After going with the Eagle Riders, Hera and Pandora quickly arrived at their target location. It was a thick layer of jungle near the mouth of the valley. According to Carcassonne, there was only one Apex creature here, as no one else had been able or bothered to claim this particular territory. The reason for that seemed to be a bit of a mystery. By our accounts, there was no motive why this particular area was avoided by the strongest creatures. The Empress made a mental note that this could be related to the creation of the Apex predators—the mutations that were causing problems for the people in this dungeon. However, this wasn’t the focus right now. They were looking for a specific snake-like monster called Jarnak.

According to Pandora, that wasn’t the name of the creature they were hunting itself but instead the name given to the entire species of creatures, the largest snakes that existed around the island. The Jarnak they were looking for was the mutated version, which would be indicated as the Apex Jarnak.

"And is that the only creature we might find?" Hera asked.

Pandora turned to the Empress and paused, "I guess this is not something I should let you figure out on your own. It is possible for the monsters to overlap their territories or for one of the Apexes to be passing by a different area. It’s kind of rare, but it can happen. And the one thing that you won’t be able to figure out now is that each Apex has a different variation depending on the run."

"What do you mean?" Hera frowned.

"I mean, we’re looking for an Apex Jarnak, but it can come in various different shapes. Maybe it’s just a big version, or maybe it has a specific elemental power. I’m trying not to say anything else that could spoil the training. But again, it’s not something you’re going to learn on a single run. In fact, it took me five attempts before I was able to see any difference between the creatures. I thought it was just a basic version that always happened the same way."

"Oh, so like one of them can be a fire snake, and the other can be an earth snake or something like that?" Hera asked.

"Yeah. There’s more nuance in some cases, but that’s more or less what’s going to happen."

The Empress smiled. "That’s good, then. It gives everybody a chance to figure different things out. And it’s also less boring if we have some variation in the runs. Since we’re going to be here for a while, if we were fighting the same monster over and over again, people would get a bit crazy."

Pandora nodded. "Yeah, pretty much. Also, do you want to be the one to find the creature, or should I just go for it?"

The dwarf looked around, gesturing to the environment. They were at the edge of the jungle that covered the Veil. It was covered with beautiful trees and flowers. Even the bushes had their own allure to them. But the most impressive part was the variety. It didn’t look like there was a single duplicate of a tree species anywhere, as if every single one of them was unique. From palm trees to pine trees, sequoias, and even walnuts, the same could be said for the flowers, bushes, and every type of flora that existed in the area.

But at the same time, it didn’t need to take too close of an inspection to realize there was a lot of overlap. The trees might look like they were unique and not repeating anywhere, but the reality was very different. Many of the trees were similar to each other, almost as if they all came from the same species. What changed was the type of mutation they had. A pine tree with a mutation to make its branches longer, or an apple tree with a mutation that made it strong and massive but with tiny leaves in comparison, transforming the entire thing into what was basically an apple palm tree. The same could be said for the flowers, the vines, and everything. There was not a single speck of this area that was not affected by a different kind of mutation.

If the dragon really was responsible for this blessing, as the Scale Hearts said, Hera started to think that the dragon could be a bit of a mad scientist. But she wasn’t about to say that out loud. On the off chance that the dragon was present in the dungeon, the last thing she would need was to cause the ire of such a powerful creature.

"I think I should be the one chasing after it. But you said that there are other monsters in the area, right? We’re not going to be completely safe until we find it. Correct?" Hera wondered.

"Pretty much. It’s possible that most of them will show up and start attacking us," Pandora said.

Hera turned to the dwarf with a devilish smile, "Then I think we’re going to do the most fun type of dungeon quest there is."

Pandora paused and stared at the Ophidianite with a confused expression. "I don’t like where this is going."

The Empress chuckled. "Don’t worry. But you’re not on an escort mission right now. You have to protect me while I investigate and try to find the creature."

Pandora blinked slowly. "Can I just not? I mean, you can handle yourself. I can just fight the ones that get you."

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Hera shook her head. "Nope. This is practice for everyone, and while Lurize will keep an eye on you to understand your abilities. I’m not going to bother with any monsters. You have to protect me, make sure I don’t get hurt, and don't get caught in any traps."

Pandora let out a loud groan. There was a reason why people hate escort missions, even in games. They’re generally extremely annoying and amount to little more than babysitting someone who’s acting so stupidly that even calling them a child would be an offense to children.

"Can you at least not be as brain-dead as some NPCs in games?" the dwarf tried.

Hera shrugged. "Maybe. We’ll see."

They started their small adventure across this area of the dungeon. Because it was so close to the Valley itself, it didn’t even have a name like the other regions. It was just know as the mouth of the valley. Hera's titled blades were in their weapon forms, leaving Pandora to be the only other person in the area. That wasn’t because they weren’t doing anything, but to follow the idea of practice that the Empress had set up for the others. The rest of her blades were off in various directions, searching for the monster.

"Are you not even going to call your court?" Pandora asked.

Hera gestured to the side, where a few smaller creatures moving around, "What's that over there?"

She rushed to the small clearance where two large creatures was grazing. They looked like some sort of giant angelic rabbits with wings and a halo floating over their heads. Each about a meter and a half tall. Hera completely ignored the monsters and continued walking towards a small dirt patch by the side. The two creatures were just staring daggers at the newcomers, as if they had just been interrupted. One of them leaped closer, forcing Pandora to jump ahead. She drew a large hammer from her back. But it wasn’t a regular hammer. It was a strange device with a set of rotating chambers and a piston-like structure on the back.

She rushed forward, brandishing her weapon, but slamming her shoulder on the smaller of the two rabbits, sending it toppling to the side. Right after that, Pandora spun her hammer and landed a powerful swing, hitting the second rabbit in the chin. The first creature got up to its feet and tried to charge, but Hera just watched from the sidelines. The monster narrowly missed its attack as its ears suddenly became solid and almost like a pair of spears. But Pandora was quick to react. She swung her hammer without even looking at the creature. It wasn’t the kind of move that happened by instinct because she noticed the sound, but something she had honed over the course of several hunts.

With a powerful downward slam, Pandora attacked the creature again, forcing it to jump to the side. But that wasn’t all. Just as the hammer missed, one of the chambers started to glow and ignited, sending out a gust of wind from the back of the hammer, causing Pandora to continue her swing and deliver an even more powerful blow, a spinning attack at the creature. Which was enough to break its neck in a very gruesome way, as part of the bone became exposed.

"Well done," the Empress smiled as the two creatures were killed. The two creatures dissolved on the ground, leaving behind a pack of dried meat and some beef jerky, strangely enough.

"Thank you, but did you have to just stand there like that?" Pandora asked.

Hera shrugged. "I didn't have to, but it was funny doing that."

Pandora rolled her eyes, "And what else? Did you at least manage to take a good look at how I fight?"

Hera shook her head. "Not really. It was a quick fight. But we can start to get a picture. What’s that hammer, by the way?"

Pandora showed the hammer to the Empress. "It’s my custom model. You see these chambers in the back?"

"Yeah, they kind of look like the place where Shane keeps the charges for her grenades."

"Yeah, that’s pretty much what it is. That’s where the inspiration came from. I saw how she makes those grenades and adapted them to work with my hammer. But instead of having to craft them one by one, the chambers themselves can create the effect. They store mana that comes from every attack and once there’s enough, I can trigger them to activate one of their effects. I have like a couple of dozen different ones, but I can only handle three at a time."

"Oh, so you prepare yourself depending on what you’re going to do?" Hera asked.

"Yep. And since I kind of have an idea of how things are going to go, I already prepared the types of charges for me."

"So, it’s the wind one, and what else?" the Ophidianite asked.

Pandora hesitated. "Feels like I’m giving away the monster's weakness if I tell you."

"You are not wrong, but on the flip side, trying to gather information from reputable sources is also part of the experience. There’s no need for you to discover everything. People already have discovered stuff, especially if you are in the region. You can just accept the people who need to hear what’s going on, too." Hera explained.

"So, should I tell you?"

"No. It's more fun for me to figure out."

Pandora nodded and pulled her hammer, placing it over her shoulder, "Are you going to be doing that a lot? Rushing headfirst towards monsters?"

Hera shrugged. "Are you going to show me something else if we find smaller monsters?"

"I don’t think so. The monsters that are in this region are very easy to deal with. And the other two charges are very specific to be used against the snake."

"Okay, then. Should we go after it?" Hera asked.

"Do you know where it is?" Pandora frowned.

"I do. My court found it about five minutes ago."

"How?" Pandora gasped.

"Between the roughly 200-meter radius I have and a few skills that let me scan the area like a sonar, it wasn’t hard."

The dwarf blinked. "That feels like cheating. I know it technically isn't, but it just does."

"I’m just using all the tools I have at my disposal. I don’t see how that’s cheating," Hera smiled.

"Fine, let’s go. This snake is kind of annoying when it gets into hiding."

"Okay. Follow me. But you’re fighting on your own."