This wasn't to say that this was what Alex would actually use it for since a cheap combustible liquid like this could be used for far more impressive things. Alex remembers that in the dlc for the game that there was a coal powered steam engine in seliana. With a little tweaking from the scholars Alex figured that his newly acquired explosive poison could be turned into a brilliant fuel source much like gasoline , just without needing to strip the earth of fossil fuels. As far as pollution was concerned Alex wasn't completely sure how clean it was , only that there was very little smoke when it ignited.
Alex pressed even further into the forest in order to see what he could find but slowed down once he reached a certain point because there were signs of something regularly passing through the area , something big. Tree were tilted and the moss on the ground was missing from being trampled often. 'Whatever did this seems to rely on brute to get it's way judging from the looks of this area.' Alex thought seriously before following this path to investigate. Soon enough the path branched off into various directions forcing Alex to choose which to take.
Thankfully however Alex could figure out which path was the "freshest" with his hunting experience. The biggest indicator for this was the trees that had damage visible on their sides because of the creature brute forcing it's way forwards. Alex followed this path quietly and with more than a little caution to prevent ambush but he found newer and newer signs as he went. One thing that helped Alex determine what type of creature this was the deep footprints on the ground that told him quite a bit about it.
These foot prints were clearly reptilian with three thick claw tipped toes much like an anjanaths footprint , another similarity was that the spacing of the footprints told Alex that this thing also walked on two legs. That was where the differences started however as from how deep the prints were indicated that whatever this was was much heavier than an anjanath. There were also rough imprints at the edges of the prints that clearly came from very thick scales digging into the soil. Alex heard the monster long before he saw it as he traveled along the path the thing created as a horrendous metallic clanging sound filled the air in a repeated pattern.
Alex didn't think much of it at the time but he would realize why he was terribly ill prepared for this monster shortly. The monster in question was much the same size as an anjanath but was covered in dark hard red scales that looked like knives due to how long they were. On it's back tall blue jagged spikes lined it from it's neck all the way to it's horrible bladed tail that looked like a thousand knives welded to a telephone pole , blades facing outwards.
The rows of razor sharp fangs barely covered by the lips of the monster and it's wide yellow predatory eyes told Alex immediately that this particular monster had less interest in playing nice and more in seeing if he tasted like chicken. It certainly didn't help that the beast clearly noticed him immediately as it had been staring at him since he arrived. There was no warning at all unlike with most monsters as one moment Alex was in a stare down and the next the monster was lunging at him at incredible speeds. Alex barely managed to shift to the side causing the beast to miss his throat and tackle into his left shoulder , hard.
Alex roared in pain as he felt the bones in that area crack while the scales were sheared off by the bladelike scales of the beast. Alex instantly decided that he should run and while ignoring the pain shot into the air as fast as he could. 'It's faster , stronger and crushed my defenses WAY too easily to be a high rank monster ,I am not ready to fight a brute master rank monster yet.' Alex thought seriously as he watched the monster doggedly plowing through the trees below in an attempt to follow Alex as he flew away.
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I have decided to increase the amount of chapters available to my patrons to five chapters ahead of the those without it to make it more worth it for those who do. Out of the close to a thousand people reading this story I have only eight patrons which bothered me a bit , this was my solution.
pa treon.com/user?u=81578854