In the jungle where trees obscured the sky.
Whoosh!
A dark shadow flashed by.
Patta!
A green shadow followed closely behind.
These two were the squad tasked with subjugating the Hydra: the main force Jack and his little girlfriend and camerawoman, Collei.
The Hydra's habitat was in a swamp somewhere west of Gandharva Ville.
Thanks to Lari's contribution of his memory of the forest ranger's patrol routes, Jack and Collei were able to head straight to their destination and pursue it.
However, Jack suddenly stopped in the middle of their journey.
Patta!
Collei stepped on a tree root, making a crisp sound.
"What's wrong, Jack? Why did you stop?"
"Nothing, I just suddenly remembered something."
Jack stared at Collei's delicate feet and asked.
"Walking almost barefoot on the ground like this, don't your feet get dirty?"
"??"
I've been walking all this time, and you're asking this now?
Collei resisted the urge to hit this bad gege on the head, leaned against the tree trunk, and lifted her small foot.
"They won't get dirty! I've been carefully using elemental power to protect them!"
"I see."
Jack nodded as if his academic research had been validated.
By the same logic, Nahida's bare feet were also protected this way.
Collei snorted, and just as she was about to put her foot down, Jack stepped forward and helped her keep it lifted.
"Wait a moment! It seems like a few leaves got on it. I'll help you pick them off."
"Leaves? That shouldn't be, I remember it should be… Ugh!"
Naive Collei actually thought Jack was genuinely picking leaves off her, and she even turned her head curiously to look.
But she was quickly pressed against the tree by him, and he took her small mouth in his.
While kissing, Jack lifted Collei's leg higher.
Because she usually did flexibility exercises and learned to dance with Nilou, Collei could easily do a vertical split.
After the kiss ended, Jack leaned close to Collei's ear and whispered, blowing air.
"Sorry, because Collei is just too cute, I couldn't help but trick you a little. Collei's feet are very clean, they're food-grade, you know~"
With such ticklish breath blowing, Collei was completely unable to speak.
She could only bite her lip, mortified.
Afterward, the two maintained this posture, and Jack carefully played with Collei's delicate feet all over.
"Hurry, hurry up! Bad Jack, if we're any later, the Hydra will run away!"
"Mm, just one more kiss, just one."
"Ugh, okay, but be quick~"
And so, Collei rested her left leg on Jack's shoulder, embracing him for one last kiss.
A French kiss lasting 10 minutes.
...
Half an hour later.
The Hydra subjugation squad finally arrived at the forest swamp.
Actually, with their leg strength, they could have arrived in about ten minutes after using the Waypoint in Dao Chenglin.
But along the way, Jack had, on three occasions, 'coached' his little girlfriend, Collei, using various excuses.
From her initial shyness, to enjoying it the second time, and finally craving it the third time, Collei gradually adapted to the sense of closeness with Jack and began to look forward to their subsequent intimate contact.
"We're finally here, Collei, are you ready to record?"
"Sh-should be, right?"
"Why are you answering me with a question?"
"I... I'm not sure if I can do it well, and because Jack, you've been... been teasing me the whole way, now my legs are trembling so much I can't stand straight!"
Collei stood with her knees pressed together, looking at Jack with a resentful expression.
"Ahem, that's because you wanted to experience the 5x sensitivity yourself, you can't blame me."
"I don't care! It's Jack's fault no matter what!"
"Alright, alright, my fault. How about I accompany you to rest for a bit first?"
Jack walked over and swept Collei into his arms.
Collei smiled and hugged his neck; she really liked this feeling of being pampered.
However, someone, or rather, some beast, was not willing to be subjected to their public display of affection.
Roar! —
A Hydra, over 30 meters long, with its front half standing upright as tall as a three-story building, emerged from the swamp.
Its nine heads were crammed onto a single body, looking extremely uncoordinated, like the product of some dark laboratory.
"How noisy!"
Jack raised his left hand, and a circle of flames immediately wrapped around it.
The Hydra fearfully slid back a few steps.
Screech! —
With a hawk's cry, fierce flames burst forth.
Boom!
The Hydra exploded in flames, eight of its nine heads instantly incinerated. The last one was spared by Jack, as the creature still served a purpose for filming promotional videos.
Roar!
The Hydra let out a cry of terror.
But because it was not an Minecraft World Boss-level monster, at most a large elite monster in the wild, it had not developed intelligence like a Stage Four Dragon.
Those sounds, to Jack's ears, were purely noisy monster howls.
"Oh, Jack, won't such a big fire burn it to death?"
"No, Collei, look at its health bar."
"Health bar... is that red thing?"
Collei saw a red progress bar above the area where the Hydra was being roasted.
It read '30 / 1532'.
And the number 30 was rapidly increasing at a rate of dozens per second.
In less than a minute.
The Hydra, which had eight of its heads blown off by the flame explosion, had completely regrown them, and it bared its teeth at Jack as if it hadn't learned its lesson.
"Hmph, a beast is a beast after all. It gets blindly confident after recovering a little health."
"This is recovering 'a little' health?"
Collei stared blankly at Jack.
Although she wasn't very good at math, this 'little' seemed to mean it had fully recovered.
Didn't that mean Jack's attack was completely ineffective against it?
"I know what you're thinking, but this guy just recovers quickly; its attack and defense are terrible. Once you've consumed a few Grass Essences, you'll be able to solo it."
"That amazing?!"
Collei's mouth slightly agape.
The Hydra was a powerful demon that even Lari struggled against. The idea that she could surpass it just by consuming a few Grass Essences, which Amber had mentioned before, was something Collei had never dreamed of.
"So, are we going to start filming the Hydra battle now?"
"No, we'll deal with your matter first."
"My matter?"
Collei looked at Jack in confusion. What matter did she have that needed to be resolved? She didn't know anything about it.
"Something about your physiological needs, isn't it?"
"Eh?"
Collei quickly waved her hands: "N-no way! Right here? But haven't we already found the Hydra?"
Jack helplessly waved his hand and said, "Yes, we found it, but didn't you say you're not in a state to hold the camera steady right now? Besides, it's just a mere Hydra. Nothing is more important than satisfying my little Collei."
"This... the first time, in the wild and all, isn't it a bit much?"
"What's wrong with that? The grass element god's eye, doesn't it symbolize that you, Collei, are a favored child of nature? Since you are a favored child of nature, it's perfectly normal for your first time to be in the embrace of nature!"
What kind of twisted logic is that!
Collei was speechless at this bad guy.
But, to be fair, being provoked repeatedly about her weaknesses really did almost cause a Hydro-grass element reaction within her.
So Collei tugged at Jack's collar and whispered, "As Jack wishes."
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