Chapter 18 - Marshland Adventure

Midnight inside a hotel room, a clean-shaven middle-aged man with a stern look sporting a pompadour black hair wearing a suit and a silver-trimmed spectacle was seemingly deep in thought, sitting on a velvet sofa while petting his monster.

*Buzz*

The silence was broken by the sudden buzz and the man's train of thought vanished. He looked at the door and calmly spoke, "Come in."

The door opened slowly and a young woman walked inside followed by her own monster. She suddenly stopped exactly 3 meters away from the man, knelt on her left knee and lowered her head before speaking.

"Sir, we successfully made contact and the target does not seem to suspect anything."

"Good, initiate phase 2."

******

Morning came and Jinao was preparing breakfast for the monster at The Base.

Today, all of the monsters except Xiao Su was here and are busy doing their own thing.

The phone rang and it stopped the food preparation. It first checked who it was and immediately answered when it saw Ji Liu was the caller.

{Jinao, prepare everyone and be on standby.}

"Should I also prepare myself?"

{No, our path today is still safe, continue to observe the two fusing monster and take notes.}

"Okay, Okay"

The call then ended and Jinao resumed food preparations.

Mr. Krabs approached and asked who it was.

"Ji Liu called and ordered for you all to be on standby. Please inform everyone." Jinao told Mr. Krabs.

Mr. Krabs nodded with its protruding eyes and went around informing the others.

'I should make sure to remind them not to forget their equipment.' Jinao thought after it finished preparing the food.

******

The Western part of Wanqiang Metropolis was a marshland filled with Silver level monsters and a few occasional Gold level. Very few people travel in this area due to the fact that there are few useful materials to be gathered.

Ji Liu was riding on top of Xiao Su while they were flying just above the trees. He was flying low in order to hunt monsters he needed for his monster evolution.

He then spotted a Gold level Tornado Sparrow which is a Wind-type monster. He commanded Xiao Su to land nearby after making sure there are no other Gold level monster nearby that can compromise the situation.

They landed unnoticed thanks to [Conceal Presence] and Ji Liu then summoned his monsters to prepare for the upcoming battle.

While his monsters were preparing, he snuck to observe the Tornado Sparrow's behavior in order to devise a strategy to kill it with minimal loss.

Xiao Cike initiated the battle by riding on top of Xiao Su to fly on top of the monster and with both using [Conceal Presence], went undetected.

Xiao Cike then jumped down towards the Tornado Sparrow and, using its new tail weapon with [Crystal Attack], struck the monster's head making it lose control and fall to the ground.

Xiao Su caught Xiao Cike and put it down while Mr. Krabs suddenly appeared under the Tornado Sparrow using its [Water movements] then hammered the monster's chest with its claw with [Advanced Poison Attack] sending it towards Zhao.

Zhao followed up by clamping the Tornado Sparrow's wings with its claws with [Advanced Ice Attack] and piercing the monster's back with its tail with [Swamp Attack].

Recovering from the stun caused by Xiao Cike's attack, the Tornado Sparrow used its [Wind Overcharge] and escaped from Zhao's grasp. Enraged, it whipped blew a gust of strong wind with its [Wind Overload] ability blowing away Mr. Krabs and Xiao Cike.

The Tornado Sparrow sent some more attacks with [Wind Overload] before trying to run away but Xiao Su blocked its path and sent a tackle with [Advanced Poison Attack] and [Advanced Poison Trail].

The Tornado Sparrow sent a gust of wind with [Wind Overload] while dodging the attack but Xiao Cike's timed [Flash] amplified by Ji Liu's shield distracted the monster just enough to delay the dodge making Xiao Su's attack barely connect.

Now poisoned, the Tornado Sparrow's movement was visibly reduced making the battle easier for Ji Liu's monsters. Xiao Su smashed its wings with [Steel Attack] to the poisoned monster sending it down again.

Zhao used [Ice Overcharge] and [Advanced Ice Attack] to further decrease its speed while Xiao Cike used its [Haze Attack] ability by sending squeaking sounds to confuse and trap the monster.

Confused, the Tornado Sparrow sent random attacks with [Wind Overload] destroying the surrounding area. Xiao Cike and Mr. Krabs already learned from the previous attack and, together with Ji Liu, hid beneath Zhao while it used its [Ice Overcharge] to dampen the damage.

They waited until the Tornado Sparrow tire itself and brought it down.

After defeating the Tornado Sparrow, Xiao Cike and Mr. Krabs dismantled the carcass while Ji Liu, Zhao, and Xiao Su were resting nearby.

After eating, cleaning up, and resting, just as Ji Liu was recalling his other monsters, Xiao Su returned from flying around and sent a distress signal and pointed with its wing a direction.

******

"We can to lose them, don't lose hope."

10 Silver level Swamp Orcs were chasing after 4 wounded Elf within the swamp.

The elves were running and shooting with their bows made of Wind-type monster materials while the Orcs were holding their blooded weapons deftly dodging.

The elves were losing hope as they ran out of arrows. Their contracted monsters were already killed when they were ambushed and their 3 other allies were chased down and killed one by one.

An elf ran out of arrow, drew her sword and shouted, "Go ahead and I'll hold them back"

"NO!"

"Don't worry Young Miss, these Orcs are no match. I'll follow you back after I deal with these monsters." said the elf with no arrows.

"Young Miss let's go, with Captain's skills, She can handle even 30 of them." Another elf urged the Young Miss.

Soon, the 10 Orcs arrived at the lone elf's location. Some of the Orcs tried to fight the elf while the others ignored her but she was determined to hold all 10 of the Orcs in place to buy time.