407 The new jungle village

Hera felt a tug on her mana. That was Daskka's signal, "Alex, two o'clock."

Without speaking anything else, Alex and Hera counted to 5 in their head. As the count reached the end, both of them threw their spells close to a tree above where Daskka was waiting. A wind blade and a potion arrow flew through the jungle and hit a Skull Head Panther. It was a monster with green fur and a skull on top of its head, almost like a helmet. As a survival measure against the other monsters in the room, this creature was in the process of developing an exoskeleton of sorts. For now, only the head had this extra layer of protection, but if monsters could evolve, it was just a matter of time before its entire body was covered in a new set of bones. The two spells hit the panther while it jumped out of the bush. With the impact, the beast fell headfirst on the ground. Hera followed up with her handaxe while Alex used her chaser spell to rush behind the monster. In a single move, all three of them, including Daskka, who jumped from the bush to attack, slashed the beast and killed it on the spot.

Alex ensured that the monster was dead before sighing in relief, "How many does that make?"

"25? 26? I don't know. I lost count a while back," Hera pushed the monster to the side to remove it from the road.

"Man, weren't these roads supposed to ward off monsters?"

"I think they are still doing that. The ones we are fighting all seem desperate and hungry. Look," Hera pointed at the monster's stomach. Its ribs and all the bones in its body were sticking out from its skin.

"Oh… do you think these are the exiled? Like when lions kick one of the males from the group."

"Or the ones that were too weak to stay in the group. You know how some animals abandon the sick and weak newborns."

"That's a hard life," Alex shook her head.

"At least it's a short one," Hera shrugged.

"Hera!"

"What? Am I wrong?"

"No, but c'mon. That was uncalled for."

Hera looked at Daskka, who had a large smile on her face, apparently enjoying the joke or the small argument between the two, "Daskka enjoyed the comment."

"That doesn't count. You two share a brain cell," Alex rolled her eyes before pulling her tablet, "We should be getting there soon. It's weird that we don't see the edge of the village yet."

"Yeah, we are what? Just five kilometers away?" Hera asked.

"Yep. If there was a large wall, we should be seeing it. They have an outer wall there, right?" Alex looked in the direction they were traveling. It seemed like there was nothing there, just an endless expanse of jungle surrounding this ten-meter-wide road.

"I think so. People said that it was hard to miss the entrance."

"Well, let's keep going then."

Hera got up, and Daskka jumped on her shoulder, wrapping herself on her master like a scarf. Hera petted the snake and turned to Alex, "Thanks for coming with me here. Doing all this alone could be complicated. And I'm pretty sure I would go crazy if it was just me and Daskka."

"It's been fun, and if you find a legacy or something, I expect a small fee for my silence, of course," Alex smirked.

"I know you are going to ask for dinner or something, but I would be down to give you a cool half-million gold," Hera chuckled as she cast the sensory net around them to make sure there weren't any more monsters in the area.

"That would be too much. But then again, a legacy should be much more expensive. I'll leave my payment to you," Alex continued with the joke without realizing that Hera was being serious.

They continued walking, still on alert to protect themselves against any monsters that could suddenly pop out of the jungle. Surrounding both sides of the road, rows, and rows of large green trees obscured their view. As they moved, their ears picked up all manner of noise coming from the wild vegetation. The ruffle of leaves, the sound of the wood creaking in the wind, the sounds of bugs flying around, and some far away roars echoed through the area. Walking this path was incredible and terrifying. Hera never saw such a lush jungle in person. The closest thing to this place that she could think of was the Amazonian Rain Forest, but even the pictures paled in comparison to this place. Each of the trees had a multitude of different leaves. It was the first time they had ever seen something like that. In all other rooms, the trees followed the same pattern of having only one type of foliage on them. Maybe some flowers and fruits, but that was all. Here it was like each leaf was completely unique. In a way, it was very similar to snowflakes. Green snowflakes with a petiole and the regular veins, but still.

After about half an hour, they should be arriving at the village. It was a pleasant surprise that they were doing such a good time. Both Hera and Alex had very high agility attributes, and having used the same rope trick with nimbus for a little while helped a lot, especially since it was just the two of them, well, three counting with Daskka, but she was always around Hera's neck. It was just a shame that they were distracted, and one of the panthers attacked the cloud griffon 10 minutes after they left the Waperath Kingdom. Still, they made good time even with all the fighting and random attacks. Counting the breaks they took every now and then, it has been just a bit over 7 hours since they started this small part of the journey.

Seeing that they were getting closer and closer to where the village should be, but there was still nothing but jungle around, Alex turned to Hera, "Tell me again why we didn't wait for a group to come here?"

"Unless there is an emergency or something, they only do supply runs once a week, and we lost our chance to be with them yesterday."

"Right, and waiting back there wasn't going to work because of Silah?"

"I mean, she did play a part in it. But if I'm being honest, it was more because of me. Do you honestly think that I could stay still if I found a decent lead?" Hera turned to Alex.

"Fair point. What's the lead, by the way? You only said that we need to go to the heart of the jungle, but you never mentioned how you found it."

"Ah, that's something I can't talk about," Hera looked away.

"It's that thing again?"

"Yeah, sorry."

"That's OK, but is that thing any different from the questions you ask your relic?"

"Very. I tried asking my relic every chance I got, but the answer was always something random that didn't help at all. It was always 'try again later,' or, 'signs point to maybe,' even when I got a positive answer, it ended up being a dud. That's the problem with those questions. Even if I don't have enough mana for it, the 8 ball thing might give me an answer that seems good for me."

"Can't you tell if it worked or not? Like, isn't there something that shows you?" Alex asked.

"Not really. I feel the mana coming out, and if the answer is complicated, it will tell me, but if it is just something like a yes or no, the 8 ball might fit, so I have no way of knowing with just a single question. Then I have to waste a bunch more mana in questions just to make sure if the previous one was an actual answer or not," Hera sighed.

"That sounds… convoluted."

"Tell me about it. I want to see if I can fix that when I get my next role."

"Do you know which one you'll get?"

"I was gunning for mage a long time ago, but I don't know anymore. Crafter seems nice, so does the researcher, especially with all this. I think I'm just gonna keep doing things and get it when it happens."

"I think it's a good way to…. The fuck?" As Alex spoke, she suddenly realized a massive 7-meter steel wall in front of her. Everything was silver and shined with the reflection of the sun.

"Was that thing always there?" Hera was looking up at the structure.

"I… don't know. Maybe? But how could we have missed it?"

"Wait… don't move," Hera walked backward, and suddenly the wall vanished. Only the jungle remained, but Alex was still there, "It's an Illusion!"

"Really? It's covering all this?"

"Yeah, but I think it only hides what's inside the city. I can still see you."

Alex walked to Hera's side, "OK, this is cool."

"I know, right? It reminds me of the thing with Dark Star and Bright Night in the tower."

"That one seemed more advanced. I mean, the MAZE made it," Alex shook her head.

"True, but it feels like the same principle."

They continued walking towards the steel wall, and the entrance was in clear view. All they had to do was head a bit to the right to cross the large gate. Oddly enough, when they were getting close, Hera started hearing a slight buzzing sound coming from the wall, almost as if it was an electrified fence. A couple of the guards inside, who also acted as tour guides, welcomed the duo and warned them not to touch the walls. Just as Hera heard, they had a constant electric current passing through them, and it would sting a lot if someone touched it. The power would increase if the sensors caught a monster in the city's perimeter. However, they had to keep the current constant to work properly. Otherwise, the shock wouldn't be strong enough to fend off monsters that might try to attack the village.

People called this place the New Jungle Village, in honor of the village that existed long ago. Apparently, the location change was due to the few monster nests that existed beyond this point. Maintaining the village deeper in the jungle would require too much manpower, and any shipments would have to be heavily guarded. On the other hand, building the city here reduced the number of people required to keep the city safe, and there was little to no worry with the shipments going from one city to another.

Unfortunately, for Hera and Alex, they wouldn't stay here for long. After resting for the night, they should head to the middle of the room, where most of the monsters were concentrated. The heart of the jungle wasn't something metaphorical, not entirely. In the center of the forest, there was a tree whose roots spread to the entire room, or at least, that's how the story went. Thanks to Johnny, Hera knew that there was some truth to that, but at the same time, the tree itself wasn't that much bigger than everything else. If you didn't know what you were looking for, there was a good chance that you would even pass by it without realizing it.

Hera and Alex got a room in one of the hotels in the city. Compared to where they were staying, this was a significant downgrade, but it would still be better than what was in store for them in the following days. According to the map, they still have around 200 kilometers to go before reaching the heart of the jungle. If they managed to do it at the same pace they were doing it now, it would still be a three or four-day journey just to get there. However, apparently, someone here could help shorten their travel. All they had to do was convince a mage to help them out.