Chapter 184 - Back to Asklepian (1/2)
”What?! We just managed to get our first pair of fireglows,” said Roll who had just collect one fireglow in a container and gave it to Shadow. ”Do we really need to get back to the city?”
”The ash panther is it alone?” asked Shadow.
”Yes. The cinder wolves are a pack of ten or more. They are converging from opposite sides along the edge of the forest like us,” replied Slaine who was still perched on a tree checking the surroundings using his scope. ”Can't see anything else on the ground or skies for now.”
”Move in the direction of the panther. Get into the forest area a bit. Roll you go and scout while keeping an eye on the ash panther. I will try and distract the ash panther. Keep a look on me. If it looks like I am failing get back to the city,” said Shadow. ”Else move further in that direction as we have previously planned. I will join you later.”
”We can help you. You don't need to take on the panther alone,” suggested Rudra.
”No. I plan to use a doppelganger skill to distract it and none of you guys compare in movement speed to me. Even, I might have to use some fireworks to escape,” said Shadow.
”There is a high chance of it realizing and following you back,” said Slaine.
”Yes. That is why I plan to lead it to the cinder wolves and use explosives to create a fight. If it were some other set of beasts on the other side instead of ash panther we would need to give up. All the cat type beasts attack everything in their view without discrimination. Ember horn deer will move in groups and it is hard to fool an entire herd to attack. Firehawks would simply notice my real form escaping from the sky. If it isn't ash panther, I would have no thoughts of continuing either,” said Shadow.
”Ok. Fine. Let him try it out,” said Rudra before the rest suggest anything else. ”Got a few smoke bombs. They have a radius of 3 metres and would persist for 5 seconds. You might be able to use them for this,” he added giving a few shadow bombs to Balthazar.
Shadow separated from them to pursue the ash panther. He was being directed continuously by Slaine who had been observing the ash panther with his scope and also the nighthawk which he bought recently.
He had to attract the attention of the ash panther and not let the cinder wolves and ash panther meet at the site of the dead salamandrid whose sounds attracted them as his team would definitely be noticed and attacked by them if the beasts hear them walking. So, they moved a certain amount of distance towards the direction of the ash panther and hid behind some shrubbery or climbed a tree and stopped their movement to avoid any noises. They had to be fast in all their preparations as the panther reached close to them within 30 seconds.
Shadow went directly in the path of the ash panther instead. The beast roared and followed him immediately. He quickly led it towards the cinder wolves. The wolves were also alerted by the roar of the panther and started running towards him.
Shadow had expected that this might be the situation and had already used his Shadow clone which he had hidden and instructed to get away. He had expected to meet the cinder wolves in 20 seconds or so, but the wolves were already in his view in half the time.
He quickly used a smoke bomb on himself when all of them started to attack him and began to attack both the panther and the wolves for a couple of seconds before swapping with his clone. He had lost a quarter of his health in the two seconds when he fought them in the smoke which showed how much the beasts overwhelmed him. The ash panther attacked the cinder wolves and his clone without any discrimination as he had expected.
After their narrow escape they continued with their attempt for another hour and half. They had managed to collect few more herbs and ores and four other fireglows in this time before a cast of firehawks noticed them. They decided to immediately withdraw and used their hearthstones to teleport as soon as they noticed the flying beasts which were all above level 20.
”How many fireglows do we have in total?” asked Rudra as they convened at the city. Though they wished to stay at the fringes of the forest and volcanic area, they got quite a good haul and all of them managed to get to level 16. It was a good use of time of night. Most of the night-time was usually spent by them on secondary professions. Most players other than ones who are good or those who professionally develop their secondary professions wouldn't be very good at them and could only get a meagre amount of experience for the time spent on it. They could only use to practice fight at the colosseum in the night if they didn't want to spend on secondary profession. So, the trip they made is still better than any other thing they could do when they compared the experience they gained. They made way to a nearby hotel and took a room to discuss it privately.
”Ten. There are ten of these. Five with each of the nighthawks would actually provide a decent amount of lighting even if the birds fly above the trees,” said Shadow. ”We can continue farming in the forest.”
”I don't think the light will be useful even if we have five in a container. We need the intensity of the light to increase if we need to be able to see from above the trees,” said Slaine.
”I know. The only way the intensity increases is with the growth of the insects or when they are feeding or in proximity of food they eat,” said Shadow pulling out the past made from salamandrid meat that the master tamer had fed the fireglows before.
”The reason for having them grouped is somewhat silly, but I want to try,” started Shadow. ”I heard that fireflies in real world tend to glow their brightest when they eat or mate. So, when I noticed that it was glowing brighter at the pet store when it was being fed, I decided to try and check if the other thing also works as this game is quite close to real-life. Thus, I wanted to have them five in each of the containers to play the odds as I got no way to distinguish between male and female.”