Judith had finally found the den of the Borachnids, and if her plan worked out and she didn't get herself killed, then this would definitely be treasure.
Judith knew for sure that this was the Borachnid's den when saw the Borachnids head inside the hole, which was followed up by an echo of snorts and heavy oinks.
Standing five or so meters away from the clearing and the hole in general, a sudden gust of wind blew into Judith's face, which made her wrinkle her nose a bit.
Looking around, Judith tried to trace the origin of the strange smell. Not long after, Judith saw a strange shrub sticking out like a sore numb not too far from the Borachnid's hole.
The shrub looked like a collage of thorns and leaves jumbled together in a frenzied mess. There were several of them too, placed in random locations around the same vicinity within close proximity of one another.
As Judith stared at the shrub, she turned her sights in all direction and then at the hole which led into the Borachnid's den. When she was sure there wasn't anything around to notice her, she jumped out of the corner she was hiding and dashed toward the shrubs.
Upon reaching it, she made sure to grit her teeth before grabbing a fist full of the shrub's leaves. As she did so, the several unavoidable thorns dung into her palm, causing a pang of pain to flow into her arm. But fighting this pain back, Judith pulled on the leaves and once they snapped off, she immediately ran back to her hiding spot and ran even further.
Once she was sure she had made a good enough distance from the Borachnids, she threw the leaves to the ground, a bit angered.
'That really hurt.' Judith thought as she stared at her bleeding palm. Normally, this blood seeping out of her palm would be a very bad thing, as most Parabeast's would be allured by the smell of it, and instantly rush over to investigate where the alluring smell was coming from.
But because Judith knew this area was only home to Borachnids, she could afford a little blood here and there, because she knew the Borachnids had very poor noses. A good joke considering the fact that pigs in the other world had very good sense of smell. But this wasn't exactly important right now, what was important was the fact that Judith retrieved this somewhat foul smelling leaves.
These leaves were one of the many plants native to this forest, but only in areas where the Borachnids inhabited. These plants were examples of the adaptation of the titan Zoran to care for its inhabitants.
Judith did not know exactly how this plant was necessary for the survival of the Borachnids. They did nothing for them and instead just existed to be cared for by the Borachnids, that was why Judith ran after grabbing a fist full of it. Somehow, the Borachnids would feel when something happened to the shrub, and would come to investigate if it was fine.
This shrub was completely useless to them, but...not useless to Judith.
Judith, looking away from her palm, diverted her gaze to the pile of leaves she had gathered. These leaves were useless to the Borachnids...but truly, were not useless to her.
***
Thirty or so minutes had passed since Judith grabbed the leaves from the Borachnid shrub. During this time, Judith had gone around the small hill-like rock, searching for any other routes that led into the Borachnid den.
As per her memory, it was said in her novel that each Borachnid den always head two to three entrances and or exits. And for what Judith had planned, she needed to find all entrances/exits.
But after some time searching, she found all three. After she had found them, she put in quite an effort into blocking them off with round rocks that were almost her size. It hadn't been easy, especially trying to be silent whilst doing it, but somehow, she succeeded in shutting all entrances/exits, save for one.
This one, Judith watched from a distance with a flaming torch in her hand. Staring down, she looked at her free hand, which held a ball of leaves. Judith had gathered several different lives in addition to the Borachnid shrub leaves and tied them all together using a vine.
The leaves she needed were of three nature varieties and nature. Said three leaves that resembled poison ivy, leaves of a peach tree and leaves that were crescent in shape. These three leaves combined with the main leaves from the Borachnid shrub, would make a potent poison once set aflame, that would kill off any Borachnid that inhaled so much as a whiff of the smoke the burning bundle of leaves would create.
This secret was discovered further into Judith's novel, when she recovered a certain Journal of secrets.
Not wanting to waste anymore time, Judith at once held out the bundle of leaves and then placed the torch underneath it. In seconds it ignited. It began to burn into the leaves and let out pounds of smoke.
This fire was thanks to one of the leaves inside the bundle in particular, because the Borachnid shrub was nigh inflammable.
As soon as the ball of leaves caught on fire, Judith flung it — along with the torch — into the hole leading to the Borachnid den.
Once Judith had rid herself of the thing occupying her hands, she turned to the ground and picked up the spear she had made by breaking a long branch and scrubbing its tip on a rock.
Suddenly comforted by the security this weapon brought her, Judith bent low and watched the hole as intensive smoke began to pour out of the hole.
Once again, this intense smoke was the work of another leaf Judith had added to the mix. It was a leaf that created an immense amount of smoke for its size.
Gripping the spear, Judith watched and waited. Following this, the forest grew eerily silent, as the only sounds that filled Judith's ears, were the sound of her breathing and the beating of her heart.
After a few seconds of ear deafening silence, a sound erupted into the air, frightening Judith.