Jungle Biome
Hera had spent the last half an hour fighting the orangutans. They came one after another, trying to get revenge on the person that destroyed their home and split them from the rest of the congress. The monsters were ruthless and proficient in fighting as a group. However, Hera didn't give them a chance to work together. Still, they kept cornering Hera again and again, trying to keep her between them and the river, but that started after the first couple of orangutans died. Her first attacker wasn't an adult just yet and was killed in one swing. The second, which was already fully grown, tried to tackle her, but suddenly countless orange droplets flew towards it. At first, it didn't seem to mind, but the more its body was covered in the orange liquid, the more sluggish its movements became. That wasn't enough to stop the orangutan who kept moving towards Hera, but before it reached her, the monster suddenly spat out blood from his mouth and ears and fell to the ground.
That was Hera's control poison spell. She spent a lot of mana to turn her weak poison into a deadly version of it, changing from something that would eat the target away slowly to a toxin that could push out the blood from the body. She hoped that the poison shower would hit any hidden orangutan, but unfortunately, that didn't happen. There was only a single monster in the area where her spell hit. Still, killing the creature in such a way created an unexpected result. Now all the other monkeys were cautious in approaching her. Thanks to their worry, Hera started to pick off the monsters one by one. She focused on running by the river and killing those who got far away from the group, either attacking them with her chakram or using her poison needle. The only issue was that she couldn't get too close to the river. The water moved too fast. If she fell, there wasn't a doubt in her mind that she would be swept away to the empty cave.
She looked back, and now there were only four Darikon Orangutans after her. They were split into two big and two small ones. One of the bigger ones was to the side, allowing Hera to get a clear shot with her poison needle. She let the spell do its thing and focused on the other ones. Running around for so long was already starting to make her exhausted. On the other hand, the monkeys didn't seem to be feeling tired. They kept yelling and roaring towards Hera while they chased her around.
Hera did a U-turn and tried to bomb rush the bigger ape. She had both her chakram and her handaxe in her hand, ready to strike at the creature. The orangutan saw the attack coming and dodged to the side while the smaller one dove towards her, baring its fangs. Hera swung her chakram, making a large cut on the monkey's stomach, and turned around. The monster punched her twice with its glowing red hands, causing the human to tumble back. At the same time, the last orangutan jumped towards her. Hera quickly created a fear spell and let it loose. The creatures weren't expecting that and yelled as they jumped backward. She took the opportunity to get up and run away from them, but not without sending another three poison needles to the remaining creatures. One of the orangutans managed to dodge the spell, and Hera only felt her poison taking hold in one of the remaining two. To her luck, it was the last of the bigger ones.
With that last skirmish, Hera was now able to run towards the jungle. Although the open area of the river made it harder for the monsters to attempt any sneak attacks, the constant fear of falling into the river was getting in her way. In the jungle, the orangutans had the advantage, but at least she wouldn't be hindered during combat. Suddenly, one of her poisons seemed to fade. She couldn't tell if the monster was dead or not or if it was close or far away. Still, it was useful to know when her magic faded away. Hera didn't want to use her poison control spell because of the steep mana cost. She only had a bit over a third of her mana, and even her mana crystal was close to empty.
One of the smaller orangutans appeared in front of her. The creature jumped from branch to branch and managed to get in front of the human. Hera didn't stop running and tackled the monster, slamming it against a tree. She had stuck out her chakram from the side of her body, and the weapon sank deep into the orangutan's stomach. Following up with an attack from her handaxe, she managed to cut its face, breaking the monster's jaw. It tried to claw her, but Hera grabbed the orangutan's head and slammed it against the tree a couple of times. With a crack, the creature finally stopped moving, but before Hera could turn around, two large fists hit her back. She smashed against the tree and the body of the monkey she just killed. Hera instinctively activated the repulsion blast from her armor. The orangutan that just assaulted her went flying back and was impaled by a branch, but she felt her mana be completely drained with the attack. In a rush, she forgot that her armor's skill now costs 300 mana.
One of the big orangutans came rushing. The glows from its arms were so intense that she couldn't even tell where its body was. It was like looking directly into headlights so bright that it hurt. Hera closed her eyes, but even with that, she could still see the crimson light. This was still better than looking at it directly. At least she wouldn't feel the instinct to look away. Suddenly, the light became stronger, and she felt a fist hitting her chest. The impact pushed her back and something cracked with a loud sound. There was no time to check what she had just broken. The light became weaker and then stronger from her right side. She did an uppercut, not aiming to hit the monster but to use one of the techniques of the subtle strike style. She was using an attack to intercept the punch coming her way. She felt something hitting her weapon, and the light shifted enough for her to dodge to the left. She heard the sound of wood splintering right by her ear. Not wanting to leave time for the orangutan to strike again. Hera put a poison mana reinforcement on her chakram, emptying her mana stone, and did an uppercut, hoping she would hit the monster's neck.
The attack hit something, and the bright red light faded away. She opened her eyes and saw that her chakram was embedded into the monster's head. The blade was behind the orangutan's chin, splitting part of his jaw from the rest of his body. Hera felt the warm blood covering her hand and pulled the weapon back.
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You have completed the Jungle Biome – 3rd task
Jungle Biome – 4th task
You have enough information about the Darikon Orangutans.
Return to the plaque and set up the data as it is required.
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Seeing the notification, Hera smiled. She was almost out of mana and needed to take a break. If there was another task to complete here, she would have to find a place to recharge her batteries before continuing. Looking at the map to find the door, Hera saw that she was still a bit far away, and the other monsters in the forest could still be around. Before starting to move, she checked what happened in her back. She wasn't feeling any sharp pain, and unlike her expectation, it looked like she didn't break anything. Looking at the tree and the orangutan's body behind her, she saw that its neck was damaged at an odd angle.
"Was this the noise that I heard?" Hera asked herself.
She walked away, still trying to hide from the monsters, and in around twenty minutes, she left the jungle. In total, Hera spent a bit under four hours in that biome. She still had over 18 hours to finish a single room. Even if she decided to sleep for a full 8 hours, there should be more than enough time to complete both the mountain biome and the hidden quest if there was one.
"You look pretty banged up," Peaches said as Hera emerged from the biome.
"Yeah, those monkeys were not fun to deal with," Hera could feel some pain on the sides of her body. The hits she took were hurting now that her body had cooled down.
She still had to finish the plaque, but first, she wanted to take a small break and recover some of her mana. As soon as she walked inside the reception, she felt a warmth much like the one she would feel when crossing a doorway. The bruises stopped hurting, and the pain she felt from walking around and holding on to her weapons vanished.
"Oh, damn! This healing is strong," Hera gasped.
"The system can do some nice things when it wants, but you'll still need to rest, eat, and everything else."
"Yeah, is there any fruit in the back again?"
"There's probably something. Check the cabinets."
It didn't take long for Hera to find some food. She also wanted to take a shower. The system might have fixed her wounds, but it did nothing with all the blood, sweat, and other types of jungle dirt that covered her body. 40 minutes later, she went back towards the plaque in front of the jungle window. To her luck, this time, there weren't any tricky questions. All the information missing was either on the pre-made lines or she had seen during her hunt. That didn't mean that it was easy or quick. Hera spent half an hour setting everything up and double-checking her work not to make any mistakes.
When she pressed confirm, a notification appeared in front of her.
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Jungle Biome – Final Task Completed
The information you provided about the Darikon Orangutan was correct.
The jungle biome was completed.
If you complete the current role test, the Darikon Orangutan will already be part of your [Hunter's Catalogue]
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"Two down, one more to go," Hera announced proudly.
"Nice going, kid. Are you taking a break now?" Peaches asked.
"I want to keep the momentum. I'm not as tired as I thought," Hera replied as she walked over the door leading to the mountains.
"Ok, then. Just be careful. A mountain range is not exactly the easiest place to traverse."
"I will be, thanks," Hera replied as she walked inside the green door.
The mountain range seemed to cover a large expanse. Looking down, Hera could see some clouds covering what she thought was the foot of the mountain. At the same time, this didn't seem to be as steep as the mountains above Boothudurn. Hera looked around for a moment and heard a loud cry. Flying through the sky, there was a bird. It was mostly white, but its head was completely black, and it seemed to be about the size of an eagle.
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Mountain Biome – 1st Task
You have found a creature of the mountain range. It can fly at high speeds and spend hours flying without rest. However, it will never land away from its nest
Locate the creature's nest.
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Hera nodded and started following the bird. She had to climb the mountain to move, but it didn't seem to be that hard of a climb. Most of the area was on a smooth high incline instead of a straight wall up. She walked for about 10 minutes without any issue.
"If the climb is just this, I won't have any problems. It's just gonna take a while and do a number on my legs. Maybe I should head back and rest first," Hera felt a burning pain in her calves. Even with the healing from the reception, she still could feel as If she had just run a marathon, "Yeah, let's rest, then we come back."
Hera turned around and started to move back down. However, moving this way was much more complicated. She took a step too big and slipped. Despite her best efforts, Hera kept falling and gaining speed until she reached the clouds. From there, she plummeted straight down while still inside the cloud.
Hera was yelling the entire fall, and suddenly she felt a sharp pain covering her whole body. That only lasted for a moment, and then she could feel the hard ground on her back.
"I told you to be careful, kid," Peaches sighed.
"Wha- what happened?" Hera asked while looking around. She noticed a notification on her side, but she was still panicking.
"You failed the task. I told you to be careful."
"But I was falling, and I think I hit something," Hera said.
"Yeah, if that was a real thing, you would've died. Since it's not, you just came back here."
Hera was still shell-shocked, but she managed to read the notification.
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You have failed the Mountain Biome tasks
The mountain Biome was reset, and the monsters inside it have been changed.
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"So… I'm not dead?"
"No, kid. But you could use some water," Peaches nodded, and the door to the resting area opened.
Hera nodded and decided to rest for a while before doing anything.