Chapter 71 The Lake

Slowly moving through the forest everyone was on the highest alert, the tranquility of the forest now only worked to increase their stress level and alert them further, they knew that below the surface of this peaceful forest lay danger above any they faced till now.

"We've already been here for 3 hours, how much distance have we even crossed so far?" Shadow asks with a begrudged face, his hair was a mess, something that usually happens when you travel for a long time in forests without managing to shower.

"No freaking idea, but considering the size of this place we are probably not halfway through it, so less talking and more moving," Wolf tells him with a calm face, before turning away to continue with their walk.

A little while ago they had considered going up the trees after not sighting any enemies there, but they had to erase that plan after a terrifying thing happened.

It was only some 10 minutes ago, they were moving carefully as always and managed to hide from an incoming enemy, Wolf's sixth sense and Beast's tamer radar worked incredibly well here, pretty much every enemy was a threat towards the team, so every time a monster or a group of them were nearby, they would immediately know, allowing the team to slip away every time, most times they didn't even see what monsters were close by.

This time they were able to see the enemy clearly, the huge bloaty stomach of the giant swayed left and right with every step it took, its egg-shaped head was devoid of any hair and had a lot of fat beneath its chin. The dull look in the monster's eyes would deceive its foes into believing it was a dumb and lazy monster that was easy to defeat, before ending as its meal once it showed the ferociousness it had.

[ Lvl 25 Young Troll ]

Trolls were popular monsters in most fantasy books, boasting enormous physical strength and high regenerative powers they were always a tough enemy to fight. Their thick skin was able to defend against blunt weapons with incredible effectiveness while the fat on its body would absorb the shock with ease. Everyone was apprehensive as the troll was walking near their position, they all held their breath, not daring to make a sound before it left.

Something unexpected happened though. The monster was going on its leisure stroll, probably looking for prey, and didn't stay vigilant, there was only a handful of monsters that could threaten it in this forest anyway and they were all further away. That is why it failed to notice a shadow hidden in the trees above it.

The shadowy figure moved swiftly, tailing the troll for a while, it was only now when it was certain that the dumb beast hadn't noticed it that it decided to attack. Launching itself from the tree branch it was on the figure immediately shows up above the troll's head, its scythe-like forelegs cutting deep inside the neck, making a fountain of blood gush out.

[ Lvl 25 Giant Preying Mantis ]

The mantis was a whooping 2 meters tall, a lot more than its usual 5cm long counterparts. The forelegs of the mantis were about 1m long and razor-sharp, cutting through the troll's skin with ease. The giant lets out a loud shout of anger as turns around and tries to slap the insect away. The 4-meter tall troll towered over the mantis but its speed was far below it, allowing the mantis to dodge with ease every time.

Reign and the other's backs were covered with cold sweat, the troll was destroying the trees with relative ease as it missed the mantis whose speed was incredible, even Reign wouldn't dare compete with it. The mantis hadn't broken the sound barrier with its movement, its speed was actually below Reign's top speed, but the flexibility and agility it showed while moving was light years above Reign's, who could only attack in a straight line once.

Slowly they backed away from the fight, if any of the two monsters decided to move towards their location their lives might be over as none of them had any confidence in winning against either one.

Even when they couldn't see the monsters they still continued being vigilant, only daring to turn around and run after the sounds of fighting were almost gone.

The memory was still fresh in everyone's head, the mantis seemed to like using their tactic of ambushing opponents from above and that was reason enough for them not to try the same. As they were walking they all stayed silent, still going through the fight in their heads, the troll's massive strength and the mantis's incredible speed were etched in their brains.

It wasn't long until they saw something different in front of them, the usual trees were a bit sparse now and didn't block out the sun, the sight in front of them changed from greenery to a deep and calm blue color. Piquing their interest they all continued forward, wanting to find what was in front.

As they moved some 100m forward they could see it, a huge lake was in front of them, the lake was some 20 kilometers long, the sun shining on it gave it glitter on the surface, making it look incredibly beautiful. One thing that destroyed this peaceful and beautiful sight was the incredible number of monsters around it, the monsters were peaceful though, it seemed that no fighting was allowed here as all of them simply came to the lake to drink while some were sleeping nearby.

Monsters of all kinds could be found here, wolves, bears, mountain lions, orcs, kobolds that were much bigger and stronger than the one's Reign and the others fought before. Some trolls were there, sitting down on the shallow part of the lake and using their hands to scup water to drink.

On one side of the lake, everyone was surprised when they see humanoid creatures there, the beings in question were covered with leaf-like clothes, were slim, and had mostly long blonde hair that covered their spiky ears. They were petting animals nearby and seemed to have a great relationship with them. They were of course elves, the race famed for their great nature affinity and archery skills. Being in tune with nature that much made it easy for them to befriend all kinds of animals, they were born tamers, but they rarely ever tamed any creatures, elves believed that all living beings are equal and that taming them was the same as making them your slaves.

Everyone marveled at the scene for a while, finally snapping out of it they slowly backed away, they had no idea if the monsters would attack them at the lake, but even if they didn't they would probably follow after them when they tried to continue onwards.

As they were backing away they could see the water in the middle part of the lake rising, a huge figure blasted through the surface area and got high into the air. The long serpentine body bent down as it dived in the lake again. The body had many scales on it and was a deep blue color, its head was definitely not one of a snake as it even had horns on both sides.

Reign used his inspect skill on the monster, and the result made him incredibly fearful

[ ? ??? ]

Race: ? ??

Strength: ???

Agility:???

Endurance: ???

Vitality: ???

Willpower: ???

Spirit : ???

It was the first time every info was covered with question marks, he could only imagine the strength of the monster that lay inside the lake, the strength it had was definitely far above what they could imagine.