“Mishelly, tell me more about this gas badger. Is it liking those large beasts, living in lairs?”
“Uhh, not really. They are solitary creatures but they will flee if they get pressured enough, it’s just... their hide is tough and mana resistant so it takes effort to make them flee. Defeating them seems out of the question unless you want to bring down the whole burrow. They can dig so it’s us who would have the bigger problem in that case.”
“Besides it’s stink, why is it called a gas badger?”
“It produces flammable gas...beware of [Gas bombs], [Flamethrowers] and farts.”
“Farts...please tell me you’re joking...”
“I’m afraid not, mana wards and barriers might protect against the gas-based attacks but it won’t protect you from its farts.”
It was too dark to see if Mishelly was pulling a prank or serious. The fact of the matter was that this burrow smelt horrible. Even worse than failed potions.
A loud sound of something deflating echoed through the burrow.
“Please let this be a dream...I don’t want to fight a farting monster...”
The [Airball] around my head started spinning to refresh the air within. I wish I had put effort into basic air purification...
The smell punched through the [Airball] and all I could think of was lying down in a warm comfortable bed with fresh air. “I hate this...”
Mana got converted into light mana and slow-moving [Lightballs] appeared. My lack of light affinity ensured that this was the best I could do without spending too much mana but it was enough.
I expected another hideous beast but the balls of light slowly revealed a normal-looking badger, albeit large. It stared at us aggressively though. It might not have appreciated getting his home getting lit up like a circus.
“Hey Mr/ Badger, we’re just here for some carrots, we will leave you alone afterward.”
My attempt at diplomacy was met with a growl and [Gas Bombs]. Mishelly and i evaded but Sym had different ideas. He tried to kick it and missed. The [Gas Bomb] attacked to his head and he tried to push it off while trying to push it off his head, which failed.
“Sym, what are you doing...” I waved my fan and blew the [Gas Bomb] off his head, which exploded after hitting a wall.
“He probably tried to kick it away, we can only interact with wind and gas with our legs.” Mishelly said as she kicked [Gas Bombs] back at the badger.
“I see, how strange...so why didn’t he kick the [Gas Bomb] of his head?”
Mishelly and I looked at the coughing Sym.
“I don’t know...why didn’t you kick it off your head Sym?”
“Ugh, that stinks! I uhh haven’t been keeping up with my leg stretches so my feet can’t reach that high.” Sym said while demonstrating some pathetic rabbit kicks.
The [Lightballs] slowly spread out and illuminated the room/ it revealed carcasses, bones spread out on the floor, and a dung heap in a corner. All contributors to the foul smell in the burrow.
The badger smacked every [Lightball] in its vicinity, causing the space to darken.
“Ugh, I seem to be put on [Lightball[ duty.” I produced more [Lightballs] to keep up with thode that got put out.
“Do we retaliate? It seems quite passive in attacking.”
Mishelly interrupted a nature energy laser she had aimed at the badger. “Hmm, youre right, how about we keep him distracted while Sym sets up the Carrot room?”
“No! No more carrots! I will help Azu with this Stinky!” Sym formed mana around his hand and the trademark flower cannon appeared around his arm.
Mishelly shrugged and carefully moved toward the large door behind the badger.
“Yoohoo! Gas Badger! Over here! I have some more [Lightballs] for you!”
I sent a large [Lightball] at the gas badger and successfully grabbed its attention. I hopped on my fan and flew around while spreading more [Lightballs].
Sym started using [Flower Cannon]... wasn’t our plan to distract him and not full on fight it?
“Hahaha! Take that stinky!”
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Sym’s attacks hit their target but I was unsure if it dealt any damage, Mishelly did say they were tough and had high resistances.
The badger used [Flamethrower] and set the gas in the burrow to explode. Te heat and shockwave launched me into the ceiling.
I fought to grab my fan while in freefall and managed to grab it and climb on it before hitting the ground.
It caught me completely by surprise. My [Azure Aura] protected me from the sudden explosion but the rabbits might not have been so lucky.
“Mishelly, Sym are you guys alright?”
The door to the Carrot room opened slowly however I couldn’t see what opened the door. Mishelly was nowhere to be seen but Sym had been launched into the dung pile...how unlucky is this guy?
“Ugh, that didn’t hurt as much as I thought it would, this soft stuff caught me.” Sym scooped up the substance that prevented his crash from being painful and screamed after scooping up the smelly brown substance.
“Azu! Help me!”
“I’m sorry Sym, I might be the most beautiful and powerful Misha ever but I’m powerless in front of this situation. Ewww! Don’t come close to me!”
Sym had become a beacon of foul odors and I ensured I kept both the badger and Sym from a set distance from me.
It was possible to judge his distance from me by smell alone.
“Sym! I’m serious! Back off!” I fanned blasts of water at him but it only washed the poo off, it didn’t remove the stench.
“We need to work together to defeat that thing!”
“Didn’t you hear Mishelly?! It’s better to distract and avoid it!”
I flew up toward the ceiling and stayed there. Sym tried to jump up to join me but the ceiling was too high for him.
Another [Flamethrower] went out but there wasn’t much gas anymore.
“Owowowo! I don’t want to end up as a grilled rabbit! Azu help!”
It is a mystery to me how he survived the fairies, although, technically he didn’t as he was familiar with the Carrot room.
I sighed and countered with a [Water Blast].
A ball of light came close to the badger and it revealed why it was so passive. We had disturbed its meal. It might think we’re here to steal its meal. This works for us.
The ball of light got slapped away, creating an area of darkness around it but I had seen enough.
Water clones fell to the ground and ran at it. As long as it thinks we’re after its food it might stay at one spot. I’m not sure how fast these things are but I don't want to find out.
A water clone got torn to shreds by the badger’s sharp claws and several [Gas Bomb] explosions got set off when they got close.
This badger must be very hungry.
The wet fetid smelling rabbit continued shooting [Flower Cannons] at the badger, earning the badger’s full attention.
Dark green fog poured out of it’s jaws as it glared at Sym.
“Gas alert! Sym! Get out of there!”
The fog swept over the ground and a [Spark] set it aflame.
“Azu! Please! I can’t fly like you do!”
I had to make a difficult choice, let the stinky rabbit on my fan or let him bake in the fire.
“I’m sorry Sym, my fan has a weight limit.”
I lied but the stench was just too much for me. He had entered a range of 15 meters and I wished I hadn’t been born with a nose.
The back of the room rumbled and Mishelly came out of the door and gave a thumbs up.
“Yes! Praise the heavens! Sym, we’re leaving!” I created more [Lightballs] and flew out of the burrow.
“Ugh, my nose what is that?!” Mishelly covered her nose and mouth with her shirt while running for the exit.
“That would be Sym...”
[Flamethrowers] and [Gas Bombs] followed us and the badger let out a victory roar.
“That jerk thinks he won! Let’s go back and kick his ass!”
Sym turned around but got tripped by fines which wrapped around him. Mishelly pulled on the vines and dragged him outside. “If you want to die, do that alone but after we get the Carrot room to our burrow!”
I jumped off my fan and fanned the foul air back into the burrow and blocked the entrance with various [Ice Walls]. “My poor nose... just one Carrot room is enough right? I don’t want to deal with another one...”
“Let’s defeat the next one!”
Sym started shadowboxing and making ‘pow pow’ sounds.
“Uhh, I think you need a shower and another round in the Carrot room... Anyways! Time to send that flare!” Mishelly stretched her hand toward the sky and blasted some fairies out of the sky with nature energy.
“Now let's go find the surfaced Carrot room, it should be somewhere here.”
A wall of vines appeared in front of Sym when he tried to follow us. “Sym...please keep at least 30 meters between us, thank you very much.”
I nodded in approval and followed Mishelly through the thick jungle. One misstep could send me tumbling down.
Sym’s smell told us instantly whether he was abiding by the set distance as it became stronger and stronger.
An enormous mound appeared between the green. It stuck out like a sore thumb.
Mishelly hopped on it and sent another flare into the sky.
“It’s a Class 3 Carrot room. We have been given the permission to send it over, also because it’s a Class 3 Carrot room, our mission will be over once it returns to the base. That’s good news. The bad news is that the sky between us and the burrow is quite... busy.”
I flew up and landed on the Carrot room and got a sight of what we needed to go through.
I was looking over a valley. A dark green pillar of nature energy rose up from our destination. It was difficult to see because of the swarms of fairies obstructing the sight.
“This isn’t going to be easy is it...”
I failed to make an accurate estimate of the amount of fairies between us and our destination.
“It never was going to be easy. The other teams had probably reached their burrows but probably failed in the transport...”
We pinched our noses as Sym was getting close.
“Hey Mishelly, you rabbits are close to nature and wind, right? Can’t you make him smell like flowers or something?”
“I can but...he can do it himself too...”
“Mishelly, please! I can’t fight those fairies with that stinky rabbit next to us!”
A ball of air with petals swirling inside formed between Mishelly. The smell of purple jungle orchids spread from it and got fired off the moment 2 rabbit ears appeared.
“Oof!” Sym got hit head-on by the perfume gas bomb and flew off the Carrot room.
“I hope that helps.”
“I can still smell it through the perfume but it’s bearable, you’re a lifesaver.”
The flare in the distance changed and it seemed as if countless leaves were flowing into the sky.
“That’s the ‘ok’ sign! Back off a bit Azu, I need Rabbit mode for this.”
A mana wave rippled through the jungle at our destination and the same happened after Mishelly went into Rabbit mode.
Air pockets gathered and started forming a bridge which got filled with nature energy.
“Hey Mishelly, did you have to make me smell so girly?” Sym climbed back on the Carrot room and sniffed himself. “Ugh, I still smell a bit funky.”
“Not now Sym, I need to focus. Get ready for departure. This will be a long transfer...”