Journeying through the forest I didn't notice anything new. From time to time various monsters jumped at me attempting to assassinate me, but I didn't even flinch.
I had a familiar now, which is able to kill everything around the area.
It just took him one bite to kill the monsters trying to hurt me.
Enemies that would take a group of 3 players to handle were killed without me moving a finger. The problem was that the wolf's mouth was bloody and he had a strange need to lick me from time to time.
I had to use my abilities and intimidated Fenrir with various food restrictions to prevent him from turning me into a bloody painting.
The journey I thought was going to be fun turned into constant stress and evading. I felt that near the city I already knew all the attack patterns of the wolf and could dodge his tongue with my eyes closed.
It wasn't strange, because most of the monsters had attack patterns; it was just hard to learn them. The higher the intelligence of the monster the attack patterns will be more random.
Wanting to test my theory I closed my eyes, acting oblivious to Fenrir's shining gaze.
Whoosh...
Suddenly Fenrir leapt towards me Extending his tongue towards my face.
Fortunately I knew that it's going to happen and took a few steps back avoiding the bloody lick.
Fenrir didn't give up though and tried to lick me for another 3 minutes when he finally got me using his skill < Windy Steps >.
Eyeing him I wanted to somehow punish him, but couldn't quite find a good reason, because I left an opening to attack on purpose.
Grumbling under my nose I quickly went up to a river we've been following to find our way towards the new city. Washing my face I looked at my reflection.
It was slightly blurry and the horns were a bit visible from the hood, but my face was clean. I was about to stand up when I saw something shining at the bottom of the river.
1️⃣ Diamond Pearl { Diamond }
-- Rarely found in Nature
-- Upon consumption may give you some SP
~ +25 SP
My eyes slightly widened. To think I found a Diamond item randomly was beyond belief. Without any hesitation I dived into the river with an intention to make the loot mine.
Since my attention was drawn towards the pearl I didn't even notice that the river contained various fishes.
Some of them were Carnivores, but luckily I wasn't bleeding, hence didn't garner any attention.
Diving deeper I felt Oxygen from my lungs quickly depleting. I could approximately hold my breath for a minute.
I felt water pressure press me and my head began to hurt, but I suppressed the pain and kept on going deeper and deeper.
The world around me started blackening, but I was already so close. Snatching the pearl from Mollusk I didn't expect its jaws to close. I also didn't expect them to have teeth.
- 12 HP
The Pain was bearable, but unexpected damage mademe open my mouth momentarily and I lost some precious oxygen. Now I had low to none air and needed to resurface or else I'll drown.
Whoosh... Whoosh...
I used my legs to propel myself upwards. Black sports were appearing all across my vision signaling that I'll soon lose consciousness.
Luckily I managed to somehow reach the water surface. Taking deep breaths I coughed up water.
Slowly moving towards the shore I felt my hand bleeding. Suddenly something bit my bleeding wound. Lifting my hand out of the water I noticed a small fish with piranha-like features munching on my injured arm.
< EVOLVED PIRANHA >
~ Lives in the rivers
~ Aggressive; Carnivore
~ Usually lives within groups of thousand individuals
~ Can Smell Blood
< ATTRIBUTES >
Lv. 3
HP: 50
MP: 0
STR: 20
AGL: 60
PDEF: 20
MDEF: 30
INT: 0
~~~~
< ACTIVE SKILLS >
< None >
< PASSIVE SKILLS >
< None >
< SPELLS >
< None >
< END >
Even though its Status was nothing impressive, a particular line caught my sight before I started frantically swimming towards the shore.
< ~ Usually lives within groups of thousand individuals >
Since it can smell blood and lives with thousands of similar beings they could be able to eat me within minutes.
I heard sounds of water splashing behind me, but didn't want to turn back, because it might lose me a valuable second.
While swimming I thought about my options and not finding any skill useful to fight in water cursed myself.
Calming down I couldn't help, but curse myself once again.
I've forgotten to collect the quest rewards from the mayor of Culg city. I clearly knew that the loot would contain an item useful for fights happening in water.
I swore to myself that I'll make a reminder to do that and buy some HP potions after this fight is over.
Now, I was very close to shore and could touch the bottom of the river. Somehow escaping to the shore I took a deep breath. Now the Piranhas couldn't reach me.
Oh how wrong was I...
Whoosh...
Suddenly something jumped out of the water. Quickly turning my head you could see my face morphing from a surprised one into an angry one.
It was the same fucking crocodile that've bitten my arm off.
< ELITE DEINOSUCHUS >
~ A Powerful prehistoric crocodile; lives near the water
~ Aggressive; Territorial
~ Elite Monster
< ATTRIBUTES >
Lv. 13
HP: 850
MP: 100
STR: 1200
AGL: 200
PDEF: 500
MDEF: 300
INT: 150
~~~~
Now that I was on shore I felt safer, since my pet would help me. Unfortunately the situation was dire, because the creature before us was Elite after all.
The only positive thought I had was that I might be able to take revenge for my arm earlier than expected.
At first I was worried, because I didn't expect that the creature chasing me was not Piranhas, but now I was even grateful.
Taking a step backwards I relayed a message to Fenrir.
' We need to bait the crocodile further from the water, so it can't escape '
Fortunately the monster wasn't that smart to notice something strange in our behavior and went after us.