“Speed up, team!”

Even Carrie smiled when Lady Jenny said that there was a water source in front of them. Actually, any female elf would be pleased if they got the chance to take a bath in the middle of their quest.

As Black Wind and the dire wolves were walking on the path that was laid with leaves, the ground would rustle when they took more steps with their paws. It didn’t take long to get to the water they were looking for, but the closer they were to it, the less they could wait. Soon, the whole team started to hear the noise of water flowing and dashing through the rocks.

When they went past a few more trees, the scenery that appeared was as beautiful as a painted picture. There was a green pond with a fountain that shoots up water towards the sky at the edge. A rainbow appeared as the sun shone through the flowing water. It was a naturally formed fountain; something only nature would have the craftsmanship to build.

It wasn’t a big pond, by the way. It was surrounded by a few trees and a giant boulder. Actually, the water that was shot out came from one of the cracks on the giant boulder.

“It’s beautiful!” Lady Morrie exclaimed as she looked at the rainbow, “How haven’t we found this place before?”

Lady Jenny replied, “I guess we’ll have to thank those spiritual beasts. You know, the ones that we are trying to hide from. If we followed our original route, we would’ve never found this pond.”

These elven ladies had never done so much scouting than during this quest. Because of that, they managed to find a few spiritual beasts that they could avoid in advance. Before, they just attacked any ones that were in their way, which meant that it was a lot harder to find somewhere as quiet and peaceful as here.

That being said, there were a lot of changes to how they did their travel. They didn’t care too much, though. If they could avoid any fighting, they didn’t mind walking for a bit longer. They weren’t worried about getting lost, either. Like, honestly. It’s just impossible for a bunch of druids to get lost in a forest.

“Can we pleeease make our camp here, captain?” Lady Morrie asked Lady Jenny in the most adorable she knew.

Lady Jenny understood, but it was the only afternoon at this time. There were still three to four hours to keep going before the sun would set. As a leader, she couldn’t just give in to every one of her subordinate’s requests. If she did, she must try to make sure that the team does not derail from the main objective.

Lady Moraine joined in as well, “At least mark this place on the map, Captain! Just look at how picturesque this place is!”

It was the same for Lady Muriel, “Oh my goodness, I love that rainbow there! I just wish that there’s a way I can bring it back to my house!”

“Alright then, girls!” Carrie joined in, “How about this? We’ll take a break here for one hour. After that, we’ll continue with our journey.”

“Oh, okay! Thanks, Carrie!”

As soon as Carried spoke out, Lady Muriel, Lady Morrie, and Lady Marianne jumped down from their dire wolves and ran towards the pond.

Abel remained calm the entire time. He looked kind of alert, even. At first, he was taken away by the beauty of this water pond, but his experience was telling him that danger was nearby.

“Stop! Don’t go!” Abel called out to stop the three elven ladies.

It was too late, though. Suddenly, the green pond water started splitting apart. There was a monster, with blue light flashing out of its two eyes, coming out from below.

The monster’s got a big mouth. When it opened it, a freezing cold qi started coming out and rushed towards the three elven ladies.

“Be careful!” Carrie called out as well. She was too far from her companions. It would be too late if she tried to help with her spells.

Lady Jenny took a magic scroll from her portal bag but quickly dropped it as she saw what happened next. The monster was using the three elven ladies as a shield. If she tried to attack with her spells, more harm than good would be done to the ones she was trying to save.

The three elven ladies that were caught realized what was happening, but the monster’s speed took them all by surprise. They just didn’t think that a deadly creature would be lurking in a beautiful location such as this. That being said, they had no time to protect themselves with their special items.

“Hardened defense!”

When the three elven ladies were about to be attacked, Black Wind came charging in to defend them. With Abel’s golden combat qi and his small crescent shield, the “hardened defense” served as an effective barricade against the chilling cold qi.

Abel could feel his shield freezing by the seconds. Actually, even when the qi was weakened by his defense, it still managed to transfer itself onto his own body.

To counteract against this, a weak white light appeared from the Jade Tan Do in Abel’s right hand. This light almost covered his entire body, but the cold was still making him shrivel from top to bottom. He’s almost lost his grip of the shield. No serious harm was done to him yet, however.

The Jade Tan Do had a somewhat unnoticeable attribute to it. It’s called “impossible to freeze.” Obviously, that didn’t mean that his entire body couldn’t be frozen if he was wielding it, but he could still perform his knight’s technique if his weapon was still intact.

While Abel was still planning on his next move, a large ball of magma was shot at the monster. It was from Carrie. Since she was an elemental druid, she could release a “molten rock” spell as a means to burn the monster alive.

When the monster saw the ball of magma, it breathed out another mass of chilling qi. It was a lot colder than the one before. Even the air in front of its mouth solidified, which, ridiculously enough, became a wall that was repelling the magma ball.

When the “molten rock” collided against this wall of ice, they neutralized each other after a massive explosion. Carrie’s attack seemed effective at first, but the monster was just strong enough to negate the blows.

Meanwhile, Abel’s already stopped using his “hardened defense” technique. With his crescent shield in front of him, he got the three elven ladies to go behind him. If he didn’t have his Jade Tan Do back there, none of this would’ve been possible.

“There’s a lot of vapor here!” Carrie called out as she slowly backed away from the monster, “My spell isn’t effective as it usually is! Same for my summoned creature! We’ll have to call for a retreat!”

Abel figured as much. If that “molten rock” was not cast on top of a water body, it would definitely be a lot stronger than it turned out to be. On the other hand, because of how much water there was in this place, it definitely helped the monster’s ice wall to get a lot thicker.

When the three elven ladies got back to their own dire wolf, they all had a terrified look on their faces. Lady Morrie, especially. She was already crying from the fact that she almost died back then.

“We’re getting out here, ladies! Come on, move! Morrie! Muriel! Marianne!”

Abel knew how emotionally unstable the three elven ladies were. Now’s not the time to comfort them down, though. Ever since he’s detected this monster’s presence, something was telling him to keep raising his guard to it. In fact, this was the first time that this happened.

After hearing Abel’s shout, the three elven ladies finally came to their senses. After Lady Morrie wiped her tears, the three of them rode their dire wolves back into the forest.

Carrie was commanding her dire wolf to back down, as well. Her eyes were still locked onto the monster, which had only half of its head out of the water. Lady Jenny seemed more doubtful than scared. It’s possible that she remembered something about this creature.

Even when the whole team was backing away, the monster showed no signs to let them leave. As it moved towards the edge of the pond, its eyes stared at the magic staff that was in Carrie’s hand. From what it looked like, it felt threatened by spells that could be cast from it.

That’s when Lady Jenny freaked out in a way she never did before. “Run, run!” she screamed, “Don’t stop! It’s a dragon beast!”