Alex's party of five is sitting not far from a melting lizard corpse. This is their fourth victim for the day. Their teamwork has been improving after each fight. The time it took to take down this last was much less than the first they encountered. It only took around 10 minutes to lure this lizard and finished it off. The problem is finding these lizards. Although this area is their habitat, the sheer amount of Defenders in this area make it a difficult task to find one. Just in this short 2.5 hours of hunting, they have met with 10 other parties who are also hunting these .

After everyone has recovered, they start walking towards the southeastern direction. They have decided earlier to move deeper into the area inhabited by stronger creatures. Their teamwork is now solid enough to face stronger creatures. Each one of them now understands their respective roles inside the party and able to perform them without a reminder from the other party members.

The party rush towards the southeastern direction while avoiding the along the way, thanks to the {Detection} skill from Alex and Alia. They arrive at a rocky part of the Irriburn Forest after rushing for an hour. The trees here are sparser than the earlier area. The ground is littered with large and small rocks, some of them have dark-green moss growing on top.

They stop rushing and start using {Detection} every 35 meters. This area is quieter compared to the earlier area where one can meet other parties every few hundred meters. This is the area of the . This rocky area is a perfect camouflage for these snakes that like to ambush people. But, due to having two members with {Detection} skill, they can travel safely in this part of the forest. After having walked for a few hundred meters, they finally find the first , hiding among the rocks on the ground.

As usual, Bassel goes around to cut off this creature's path of retreat. Song Huo and Alex stand near each other to fight this creature while Ala goes to lure this creature. Carina is standing further back while holding her two daggers.

Alia shoots the purple glowing arrow towards a rocky area 15 meters in front of her and immediately bolts off to where she came from. The arrow hits a rock in that area and bounces off. It only manages to chip it off slightly.

"Hisss"

The that just got its outer stony scale chipped immediately hisses and jumps towards Alia's direction. Thankfully, she ran away as soon as the arrow flew off so the snake's attack missed her by a few meters. The snake starts chasing after her running figure.

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The other members finally get a good look at the . Its enormous body is around 15 meters long and its thick body would need 3 adults with stretched arms to wrap around it once. But, the most shocking of all is that its entire body, from head to tail is covered by various sized rocks, giving one a feeling that it's impossible to breach its defenses. And, it's the correct feeling, because this creature is known for its high defense. The stones surrounding its body are different than the normal stones found on earth. It is a few times tougher than the stones on earth.

There are three methods to kill this creature. First, is to skillfully find gaps between the rocks covering its real scale underneath. Once one can get past the sturdy stones outside, its real scale underneath is easy to penetrate. The second method is to use brute force and break some stones to reveal its real scale and attack it. The third and most difficult method is to hit it through its small eyes or mouth, but it will be hard to land a fatal attack this way.

Alex's party has decided earlier to use the second method to defeat this creature. Bassel's {Steel Muscle} and {Flaming Punch} should be able to deal some damage to the stones covering the . Song Huo's {Wind Blade} will also be able to deal some damage. They've also found out that Alex's physical strength doesn't lose out too much when compared with Bassel's {Steel Muscle}, so he will also be able to deal some damage to the snake's outer stone defense. Carina and Alia have been reduced to a supporting role because their attacks won't be able to do anything to the snake before its defense is broken.

Alia's arrows and Carina's daggers won't be able to cause significant damage to the snake's defense. Their attacks will just bounce off the sturdy rocks covering the snake. They need to hit it between the gaps or wait for its stone defense to break for their attacks to take effect. This is also why Alex won't be able to rely on his {Lighning Strike} to deal damage to this snake. The lightning simply won't cause any damage or even paralyze the snake while its stone defense is still intact.

Alia speed past Alex and Song Huo to take her position in the back. The chasing snake changes its target to Alex who has entered the normal mana-enhanced state a moment ago. Its large open jaws head towards Alex, trying to swallow him in one big gulp. Alex easily avoids this attack and speeds up towards the middle of its long body. He swings the {Black-steel Katana} towards its body. Sparks come out where the katana and stone meet. It doesn't seem to cause any damage, but Alex knows that there is definitely some reaction from this hit.

Song Huo and Bassel join the fight as soon as Alex makes his first move. Song Huo activates his {Wind Step} and starts casting the {Wind Blade} while moving towards the same part of the snake's body as Alex. Bassel charges from behind with his {Steel Muscle} activated and right hand covered in flame.

Their battle against this new creature starts now.