*Krrroo!!*
*Waaahhhhaaaauu*
Moments later, we were ready and leaving (jumping) through the front gate.
We did a quick jog, stopping to check the terrain at corners and when we had to cross streets. It's kind of ironic to think that even after the cars stopped working, I still look both ways before crossing.
But now it's not cars or motorcycles I have to be careful with, but monsters and possibly other humans, especially since I'm no longer human, right?.
No matter, focus on work.
We continued at this pace and soon reached the stream before the start of the hill climb. So far, we hadn't encountered anything; the streets were literally empty. I could still hear the "gigigi" of some goblins, but they were far away, maybe more than four blocks away; my hearing is pretty good now.
Other than that, we didn't even encounter any altered rats or anything like that.
But as soon as we reached the stream, things started to change a bit. Signaling to stop, I crouched down and looked closely at a spot on a tree branch near the stream. Almost immediately, I saw that one of the branches wasn't a branch at all, but the leg of a mosquito, a very large mosquito.
A rat altered (mutated) by mana became the size of a 1.5L plastic bottle. This mosquito was the size of a small handball, superficially, but from what I could tell, it wasn't as heavy as a ball would be. The wind still swayed the branch and it, so it probably wasn't too heavy.
A mosquito would hardly be a problem for us, but since we were close to the hill, I didn't think it would be a good idea to waste mana or energy on a semi-harmless insect.
On the other hand, I hate mosquitoes, I really do, and I always have an almost biological urge to squash them. And even though I'm a leech now, this urge persists to this day, so... yeah, I'm having a little internal conflict.
But this nasty conflict lasted all of three seconds. From the time I saw and noticed the mosquito, something else also noticed it. The moment the wind died down, a tentacle of some sort came out of nowhere, grabbed the mosquito, squashed it, and pulled it away.
Straining my eyes a little in the direction the tentacle had come from, I could see what the mosquito had grabbed.
A slime.
'Yeah, all that's missing is him to complete the group of starter monsters.'
I thought, watching the gelatinous, semi-transparent creature dissolve the mosquito's remains.
With that, I'd already seen all the classic starter monsters: goblins, wolves, weak zombies, and slimes... not that zombies are starter monsters, but depending on the playstyle or area, zombies and skeletons are often placed with the weaker undead, so...
Well, the fact is, there's a monster halfway up the hill where I'll have to face at least 20 other unknown monsters. If possible, I prefer not to tire myself out fighting, unless necessary.
Question: how can I avoid fighting a semi-transparent creature that I don't know if it can see or hear me, and as a bonus, it's basically living acid?
"Lumi, can you see if there are more of those nearby?"
*Ow!*
He put his nose to the ground, but instead of sniffing, he only stayed that way for about two seconds, and a kind of glitter came out of his nose and headed toward the stream. Looking at that glitter directly bothered my eyes a little, but at least it didn't lower my HP.
Soon after, I could see the outlines of several other slimes I hadn't seen before in golden color, and not all of them were the same color; some were more transparent, others had a milky white hue, and others were more greenish. Different types, or different evolutions?
At least now I'm sure it wasn't just that one, and thankfully, whatever Lumi did revealed practically all of them, including some that were on the street just ahead of us. If we had continued on without him doing this, we would have at least arrived on the other side with some acid burns, or with a group of slimes behind us.
Now, how do we get them to leave without making too much noise and attracting more unwanted attention?
.....
Well, first, it's best to see if they can hear to begin with. The bad mosquito made noise but was still caught by the slime. Therefore, they may not hear at all, or simply have a limited field of vision. Or they may only sense the presence of other beings when they are a certain distance away, like snakes.
*Bbbkooo.* (Hurry up.)
"Yes, I know. Just a moment."
I said as I picked up a piece of broken wall. Interesting detail: literally no wall or gate of any house we passed was intact; there was always at least one hole in it or it had been completely destroyed.
I broke it in two and, using them as rocks, threw one of them at the slime closest to us, a completely translucent one. If you didn't look closely, you'd surely lose sight of it even with the golden outline. Its presence, like a puddle on the ground, didn't help.
It reacted a little when the rock landed nearby, shaking a bit, but remained in the same position.
'Hmm, it seems it heard or felt the vibration when the rock hit the ground, but it doesn't seem to have noticed or seen where it came from. Interesting.'
Translucent slime: reacts when it gets close; dodging it probably avoids unnecessary combat.
With the other rock, I threw it at another slime, this time a milky white one that was standing with others of the same type near the awning before the stream. Unlike the translucent slime, none of them reacted.
"Hmm, was it because I threw it with less force? No, I threw it the same way. Maybe these ones aren't reactive and only "eat" whatever they find along the way?"
I wish I could study this more in depth, but unfortunately we don't have time for that.
*Raw, raw.*
I can't understand what Lumi "says" as I "understand" Impetus, but I'm sure he meant that the effect of the spell he cast was about to end. I think it must have lasted about 10 or 12 seconds, interesting too.
Well, I think this gives you an idea of what to do: avoid the translucent one. The milky white one doesn't seem like it'll react, so getting past it should be easier. And the green ones? Those were only near the trees and right on the edge of the stream below, so avoiding them is easy.
"But it's a shame, I wish I could study them, even if just a little."
At least I know what to do if boredom strikes.
Hey, wouldn't that really be like beating two birds with one stone?
I can find something to do to "distract" myself when things get overwhelming. By studying them, I'll understand how monsters work and thus, how to better defend my home and my family. And, as a bonus, I'll get more magic stones that Pomo, Lumi, Nawa, etc. apparently use to become stronger.
So, actually, it's three at once, not bad.
*ಠ_ʖಠ*
*ಠ_ಠ*
I feel two pairs of judgmental looks, but I ignore them.
"Okay, let's go around what look like puddles of water, climb the canopy, and quickly cross the stream. Up ahead, the climb to the park hill begins, can we do it?"
*Krroo!*
*Au! Au!*
Well, and they also "responded" quietly, that's great, so I'm sure we have good coordination. Without further ado, we begin to cross the stream.