"To your right, Aurelia! It's disguised as a spider!" Lucas says as he bashes the head of a Mischief Monkey in.
"On it." Aurelia drew her wooden bow, aimed at the spider hanging on the branch of the tree, and fired. The arrow, while not hitting, was enough for it to startle the spider-monkey and make it lose it's balance.
The spider fell from the tree, and was promptly killed by Lena's Light Beam.
"Shit. I don't remember them being able to go THAT small. Now it even seems like they're better at mimicking the characteristics of the animal they disguise into." Lucas sighs.
"Indeed. No time to rest, though. There's another pack of them coming from the east." Kenneth says in their minds.
The group were in the Macaus Forest. It was situated at the edge of the Macaus Plains, and was the location of the Mischief Monkeys.
The Macaus Forest, while being very beautiful, was filled with lots of magical beasts. Even more so because of The Rumbling.
The quintet had taken the Phase Gate to the edge of the Macaus Plains, since they had already explored a huge portion of the area last time they came here.
Kenneth, was of course left behind at home along with Tyrone. The distance between them was only 6 kilometers, a distance that Kenneth could now easily handle, even if he chantef magic.
"And that's that. Sorry about that, Aurelia. One had disguised into you, so I was about to hit you." Lucas says.
"Young master.. Catalyn has finished." Catalyn says as she retrieves her whip from the portal, before wrapping it around her knuckle.
Out of the five, Aurelia definitely did the most work. Whenever needed, she would use her bow to fire from absurdly long distances and send a seed of a plant to the place she fired. Using Overgrowth on the seed, it would immediately sprout and be used to defend her siblings, or to attack. Or both, since the Life Eater did both.
"Could you three help Aurelia pick up some seeds whenever you find some? She'll be a bit behind you guys, but don't worry. Just use the Catalyn Express to deliever it." (Kenneth)
As the group continued on, they found two more packs of Mischief Monkeys.
"Monsters spotted. This little guy doesn't even seem like he's interested in disguising himself." Lena says as she spots one particular monkey, different from the others, who was quickly swapping between a random animal and it's original form.
"Hah, that guy's trolling. Don't get close, let Aurelia or Catalyn get them. That things it's doing is a trap, and it basically tells it's friends, "hey, I'm going to bait for you guys, so hide in the nearby bushes or something."
"I see. Where'd you get that from anyway?" Lena asks.
"Why, Foogle, of course. There's tons of websites about monsters that it's a pity you haven't done any research on it." (Kenneth)
"Uh huh. You do you. I myself can't handle looking for all those stuff." Lucas says.
'Hah, boomer.' Kenneth thinks to himself.
"Oh, looks like they're back. How did it go?" (Kenneth)
"It is done, my lord. The annoying monkey is defeated." Aurelia says.
"Good job, you two. Should we look around for more then? We've only got around four packs, and there's like ten we need to hunt." (Lucas)
"Ten!? Alright, let's keep going. I hope we'll be able to get home before dinner." (Lena)
The group went back to slaying any of the monsters that came across their way, until night came.
"Where the... *huff* fuck are the last ones? My legs are getting tired.." Lucas spoke for everyone, they truly were all out of breath.
"That's weird. I can't find them. I've been scanning for any sort of mana presence, but I'm not getting any." (Kenneth)
"The birds I hired haven't found them either. I wondee where they are hiding.." (Aurelia)
"Well, let's keep going. We won't be gettng anywhere at this rate. How about splitting up?" (Lena)
"Good idea. Catalyn and Aurelia can search through the forest quickly with their fast movement. Do you think you can lend Lena and Lucas an eagle or something? I don't know, just any type of animal that can scan quickly. Have it follow them around." (Kenneth)
"Of course, my lord. Krieg, come here." A falcon swoops down from the sky and lands on Aurelia's outstretched hand.
"So.. could you follow them around... and then...." Aurelia explained it to the falcon, who was nodding it's head, as if it understood her. The short talk ends with the falcon releasing a squak and flying away.
The four them split up and began to head in two different directions. Guided by Aurelia's animals, they were able to cover a lot of ground in a shorter amount of time.
"I think I've found them. Remember the banana trees we passed by earlier, Catalyn? They were hiding whenever we got close. I still don't know how they managed to conceal their mana, but that's not something to worry about now. Send a portal around three hundred meters west, and I'll tell older brother and sister to find it."
"Catalyn, get back!" Aurelia shouted as she drew her bow and shot an arrow past the girl.
Hearing her, Catalyn ran through a portal and repositioned herself beside Aurelia, who was on top of a tree.
"Thank..s." (Catalyn)
"No problem. Looks like I got them. The arrow I shot was a Constricting Vine, so they should be immobolized by now. Should we head over, my lord?" Aurelia asks Kenneth.
"Hmm. Not yet. Keep firing your arrows. You too, Catalyn. Use your whip to attack from this distance. I've already told Lena and Lucas about our position." (Kenneth)
"Alright then. One of the monkeys have white fur, different from the others. It's also two times bigger than it's peers. I'm having a hard time keeping that one in place, my lord." (Aurelia)
Kenneth squinches his eyes and looks closer. He eventually sees a figure of white, rampaging around using it's claws to break the Constricting Vines.
"Yup, I definitely see him. And oh, boy. He looks way tougher than the others." (Kenneth)
The bushes nearby ruffle and the figures of Lena and Lucas emerge, with leaves over their bodies. Shaking them off, Lena stood below the branch Catalyn was on, and announced her arrival.
"We're here. Have you found the last pack?" (Lena)
"Damn, about time. Can't wait to head home." (Lucas)
"Yup, he's over there. The one swinging his big arms around. It's almost like he's a gorilla, and not a monkey." (Kenneth)
"Now that we're all here, let's prepare an ambush. The white gorilla doesn't seem to use his Illusion Magic to disguise himself, rather he uses it to create clones of himself, from what I've seen." (Kenneth)
"You can distinguish the real one from the clones by looking for small fluctuations or increases in the mana. The clones will always go a bit crazy, if you get me." Kenneth adds.
"It must not be that adept in controlling it's mana, if it can be distinguished that easily." (Aurelia)
"Don't forget the smaller ones, by the way. They may be small, but there's around twenty of them, minus five since they were taken out by Aurelia earlier." (Kenneth)
"Right. I think I can handle the gorilla. I bet he can't match my strength, hehe." Lucas looks at the pair of armbands he had bought yesterday from Kenny's.
"That's good. We'll have Aurelia support you from behind, and Catalyn and Lena can handle the smaller ones. If you can't handle your side, then switch over and help defeat the other side's enemies." (Kenneth)