While I knew her speed had increased, I hadn't expected her combat power to have increased this much. Behind me I can hear retching sounds coming from Windy, but I guess I can't blame her. After all, it looks like someone put the snakes into a blender without the lid on.
If I am being honest, Lizzy even scares me a little, I don't think I would win if we fought. With all my healing abilities I could drag the fight out for a while, but I think she would still win. After all, right now she isn't even using her earth abilities, just pure physical might.
What's more, she is still getting used to her new body, I can see her improving in real time. It would seem that Lizzy got a lot more benefits out of the earth temple than I did from the wind temple. Maybe it is because she is a natural sacred beast whereas I am basically a fake.
Anyway, it's not like I need to worry too much, she is on my side after all. I will just make a note to try not to piss her off if I can help it, which will be difficult. My natural tendency is to tease any female I am in contact with, even ones who can hurt me.
It has long been a problem for me and has gotten me into tons of trouble. Yet no matter how hard I try I just can't seem to stop myself from doing it. So I will just have to do my best to curb that impulse around Lizzy, otherwise she might eat me.
54 Rank 1 mana beasts defeated! 2,700 Exp gained!
33 Rank 2 mana beasts defeated! 3,300 Exp gained!
15 Rank 3 mana beasts defeated! 2,250 Exp gained!
Lizzy says "What are you spacing out for?"
"Uh, I was just surprised by how much stronger you have become!"
Lizzy says "This isn't an accurate gauge of my abilities, these snakes were too weak."
"True. Anyway, can you smell the members of the weasel clan?"
Lizzy says "They should be down that tunnel."
"Alright, let's check it out."
There are quite a number of tunnels leading out of the cavern so chances are there are more snakes around. So we bring Windy and Bones with us and head down the tunnel Lizzy indicates. I let Lizzy lead the way since the tunnel will widen itself to accommodate her.
The tunnel soon leads to a small cavern that has been crudely fenced off. Behind the fence there are several hundred weasels of all ages, including children. Lizzy and I were not adequately prepared for the ridiculous level of cuteness that is the weasel children.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
While Ekard is amazingly cute and adorable, the addition of soft fur gives the weasel children an extra level of cuteness. Lizzy easily rips down the fence closing off the cavern causing all heads to turn and look our way. Unfortunately, the weasels don't see Lizzy as a savior, all they see is her big teeth.
In all fairness, both Lizzy and I don't really give off all that friendly of an appearance. Luckily, the weasels quickly notice Windy before they do anything stupid. Immediately one of the weasels jumps up and rushes over to hug her, probably her brother.
This happy scene finally convinces the rest that they are actually being rescued. Then there is cheering and tears as the weasels finally find hope in our arrival. To be honest it is a little overboard, but since they have all been sitting here waiting to be eaten it is understandable.
Windy says "This is my brother, Cloud!"
Cloud says "Thank you, so much, for saving us!"
As Cloud shakes my hand I take the opportunity to scan him with my sacred power. It turns out that Cloud is indeed a max rank mana beast, meaning he is the one I am looking for. It is impressive because he doesn't look that much older than his sister.
However, now is not the time to help him evolve, we need to get his people out of here first. Getting this many people back south is not going to be an easy task, so I tell Cloud and Windy to start organizing them. According to Cloud there should be over two hundred of the snakes so we have only killed about half of them.
Once everyone is organized and ready to march Lizzy leads the way back to the main cavern. Needless to say the sight that greets them causes a lot of the weasels to be sick. There are others, mainly warriors, who look extremely pleased when they see the carnage.
Contrary to my expectations there are no snakes waiting to ambush us. Maybe they saw the cavern and decided to run away, or they might be waiting elsewhere. Either way, it doesn't really matter, if they show up we will kill them all.
They are not good enough experience that I am going to worry about chasing them down. I am more interested in getting the weasels home and then heading to meet up with Mercy. Of course, the snakes don't plan to just let all of their food just walk away.
The snakes are waiting in ambush not too far outside of the cavern, but Lizzy smells them. Once Lizzy informs me, I tell the weasels to stay put, then Lizzy, Bones, and I attack. The snakes don't react well to having their ambush turned around on them.
Their slow reactions just make it that much easier for the three of us to massacre them. Sadly, Lizzy kills more of the snakes than me and Bones combined. At this point I am pretty sure she is just showing off, but there isn't much I can say about it.
When we turn around to rejoin the weasels we are met by looks of horror and fear. It would seem that in the eyes of most of the weasels we are monsters. There are a few exceptions, mainly Windy and Cloud along with some of the warriors.
Not that I really care how they think of us, I just want to get this over with. After marching for a while we stop to eat and I provide food for everyone from my pouch. Surprisingly Ekard is still sound asleep and shows no signs of waking up even when food is mentioned.
It is probably because he overstuffed himself, he probably won't wake up until he has digested everything. Once everyone has eaten we resume the march south towards the wall. We end up having to stop again once we are close to the wall, the weasels can't cross it during the day.
Since we have a few hours to wait, I call Cloud over and start telling him about sacred beasts. Since his parents were so against it I want to give him the choice before they can say anything to him. For his part Cloud is very enthusiastic about being able to evolve and asks me to do it right away.