Chapter 109: Journey to the Watering Hole

Joshua spent the rest of his shift on watch duty thinking about the short clash he had just witnessed. The snake in itself was a powerful creature that was confident enough to try to steal away one of the elks from a herd. It had to be not only quick moving but also extremely tanky to survive the onslaught of attacks from the larger elks if it planned to get away with something like that. A creature like that was so easily taken down by the giant owl and in such a way that it wasn't even given a chance to react to the situation. Joshua decided to take a peek at his stats to see if he could stand up to a creature that powerful.

Level 80

Job – Aura User

Soul Beast – Fenrir

Stats (parenthesis number is the bonus stats from levels and Job) [Bracket numbers are skill modifiers]

Strength: 2250 (219) = 2469 x [1.3] = 3209.7

Vitality: 2250 (219) = 2469 x [1.3] = 3209.7 (6913.2 with aura hardening)

Dexterity: 2250(219) = 2469 x [1.3] = 3209.7

Intelligence: 2250 (219) = 2469 x [1.3] = 3209.7

Wisdom: 2250 (219) = 2469 x [1.3] = 3209.7

Will: 3650 (359) = 4009 x [1.3] = 5211.7

Luck 111 (0) = 111

Joshua had come a long way since he started exploring, but he wasn't sure if he could handle a beast like that owl on his own. It would take the entire group to take it down and even then some of them might get killed in the struggle if they weren't careful. The feeling Joshua got when watching the owl was completely different from any other predators he had come across thus far and Joshua knew that they were going to have to get stronger if they wanted to ever defeat such a creature let alone tame one which is what Joshua was sure Lilly would want to do the moment she saw one.

The issue with the owl wasn't just its level or its massive size. As a group they had taken on creatures of the same scale as the owl before even if it was at a higher level. No, the issue Joshua had with the owl was the fact that he wasn't able to notice its approach until the last second. He didn't even sense the owl at all until it slammed its claws into the head of the snake. The only reason he had even noticed it beforehand was the fact that he was focused on looking in its direction in the first place. Even with his eyes directly on the creature he couldn't sense its presence until the moment it struck out at the snake. If it was hunting their group then they wouldn't have even realized it until one of them had been snatched up by its large claws and dragged away.

After a short period of sleep through the rest of the night Joshua woke up to the rest of the group already up and about with breakfast almost ready. He had taken the first and longest watch over night so he got to sleep in a little longer than the others. The group still had gotten up quite early so that the elk couldn't leave them behind. While eating breakfast Joshua felt it was the best time to tell the others about what he had seen. He had already warned Aito since he was the next person on watch duty after Joshua, but everyone else was most likely in the dark on the issue.

"Last night I came across a fairly frightening sight to see." Joshua said interrupting some of the conversation that was going on around the group. "Although our group wasn't in any danger because of the deterrent device that we had set up, the beast that came out at night were far more dangerous than anything we've seen so far."

"What could be so terrifying that it could get you so wound up? After all the things most of us have been through I'm surprised you out of all of us feel threatened by something." Madalyn said with a bit of a frown. Henry also looked at Joshua oddly since he could tell that Joshua was being serious about his worrying.

"At first things seemed fairly normal with all of the elk just staying on guard nearby, but then they started to get a bit agitated. With my aura sense I was easily able to tell what was agitating them, as a rather large snake had come into the area of the tall grass and was trying to sneak up on them." Joshua explained after he had gained everyone's attention.

"It must have been fairly powerful for it to think that it had a good chance of surviving even though it was going up against that large group of elk." Marcus said as he looked over towards the elks. They were slowly starting to wake up, but even then they still had several of the larger elk guarding the herd.

"Even if it was strong it was just another snake after all." Madalyn said with a shrug. "We've taken down several of them in the canyon. Even if they gained a few levels I highly doubt they would be all that different skill wise. That being the case I doubt the snake is the reason that you're worried."

"That's right. The snake wasn't a pushover considering it was level eighty-six, but I could probably take it down on my own if I really had to. As a group it wouldn't have been much of a problem at all." Joshua said with a sigh. "The issue is the fact that another predator swooped in and killed the snake in one swift move before flying off with its body like it had just picked up a snack."

"What exactly was it?" Henry asked a bit surprised at that.

"It was an owl, but it was far bigger than any other flying creature we've seen since we ran into Tank's friend. The reason I'm worried about it isn't the fact that it was strong or because of its level. I'm worried about it because it was able to glide clean through my aura sense without me even noticing it until it was right in front of my eyes and killing the snake. If we were in the same scenario then it could have easily grabbed up a couple of our group and flown away before we would even be able to react."

"The only way we can avoid such a situation is by keeping an eye out for them at all times and not rely on only Joshua's aura sense to keep a look out. Besides since it was an owl it was most likely nocturnal. I don't think it would be a good idea for us to go on the move during the night anyways." Isabella explained with the rest of the group agreeing.

"We better get ready to get going. The elks look like they are about to get on the move again." Laura said as she pointed towards them. "We should reach the watering hole by this afternoon judging by the distance we have left to travel. Making our way through this prairie seems like a tedious task."

"Then let's get on the move. We've got a long day ahead of us and we want to make sure to be in a good location to rest through the night. Preferably away from the tall grass so we don't have to worry too much about danger through the night." Joshua said as he rose up and started the act of putting away the last few items they had around the camp. The elk were already up and eating a bit of grass so it wouldn't take very long for them to get on the move again. After following them for an entire day their group had gotten quite accustomed to the decisions the herd of elk seemed to make.

By the time the elk were on the move again Joshua was already leading his group at a distance behind them. The elk moved at a rather slow pace which wasn't too surprising since they tried their best to avoid any danger so that their young ones wouldn't get picked off. So far Joshua had only seen the herd lose one deer up to this point and that was because the deer was being stubborn and stupid by going away from the herd. It was an act that was an outlier in the group of elk, and beast that were outliers in this day in age only ended up one of two ways. They would become powerful beast that thrived through the challenge of striking out on their own or they would end up like the elk that died and was currently in the stomachs of several different coyotes.

The start of the day consisted completely of just following the group of elk through the prairie once more. Early on they did come across another pack of coyotes that were following the elk in an attempt to see if they could pick off any of the stragglers, but this time around all of the younger elk were kept in the center of the herd even when they stopped to graze on grass. Eventually the coyote left the area since they weren't seeing any openings and they didn't want to waste all of their time following such a powerful herd.

Throughout the day Joshua's group all so spotted a few mountain lions that were eyeing the herd, but they seemed to be lazing about on rocks and boulders not caring about the herd of elk since they knew it was too big for them to try to take on. Instead it looked as if the giant cats were waiting for some other predators to be stupid enough to take the plunge. That way they could swoop in and still the prize whether it was and elk that was unlucky enough to get killed in the conflict or the predator that died making the foolish attempt to kill one of the elk.

The only actual conflict the group came across while making their way to the watering hole came from a small group of prairie chicken that glided over to their area when they were passing by a short grass spot with lots of worms. They made sure to take out the prairie chickens rather quickly and continued to follow the elk to the watering hole. When they got close enough to get a good view of the giant source of water they could only stare in amazement at what was laid out before them.