Chapter 103: The Beasts in the Prairie are a bit crazy

The first thing Joshua noticed while looking over the prairie was how vast it was. He couldn't even see the mountains in the distance from his current vantage point because of all the hills and the large grass that shot up into the air further into the prairie. A lot of the grass that he was seeing at the moment was on the scale of large creatures such as Cinder instead of the beast of the past. The horses on the other side of the canyon would have trouble roaming through this area just because of the fact that the grass could get nearly as tall as them in some places.

There seemed to be a light breeze that would constantly flow throughout the area causing the grass to shimmer and sway to one side or the other. At the moment Joshua couldn't see any beast that could possibly be staying within the prairie, but from how tall the grass was he could already see a few of the issues they were likely to come across while making their way through the prairie. One of the major issues they were going to have to deal with would be the scale of the enemies that they were going to come across as they fought beast in the prairie. Most of the beast were likely to be on the same scale as some of Lilly's larger beast companions if not bigger the further they go into the prairie. That would make most fights hectic and incredibly tiring and long winded.

Another issue they were going to have to deal with would be cover. Although the tall grass would make excellent cover for them to use when approaching different beast or trying to sneak by them with the help of Vince's illusions on some occasions, it would also be a haven for beast that like to sneak up on their prey. That was something they were going to have to keep an eye on especially if some of the beast like to attack from underground as well. All in all Joshua knew that this was going to be a challenging expedition from the start of things and he was looking forward to seeing what they would come across in the end.

"Well this is one hell of a picnic location." Adrian said as he opened his arms wide. "The breeze feels amazing as well. Might have to invite a date here in the future once things get a bit more under control."

"Why wait till then? Might as well bring a date now. The danger will just make things more exciting." Vince said with a grin before Aurora punched him in the side getting him to shut up. The two playboys were already getting along well so Joshua could see that becoming an annoyance for all of the women in the group to deal with.

"I wonder what kind of beast live on this side of the prairie for me to tame." Lilly said with her usual care free smile. Joshua just shook his head at that knowing full well that they would be taming some new beast on this expedition. Even so it would go a long way towards building up the defenses of the Alliance's new town if they could find some powerful beast to protect it. Joshua was also looking forward to seeing how powerful both Cinder and Tank would become once they reached level eighty. Every ten levels Lilly's beast companion always seemed to grow in size or gain some more strength. Titus had already done so after reaching level eighty. The large gorilla was getting closer to six and a half stories tall at this point.

"Well we've got a lot to explore so we might as well get started. We're going to want to find a safe place to set up camp before night fall so let's get going." Joshua said as he was the first one to march further towards the nearest hill so they could get an overhead look at the area. Joshua made his way to the largest hill he could find nearby and noticed that the grass only seemed to grow higher the further into the prairie they went. He made sure to keep his aura sense up so that he could feel any creatures nearby that might be dangerous to them, but he didn't want to use his aura pulse in such an open area. It would be nothing but a beacon for beast to find their location.

While climbing up the hill Joshua had to constantly push grass out of the way and was tempted to bring out his short sword to cut his way through, but he realized that would only leave a trail behind for any beast to follow to their location. So in the end Joshua just pushed the grass aside so that the rest of the group would have an easier time following the path he was making.

Along the way to the top of the hill Joshua did notice some interesting flowers that seemed rather unique. Some looked like enormous blue bonnets while others looked like some sort of oversized sunflowers. Joshua made sure to store some of these in his inventory to bring back to the garden after the expedition was over. He would have to keep an eye out for any interesting plants on this expedition since Grace wasn't ready to go on such a high level expedition just yet.

It didn't take to long for them all to reach the top of the hill. Lilly summoned Mr. Hoppy from her soul realm and climbed up on his back to get a better view of the area while the rest just looked from above the grass. Lilly avoided bringing out a bigger beast since it could end up attracting attention that they didn't want at the moment. The first thing that they all noticed about the view that they were seeing was how vast the land out in front of them was. From what Joshua could tell it would take more than a day to ride across the entire area on horseback without any stops. There was just that much space.

The view was beautiful with the sun starting to go down in the sky as it was getting closer to afternoon at this point. There were areas in which the grass was so high that it reached at least three times Joshua's height and he knew that was going to be a dilemma they were going to have to deal with at some point. On the other hand there were also areas with low cut grass where Joshua could see a lake nearby. It seemed to be a watering hole of sorts since Joshua could see some large figures in the distance gathering around the lake. It was just too far away for him to make out what they were.

They didn't have to look far in the distance to see what kind of beast they might come across while exploring the prairie. In a lower area nearby Joshua could see large elk like creatures that were as on the bigger scale of beast standing well above the grass. The smallest childlike elk were at least two to three stories tall. The large leaders of the heard however stood at six stories tall with their antlers reaching another couple stories high. The things were massive on the scale of a beast like Tank and would be hard to take down on their own let alone when they stayed in large herds like the one Joshua was seeing at the moment.

"Those things are enormous." Jayce said with a look of excitement. He wasn't the only one that seemed wide eyed by the size of the creatures nearby.

"I don't think we'd stand a chance if we had to take on a herd of them. They'd just run us all over as they run by." Madalyn said with a shrug. "Staying away from large groups of beasts seems like the top priority for us during this expedition."

"If you guys think those elk are huge than you should see the beast near the lake in the distance." Aito said getting everyone's attention. "They are far bulkier than the elk and have long horns as well. They look like some type of bison or something, but they're too far away for me to observe."

"We can't even use the system to observe the elk from this distance let along the bison all the way by the lake." Joshua said with a shrug before his attention was drawn to some creatures that were trying to sneak up on the large group of elk. There were seven figures that were trying to make their forms as small as possible, but even so they were all around the same size as Cinder if only a little smaller. When they started sticking their heads up a bit Joshua could see that they looked a little bit like coyotes to him.

All of the coyotes were trying to sneak up on one of the mid-sized elk that was a bit separated from the rest of the group. Even with how large the coyotes were they didn't make any sound as they moved through the grass. Each of them taking a position that would trap the elk once the leader went on the attack. The head coyote was a little bigger than the rest standing at four and half stories tall even when crouched. The tree high grass was the only reason none of the large creatures had been spotted yet.

When the coyote were getting closer one of the much larger elks raised its heads up from the grass that it was eating and turned to glare in the direction of the lone elk that had strayed away. It bellowed at the creature trying to get its attention, but the smaller elk seemed to ignore the warning. The large elk started to make its way over but it was too late at that point. The coyotes went on the attack as the leader lunged at the now panicking elk and locked its jaw around its neck. The other coyotes started to lock on wherever they could as the bigger jackal broke the elk's neck killing it quickly.

Soon the group realized why the jackals seemed to be in such a rush to kill their prey as a pair of the large elks rushed over with their horns bearing downward preparing to attack the group of coyotes. Two of the coyotes let go of the elk and rushed over to try to intimidate the elks, but they were having none of that. The coyotes were forced to dodge around the elks while the others tried to drag off their prize. Soon enough the skirmish was about to come to a close as most of the coyotes had gotten away, but one of them wasn't as lucky as it got gutted by the giant horns of one of the elks. The horns seemed to glow brightly as it seemed to grow sharper for a moment as the elk tore the coyote in half.

That short confrontation showed everyone how dangerous the area was and now they were going to have to figure out a path forward to avoid being put in a bad situation with all sorts of dangerous beast around.