Kotori and Amelie set out soon after eating.
The first thing they had to do was confirm the location of the lizard monster and make sure they could set up a path to accurately run away from it without getting caught.
Kotori soon found an area of the forest where vines hung rather low and thus would hamper the lizard if it tried to chase them through it.
The lizard itself was easy to find as well. It was lazily roaming the forest. The step it was making shook the ground and made it rather easy to find. The area around it was quiet and likely due to the fact that it was scaring away all the nearby fauna.
[The hunter has become the hunted]
Kotori thought in bemusement. Watching the Lizard that had once terrorized her gave her a sense of satisfaction.
The plan was simple. Amelie would lead the lizard around and Kotori would hide in the underbrush and blast it with occasional waves of magic. If something went wrong Amelie could just climb a nearby tree and the lizard would likely give up. Now if Kotori was caught it would be a completely different story. But Kotori was confident the lizard wasn't going to notice her.
The underbrush was deep and she would have Shu cover her in a light layer of dirt to hide her scent.
The trap was set.
Amelie led the beast over and Kotori began to blast it with pain-tinted music. The first time she hit the lizard it looked shocked, looking around it gave a roar of anger, but soon after it began to ignore the pain. The Lizard lumbered along chasing Amelie who darted around the clearing like a scared rabbit. Often zig-zagging around and doubling back so that they stayed in the small clearing. To an outsider, it would look bizarre. A 16-year-old girl running around and willingly getting chased by a dinosaur-like creature would be a bizarre sight to anyone. Even to the denizens of this world.
It was going well. The lizard appeared to be taking damage although it wasn't visible when Kotori used "Status'' She saw that it was indeed taking damage. The small Hp Number bar it had was starting to lower at a steady rate.
[Wow, this is simple I guess it's just a dumb beast at the end of the day]
Kotori would soon learn that thought was very wrong.
Kotori and Amelie had been fighting the lizard for quite a while. It had reached around 25% HP. Kotori was in a good mood the plan was going well.
That was until the lizard suddenly turned its head towards Kotori and walked in her direction.
In the beginning, Kotori thought it was a fluke
[There's no way this lizard knows where I am] She thought.
Despite her surprise, the lizard still kept walking towards her.
Even though it seemed impossible it kept walking in Kotori's direction
She quickly looked around to see if anything else had caught its attention. But there was nothing in the area besides trees and vegetation.
[I caught its attention?]
Kotori soon realized that just like video games the Monster had an aggro system and she had done enough damage that it was going to start targeting her instead of Amelie who posed no danger.
Amelie tried to throw sticks and stones at the Lizard but it paid her no heed and still kept walking towards Kotori with a purpose.
Kotori began to run
She had once again become prey.
The Lizard barrelled towards her giving a roar. Its red-stained eyes looking even more malicious than before.
[He doesn't seem very happy] she thought in a grim bemusement.
She frantically had Shu cast several mud spots on the ground which made the lizard slip and slow it's pace a little. During this time she kept tossing a few more discordant sounds towards the lizard. Hit's Hp was still continuing to decrease even more slowly.
[Can my mana keep this up?]
Kotori had been managing her mana under the assumption she would be having a long-drawn-out fight with the lizard with Amelie. Now that is was chasing her she was unsure if she would be able to do enough damage with her pain melodies that the lizard would die.
Each shot she did dealt around 5% of its hp and she only had 3 more left. The lizard itself was around 20%
If she collapsed due to mana exhaustion here she would most definitely die.
[Still, Its not like I got any other choice]
And thus a game of cat and mouse began
Kotori kept running with no direction. She tried to take paths that would be easy for a human to cross and difficult for the lizard, but it only slowed the lizard slightly. It appeared to be filled with rage.
"WRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH"
It roared as it trampled the small obstacles in its wake.
Kotori put her flute to her mouth and landed another shot.
15% Hp left
The Lizard got close enough and attempt to snap at Kotori. She quickly ducked and heard a wisk of air above her head as the lizard's mouse snapped shut over where it used to be. It would've killed her if she got hit by it.
She kept running using the brief pause to once again gain distance. Shu cast a mud bolt at the lizard. While it didn't really do any damage it did momentarily blind the lizard.
Kotori shot it again
10% Hp left
[One left] she thought
She hadn't managed to spend enough time running around to save her mana. And since she was running around much of her energy was being spent on running instead of mana regeneration which means it was also slow anyway.
She kept running.
Leaping through a few bushes she thought she had lost the lizard but soon it's pounding footstep grew closer once again and it crashed through the bushes Kotori had come through.
She gave another tired trill and the lizard once again took a hit
5%
Kotori's vision grew hazy as she reached the limit of her mana and she stumbled for a moment. This time the lizard ran up and snapped at her again. She tiredly dodged away but this time her reactions were slowed and the lizard's teeth grazed her arm which lagged behind slightly. The teeth of the lizard were like knife blades and left a long gash on her arm. Kotori froze for a moment blinded by the pain. She hadn't been majorly hurt in this world this injury left her gasping in pain. The training she did with Mari and the muscle pain of farm work was nothing compared to this.
What was worse was this was the arm she used to blow the flute.
[I have to try]
As blood dripped down her arm she wrenched it up and used the last dregs of mana within her to land one more flute shot. It wasn't at full power but it was an act of desperation.
1% Hp
It was over. Her plan had failed and her vision was falling to darkness.
[ah! I wonder what bug I'm going to be reincarnated as] She thought.
In the corner of her eye, she saw Shu begin casting a spell. A small compressed piece of dirt appeared at its feet and darted towards the lizard.
A small Rock bullet hit the lizard by some act of god it manages to hit the lizard in the eye.
The lizard roared and began to fell
As Kotori's vision finally blackened she once again heard the system voice
"Skill Acquired [Hunter]!"
"Follower [Shu] has evolved!"