"Wow, that really worked!" Erica said excitedly.
"Of course, it was. I used the potion to fish in the ocean before. And I got several tons of fish to be brought to my floating Island. It would reduce the oxygen level of the water for some hours, but it was enough to make the creatures in the water feel uncomfortable and then appeared on the surface," Aria said with a proud expression.
"Guys, It seems It is not the time to chat. It looks pissed," Gon said after inspecting the creature's information.
[Ascetic Crayfish, Level 50, Boss]
It was a lobster-like monster that had a size more than 50 m in length. Its eyes looked angrily at the group.
"You coward, you can hide if you are afraid," Erica scoffed.
"Stop! We are facing a gigant right now. It definitely had a ton of HP. Erica, Eric! attack if you see an opportunity. Miss Aria, I know that your specialty is not a healer. However, I heard each angel has recovery skills. If you don't mind…," Mars said.
"Yes, Boss!" Erica and Eric shouted as they started to fly.
"Don't worry! We are the best healer race in the world. I will not allow you to die even if you want to," Aria also started to fly.
"Good! As for you...," Mars looked at the stiffened Gon, "Do whatever you like!"
Mars then started to fly towards the gigant, leaving Gon who was unsure to be glad or angry. He then sighed powerlessly. He could only see Mars flew to the front of the gigant.
"Gigant! I am Mars, one of the dragon lords from Dragma Valley. I declare this area to be my territory. I give you three choices. to surrender and become my ally, Leave here peacefully or die! What is your choice?"
*Scheeetc*
The crayfish roared and then several large pillars of water ascended to the sky targeting The flying Mars and the rest.
Eric, Erica, and Aria dodged them easily, but Mars didn't budge and received the attacks head-on.
It made the rest of the 'gang' shocked. Gon who stood on the shore was horrified. However, a few seconds later when the pillar fell down, he could see Mars although was injured, still flew proudly. Gon could imagine He was grinning at the moment.
Mars's body then shone and his injuries were mostly healed. Gon then saw Aria pointed a staff to Mars.
"Is that your answer? Then, die!" Mars then flew towards one of its eyes and grabbed it and tore it out.
*Scheeetc*
The crayfish screamed in pain and then it swung its claw towards Mars. Mars easily dodged it and then exhaled a row of fire breath to its head.
*Woooss*
*Boom*
The crayfish could only receive the dragon breath head-on. As the fire hit the water, it was vaporized instantly. The misty lake became hazier as considerable vapor covered it in an instant.
"It's too brutal!" Gon said. He then saw Erica and Eric flew to behind the gigant while being covered by the mist to launch sneak attacks.
"It must be good to be able to fly," Gon murmured.
The long battle had just started.
***
After getting the news from Sofia, Ace's party discussed what they had to do next.
"We can't go back like this. We have persisted this far. We almost make it there," Sampson said.
"For clarification, I've never suggested for us to come back. I just said the monster is not something that we can handle at our levels," Sofia argued.
"I also want to add. We didn't see a monster like that around the lake area when we left. In fact, the forest was calm when we passed it last time. It seems the monster is the reason they went berserk," Adrian explained.
Everyone was silent for a moment. They seemed to recollect about what they had faced along the way. After entering the forest, they were attacked by most monsters they had met.
Ace and all of his family as players of course thought it was normal. For them, it was a game. For monsters, attacking players was an ordinary occurrence in a game. If they didn't attack the players and so the players themselves that had to actively hunt them, it would be too tiring.
However, from the NPCs' point of view, the monsters must have a reason to attack them. If the monsters had higher levels than them or had superior numbers, it would be normal they attacked them, as they saw them as prey.
It would be weird if some lower-level monsters that should not attack them, attacked them instead. So, it must be a reason behind their actions.
"Yes, and maybe this monster is a flying monster and has been hunting in this area for some time. It made most of the low-level monsters panic and behaved abnormally.
Geo could just put Red and Blue in his ring. We can sneak the area carefully," Ace said.
Seeing everyone nodded, Ace said, "I will be the scout this time, let's…,"
Before he could finish his saying, a loud cry shocked them.
*Scheeetc*
Ace was stiffened. An indescribable fear entered his mind. Unconsciously he drew cards in both his hands. He felt his breath was almost stopped as if his body told him that the monster which made the voice was too strong for him to confront.
Ace bit his tongue, it somehow lessened the effect of the cry. He then saw all people were also stiffened. Looking at his panicked son, Ace came to him and patted his head while saying, "It's okay! I'm here."
Then a louder cry was heard by them.
*Scheeetc*
Geo then hugged his dad. Ace could feel his son's trembling body. Although he was also shocked, as a father he couldn't show weakness in front of his son.
"It's okay… I won't let the monster hurt you."
***
It took 5 minutes for Ace to calm Geo. The others were also in unwell conditions. Adrian and his family's faces were pale.
Ace then decided to find out about what had happened. The others didn't say anything, as they realized that they would only be in his way if they followed him.
Ace chose to travel to the source of the voice by jumping from one branch to another branch, as from his experience in the ants' territory, it was safer.
Along the way, he could see many small and weak monsters were running from the source of the voice direction. Ace warned his party that a large number of monsters ran in their direction.
However, he didn't worry about them too much, because the majority of the monsters that came to them had levels lesser than 10. And only a few of them had levels more than 11. Despite that, he still advised them not to be too greedy of Experience. Because if they were surrounded, they would be in trouble.
After traveling for more than 30 minutes, he realized that the mist became thicker. He also more often heard loud voices in front of him. Something that made him feel strange was the mist was not cool, but warm.
"It's vapor, not an ordinary mist," Ace said.
As he was closer to the source of the voices, the temperature rose gradually. He also had more difficulty seeing forward.
*Boom*
*Scheeetc*
Ace heard a loud explosion and then a cry from the front of him. Although he was still intimidated by the cry, he started to adapt to the voice. After taking some long breaths to calm himself, he started to move carefully.
As he came closer to the source of the voice, he realized that the trees around him became fewer. Because he could only see few meters away from him, he decided to come down the tree.
After walking for a few hundred meters, he detected a creature in front of him. As a note, he could detect the creature in front of him not with his eyes, but with his hearing.
He didn't dare to approach 'it' any further, as he feared 'it' would detect his presence. He was just waiting at his place tried to find more clues about what was going on over there.
At the moment, he could only hear the battle that seemed to occur in or on the water. He could also hear the rapid heartbeats and uncalm breathing of the creature in front of him. He concluded that 'it' was nervous.
He then heard the creature's voice, "Damn it! I should have left earlier when the vapor was still not too thick. Now, I can't see anything. How could they are still fighting in this awful mist?"
'It can't be? Isn't he Gon?" Ace never imagined would meet his new 'friend' in that place.
He then tried to approach the creature silently, as he wanted to make sure that he hadn't heard wrong. As he was closer to the creature, he could identify the creature.
[Gon]
Race: Earth Dragon (minor)
Level: 27
Although he couldn't believe he would see him this fast. No, he actually had thought he would see him when he came to the ants' territory with an army of earth dragons last month. Something that didn't happen until he left the place.
However, as he left the ants' territory, he thought he would never see the dragon again, as he would go North and then East, and the dragon's home should be in the West direction from the ants' territory.
Ace then approached the dragon calmly, "Hello, Gon! I have never imagined I would see you here."
***