My Roleplay System
Chapter 104: Lizard King

Chapter 104: Chapter 104: Lizard King

The cave was dark and damp. A slightly fishy smell filled the air causing the group to feel slightly nauseous as they walked forward.

The only light that illuminated the area was from the faint glow from their wristbands.

Lake himself didn’t need the light as his dark vision was enhanced along with his other senses so he could see everything as clear as day.

However, that wasn’t the case for the rest of the group. The flashlight function of their wristband was the only thing they could use to illuminate their surroundings.

Lake continued to walk forward as the group followed behind him.

Thanks to the layout of the cave, Lake’s hearing was able to pick up sounds from much further away from the faint echoes that traveled through the halls and corridors that made up the Lizardmen’s den.

Using them as a guide, he led the group towards the nearest group of lizardmen he could find, while avoiding the bigger groups.

The cave had a few branching pathways and Lake led the group through several of them without pause.

The group didn’t question this and just followed silently behind. Lake was their scout in this situation and rather than just randomly choosing a direction, it was better to just follow him.

Since they were moving slower than normal the group took more than twenty minutes before they arrived at their destination.

Lake signaled for everyone to turn off their flashlights as he led the way forward through the narrow tunnel.

Soon, the narrow tunnel began to open up as a large cavern was slowly revealed to them.

The place was fairly large and the sound of running water could be heard throughout the cave.

Since they turned off their lights the group couldn’t see anything besides some vague silhouettes.

When they enhanced their vision with mana, they were able to see a little more.

The sound of running water came from a small stream that seemed to flow through the west end of the cavern.

To the north was a group of lizardmen who stood beside another tunnel leading further into the cave.

In the center of the cave, the vague silhouettes that were moving around were quickly revealed to them.

It was a group of young lizardmen, only three to four feet tall playing around with each other.

Some played with little spears and some small rocks while others chased each other around as if they were playing tag.

When the group noticed the group of hatchlings, Gwen and the rest felt slightly uncomfortable.

If someone were to ask a hunter what was the most difficult task they had to perform in their line of work, most would say attacking a tribal or intelligent race of creatures.

This wasn’t because of how difficult they were to fight, but because of how uncomfortable the task was.

These tribal races usually had many similarities to humans in one way or another, whether it be in the way they worked together or set up strongholds and homes.

The thing that made hunting these tribal races so difficult was dealing with their young.

Since the races were often similar, when it came to slaughtering the young, it was often a difficult moral barrier that some hunters just couldn’t bring themselves to cross.

On one hand, it was their job to hunt and eradicate the monster population to protect their own civilians, but on the other hand, they had to eradicate an entire tribe of a species, leaving no survivors behind, meaning killing young and old.

Sometimes, hunters would have to kill the babies after defeating the mother that tried it’s hardest to protect them. In situations like this, it wasn’t a question of whether you were strong enough to do it, but whether or not you had enough willpower and mental resistance to move on after you did do it.

That was why when they saw the group of hatchlings, Gwen and the rest felt slightly uncomfortable.

Well, everyone except Lake. To him, they were all the same, old or young, they were all RP waiting to be collected.

After looking through all of their fates, Lake was prepared to lead the rest of the group forward when he suddenly picked up something fast approaching their current position.

Without delay, Lake pulled the group aside to hide behind some large rocks near the flowing stream to the west.

ROAR!!

Immediately after Lake and the group went into hiding, a large creature burst into the room from the tunnel behind the group of adult Lizardmen.

Because they were hiding behind a rock, Lake or the group couldn’t see exactly what the creature was but just from the roar alone as well as the way the ground shook from each step it took, a clear picture was painted in their head.

Lake and everyone else stayed absolutely silent at this point.

Listening closely, Lake could hear the slight hissing of the Lizardmen along with the slight fury hidden behind the large creatures roars.

Although Lake couldn’t see the creature, he already had a pretty good idea as to what it was.

The Lizard King.

A name he came up with for the large creature on the other side of the rock.

It was a large Lizardman almost standing 12 feet tall. Its tail extended for more than eight feet while its snout was large enough to bite a fully grown human in half.

Lake knew that its strength was equivalent to Peak Rank Two, making it the strongest creature among the Lizardmen.

After speaking with the other Lizardmen in the cavern, the Lizard King ran back through the tunnel it had come from.

Once the Lizard King left, everyone else who was holding their breath, exhaled a sigh of relief.

Lake looked over and could see a drop of sweat flowing from Hana’s forehead who stood next to him.

She pulled up her wristband and typed a message into the chat.

Since they were behind the rock and the group had long set their wristband’s light setting to the lowest, the other Lizardmen who still remained in the cavern didn’t notice.

Hana: What the hell was that?

Landur: I also wish to know. I thought the scouts report said that there were only low level Rank Two creatures. That was clearly above low level!

Gwen: The scouts couldn’t get close enough to observe the Lizardmen in detail. The creature from before probably slipped past the scouts’ detection somehow.

Jayce: Are the scouts blind? How the hell did they let something that big slip past them?!

As the group continued to chat, Lake carefully sensed the surroundings before sending a message in the group chat.

Lake: The creature just now was an overgrown Lizardman. Its strength seems to be around Peak Rank Two. I already paid attention to the area, it should have left to head somewhere else and shouldn’t come back in a short period of time. What’s the plan?

Hana: ???

Landur: ???

Jayce: ???

A string of question marks appeared in the chat as everyone looked over to Lake with a dumbfounded expression.

Landur: I say, first year, how did you know it was a Lizardman and how did you estimate its strength?

Hana: Yeah! I was standing right next to you and didn’t see you look over to see what it was.

Seeing this, Lake knew he had slipped up a little but quickly explained.

Lake: I listened to the sound of its tail dragging against the ground and also paid attention to the feeling of vibration from the way it walked which resembled the slithering pattern of the Lizardmen we had fought before. Using this I determined that it was a larger lizardman.

Lake: As for its strength, I estimated it by taking in the sound, disturbance in the air, and feeling of vibration in the cave. Judging from this, I determined that its strength was stronger than the Lizardman by a large margin, but not strong enough to be a Rank Three creature as I didn’t sense the density of mana that corresponded to beings of that Rank.

When the group saw this message, they were all stunned.

Jayce: Junior, I think you greatly underestimated yourself when you said you were proficient in scouting.

Landur: Agreed.

Hana: +1.

After hearing Lake’s explanation, besides from the initial shock, they quickly recovered as Gwen analyzed the situation and came up with a reasonable plan.

Gwen: Although it may be a little difficult, we can deal with a Peak Rank Two creature if we could get it alone in an open area. However, that would require us to kill the rest of the Lizardmen in the cave and find a place large enough for us to fight it.

Lake: I can guide everyone through the cave and avoid running into the Lizard King. If we continue at our current pace, it would take about 6 hours to clear out the entire nest. This is my estimate after taking in the structure of the cave and the maximum possible depth I could geographically estimate.

Gwen: Good. Then you’ll be the main scout and we’ll aim to clear out as much as possible in the next 6 hours. After that, we’ll set up a trap outside in the valley and aim to kill the Lizard King then. Any questions?

Jayce: Lizard King, huh? I like the name of that. It feels more epic to hunt. No questions.

Landur: No questions.

Hana: Negative, captain!

After confirming that no one had any questions left, Gwen and the rest prepared themselves for what’s to come next.

Stepping out from behind the rocks, they turned their gaze to the group of hatchlings and Lizardmen as they steeled their resolve.