A Dragon's Curiosity

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“That did not just happen.”

Lisa stared at her yellow stained clothes blankly.

The satisfaction of providing a valuable potion that made their explorations during the warrior field trip easier evaporated into nothing.

Both Nisha and Unico failed to react in time and could only watch the disaster as it happened.

Shocked and unsure about the consequences, the trio stared at the yellow patch on Lisa’s body, trying to find the appropriate reaction for this scenario.

It was Accalia who spurred into motion first. The wolf raised its snout in the air and greedily inhaled a tantalizing scent, which tempted it to go closer to the friend of her master.

The elf noticed the unusual behaviour of her contracted beast, she had ordered Little Lia to guard the perimeter, when the same unusual scent hit her as well.

Any thoughts and pressing issues vanished from the dragon’s mind.

Taking a greedy breath of the sweet, tempting scent, Nisha began to look at her friend in a similar way as her wolf, saliva gathering in her mouth.

Lisa felt an unknown threat to her life and broke into a cold sweat, when a loud gulp from the elf broke the silent atmosphere.

Right behind the blonde girl, Little Lia got ready to pounce on her with the same saliva induced frenzy, when a look from her master sent the wolf back to its place near the edge of the clearing.

“What’s going on?”

Confused and scared, Lisa alternated between her teammates and tried to get a clear understanding of their current circumstances.

Nisha knew that the other girl referred to the hungry attention placed on her rather than the spilled [Lesser Lure Potion], yet she would have a hard time explaining that the potion released a tantalizing smell towards any second rank monster, similar to a heavenly feast waiting just a short distance away.

It even had a strong effect on herself, a peak third rank beast, although a minor note of decay and low quality meat lingered within the scent.

Then it dawned on the dragon that this was the potion’s effect to deter monsters at the third rank and above.

Most creatures at her rank would not decline prey with such an amazing scent, but similarly would also not go out of their way to investigate a source of spoiled second rank meat.

That’s probably why the potion effect is different based on the main ingredient, the rest of the pieces only add the rotten effect and spread the scent far and wide.

“I was just too shocked, I never expected the potion bottle to break.

Do you know a method to cancel the effects of the lure?”

The elf forcefully diverted the attention from her suspicious behaviour and refocused the team on the pressing issue at hand.

Nisha and her contracted beast already reacted almost violently upon smelling the potion, there was no need to mention how the [Yellow Banded Loam Monsters] would react.

“No, I have not learned the corresponding formula from my dad yet, or if there’s a way to cancel the lure once it’s in effect.

Dad only showed me how to brew this potion since there was an order and it was convenient for him to teach me at the same time.”

Lisa almost broke into tears, their current plight and the idea that her father would learn that she secretly brought out a potion.

He had often advised his daughter that the greatest quality of a potion brewer laid in their caution and precision, while she went against all of his rules this time.

Perhaps Unico took pity on the teenage girl that was about to cry, he stepped forward at this point.

“Rather than standing around and talking, I think we should consider solutions for the problem at hand.

How dangerous do you think it will be when the entire potion is scattered at once? And what will happen next now that the potion is in effect?”

More often than not, it was the young man with the purple tinted skin tone that managed to dig straight at the core of an issue.

He did not disappoint this time either, Unico jolted the scattered thoughts of his group back into the present.

“According to my knowledge, the potion by itself isn’t harmful, spilling it all at once only makes the duration longer. Perhaps it will spread in a further area too, but the effect will stay the same, only effective on second grade monsters.

I don’t know the specific range or duration though, the [Lesser Lure Potion] isn’t meant to be used all at once.”

Despite being under massive pressure from the mishap, Lisa demonstrated her knowledge and professional judgement as the daughter of an alchemist.

Hearing her description of the effects, the elf added her own conclusions, albeit disguising them slightly.

“Little Lia can sense the effects, it’s a very strong scent that attracts the monsters, and it should spread very far quite quickly.

Perhaps it’s a good idea if we move away from the half scattered on the ground at least, there should be quite a few [Yellow Banded Loam Monsters] rushing towards this position.”

The trio belatedly realized that they overlooked a potential disaster when they did not immediately vacate the area after having the accident with the potion vial.

“You’re right. We need to leave.”

Keeping his answer short, Unico gestured towards the elf and asked her to lead the way.

Lisa similarly raised no objections and switched between a worried and distraught expression. She blamed herself for not taking the necessary precautions and putting everyone in danger.

Nisha directly set off and communicated with Little Lia through their contract to spot enemies early on and look for a good spot, one suitable to be easily defended.

“We’re too far from the gathering point to make it there before the numbers of monsters become too high, but we should have no problem holding out until the instructors notice that something unusual is going on.”

The elf placated Lisa as well, not minding their unfavorable situation in any way.

Since none of the monsters in the vicinity had a higher cultivation than mid to late second rank, she had confidence to keep her friends safe no matter how many attackers were going to come at them.

Having spent more than a decade in the Wilderness, it was quite easy for the elf to assess the features of the terrain.

Despite not being the same as the deep Wilderness where the [Dragon’s Den] was located, sparse vegetation and fewer trees still indicated a rock formation or open space to their left.

When Nisha led her group off the trail and towards the first promising spot, two [Yellow Banded Loam Monsters] emerged right ahead.

Instead of stopping and assessing the threat of the intruders, the monsters ignored everything else and sprinted towards the blonde girl with the yellow potion patch on her leather coat.

Faced with their abnormal behaviour, the elf did not panic and ordered her contracted beast to stay near her two friends while she intercepted one of the frog-like creatures.

Nisha also no longer found it suitable to practice her movements at the moment, she rapidly approached the monster that ignored her presence without minding her footwork and directly cleaved down her [Taurith Short Sword] with the entirety of her strength.

The disparity in cultivation level showed itself in an overbearing manner.

Instead of a fight, the first monster was nearly executed right away with a deep cut splitting the upper half of its body in two.

While the first one died right away, the second [Yellow Banded Loam Monster] was intercepted by Unico and Accalia when it tried to jump on Lisa, who got her sword and shield ready to defend herself.

Between the quick assault of two daggers, a powerful beast and a sturdy shield that thwarted it from escaping the blows, the three of them quickly finished the second one as well.

At the same time, the elf kept a lookout for other incoming stragglers.

Moving forward after the fight, the team found a large rock with a majestic tree growing on top of it, yet it was not the suitable location that Nisha sought.

They returned to the beaten trail through the forest and hurried forward, eager to throw off more pursuing monsters.

The second and third location that Nisha and Accalia spotted were not quite suitable either and made the girl think about pursuing other solutions.

Fortunately, the fourth spot indicated by the surrounding signs they found fulfilled all the necessary conditions for the party to mount a defense.

Surrounded by a few sparse trees, several boulders rested next to each other, each stone having sharp inclines that made climbing them almost impossible.

Halfway through the gathered slabs of stone, an opening formed a path nearly straight through the mound, making it possible to see the other side clearly.

It was also rather broad, allowing three to four people to walk side by side, so it was suitable to fight with enough room.

Yet it also limited the area where monsters could charge at them, greatly improving their chances at making a successful defense here.

Pleased by the ideal conditions, the dragon led her companions to the middle of the path and instructed them to rest.

“Did you come here before? I don’t know how you discovered a nice place like this otherwise.”

Lisa panted slightly from the effort from running and fighting at the same time.

She took the chance to gather her energy and prepare for the upcoming fights.

“No, I’ve never been here before, but there are similarities between the place where I grew up and this area.

When you spend a lot of time outside in the woods, it’s really important to learn to locate the path you need to go to get back home or find water sources based on the terrain.

If you check the ground, there will be many pebbles and rocks in the earth, which is why the trees are sparser in the immediate area, it makes it harder for them to grow.

That’s one way to find rocky landmarks.

Claylike soil and dense vegetation is a sign for a nearby water source, in case you were wondering.”

Nisha did not exaggerate when she told her friends about her experience.

Many monsters liked to choose their terrain based on the elements they had an affinity with, so it was a handy ability to deduce the nearby terrain and avoid offending strong or troublesome enemies.

Lisa looked interested and perhaps wanted to continue conversing about the peculiarities of the Wilderness, yet she had to focus on recovering her aura as much as possible.

Contrary to that, Unico was not surprised at all, he likely knew some of these things already.

He confirmed the condition of his daggers, checking for damage and nicks that might become an issue later on.

Their rest did not last for a long time, four different monsters arrived within a short interval.

Luckily, these monsters did not group up, but rather filed into the path one after the other with a few breaths in between.

Due to Nisha’s heavy attacks that guaranteed an injury on their first contact and the tacit teamwork of her teammates these lone brawls did not put a serious strain on the group yet.

“They are coming faster and faster now. We should reserve some fighting strength later on.”

As always, the young man with the purple tinted skin offered a direct analysis of their circumstances.

He was correct, too. The [Yellow Banded Loam Monsters] congregated on two locations thanks to the [Lesser Lure Potion] in big waves.

Nisha furrowed her brows and thought for a moment, then came to a decision.

“We can take turns to defend our position and wait for the teachers to arrive or the potion to expire.

I will take the entrance we came from, Little Lia will support one of you on the other side.

Switch when necessary and try to last as long as possible, I don’t think the Academy will allow the monsters to seriously injure us.”

Their strategy discussion was cut short as another enemy approached, this time two frog-like creatures at the same time.

And this was just the start of the small scale monster surge.