Chapter 98: 98
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Graham, Luuk, and Jacco got off the bus at a bus stop near a small town north of Sloten. They hadn't been able to hire a private driver for themselves; that was why they took the other alternative. The view in front of them were trees and hills, with the mountain range not far behind them. The tiny town was located a few meters to their right, with little sign of human activity.
The morning sun hit their faces with its warmth; it was a pleasant sensation that relieved them from the cold morning. Graham put both of his gloved hands inside the pockets of his coat and tried to soak up as much sunlight as possible with his stubbled face; his amber hair glistened under the morning light while his green eyes shone like a clear mirror.
The three men were ready to go into the cave to get some gemstones. Graham was wearing a black overcoat and hiking boots, emphasizing his mysterious and intelligent aura, while Luuk was wearing a thick sweater and also a pair of hiking boots. He looked like someone who could move about agilely. The boots were something that they learned from their experience in the last cave. Jacco, who had always worn boots in the first place, didn't need to go out of his way to change. He was wearing a zipped leather jacket that covered his muscular body. Although he looked like the brute strength type, he was actually the support of the group.
"Which way do we go?" asked Luuk suddenly while folding his arms on his chest to keep warm.
Graham had already lit a fire with his lighter and an image was slowly appearing there. It was an aerial view of their surroundings with three red dots that marked their current location, and somewhere in the distance, there was another one that glowed brightly. It had to be the cave where the gemstones were. Judging from the distance, it looked like it would take them at least one hour to reach the cave.
"So, that way, yeah?" asked Jacco while pointing towards where the red dot should be in reality.
The image gradually disappeared and Graham put the lighter back inside his pocket.
"Yes. Shall we?" he said.
He walked towards the destination with his briefcase in his left hand. Luuk was carrying a backpack while Jacco had a fanny pack strapped around his shoulder and chest. They didn't plan to stay the night, so they didn't pack any clothes, but they might stay long enough, so food and drink supplies were a must. Besides, there will be a lot of fighting involved based on his divination.
They walked fast through the plains full of grass and moisture. Their destination was somewhere at the foot of the mountain, so they most likely had to climb a hill or two to get there. The woods on their left looked serene in the morning light while the path ahead of them was clear.
"Here, each of you inhale this," Luuk handed his teammates a pouch each.
Graham did so without asking. He knew already what it was.
Inside the paper pouch, there was some yellow powder that didn't look special; it just looked like a ground dried ginger.
"That's stamina powder. As the name suggests, it will restore your stamina. We should be able to cover a lot of distance by running and inhaling that along the way," Luuk explained and then inhaled the powder.
Jacco complied with Luuk's instruction and inhaled the yellow powder in his hand. The moment the powder entered his nostrils, it spread all around his body and made it feel warm. He also felt strangely energized, and the fatigue from the long travel time was gone just like that.
With their stamina being restored, the three men started running quickly. Jacco didn't play his War Drum to boost the team's stamina further because it had the downside of attracting enemies. They didn't want to waste time and energy fighting unnecessarily, especially if they didn't know what kind of enemy might get attracted.
Pant... Pant...
"Val, I don't have your stamina after all..."
After running for a while, Graham started to get tired first and then followed by Jacco some moments later, while Luuk was still fine. He handed them more stamina powder and the two quickly inhaled it. Since it was their second time, the stamina recovery wasn't as great as the first time, but it was still pretty good.
After running and restoring stamina a few more times, the view around them slowly changed into a rocky terrain that went uphill. It made running difficult, so they had to slow down and hiked the rest of the way towards the cave. The farther they went, the steeper the way became until it completely turned into a cliff that they had to climb. It wasn't completely vertical, so amateurs like them should still be able to do it, especially since they were Contractbounds.
"I didn't expect this," complained Jacco.
He was the heaviest among them. Although he was probably the one with the most physical strength, maneuvering past rocks while climbing was not something he could do easily. Luuk, on the other hand, was nimbly jumping from one to another rock. Although Graham wasn't performing as bad as Jacco, he was also having slight difficulty climbing up because of his long coat. They climbed bit by bit and got higher and higher.
"We're finally here," said Graham, panting.
"I can't fucking do it anymore..." said Jacco as he collapsed to the ground.
Once they made it all the way up, they could finally see the entrance of the cave where the gemstones they were looking for were located. They took a quick rest without consuming Luuk's stamina powder; they had taken much within a short time so its effect had diminished greatly. They were saving it for an emergency later if there was any.
Luuk, who had reached the top way ahead of the two, had restored enough stamina and was now scouting the area for possible dangers. According to Graham's divination, the beasts were located inside the cave, not outside, but it wouldn't hurt to be on guard.
"Have you two rested enough?" asked Luuk.
"Can't you just steal my fatigue?" responded Graham with another question.
"Sure I can, but when I release it you'll just become tired again," he said matter-of-factly.
After resting for a couple of minutes more, they finally got up and were ready to enter the cave. It was bright and sunshiny, and the inside of the cave wasn't dark either, so Graham and Jacco didn't need any artificial lighting for now. There seemed to be a lot of holes as well, allowing the sunlight in to illuminate the interior.
They had only walked several steps into the cave when suddenly they felt something dangerous approaching them from inside. The three of them stopped and got into battle formation right away.
"Here it comes," said Graham to his teammates. He was ready to cast Order at any time.
In front of them, there was a giant creature, a little bigger than the size of an adult male standing straight, that looked very strange. It was like a snake with the length of a caterpillar and a bloated belly, but its tail was thin, which gave a funny contrast to its upper body. Its brown scales looked shiny in the limited sunlight and its tongue was sticking out repeatedly, detecting its prey. Although it looked ridiculous, it was still a supernatural creature that emitted a dangerous aura.
"Hiss!!" the thing hissed loudly at them.
Suddenly, it opened its giant mouth and green liquid dripped from its fangs. It seemed to want to spray the green liquid on to the three men.
"I, in the name of the Deity of the Tongue, order you to freeze!"
The snake-like creature stopped moving and the projectile it was preparing failed to be launched and just overflowed to the ground. Smoke came out from the location surface that the green liquid touched, along with an audible sizzle.
"Cover me!" shouted Graham and then retreated to the back.
"I, in the name of the Deity of War, play this War Drum!"
Jacco had taken out an iron stick from his fanny pack and unzipped his leather jacket, revealing the iron plate strapped around his stomach. He started beating it loudly.
Badum! Badum!
The sound of the War Drum energized his teammates, and now the effect was considerably more powerful than before.
Luuk had taken Graham's spot as the spear, protecting the other two from the frozen creature. It looked like Graham's Order will wear off soon. Graham, who was now standing at the back, had lit his lighter and was now staring at it intently. He was using divination to find out more about the creature and its weakness.
"Hiss!!"
The creature had broken out of Graham's control and was now lunging at Jacco who was playing an irritating beat, ignoring Luuk who was closest to it.
"It's a Tsuchinoko. Its weakness is under its stomach!" shouted Graham. He put the lighter back and readied his knife.
"I, in the name of the Deity of Theft, declare your intention to attack Jacco mine!"
Luuk made a swiping motion with his right hand and the Tsuchinoko stopped moving in confusion. It then got irritated again by Jacco's War Drum and restarted its attack sequence.
"I, in the name of the Deity of the Tongue, order you to roll over!"
As Graham finished chanting, the creature mysteriously started to roll over with visible struggling against the Order. With the effect of the evolved War Drum, however, the creature's struggle was in vain; the Order was much stronger. Once its belly was exposed, they could see a black spot that looked different from its other body parts; there were no hard scales covering it and it was pulsating like there was a heart right underneath it.
Stab!
Stab!
Graham and Luuk seized the opportunity and simultaneously stabbed the creature's weak point. Luuk's knife glowed red and it seemed to be burning the wound it created, preventing the blood from spurting. The stab wound that Graham created had red blood gushing out of it, dirtying his coat. The creature was struggling the whole time, but being hit in its weakness seemed to have hurt it gravely.
"Hiss!!"
The Tsuchinoko hissed loudly with its dying breath. Its eyes became lifeless soon after and its body stopped moving completely. However, this time the body didn't completely burst into flames.
"Val, it appears not all creatures turn into ashes when they die. We need to take this into consideration as well," he muttered.
Graham, Luuk, and Jacco watched as something slowly formed from its weak spot. It was a round object that looked like an egg with a brown shell. Graham gestured at Luuk to pick up and carry the object because he had the most space among all of them.
"This thing is soft..." Luuk said as he touched the egg lying on the dead Tsuchinoko's open belly.
"That looks like an egg. Shouldn't it be hard?" asked Jacco in disbelief.
He approached Luuk and tried to touch the snake egg. The moment his skin made contact with it, he could feel the softness of the object. It was like holding a hard-boiled egg. He tried to squeeze it hard and the object elastically changed form, preventing itself from being destroyed.
"This shit is crazy!" he said while excitedly squeezing the egg in his hand. The object was like a slime that would only feel the gap between Jacco's fingers as he pressed it with his hand.
Luuk took the object from Jacco and put it inside his bag, leaving the man disappointed.
"We should try to see if we can harvest anything else from this corpse later. For now, help me move this thing to the side," said Graham.
The three men got into position and pushed the Tsuchinoko's corpse to the side of the cave next to the wall. That way, it wouldn't be too conspicuous, although it was still pretty much visible.
"Let's get going," said Luuk after that.
The three men continued going deeper into the cave, and the whole time, Luuk had been sensing the presence of gemstones nearby. He walked ahead of the group and headed towards the closest presence.
The cave that they were in this time had normal soil ground, so it wasn't difficult for them to navigate around. They quickly reached a portion of it that had a bulging part with faint purple spots on it. Luuk knew right away that there were raw gemstones inside.
"I, in the name of the Deity of the Theft, declare the gemstones inside this wall mine!"
He made a swiping motion with his right hand and magically, the purple spots on the wall disappeared. In his hand were now tiny pieces of purple crystals whose colors were murky.
"We're lucky you're a Thief, so we don't have to dig," said Graham.
"Convenient, isn't it?" replied Luuk as he put the purple gemstones inside his backpack.
"What are those?" asked Jacco curiously.
"I don't know yet. I'll identify them later. Something is coming here," he said casually.
The Purloin that Graham was wearing had been sending out a presence that drew the creatures inside to cave towards them. He didn't conceal it on purpose so that they didn't have to go around the caves for hunting.
"Hiss!"
The creature with a snake-like appearance came darting towards them quickly.
"I, in the name of the Deity of War, play this War Drum!"
Badum! Badum!
Graham managed to avoid the creature's charge that was targeted at him thanks to the boost from Jacco's drum.
"It's another Tsuchinoko," he said, and then added, "Same strategy as before,"
"Uhm... there is another one over there," said Luuk while pointing at a direction.
From another direction, there was another Tsuchinoko that was observing them. Its tongue was sticking out repeatedly to sense its surrounding.
"That's just more extra money. Be more careful and we should be able to pull this. Watch out for its venom spray attack!" reminded Graham.
"Guys, there are three of them!" shouted Jacco while still beating the metal plate on his stomach ceremoniously.
There was one more Tsuchinoko approaching rapidly from the front and now it was standing tall next to the one observing them.
"Okay, now things are getting dangerous," said Graham.
"Don't forget that our abilities are limited," reminded Luuk.
They were now facing three Tsuchinokos at the same time. The creatures' yellow eyes were looking at them ravenously.
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Graham, Luuk, and Jacco got off the bus at a bus stop near a small town north of Sloten. They hadn't been able to hire a private driver for themselves; that was why they took the other alternative. The view in front of them were trees and hills, with the mountain range not far behind them. The tiny town was located a few meters to their right, with little sign of human activity.
The morning sun hit their faces with its warmth; it was a pleasant sensation that relieved them from the cold morning. Graham put both of his gloved hands inside the pockets of his coat and tried to soak up as much sunlight as possible with his stubbled face; his amber hair glistened under the morning light while his green eyes shone like a clear mirror.
The three men were ready to go into the cave to get some gemstones. Graham was wearing a black overcoat and hiking boots, emphasizing his mysterious and intelligent aura, while Luuk was wearing a thick sweater and also a pair of hiking boots. He looked like someone who could move about agilely. The boots were something that they learned from their experience in the last cave. Jacco, who had always worn boots in the first place, didn't need to go out of his way to change. He was wearing a zipped leather jacket that covered his muscular body. Although he looked like the brute strength type, he was actually the support of the group.
"Which way do we go?" asked Luuk suddenly while folding his arms on his chest to keep warm.
Graham had already lit a fire with his lighter and an image was slowly appearing there. It was an aerial view of their surroundings with three red dots that marked their current location, and somewhere in the distance, there was another one that glowed brightly. It had to be the cave where the gemstones were. Judging from the distance, it looked like it would take them at least one hour to reach the cave.
"So, that way, yeah?" asked Jacco while pointing towards where the red dot should be in reality.
The image gradually disappeared and Graham put the lighter back inside his pocket.
"Yes. Shall we?" he said.
He walked towards the destination with his briefcase in his left hand. Luuk was carrying a backpack while Jacco had a fanny pack strapped around his shoulder and chest. They didn't plan to stay the night, so they didn't pack any clothes, but they might stay long enough, so food and drink supplies were a must. Besides, there will be a lot of fighting involved based on his divination.
They walked fast through the plains full of grass and moisture. Their destination was somewhere at the foot of the mountain, so they most likely had to climb a hill or two to get there. The woods on their left looked serene in the morning light while the path ahead of them was clear.
"Here, each of you inhale this," Luuk handed his teammates a pouch each.
Graham did so without asking. He knew already what it was.
Inside the paper pouch, there was some yellow powder that didn't look special; it just looked like a ground dried ginger.
"That's stamina powder. As the name suggests, it will restore your stamina. We should be able to cover a lot of distance by running and inhaling that along the way," Luuk explained and then inhaled the powder.
Jacco complied with Luuk's instruction and inhaled the yellow powder in his hand. The moment the powder entered his nostrils, it spread all around his body and made it feel warm. He also felt strangely energized, and the fatigue from the long travel time was gone just like that.
With their stamina being restored, the three men started running quickly. Jacco didn't play his War Drum to boost the team's stamina further because it had the downside of attracting enemies. They didn't want to waste time and energy fighting unnecessarily, especially if they didn't know what kind of enemy might get attracted.
Pant... Pant...
"Val, I don't have your stamina after all..."
After running for a while, Graham started to get tired first and then followed by Jacco some moments later, while Luuk was still fine. He handed them more stamina powder and the two quickly inhaled it. Since it was their second time, the stamina recovery wasn't as great as the first time, but it was still pretty good.
After running and restoring stamina a few more times, the view around them slowly changed into a rocky terrain that went uphill. It made running difficult, so they had to slow down and hiked the rest of the way towards the cave. The farther they went, the steeper the way became until it completely turned into a cliff that they had to climb. It wasn't completely vertical, so amateurs like them should still be able to do it, especially since they were Contractbounds.
"I didn't expect this," complained Jacco.
He was the heaviest among them. Although he was probably the one with the most physical strength, maneuvering past rocks while climbing was not something he could do easily. Luuk, on the other hand, was nimbly jumping from one to another rock. Although Graham wasn't performing as bad as Jacco, he was also having slight difficulty climbing up because of his long coat. They climbed bit by bit and got higher and higher.
"We're finally here," said Graham, panting.
"I can't fucking do it anymore..." said Jacco as he collapsed to the ground.
Once they made it all the way up, they could finally see the entrance of the cave where the gemstones they were looking for were located. They took a quick rest without consuming Luuk's stamina powder; they had taken much within a short time so its effect had diminished greatly. They were saving it for an emergency later if there was any.
Luuk, who had reached the top way ahead of the two, had restored enough stamina and was now scouting the area for possible dangers. According to Graham's divination, the beasts were located inside the cave, not outside, but it wouldn't hurt to be on guard.
"Have you two rested enough?" asked Luuk.
"Can't you just steal my fatigue?" responded Graham with another question.
"Sure I can, but when I release it you'll just become tired again," he said matter-of-factly.
After resting for a couple of minutes more, they finally got up and were ready to enter the cave. It was bright and sunshiny, and the inside of the cave wasn't dark either, so Graham and Jacco didn't need any artificial lighting for now. There seemed to be a lot of holes as well, allowing the sunlight in to illuminate the interior.
They had only walked several steps into the cave when suddenly they felt something dangerous approaching them from inside. The three of them stopped and got into battle formation right away.
"Here it comes," said Graham to his teammates. He was ready to cast Order at any time.
In front of them, there was a giant creature, a little bigger than the size of an adult male standing straight, that looked very strange. It was like a snake with the length of a caterpillar and a bloated belly, but its tail was thin, which gave a funny contrast to its upper body. Its brown scales looked shiny in the limited sunlight and its tongue was sticking out repeatedly, detecting its prey. Although it looked ridiculous, it was still a supernatural creature that emitted a dangerous aura.
"Hiss!!" the thing hissed loudly at them.
Suddenly, it opened its giant mouth and green liquid dripped from its fangs. It seemed to want to spray the green liquid on to the three men.
"I, in the name of the Deity of the Tongue, order you to freeze!"
The snake-like creature stopped moving and the projectile it was preparing failed to be launched and just overflowed to the ground. Smoke came out from the location surface that the green liquid touched, along with an audible sizzle.
"Cover me!" shouted Graham and then retreated to the back.
"I, in the name of the Deity of War, play this War Drum!"
Jacco had taken out an iron stick from his fanny pack and unzipped his leather jacket, revealing the iron plate strapped around his stomach. He started beating it loudly.
Badum! Badum!
The sound of the War Drum energized his teammates, and now the effect was considerably more powerful than before.
Luuk had taken Graham's spot as the spear, protecting the other two from the frozen creature. It looked like Graham's Order will wear off soon. Graham, who was now standing at the back, had lit his lighter and was now staring at it intently. He was using divination to find out more about the creature and its weakness.
"Hiss!!"
The creature had broken out of Graham's control and was now lunging at Jacco who was playing an irritating beat, ignoring Luuk who was closest to it.
"It's a Tsuchinoko. Its weakness is under its stomach!" shouted Graham. He put the lighter back and readied his knife.
"I, in the name of the Deity of Theft, declare your intention to attack Jacco mine!"
Luuk made a swiping motion with his right hand and the Tsuchinoko stopped moving in confusion. It then got irritated again by Jacco's War Drum and restarted its attack sequence.
"I, in the name of the Deity of the Tongue, order you to roll over!"
As Graham finished chanting, the creature mysteriously started to roll over with visible struggling against the Order. With the effect of the evolved War Drum, however, the creature's struggle was in vain; the Order was much stronger. Once its belly was exposed, they could see a black spot that looked different from its other body parts; there were no hard scales covering it and it was pulsating like there was a heart right underneath it.
Stab!
Stab!
Graham and Luuk seized the opportunity and simultaneously stabbed the creature's weak point. Luuk's knife glowed red and it seemed to be burning the wound it created, preventing the blood from spurting. The stab wound that Graham created had red blood gushing out of it, dirtying his coat. The creature was struggling the whole time, but being hit in its weakness seemed to have hurt it gravely.
"Hiss!!"
The Tsuchinoko hissed loudly with its dying breath. Its eyes became lifeless soon after and its body stopped moving completely. However, this time the body didn't completely burst into flames.
"Val, it appears not all creatures turn into ashes when they die. We need to take this into consideration as well," he muttered.
Graham, Luuk, and Jacco watched as something slowly formed from its weak spot. It was a round object that looked like an egg with a brown shell. Graham gestured at Luuk to pick up and carry the object because he had the most space among all of them.
"This thing is soft..." Luuk said as he touched the egg lying on the dead Tsuchinoko's open belly.
"That looks like an egg. Shouldn't it be hard?" asked Jacco in disbelief.
He approached Luuk and tried to touch the snake egg. The moment his skin made contact with it, he could feel the softness of the object. It was like holding a hard-boiled egg. He tried to squeeze it hard and the object elastically changed form, preventing itself from being destroyed.
"This shit is crazy!" he said while excitedly squeezing the egg in his hand. The object was like a slime that would only feel the gap between Jacco's fingers as he pressed it with his hand.
Luuk took the object from Jacco and put it inside his bag, leaving the man disappointed.
"We should try to see if we can harvest anything else from this corpse later. For now, help me move this thing to the side," said Graham.
The three men got into position and pushed the Tsuchinoko's corpse to the side of the cave next to the wall. That way, it wouldn't be too conspicuous, although it was still pretty much visible.
"Let's get going," said Luuk after that.
The three men continued going deeper into the cave, and the whole time, Luuk had been sensing the presence of gemstones nearby. He walked ahead of the group and headed towards the closest presence.
The cave that they were in this time had normal soil ground, so it wasn't difficult for them to navigate around. They quickly reached a portion of it that had a bulging part with faint purple spots on it. Luuk knew right away that there were raw gemstones inside.
"I, in the name of the Deity of the Theft, declare the gemstones inside this wall mine!"
He made a swiping motion with his right hand and magically, the purple spots on the wall disappeared. In his hand were now tiny pieces of purple crystals whose colors were murky.
"We're lucky you're a Thief, so we don't have to dig," said Graham.
"Convenient, isn't it?" replied Luuk as he put the purple gemstones inside his backpack.
"What are those?" asked Jacco curiously.
"I don't know yet. I'll identify them later. Something is coming here," he said casually.
The Purloin that Graham was wearing had been sending out a presence that drew the creatures inside to cave towards them. He didn't conceal it on purpose so that they didn't have to go around the caves for hunting.
"Hiss!"
The creature with a snake-like appearance came darting towards them quickly.
"I, in the name of the Deity of War, play this War Drum!"
Badum! Badum!
Graham managed to avoid the creature's charge that was targeted at him thanks to the boost from Jacco's drum.
"It's another Tsuchinoko," he said, and then added, "Same strategy as before,"
"Uhm... there is another one over there," said Luuk while pointing at a direction.
From another direction, there was another Tsuchinoko that was observing them. Its tongue was sticking out repeatedly to sense its surrounding.
"That's just more extra money. Be more careful and we should be able to pull this. Watch out for its venom spray attack!" reminded Graham.
"Guys, there are three of them!" shouted Jacco while still beating the metal plate on his stomach ceremoniously.
There was one more Tsuchinoko approaching rapidly from the front and now it was standing tall next to the one observing them.
"Okay, now things are getting dangerous," said Graham.
"Don't forget that our abilities are limited," reminded Luuk.
They were now facing three Tsuchinokos at the same time. The creatures' yellow eyes were looking at them ravenously.
Graham, Luuk, and Jacco got off the bus at a bus stop near a small town north of Sloten. They hadn't been able to hire a private driver for themselves; that was why they took the other alternative. The view in front of them were trees and hills, with the mountain range not far behind them. The tiny town was located a few meters to their right, with little sign of human activity.The morning sun hit their faces with its warmth; it was a pleasant sensation that relieved them from the cold morning. Graham put both of his gloved hands inside the pockets of his coat and tried to soak up as much sunlight as possible with his stubbled face; his amber hair glistened under the morning light while his green eyes shone like a clear mirror.The three men were ready to go into the cave to get some gemstones. Graham was wearing a black overcoat and hiking boots, emphasizing his mysterious and intelligent aura, while Luuk was wearing a thick sweater and also a pair of hiking boots. He looked like someone who could move about agilely. The boots were something that they learned from their experience in the last cave. Jacco, who had always worn boots in the first place, didn't need to go out of his way to change. He was wearing a zipped leather jacket that covered his muscular body. Although he looked like the brute strength type, he was actually the support of the group."Which way do we go?" asked Luuk suddenly while folding his arms on his chest to keep warm.Graham had already lit a fire with his lighter and an image was slowly appearing there. It was an aerial view of their surroundings with three red dots that marked their current location, and somewhere in the distance, there was another one that glowed brightly. It had to be the cave where the gemstones were. Judging from the distance, it looked like it would take them at least one hour to reach the cave."So, that way, yeah?" asked Jacco while pointing towards where the red dot should be in reality.The image gradually disappeared and Graham put the lighter back inside his pocket."Yes. Shall we?" he said.He walked towards the destination with his briefcase in his left hand. Luuk was carrying a backpack while Jacco had a fanny pack strapped around his shoulder and chest. They didn't plan to stay the night, so they didn't pack any clothes, but they might stay long enough, so food and drink supplies were a must. Besides, there will be a lot of fighting involved based on his divination.They walked fast through the plains full of grass and moisture. Their destination was somewhere at the foot of the mountain, so they most likely had to climb a hill or two to get there. The woods on their left looked serene in the morning light while the path ahead of them was clear."Here, each of you inhale this," Luuk handed his teammates a pouch each.Graham did so without asking. He knew already what it was.Inside the paper pouch, there was some yellow powder that didn't look special; it just looked like a ground dried ginger."That's stamina powder. As the name suggests, it will restore your stamina. We should be able to cover a lot of distance by running and inhaling that along the way," Luuk explained and then inhaled the powder.Jacco complied with Luuk's instruction and inhaled the yellow powder in his hand. The moment the powder entered his nostrils, it spread all around his body and made it feel warm. He also felt strangely energized, and the fatigue from the long travel time was gone just like that.With their stamina being restored, the three men started running quickly. Jacco didn't play his War Drum to boost the team's stamina further because it had the downside of attracting enemies. They didn't want to waste time and energy fighting unnecessarily, especially if they didn't know what kind of enemy might get attracted.Pant... Pant..."Val, I don't have your stamina after all..."After running for a while, Graham started to get tired first and then followed by Jacco some moments later, while Luuk was still fine. He handed them more stamina powder and the two quickly inhaled it. Since it was their second time, the stamina recovery wasn't as great as the first time, but it was still pretty good.After running and restoring stamina a few more times, the view around them slowly changed into a rocky terrain that went uphill. It made running difficult, so they had to slow down and hiked the rest of the way towards the cave. The farther they went, the steeper the way became until it completely turned into a cliff that they had to climb. It wasn't completely vertical, so amateurs like them should still be able to do it, especially since they were Contractbounds."I didn't expect this," complained Jacco.He was the heaviest among them. Although he was probably the one with the most physical strength, maneuvering past rocks while climbing was not something he could do easily. Luuk, on the other hand, was nimbly jumping from one to another rock. Although Graham wasn't performing as bad as Jacco, he was also having slight difficulty climbing up because of his long coat. They climbed bit by bit and got higher and higher."We're finally here," said Graham, panting."I can't fucking do it anymore..." said Jacco as he collapsed to the ground.Once they made it all the way up, they could finally see the entrance of the cave where the gemstones they were looking for were located. They took a quick rest without consuming Luuk's stamina powder; they had taken much within a short time so its effect had diminished greatly. They were saving it for an emergency later if there was any.Luuk, who had reached the top way ahead of the two, had restored enough stamina and was now scouting the area for possible dangers. According to Graham's divination, the beasts were located inside the cave, not outside, but it wouldn't hurt to be on guard."Have you two rested enough?" asked Luuk."Can't you just steal my fatigue?" responded Graham with another question."Sure I can, but when I release it you'll just become tired again," he said matter-of-factly.After resting for a couple of minutes more, they finally got up and were ready to enter the cave. It was bright and sunshiny, and the inside of the cave wasn't dark either, so Graham and Jacco didn't need any artificial lighting for now. There seemed to be a lot of holes as well, allowing the sunlight in to illuminate the interior.They had only walked several steps into the cave when suddenly they felt something dangerous approaching them from inside. The three of them stopped and got into battle formation right away."Here it comes," said Graham to his teammates. He was ready to cast Order at any time.In front of them, there was a giant creature, a little bigger than the size of an adult male standing straight, that looked very strange. It was like a snake with the length of a caterpillar and a bloated belly, but its tail was thin, which gave a funny contrast to its upper body. Its brown scales looked shiny in the limited sunlight and its tongue was sticking out repeatedly, detecting its prey. Although it looked ridiculous, it was still a supernatural creature that emitted a dangerous aura."Hiss!!" the thing hissed loudly at them.Suddenly, it opened its giant mouth and green liquid dripped from its fangs. It seemed to want to spray the green liquid on to the three men."I, in the name of the Deity of the Tongue, order you to freeze!"The snake-like creature stopped moving and the projectile it was preparing failed to be launched and just overflowed to the ground. Smoke came out from the location surface that the green liquid touched, along with an audible sizzle."Cover me!" shouted Graham and then retreated to the back."I, in the name of the Deity of War, play this War Drum!"Jacco had taken out an iron stick from his fanny pack and unzipped his leather jacket, revealing the iron plate strapped around his stomach. He started beating it loudly.Badum! Badum!The sound of the War Drum energized his teammates, and now the effect was considerably more powerful than before.Luuk had taken Graham's spot as the spear, protecting the other two from the frozen creature. It looked like Graham's Order will wear off soon. Graham, who was now standing at the back, had lit his lighter and was now staring at it intently. He was using divination to find out more about the creature and its weakness."Hiss!!"The creature had broken out of Graham's control and was now lunging at Jacco who was playing an irritating beat, ignoring Luuk who was closest to it."It's a Tsuchinoko. Its weakness is under its stomach!" shouted Graham. He put the lighter back and readied his knife."I, in the name of the Deity of Theft, declare your intention to attack Jacco mine!"Luuk made a swiping motion with his right hand and the Tsuchinoko stopped moving in confusion. It then got irritated again by Jacco's War Drum and restarted its attack sequence."I, in the name of the Deity of the Tongue, order you to roll over!"As Graham finished chanting, the creature mysteriously started to roll over with visible struggling against the Order. With the effect of the evolved War Drum, however, the creature's struggle was in vain; the Order was much stronger. Once its belly was exposed, they could see a black spot that looked different from its other body parts; there were no hard scales covering it and it was pulsating like there was a heart right underneath it.Stab!Stab!Graham and Luuk seized the opportunity and simultaneously stabbed the creature's weak point. Luuk's knife glowed red and it seemed to be burning the wound it created, preventing the blood from spurting. The stab wound that Graham created had red blood gushing out of it, dirtying his coat. The creature was struggling the whole time, but being hit in its weakness seemed to have hurt it gravely."Hiss!!"The Tsuchinoko hissed loudly with its dying breath. Its eyes became lifeless soon after and its body stopped moving completely. However, this time the body didn't completely burst into flames."Val, it appears not all creatures turn into ashes when they die. We need to take this into consideration as well," he muttered.Graham, Luuk, and Jacco watched as something slowly formed from its weak spot. It was a round object that looked like an egg with a brown shell. Graham gestured at Luuk to pick up and carry the object because he had the most space among all of them."This thing is soft..." Luuk said as he touched the egg lying on the dead Tsuchinoko's open belly."That looks like an egg. Shouldn't it be hard?" asked Jacco in disbelief.He approached Luuk and tried to touch the snake egg. The moment his skin made contact with it, he could feel the softness of the object. It was like holding a hard-boiled egg. He tried to squeeze it hard and the object elastically changed form, preventing itself from being destroyed."This shit is crazy!" he said while excitedly squeezing the egg in his hand. The object was like a slime that would only feel the gap between Jacco's fingers as he pressed it with his hand.Luuk took the object from Jacco and put it inside his bag, leaving the man disappointed."We should try to see if we can harvest anything else from this corpse later. For now, help me move this thing to the side," said Graham.The three men got into position and pushed the Tsuchinoko's corpse to the side of the cave next to the wall. That way, it wouldn't be too conspicuous, although it was still pretty much visible."Let's get going," said Luuk after that.The three men continued going deeper into the cave, and the whole time, Luuk had been sensing the presence of gemstones nearby. He walked ahead of the group and headed towards the closest presence.The cave that they were in this time had normal soil ground, so it wasn't difficult for them to navigate around. They quickly reached a portion of it that had a bulging part with faint purple spots on it. Luuk knew right away that there were raw gemstones inside."I, in the name of the Deity of the Theft, declare the gemstones inside this wall mine!"He made a swiping motion with his right hand and magically, the purple spots on the wall disappeared. In his hand were now tiny pieces of purple crystals whose colors were murky."We're lucky you're a Thief, so we don't have to dig," said Graham."Convenient, isn't it?" replied Luuk as he put the purple gemstones inside his backpack."What are those?" asked Jacco curiously."I don't know yet. I'll identify them later. Something is coming here," he said casually.The Purloin that Graham was wearing had been sending out a presence that drew the creatures inside to cave towards them. He didn't conceal it on purpose so that they didn't have to go around the caves for hunting."Hiss!"The creature with a snake-like appearance came darting towards them quickly."I, in the name of the Deity of War, play this War Drum!"Badum! Badum!Graham managed to avoid the creature's charge that was targeted at him thanks to the boost from Jacco's drum."It's another Tsuchinoko," he said, and then added, "Same strategy as before,""Uhm... there is another one over there," said Luuk while pointing at a direction.From another direction, there was another Tsuchinoko that was observing them. Its tongue was sticking out repeatedly to sense its surrounding."That's just more extra money. Be more careful and we should be able to pull this. Watch out for its venom spray attack!" reminded Graham."Guys, there are three of them!" shouted Jacco while still beating the metal plate on his stomach ceremoniously.There was one more Tsuchinoko approaching rapidly from the front and now it was standing tall next to the one observing them."Okay, now things are getting dangerous," said Graham."Don't forget that our abilities are limited," reminded Luuk.They were now facing three Tsuchinokos at the same time. The creatures' yellow eyes were looking at them ravenously.
