’Did you find anything?’
Jason spoke up calmly through his mental link with Gina, and Gina let out a sigh as she shook her head and said she didn’t. Gina had flown up to see if she could pass through the clouds, but she realized that she couldn’t risk it.
’The cloud is too thick. Even if I wanted to use my powers to clear it, there’s a chance it might still spread around us again. And we don’t even know what sort of poison is up there, so it’s better to just avoid it.’
Jason hummed with a small smile and told Gina that he had the same thought, and Gina smiled at him before she took a step back and jumped on Jason’s back happily! Jason raised a brow as he held her thighs to carry her piggy-back style, and he asked her what the hell she was doing. Gina wrapped her hands around Jason’s neck and kissed his cheek before resting her chin on his shoulder and speaking with a small pout.
’I’m tired, carry me.’
There was a sudden feeling of excitement that passed through Jason’s heart when he heard the way Gina was speaking, and he had to take in a breath to calm himself before he scoffed calmly at the childish request from his fiancée. They weren’t even going to be walking, so Jason knew that she was just using this as an excuse to hug him, but Jason didn’t mind at all. Jason responded calmly.
’You’re such a baby.’
’Mhmm, but I’m your baby.’
Jason couldn’t hide his grin even if he wanted to, and he squeezed Gina’s thighs possessively before he called on his subordinates and told them to spread out. The subordinates quickly flashed out from the Alternate Dimension and vanished into the shadows to begin taking a survey of the region, and Jason waited until they had gone a good distance away before he held on tighter to Gina’s soft thighs and finally sank into the shadows and began making his way through the forest.
The trip for the next hour was completely uneventful. The most dangerous animal that Jason encountered in the forest so far was a large A-Rank python that could spit venom at its prey from its large fangs, and Jason didn’t even see it as a threat, so he left it alone since it didn’t attack him either. As they went, the forest only grew darker as the thick canopy of trees above them became even thicker. This forest was very similar to the Amazon forest, so even though there were some parts that allowed you to see into the forest from above, there were other parts of the forest that were so thick that you would think that it was made up of just one giant tree above you! The sun was already starting to set, but Jason didn’t really mind since he knew that there weren’t any monsters in this forest that could pose a threat to him. If Jason wanted to sleep out in the open here, then he could do it without having to worry about anything!
But as Jason and Gina slowly approached the eastern part of the forest, they were greeted by the sound of fighting a few hundred meters away from them. Jason stopped his journey as he listened to the fight, and he was surprised to hear what sounded like multiple men battling against a monster. Jason quickly told his subordinate to go check it out while he slowly rose from the shadows and stood on the forest floor. Gina was still clinging to Jason’s back happily, and Jason could feel her calm heartbeat against his back, so he knew that she was either dozing off or had fallen asleep completely. Jason decided not to bother her, and he turned as one of his subordinates came back to him and told him that the battle was between some mercenaries and a large Mandrake. Jason hummed at that bit of information, and if it were any other moment, then Jason would have completely ignored them and continued on his way since he was busy, but Jason was interested in the Mandrake, and he wanted to see what it was like, so he began to walk through the forest in the direction of the fighting.
The scene that Jason arrived at was like something straight out of a fantasy novel. There were many men with different body shapes and features standing around with swords and shields. There were some men who looked like humans, but there were also lizardmen and rabbitmen, and there was even one man who had the body of a tiger, but stood on two legs like a man. The men had all been in a large carriage together, but the carriage was currently lying at the side of the road uselessly, and the beast that they had been using to drag the carriage forward had been killed by a long vine sticking out of its neck. And opposite the men was a large mandrake! The Mandrake looked just like a giant tree that had uprooted itself from the ground and used its roots to walk around like a multi-legged creature. The Mandrake’s branches and leaves were just a disguise that it used to lure in prey. Its real body was the large trunk and roots, and its trunk could open up like large jagged mouths that led into a black abyss! Right now, the mandrake was using multiple vines and roots that were shooting out of the ground to try to capture the travellers and pull them in!
"@!#!@#@#!@!"
One of the men shouted out an order, and Jason answered yes to the system prompt about learning the language. The next time the man spoke, Jason was able to understand it perfectly.
"Use fire! It’s weak to fire!"
The lizardman in front shouted out to the other men, and one of them quickly coated his sword in a bright yellow flame before he slashed an arc through the air and allowed it to race towards the Mandrake! The Mandrake immediately used its vines to block the attack, but the moment the flames struck, it exploded and burned the vines! The man grinned, and the other men all began to try to launch their own fire-based attack on the Mandrake. Some of the men used fireballs, while others used arrows that they lit on fire! The Mandrake managed to block all of the attacks using its vines, and even though the men were happy that they were getting rid of the vines, Jason could tell that their attacks weren’t doing much damage at all.
From what Jason had seen so far, the Mandrake was most likely around SS-Rank in strength, while the strongest fighter here was barely an S-Rank. It didn’t matter what they did to the Mandrake; they weren’t going to win this battle. And just like Jason predicted, the Mandrake shot its vine forward and managed to swipe across all the men and throw them to the ground easily! The Mandrake lashed out and grabbed the leg of the large lizardman, and the man screamed in fear as he was pulled towards the Mandrake’s large, cavernous mouth!
"Help! Help!"
The lizardman shouted to his companions, but they were all scared stiff from the overwhelming difference between them and the Mandrake, and it was obvious that the lizardman was going to be killed. Jason sighed and told one of his dragons to handle this. An SS-Rank Radagan Dragon immediately flashed out from the shadows, and before anyone could even understand where it came from, it opened its mouth and unleashed a blast of fire on the Mandrake!
ROARRRR!!!