As Hera was moving back to Zaxalam, the Empress realized how much she needed a shower right now. She didn't sweat like she used to, and her body odor seemed to be weaker after becoming an Ophidianite. But still, she was covered in soot and grime from all the fighting in the guardian's rage dungeon. Monsters and people that came from a dungeon could dissolve after being killed, together with their blood, if any, splatter on her. But, anything she burned or any smoke created by their magic would still continue existing even after its creator was long gone. Instead of going directly to the city, Hera decided to make a small detour to the closest doorway, the one leading to Deakoshara. She wasn't going to a new room. But instead, to her private room. Despite all the progress that had been made in the city, there was one thing that was still very uncomfortable for her. Baths, or showers in this case. Ogryn did his best; he really did, but so far, they were only able to set up a communal showers for everyone to use. It had a very locker room feeling to it, using specific carved runes to both create water and get rid of it. Thankfully, the city itself already had a couple of self-regenerating mana stones that were being used to fuel those spells.

However, despite all that, Hera missed baths. Proper baths with a bathtub and a place where she could truly relax without having to worry about lines or other people. The explorer had one other option: using her own private room. She had been doing that every so often, but usually Bonnie, Helena, Alex, even Renette and Eridan would join her. That wasn't a problem by itself. It wasn't like the Empress had to worry about people spending all the hot water or something. The only issue Hera had with all that was that with people around, it became hard to talk with the guides. She wanted their opinion about the resentment, and she didn't have too many chances to talk with all of them about everything that was going on with the guild.

When she entered her private room, Hera sent a few texts to the guides, including Veridallion, who was appearing in her contact list. Hera took a moment to greet them all and then went to business. Asking their opinions about the quest. She expected that most of them wouldn't be able to give any advice. After all, the guides should be aware of the quest, but to her surprise, things were very different. Most guides were able to talk about it, with Veridallion being the only one who said she was too close to the quest to help. Apparently, since this was related to a specific creature, the guides didn't actually know what it wanted. Meaning that unless the guide had personal knowledge about Scryotra, it would be impossible for them to help Hera 'cheat.'

After about two hours, she left again, heading back to the city. Only to have to be coerced to go back to her private room by her friends. Thankfully, Shane was also there to split their numbers. Otherwise, they would have to wait a few hours for everyone to take a shower. During that time, Hera took a moment to look at the physical manifestation of the resentment one more time. She had been keeping it inside a small pouch in hopes that the leather would stop some of the effects, but to no avail. That black rock was now a shade lighter. It was still black but different. Instead of looking like a dark cave where no light could be seen, now it had a shine to it. Almost as if someone used a thin layer of paint to cover a white wall. The symbol on the back was also different. The claws were still going around each other, but the toothy maw was less… toothy. Almost like the mouth was closing. However, the shade of red was still the same.

Noticing that made the Empress even more excited about the idea of going to the hard mode of the dungeon. Going to sleep early, she got up at dawn and headed to the Guardian's Rage. Something told her this wasn't going to be the only thing required to complete the quest. If it was, then the quest would just say, 'Complete the hard mode of the dungeon,' or something along those lines.

The stealth spirits seemed less aggressive now. Not to say they didn't try to attack her, but that whole illusory wall blocking the dungeon was no longer there. The number of spirits that chased after Nimbus was also smaller. This meant that, despite the description of the Scryotra's Resentment not having changed, there were some effects that were lessened. Or the spirits were sleeping, but the Empress preferred to believe in the first option. Even if she would be ready for the second when getting out of the dungeon. Blocking most of the attacks and ignoring others, she touched the wooden door, and a notification appeared in front of her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Would you like to enter the Guardian's Rage dungeon?

[Yes] [No]

or press the button below to enter the dungeon hard mode

[Hard Mode]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Without thinking twice, the Ophidianite touched the third option, letting her go inside the hard mode of the dungeon. The entrance was very similar to the regular version. As soon as she opened the wooden door, there was a small passage that opened to a large forest. But this time, it was denser. It felt like she was still in Zaxalam and not in a different room altogether. But the jungle was different. The trees were shorter, and the foliage less diverse. An eerie silence echoed through the sky as if not even the wind was able to make the vegetation rustle. Taking two steps inside the actual forest, Hera called out her entire court, along with her legacy herald this time.

'Daskka, I know you don't like Scryotra, but I need your help now. If it gets too much for you, let me know, and I'll send you back. But can you be here for now?' the Empress was petting the snake to not just calm Daskka but herself.

'Sure, mum. This feels different. I'm not uncomfortable like I am in the normal mode,' the herald replied.

'That's good,' Hera smiled, still talking using their connection.

The Empress walked for a couple of minutes, trying to see if she could find a village or something. When she reached a clearing, a notification popped up in front of her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dungeon quest chain found.

Find Scryotra

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She glanced around but couldn't see anything anywhere. Calling Nimbus, she climbed on top of the Sentinel in his griffon form, and they took to the skies. Scryotra was a gigantic being. Or at least, it was supposed to be. If the version that was in here was somewhat similar, the best way to find it would be to look around from above. While seeing the dungeon from this angle, Hera was positive that this was Zaxalam. The mountains followed the same pattern, and she could even see the old city in all its glory. The place looked empty but not abandoned. Paying attention to the task at hand, the Empress noticed an odd movement in the ambient mana. It took her a moment to focus on that, but to the south, there was an area that had something different. A large mass of mana that was doing…. Something. Thinking it should be something related to the quest, she told Nimbus to head in that general area. A few minutes passed, and the Sentinel eventually reached that odd mana. As they crossed the threshold, Hera understood what was going on. Several large obsidian legs formed a misshapen circular perimeter around a mountain. The creature was smart enough to use its own bones to create a place where its ability to hide would always be active, no matter the direction people were facing.

Hera told Nimbus to approach that area, flying around it to see if they could manage to find Scryotra. After around a minute, a large tail sting appeared from underneath them. Thanks to Dusa's warning, the Sentinel was able to narrowly avoid being hit but ended up spinning around in the air. The Ophidianite wrapped her tail around the griffon to avoid falling off. However, they also understood that staying in the air was a bad idea and used the momentum created by the spin to dive towards the ground, hiding in the trees.

The Empress asked everyone to stay in their weapon form for a moment and waited. If Scryotra was aggressive and knew their location, it would try to hit them again. Yet, that didn't happen. Maybe the monster wasn't able to detect them now, or it thought they didn't survive the fall. Then again, there could be another reason why it wasn't chasing after them. Hera slowly started to move towards the location where Dusa saw the tail. As they were moving, they started to think about what was going on. A perk of the legacy was that they could have a conversation without making any noise.

'Maybe it's hunting?' Chris suggested

'I don't think that's the case. This feels more like a nest,' Lurize chimed in.

'If this is the nest, wouldn't that mean it's protecting it? Or protecting something in it?' Dao asked.

Hera froze when she heard that. She glanced at Daskka, who understood her worry right away.

'What's wrong? Why did we stop?' Ember asked.

'If Scryotra is protecting something in its nest. It could be its children. And if that's the case…' Daskka trailed off.

'We are in a lot of trouble. Few things are as dangerous as a mother trying to protect her children. And I don't mean just like people. A mother bear gets more ferocious than if she had rabies when trying to protect its cub,' Hera added.

'Yo, what? Isn't Scryotra, like, the only one? How can it have children?' DJ asked.

'Some animals can reproduce without a mate. That's more common on sea animals like starfish or hydras. It's also kind of common in insects, ants, wasps, and aphids. But some larger things can also do that. Lizards, snakes, and even sharks were reported to have babies without a mate in certain conditions. Since Scryotra is a mixture of two bugs and can take the power of other things, it might be able to get that ability,' Viper explained.

'Wow… since when are you so smart little bro?' Crimson joked.

Viper sighed with a voice that made it clear he would have rolled his eyes if he had any, 'Some of us like reading.'

'If it can take the power of other creatures… doesn't that mean it's kind of like a wendigo?' Edge asked.

'That… is a horrifying idea,' Daskka replied.

'Are wendigos really that scary?' Livy asked. She never had any interactions with that type of creature. Her knowledge of them was only what Hera and Daskka told everyone else.

'Yes, they are. Helena spent months without being able to use any magic because of a parasite one of them used. I almost died when I was starting out because of one. They don't stop getting stronger like other monsters. Now that you mention it. The idea of a guardian beast feels like it would fit the Wendigos quite well… Monsters that protect an entire civilization and learn from them,' Hera frowned. Could the system have done something like that in the past? Maybe the guardian beasts were an early attempt at a wendigo. Or, the wendigos were guardian beasts that failed.

Pushing those thoughts to the side, the Empress continued walking. Dusa saw that tail coming from the foot of the mountain, and that was her destination. After a few tense minutes, she cleared the forest, seeing the tall cliffs in front of her. With a rumble, the ground shifted, and a pair of large obsidian legs appeared in front of her, revealing the giant form of Scryotra. It was just like she remembered in her vision, even if its body position was extremely odd. It was forcing itself to be almost curled up in a ball, with one leg facing each direction. Another thing Hera realized was that the monster was severely wounded. Large holes around its carapace and gashes all over its claws dripped blood. Even one of its eyes seemed to be injured. But Scryotra wasn't moving. It just watched her with a confused expression. Looking down, the Ophidianite saw something else. The creature wasn't resting. Instead, it was using its own body to protect a small nest, standing over it like a mother trying to save her child from rubble. Inside that nest, there were two tiny praying mantis scorpion centaurs. Surrounded by five empty eggshells.

Hera looked up at Scryotra, "Did someone steal your babies?"

The giant monster growled weakly, a sound that almost sounded like someone saying 'Yes.'

The Ophidianite clenched her fist, her claws almost digging into her skin. She went through all that trouble to save Scryotra from the abuse of others, only for its children to have the same fate? "Who? The Naga?"

With a nod, the mantis head confirmed.

"The ones in the city? Towards…" Hera looked around, trying to figure out where Zaxalam was located, when Dusa used the hidden blade to point in the right direction, 'Thanks,' the Empress said in her mind before turning to Scryotra once more while pointing in the direction of the city, "There? In that direction?"

The giant monster nodded again.

"Stay here. Focus on healing. I'll be right back with them," Hera said and walked off, her anger flaring up and spreading to the rest of the court. She always expected the Naga to be better than this. Darni was such a kind person, but ever since starting this dungeon, she only saw the ugly side of these people. A notification popped up, but she waved it off. She would've done that even if the quest didn't ask for it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dungeon quest chain found.

Rescue Scryotra's children.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~