Chapter 41: Chapter 40 – An Enemy Appears

The night was peaceful enough. Only once did Jason get woken up and only because a normal rabbit got curious and jostled the bells. This interruption is taken care of by scaring it away and he gets back to sleep after setting the bells up again.

Next morning he wakes up bright and early. The sun shining into his eyes raising only minimal grumbles. After gathering all the bells up he goes through a quick set of stretches before heading off again.

“Okay, today I should reach about where the three biomes meet. From there I will finally get some fights. I don’t know what is up with this area but I won’t complain till I am out of here.” Then he settles in for a good jog. Soon he falls into a steady pace and his mind clears. The miles get eaten away with him in a moving meditation.

Finally, as midday approaches, the terrain starts changing. Grass becomes sparser and the trees grow a sickly brown. The ground becomes gravelly and then the gravel becomes rocks and boulders. The rocks themselves even change into a burnt looking sandstone, taking on a dark brownish gray tone. Then Jason spots the landmark he was looking for. The boulders that had covered the ground became sparse and were replaced by a new feature. Rising from the ground are stalagmite like rocks spikes. The smallest of which are as wide as a man. What sets them apart from stalagmites is that near the base the width shrinks down before widening at the bottom. This gives them the look of instability but as far as the eye can see there isn’t a single one even tilted over, let alone collapsed.

Jason had heard they never seem to fall over and if a fight knocks one down, it will be back in place as soon as no one is observing it. Apparently they also get bigger the deeper into the wastelands you get. The various churches that had explored the area even report the center has a mile high pillar. Though the guild doubts it because something that big should be visible from a distance away yet none of the people they had sent in could find it. Not that they discount it, magic being a thing and all. Thinking it all over Jason can only shake his head. At the moment he couldn’t even get deep enough to confirm that they get bigger let along go searching for the center spike.

Turning away from the forest Jason follows the edge of the rock spikes. Though no longer jogging. There is no telling what monsters he might find at this point. Not that he sees anything for the first mile. Even the ever present rabbits seem to have abandoned him. Though off into the plains some of the biggest horned rabbits he had seen up until now are grazing. “It looks like even they have to be careful of the wastelands. Penny seemed to think highly of the rabbit royalty so maybe those guys are something like guards. If the queens are intelligent, I might have to visit them at some point. That however is a good deal in the future so I might not be able to get back here easily.”

Shrugging his shoulders Jason continues onward. Though soon he spots some monsters in the distance. At first they seem like normal panthers lazing in the shade of a couple spires. However, after getting closer he can see they have 6 legs and the front pair appear to be partly scaled.

As he gets within a few hundred paces of them the most bizarre things happens. The closest three rear up. Now standing on their back 2 sets of legs they appear almost like a centaur. Then the front pair of legs twitch and the paws distort painfully with each digit stretching outward turning into a grotesque skeletal claw. This new appearance reminds Jason of an Aye-aye’s hands he had seen once on a nature documentary. The only thing reminding you they once were normal paws are patches of black fur at each joint. Finally ready they spread their arms and hiss, ready for a fight. It is only this that lets Jason realize it wasn’t just the paws that are odd. When the arms extended outward, they kept going. A whole extra section of arm pulls away from the body, completely clad in scales that let off a pale sheen. Fortunately for Jason the remaining 4 creatures dash away, further into the wasteland.

Jason takes a moment to think, “Well I guess I can handle three of them. Though it might be tough as I don’t know their levels.” Then with a shrug he races towards them. They might be at home in the spires but it was also good terrain for him to fight as well. The panthers seeing his approach charge forward as well and soon the distance between the groups vanishes.

Finally, being close enough the system tags the enemies as Warped Wasteland Panthers. Jason takes a moment to check the levels before sighing in relief. The one in the lead ended up being level 13 while the ones following behind only ranked in at 11. “Thank goodness they aren’t some level 24 monstrosities. This is the edge of the wasteland but Penny didn’t really seem confidant when she told me the level range.” His mind now at ease Jason suddenly crouches down and turns his forward motion into a diagonal jump. With most of his momentum disrupted he lands on the side of a spire. Then he clambers upward to about two third of the way to the top. Down below the Warped creatures try to follow his movement. However, they aren’t able to stop their charge in time to find where he landed. With only the sound to go by they are all nervously glancing around at the base of the spire.

Satisfied with this result Jason gently leaps into the air once more.

 

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