Michael is confused. The footprint that he is following suddenly cut off.
Tracking footprint on the ground is quite easy. The process just requires you to have eyes and the ability to recognize footprints. However, what took Michael 3 mouth to hunt the alma lizard is that he spends most of his time setting up the trap.
Looking around the place Michael could deduce that the lizard has gone up the trees. Michael doesn't like what he saw, the claw mark that acceded upward into the tree line. He can't determine where the lizard went after it's decided to go upward.
From Michael's perspective, he could only see its direction up to about 12 meters into the tree but lizard claw marks go beyond that. Up into the higher level of the forest tree, there it houses a school of animals and monsters. He doesn't want to enter their territories.
As he is about to give up and find another Lizard to track, a water droplet found its way onto Michael's face.
'Oh, my apex....'
It's raining. Specifically, a Boniha rain, which could occur at any time of year. The island's unique characteristics cause this rain to fall at least once a week at random. This results in water covering the whole surface of the island.
Only the peak in the center of the island is inherently exempt from this frequent occurrence. There is no other way out of this, therefore Michael has to climb the tree. In this weather, being in the woods is both the safest and most dangerous option.
A predator that typically hides in ponds and lakes emerged to hunt when the island was submerged in water. Staying closer to the ground makes it more dangerous, but climbing too high up the tree is equally risky.
Without hesitating, Michael pulls out his tree climber from his toolbelt and begins to climb. The sickle-shaped tools allow for climbing by digging into the trees. However, the Boniha tribe does not usually use this tool. They had the strength to use their hands as tree climbers. Only children in the Boniha tribe use this tool to practice climbing.
The mangrove tree was truly big. Normal people would have a hard time climbing this height but, Michael has gotten familiar with it long ago. The Boniha tribe required you to have this skill even if you're a farmer.
He finds rest on the thick branch of the Mangrove tree. The downpour continues to worsen. However, with the tree blocking some of the water, it isn't that bad. On the branch, Michael snatch one of its leaves that was big enough to cover his body to use an umbrella.
20 minutes later
The cold is starting to set in and the Rain has no sign of stopping. Micheal gathers more leaves from a nearby branch to wear as a raincoat and to warm his body. In a time like this, he could do nothing but wait patiently for it to settle down.
Looking down the water level continues to rise
While he was waiting for the rain to calm down, he use this time to think about how he could track down the Alma lizard more effectively. He also read the hunter guidebook that Gurara has given to him. The book is made entirely out of hide so he doesn't have to worry about it getting wet.
Playing his memories back, he still couldn't deduce what Gurara has done in that 2 hours. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't come close to an answer. So he shelves it for now.
2 hours later.
The rain starts to calm down but, it still isn't safe to go down. First, the water's on the ground is still deep and its predator hasn't left yet. Although the predator can't be everywhere at the same time he still doesn't want to swim in the water.
Micheal closes the book and places it on his tool belt. After leading the book he has a clear idea of what its claws look like on the tree. He intends to follow the Alma lizard trail. The claw marks that the lizard use to climb a tree is unique to its species.
To survive in the rains on Boniha Island, lizards have evolved webbed feet, which makes their claw marks wider than those of most creatures with claws. He could tell that the lizard track had jumped to a different tree by looking up.
Since Michael didn't want to waste his time waiting for the water level to go down. He makes a jump with his tree climber to follow behind its track. From tree to tree, he gets more confident with each jump.
Jumping into a new tree, he spots a rather odd tree in the woods. It is a tree that looks more transparent than the rest. Is he hallucinating or the tree is the tree more see-through? It looks more wet and uncanny than the rest of the forest.
'That's new...'
He wants to move closer to inspect but, his eyes spot something on the tree. The Alma lizard! It's on the weird tree, clawing its around. It looks like it's trying to find something however it has no luck finding it.
'Finally!'
However, Michael here's in luck. After so long blindly following the claw marks, He thought that he would never find this creature. However, here it is, in all of its glory.
Now he just had to tell Gurara about it...
'Wait... How would he confirm that I track the monster?'
On the way here he didn't spot a shadow of Gurara. How could he confirm it? Is he here? Michael looks around the forest and sees that no one is around.
'He's either hiding nearby and observing my progress or he had another way to confirm it?'
Either way, Michael's job here is done. Also, he has to ask the old man about the semi-translucent Tree that he found. It looks beautiful yet creepy at the same time. Turning around he was about to go back when something unexpected happened.
Pac!
The tree branch that he's on abruptly breaks!
"What..!"
His mind couldn't compute what happened. Micheal panicked as gravity pulls his body down. At this rate, he would end up falling into the water. And that is like sending him to death! His mind is thinking quickly but, that's not enough. He can't think while falling down and panicking at the same time.
'I could pull out the tree cli....'
PACHK!
Before he could come up with a plan, he luckily land on another branch that was below him. Saving his life. Although it was a heavy fall, Michael could stomach it. At least they don't humiliate him while he was hurt.
Picking himself up Michael look around to access his situation. He found out that he fall quite far. The branch he is on was situated only 4 meters above the water. This height is quite risky for him since he could get hunted by water predators.
However, that's not the most concerning thing right now. When he looked around earlier his eyes met with the Alma lizard. The commotion earlier draws its attention and he is now on the Alma lizard hunting list.
'Shit, not this again!'