9 Surrounded (2/2)

”Joshua, can you scout the area, please?” she asked.

”Of course, give me a moment.”

Joshua flew away and soon had made the tour of the place, the island had a diameter of about a kilometer. The entire place was covered by a rock wall with various small openings. The mushroom forest covered most of the place apart from a few clearings. He frowned when he realized that while the island itself was safe, one of the serpents was patrolling around it. They might have gotten away for now but they were trapped in here.

He reported his findings to the party. Eric shivered when he heard Joshua's report.

”These beasts seem to be abnormally intelligent. I'll doubt they'll leave.” he said.

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”They have to sleep sometimes… Maybe we can make a move when the patrolling one falls asleep?” Lydia suggested.

”Maybe… but I wouldn't count on it.” Eric replied.

”We'll think of something, but for now I think we should rest. It's already late in the afternoon. Let's make camp on the island for today.” Catherine suggested.

The others agreed, they should restore their energy as soon as possible while observing the situation and forming a plan.

While the group was unpacking for the night, Joshua decided to talk to Catherine about the serpent. He chose to speak mentally, he wanted to confirm a few things first. He started by explaining how he had seen it regenerate his missing tooth and how he couldn't traverse the creature's body.

”The way it healed was exactly the same way I do. Could those things be spirits?”

”It's possible. If they're high rank enough, they shouldn't have trouble maintaining a physical form.”

”But… doesn't that mean they could drop their form and traverse the wall like I'm doing? I don't think they can or the first snake would have gone through the wall instead of going around it.”

”Hmmm... That's a good remark. Honestly, I'm not sure why it didn't do that, but based on your description, the probability that those things are spirits is pretty high.”

”So… do you have some kind of banishment magic or something? Maybe throw tons of salt at it as you did with me once.”

Catherine rolled her eyes and smiled a bit.

”That only worked because you were unranked back then, with you current power you could dive into a mountain of salt and be unaffected. But to answer your question, I do know a spell that banishes spirits. However, those snakes are very powerful. I doubt it will work unless we manage to weaken them first.”

Joshua nodded while making a smile.

”I see… Well, Honey, I've learned a valuable life… I mean ghost lesson today.” he said.

”And what may that be?” she asked, afraid of the answer.

”I'M FREAKING USELESS IN BATTLE!!!!” he yelled throwing his arm in the air.

Catherine sighed and patted his shoulder.

”Don't be too harsh on yourself, the progress you made in the past month is impressive. Those snakes are not the type of opponent you would face in a normal situation.”

”That's as may be, but they're just the first obstacle we've met since we're down here. I doubt they will be the last and we're already struggling with them. There is no denying I'm currently the weakest member of our party. I need to fix this as soon as possible.”

Catherine couldn't refute this. She wished she could have summoned Joshua sooner but there was no use to cry over spilled milk.

”I understand, you're right. Joshua, I think we should have a look at the techniques you've been using. You haven't developed new ones since you ranked up. Sure your lightning strike became more powerful, but I believe someone with your creativity should be able to develop better techniques now that your soul is powerful enough. Allow me to help you with this.”

She entered the soul world and joined up with Joshua there. For some reason, he had replaced his clothes with a kimono.

”Why are you wearing those bizarre clothes?” she asked.

”I thought we were going to have a training montage to power me up. I figured I should dress appropriately.” he answered.

”I'm not sure what you mean with a montage but I'll do what I can to help, it's in everyone's interest.”