Return to Jorgaldur Volume I: the battle mage

Jungle

The map of that underground labyrinth wasn't complete, but more detailed than strictly necessary. Not only had he been searching for the exit, but he had taken the opportunity to collect various minerals and mushrooms. It is true that the concentration of mana wasn't as dense as in dungeons, but many of those tunnels hadn't been visited by intelligent beings in thousands of years, so some materials had become imbued with mana over time.

Gradually, the clarity was illuminating the tunnel, to the point that he no longer needed a lamp. That meant that the exit was close, exit that he found soon. He walked with great caution, as he had discovered many bones in that final part of the road, which meant it was a dangerous place.

Since the light was relatively dim, he thought it would be dawn or night, or that the clouds would be covering the sky. But the reality was different. In front of him, there was a much denser forest than the one he had left behind on the other side of the mountain, so the treetops were covering the sky, the light.

He was surprised by the magnificence of the vegetation, similar to that of a humid jungle, although the tones and species were quite different. And besides surprising him, he was also worried. He was sure that in a jungle like that there was a large number and diversity of inhabitants, which explained the remains that he had seen at the end of the tunnel. It was probably the meeting point between beings from the depths of the mountain and those from the jungle.

He knew that this jungle was immense, that it covered the entire extension of the Elven kingdom, and that its level was between less than 10 to 100, or even more. Luckily, that area was in the expected range, around 55, so it shouldn't be especially dangerous for him, although that didn't mean he could be over-confident. Given the progressive increase in mana and level, it wasn't at all far-fetched that a high-level being would travel at some time to areas of somewhat lower level.

Bat's Hearing didn't generate any reaction, but, after his experience against mantis, he couldn't trust it too much. He decided to stop to rest and eat something under the protection of Sleepyhead's Shield, in addition to checking the map, confirming that he had reached his destination. Now, he had to go north, perhaps northeast if he wanted to increase the level of difficulty, something he planned to decide on the fly.

He wasn't sure when it had started, but somehow he felt watched, even though neither Sharpening Senses nor Bat's Hearing detected anything in that sense. Carelessly, he pushed aside a branch, but it moved, struggling under his hand.

He fell to the ground of fright, staring dumbfounded at a strange insect, in the form of a branch and almost two meters long, that was running away quickly, maybe more scared than he. That was when he believed having hear a few laughs, but was unable to find the origin. He wasn't even sure it wasn't his imagination.

Continuously, small insects were repelled or damaged by his Frozen Aura, most of them had never been seen by him. Some fell lifelessly to the ground, and, among them, a few were picked up by his assistant, as they were ingredients of some strange potions, for most of which he didn't even have a recipe.

From the encounter with the insect-branch, he used a spear to separate the branches, or at least to probe them. When a snake hidden in the foliage attacked the spear, he was glad he took that precaution. It was small, but extremely poisonous. Being level 54, its poison reached 65. Even he would suffer to eliminate it from his body.

When, after being unable to damage the spear, it fled, Eldi decided to let it be, and even made a small detour to avoid approaching its hiding place, aware that this jungle was extremely dangerous, despite not knowing to what extent. Some of those insects from which his Aura protected him could have created serious problems, either because of the poison, or trying to penetrate his skin, the ideal place to protect their eggs and let them grow by eating the nutritious meat of their host. They weren't lethal, but extremely unpleasant and painful.

But there weren't only dangers of small size. A huge snake, twenty meters long and more than half a meter in diameter, decided that this strange being on two legs could be a delicious meal. It didn't care that he was a couple levels higher, for it trusted its huge body to strangle him.

However, it could not take him by surprise. The sneak attack of the huge reptile, capable of changing the color of its skin and Camouflaging itself among the foliage, was detected by the high human's skill, who used Double Edge to counterattack.

The axe practically bounced on the skin protected by Dragon Skin, after what the snake pounced on him, and was repelled with Propel. Its prey had changed to hammer, which seemed to be much more efficient in attacking that hard skin.

Since it had been spotted, it used a different tactic, relying on the extension of its body to surround its prey. It could attack quickly from any angle, and gradually narrowed the circle to be able to do so from several points at once.

What the reptile didn't expect were several consecutive Burning Blasts, which reached its enormous body in all its length. Eldi relied on the limited range and humidity of the jungle not to cause a fire, and the snake was weak from an unusual type of attack in the jungle.

Half of its body was scorched, which not only caused it a lot of pain, but completely destroyed its defenses. Soon, several Burning Spears fixed its body on the ground. Unable to move, its head was pierced by a real spear, which entered through its mouth, killing it instantly.

The assistant could only recover part of the reptile's valuable skin and flesh, since the fire had ruined much of it, as well as its fangs and eyes, which had a value that Eldi didn't know at the time. What he did know was that this jungle was an extremely dangerous place.