March 25, 5th year of the federal calendar

Hanekawa and I continued deeper into the jungle, and the lizardfolk were not accidental individuals born by chance, but a whole group of people who were organized into society. Now I know why none of the people sent by Eagle City have been able to send back the news, perhaps they have fallen under the clutches of the bad demons that have sprung up from the depths of the forest, or they have simply been hunted by the lizardmen. In fact, if it weren't for Haka's aerial scouting, Hanekawa and I wouldn't be alive today.

It's all too unusual for me to see if there's any conspiracy behind it, so I can only write down what I've seen and heard and leave it to the wiser to think about.

In addition to the lizardmen that we destroyed in the first place, I have encountered three other teams during this time, all of them in teams of three, with one archer and two warriors, who are mainly responsible for hunting around the forest.

From what I've observed, after each hunt, the lizardfolk will pull out a horn that looks like a creature made of a big horn and summon their companions. It was a strange horn, and I couldn't tell where it came from by its appearance alone, but I couldn't hear anything from it, whether it was near or far.

I guess the reason why lizardfolk use this as a communication tool is probably because their auditory organs are not constructed in the same way as humans.

The team of lizardmen who receive their prey is usually made up of ten people, and they will cut the prey neatly and then use carts to carry the food away. It is certain that some of the carts came from the caravan that had been attacked, and the best evidence was that some of them were unusually rudimentary, presumably because they had copied them. Combined with the crude weapons, it can be seen that the overall level of craftsmanship in the lizardfolk society is probably very low.

Considering that I may have entered the Lizard Rao's sphere of influence, most of the time I did not actively clash with them, but continued to march into the interior of the forest according to the mission instructions. I have not forgotten the real purpose of coming to the Black Pine Forest.

Just this morning, I finally found the target of the mission, the team leading the assault. Quite different from hunting or transporting teams, this team consists of five members and is slightly better armed, presumably made from the bones of some kind of creature.

The lizardman at the head of the team has a very strange appearance, and I don't know what words to use to describe it, but "deformed" is probably a good word. His body still retains some lizard-like features, but due to the overdeveloped muscles of his body, especially the high bulge of back muscles, the creature cannot stand properly at all, and can only use a thick arm to support the ground to maintain the balance of his body.

In order to better distinguish him from ordinary individuals, I decided to call him an aberrant individual.

By the time Hanekawa and I found the team, they seemed to have just finished their rest and were heading south. If you remember, the south side is the avenue frequented by caravans. That is, if we don't stop it, there will be new attacks soon.

It wasn't a difficult decision, and Hanekawa and I predicted the route of the lizard Rao and set up a simple ambush along the way. After this period of observation and contact, I have come to know very well the strength and character of these monsters, they are heroic and not afraid of death, but they also have an Achilles heel - arrogance.

Perhaps, these creatures consider the forest to be their home turf and have no fear of being attacked by other creatures here.

In fact, this ambush battle was more relaxed than I could have imagined, and there was not much to describe in the process. To put it simply, the simple trap we set up succeeded in making the careless lizardmen pay, and then I just had to concentrate on pestering the sturdy lizardman aberration, and wait for Hanekawa and Haka to deal with the other supported monsters one by one.

The battle lasted less than five minutes, and we were able to wipe out the lizardmen as fast as we could.

……

Du Qi was enthusiastically using his dissection skills on the monster corpse, and seeing that his research on the lizard Rao was improving, he couldn't help but hope for something bigger.

Soon after, Dozi first gained access to the Lizardmen's profile.

"Dakani Lizardmon: The Lizardmon are ancient and primitive creatures that have survived from time immemorial to the present day, and they have witnessed almost the history of biological evolution. Their ancestors have endured countless extinct creatures, and the surviving lizards have been impaired with unusually strong vitality that allows them to survive in almost any harsh environment. Early lizards originated in the Green Shadow Prairie, and after millions of years of differentiation, they formed several major species today. Among them, the lizards that live in the jungle area call themselves Daqani, and compared with the ancient lizards, they sacrifice heavy scale armor and strong muscles, becoming the only lizard species that can walk upright, and also gain the ability to move at high speed in the jungle; Normal attributes: Blood D, Stamina C, Magic E, Strength C, Defense D, Resistance D, Agility C, Berserk E; Weakness: Four-legged lizards have not evolved thick scales to protect their abdomen, and the Dakani lizardmons have failed to make up for this shortcoming. ”

"An ancient race? But Hanekawa had never heard of it. Dozi wondered, "Could it be that these lizardmen are from another world like the player?" According to the introduction, this creature should be very widely distributed, and I have never heard of this place in the Green Shadow Prairie. Well, the idea sounds like a bit of, but here we are, what's so surprising about more monsters? Maybe we can find clues from this creature to return home. He smiled heartlessly and summoned the forging interface again.

"Sure enough, no new suits appeared." Du Qi scratched the back of his head, and there was not too much disappointment in his expression. As can be seen from the introduction of Starry Night, the suit did not appear out of thin air, but came from an elaborate design, and he also confirmed the existence of the designer Shogun from Hanekawa's mouth. If the lizardman ...... Perhaps they should be called Dakani Lizardmons by now, and if they were from another world, there would be no design for them.

Du Qi continued to dissect the corpses of other lizards, and although he was not sure what the materials were for, since he could collect them, he would never waste them in line with the policy of the three lights.

Perhaps the luck of hard-working people is not too bad, and Duqi has an unexpected harvest when dissecting the aberrant lizard. In addition to common materials such as scales and teeth, he also collected a ball of light. The ball of light was only the size of a fist, and it didn't seem to be disembodied.

The reason the description was so vague was that it didn't stay in the air for long, and before Duqi could even observe it, the ball of light went straight into his forehead

"Soul Legacy - Jungle Warriors: The entire forest is calling your name, and they are cheering for your arrival. After use, the speed is increased by 10% for 5 minutes, and the location of use must be in a forest area, with a cooldown of 1. ”

Du Qi subconsciously raised his right hand, and a translucent crystal with a faint blue light appeared out of thin air, floating quietly in the palm of his hand. The shape of the crystal is somewhat difficult to describe, with an octahedral body similar to an octahedron, with a pestion-like table protruding from below, and several larger flakes extending outward from the base. In addition, although it is not very clear, you can see that there seems to be some kind of pattern floating inside the crystal.

Duzi couldn't comprehend the meaning of the pattern, but it reminded him of something. Raising your right hand, you can see that within the intricate pattern that symbolizes the space you carry around, there is an area that resembles a crystalline shape.

"Is that how it is used?" He tried to bring the soul crystal close to his arm.

Sure enough, as if summoned by the crystal, it quickly detached from Duqi's palm and embedded itself in the pattern. At this time, Du Qi had an indescribable feeling, and he knew that he could instantly release that skill with just one thought.

"Brother Duqi!" Hanekawa, who was patrolling the perimeter, ran back a little out of breath, "Come on, Haka has found something." ”

Like most Inferior Demons, Feather Wind does not have a high level of intelligence, and while it can be tamed by humans and follow simple instructions, it is not able to express too complex information directly. Therefore, even Hanekawa, the owner, could only tell from its chirp that the situation seemed to be urgent, but he did not know what it had discovered.

There was no time to continue studying the so-called soul inheritance, so Du Qi had to put it down for the time being, and after about twenty minutes of following Haka's instructions in the air to the North Colonel, a huge camp appeared in the field of vision of the two of them. It was a newly established camp, surrounded by an unusual fence made of large tree trunks, except that the ends had been sharpened and inserted into the earth, and then tied together by some kind of vine.

The interior of the camp was similarly disorganized, with the western part of the camp being haphazardly constructed of extremely rudimentary huts, made of animal skins and wood. The southern part is probably the working area of the lizard, where a large number of busy figures gather. Some of the lizards are processing huge tree trunks to provide materials for other projects, while others are cutting and washing huge pieces of prey meat and using fireworks to smoke the meat into jerky for long-term storage. In addition, in the eastern part of the camp there was also a group of lizards, they were probably engaged in one-on-one combat training, just as they had behaved in battle, although the movements were chaotic, but there was also some strength and savage beauty and fortune Finally, there were several wooden buildings to the north of the camp, they were also rough but larger, and Duqi guessed that they were probably the dwellings of the upper echelons of the tribe.

"How many lizards are there?" On the way here, Doki proposed to change the lizardman to a lizardbeast, and although Hanekawa was puzzled, he did not raise any objection to the naming method. At this time, the two of them were hiding in the canopy of a large tree, and their expressions were a little dull. No matter what they are doing, this dense figure alone is enough to make people's scalp tingle.

"At least three or four hundred!" Hanekawa rubbed his eyes, "Look over there, the goods piled up on the wooden carts, they stole them from the human caravans. And over there, they didn't kill the captives, these damn things were keeping humans in captivity. Brother Duqi, let's ......"

"What do you want to do, guy?" Du Qi hurriedly grabbed Hanekawa and woke up the impulsive young man with a light slap, "This problem is not something we can solve, think about the combat power of these lizards, such a tribe can pinch us to death at will." And we don't know exactly where they came from and if more exists. Think about it, if there are aberrations among them, what if there are stronger ones? ”

"That'...... What should you do. ”

"I'll report the situation to the city guard officer of Eagle City, and I suggest you go back to Chishui City as well. If possible, it is best for both parties to be able to act together. ”

In terms of numbers alone, the number of lizards is far less than that of humans, but don't forget that most of the humans in a city-state are just ordinary people, and their combat power is almost negligible in front of these monsters. Du Qi didn't know how much combat power there was inside Flying Eagle City, but it would probably be difficult to deal with such a problem alone. As for whether the two city-states will cooperate, that is not something that Duqi needs to worry about.

At least he had completed the commissioning of the garrison's prayer, and he had indeed gained a lot from this not-so-short journey.

Now, it's time to go back.