Chapter 53: Chapter 53 - Monster Infested Lake(Part 2)

Now, then let’s see how tough these things really are, shall we...I took aim at the lake and unleashed a barrage of fireballs at the water’s surface, the water starting to boil and bubble rapidly as clouds of steam burst out.

Oh, looks like they’ve stopped advancing towards the shore, they’re submerging themselves deeper underwater. I’ll just burst out some earth spikes and-...hm, wait, if I kill them while they’re underwater, retrieving their bodies will be a huge pain.

I then stopped firing and used my Thought Communication to provoke the Reptiliasaurs while manifesting my Soul Weapon and taking a couple of steps back. Nice, based on their responses to my provocation, I successfully pissed them off.

Now, then, should I try to kill them with my whip or with my Magic? Last night, I measured my current Mana capacity, and it’s at a pretty solid 405, while my maximum output is 42. Not bad at all.

And the more Magic that I use, the more those numbers will increase. Incidentally, those fireballs I was shooting off earlier each used up 2 units of my Mana, and I fired eight of them, which means my total amount of Mana has been reduced to 389.

By messing around with that Magic Item that measures Mana capacity, I figured out that my Mana recovers at a rate of about one unit per minute...so, in other words, if I don’t use any more Spells now, it’ll take sixteen minutes to recover my full capacity.

But enough about that...the Reptiliasaurs have emerged from the water. As the first one to emerge shot towards me with a vicious snarl, baring its fangs menacingly, I swung my whip across towards the base of its neck.

It quickly began to contract its neck into its shell, but it reacted too late, as my whip struck and decapitated it with ease. In response, the rest of the Reptiliasaurs shrunk back into their shells, leaving just their heads and about a couple of inches of their necks out.

Oh, they’re starting to surround me...but they’re all warily keeping their distance, sizing me up cautiously. Pretty smart for creatures with supposedly low intelligence...but this works out perfectly for me.

I then swung my whip up before cracking it in a circular arc, and then rapidly swung it around me while extending it out...let’s see if I can’t take them all out in one go!

My whip struck one of them on the side of its shell...and sliced right through, cutting off its top half, before the momentum carried it across towards the other creatures and slashed through their bodies, killing them.

As the whip began to reach the last few Reptiliasaurs, they began to back away in a hurry, the last three of them managing to avoid fatal damage, though still sustaining some deep cuts.

The one with the most severe damage, with a chunk of its snout severed, let out a bloody snarl as it suddenly shot straight towards me. I swiftly contracted my whip as it closed in, before it sprang up at me with its jaws wide open.

I pointed my whip up at it and then swiftly stiffened and extended it like a needle, piercing through the roof of its upper jaw and out the top of its head, as it simultaneously swung its tail out towards my left.

I quickly activated an earth Spell to burst out spikes to my left, its tail hitting the spikes and getting skewered, some of the spikes breaking upon impact.

I then glanced to my right as one of the two remaining Reptiliasaurs closed in on me from that side, its head shooting out as it extended its neck out, its jaws overlapping my side as it began to snap shut.

I swiftly swung the dagger end of my whip across at it with a flick of my wrist, slicing off the ends of its jaws right as its teeth began to press into my armor, before I jammed the dagger end into the top of its head and gave it a violent twist, killing it.

That was close, a split second later and it would have chomped into me...it wouldn’t have been pretty if all sixteen of them had charged me right from the get go, these things are deceptively quick on their feet.

Speaking of which, I’ve lost sight of the last one. I quickly leapt forward while spinning around in mid-air, just in time to see that it had been about to close in on me from behind.

I then coated the dagger end of my whip handle in flames and swung it across, shooting out a fiery slash it it. It quickly ducked its head into its shell, my attack leaving a shallow, scorched gash on its shell.

Wrapping a Spell around this blade and then firing it out uses less Mana than firing the Spell on its own...naturally, the Spell is weaker this way since there’s less Mana fueling it, but the slashing power and speed of the attack make up for that.

Looks like I was a bit slow to unleash it though. Plus, with my whip’s range, I rarely ever get a chance to use the dagger end of the handle, especially since I can contract and stiffen the whip end like a narrow, needle-like blade.

And I’ve never gotten a chance to use the knuckle spikes at the top of the handle, at least not in a real fight. I’m definitely better at wielding the whip than I am with the dagger and knuckles, so I’ve probably been unconsciously playing to my strength.

But to wield this weapon to its full potential, I need to use every aspect of it equally well as best as I can. That said, there’s no need to rush it...I’ll take my time in honing my use of my Soul Weapon. And for right now...I’ll start by killing this Monster.

I then fired out a lightning Spell at it, which it sprang away to avoid, but still got struck on its side, letting out a pained hiss. A direct hit would’ve been nice, but all I really needed for my attack to touch the creature even a little bit...and now, I’ve inhibited its movements a bit.

It won’t be able to dodge this. I then swung my whip straight down at it while extending the length, slicing it vertically in half before it could evade my attack.

Alright, I’m done. For a moment, it got a bit dicey, but overall, I think I put up a pretty clinical performance on my first quest as an Adventurer. Not too bad, if I do say so myself.

Now, then, time to store these corpses up in my Pocket Dimension. I headed over to the bodies and began dropping them in through my portals one by one, feeling pretty satisfied.

"Won’t their blood and stuff get on the other things in there?" Inquired Prysm curiously, as she followed behind me.

"No, I can form an endless amount of separate sections within my Pocket Dimension. I mean, whenever I put you in there, you’re not on a pile of the stuff I’ve stored in there, right?" I pointed out in response.

"Oh, right, that’s true. I just thought that maybe I couldn’t see them because it’s dark in there," She mused thoughtfully.

"That’s not how it works, and it’s not actually dark in there. I mean, you can still see yourself clearly, right? Along with any food and water I put in there with you when it seems like you might be in there for a while," I reminded her.

"Now I feel stupid...whenever you put me in there, I just think about how long it’ll be before you’ll let me out again, so I don’t think about anything else," She grinned sheepishly.

"On that note...time to get back in," I remarked, as I gestured to a portal I opened beside her, having finished gathering up the Reptiliasaur corpses.

"What? Already?" She groaned in dismay.

"Quit your complaining and just do it."

"Wait, aren’t you going to circle around the lake and make sure there aren’t any more Monsters hiding out underwater? Can’t I at least stay out until you’re done with that?" She requested hopefully.

"No can do. There’s a village near the other end of the lake, and I can’t afford to let you be seen. I’m sure I don’t need to explain why. Now, if you understand, get in," I nodded at the portal.

"But-...fiiiiinnneee," She grumbled with a pout, as she dragged her feet and headed into the portal.

This is starting to feel like a babysitting job...I didn’t sign up for this. I let out a sigh as I began walking along the edge of the lake, keeping my Monster/Magical Beast Thought Communication active to see if I could detect any presences down there.

Reptiliasaurs are supposed to roam in groups, so it’s unlikely that any of them strayed away from the rest, but it is possible that they split into another large group. Hope not, that’d be annoyin-...huh?

What the...? What’s that? It’s not a Reptiliasaur...once I’ve communicated with a particular Monster species, I can tell if I detect one of the same species again. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

But whatever my Thought Communication just detected, it’s something I’ve never encountered before...and what’s more, something about it feels...utterly terrifying...

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