“So, it’s a fucking Om - ugh okay I would refrain from speaking of its name while I am here.” after hearing from Josephine Wong what the dragon with dark scales did, Jianmen became visibly frustrated and scratched his head: “You should’ve told me that sooner. We kinda need to hurry up.”

“I just got to know you. I don’t know if I can trust you.” Josephine Wong frowned and jabbed her wooden spear into the ground: “Why the sudden attitude?”

“Okay.” Jianmen took a deep breath and got himself out of his frustrated state: “My apologies - but this is not a good sign. That dragon - or the presence of it, is a great threat to this already unstable place. The slime creatures you mentioned - do you have an idea what they are?”

“I am not quite sure - but I sensed malice from them. I don’t think they are normal creatures or even living things at all.” Josephine Wong nodded and accepted Jianmen’s apology: “And - I owe you an apology as well - you saved me and provided me with shelter and food. So trust is warranted. Things of this scale are a concern to everyone, and I should’ve told you that earlier.”

“It’s fine, really, we should just consider our next steps carefully now.” Jianmen nodded: “So, you sensed malice from those things, what else? Did you hear curses when you got close to them? Do those things make you feel rage or despair for no apparent reason?”

“Umm… no.” Josephine Wong shook her head, while she lowered her body as they were getting closer to the crater in which the lizard monster was lying: “They’re just… weird and creepy.”

“So that’s good … at least I think so. I actually don’t have that much knowledge about this kind of dragon - it’s not super related to me so I didn’t ask for it when I got here.” Jianmen scratched his jaw and thought for a brief moment: “That kind of dragon is a strange kind of being in the universe - they feast on energy, and have a special taste for the negative energy of malice. And because of it, their flesh and blood became fully infused with this kind of energy.”

“Makes sense. So the slime and mucus it coughed up would contain malice as well, and if the density of malice is high enough, the insanity COULD - and that’s a big could - it could form into some kind of weird mucus zombie.” Josephine Wong stopped near the edge of the crater: “Which makes me think, and understand - that the only good outcome for us here could only come if we get outta here or for it to leave immediately. Whether it died here or it stayed here, it’s gonna be disastrous.”

“My thoughts exactly.” Jianmen slowly and carefully set foot into the crater and started approaching the lizard: “Okay, you keep an eye on the surroundings, I will see if it is dead and ripe for salvaging - it looks pretty fresh, so a sign of high risk and high reward.”

“Okay, wait.” Josephine Wong called out to Jianmen and threw her dagger towards Jianmen: “Use this, it’s not as long but it’s sharper and sturdier than the stick.”

“Thanks.” Jianmen caught the dagger and hid it inside of his fur sleeve.

Josephine Wong held her wooden spear in hand and started to watch for potential danger from the surrounding area. If this lizard monster was indeed dead, the quietness and peace of the surroundings would not last long. The other monsters of this place would attack a valuable target even before it is dead, so it is completely expected that other monsters and creatures would swarm the place once the smell of a dead dangerous monster spread out.

But, something still bothered her, and she was quite sure it was bothering Jianmen as well, was that the squid monster was nowhere to be seen - there weren’t even any body parts of it around. The only indication of its existence was the splashes of blood, there were several colors, and Josephine Wong was pretty sure one lizard monster wouldn’t have blood with all those colors.

Jianmen picked up a long piece of stone from inside the crater and shaped it into three small stone knives and one stone spearhead with his hand - it appeared quite clearly to Josephine Wong that earth was one of his main elemental powers.

While Jianmen was still at a distance from the lying lizard monster, he placed the stone spearhead onto his wooden stick, making a makeshift spear. Then without the cliche move of gently and carelessly poking the beast, Jianmen just infused his power into the simple spear and threw it at the lizard monster’s neck with full force.

The lizard monster opened its eyes just bare moments before the tip of the spear pierced through its scales and shell. It tried raising its neck in an attempt to evade the spear attack, but it was only able to move its spine out of the way, and the tip of the spear still penetrated the scales and shells on its neck, leaving a bleeding wound on the side of its neck.

A long, thick and scaly tail rose from the ground on Jianmen’s left and lashed against Jianmen’s shoulder. Jianmen did not get a chance to dodge and was forced to block the attack with his forearms and hands. Jianmen was thus sent flying through the air, but having raised Josephine Wong’s dagger in front him, he was able to leave a cutting wound on the lizard’s tail.

“What the fuck, man!?” Josephine Wong cursed and rushed towards Jianmen, while infusing the wooden spear in his hand with her magical power into her wooden spear.

The lizard monster was thoroughly enraged, it started growling and screeching, and lunged right at Jianmen with its claws extended. The only spike that still remained on its back was also severely damaged to the point of almost completely broken, but it still had its sharp claws and teeth. And when it started moving, Josephine Wong was able to see that there were quite a lot of wounds on its limbs and tail, and if one paid close attention, they looked quite like those that are left on the human body by octopus suction cups.

Jianmen turned his body in the air in order to tuck and roll on the ground to absorb the shock and impact from the strike. And while he was rolling on the ground, he cast a few spells on the ground, which turned into simple magical traps.