Chapter 412: Moonwrath Valley

Figg was the first to jump, his body rapidly shrinking and sprouting wings as he turned into a small, wooden sparrow. However he barely got three flaps of his little wings before Belladonna snatched him out of the air like a hungry cat, and leapt off of the cliff herself.

She jumped straight down, close enough to the cliff that one wayward outcropping could do some serious damage, but she soon dug her [Shade Claws] into the cliff-side to slow their descent.

In her hands, the Figg bird let out a series of confused and frustrated tweets as it struggled within her grip.

But to answer its questions, Belladonna simply held it up higher so it could see where they had jumped from.

All of the Panda Squirrels were leaping off themselves. They spread their limbs wide, revealing that their chubby bodies were mostly loose skin that they used to glide through the skies.

Behind them, the Thunder Fangs skidded to a halt at the edge of the cliff, uprooting patches of grass and sending dozens of the yellow blades dancing into the air alongside the escapees.

With every roar of the Thunder Fang, lightning leapt from their fur - which was crackling with even more energy after their chase. Bolts of lightning streaked through the air, most of them being redirected to the grass blades that the Panda Squirrels were expertly weaving through, whilst a few bolts struck their intended victims.

There was a sharp squeak, before a smoking body plummeted through the air and fell to the veritable jungle that lay in the lands beneath them.

The living Panda Squirrels either dove into this jungle themselves, finding shelter under the cover of the tree-tops, or simply swooped back and landed on the Cliff face beside Belladonna.

The Figg bird let out a few apologetic squeaks that made Belladonna chuckle before she slowly climbed down the cliff to the jungle below. When they were within reach, she sprung off of the cliff and landed in the tree tops.

All it took was a few leaps from branch to branch, before they were finally on the ground once again.

"Thanks for that. I really don’t want to end up as a roast dinner." Figg said with a smile after he transformed back.

"Don’t worry about it. At least we know that we are close, right? After all, we saw one of those things come through the portal the first time.

But we should probably move. That might be their preferred hunting ground, since that weird grass seems to give them some sort of electrical charge when they run through it, but they won’t leave their prey down here."

She gestured to the collection of fresh bodies that were splattered around them. Some of them hanging from the various branches, whilst others had an express trip to the ground.

The sweet scent of blood, mixed with the tangy scent of ozone, was already filling the air and tickling Belladonna’s nose. There was no doubt that if it was playing with her instincts, that it would attract others too, and not just the original predators.

Who knows what lived here. Whilst there was the high chance they could fight anything off, it was a risk. They could get surrounded, overwhelmed or simply be unable to fight a beast with a strange ability. Not to mention, it was a waste of time and energy.

It was best to keep moving. Although, that didn’t stop Belladonna from plucking up one or two of the bodies, just for a travel snack. It was hard to let something that fresh go to waste.

"So, do you know where we are?" Figg asked as he cast a spell on his staff, growing a small flower that started to spurt out a pheromone that would mask their scent trail as they walked.

"According to the maps I’ve seen, this place has a name that loosely translates to "Moonwrath Valley." Although I feel that Moonwrath Jungle would have been more appropriate. God... Why does it have to be so hot here?"

Belladonna said with a pant. She wiped her arm across her forehead and flicked it to the side, dislodging what felt like an entire swimming pool’s worth of sweat.

She couldn’t have been the only one that was feeling it, as the moment they had left the cliff and entered here Beans refused to come out for even a second and instead stayed within the cool embrace of her shadow.

But when she glanced back at Figg, the Druid seemed completely at peace and not uncomfortable in the slightest. In fact his wooden antlers grew a touch larger and his skin seemed to glow, as if this sweaty jungle was making him better.

Scowling at him for his luck, Belladonna altered her outfit with a thought. The [Living Armour] crawled back up her arms and legs, as well as separated at her stomach. Her thick leather armour thinned dramatically, before her outfit solidified itself once more into a low-cut, short sleeved crop top and a high pair of shorts that exposed her thick, deathly pale legs.

Perfect jungle exploring outfit, so long as you didn’t care about leeches or ticks. But really, at this point she would take them over this unbearably clammy heat.

Who knows, maybe they would avoid her. Honour among bloodsucking parasites, and what not.

She stopped for a moment, leaning against a tree and lifting her foot so the [Living Armour] could give her a nice pair of hiking boots to make this terrain more tolerable. As she did so, a vine close to her slowly lifted, curling upwards as it opened its eyes.

The vine whipped out, it’s fangs stopping barely an inch away from Belladonna’s sweat glistening neck. Beads of Venom gathered at the ends of the Vipers Fangs, one that had the same greenish colouration as the actual vines hanging around it.

"It’s rude to rush a lady when she is changing. Especially when she is deciding on her shoes." Belladonna growled, tightening her grip around the Vipers throat.

"Although..."

She tilted its head up, taking a closer look at the venom dripping from its fangs,

"Hey Figgy, Have you ever seen a Viper like this? And, Hypothetically speaking, what would happen if it did actually manage to bite me?"