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.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtSince 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.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmOh 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.