"Alright, we've wasted enough time. Let's hurry up and get to the forest." Nexus knelt to the ground, pushing off his left leg as he leapt across the city buildings until he reached the top of the surrounding walls, waving to one of the guards stationed on the watchtowers as he left the city, landing in an open field.
"You're going on foot? Uh, you really want to get this done quick," Quinn replied while holding on to Nexus's shoulder for dear life, legs dangling in the wind.
"The sooner we're done with that family, the better." Nexus moved through the field at speeds rivaling thunder, dashing past the rookie adventurers fighting their first monsters.
Most of them were slimes and goatmen, simple to take down alone, but a few of them were being overwhelmed by small groups while the instructor assigned to their team smacked her hand across her forehead in disappointment.
Quinn's eyes went dull, and his brow wrinkled slightly out of sheer disappointment. He almost forgot to hold on to Nexus, causing one of his hands to slip before grabbing back onto Nexus's shoulder.
If this city ever gets attacked, I'm just going to surrender. I mean, these kids wouldn't even last long enough to be a distraction, Quinn thought to himself as Nexus dashed toward the Draconian forest.
Though it was approximately 35 miles away, the duo reached the forest within five minutes, pausing at the entrance for a moment as Quinn regained his footing and pulled the map out of Nexus's bag.
Looking at the line Rosefield drew on the map, he realized there wasn't a path to the drake's habitat, making it a bit more difficult to pinpoint its exact location. However, there was a nearby lake they could use as an indicator that they were close.
"Alright, with your speed, it shouldn't take long to reach their habitat, as long as we don't run into any trouble on the way." Quinn's eyes scanned the forest, and his ear twitched sporadically as he activated his heightened senses, allowing him to pick up on loud growls, hisses, and trees being broken in two.
The cascade of sounds resembled that of a war, sending shivers down Quinn's spine as he heard the monsters' screams.
"Yae, maybe we should use those rings before we enter." Quinn patted Nexus on the shoulder while staring into the forest blankly.
"Why? What did you hear?" Nexus looked at Quinn, feeling a bit concerned.
"Oh, you'll see when we enter that cesspool."
Quinn and Nexus slipped the rings onto their fingers, causing the color of their clothes and skin to fade until they were completely transparent.
Now entering the forest, Nexus's steps were completely untraceable. He didn't leave any prints or make any sound, all thanks to the ring, leaving them completely undetectable by normal means.
He moved through the densely packed trees by leaping from branch to branch, noticing the giant vines running around some of the trees and along the ground, with their thorns stabbing into the trees and ground like daggers.
Large parasitic flowers burst from the trunks of the trees, letting off a sweet aroma that attracted some rock lizards, wingless dragons that were around the size of a dog.
As one began chewing on a petal, they snapped shut, turning back into a bud and ripping its head off in seconds, leaving it's lifeless body to bleed-out.
Mmmm… Ok, I can see why Quinn was so nervous now, Nexus thought as he tried his best to stay as far away from the plants as possible. Though they were on almost every tree, he soon realized they only grew on the bottom half of the trunks.
So he stayed as high as he could, not really out of caution but because he was thoroughly grossed out.
"Hey, Quinn, how long until we reach the drake's habitat? These trees are creeping me out," Nexus asked, his speech quick with a sense of urgency in his voice.
"Yah, they're messing with me too, but if you keep this pace, we should be there within a minute and a half," Quinn replied as he continued to scan the forest with his sharp sense of hearing, picking up the sound of large animals drinking water and a low-pitched growl.
"Turn left, then continue going straight until you see the lake," he pointed as he spoke, his eyes finally gaining back the light from earlier. He felt relieved; the clearing didn't sound half as bad as the rest of the forest.
"Right." Nexus followed Quinn's orders, grabbing onto a tree trunk and swinging around it before letting go, sending him flying in the direction Quinn pointed until he reached the clearing.
The drake's habitat was a simple, large open field covered in shoulder-high grass, with only a single tree and no carnivorous plant in sight. Drakes grazed the open field rather peacefully, which was strange to see but not unheard of—just a rare sight.
Nexus and Quinn sighed in unison, their heart rates lowering as the tension from running through that eerie forest lifted off their chests.
"Phew, we're finally here," Nexus uttered as he began to prepare the equipment for the hunt, setting up a trap a few meters away from the herd of drakes. But while he was actually doing his job, Quinn, on the other hand, was sightseeing.
He admired the drakes from afar, climbing up the only tree in the field to get a better look at them.
From his vantage point, he saw that there were multiple subspecies of drakes coexisting. Their variety in color, scale patterns, and elemental energy radiating off their bodies quickly gave it away. Heck, the only thing they had in common was the fact that they were large, wingless dragons that looked similar to the more well-known true dragon.
The coexistence of different sub-species also felt strange, but it still wasn't something undocumented—just extremely rare.
This habitat felt a bit strange to Quinn, almost artificial, but he knew the Balrocks didn't do this. They didn't have the firepower or control to deal with drakes, or else Artemis wouldn't have taken the deal; she'd have just gotten the drake eggs on her own.
The feeling that they were in someone's personal dragon farm made Quinn a bit concerned, but he soon came to the conclusion that he might just be overthinking things.
Nexus, however, didn't realize how strange this herd was, since he didn't really pay attention to the different subspecies. Instead, he began setting up an impulse scroll.
Laying it on the ground, seven circles overlapped, forming a vague shape of a flower before carving the same pattern into the ground.
"Ok, now that that's done, let's go get those drake parts." Nexus removed his stealth ring, the purple gem atop it now less luminant than before as it gave off less energy now.
Sensing Quinn's energy, Nexus made his way toward the tree, knocking on the side of the trunk to get his attention before asking, "Hey, you see any mountain drakes over there?"
Quinn's mind finally returned back to reality as he heard Nexus, turning to look at him as he replied, "Oh! Right… right, mountain drakes. Yeah, there's a few of them close to the lake."
"Okay… hey, you good up there? You seem a bit out of it," Nexus replied, a slight frown forming on his face as he began to grow concerned about Quinn's almost stone-cold expression.
"I'm fine, just thinking a bit. Go get the drake parts; I'll join you in a sec," Quinn answered, still thinking a bit about the situation.
"Alright." Nexus left Quinn to ponder, deciding that it was best to get the mission done as quickly as possible so they could get out of here before things could go south.
Nexus made his way to the lake, keeping his presence hidden to the best of his abilities with the ring, using the tall grass as cover and moving slowly to minimize noise until he was right beside the mountain drake.
"Alright, I got you now," he whispered as a ball of flame manifested in his palm before blasting toward the drake at supersonic speed, exploding on contact with its thick scale armor and creating a dust cloud that covered its entire body.
"Ok, that should do the trick." The ground began to shake violently below Nexus's feet as the earth cracked and sharp spikes made of earth jutted from the ground.
"Oh, well, now he's mad," Quinn whispered from afar, biting his pointer finger as he realized Nexus's plan.
"Alright, you giant scaly tank, come at me!"
A loud roar erupted from the smoke as the giant hulking beast darted toward Nexus.
Well, that thing's fast, Quinn thought as he witnessed the drake keeping up with Nexus, who was sprinting away at his top speed.
He led the beast toward the impulse scroll, confident that he'd catch him off guard, when he heard a loud thud, followed by silence. He looked behind him, only for the drake to disappear from his sight.
He stopped for a second, confused, while Quinn, who saw what happened, sat dumbfounded, wiping his eyes as Nexus heard a thunderous boom.
The drake had landed in front of him, blocking him off from the scroll.
"Did he just jump!? When could these things jump!?" Nexus screamed at Quinn as he slowly stepped back.
Quinn still stood there speechless, still processing how a 10-ton lizard could have a 50-feet vertical.