"Wait, isn't that a snake charmer?" - Garami

"It is? Never heard that term before, but that sounds likely. Now, CAN YOU GET ME DOWN NOW?!" - Pure Lake Dragon

"Ah, I completely forgot about that part. Just a second." - Garami

"...Hey, what are you going to use that scythe for? Hey, stop that! NOOOOO-*CRASH*-...ow..." - Pure Lake Dragon

Hey, I did get you out from that net. Be happy. Rude jerk.

Anyway, it seems we've hit the jackpot. The thieves from Velantas have made a base here. And they got a freakishly specialized talent with them...

"To think that they could force the other C-rank snakes on this island to follow their commands. What a rotten trick to pull!" - Garami

According to the former floor boss, one of the thieves seems to have a special skill, or maybe even a class, that allows him to force snake-type monsters under his command using a flute. The two dons of the snake half of the island, the former floor boss' new bosses, have already fallen for the music fever and are dancing to the bandits' tunes. This is complicating things...

"Hey, are we sure we want to challenge a pair of C-rank snakes? Because I have no intention of dying today." - Mira

"I agree. We have to break the news to Pollen and return to the city. Maybe Karion can provide some anti-snake items or specialists in fighting snakes..." - Garami

Mira and I started to discuss our future move when I noticed that our surroundings had gone quiet. Too quiet.

"Where did the monkeys go?" - Garami

"Those guys left around when I said that the invaders had set up their base by the waterhole the snake colony loves to visit." - Pure Lake Dragon

"Uh-oh. Those idiots are planning on charging in guns blazing!" - Garami

"What are 'guns'?" - Pure Lake Dragon

"Something only wimps would like to use! Anyway, take us to where that waterhole is, Mr. Snake!" - Mira

"Why should I do that? I barely managed to escape brainwashing thanks to not being a pure snake, but I'm not risking a second trial." - Pure Lake Snake

"And that's not something we want either! Just bring us close enough to the waterhole, then you can blast some of the thugs that try to escape from a safe distance!" - Garami

"Oh, I can do that much. It may score me some points with the females after this is over." - Pure Lake Dragon

Why are all the individuals that I know, monsters or not, so honest with their desires!?

The snake gave us a lift through the river until we could hear the sound of combat and flashes of lightning and fire. That must be the gorilla/berserker army.

"Okay, get down. I'm not going any closer than this." - Pure Lake Dragon

"It's good enough. We can walk from here." - Garami

And honestly, riding this guy is sorta unsettling after everything that happened with Glavars and the Water-Knot...

After we got down to the ground, Mira and I used the cover of the trees to sneak closer to the battlefield without being detected. There we saw the primates, led by the boss gorilla, fighting a pair of giant snakes. One is gigantic and black, and the other is ALSO gigantic, but it was more orange than dark.

"Bloom, what's your take on this?" - Garami

"I would say those are a Lesser Boiluna and a Lesser Boitata. The Boiluna is the black one, and the Boitata is the flaming orange one." - Bloom

"I wasn't asking for that. Can you see if the giant wimp behind us was telling the truth?" - Garami

"Diltuded pupils, slow movements... Yes, they are with no doubt under mind control." - Bloom

Hmm, I wouldn't say it's great, but that gives us a chance.

"Anyone who can see the snake charmer? If we take them out, the snakes may not turn to our allies automatically, but they'll at least not be so happy regarding the thieves who tried to enslave them." - Garami

"Garami, wouldn't it be that guy? The one in a tophat playing the flute." - Mira

Oh, how could I miss that guy? He's dressed more like a stage magician than a jungle explorer, so he's looking so outta place here on this flora-filled island that I'm starting to think I've been blind up till this point.

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"Great. Mira, can you take care of him?" - Garami

"No way. He'll sick at least one of those titans at me." - Mira

"Then can you make sure he can't play that flute? The odds are that's the key item for allowing him to command the snakes." - Garami

"True. A single class shouldn't let you command 2 monsters of this strength." - Mira

Yup. The snakes are truly monsters in the truest sense of the word. The flaming one, the Boitata I think, has a ton of floating fireballs around itself, burning only the apes while sparing the greenery and the black snake.

Said snake, the Boiluna, was it? It sometimes disappears when you stop paying attention to it, despite its massive size. I know it's getting darker now due to it being the evening and all, but even so, something THAT big shouldn't be that difficult to keep an eye on!

A magic user and a stealth user, but even then, they're fighting equally with the boss monkey in close combat, which should be his forte.

Yeah, he's gotta use an item. I'll have Mira the Thief Knight fix that. In the meanwhile, I can search for Milo, so he won't be crushed by these giant snakes collapsing on him if the gorilla gets a lucky gorilla punch in.

After splitting up, I snuck around the snakes and enter the camp of the thieves. The criminals have already fled the place because of the smaller monkeys who weren't assisting the boss monkey in fighting the two Boi-snakes, so there is no one here to stop me. My best bet is the heap of transport crates, so I'll start there.

Hmm, these thieves haven't recently settled down here. There are too many containers here for just one roundtrip between this place and the city. Or maybe "loot" is the right answer here? They did steal Mira's...

Hey, I found her wallet. And nothing is missing. All her *****ing over losing this thing has made me able to know the exact sum it contained upon being lost. Even if I never tried to remember it...

There's more stuff that looks stolen here. Wallets, clothes, there are even some flashy weapons that some careless adventurers may have not kept their eye on. But most importantly, there are coins here. And a lot of them. Even a few casino chips. Actually..., make that A LOT of chips! They must be making up around 60% of the total "loot".

And is this paper? Documents? ...no, these are entry passes-, HOLD IT! These are the same things that I had to deal with back when I first arrived at Velantas! Why are the bandits collecting these...?

Having a bad feeling about the passes, I left them behind and continued looking for Milo. And that didn't take long. I found a cat cage in a heap of lucky items such as giant four-leaf clovers, horseshoes, and even wishbones! Yuck...

"*Meow*." - Cat cage

And yes, we have our lucky cat here. Milo replied lazily to me when I knocked on his cage. It seems the thieves haven't mistreated him. The chef's gonna be happy about that.

I grabbed Milo's cage and was about to make my way out of the small labyrinth of boxes when I noticed something further in the back. An elevation of the ground acts as a "wall" for this storage area, and for some reason, there is something akin to a gate in the wall. No, it is a gate! With a giant padlock and all! The lock looks broken, but with these big and heavy doors, a lock seems unnecessary.

The doors look like they've been untouched by the bandits, even if nothing is blocking them, so it's prolly nothing too important. My main goal here is to make sure that Milo returns home safe and sound. I wonder how Mira is faring against the snake charmer.

I exited the camp and was greeted by an...incredible sight. The two giant snakes, and even the boss gorilla and his followers, were all laying around the ground knocked out. They're not dead, just unconscious with large bumps on their heads. That looks painful...

Since I could write off Mira from the list of culprits, as she'd more likely cut them to shreds if she had the chance and power to do so, I believed that this could be the work of the snake charmer. Maybe he's possessing some sort of power that he's been hiding behind in his sleeves? Since he looks like a stage magician and all.

But that idea turned out to be a bust the second I moved my line of sight away from the collapsed monster trio (plus extras) to the rest of the battlefield. On the ground, I could see that very same stage magician laying passed out on the ground with foam from his mouth.

Mira is still in the game, but she's..., she's wounded!? Who did this?! I'll get them...huh?

For some reason...the tophat the snake charmer was wearing before is floating in the air. Why? How? Is this...

GAH!! I must be blind nowadays if I failed to realize this. That hat is possessed by a ghost! Seriously, why did I, a Spectermancer-in-training, fail to notice that?

The tophat aimed its opening toward Mira and shot a...pair of dice at her? But they're gigantic and made outta gold. Dodge them, Mira!

*Clank, clank!*

Or parry them. That works too. Except for the part where one of them is coming this way! I gotta dodge-

"*Meow* (Stop panicking, you foolish person)." - Milo

Hey, for some reason, it feels like this cat is looking down on me. But it seems that I didn't need to worry. The giant die was only sent in this direction, but it flew past me. Phew...

"Garami!? Did you find the cat?" asked Mira as she moved closer to me with the intent of guarding me against the hat's attacks.

"Obviously," I replied as I showed her the cage with Milo.

"Then give me a hand here! This hat is insulting me!" - Mira

Insulting? I can understand if she said "attacking", but insulting...

Maybe the hat felt insulted instead, but it starting throwing up tons of cards from its "mouth". Cards with razor-sharp edges. But its aim...is horrible. Mira was about to do one of those impressive blasts of light to fend off the cards, but the wind caused them to fly out of course. They didn't even get close to hitting us now.

"...That's...weird..." - Mira

"Speaking of weird, how did things end up like this? What happened after I left?" - Garami

"How should I know? I only kicked the snake charmer out cold and crushed his instrument, but then that strange hat started to do a solo act and attacked everyone with gambling tools!" - Mira

"That's...strange. And it KO-ed the boss and the snakes that easily?" - Garami

"With those giant dices from before. I managed to get away since its aim is horrible, but the giants are...well, giants." - Mira

Size isn't everything then. Noire will be happy to hear that.

While we were busy catching up, the hat had finally stopped spewing out cards at random. Is it planning on changing its attack style? ...Hmm? The cards, they fell to the ground in groups of five. Almost like a poker hand. ...Hold on. Those cards..., and then there's the pair of dice from before...

This, plus the fact that this hat's identity is a ghost... Gambling and lucky items..., don't tell me...

---

Meanwhile, back at the ship borrowed from the Union on the island's eastern beach:

*Creeeeeack...*

"*Yaaaawn*, I overslept. Those waves are too calming. Now, time to hunt~." - ???