24 The Great Jungle

The next morning.

"When you're done with the quest, then feel free to come to us again!" Eli said in high spirits.

Everyone gathered in front of Mika's home as the sun began to rise on the horizon.

"But... What exactly happened to your face, Mika?" his father asked concerned.

"Nothing." Mika replied with a deadpan tone and expression.

Mika's right cheek was red and lightly swollen.

Lily and Sylvia averted their gazes guiltily, whereas Ophelia shook her head in disappointment.

"I-I see..."

After they bid each other farewell, Mika's group resumed their trip to the Great Jungle.

Time flew by and the sun was almost reaching its zenith now.

"We're almost there, everyone." Ophelia stated as she looked out of the window.

The air around them was tense.

"Let's quickly go through the quest again."

Then, Ophelia started to explain everything they knew about the quest.

"Our target is an ape-type monster in the Great Jungle of Malnor. According to eye reports, said monster is eight feet tall and has black fur. His arms are slender, however they almost reach the ground if it stands straight. Furthermore, it seems that its chest area is suspiciously big."

"Is that everything we know about it?" Sylvia inquired.

"Yes. The people who witnessed it, ran away after it noticed them."

Ophelia leaned forward and supported her elbows on her thighs.

"The people, who ran away, were by no means weak. This means that this monster is dangerous."

Everyone's nervousness was written on their faces. Even Sylvia's usual indifferent face crumbled.

"But that's not all. We're about to enter the Great Jungle. A place, which is inhabited by strong creatures. Lose focus for a second and you could find yourselves in danger."

Her three students nodded firmly despite being tense.

"We arrived!" the driver announced from outside.

Ophelia was the first one to exit the carriage.

Mika took a deep breath.

"Alright, everyone... Let's do this!" he said determined to motivate him and the others.

Thus, the three left the carriage one by one.

Behind them was a wide and open grass field, whereas in front of them was the entrance of the Great Jungle.

There were no securities, walls or other kind of measurements to isolate the Great Jungle.

[Until now, there were no news or signs of monsters leaving this place. This could explain why there are no walls and the like.]

Knowing what Mika was thinking, the system gave him a possible explanation.

"Are you ready?" Ophelia wanted to confirm for the last time.

Mika and Lily still looked at the jungle in astonishment.

They could not see far enough yet due to the small and dark path leading into the jungle, which was full of trees, bushes and vines.

Even from outside, one could hear the birds chirping and the rustling in the bushes.

Sylvia was the first of the three to take a step forward.

At the same time, a new quest popped up in front of Mika.

"Remember, our goal is to capture the monster alive. If it's impossible, we will have to kill it. Now, follow me!" Ophelia announced clearly and sternly.

Thus, the group entered the jungle.

Because it was their first time in the jungle, Mika and Lily looked around like innocent and curious kids.

At first glance, the jungle seemed normal.

Colorful flowers decorated the inside of the jungle, noisy insects flew around, humidity filled the air and it felt like the temperature rose as time passed by.

"Do you know where we have to go, Ms. Ross?" Sylvia asked.

"Yes, we're going to the spot where it was last seen. And that would be the jungle's center."

Sylvia seemed stunned by her answer.

"The center...? Wouldn't that be too dangerous with our current lineup?"

Ophelia, who was leading the way, turned her neck around and took a glance at Sylvia.

And then to Mika.

"Heh..."

She smirked confidently.

"It's precisely because of this lineup that we can go to the jungle's center." Ophelia stated as she faced the front again.

"Hm?"

Sylvia did not understand her completely but decided to trust her judgment for now.

[I'm looking forward to seeing how you will handle this quest.]

"..."

Mika's childlike curiosity about the new environment vanished quickly when the system mentioned the new quest, which appeared when they entered the jungle.

The content of the quest was identical to what Ophelia said.

The goal was to either capture or kill the ape monster.

Reward: ???

Punishment: Death

For Mika, it was obvious that death was the result if they were unable to capture or kill the monster.

But the reward made him think deeply.

It was the first time, he saw question marks appearing instead of the actual reward.

He could not help but wonder what he could receive.

Was it maybe something even better than getting his magic restrictions lifted?

"Hm...?"

The path, the group followed, led to a small and open space.

However, Ophelia suddenly stopped in her tracks and crouched down.

"What's wrong, Ms.Ross?"

Sylvia took a peek over her shoulders.

"Someone got here before us..." Ophelia concluded.

On the soft ground, fresh footsteps were visible.

Those footsteps led in the direction of the jungle's center.

"Is this person perhaps also searching for the monster...?" Ophelia voiced her opinion out loud.

[Prepare yourself. Something is coming.]

And just like the system warned Mika, the whole group felt something approaching them.

The sound of rustling got louder with each second.

"Everyone! Be cautious!" Ophelia shouted.

Then, a black entity jumped out of the bushes.

Ophelia and Sylvia stood side by side on the front with Mika and Lily supporting them from the back.

They tensely watched the strange creature, which appeared in front of them.

"A panther...?"

Sylvia was unsure, even though the monster shared many similarities with a normal black panther.

There was one significant difference.

"Why does it look so big...?" Mika remarked.

First, its size.

And secondly...

"W-what is it doing...?"

Lily was stunned by its abnormal body.

The kind of panthers they knew from textbooks were agile hunters with four feet and a body often smaller than an average human.

And yet, they were facing a panther-like monster, which was about seven to eight feet tall.

Furthermore, instead of moving with its four feet, it was standing on its two bulky hind legs.

Replacing the front legs were two muscular arms and large hands.

Its body was overall very muscular and barely showed any hints of fat on it.

"Watch out!" Sylvia raised her voice in panic.

The panther squatted down and leaped at Mika in an instant.

Mika deemed it impossible to avoid its attack now, thus he raised his arms up to guard against the coming attack.

"!"

However, even with his guard up, Mika was sent flying further into the depths of the jungle by the panther's immediate punch.

"Mika!"

Sylvia instinctively looked back, despite knowing that this would be pointless in the current situation.

The panther jumped backward and rotated itself in the air, planning to strike Sylvia with a kick with its powerful leg.

In reaction to that, Sylvia quickly created multiple layers of ice, but those were shattered with ease, which led to a direct blow into her stomach.

"Ugh!"

The impact got damped by the ice walls, therefore she was only kicked against a nearby tree.

"T-take this!" Lily shouted as she threw a large fireball at it.

In spite of the fireball's size, the panther evaded it by jumping to the sides.

The way it moved around made it seem like he was bouncing off the ground. in a zig-zag.

And in that pattern, he closed in on Lily, who was caught off guard by its speed.

Hastily, she blasted off fire from her hands.

"N-no way!"

But it was mostly unfazed by her attack as it stood calmly in front of her.

It cocked back its right arm.

Lily could predict that it was about to launch a punch at her, but she did not move from her spot.

It was as if she was paralyzed.

Anxiously and trembling, she looked into the monster's cat-like eyes.

And then, it launched its punch.

However, only the air was hit.

The force behind the attack was potent enough to create a great wind force in the direction of the attack.

"Just what are you doing?"

Ophelia's tone contained a mix of seriousness and anger after she pulled Lily to her by grabbing the back of her collar.

Feeling agitated by its prey, the panther tried to attack them next.

But as much as it wanted to move, it could not.

It looked at its feet only to realize that they were turned into ice up to almost its hips.

And then smoothly, with her cold eyes filled with killing intent, she pierced through its chest from the back with an ice blade she created in her hands.

The monster screeched in pain until it soundlessly fell to the ground with the frozen legs getting shattered into pieces.