Single Spell Sorcerer
Chapter 128: The Lake

Chapter 128: The Lake

Nearly four months had passed since Jax had come to the 9th carriage. There was a little more than 2 months remaining before it was time for him to register for the trial to move on to the next stage. Melayne had mentioned that they had to go somewhere to register, but she too wasn’t sure where that was, just that it was outside of the forest.

So, they had to leave as soon as they could.

And yet, there were still two more issues.

Jax was still stuck at the 5th Opal stage.. His Navi had grown stronger, but not quite enough to push him over the threshold to the next level. Every day of training brought incremental progress, but never the breakthrough he was hoping for.

The Emerald stage was beyond his reach just yet, but he was hopeful that he could reach it before it was time to register.

The second issue was with the flower he had to get. The Lakeborn Monkey was hard to find.

As long as those two issues were solved, he could leave this place finally.

Their small party had, however, flourished. The items he’d bought from Melayne’s quest had been selling well, giving him more Opal stone and emptying his Inventory. He had already gathered the 2000 Opal stones he needed to pay the young man whose name still appeared on his palm as part of his deal.

He just needed to find him in this world now.

Both Lucille and Ning had finally reached the fifth Opal stage, something they’d been working toward for far too long.

As the days grew closer to when the next set of passengers would come from the 10th carriage’s trial, the village grew smaller and quieter. Most of the people there had left already, making their way out of the village so they could go register in time.

That made it so that the remaining people had a much easier time hunting in the forest as there were just not enough people to go through it all.

Their party worked hard everyday, hunting as much as they could. And then one day...

"There it is," Melayne said, pointing through the dense foliage ahead.

The rest smelled a musty smell before they even saw it.

A swampland stretched before them beyond a set of thick trees, murky water reflecting the overcast sky. In the center of the swamp was a clear lake, its surface disturbed only by the occasional ripple.

And standing knee-deep in the water, was the thing they had been searching for all this time.

The Lakeborn Monkey was smaller than Jax had expected, no bigger than a regular human. Its blue body was a surprising sight in the lake. Fish-like scales covered its entire body, making it look more amphibian than it should be.

The party looked at the Boss in awe.

But Jax’s attention was drawn past the creature to a small patch of land in the middle of the lake. A single tree grew there, and blooming from its branches was a flower with blue petals carrying white spots all around it.

That was the flower he’d been searching for all this time.

"That’s the flower I need," he told the others.

Ning glanced at him. "The flower from the quest?"

"Yes. As soon as I have that flower, we can leave this village."

Melayne studied the boss, who had yet to notice their presence. "I haven’t fought this particular boss before, but I know something about it. The Lakeborn Monkey isn’t physically strong, so it relies on speed instead."

"It uses water spells mostly. Each time one spawns, it has three specific abilities. One lets it travel through water instantly. Another makes it resistant to most spells. The third causes the water around it to constantly churn and form waves. That one is the worst to fight in from what I hear."

Lucille frowned. "That resistance spell sounds problematic in my case."

"I suppose so," Melayne agreed. "The monkey is much more agile than any of us, especially in water. I think our best strategy is for us to have two who can fight on their own in the front, and someone behind to protect Lucille."

Jax and Ning nodded.

They both claimed that they should be the ones to fight. Melayne thought for a bit and nodded. She would be the one to protect Lucille. Once they planned out their strategy, they stepped into the swamp.

The water immediately dragged at their legs, slowing his movement significantly. They grimaced at the physical resistance.

"This is going to make everything harder," Ning muttered.

The Monkey had noticed them, its black eyes turning to observe their actions. It stayed in its place, allowing the others to approach. All of them got into place, trying to figure out what spell it was that the boss had spawned with this time.

When Jax arrived close enough to the monkey, he lifted his left hand and immediately created poison threads around the boss’s body. .

The battle began.

The monkey raised its hand immediately, launched pressurized jets of water at Jax.

Jax threw himself to the side, the water cutting past where he’d been standing a moment before.

Ning pushed forward, his eyes focused on the critical spot around its chest. With the monkey tangled up in the greenish threads, he could hit it.

He lunged toward the monkey, aiming for the spot. However, the monkey suddenly melted away, turning to water, mixing in with the water.

"Careful!" Melayne shouted immediately. "It can come out of–"

The monkey erupted from the water right next to her, its gnarly fingers clawing toward Lucille behind her.

Lucille jumped away from the location in a panic, perhaps a little too quickly, as she was nearly 3 feets above the water at the highest point.

The monkey missed her, but it didn’t stop there. It pointed its palm toward her.

Lucille was still in mid-air when the creature fired another high-pressure stream of water directly at her.