As Sakeer watched the swarm of monsters rushing toward him, a summoning scroll appeared in his palm. With a casual flick of his fingers, he activated it.
Whoosh!
A radiant burst of white light condensed in the air.
In an instant, an Archangel Flame materialized, its brilliant wings unfurling as it launched itself into the fray, diving toward the oncoming creatures.
Before engaging them directly, Sakeer preferred to observe first—to gauge their abilities and weaknesses. Summoned creatures made excellent test subjects for gathering intelligence.
After all—
Compared to the Great Forest of Tob, his knowledge of the Great Wetland was limited at best.
Even in anime and the books from the library, there was little mention of this region.
He had deliberately chosen to enter from the forest rather than using flight to approach from above. The lack of information demanded caution—he couldn't afford to be careless, nor could he assume that the monsters here were irrelevant threats simply because the Bone King and the Great Tomb had disregarded them.
Boom!
The Archangel Flame flapped its golden-metallic wings and plunged straight into the monster horde.
Immediately—they swarmed it.
Flame Sword Slash!
A dazzling arc of blazing fire cut through the air.
Shrill cries echoed through the battlefield as several creatures were cleaved in half, their lifeless bodies collapsing to the ground.
However—
As the creatures perished, dark blood splattered onto the Archangel Flame's armor, producing a sinister sizzling sound.
"Gained XP: 107"
"Gained XP: 112"
Sakeer's eyes narrowed.
"Corrosive blood? No… it's likely venomous."
A flicker of understanding crossed his gaze. If he had recklessly engaged them in melee, the outcome might have been troublesome.
"Good thing I kept my distance."
Some of the creatures had managed to evade the Archangel's attacks, continuing their charge toward him.
Sakeer raised a hand.
"Magic Arrow."
Instantly, glowing ethereal arrows formed in midair, launching forward with deadly precision.
One by one, the incoming creatures fell mid-charge, their bodies slumping lifelessly onto the wetland ground.
His Magic Attack stat had already reached 158 points—low-level magic was more than enough to deal with these creatures.
Within minutes—
The battlefield fell silent.
Over fifty of the strange cockscomb monsters now lay dead, granting Sakeer roughly 5,000 experience points in total.
Based on their XP yield, he estimated their levels to be around 6 or 7—not particularly strong.
However—
For human adventurers, dealing with these creatures would have been far more difficult. It would take a full team of silver-ranked adventurers to handle such a threat efficiently.
Dismounting from his Barghest, Sakeer approached the nearest corpse. He crouched down, picking up the lifeless creature and examining it closely.
From his inventory, he retrieved an empty waterskin. Tilting the monster's lifeless body, he carefully drained some of its black, venomous blood into the container.
"Toxic blood like this is rare… it might have some alchemical value."
So far, he had only two types of blood that were actually usable for alchemy—
Troll blood and Demon Snake Naga blood.
Despite having collected blood from countless beasts and monsters in the Great Forest of Tob, none had proven useful for alchemical purposes.
This raised a question in his mind.
Was the issue with the materials themselves?
Or was it because he hadn't yet mastered the necessary alchemy skills?
Either way—
Out of the fifty slain creatures, he managed to fill only one waterskin with their venomous blood.
Most of it had been spilled during the battle, rendering it unusable.
Sakeer tucked the waterskin back into his inventory and turned his gaze toward the vast lake region ahead.
The intense battle had drawn the attention of several nearby creatures.
From a quick scan, he spotted at least seven or eight different monster species lurking in the area.
"Seems like this place is crawling with monsters."
Swinging himself back onto Kuro, his Barghest, he grinned slightly.
There were many things here that intrigued him.
The Great Wetland was divided into two major zones—
Lower Lake (near the Great Forest of Tob)
Upper Lake (closer to the Azerlisia Mountains)
The Lower Lake region had shallow waters, which meant it lacked large, high-threat monsters.
However—
It made up for that with sheer numbers.
Unlike the Upper Lake, which housed far more dangerous creatures, the Lower Lake was teeming with ordinary monsters—a prime hunting ground for adventurers.
Deep within the Great Wetland, among its scattered settlements, five major Lizardman tribes ruled the region.
One of them—
Was the Small Fang Tribe.
Originally, there had been seven tribes in the Great Wetland.
However, a tribal war several years ago had led to the downfall of two entire clans, reducing the number to five.
Now—
The Small Fang Tribe was among the surviving Lizardman factions, its warriors and hunters constantly vying for dominance in the untamed wilds.