--------///----Reina's POV----\\\--------

After all of that was done, we started heading to an inn and looked for one where we could rent two rooms out for a decent price. Though we did have to find something for our eggs so we didn't just walk around everywhere with eggs in our hands. So that's what we went out to do. Though we had to ask a few people since there were three different shops that tailored clothing or equiptment so we had to figure out which one was the best so we could have reliable bags or holders for them. But we had a little issue.

(Endis) " Ugh. We're going to take forever at this rate. Why don't we just hit up all of them and see for ourselves? "

(Reina) " Wouldn't that just take even more time? "

Everyone we asked had different opinions so we couldn't figure out for sure which store was the best. We had asked a bunch of people but there wasn't one store that was named more then the others.

(Mina) " We should've just asked the guild. "

(Reina) " Too bad Alice isn't here. You could ask her all you wanted. "

(Mina) " Hey! Asking Alice is a smart decision that saves our time. She wasn't wrong the last times we asked. "

(Endis) " You asked. But anyway, she's sorta right. Asking Alice saved us some time. Though we would have to double back which would make us look stupid. And take up a lot more time. "

(Mina) " Ugh, then let's just check the stores out one at a time then. "

So that's what we did. We walked around the town and kept asking people while we headed into the stores they were saying. The first store seemed to specialize in winter clothing and gear that would be perfect for cold wheather. Though the bags they had did seem good for our eggs, they didn't custom make them for cheap. Then we went to the next store to compare it to the first one, and it seemed to be the exact opposite. This store seemed to specialize in summer clothing and the gear they sold worked with that.

This store was the same in the regard that custom orders would cost us a bit. So we decided to head off to the last store to see what we could find there. When we got there, the last store seemed to specialize in everday to day clothing. Custom orders were nice costs and worked with our money. It wouldn't cost too much and like the other shops, if we supplemented the materials then we would get a discount.

(Endis) " This place is perfect. Why couldn't they say that this store was obviously the best? "

(Mina) " Were we too vague? "

(Reina) " I mean... All you two asked was "Which store is the best?" So i think that might've been a bit vague. "

(Endis) " ... "

(Reina) " ... "

(Mina) " ...Are we stupid? "

(Reina) " I thought you knew... "

(Endis) " Rei... If you see us doing something stupid, stop us please. "

(Reina) " What if i just let you make fools out of yourselves? "

(Endis) " Or, hear me out here. OR i just buy you cotton candy or any kind of candy every time we head back to the HQ or whenever we see some stalls while we travel? "

That made me freeze and i had my thoughts going a mile a minute... Candy or fun? Those two were waging a war in my head but candy won out in the end. The war didn't even take a few seconds for candy to drown out the fun army.

(Reina) " Deal. "

I was succeptible to candy bribes. So what? After that was when we ordered holders for our basilisk eggs and chose to gather the materials ourselves. Apparently we would need Desert emperor siper silk for them, which given the name sounded like it would be an issue since we were nowhere near a desert, but then we found out that despite their name, they would also appear in an underground tunnel nearby to lay eggs. 

(Mina) " Isn't keeping a tunnel for them somewhat dangerous? "

(Store clerk) " Normally it would be. However they have never surfaced around here due to the guilds intervention. It happened before but they had been pushed back so well they never came up again. They're smarter then people give them credit for. "

(Endis) " Really? Though anything about it we should know before we head over like why here? "

(Store clerk) " Scholars say it's because there's an oasis connected to the tunnel. They love those though it hasn't been confirmed if there's an actual oasis over there. People are quite reluctant to travel directly into a spiders web. Especially an emperors. "

(Endis) " Makes sense. "

(Mina) " We can check it out tomorrow. For now let's find somewhere to rest at. "

Me and Endis nodded at that and made our way out of the shop. We spent some time looking around for an inn with good prices and eventually found one that was cheap but also decent. We managed to snag two rooms and rested for the day. Jelly had some time to play with us and seemed satisfied enough to rest with us when we wanted to sleep. However...

It was the very next morning, that was when things went wrong. We had just woken up when the sound of alarms started to go off. This town seemed to have a clocktower that doubled as an alarm since the sound of a massive bell couldn't really be ignored. Me, Endis and Mina all came out of our rooms in our gear but we had no idea what was going on in the first place. Mina led us out and then that was when when we saw it. There was something flying around the town entrance that seemed to be toying with the guards.

From where we were, we couldn't make out what it was but all we were able to see was a brown body with wings. We had to get closer to notice that the thing seemed sort of like a hipogryph but instead of the body of a horse, the thing had a transparent eel like body with the head and wings of a falcon, legs of a tiger and the tail of a snake. It was even stranger when it swooped down to attack, instead of using its legs / paws, it opened its mouth and shot out its tonge like it was a frog. The guard hit by the slimy green tongue was seemingly paralyzed as he buckled and fell over.

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There were a few adventurers that had already responded and went out to see what the issue was, and when they saw it, they tried to help. There were people trying to pin it down or just stop it from moving but the thing kept slipping through them. Someone even tried to box its wings in steel but when it saw that it retracted them, dove a bit and hit two people with its tongue before it brought its wings back out again. When it did that, we saw that it was at the very least two meters tall. 

(Endis) " The hells is that? "

(Mina) " Dunno, but we gotta move. Endis try to damage its wings with darkness, Reina try to help the paralyzed people and take them to the guild and when your done try to see if you can burn anything like its tongue when it tries to lash out. I'm going to try to make a water prison. We gotta move with other parties so try to cordinate with them. "

So that's what we did. Endis took out his daggers and coated them in darkness so he could slash towards the things wings. I went towards the nearest guards that were hit by the things tongue and put them on my shoulders and ran to the guild. I was able to carry two fully grown men, which the past me would've never been able to do, and dropped them up to the guild that had already started to set up an area for the healers to get to work. There were also adventurers that were helping evacuate the people closest to this side of the gate.

(Healer) " What happened? "

(Reina) " They were hit by somethings tongue after that they were paralyzed. " 

(Healer) " Understood. "

That healer called over two other healers and started to get to work. I ran back to gate and started to repeat the process. Though when i got back, there were a few adventurers that had been paralyzed. Endis was doing his best to hit the things wings but while he was at a distance he was bound to miss. Though i did see a few wounds on it they would just start to close if they were shallow enough. Mina was still focusing on her water prison and seemed to be working on it with two other adventurers that were on the left and right.

I couldn't keep looking and just started to rush to as many people i could get and started to run. I had to get everyone that couldn't move out and get them to safty. But with every trip back and forth the number of people getting paralyzed just kept increasing.

(Reina) " Mina, i can't keep bringing people out. I'll try to get its tongue! "

Mina looked over and nodded to me. I coated myself and my Siellas in darkness and tried to get close to it but it would just fly higher and avoid me. So i tried to use range which was a little better since each claw of my Siellas sent out their own slash of darkness. With all of those slashes and the attacks from the other adventurers putting pressure on it, it was bound to make a mistake. A small pair of throwing stars that had been coated in ice it the things leg and started to freeze it. The hit and cold surprised it and made it cry out which made its focus on us disappear for a second. Though that was enough.

Mina and the other water mages made a water prison that boxed the thing in while a pair of ice mages froze the cage and made spikes appear all around the bars. Then me and Endis started to slash with fire and darkness, respectively, while other adventurers used their own elements. With the thing being caged and bombarded by attacks, it looked like it was going to die soon. But then it let its blood keep puring out and covered itself in it as it retracted its wings and squirmed through the bars using its blood to slip through.

Despite it being impaled by the spikes on the bars, its wings were still working. Though thanks to it being see through, we could see its organs were damaged while one of them was outright destroyed. It probably knew that it was close to death and tried to escape, but then Endis started running and jumped onto someone and used them as a springboard and jumped towards the thing. He threw his coated daggers at the things wings and hit them which made it drop to the ground.

As soon as it looked like it was falling, we all rushed to the gates and headed to the spot it was going to crash at. As soon as it made it to our level, everyone sent out their attacks to finish it for good and when they made contact, it died. We could see its heart stop through its skin and relaxed. Everyone had to keep their distance and defend against that things paralysis tongue which was stressful since its range was far and its speed was annoying. But when that was all done, we all just dropped to the ground tired at the danger of a unknown thing the first thing in the morning.

Though after a few seconds we all got up and dragged the thing back to town. It was coated in steel and placed in a steel box that was being pulled by a member from one of the other two parties that were still with us. We made it back to the gate where people were helping take the paralyzed members to the guild so the paralysis could be taken care of. We kept walking and made it back to the guild so we could have the things body inspected. When we got there with the body, a team of scholars seemed to be at the ready to take the body.

We handed it over and went back to the inn to rest. Fighting something like that made us hungry and tired. The guild didn't need all of our testimonies anyway so we were free to do whatever we wanted after that was taken care of.We were even able to get our fee for renting the rooms reduced because we helped take down the thing. It was a win win situation since none of us got hurt.

After we got back to the inn we all just took an hour nap at the least and then started our day normally. We had some breakfast and then went to the guild to check out anything new that came from the thing we took down. When we walked in, there were a bunch of people crowding a side room which was probably the room where the who were examaning the body. When we walked over, some people noticed us coming and someone from that crowd came over to us. It seemed to be someone from one of the other parties that helped with the thing.

(Ice mage) " People were wondering where you three went. Where'd you head off too? "

(Endis) " We slept and had breakfast. Getting woken up by an alarm and skipping breakfast to fight takes it out of ya. "

(Ice mage) " True. We had breakfast here though we skipped sleeping since everyone's wondering what the hells that thing is. "

(Mina) " We're interested in that too. Has anyone identified what it is? "

(Ice mage) " Nope. This thing isn't in any beastiary so the scholars are thinking its some kind of new species. And its not like anyone else knows what it is so that's just what we're rolling with. "

(Endis) " Hmm. Weird. Anyway how're the guys that were hit by that things tongue doing? '

(Ice mage) " They're doing just fine. The guys that were brought here first were fixed up and ready to move again in a minute. Apparently it was fast acting and would've been out of their systems in minutes whether they were healed or not. "

(Mina) " Interesting. "

(Ice mage) " Though i think some of em said they wanted to thank you. "

(Reina) " Me? "

(Ice mage) " Yea. They were a bit embarassed to be carried like a sack of potatoes by a girl so they just left that message to anyone around and head back out to guard. "

(Reina) " Oh. Well it was nothing. "

(Ice mage) " Don't think it was nothing to them but if you say so. "

We talked for a bit and watched the scholars work on the things body. Though after a bit, we left and head out to the inn to start making a plan to go to the tunnel to get the silk. We talked for a few hours, went to eat downstairs and looked around town for any other information we could get about the tunnel and the spiders and then went back to the inn. That schedule repeated itself while we did some requests around the town. After a week of planning we went to the tunnel and got ourselves some silk and managed to get an emperors body which was just there. It was weird since the emperor didn't have any wounds and just looked like it died out of nowhere. 

We decided to bring the body to the guild and let them inspect it to find out what killed it. Though with the unknown body, they put off the inspection until they were done with it. After that, we were able to safetly bring our basilisk eggs with us instead of just leaving them in the inn behind a false earth wall. Our adventuring life didn't change much after that But while i was getting used to the life, i wasn't exactly able to predict something that would change the world as i knew it after five years of being an adventurer.