The creatures halted for a moment, as if sizing Lucius up. They began moving very slowly, trying to surround him, though Lucius kept moving to make sure that that wouldn't be possible.
If not for the fact that he couldn't see them clearly, he would've attacked already. He decided to take this time to observe them, observe their movements and find out how they attacked.
Giving up on surrounding him, the creatures moved to pounce on him in unison.
~Solar burst,~ Lucius chanted, making sure to decrease its potency so as not to completely destroy them. He wanted their bodies in usable condition to run a few experiments.
The creatures were flung back and their camouflage was temporarily brought down, revealing their locations.
That was all it took, in two swift movements, Lucius slammed his knee into the head of one of the creatures, before impaling its skull with the tip of his stinger tail.
[Quest complete.]
[+300 exp]
Just as he was about to move on to the next, their camouflage came up again, and all he could see was their faint outlines.
The creatures began backing away, realizing that what they thought was prey might actually be too dangerous to hunt.
"Pagan, did you see that?" Lucius called out, still staring in the general direction of the remaining creatures.
"Indeed Lighted One, these creatures are but twigs compared to your greatness," Pagan shouted back.
"He's talking about how the spell revealed them," Asclepius explained in a tired tone.
"I saw that too Lighted One," Pagan added after.
"Make sure to tone down your solar burst to make sure you don't damage them. I want their bodies in good condition," Lucius announced before, letting out a solar pulse.
The solar pulse gave him information on the state of the beasts and a rough idea of where they were. However, in addition to that, something odd happened.
The creatures' camouflage came undone for a split moment.
~It's almost as if... the solar energy is disrupting their camouflage,~ Lucius realized.
He had been under the impression that their camouflage went down because the burst disoriented them, but that did not seem to be the case.
"Lighted One, how did you do that?" Pagan shouted down.
"Solar pulse. Pagan come down here," Lucius called out, before sending out a series of solar pulses at high frequency.
Of course, it was mentally straining and ate away at his solar energy reserves at a fast rate, but he took it as practice as the beasts were now substantially less dangerous now that he had a method to kill them.
He sent out the pulses at a rate of 3 pulses per second, meaning that he got information on them at an almost continuous rate.
[Processing...]
[New spell acquired... 『Solar Trace』.]
[Adding 『Solar Trace』 to 『Solar Sorcery Index』...]
[Complete. 『Solar Trace』 has been added.]
~A new spell?~
Pagan obliged and dropped to the ground, quickly casting solar trace. At this point, the beasts were basically completely visible, as the intervals of their invisibility were so short it was nearly impossible to tell.
At this, the creatures were put into a confused daze. They simply stared at each other, unable to comprehend why their invisibility wasn't working.
"You aren't allowed to use any other spells, and you can only strike them in the head. Preferably a single thrust with your claws..." Lucius called out, before galloping towards one of the still confused beasts, running his claws through its head "Like this," he finished off.
The attack shook the creatures out of their daze. They decided to cut their losses and try to escape, stumbling over each other in an attempt to get as far away as possible.
"Chase after them," Lucius shouted, before running after them.
The hunt took around five minutes, though Lucius could've ended it in one. He was purposefully letting the creatures live longer to take note of their movements, and also to force Pagan to increase his stats.
In the end, Pagan gained 20 points in strength, 38 in stamina, and 30 in agility.
"You need to work on your aim, I said strike them in the head," Lucius said as he dragged the creatures back towards the spot they left Asclepius at.
"I will try to do better, Lighted One," Pagan replied. Though deep down he knew that he wouldn't be able to. The creatures were moving too fast for him to accurately aim for their heads. In fact, Pagan suspected that Lucius viewed things at a faster rate than he did.
"Overall, you scored 5/10, 6/10 because they were a bit tricky," Lucius said, stacking the beasts atop each other.
While Lucius was inspecting the prey, Pagan got Asclepius from the tree she was still waiting on.
"Hopefully their camouflage skin will still work even with them dead," Lucius whispered to himself before tearing off a piece of meat.
~Now, for the quality test,~ he thought before tossing the meat into his mouth.
[Catalyst absorbed.]
[Growth efficiency increased by 27%]
[Photosynthesis efficiency increased by 27%]
[Radiance Production increased by 27%]
[Stats increased by 1%]
[Quest complete.]
[+200 exp]
[Quest complete.]
[+300 exp]
[Level 9!]
~This is pretty good quality,~ Lucius thought to himself.
"Let's head back to the camp. We'll grab some water for Ghost on the way," Lucius ordered, pulling out a worm sack from the vine belt around his waist.
***
The group got back to their section of the forest three hours later, even though it should've been a two-hour trip. The problem was that they had to take a few detours due to the smell of blood attracting hunters toward them.
This was especially troublesome in the glass forest as there was a huge density of different creatures. Though with Lucius's speed, they managed to escape most of them.
After securing the meat atop a tree a distance away from the camp, taking only a small amount for Ghost's pod, the group proceeded to wash themselves off at the river.
"Captain, you're back," Alpha called out once they got to the camp.
