Ray ran a few more miles into the forest afraid that the sprite would decide to come after him. Throughout the entire run all he saw was black trees and red smoke.
He had gotten a very ominous feeling once he crossed the river and he knew it was the forest but he had no choice,it was either be roasted or chance his life in the infected forest. Once Ray demed the sprite was no longer after him,he slowed down to a walking pace. He was looking for a place to set camp.
Of course it should be very high up from the ground as it is much safer. He searched around but most trees where devoid of leaves and some were even dead.
Ray had long chanted his mist void spell and was now invisible , he had also sealed his aura otherwise he would have long since been found and attacked by corrupted beasts.
Ray was one step away to being in shock and having a heart attack so he could not afford to encounter and fight any beasts at the moment. He also shifted back to his human form.
Fifteen minutes of searching he finally found a huge tree with leaves, even though they looked kinda creepy with the leaves black with red veins in them. Without wasting time he jumped high up on the tree and with that he conjured webs and made a decent sized tent able to house three individuals. He also conjured a single bed and fell on it promptly. It felt soft and comfortable and Ray deemed that he was truly a master of web weaving.
Ray casted the tent with mist void to hide it and laid still on the bed staring at the ceiling. It was at this time the river broke and tears fell one after another. Ray tried to stop the sobs threatening to spill from his mouth but failed miserably. He cried for a very long time and eventually feel asleep.
Hours later he woke up and while on the bed decided on what to do.
He was not worried about the maesma cause he naturally repelled it,but the thought of his previous battle deemed that he did truly need support.
It was then he remembered that he had yet to use his skill 'web creation puppetry. So he decided to use it but first further researched about the skill on his panel,he found out that since he had leveled up he can now created ten big puppets maximum and twenty small puppets. He also found out that he cannot make more than 10 puppets of the same kind.
He searched in his memory the beast he had encountered and with visuals in mind. With his mind set he went outside the tent and sat on a branch and with that he activated his skill.
Ray's eyes began to glow and a white glowing spider web mark appeared on his forehead,his hand also glowed a faint white light. He held his hands out and ten small magic circle appeared on a branch above him . These circles were glowing white light.
Through each circle a small cocoon the size of a chicken egg emerged. This cocoons contains puppets of a common butterfly Ray used to see when he was still a small spider. When Ray saw the ten small coccoons hanging from the branch by a thin web,he nodded to himself with satisfaction.
"Ok these butterflies will be my eyes and ears in the forest",he stated.
In the same position he turned to another branch and repeated the same actions,this time three medium sized circles appeared on the branch and from these circles three cocoons half the size of Ray's human body emerged and were hung from the branch by a thick web.
Ray oppned his eyes and observed the three cocoons . These puppets were of a mortal hawk beast with sharp claws and large wide wings. This beast once decided to attack Ray while he was in his infant form after evolution. It maybe thought he was easy prey due to his size but was killed rather quickly.
This hawk was very agile and had superb flying skills. It had this skill were with a flap of it's wing it would blow a powerful gust of wind that was able to knock down a rooted tree.
It could also release sharp wind blades which can cut an opponent. It's affinity was not wind though but metal and it was called a 'steel wing hawk'.
It was able to turn it's wings to sharp wing blades and also turn it's talons to sharp metal able to cut an opponent. It also had very sharp keen eyesight able to spot prey miles away.
"You will be my eyes from above and my air force" he decided. Ray was satisfied and so jumped from the tree to the ground because these next puppets would not be able to be hung from tree branches.
Still with concentration, five big circles appeared on the ground and five huge coccoons emerged from them. These puppets are of the green wolves he encountered. "You will be my soldiers in battle"he muttered.
Finally two more magic circle appeared on the ground and were both big as well . This cocoons were special because they did not resemble any beasts but were made from Ray's imagination. These two puppets almost completely drained his energy.
"You will be my right and left hand men"Ray muttered. When Ray finished he casted all the coccoons with mist void and hid them from the world. The seven coccoons circled the tree he was occupying, Ray finally went to rest in his tent and because of exhaustion and magical depletion he was knocked out as soon as his body made contact with the bed.
The puppets will spend 72 hours in the coccoons to be completed which is why Ray was not worried. Ray spent the whole night and half of the following day asleep. When he woke up it was mid day but even so the forest did not seem to brighten at all , instead it seemed dark and ominous as always.
Ray decided to explore a little and patrol to see if there are any beasts nearby. Ray would not hesitate to engage in battle even with corrupted beasts.
Ray spotted a pond when he was patrolling but it was not a pleasent sight. Instead of clean clear water the pond instead contained dirty green water that was no dought toxic .
Ray was just about to walk away when suddenly a loud menacing hiss rang out.
" "
Ray looked back at the water and noticed a huge snake beast emerging from the water. It had green scales and fins like that of a fish and they were fully erected along the side of the snake's head . It had it's mouth wide open and it's split tongue flapping the air.
Species name : toxic water serpent ♀️️
Level : 57
Health : 65780
Rank : mortal beast(corrupted)
Affinity: poison
Description: a former water serpent corrupted by maesma to become toxic. It has a special skill in which it stares at it's prey with glowing eyes and compels it to enter it's domain (water) where it would devour it.
"Compulsion ey? boring "
These were Ray's thoughts on the serpent, you see the thing is after Ray's previous battle with the sprite his mood was completely sour at the moment.
That sprite completely overpowered him despite he having an elemntal advantage,yes it was levels higher than his own but still.
This is why he was not curious about the beast in front of him one bit and he also did not want to deal with at all so he turned to walk away. When the serpent saw it's 'prey' going away it spewed poisonous green gas towards him which succeeded in stopping it's prey on it's spot.
When the gas cleared Ray turned to face the beast, the serpent saw the prey unaffected and used it's skill compulsion on it however to it's suprise it too did not work as well.
Ray was not and I mean not amused and had an anoyed expression on his face.
"I was trying to avoid your end but okaaay, since you want it so bad I shall deliver bitch' he sassed.
The serpent became wary of the expression and tone of it's prey and moved backwards a bit, but it's body was suddenly frozen in solid ice and it's eyes were the only movable pert of it's body. It looked at Ray in fear but the latter blasted it to pieces with a water ball spell and without wasting more of his precious time he went back to the tent.
At the lake the water bubbled and seven more serpents emerged from the water and looked at their comrade's broken body then at Ray's retreating back.
They smartly dived back in the water because they knew that that being despite it's size would obliterate them. Ray had not noticed this at all and returned to his tent. Ray was mentally tired and decided to just go to sleep. He had countless nightmares about the sprite that felt so real and Ray cried and screamed countless times when he was asleep. Time passed by and two days went by in a blink.