The Swamp (1)

Aurora walked through the uneven terrain with no destination in mind, as she didn't know the geography of this world. She killed any monster she found on the way so as to increase the supply of food she had along with her level.

After walking for hours, she found herself at the entrance to a swamp. The swamp was similar to the swamps of Florida, but the atmosphere was otherworldly. They were small islands within the wetlands of the swamp, but they were far from each other. This led those who dared to travel through the swamp to have to swim through the dangerous waters, unless you had other means to travel there, such as flying or creating platforms to walk on.

'There should be monsters in the water.' Aurora took her first step into the wetlands of the swamp. 'Killing them should increase my level enough for me to evolve again.'

As soon as her foot came in contact with the water, the water froze, creating a small platform of ice for her to walk on. Every subsequent step she took, another ice platform would be formed. This causes ripples to form in the water, along with small spikes of mana—this draws unwanted attention from the monsters below the surface.

When she reached the halfway point between the edge of the swamp and the first island, she sensed four monsters approaching her at high speeds. She determined from the outlined figures she saw after using thermal vision that they were lizardmen.

"You finally decided to attack. I've been waiting for a while." Aurora faked a smile.

She might've seemed fine after suppressing her guilt, but she still couldn't relieve her guilt. This also prevented her from being truly happy—she could no longer give a genuine happy smile.

Even though she was hurting on the inside, she still had to finish this quest for her to finally end this suffering, so she forced herself to ignore her guilt and continue on one step at a time.

The lizardmen didn't surface, but attacked the ice platform she was standing on in an attempt to make her fall into the water. This would allow them to kill her with ease as they would have the advantage in the water.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you..."

They didn't listen to her warning, and slashed their claws at the ice platform. Before their claws could reach the platform, they suddenly stopped, as if they were killed by the movement itself.

"I warned you, but you decided to not listen." Aurora commented as she caught tiny icicles. They were so small that they were almost imperceptible to the human eye.

Because their size was so small, they were able to fit between the scales of the lizardmen. This allowed her to attack their insides without them being able to see the incoming attack, unless their eyes were keen enough to see them.

She froze the area beneath the platform to keep the corpses of the lizardmen, as she wanted to collect the mana stone and the loot from them.

She formed a paddle in her hand and began paddling through the murky water in the direction of the island. When she arrived on the island, she dispelled the paddles and brought the ice platform onto the island before dispelling it.

Like the times before, she searched the body for the heart and crushed it as she took out the mana stone. This time she received three mana stones from the four lizardmen, as the higher the rank the monsters are, the greater the chance they would have mana stones.

After storing the mana stone in her inventory, she collected their bodies and sucked in the natural mana left behind.

After sucking in all the mana she could, she checked her inventory.

[Lizardmen Scales 30x]

[Lizardmen Fangs 8x]

[Anolis's Torso Armor Level 41]: Torso armor, made from the hard scales of a grey lizardman, could be considered a necessity for those who dare to traverse the murky swamps. The armor grants special abilities to the user for survival in the swamps.

Grade: D

DEF: +80

Weight: 18 lbs. (9 lbs. while [weighlifter] is active)

Abilities:

[Weightlifter] - Reduces the overall weight of the armor by half, allowing the user to move freely with less restriction.

[Protector] - When facing a lizardman, the armor grants a bonus of 2% increase in the user's defense. The bonus may increase depending on the number of lizardmen the user is facing. [Effective only against lizardmen]

'This armor is good, but I'd rather not wear it. I dislike the idea of trading agility for defense.' Aurora thought. She closed the inventory tab and opened it to take a look at the changes in her status

[Name: Aurora (Weakened)]

[Race: Demi Goddess, Succubus Empress, Snow Girl]

[Sex: Female]

[Titles: First Universe Tier, Daughter of Chaos and Order, Empress of Lust, Submissive, Sex Demon Slayer, Creator of Neko Succubus, Incubus Genocider, Incester, Brutal Killer, Monster Genocider, Diligent Worker, Lazy Ass, Empress of Sloth, Empress of Diligence, Gorgan Servant Slayer, Ant Genocider, Guild Master Of The Moonlight Guild, Last Snow Girl, Advanced Monster (602/1000) Humans Killed, Merciful)

[All stats will be reset until the host finishes the quest]

[Level: 42-46]

[HP: 2050/2050 (True Value 1 Billion)]

[MP: 2,650/2650 (True Value 10 Billion)]

[SE: 1,992,050/1,992,050 (Locked)]

[STR: 40-44]

[VIT: 40-44]

[INT: 67-63]

AGI: 56-62]

[DEX: 45-49]

[DEF: 41-45]

[CHA: 2,002,084 (Locked)]

[Unassigned Stat Points: 28-0]

[Balance: 42.46 Million USD]