Second World

'That was young?!' Jack almost blurted out loud.

"Yes, the adult one is at least three times that size," Peniel replied.

Jack was speechless, he couldn't imagine it. How to fight such a colossal monster? He shook his head as he cleared his mind. No need to think about such a thing at the moment. If he met such a monster again, all he could do was run away. Better concentrate on the task at hand. They only have one more hunting quest to complete. After that, they could use the Town Return scroll and go back to the safety of the city.

He led them to continue Northward. They came onto a place that was slightly covered by a thin layer of mist. The soil underneath was saturated with water. As they went deeper, the area covered by water increased, and the water went deeper. The water level was almost to their knees now. The mist also became thicker, it was a hindrance to their vision, they couldn't see their surroundings clearly.

"If we have a fight here, we will have difficulty moving," Fierce Flame told the group. She was indicating about the water which would curb their leg movements.

"I have to warn you, there is another type of monster in this area apart from the Swamp Boa," Peniel's voice echoed in his head.

'Oh? Was the monster too strong for us?' Jack asked.

"Not really, they were usually level 18 to level 20 Basic monster."

'Then it could still be defeated. Why didn't we pick up the hunting quest for this monster so we could do them together with Swamp Boa?' Jack complained.

"Because the quest for this monster is in Silver Hall, I thought you are only looking for the ones in Bronze Hall."

'In other words, we should avoid this other monster to avoid wasting time as we don't need it for our quest, is that right?'

"Avoid it or not, it's your choice, I'm just letting you know so you can prepare."

'All right, what is this other monster's name?' Jack asked.

"You can Inspect it yourself. It's over there on your right," Peniel answered.

"It's…," Jack was lost in words when he heard Peniel's reply. He turned his head to the right and saw nothing but a dead tree log floating on the water. But his radar suddenly flared as a single red dot suddenly appeared on it, at the same time the tree log burst out of the water. He saw a large mouth with rows of sharp teeth lunging at him.

It's a good thing that he had his sword and shield ready on his hands, and also a good thing that he was looking at his right side, thus he managed to put both his shield and sword in front of him as the creature rammed into him. He skidded back from the force, creating a large splash of water, with 73 damage above him. Jack was stunned, he had managed to use his shield at the last moment to block the attack, but so much damage still went through. Considering his shield was already rare grade and his total physical defense was high. This attack if it hit any other players other than him would most likely put them into a critical state.

'Why didn't you warn me earlier?' Jack complained in his mind.

"Don't you feel grateful that I warn you at all?" Peniel countered back.

Jack didn't bother to argue with her. But how did it trick his radar? This had never happened before. He only saw the red dot after the creature was so close to him. Jack inspected the creature which had now fallen back into the water. It was a large crocodile, he had mistaken its back for a floating wooden log.

Swamp Croc (Basic monster, Reptile), level 18

HP: 2700

The Swamp Croc didn't stay still and go back to pretending to be a dead log again, it swung its massive tail, which hit Fierce Flame and sent her flying backward. The croc then bit on Bowler's leg. They had been standing together, so the croc was in close proximity to them all and could easily reach any of them. With its mouth tightly clamped at Bowler's leg, the croc shoved him high into the air and away, deeper into the swamp.

Jack observed the damage received by Bowler and Flame, he was relieved that they were not as dangerous as he had thought. The first strike on him might have been boosted by a sneak attack effect which increased the damage, similar to when he had ambushed the Skeleton Thug.

The Man was the last to be targeted by the croc which also gave him time to react. He cleaved his two-handed axe down onto the croc's back, it received 67 damage. Its defense was high, but still manageable.

The Man lifted his axe to do another hit again, but the croc didn't stay still. It pushed its body forward and coiled to The Man's side in an instant, He was shocked by the creature's movement speed despite its size. His already swinging axe slashed down on the empty water. He felt pain in his leg before feeling himself getting pulled violently. He fell into the swamp water while the croc swung his body back and forth savagely.

Jack came at this time and used Power Strike on the Swamp Croc. The blow forced it to release its jaws from The Man's leg. The powerful skill which usually sent an opponent flying, could only push the Swamp Croc three meters away. It ate away 171 HP from the Croc.

When Jack was about to continue his attack, he was distracted by several other red dots coming to their vicinity. He then heard Bowler screaming, the fellow screamed like a girl. He turned to look at him and noticed the new red dots were in that direction. The Croc had thrown him deeper into the swamp and attracted other monsters. Two large snakes were coiling around his body. They were biting at him. Jack didn't bother to use Inspect, he assumed those are the Swamp Boas which they had come for.

"Help! I am poisoned!" He yelled. He impressively could still cast heal on himself despite his condition.

"Flame, Man, help him!" Jack said. He himself faced the Swamp Croc.

The croc was nothing special really, but the swamp environment was in its favor. His movements were hampered while the croc could move freely. It used its powerful tail and shot itself forward. Normally Jack would be able to dodge the attack easily, but his legs felt like a few bags of sand were holding them down. So he used his kite shield to block the ram. The blow pushed him back one step, but otherwise, he was unharmed. Looked like his hypothesis about the extra damage of the first sneak attack was correct.

Without the element of surprise, the Swamp Croc was only slightly stronger and faster than the average monster. This was no problem for him as he was much stronger and faster than average players. After all, it was only a basic monster, Jack slowly wore the monster's HP down.

He glanced at his teammates and found they were not in any kind of real danger. More Swamp Boas approached them, but the monster was weaker than the croc. The only thing they needed to pay attention to was its poison. Fortunately, they had prepared and stocked up on Antidote beforehand. The Man and Fierce Flame managed to release Bowler from the Boa's clutches. Bowler immediately drank an antidote and retreated a distance. He then supported Flame and The Man with spells and heals.

After Jack killed the Swamp Croc, he went and helped with the Swamp Boas. They didn't dare to venture too deep into the swamp. The mist on it was just too eery. They just wandered around its outskirt, afraid if the swamp hid any fearsome presence like the Land Behemoth.

During their hunt for the Swamp Boas, they encountered one more Swamp Croc. As before, Jack didn't see it on his radar until it started to attack. But since he had experienced the croc's cunningness before, he had paid attention to any suspicious dead log floating on the water. This had saved them from its deadly sneak attack.

'By the way, Peniel, why did the croc not show up on my radar at first?' He asked in his mind. He was not as flustered as when he first fought the monster, so he could still afford to chat.