The cycle of extre storms that had struck the ancient forest border region did not last too long. After roughly two full hours of thick black clouds unleashing billions of gallons of water accompanied by fierce winds that devastated the vegetation, the massive natural fury slowly began to subside.
The accumulated black mana clouds in the sky started to disperse, leaving behind light drizzles falling in a slow and steady rhythm. The deafening roar of high-voltage lightning that had previously shaken the ground now shifted further away toward the eastern horizon, replaced by the natural symphony of water droplets falling from the tips of giant ancient tree leaves: plip... plip... plip.... The rhythm rang against the rocky surfaces with a calm and soothing tone for the nervous system.
Sylvia slowly rose from her seated position leaning against the stone floor inside the cave. She stretched her muscles for a mont before walking slowly toward the cave entrance, which was still tightly sealed by Alicia’s transparent energy barrier (Mana Barrier).
With a short wave of Alicia’s hand, the magical protective layer that repelled water faded into particles of light, allowing fresh air from outside to blow into the cave. The post-storm air felt much fresher and cleaner in the lungs, yet at the sa ti carried an extrely heavy and thick humidity. Sylvia stepped out several ters past the cave boundary, her sharp dark red eyes narrowing as she perford a thorough scan of the surrounding topography.
The heavy rain had indeed turned into a thin drizzle, but the destructive impact it left behind was truly significant. The fertile ground surface around their shelter hill had completely transford into a thick layer of extrely sticky, slippery, and unstable mud.
So old oak trees on the hillside had toppled with their roots torn out, or were leaning at extre angles due to small-scale landslides triggered by the high volu of water during the storm. Murky streams flowed rapidly from gaps between thick rocks, forming temporary creeks that rushed at high speed toward lower ground.
Sylvia steadied her steps and walked further through the wet vegetation toward the main trail they had previously used. The mont she reached the edge of the cliff overlooking the main road, the sight before her instantly made her frown deeply with a very serious expression.
The once wide, solid, and sturdy trail suitable for heavy vehicles had completely transford into a large temporary river. Thick brownish floodwater filled with mud completely subrged the entire road, leaving no dry spots. The water’s surface churned violently, creating dangerous small whirlpools due to powerful underwater currents. The visual depth of the flood appeared very significant, estimated to reach at least waist level for an adult in the middle of the path.
Sylvia imdiately turned around and walked back into the cave with quick and efficient steps. Seeing their sister return with a flat yet cold expression, Stacia and Alicia who had been quietly discussing logistics maps imdiately stopped their conversation and turned toward her in unison.
"How’s the condition of the path outside, Sylvia? Are there any structural obstacles?" Alicia asked with a voice full of curiosity.
Sylvia shook her head slowly, her expression remaining calm without any emotional ripples. "The rain intensity has completely subsided, but the flooding in the lower plains is very severe. The main route we need to take is subrged under a very high volu of fast-flowing water. I need to do a tactical check to more accurately asure the depth and soil stability underneath before we decide to move the carriage."
Stacia and Alicia exchanged glances for a few seconds before nodding in perfect sync as a sign of team agreent.
"We’ll co with you to monitor the periter," Stacia said as she stood up from the flat rock, briefly stretching her jet-black wings and creating a minor gust of wind inside the cave.
The three of them imdiately stepped out, leaving the warmth of the stone cave. The golden kitten, with one agile movent, leaped into Sylvia’s warm embrace, curling up very comfortably inside the thick folds of her gray hoodie while keeping its head raised to vigilantly watch the surroundings with a pair of highly alert amber eyes.
The outdoor air felt very damp, piercing the skin, and cold, but the remaining light drizzle had now completely stopped. The three of them walked together down the rocky hillside, crossing the muddy ground toward the coordinates of the main road located at a lower elevation.
The closer they got to their destination, the clearer and more dominant the roaring sound of rushing water beca. The mont their feet stepped onto the edge of the road that had turned into a massive pool, the sight before them was truly astonishing for a border forest area.
The high-density floodwater stretched extrely wide, covering the entire width of the main road and even overflowing far into the forest vegetation on both the left and right sides for dozens of ters. The water was very murky and thick with mud, carrying along various drifting materials tree branches, leaves, and dium-sized logs. At certain points, one-ter-wide whirlpools ford constantly, indicating strong hydraulic pressure from the forest’s natural drainage system that had beco clogged.
Sylvia stepped one foot forward right at the water’s edge, then extended her right arm covered by the hoodie sleeve. In an instant, her magical instinct activated; Chain of Abyss shot out from the shadows of her clothing. The jet-black chains made of mystical tal streaked forward at high speed like dark lightning, splitting the air before piercing the surface of the floodwater with a sharp impact sound: SPLASH!
The black chains imdiately dove deeper into the murky water, using shadow energy sensitivity to asure the vertical depth and the chanical structure of the soil beneath the road.
The tactical reading from the shadow chains instantly deepened the frown on Sylvia’s forehead. The chains continued extending through the water until reaching a full vertical distance of nearly two ters before the sharp tip touched the bottom, which had turned into extrely soft, living mud that had lost all supporting strength. The volu of this floodwater was truly massive and unnatural for a temporary post-storm flood.
"The water depth reaches approximately two full ters at the middle of the path," Sylvia said in a very cold and flat tone. "The soil structure beneath the surface has also completely softened into very muddy, living sludge. Our trading carriage won’t have enough traction and will definitely get stuck, or even overturn due to the strong lateral current if we force our way through."
Stacia let out a long sigh, her face showing slight disappointnt as she folded her arms across her chest. "This is really a very disruptive developnt for our travel schedule. This forest trail is the only fastest recorded route on the map to reach the imperial capital’s gate without having to detour through the mountains."
Alicia stared at the vast floodwater with an analytical gaze. "In theory, we could wait inside the cave for a few hours hoping the water volu recedes naturally through soil absorption, but there’s no guarantee of stable weather. The storm manifestation we experienced earlier was too extre and could trigger follow-up flood waves from upstream."
Sylvia gave a short, firm nod full of military decisiveness. "In conclusion, we cannot continue our journey for now. The most rational option is to return to a safe point."
However, just as they were about to turn back, the surface of the floodwater right in front of them suddenly churned violently. SPLASH! Murky water sprayed high into the air as a massive silhouette shot out from the darkness of the flood with extraordinary speed.
A giant ancient crocodile with thick greenish-black scales resembling steel armor and a long snout filled with hundreds of large, sharp teeth leaped out, breaking through the curtain of water. The reptilian creature’s mouth gaped extrely wide, releasing a thick predatory aura as it aid its deadly jaws straight at Sylvia, who was standing closest to the edge of the floodwater.
GRRRRAAAAHHH!!!
The terrifying roar of the ancient crocodile thundered through the forest silence, spreading the stench of blood and carcasses from its mouth. The creature had an incredibly impressive size for its kind; its total length from snout to the tip of its sharp-scaled tail reached nearly six full ters, with extrely dense and powerful lateral muscle mass, physical proof of surviving hundreds of years in the harsh wetland ecosystem. Its pair of glowing yellow reptilian eyes radiated pure hunger, and the crushing power of its jaws was undoubtedly capable of destroying iron armor in a single deadly bite.
However, before the terrifying snout of the giant crocodile could get within a few centiters of Sylvia’s skin, Chain of Abyss, still under her full conscious control, moved at a speed far surpassing biological reflexes.
The jet-black chains from the underworld shot straight forward like dark lightning, creating a very sharp tallic clinking sound: CLANK! With terrifying precision, the pointed tip of the chain pierced directly through the center between the giant crocodile’s pair of yellow eyes. The kinetic montum generated by Sylvia’s shadow magic was so imnse that the chain effortlessly shattered the hard skull, penetrated the brain tissue, and severed the ancient creature’s spinal cord in a fraction of a second.
Sylvia had executed an extrely efficient instant kill, giving the amphibious monster no gap or chance to launch a counterattack or even thrash in pain.
THUD!
The several-hundred-kilogram massive body instantly lost all motor function and collapsed heavily onto the wet, muddy ground at the edge of the floodwater, completely dead and rigid. Thick, dark reddish blood flowed heavily from the vertical stab wound in its head, slowly spreading and mixing with the murky floodwater.
Stacia, who had witnessed the clean and flawless instant execution from behind, imdiately showed a face beaming with joy. Her eyes sparkled brightly as she stepped closer to the creature’s carcass.
"Wow! This is truly an unexpected stroke of luck! A high-grade free al that delivered itself right to us!" Stacia exclaid with great enthusiasm. "And look at its size, this monster is huge and has incredibly dense at. With this, we won’t need to waste energy hunting wild animals in this wet forest condition all day."
Alicia looked at Sylvia with a graceful small smile, then shook her head slowly at her sister’s practicality. "Sylvia’s fighting style always maintains the highest level of efficiency, never wasting a single movent."
Sylvia didn’t give a long verbal response, only offering a small, flat nod. With a flick of her wrist, she pulled the Chain of Abyss back into the shadows of her clothing. Strangely, the surface of the black tal chains remained clean and gleaming, without a single drop of the crocodile’s black blood. She then manifested a thicker shadow chain, wrapping it around the base of the giant crocodile’s tail, and used it as a magical winch to drag the six-ter-long monster carcass away from the flood’s edge, pulling it up to higher, drier ground near the entrance of their shelter cave.
"Let’s head back inside the cave now," Sylvia instructed in a firm yet relaxed tone. "Prepare all the ergency roasting equipnt. The at structure of this crocodile is quite massive and has excellent nutritional quality to serve as our fresh food logistics supply for the next few days."
The three of them imdiately walked back into the cave with much higher enthusiasm and spirit. The golden kitten, still in Sylvia’s warm embrace, showed an extrely adorable physical reaction; a bit of drool dripped from the corner of its small mouth, and its pink nose kept twitching actively, sniffing the air and tracking the scent of the giant crocodile carcass being dragged behind them.
As an ancient sacred dragon reincarnated in the form of a small mammal, although it could eat ordinary food, it rarely got the chance to sll the fresh aroma of high-energy magical creature at that had just been freshly killed like this. The primal predator instinct embedded in the core of its soul was clearly very tempted by the quality of the monster’s at.
Once inside the cave, brightly lit by magical light, Stacia moved with high agility to prepare the ergency roasting area. She gathered so dry wood pieces previously stored in the carriage compartnt and used a minor fire spell to create a very stable and constant bonfire structure right in the middle of the cave floor.
On the other side, Alicia used clean wind magic to clear the flat stone surface around the bonfire area, ensuring the entire periter remained hygienic and free of dirt before food preparation began.
Sylvia took on the main role in the butchering process. Using a combination of precise Chain of Abyss control and a highly sharp wind-mana-coated magical dagger, she began skinning and cutting the best at portions from the giant crocodile’s body with very neat anatomical technique.
The ancient crocodile’s at was extrely thick, with a very chewy yet dense fiber texture and a fresh reddish-white color, a physical characteristic of premium at that is very rich in high pure protein and complex amino acids, perfect for restoring physical stamina after a long journey through the border region.
The large at cuts were then evenly arranged on the ergency roasting structure made from fire-resistant iron twigs in their logistics collection. In a short ti, the very savory and tempting aroma of pure roasted at imdiately spread strongly throughout the stone cave as the thin layers of fat between the at fibers began to lt.
Drops of fat fell onto the bonfire below, creating the characteristic constant sizzling sound: TSSS... TSSS.... Stacia, with a serious expression, began brushing on special spice mixtures, pure mountain salt, and black pepper from their caravan supplies, multiplying the intensity of the dish’s aroma and making it even more appetizing.
The golden kitten took a neat sitting position not far from the edge of the iron grill. Its large round amber eyes did not shift even a milliter from the pieces of at undergoing caralization over the fire. The tip of its golden tail wagged quickly left and right with an impatient rhythm, and occasionally its small pink tongue licked its own lips; the sacred creature was clearly at the limit of its patience to devour the dish.
Sylvia, seeing the adorable behavior of her sacred beast, could only show a very faint and gentle smile on her usually flat face. She used her magical dagger to take several perfectly cooked tenderloin cuts, placed them on a small clean wooden plate, and served them right in front of the golden kitten.
"This is the best cut specially for you. Eat slowly, no one will take it from you," Sylvia said in a softened voice.
The golden kitten didn’t waste any ti and imdiately attacked the wooden plate with great eagerness. It opened its small mouth, bit into the still-steaming roasted crocodile at, and chewed with full primal enthusiasm while letting out a very loud purring sound of satisfaction from its throat.
Occasionally, between bites, it sent a short voice ssage full of admiration through the direct soul transmission to Sylvia’s consciousness: Delicious... This is incredibly delicious, Master...! The texture of this crocodile at... truly has a far different from the ordinary wild animal at I used to eat before...!
Stacia, who was enjoying her own portion of at while watching the scene, imdiately let out a bright, crisp laugh. "Look at him. When there’s delicious food like this in front of him, all his sacred dignity seems to vanish. He really looks no different from a very spoiled ordinary cat."
Alicia nodded in agreent while her graceful hand used a pair of tongs to flip another piece of at on the iron grill to ensure even doneness. "However, we must admit that his magical fortune manifestation aura is still very strong and real. Thanks to his instant navigation earlier, we not only found this ideal shelter cave but also obtained a high-energy fresh food logistics supply without much effort."
The three of them finally sat together in an intimate circle around the warm bonfire, enjoying the roasted crocodile at that had a very tender, juicy texture and a deep savory flavor.
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