410 Kirouhebi

The first thing Hera did when she fell inside the maw of the Juniper Birdtrap was activating her stone elemental armor. She knew that the odds of it helping were not the best, but considering the thorns and the appendages inside the flower bud, that was the best idea that came to mind. Hera tried kicking the petals open, but the monster held her tightly. Moving her arms was almost impossible, she could barely move, and she was already starting to have trouble breathing. She tried to use a poison needle at the monster, but her spell bounced off the creature. Apparently, the thin layer of mucus inside the flower bud could stop her magic. Hera prepared to cast a grease fire on the monster. After all, it was just wood, and fire should be its weakness. But she stopped before triggering the spell. If this mucus was able to stop her poison, could it do the same with her fire? It wasn't a good idea to use that one since it might result in her cooking herself. While thinking, she felt the feelers trying to wrap around her body, and some of the thorns inside the petals started to press against her armor. It wasn't enough to hurt, but she could feel where the spikes tried to pierce her armor and skin.

Outside, Alex was using wind blades aimed at the legs of the monster, trying to somehow force the creature to open its flower again, "Hera! Can you hear me? Give me a signal, and I'll cut the flower."

"Are you crazy? If you do that, you'll hit her!" Lecter yelled from the sky. He had spells that could kill the monster, but to hit the vital spot, he would end up hitting Hera too.

"She can take one of my spells, as long as she uses her elemental armor," Alex yelled back, trying to seem confident even if she wasn't sure if that was true.

Daskka started hissing loudly and covered her entire body in mist, but the fog was different. It wasn't the usual transparent white but a dark red that swirled around her violently. The snake dove towards the monster, creating more and more mist that took the form of a second mist snake much bigger than Daskka herself. With a burst of speed, that fog monster lunged at the Jupiter Birdtrap, wrapping all four of its legs and pulling them together. A pair of large flaming fangs appeared out of the mouth of the snake before it swallowed the entire flower bud, making the fangs sink deep in the base of the petals.

Inside the monster, Hera noticed the tips of two small mist fangs appearing below her. From the tip of those fangs, she could feel an intense heat and Daskka's anger and desperation.

"I'm an idiot," Hera shook her head. Even if this whole situation was unexpected, she ended up getting too flustered and her judgment was a mess. To make this even worse, she wasn't using what should be the best tool to escape this creature. She adjusted herself the best she could to avoid all the thorns and swapped her elemental armor from stone to fire, "I'm going to give you the worst indigestion ever."

This time, Hera focused her mana on becoming as hot as possible. Two seconds after she changed her armor, the mucus in the plant started turning into steam. Hera pushed the petals with her feet and hands, trying to force them open and make her fire armor burn the creature even more. It didn't take long for the Jupiter Birdtrap to open up again and spit that bad food out. Hera didn't realize that, but thanks to Daskka's massive snake form, the monster was already tilted. Tumbling to the side, Hera managed to move away from the creature, and Lecter, who was still watching from his raft, quickly took that chance to send an ice spike at the plant. As the ice moved through the sky, it sounded like a whistle for a moment before stabbing the monster directly in the middle of the flower, impaling it to the ground.

Daskka's mist form was still holding the creature, even with the ice having seemingly pierced her form's head. The ice didn't bother her one bit, and the mist continued to swallow the monster making the sounds of wood being broken echo through the area. Hera got up and looked at her pet snake. Even if she could still sense Daskka through the mist, this red mist creation could be a glimpse of what the snake's future would look like. Her eyes turned to Hera, and after making sure her owner was safe, Daskka bit down with all her strength, breaking all the wood and killing the monster. The giant snake dissipated, leaving Daskka's regular body exposed on the ground, the small snake wasn't even moving, and Hera rushed over to see if she was OK.

Alex was still ready to attack the monster just in case it wasn't dead yet, but when she saw Hera picking up Daskka, she got worried, "Is she OK?"

"Yeah, she's just tired. Whatever she did now wasted all her mana."

"Doesn't she have like 30 thousand mana?"

"It's more like 34 thousand and some change these days. Her mana grows with mine," Hera explained.

"That's… a lot," Alex glanced back at the broken parts of the monster, "I never tried using all my mana at once, so that's what we might be able to do?"

"Well… maybe I can. You, probably not," Hera managed to see that Daskka just wanted to rest and put her back inside the necklace.

"Ex-fucking-cuse me? What the hell does that mean?" Alex gasped.

"That your intelligence is way lower than mine. You're sitting at what? 30 something? Mine is almost in the 70s," Hera winked."

"You just almost got eaten by a monster, and the first thing you do is brag about your attributes? I'm sure I can do much more damage than you with a spell," Alex tapped the wooden scabbard.

"Using items doesn't count."

"So Daskka doesn't count either!"

Lecter was watching everything from the raft. Even if he was sure that his ice spear killed the monster, seeing that snake rip the plant apart like that was a sight to behold. People who were level 25 rarely had that type of strength. According to all the yelling, he assumed that Hera was also a mage, but she was caught by the Jupiter Birdtrap and came out seemingly without a scratch. In the end, worrying about the two of them was unnecessary. They should do well enough even if they were attacked by a group of monsters at once, "Hey. Since you two are OK, I'm going back."

Alex and Hera stopped arguing and looked up.

"OK, thanks for the ride!" Alex yelled.

"We really appreciate all the help. When we get back, I'll buy you another drink. Bottom shelf this time," Hera yelled back.

As the two watched the rafter slowly turn around and head back to the city, they also noticed the Jupiter Birdtrap twitching. To make sure the monster was actually dead, Hera created a stone wall surrounding the beast and tossed some of her grease fire inside. She didn't want to cause a forest fire, even if the trees in the area didn't seem dry enough to catch burn that easily.

"You should close the top too; otherwise, it will both call attention to us, and sparks could start flying off," Alex had her arms crossed.

"I was about to do that. I'm just giving it a moment for the fire to burn properly before removing most of the oxygen," Hera did as Alex suggested. To avoid letting the flames die out, she left a few very small holes open that would work as a filter. The stone wall spell she was using already had reached advanced rank, adding that to her [Shaper of Mana] skill, she could make some very detailed structures.

"What are we looking for now?" Alex asked.

"We need to find a tree. It won't be the tallest nor the widest, but it will be the one that has the best ratio between the two. So look for a tree that is really tall and really wide," Hera explained.

"I get why your dad calls you Goldilocks now," Alex sighed.

"What?"

"I mean, that is literally the same thing that happens in the story."

"No, this is just what we need to find."

"The same way Goldilocks wanted to find a nice bowl of soup and a bed."

"It's different."

"How?"

"It is…" Hera tried to come up with an argument, but nothing came to mind, "Just shut up and look for a tree."

For the next ten minutes or so, the two of them walked around, trying to find a tree that matched what Johnny had told Hera. They only talked to point at a tree and ask if that was it. It was Alex who finally broke the silence, "Did you fight we Blue like that too?"

Hera looked at Alex with a confused expression, "Were we fighting? I thought it was just some banter."

"Really? I got really angry with the comment about my magic. I know that usually assassin's focus on physical combat, but that was just mean."

"Oh… I'm sorry. I was just trying to tease, but you are right; I crossed a line there. Also, let me make it clear, I absolutely think you are stronger than me. I'm good at random things, but if we are going on a fight, you would be one of the three people that I wanted by my side."

"Who would be the other two?"

"Blue, because Stormcloud is a busted legacy and Naka, because… well… It's Naka."

"So I'm on the same level as Naka in your eyes?" Alex smiled.

"In terms of who would I trust to have my back, yeah, but strength…."

They stopped to think about a time when a landslide happened in Boothudurn and blocked the path to the White Desert. While people were calling for mages and other people to help clear away the mountain of rocks and rubble Naka simply walked over and, with a punch, turned the massive boulders into pebbles. She then went back inside the city like it was just another regular day for her.

When they returned to their search, Alex noticed a tree that caught her eye. It was very tall but not tall enough to stand out among the rest and so wide that people might be able to live inside it, but not as if it would be a mansion. The tree's leaves also seemed to be more green than everything around it, "Could that be it?"

"I mean, it fits the bill. If that's the right one, we need to find an entrance to a tunnel hidden under the roots," Hera explained, and they started searching. She used her pulse a few times, and it didn't take long for her to find something on the east side of the tree. An opening covered in moss and dried leaves almost blocked the entrance.

Walking inside this small tunnel, they found a large area made out of roots. The tunnel was deeper than Hera expected, and even seeing all the details that Johnny had told her, she felt on edge. After about five minutes, they headed deep enough to not be able to see any sunlight, but finally, they found what they were looking for. A massive statue made out of vines and roots depicting a lung dragon that seemed to somehow have grown naturally.

"This is it, right?" Alex asked.

"I think so. Look, there is even a plaque down there," Hera pointed at the base of the statue where there was a piece of wood with some writing on it.

"What does it say?"

"Kirouhebi…. It means the one who watches from beyond."