, and nothing had been disturbed, "Well. Either it works, or nothing came close."

She crossed the perimeter set up by the stakes, and a loud high-pitched noise started to ring. "Crap, I forgot about that," she hurriedly placed the wood near her bed and went towards the stakes. Taking one of them out made the noise only grow louder. She hurried to the area where she had left the package and started reading through the instructions. The noise was making it hard to understand what was written.

Hera rushed to outside the perimeter, and the noise stopped as she crossed the threshold. Now she could read the instructions. The stakes would make a loud noise to alert the people inside it and confuse any monster entering the area. If a stake were taken out, the noise would increase. To deactivate it, she had to pump some mana inside the one stake and then do the same to the stake on the opposite side in less than a minute. Taking a deep breath, she rushed inside the perimeter once more and deactivated the stakes.

She set up the bonfire, hoping it would last ten hours and placed the stakes once more, trying to activate them, but the small light that showed they were on never blinked. Reading the instructions once more, she realized that a two-hour cooldown period was required for the stakes to be used again.

With a sigh, Hera prepared her food and stayed up practicing the Mana Reinforcement while waiting for the stakes to be ready for use again.

As morning came, the sunrise woke Hera up. The green fire was still burning, and the stakes were all in place. During the night, she got closer to completing the Mana Reinforcement spell, but there was still a long way to go.

Hera got up and put away all her camping gear. The air bed would take some time, but after she took all the air out, it was about the size of a deodorant can. The pump was just as small. She already knew how to deactivate the spikes, and according to the instructions, to put out the monster repellent fire, all she needed to do was hit it with her mana. The fire would react with human energy and be snuffed out.

She raised one hand, pointing at the bonfire, and sent a fire arrow towards it. The spell impacted the logs, and the green flames started to move more violently until it spews out red and yellow embers towards the sky.

"I never expected that fighting fire with fire would make a firework," even the waves that repeatedly crashed against the entrance of the cave seemed to be silent after that phrase, "Fine, Mark is better at it than me. I won't try to be funny again. Are you happy?" Hera huffed before walking up towards the rocky plateau.

It took her another fifteen minutes of waking up before the path became less steep, and another twenty before she could see the plateau. The ground opened to the side, going a long way until reaching the stone surrounding the cave.

"Could there be a dungeon around here?" Hera looked around, trying to see anything that could be an entrance, but to no avail. What she did notice were the several creatures that were roaming around. They had thick long legs and thinner arms, a face that reminded Hera of a hairless possum. They varied in size, from small ones about the size of a cat to a massive one walking in the distance, about the size of a horse.

Yet, the most incredible thing about them were the scales covering each of their bodies. Each of them had a unique color and pattern. The closest to Hera had orange scales with green stripes. Even with the beauty of it, it seemed a simple design compared to the larger ones. The larger one had such a tapestry on its scales that Hera thought she was staring at a kaleidoscope. She activated her [Observe], but the big one was too far for it to work.

"I really need to figure out a way to increase the range," Hera mumbled.

She turned her attention to the orange one close to her.

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Prism Pangolin (Earth-Grass Affinity)
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"What the hell does that mean?" Hera gasped. It was the first time she ever heard of something with double affinity. Getting her tablet ready, she activated her [Hide] and started to observe the behavior of the creatures.