Reign and the others were calmly walking through the forest as the two unexpected visitors were talking. They took great care not to alert any enemies, but alas, even with all the precautions and skills they used they were still unlucky at the end and managed to come face to face with a troll.
It happened suddenly, Beast had already alerted everyone about an approaching enemy and they did the same thing as always, they tried going around it. Alas, that turned out to be a bad move as more enemies showed up nearby, almost encircling them. They tried going different ways but it was useless, there were monsters everywhere around them for some reason. Giant wolves were resting on big rocks nearby, the troll was enjoying a stroll in the forest, another bear was brushing against a tree, all of them stuck to their areas without attacking each other.
They all decided that going to where the troll was would be the best course of action, the monster was the slowest of them all, and running away from it shouldn't pose a problem. They did just that, slowly moving towards the troll they made sure not to alert the other monsters and gave it their best to stealthily move behind the troll. The troll, however, managed to smell them, something they completely forgot about, after so much time in the wilderness their bodies naturally sweated and started smelling a bit, that was something the troll didn't miss.
Suddenly they were locked into an intense stand-off with the troll, the huge monster was looking at them in confusion, it had never seen such creatures before, not to mention that their strength was below the monsters here which made him even more curious. He stuck out his arm, trying to grab one of them but they started running immediately. The troll got annoyed by their behavior and follows after them immediately, not content with letting them flee.
The ruckus however attracts the nearby monster who gets close to the troll, in an attempt to find out what's happening. As they see Reign and the others their eyes straighten and they start running after them. Reign and the others were desperate suddenly, even defeating one of these monsters would be an incredibly difficult task, now that they were so many of them it was impossible and the only outcome would be death.
They continue running away, turning sideways every time they encountered another monster. The chase had been lasting for a good 5 minutes before a wolf managed to overtake them and attack. The wolf wasn't amongst the higher leveled enemies here, being only level 21 he was considered cannon fodder and was of no threat to the other beasts, to them, however, it was an incredibly strong opponent for which they needed to give their all to defeat.
Everyone used their trump cards immediately and launched a fierce barrage towards the wolf, riddling it with small holes and injuries on its body. The wolf backs away right after that, scared that his life would be extinguished if it didn't do so.
The troll draws nearby as they stopped briefly to deal with the wolf, seeing that things might take a more dangerous turn Reign tries launching a lighting bullet to penetrate the troll's eye, only to see the troll move his head immediately and take the hit with his cheek. The skin of the troll truly lived up to its fame as it only managed to get a small bruise and slightly charred skin around the point of impact. Seeing that its defense is so strong they discard their plan of fighting and continue running away, hoping for some miracle to happen and save them.
The thick bushes and shrubs were their best friends while they were sneaking around, now, however, they only served to annoy them and block their vision every time they went through one, the worst thing is that the troll and most of the other monsters were quite big, and they could usually see what was happening from above.
Many monsters soon joined the chase, they all jogged to the party, not worried at all that they would outrun them or attack them, they were honestly too weak to do any of those things to them. Even a giant praying mantis came down from the high trees and observed everything with its head turning around eerily.
Before they knew it a full 25 minutes had already passed and they were already on the verge of exhaustion while the monster group behind them was sticking to them like glue. Many other monsters had joined in the chase, there were tigers, kobolds, orcs, and many more inside the group and they all simply observed them from a distance as they ran for their lives.
Five more minutes passed and the party hit rock bottom as they come back to the lake. The beach was filled with monsters that look over at them with intrigue. The lake zone was usually a no-kill zone but that only worked with natives of the forest, strangers such as them were an exception.
The elves look over and get shocked when they see them, they knew of humans, but seeing them here, in such a dangerous situation was shocking for them.
Quickly they find themselves surrounded by the monsters, the poor elves simply looked at them with pity in their eyes as they knew there was no way of saving them, the monsters were already excited after going after them for so long and trying to stop them meant certain death to most.
The troll came forward, his face frowned now as it didn't expect the tiny prey to run from it for so long. It slowly comes to the party that had now drawn their weapons and were ready to fight for their life, Reigns' eyes were squinted together and a small part of them swirled in black and white light.
Tap, tap
A low sound of gentle footsteps rang out in everybody's ears, the footsteps were neither loud nor overbearing, they were so gentle and quiet in fact that nobody should be able to hear them now, but here it was, the sound was actually ringing in their ears.
Reign looks over with a grim expression on his face, an expression that soon gets replaced by a surprised one, right after it goes back to being grave. There were two people walking toward them. A tall, violet-colored woman was swaying her hips gently left and right as she approaches them with a wide smile on his face. The man with her was looking straight at Reign with a bemused expression on his face. Nothing came between the two groups, the monsters voluntarily make way for the two, scared for their own lives.
Some, however, were different, the troll and a giant wolf stood their ground and look angrily at the approaching pair, the troll was fed up with things happening unexpectedly now, its face was angry and it had completely gone crazy with anger now. The wolf however was a new leader of a pack, its legs were slightly trembling as he growled at the pair. Miriam sees that and frowns slightly, something like this was a clear provocation, she would definitely not stand for it, especially if the provocateur was a weak monster that was many times weaker than her.
She stretched out her hand and put two of her fingers together before she snapped them and created a spark, the spark traveled through the air towards the wolf and turned into a raging pillar of flame as it touched it. The man however was incredibly displeased by how the troll looked at them, he simply looked at the troll and pointed down with his finger, to which a huge lightning strike came down and annihilated the monster.
Seeing how two high-level monsters were dead everyone looks over at them, Reign stood as a statue as he stared straight at Zeus, it was as if something was whispering to him that he should give it his best to befriend the man, even though he knew nothing of him.
"Well, what do we have here, a couple of humans decided to go to an incredibly dangerous place for some reason and almost got themselves killed." The woman shakes her head in clear disappointment as she sees the sight.
"He should be amongst them Z." She nods happily towards Zeus as he lowers his head a bit as a sign of thanks. He and Reign look straight at each other as if trying to see what exactly the other one was thinking.
They were incredibly flustered now, especially after Reign tried to inspect them with his skill.
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He couldn't see anything, not even the full status bar would show up now.
"I think I know what you meant now Miriam, he is simply marvelous." Zeus said after he looked at Reign, he could see that lighting responded to Reign as if he was its own child, not even he, the "God of Lighting" didn't receive such friendliness from it.
Before they could start a conversation however the lake started producing waves. The center of it again explodes as a huge flood dragon showed up and flew high into the sky before coming back down.
The humongous beast gets closer and closes his eyes while nodding and praying to Miriam.
"I see, a new evolution huh, good job little one, maybe one day you will be able to become a true dragon," this, however, was simply too hard to do, and Miriam knew it.
She focused a bit and gently caressed the giant head that was now in front of her. Regn and the others simply look in awe at the woman who was petting a dragon as if it was a puppy.