Free Web NovelChapter 26: Hunting praying mantises with a scythe [2]
After putting away our futons inside out spatial rings, Ezio sank into my shadow as usual and I continued on with my trip, leaving the territory of the fire monkeys behind.
Mid-walk, I asked, "What happened to the rest of the fire monkeys? Did you kill them?" fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm
I couldn’t spot a single one in the trees, no matter how far I extended my senses.
’No, they just fled the moment they saw me.’ Ezio replied.
"Damn, did you scare them off with your face? I swear, that should be a crime."
Ezio didn’t reply and stayed quiet.
I smirked and kept walking for a while. The forest on the other side of the fire monkey territory was different, returned to normal, no scorched black ground, just green grass.
I traveled through the forest without running into a single monster, which honestly got boring fast.
I liked the excitement that danger brought.
Something lunged at me from the left with a hiss as I passed a tree.
I jerked my head back, dodging a set of sharp teeth, and the creature shot past me. At least I thought it had, until its long body twisted back around to strike again.
This time I didn’t dodge. I waited until its jaws were only a few inches from my face, then with a quick draw, sliced its long body clean in half from mouth to tail. It dropped to the ground, lifeless.
[You have slain a Low Common beast, Black wood snake.] fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓
I looked down at the dead snake. The scales on its body matched the colour of the surrounding black trees perfectly, ideal camouflage.
It only gave me five fragments.
I kept moving, running into a few more of them along the way and cutting each one down.
Soon I reached the edge of the forest and the snakes stopped appearing. And honestly, I didn’t like what I saw next.
In front of me was a massive cliff that dropped down to a fast-running river below, and on the other side lay the next stretch of forest, so vast I couldn’t see where it ended. Just trees after trees, and far in the distance, what looked like huge dark clouds. Except they weren’t clouds. They were mountains, tall enough to scrape the sky.
Trust me, you don’t want to know what’s up there, because that’s where Section 3 begins.
I looked back down and clicked my tongue.
"I’m really not a fan of heights."
When I was younger I always refused to ride rollercoasters, partly from a fear of heights and partly because I’d watched Final Destination.
I wanted to die eventually, sure, but not in pain.
I took a step forward into nothing but air and fell. My ponytail whipped up behind me, clothes flapping in the wind as I picked up speed, the river rushing up to meet me.
Just before impact, five massive tentacles made of darkness erupted from my back and slammed into the cliff wall, slowing my fall until I was only a couple of meters above the roaring river.
My darkness power really was versatile, useful in more ways than I expected.
Without it I would’ve taken much longer to climb down, or I’d have just had to ask Ezio to carry me.
The tentacles compressed against the wall, then launched me off it like a spring, carrying me over the river with enough momentum that I landed in a crouch on the wet sand on the other side.
I straightened up and dismissed the tentacles.
Shout out to the one-eyed king for the inspiration.
This part of the forest was different. Tall green trees, lush green plants, green grass everywhere.
Green usually means safe. In this forest, it meant death.
’You need to be careful in there.’
"Yeah, I know. They’re really good at sneaking up on people." I stepped into the bamboo forest.
Hundreds upon hundreds of bamboo stalks surrounded me. Birds chirped here and there. I stayed on high alert, senses stretched out to catch any sign of a threat.
This was the territory of the Bamboo Praying Mantises, and they were genuinely dangerous to deal with since their bodies blended seamlessly into their green surroundings.
As I went deeper, I came across a few skeletons that looked like they belonged to monkeys. Fire monkeys, or what was left of some of them.
It seemed a few had been scared enough by Ezio to flee through this forest, and met a terrible end here instead.
"It reeks." I covered my nose with my hand.
The skeletons still had scraps of rotting flesh clinging to them, which explained the smell.
At that moment I formed a long scythe out of darkness in my right hand, gripped it with both hands, and swung behind me.
The blade made a wet crunching sound as it sliced through something solid.
A green, viscous fluid stained the edge of the scythe, and something heavy dropped to the ground.
When I looked, it was the decapitated body of a massive green praying mantis, at least 1.8 meters long. It had four slender hind legs attached to its abdomen and two sharp, scythe-like forelegs roughly 29 centimeters long, perfect for snaring and cutting prey cleanly.
Its severed head was triangular, two long antennae jutting from the top.
[You have slain a Mid Common Beast, Bamboo praying mantis.]
It hadn’t been even 10 minutes and one of them was already sneaking at me. It had gotten that close without me noticing, thanks to both its camouflage and a body built to mask its mana signature.
The scythe still felt unfamiliar in my hands, but that was exactly why I’d come here, to learn how to wield one with the help of these creatures.
Looking around, I saw nothing but green bamboo and foliage.
I pulled the scythe back, slashed at the ground, and hurled a spray of dirt and dust toward the surrounding plants. The moment the dust settled on them, the mantises became visible.
The beasts hissed as the dirt revealed their positions. About five of them, two on my left, two on my right, one directly ahead.
"Bunch of creeps, stalking someone." I shook my head.
As if it had understood me and taken offense, the one in front snapped its scythe-legs forward without warning, straight at my head.
