When she got back to their tent, Lucille didn't waste time and headed for Zyra's sleeping bag and she started shaking their team's tactician awake the moment that she got near enough to place her hand on her teammate's body.
“Zyra!’ Lucille hissed, “Zyra wake up!”
“W-what-” Zyra's drowsy eyes landed on Lucille and immediately focused, then, without so much as a second wasted, she pushed herself out of her sleeping bag and called her Pledge.
“What's attacking us-” Zyra walked past Lucille and straight for the tent's entrance, her tone serious. Yhaine groaned from behind them, and the two turned back to see if their front line was awake but…
Zyra shook her head, “we'll wake her up later, focus on what's going on right now- I'm fine to attack even if I don't have any armor, and stray arrows or rocks won't be such a threat since I have my ring with me…”
Zyra's words died in her throat when she realized that there was nothing outside of their tent, she heaved out a sigh and her panicked eyes became angry- all of that anger got directed as a focused glare toward Lucille, who raised her hands, “I can explain.”
“You better do it quickly,” Zyra crossed her arms and started tapping her foot, irritation coloring her features.
“I found the mark of a Jungle Warrior, one of them was scouting us last night,” the heroine breathlessly elaborated.
Instead of the panic she had earlier, the Florist turned silent and color left Zyra's face.
With a ghostly pallor coloring her skin from her head to her arms, Zyra moved into their tent and grabbed her bag, she took out a communication scroll and was about to activate it when Lucille stopped her.
“What now?” Zyra snapped, “Lucille by the Goddess I will-” she sighed and calmed herself down, “save it for later, right now we need to contact Neophyte-”
“We can't leave,” Lucille said, tone serious.
Zyra glared at her, “what do you mean we can't leave?” Their tactician bit out, “we're not equipped and trained enough to deal with being hunted down by Jungle Warriors, those guys are meant to be taken on by 5th years or hell!” Zyra swept her arms, “Graduates! So if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna contact the only person that we know who can get us out of here,”
“But I thought you guys-”
“You're not a Prophecy right now, at least not a properly trained one,” Zyra growled out much to Lucille's confusion, “now let me contact Neophyte so she can get us out of here,” the Florist opened the scroll and was about to activate it only to pause, “what now, Yhaine?”
“Jungle Warriors won't hunt us down if you think about it, we're too weak,” the girl said with a shrug,
“And you want to take the risk?” Zyra drawled.
“... well, yeah," Yhaine nodded, “do you want to go back to the school empty handed? After what Neophyte did for us?” Yhaine rebuked, “what would she think if we go back to the school without anything to show for her investment?”
“I-” Zyra bit her lip and reluctantly, she put down the scroll. She sighed, “Yhaine's right, Neophyte spent way too much on our gear to leave this forest empty handed,”
“And not to mention all the time she spent teaching us when she could have been training,” Lucille added a point just to cement their stay in this forest.
Zyra slowly nodded, “fine, you both win- we're staying.” she reconciled, “but I expect you all to be competent enough to fight off at least one Jungle Warrior on your own if we encounter any, got that?”
“I don't think I can do it but sure,” Yhaine nodded, she faced Lucille, “what about you?”
Lucille eyed her friend, who was oddly in a good mood even though she'd been showing nothing but irritation so far into their hunt.
The heroine nodded but didn't bother to say her thoughts about Yhaine out loud, “I think I can fight a Jungle Warrior on my lonesome, it's recommended for anyone to have at least an upgraded Technique when they do it and I have Greater Speed so…”
“Okay, you're confident, got it,” Zyra slumped, “and well, since our morning is now ruined, how about we cook our breakfast and then put our tent down while it's boiling?” The Florist suggested, “so that all we have to do when we're done eating is wash and store our cooking utensils.”
“That sounds like a plan, yeah,” Yhaine nodded followed by a yawn.
Their morning continued and as her two other teammates went and changed into their armor, Lucille prepared their breakfast.
When the two finished, all three of them worked together to take down their tent followed by storing it, breakfast went on, and as Zyra said, when they were done eating, all they had to do was wash and store their pots and stuff.
After checking out the four-fingered hand that marked the Jungle Warrior's successful Quill Bird hunt the night prior- and asking why none of them heard it, - they moved into the forest, vigilant and paranoid about what could possibly be hiding behind the trees and out of their sight.
Stolen story; please report.
Jungle Warriors were adept navigators of the forest, and in order for a Slayer to spot them, they needed to be at full attention and so, none of the girls spoke as they trudged through wet soil, flinch when they crunched dry leaves underneath the soles of their boots, or even worry about getting speared when they had to step over fallen logs.
On their way towards one of the marked Eukaleaf tribes, Lucille and the rest moved past forest ground with nothing but fallen leaves and fallen trees on them to soil full of vital undergrowth.
Monster marks were spotted as well, with the most dangerous of them being the webbed treeline that everyone was currently staring at; thick, dusty strings roped across branches, their long forms shackled by gravity, causing some- most, - to bend down in a curve as they hung between trees.
Spider Monkeys seemed to have abandoned this particular nest, or at least none of them were present here at the moment, though signs of their day-to-day life and active presence within the area were there, mostly in the form of animal and human bones, from the long skull of an iron tusk to the ugly skull of another prime ape who's jaw was torn open, all were signs of Spider Monkey activities.
Lucille shuddered and looked away, “where are they?”
Seeing as she broke the silence, Zyra chose to speak as well, “gone, presumably migrated,” she answered, “look to your left, near the edge of their nest, there's a cocoon of silk, but there's no one in that house,”
Lucille shifted her gaze and saw the oval shaped thing that ran across half a tree, and as Zyra said, it was abandoned, with nothing staring at them from the hole that was the cocoon's entrance.
“We better get moving, we're close to the Eukaleaf tribe,” Zyra said seriously, “it should be small but then again, this Spider Monkey nest isn't marked here on the map so there's clearly some inconsistency with it and there's also a chance this thing has been mapped out a few months or even a year ago,”
Lucille eyed the empty nest in concern, the webbed leaves and silken branches used to be something of an omen in her mind but now… if what she was thinking was true then the Spider Monkeys that were pushed out of here were not their concern.
But the Eukaleafs responsible for such a thing are.
Moving past the Spider Monkey nest that now felt oddly hollow to stare at, Lucille and the rest went on to walk for a few hundred steps and passed dozens of trees before stopping at one scene in particular.
A scene filled with fungal growth that has long since gone wild with spread.
Half eaten fruits whose soft, exposed flesh ran wild with strands of flowery, fungal hair were thrown about, littering the floor.
Spore caps of different kinds emerged out of infected tree bark, their shapes and sizes preventing Lucille from making out the state of the wood they had parasitized.
Underneath them, a spongy floor ran around the growth in a wide circle while up above, wide fans of mushrooms belonging to caps of immense sizes took over the branches and covered the sunlight, allowing for a damp environment to form, further encouraging the continued growth of the parasitic ecosystem that feasted on both the living and the dead.
Lucille's hair stood up at the sight and a shiver ran from her arms to the back of her neck, she rubbed them subconsciously as Zyra, who was very much in the same disturbed state as everyone else, spoke.
“A mushroom party,” she said in a low, careful voice.
“Never saw one before,” Yhaine commented, “I- it looks disgusting doesn't it?”
“Mhmm.” Lucille agreed with a hum, she rubbed her forearms but her hair still stood on end and the goosebumps on her skin didn't recede, “it's like looking at spoiled bread or rice that's been left out for too long,”
“An accurate description,” Zyra said as she took out a bottle of alcohol from her bag and splashed it on the growth, she did it again, and when the lichen in front of them had been doused, she went on to throw her bottles at the ones far away, then the mushrooms on the trees- over 10 bottles were expended by the time she was done.
“My bag's empty,” Zyra said, “does anyone have more?”
“Well I have gasoline here but I thought we were going to use it on the Eukaleaf camp?” Yhaine replied.
Both turned to Lucille and she checked her duffle bag, she took out 5 bottles, “here,”
Zyra took them, “thank you,” after that, she did it again and when the last of the bottles struck the bark up above, she grabbed a box of matches from her bag, lit one stick, and tossed it on the growth beneath her feet, “let's go,”
They walked away before the fire got out of control.
“Will that even spread?” Lucille asked.
Zyra nodded, “the spongy growth at the bottom easily dries when on fire, and when it goes dry, well- dead lichen is often chipped off of wood and used for tinder so…” she trailed off, “the rotting wood would follow shortly after, most of the moisture is on the mushrooms too, not the wood so they'll burn bright and strong once the fire spreads to them,”
“Hm.” Yhaine hummed, “but that was a waste of alcohol though right?”
“It's better than letting more Eukaleafs come into existence,” Zyra replied.
Their trek continued and then abruptly stopped when they found a river, “we're in the river now,” Zyra informed as they stepped into the muddy river bank, “which means that we're going to have to set up camp here,”
“Not in the forest?” Yhaine asked.
“No, the map said that we can camp near the Eukaleaf tribe but I don't think that's a good idea, especially if we're fighting there,” Zyra answered.
“Okay then,” Yhaine dropped her bags with Zyra and Lucille shortly following.
What happened next was a flurry of activity as weapons were prepared- the ceramic tank of gasoline came out of Yhaine's bag and Lucille wondered how her teammate even carried it without looking tired. They hid their bags and then made their way out of the river.
Lucille glimpsed at the body of water just as they broke through the treeline, “hey,” she pointed at a faraway part of the stream, where the river ran through a sprawling ravine, “do you guys think a Vigolith sleeps there?”
“A cliff?” Yhaine asked to Lucille's nod, she shrugged, “probably, but it's better if you don't hope to see one since Vigoliths rarely ever sleep near Kingdoms and this forest is way too close to Vulnaza for comfort,"
“Probably,” Lucille shrugged and moved on from the odd feeling of being watched. Whatever was looking at her when she was in the river is now long gone.
“Have you guys noticed the stripped carcass on the river bank?” Zyra suddenly said and Lucille's blood ran cold.
“A Jungle Warrior was there?” The heroine asked in a panic.
“I think so,” Zyra replied unconfidently, “the corpse was abandoned but it looked fresh, do Jungle Warriors leave their hunt behind?”
“No?” Yhaine answered quizzically, “it must've been a skin disease that caused the corpse to look like that,”
Zyra nodded, “I guess,” she smiled softly, “you're probably glad that I told you guys to not drink the water huh?”
“Mhmm.” Lucille nodded, unwilling to voice out to the others her concerns about being watched now that they were in such a good mood.
Well, so far, they haven't encountered any Jungle Warriors so maybe it was a skin disease that got whatever animal Zyra saw?
They walked and unbeknownst to them, in the far distance, something rumbled, its immense size was big enough that when it left the ravine wall it had been sleeping on for the past four centuries, a miniature earthquake erupted and an avalanche of boulders dropped onto the waters below, killing hundreds of fish and causing a dam to form.
The Vigolith stared at the mess it had created, then shrugged, deeming that it was a job for it later on.
It moved with steps that the deep waters beneath it would never drown, the river's attempts futile as the walking, living force of nature made its way upstream.
Two gigantic hands made of stacked stone reached out and clasped the edge of the ravine for unneeded support, then a boulder-like head popped out of the wide crack, followed by the body, and the Vigolith knew sunlight once more.
It continued its walk, unknowingly crushing the skinned corpse of a Quill Bird beneath its titanic frame.
It looked in a certain direction and huffed, “Heroes, as irresponsible as always, going to their deaths as though it was the only thing they knew how to do,”
The behemoth's voice was gravelly, rough, and the centuries its throat went unused only made the stonehewn tone worse.
It sighed out a rumble that shook the earth and got trees to shiver, birds took to the skies, and animals drinking water from the river ran away in fright.
The Vigolith moved.
In the distance, Lucille flinched when a tremor ran through the earth beneath her feet, “did you guys feel that?”
“Mhmm.” Zyra nodded, “I think that it's the Eukaleafs partying again, we must be close to their tribe,”
Lucille looked forward, concerned, “what are they doing to cause an earthquake like that?”
“That wasn't an earthquake, that was just a tremor, probably from a tree being felled,” Yhaine corrected.
Slowly, Lucille nodded, “I guess…”