Chapter 111: Observing through day and night

The small group of vultures had only drawn the attention of the other beast around the watering hole for a brief moment before they were left alone just like any other creatures that came to the watering hole. Many other creatures that made their way into the area went through the same circumstances and Joshua's group were all able to get a good look at how things worked around the place.

"This seems rather anticlimactic if you ask me. I was expecting some cool fighting between the different beasts." Amy said with a pouting tone. It was pretty obvious to everyone else that she was looking forward to being able to join in on the fighting as well.

"Although it might have been cool to see all the animals do some sort of battle royal, there would be no way for an ecosystem with beast this large to survive if something like that was happening all of the time." Joshua said with a shrug. "Besides it would be too dangerous to join in a fight like that considering the amount of different beast around."

"So what's the plan now? We've reached the watering hole but where do we go from here?" Robin asked as she crossed her arms and looked down at a group of prairie dogs that were right underneath the hill that they were all standing on at the moment.

"Now we set up camp here for the rest of the day and night to observe what goes on." Joshua said surprising most of the group. They weren't used to Joshua taking the long approach when it came to expeditions. Usually they cut through the area in search for the dungeon and cleared it before exploring the entire area later on after the territory was already claimed. This time around was different in Joshua's mind. This time they were up against creatures that were just all around more challenging than any other area that they had explored before.

While exploring this prairie they had already seen that the beasts in the area had a lot more going on with them than any other location they had been to before including dungeons. The lower level beast in the prairie were already higher level than everyone in the group while the stronger beast were in another league. The level of the creatures wasn't the only thing that gave them an advantage over beast from other areas that they had explored up to this point. There was also the fact that that each of the beast that they had seen in the area seemed to have some sort of special ability that made them lethal and dangerous to go against.

The prairie chickens could shoot sonic screams at their enemies tearing them to shreds. The coyotes had the ability to release a cloud of dirt from the hair on their bodies that made it hard to locate them up close and gave the chance to turn the tide in battle. The elk had horns that could harden and sharpen themselves to the point where they could tear one of the coyotes in half. Those were only the abilities that they had seen up to this point. Joshua and the rest of his group had no idea what kind of abilities some of the stronger beast in the prairie could have such as the bobcat, snake, owl, or even the bison.

"I agree with Joshua. We need to observe all of these beast for a while and see what exactly they do. Exploring any further into the prairie without having some sort of idea how all of these new beast act and react will only throw us head first into danger." Laura said with a sigh. "It might be a bit tedious but it's necessary if we don't want to take to many unnecessary risk."

"That's especially the case since some of the more powerful beast seemed to be able to recognize my illusions." Vince said with a shrug.

"If they can notice Vince's illusions from a distance then up close or in their normal territories it will be even more obvious to them and we'll have to be careful." Mulan said with the rest of their group nodding in agreement.

"So let's set up camp and keep an eye out on what the beast do over a longer period of time. It might waste a day, but it'll be worth it." Joshua said taking the lead as he started helping Becca and Marcus set up their traps that would warn the group if any of the beast attempted to sneak up on their location. They couldn't use the diverter that they usually put up during the night since the range of it would affect the nearby beast at the watering hole. Although that would put them in a safer situation they wouldn't be able to observe the beast nearly as well. In the end they decided to rely on Vince's illusion along with traps to protect themselves from any stray beast that decided to come in their direction.

After they had set up their defenses they started to watch all of the beast around the watering hole and for the most part they seemed to laze around the area more than actually drink the water. Of course Joshua knew that it was impossible for all of the beast to stay there forever. The predators would need to go out and hunt if they wanted to gain some food while the herbivores would run out of grass to graze on in the area rather quickly if they spent more than a day near the lake. All Joshua's group had to do was wait and see what would happen when the beast started to leave the area and then they'd have a better idea of how things worked in the prairie along with which direction they should head in next.

It took a couple of hours of watching all of the beast before one of the major groups finally decided it was time to head out. It wasn't surprising that it was the group of bison that were the first to leave the area. They had already been there far longer than any of the other creatures in the area and there wasn't enough grass in the area to feed such a large herd of creatures of their size. When the bison started to gather together before leaving it was clear that none of the predators in the area wanted to get in their way. These bison were twice the size of the nearest creatures and were therefore too big for any solo predator to take down on their own. A herd of the bison was an untouchable group for all of the current predators that Joshua could see out in the open.

The group of bison were heading into the tall grass off in the distance, but they were so large that the grass couldn't hide their massive figures from sight. They moved at a lethargic pace and were most likely on their way to another area with more than enough grass for them to graze on happily. Even the smaller bison were too big for most of the predators around the watering hole to go after so the herd of bison didn't have a care in the world in this portion of the prairie, but Joshua wasn't sure if that would be the same case in other areas.

After the bison left it was fairly rare for them to see any other creatures leave. The prairie dogs did leave, but they left in a way that no other creatures could follow after them. They dug themselves holes that lead towards the tall grass. From watching that alone Joshua had to wonder if those creatures had made an entire network of tunnels under the prairie seeing as how he had seen several similar holes while following the elk towards the watering hole.

The only other creatures that seemed to leave the area from time to time were the vultures. After all they didn't have to worry about getting attacked since they could take to the sky. Vultures were scavengers at the end of the day so they spent most of their time high up in the sky looking down at the prairie for any leftover dead bodies to pick apart. They were the garbage men on the prairie and they seemed really good at their jobs since Joshua hadn't seen a single carcass outside of the coyote that was killed by the prairie chickens. Joshua was fairly sure that the only reason there weren't any vultures around to clean that mess up right away was because of the fact they didn't want to go near the large group of prairie chickens.

The rest of the beast around the watering hole seemed more than content enough to spend their days lazing around near the lake. The snake was curled up and sunbathing while occasionally flicking its tongue out to keep aware of what was going on around it. The pack of coyotes seemed to be fine hanging around in the area through the day. Judging from the tinges of red around their mouths Joshua was certain that the creatures had already had a rather large meal for the day and didn't feel any need to go out and hunt soon. He could also say the same for the mountain lions that were just chilling on some large rocks nearby. They seemed more than content enough to laze around through the day.

Joshua's group kept an eye on all of the creatures throughout the entire day and the only speck of excitement they had come across was a small clash between two of the larger elks that seemed to be in a bit of a disagreement as they rammed into each other with their massive horns. It didn't end up turning into anything dangerous since the leader of the herd of elk came over and broke up the confrontation. By the time night time came around once more the only creatures that had left the area were the prairie chickens while a new animal made its way over to the water.

This creature was definitely one Joshua was certain that none of the other beast wanted to have to deal with. It was only what Joshua could assume was a porcupine that was around the same size as Cinder when it came to its body, but its large spikes all over its back towered into the air reaching almost as high as the elks were tall when including their horns. The porcupine was only level eighty-five with three stars next to its name, which wasn't anywhere near the strongest beast around the lake at the moment. Even so Joshua got the distinct feeling that none of the other creatures wanted to mess with it.

By night fall most of the beast around the lake had fallen asleep in their own little areas which proved that they had planned to stay at the lake overnight. One thing the group did see was a giant owl come soaring down from the sky as it landed on the other side of the lake away from the other creatures. The owl only stayed for a brief moment to drink some water before silently lifting itself in the air and flying away. The beast was so quiet even with its massive size that it hadn't woken up any of the other creatures the entire time. Though the fact that the owl didn't go for a quick easy meal showed that even it being one of the strongest creatures in the prairie didn't stop it from adhering to the apparent no violence rule around the watering hole.