Chương 120: Chapter 104. 1st Hunt

Bright and early, Sarah, Anna and I arrived at the North Gate of Paradise to find a familiar face." Good morning, Lord Drake! Lady Sarah! Lady Anna!" Ruby was standing right next to 2 Flameskins and the 1 Iceskin we were expecting." Ruby, what are you doing here?"" Grandpa Rodrick told me about your plans for today! I thought you might want to have some extra help! I would go myself, but I have to help with directing the rest of the Demons who want to move here.

By the next time you guys go hunting, I'll be able to go hunting too!" Ruby spoke excitedly. I saw no reason to deny her so, our party went from 4 to 6." Nice to meet you! I'm Flare Flameskin!"" Nice to meet you! I am Skitz Flameskin!" Both Flameskins introduced themselves to us. Following them was the one Iceskin." I am Edmon Iceskin! A pleasure to be of service!"" I'm Matthew Drake. Behind me are my Wives, Sarah Drake and Anna Drake. Please, take care of us.

I'm assuming you've all been informed that my Wives and I are using this hunting trip as a training exercise as well as an opportunity to grow familiar with the Rose Swamps. Having said that, please instruct us when you feel our traversal is wrong, Edmon. On top of that, Flare, Skitz, I hope you can point out if we make a misstep while fighting these monsters to the North."" Yes, Sir!" With our introductions out of the way, we began traveling North on foot.

Horses wouldn't work because of how unstable the dirt roads are. Because of the swamps, most of the roads are muddy, which causes many horses to slip and fall. Considering that we were heading into the swampy areas North of the town, being on foot was the best option. As well as the clothes we were wearing. Since it was the hottest month of the summer season, we were dressed pretty lightly.

You would almost think we were heading to the beach, when in reality we would be fighting both in the water and on land when we could find it. This meant armor was out of the question and Lightning Magic had to be carefully considered as well. We were told that the best way to gain the attention of the Monsters was to travel deeply into the swamp area, so that's what we did." I wish we had access to Ice Magic." Sarah spoke as she waded through the swamp water." I apologize, Lady Drake."

Edmon apologized as he spoke with a wry smile. From what I understand, Edmon's Job Class was Hunter, so he had no access to Magic. I felt bad, but there was really nothing I could say in the moment. All 6 of us walked slowly through land and water for around 3 hours." Around here is where we should set up our base camp." Edmon spoke when we arrived at a decent chunk of dry land. The land seemed almost like an island in the swamp.

It was a patch of dry land in the middle of a lake of water, the horizon was full of thick bushes and trees. I could feel the eyes of the Monsters focusing on the interlopers in their territory. However, we had our own eyes." I'm seeing a big group of those alligators to the Northeast of our current location. West has yellow crabs the size of carriages buried under the mud in the water, to the East are a group of what looks like apes with blue fur. South has fish with razor sharp teeth following our trail.

Finally, North has what seems to be man-sized squirrels eating fresh corpses of some of those monkeys I mentioned."" Thank you, Anna. So, what sounds like more fun? I think those fish could cause some problems if we don't handle it now."" Those are Steel-Jawed Piranha, they're known to be good for stews and their smoked meat is delicious." Flare spoke with drool coming from her mouth. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation."

More of those gators wouldn't be bad either, since their big and they can be stripped for their raw materials for crafting different Items. I'm sure their hides could make for some good leather." Anna spoke her thoughts as well." Considering one made its way into Paradise the other day, maybe depopulating them may be a good idea? 2 birds with one stone, meat and safety?" Skitz seemed to agree with Anna." Those crabs are ambush predators.

They're known to ambush Hunters after they successfully capture different prey."" I dislike that way of doing things." Edmon told us of the dangers of those crabs that Rodrick warned us about yesterday. Sarah seemed to be reminded of that kidnapping incident and seemed to fall into a foul mood as she looked West where the crabs waited patiently. /splash... splash.... /" Seems they've come." Anna spoke as she looked South where the sound of splashing was heard."

Anna, do you think you can use your Lightning Magic to kill them?" Anna answered after thinking for a minute." They're moving too fast, also, I think they're following traces of our mana, look at them." I looked at the school of enemies coming at us. They were staying on the left side of our trail, the side Sarah, Anna and I waded through the water. While looking at them, I had an idea." Anna, start channeling your Lightning Spell. I think I can trap them."" As you wish, Master."" Wait! What are you going to do?"

Flare seemed puzzled by Anna's trust in me, that was fine. Time to show I'm not useless." Just sit back and watch, Flare." Flare did as I asked and I began to channel my own Magic in rhythm with Anna." Barrier!" I used Multi-cast to cast Barrier 4 times. I made a box that trapped the fish in it. I then started to enclose the Barrier." Wow, why is it so big!?" Flare spoke in exasperation." Well, I am trained by Queen Aqua Dreadnaught, she taught me to always practice and experiment.

I've been able to manipulate the size of my Barrier Spells for about 4 months now. This is the first time I tried using Mutli-cast with the size changing though. Thankfully, it worked!"" You were trained by Queen Aqua!"" And I was also trained by King Warrick and General Crest! It was only for 3 months though. After that, they had to get back to their responsibilities for running Diablos, but they did give me pointers when I asked."" Divine Lightning!"

And like that, Anna summoned a lightning bolt from the clear sky, and it hit the water and electrocuted the fish. They all floated to the top of the water's surface. I turned to Sarah who looked on at the fish and began to speak. The reason why we were all fine even though we were in the same water was because of my Barrier Spell. The Barrier acts as a container that holds the fish and water in it and separates it from the larger body of water everyone was in.

Because of that, we had dead piranha and live Demons and 1 live Human still." Sarah, can you throw them into your Storage?"" Of course, My Love!" / Woosh! / And like that, Sarah used Wind Magic to gather the fish in front of her and then sucked them into a large hole right in front of her body that she opened for them to fall into." Lady Sarah has Mana Storage!?"" Yeah, I wish I could learn it, but it seemed I was incompatible with it." I spoke with disappointment in my voice." Now, now, My Love!

No need to be so down! I'm happy to store anything you could possibly want! All you have to do is ask." Sarah spoke happily to me. She does seem to love having Jobs only she can do for me." Thank you, Sarah." I then turned to Anna, who was standing with an expectant look on her face." Anna, thank you as well. I may have been able to contain them, but no one had the ability to take them all down so quickly like you can. Because of you, this hunting day could already be considered a success!"

Anna flashed a bright smile at me." It's no problem at all, Darling!" I smiled back at her before turning to Sarah." Sarah, how many fish was that by the way?"" 57." I turned to Edmon and began to speak to him as well." Edmon, how many days can we make the fish last for if we use them for stews?"" We can add about 2 weeks' worth of dinner I believe, Sir!"" I see." That was less than I hoped for, since we now had time to think, I mulled over what was the better option, the crabs that were closest to us...

Or the alligators that were a bit farther away. Sarah spoke to me as I thought deeply on the subject." What are you thinking about, My Love? Maybe we can help you with your thoughts?"" What to hunt next." Sarah looked at Anna and began to speak." Anna, can you check and see if any of those groups of monsters moved?" Anna closed her eyes and opened some of the ones on her body. Before long she answered Sarah's question." The monkeys have moved. The other groups are still there."

Sarah turned to our 3 helpers and began to speak." What do you 3 think?"" She shot lightning without a cloud!"" He captured the fish like they were goldfish!" Flare and Skitz were mesmerized by our skills." Guys, I need you to focus. We aren't week or anything, we just know we can get stronger. I hope you guys have the same thoughts as us when it comes to growing as fighters." My words snapped them out of their daydreams." Of course, we do, Sir!"

It may just be me, but I think the Flameskins are looking at my Wives and me differently now. They were asked the question by Sarah again. Once they thought for a few minutes, they voted for the crabs. With their input, I decided the crabs were next.