Today was the last day of the month before the hellish ordeal. I wanted to celebrate the last month of hard work. Everyone had put in the hours and gone through my strict training, and I wanted to reward them(and myself) for all that work.
What better American way to celebrate than with a good old barbeque? While I was Aeulusean in this lifetime, I could guess I was American from my retained knowledge.
Of course, the meat was the first thing we needed for a barbeque. And what better way to get it than slaying our way into a dungeon? Last week, I'd brought the guard troop to register at the adventurers guild and join the Greyhound group.
There was a dungeon people rarely went to deep in the Acies forest, only some distance away from our teleport. It was a field dungeon with many beasts and animals, making a perfect test site and hunting ground.
The village still had adequate defense because all our construction work was done, and Garth was free. If need be, we could quickly teleport back.
I hung back a ways from the dungeon. I had reconnaissance drones in case anything happened, but it was a rank-five dungeon, and most guards were rank-six. They would be fine unless something unusual occurred.
I set up my barbeque station as the guards entered the dungeon. Their goal was to defeat the dungeon boss and bring back its flesh. Anything else they brought back would be a bonus. Rex, Vesper, and Grey also entered the dungeon with their groups.
However, they wouldn't be participating as it would become too easy. Rex was also a rank eight now, tipping the balances. A rank eight could practically solo the dungeon.
Vera was taking the lead and gaining some more command experience. While I was commander, I didn't command the army much. I prefer to work solo or in a small advance group.
Restricting me to the command position was also uneconomical when I had the highest power level. If I were to participate, it would be on the front lines as a tank magician. I had both high defenses and offense, just like a tank.
I watched the guards' procession closely as I built the pit. It was a simple smoker and grill made of rocks and earth magic. I didn't make anything too extraordinary for a one-time thing. I had to destroy it after all.
I'd also bought various spices for the large amount of meat we'd inevitably receive. Helping grill was Arion. He would be the smoke master, carefully tending to the fire as I cooked. His fire magic and control were immaculate, even better than me at smaller applications.
I wondered if there wasn't some fire elemental or spirit blood running through his veins. The spirit race could take on a variety of shapes, while elementals could impart their bloodline without needing any contact.
It was noon, and it would be a while before the expedition returned, so I had time to kill after completing my setup. Arion's forces patrolled the forest, so I walked outside the zone, hoping to find something interesting.
We only occupied a small part of the large forest. The Acies was a significant natural barrier that separated the forbidden continent in half along with the mountain range further east. It was natural to find something here.
I walked randomly, establishing a steady pace and simply taking in nature. Some parts of the forest were plainer, while others were swamps or rainforests. I walked for over an hour, briefly touching each part of the forest.
I walked for over an hour, venturing deep into the forest. My rough direction was to go to the mountains, but I knew I wouldn't reach them in just one day.
After two hours of walking, I sat on an outcropping boulder in a clearing surrounded by tall pine and elm trees. I wasn't much of an ecologist, but the plants here looked similar enough to my knowledge that I called them by the names I knew.
I wasn't tired by any means, but I felt like I was going a little too fast and thus decided to slow down. I wanted to try to sense the details in nature, not just the whole picture. While thousands of species of animals roamed the Earth, even more, hid in its shade and soil.
Bug monsters were the most common monsters. Not only did they have more numbers, meaning that mana mutations were more common, but they also had tiny brains and consciousness.
They would lose control and become monsters without the will to resist their mutation. It was rare to find a bug-type beast, while it was ubiquitous to see a monster.
I lay down on the mossy outcropping, listening to the forest and wind's sounds. The sun shone brightly past the leaves and branches, leaving an intricate pattern across my face and eyes.
Any average man would have gone blind staring at the sunlight for too long, but I was not average. The sun could not so easily damage my lenses.
Taking in the relaxing atmosphere, I slipped into a little nap. It was just too warm and cozy not to. I wasn't planning on sleeping for long. There was still the trek back, after all.
While pondering nature and its beauty, I closed my eyes and fell asleep.
-----
I woke up a little while later. The sun was still high in the sky, and I didn't have to head back yet. That was all good; it gave me time to investigate what woke me up.
I was a light sleeper, and my mana sense was always on alert. What caused me to wake up was an abnormality in the mana a little while away.
It wasn't the mana signature of a beast or monster but blended in with ambient mana. The only clue that it was abnormal was the movement of the mana. I'd seen something similar before but couldn't be sure it was what I thought it was.
Getting up from the mossy boulder, I jumped down and took notice of my surroundings. My mana sense is good, but it isn't infallible. Physically checking my surroundings is a safeguard for anything not detectable by mana.
After clearing my surroundings, I wandered over to the mana anomaly I noticed. It wasn't far, around 100 meters from the clearing. It moved slowly, so I didn't need to be fast.
I saw nothing when I arrived at where the mana was supposed to be. It was still the same densely packed forest; the only notable aspect was a rocky outcropping nearby.
I'd concealed myself on my way here, so it shouldn't have noticed me coming. Yet, the mana signature was concealing itself now. It was slowly waning away from my mana sense and becoming more challenging to spot.
If I wanted to find this thing, I had to see it fast. I was close but couldn't see it physically or with my usual tactics. By now, the mana was almost invisible and crawling away before my eyes.
I'd exhausted my usual options, so I executed an idea I'd gotten recently. I stopped my mana sense and poured out all of my mana directly. I'd gained inspiration from my encounter with the giant lizard.
Almost instantly, I saw it. I drew my sword and threw it into a patch of tall grass a couple of feet from me. The blade plunged into the ground, leaving only the handle and the cylindrical grips above the ground.
A pair of vines shot out from the patch of grass in response. I tilted my body slightly, allowing the vines to fly harmlessly past me.
The monster poked its head out of the ground—a humanoid body of foliage and earth. On its head, it wore the skull of a dead animal as a mask, gleaming blue eyes peering out of the holes.
I was familiar with this type of monster. It was the first one I had ever killed—a dryad of the forest.