Chapter 29: Darkheart Jungle

[Amethyst and Artemis's POV]Amethyst woke up to a cold breeze, which caused her to shiver. She turned around to see the brunette snoring while looking at peace. 'How is she sleeping so peacefully? Strange girl,' she thought.

She sat up and looked around the cave they were in. The water was calm, and the Blood Shark's corpse was gone, which confused her, 'Where did it go!' she thought while getting up.

When the phoenix girl saw nothing, she shrugged and approached the cave they needed to climb through to get to the surface. While doing that, she wondered how Atlas was doing, not realizing that the Wild Humans had just kidnapped him.

After a while, she sat down until Artemis woke up with an exaggerated yawn and stretch. Amethyst shook her head and spoke, ''When are we leaving? I want to find Azhar'Zul before he gets into more trouble.''

The brown-haired girl laughed, ''I'm sure that he's fine. He probably found a jungle girl and is falling in love as we speak,'' she said while brushing the dust off herself.

SHe got angry and snapped, ''Azhar'Zul is loyal to me! He wouldn't run off with another girl.''

Artemis giggled even more, ''I'm messing with you, Little Bird; now let's get going.''

Approaching the entrance, Artemis readied her sling, peering through its sight. Finding nothing, she turned and whispered, "Stay quiet and alert me if you spot anything."

The phoenix girl nodded in understanding before the two entered the hole and had to walk sideways while making their way up a slope. Soon, chittering could be heard, and their skin crawled as shadows of long legs were illuminated by something.

Artemis turned back with wide eyes, ''Spiders! This leads to a nest of Cave Spiders,'' she whispered.

Amethyst shivered but spoke, ''I will burn them, but you have to cover me.''

''What? We can go back down and swim up, and I'm certain the Blood Sharks are gone?'' Artemis pleased.

This made her laugh, "Shut up, Fish. They are only Rank F. We need to get through this and find Azhar'Zul. Plus, there's a monster waiting for us to enter the water. It took the shark's body, leaving us no choice but to go this way."

Artemis nodded, ''I'll use my magic to hold them back, but you must burn them as quickly as possible.''

''Okay, let us go,'' she said as the two entered the Cave Spider nest.

When the duo entered the darkness, the chittering stopped, which made everything worse for them. Amethyst had no trouble seeing the monsters as they were made up of mana, which she could see.

Artemis could barely see, but thanks to the dim glow of the Cave Mushrooms, she could make out the spiders' creepy legs. As the spiders advanced, the phoenix girl began casting Cosmic Blasts at them.

The purple flames lit up the cave, revealing the Cave Spiders in all their creepy glory. Artemis let out a scream that could shatter glass, causing Amethyst to scream before tripping over a rock and landing on her behind with a resounding thud.

While sitting there, the chittering began as a whoosh was heard, and Artemis yelped. Amethyst turned to her as a spider was on top of her as she struggled to keep its fangs back.

The phoenix girl pointed her hand at the monster and cast a Cosmic Bullet that freed Artemis. After that, the two fought to the exit while cringing due to the chittering noises that caused goosebumps to run all over their bodies.

Once they got away from the spiders, Artemis turned to Amethyst and hugged her. The hug was so tight that the phoenix girl couldn't breathe and struggled to talk until freed. ''Get off me, Fish! You're crushing me,'' she complained.

Artemis laughed even more before replying, ''I'm sorry, but I hate spiders. My siblings locked me in the maid's cupboard, and they had a huntsman inside; the monsters crawled all over me. That day caused me to fear the creepy devils deeply.''

Amethyst looked at her sympathetically, ''It's okay. I hate Slimes; they give me nightmares,'' she said with a shiver.

When she finished speaking, the two girls started laughing before standing up and glancing around. Artemis sighed, ''It seems we're in an old coastal mine. I knew some empires set up here but were chased out by the Jungle King and other Titans that roam the land.''

The phoenix girl shivered when hearing that, ''I hate Titans. They bring death wherever they go.''

Artemis nodded, ''Yes, the Olympaea Kingdom had suffered an attack in the east. An Irontusk Titan rampaged and destroyed several towns until the Nova Core Mages pushed it back into the Blackwater Bog, where it roams to this day.''

''The Great Blue Devil terrorizes the southern Saharaelian tribes. It's a demon,'' Amethyst replied.

''Yes, I've heard the tales of the Sandcrawler survivors; they speak of a monster that appears out of nowhere before vanishing into nothing, which is strange,'' the brown-haired girl commented.

After talking, the two of them made their way out of the mine; while traveling through the dark tunnels, Amethyst stopped Artemis as she spotted something approaching them; it looked humanoid.

''Monsters are heading in our direction,'' she whispered to the brown-haired girl. ''They seem to be humans.''

''Ghouls!''

Artemis quickly removed her sling and started flinging mana orbs at the incoming monsters. The mini projectiles pierced right through the Ghoul's heads. While she was doing this, Amethyst started casting Cosmic Bullets until the tunnel was empty.

After all that, Amethyst felt the experience entering her body, causing her to level up. They continued their track through the dark tunnel until Artemis spotted a light in the distance. "There's the way out!" she screamed.

''Shut up, Fish! You're ringing the dinner bell,'' Amethyst snapped before following behind her.

They made it out of the mines only to find themselves on the coast; after ten minutes of standing there, Artemis looked to the west and spoke, ''The Demacia Continent is a three-month journey by an Azure ship.''

''Erm, okay? Why are you spouting random things? Did you hit your head on our escape?'' the phoenix girl commented while joining her.

''Shut up! I bring it up because I want to take Aetlos there to level up when he gets older,'' Artemis replied. Sёarᴄh the NôᴠeFire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Amethyst instantly rejected the notion, ''No way, Fish, Demecia is dangerous, and high-ranked monsters roam the battlefields,'' she said with a shiver. ''The Bloodhounds and Flesh Crawlers are vicious.''

Artemis giggled, ''Aetlos can fight them as well; it's all experience, Little Bird,'' she said with a smile. ''And he needs all that to grow stronger.''

''I understand but still don't like it,'' Amethyst answered.

Following that, the two walked into the jungle after spotting the lone mountain where they were due to meet Atlas. They didn't encounter many monsters until they spotted a group of Horned Rabbits playing in a clearing.

The two butchered the monsters to gain experience before continuing through the jungle. Amethyst was breathing heavily and looked at Artemis, ''Why did you have us chase rabbits around the jungle? Do you know how dangerous that is?''

Artemis waved her away. ''Don't worry about it, Little Bird. The Horned Rabbits wouldn't be here if any predators were nearby,'' she said.

''Whatever, let's get going. The mountain is getting close, and Azhar'Zul should be there already,'' Amethyst replied

''Okay, let's get going,'' the brown-haired girl said.

The duo navigated the jungle without encountering more monsters, with Artemis leading. Before long, they reached the mountain's base, found a path leading upward, and began their ascent.

Artemis suddenly stopped while climbing up the path, looking off the mountainside and yelping in alarm. Amethyst, puzzled, asked, "What's wrong, Fish?"

The brown-haired girl didn't reply immediately. Instead, she quickly cast Earth Spikes in front of them, creating a barrier. "The Jungle King! We need to hide or he'll attack us—the monster hates all humanoids," she explained urgently.

They lingered awhile, watching a massive ape amble through the trees below. From their vantage point, they could only see the top of its head. Amethyst asked in a quiet voice, "What is that thing?"

"That's the Titan of Darkheart Jungle," Artemis replied. "He roams the continent-sized jungle, battling other Titans and invading kingdoms that attempt to establish colonies."

"What about Slavers Bay?" Amethyst asked. ''I remember the Slavers talking about it.''

"It's built on a large island just off the coast. The only way to the jungle is via a path that appears when the tide goes out," Artemis explained, her eyes following the Jungle King as he marched off into the distance.

Amethyst nodded before it was safe to continue their journey up the mountain until they came to a ledge that they had to squeeze into. Once there, Artemis commented, ''Now we wait for Aetlos. I could use Eaglevision to scout the area.''

''Do it; we need to find him before he gets into even more trouble,'' Amethyst said. ''I have a feeling he may have gone through much more than we did.''

Artemis nodded and activated her skill, which transported a part of her consciousness into any nearby flying monster. This time, she found herself in a Jungle Harpy, which resembled a large eagle on Earth.

She controlled the monster to fly over the jungle while looking down, and all Artemis saw were waves of monsters traveling under the canopy, ''Damn the underworld! A Monster Wave is underway. The jungle is infested with all kinds of creatures.''

Amethyst stiffened before looking over the edge, only to see a tsunami of mana passing by the mountain, ''There are so many monsters; where did they come from?''

''A jungle dungeon, no doubt; it overflowed, and the monsters poured out of the entrance. The native creatures will deal with them,'' Artemis explained.