Hera was thinking by the waterfall. It was a large open area, and she could see any monsters coming for her. She also hoped that the water would be enough to mask her to some degree. This was a great spot for a breather and to organize her thoughts. She was still staring at the notification that appeared in front of her. How was she supposed to stop an entire species from expanding their territory? As far as she knew, animals could change their territories and maybe even expand them as their populations grew, but she never heard about an animal that was greedy about it. Humans were the only species that would try to increase their domain, even without needing it.
"How am I supposed to stop that? Maybe there is something they are afraid of," Hera turned to the corpse of the smaller one that was still near the river. She looked around, trying to find something that could help her. There wasn't anything in the body that gave her an idea of what to do. Activating her [Inspect], she looked at the body again, although it was the first time she saw this type of creature, maybe because it was a test, she would have some luck.
Juvenile Darikon Orangutan
The Darikon Orangutan is a humanoid monster. They are extremely greedy and able to tame other creatures to do their bidding. This relationship is not symbiotic, and the tamed creatures tend to hold grudges against their new masters. When angered, they can use a spell to increase their strength. This creates energy shaped like red fur to cover their limbs. As they grow older, their muscles become strong enough to stop a blade.
"This…. Doesn't help me much," Hera sighed.
She had to figure out something to push the monsters away. Maybe she could find something that would fight them and scare them off or something they can't cross. The only idea she currently had was to wipe out the entire congress of orangutans, but genocide wasn't that high up on Hera's list. After a few minutes, she left the river to look for more clues. Staying here wouldn't help her figure out anything.
She opened her map, and now there was a large area marked in a grey border that showed the Darikon Orangutans territory. The doorway she came through was on the northern side of that area. It seemed like the territory would be shown even in places where her map was still blank. Maybe this was part of the hunter's skill. Hera decided to check the area around their territory to see if she could find anything they might be avoiding. Now that she wasn't worried about being seen and failing the task, she could move much quicker through the jungle. During the next hour, Hera spent time walking around the northern perimeter of the orangutans' territory. She noticed that every animal inside it was tamed, but the ones on the outside weren't. Still, there wasn't anything that seemed to be strong enough to contest the monkey's supremacy. In fact, the monsters outside the Darikon Orangutans' territory were smaller, and some were even malnourished to the point where they could barely move.
There were a couple of moments where she had to hide from what looked like monkey patrols. One of those even stared directly at her hiding spot, but they just kept walking. Maybe it was because they didn't see her or because she was outside their territory, even if just by a few meters. She made notes about what was around the area while walking. The jungle was actually in the middle of a valley, with tall mountains on both sides. It was hard to see it from the river which cut through the middle of the forest, and most of the orangutans' territory was in the larger expanse of trees. However, when she walked by the edges of the grey area on her map, she could easily see the mountainside.
On the east side of the jungle, a waterfall was coming from high up in the mountain, but Hera noticed something odd in how the water was falling. It wasn't a constant stream, but more like if someone was throwing buckets of water from high up. Going down from where the sad waterfall was located, there was a large stone path a few meters deeper into the ground than the rest of the forest. As if this was, once upon a time, a river that cut the jungle in half. If there was a way to increase the stream of water, this could be enough to stop the orangutans from moving around. She climbed a nearby tree, looking for a better vantage point. From the tree, she could see blockage made out of wood, stopping the water flow. However, if this was simply a lazy river, the monkeys could be able to cross it by jumping over or swimming. She knew that most primates had trouble moving around in the water, but she didn't know if that would apply to this particular species.
Hera followed the river, trying to see where it would lead. She didn't want to waste time trying to figure out a way to break that dam just to have her plan failing. It took around twenty minutes to cross the entire length of the river. It could've been less, but several orangutans were walking around, which made her have to hide and wait. The river was still on the north side of their territory, but it would snake around the jungle, reaching an area closer to the middle of the monster's habitat. When she finally got to the other side, she saw a small lake by the mountain walls. It was a bit weird because it seemed like the water was going inside the mountain. Looking around the space, she noticed a series of rocks that appeared to have been from a collapsed entrance under the lake. After inspecting the area, she noticed a small gap between one of the rocks. It was just enough to allow her to see a glimmer of something behind it. At a specific angle, the light from the area was reflected in something far away from the apparent entrance. Hera cast a dancing light and sent it through the gap. The small globule of light squeezed into the hole. Behind the rubble, there was a large expanse. She could see the ceiling of a cave, but not the floor.
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Hera cut a long branch from one of the nearby trees and started poking the stones. With her strength, she could feel them shifting slightly, but not enough to breakthrough. The lake itself wasn't that deep. Even after walking into the lake, the water only reached her shoulders. Still, going inside to push against the rocks was a bad idea. If she managed to open that passage, the water could force her inside, and she had no way of knowing where it would lead to or even if it wouldn't simply be another waterfall.
"Should I just break the dam and either flood the jungle or hope this breaks?" Hera mumbled.
Although flooding everything could be a plan, she had to admit that having a rushing river would be much better. That way, the orangutans wouldn't risk themselves trying to cross over. While a flood might actually make them spread out and even turn the one congress into two, making the problem much worse. Hera stood there for a moment with her [Hide] still active, not to be disturbed, thinking about what she could do to reopen that passage under the lake. Her spells lacked the explosive power to force the rocks to shift, and it wasn't like she knew how to make a bomb out of grass and wood.
She had an idea that would take some work, but it was the best one she had. Moving out of the river, Hera found a tree that was just a bit taller than her and started cutting it with her handaxe. She didn't want to use something too big since it would be impossible for her to move the trunk on her own. It took her about ten minutes to cut it down. She could've done it quicker, but she was trying to be as quiet as possible. Even aiming for the tree to fall towards the mountainside.
The tree proved to be less resistant than she expected. As she cut it with her axe, it tumbled to the side of the jungle, making a loud noise as the tree hit the ground. Hera quickly looked for a place to hide, staying completely still under a large bush nearby. She waited for a few minutes, worried that the noise could've attracted any of the monsters in the jungle, but nothing seemed to be getting closer.
"I guess they don't care," Hera mumbled as she got up from her hiding spot.
She dragged the tree trunk she just cut and pushed it into the lake. Her goal was to jam it between the rocks and to reopen that passage. It took her a few tries before she managed to loosen enough of the rubble to begin draining the lake. As the water passed through, more of the blockage was pushed inside, and the passage was mostly cleared.
"Great. Now I have to figure out a way to break the dam. I just hope this works, and I didn't lose all this time for nothing," Hera sighed and turned back towards the other side of the river. Another fifteen minutes went by as she hid and tried to evade the monsters who would be roaming the jungle, but she finally returned to the area with the odd waterfall. She got up on one of the trees again, trying to see the dam better. It was too high up to climb, and the rocks by the side of the valley were too smooth for her to find some footing. With that idea out the window, she tried to figure out if any spells could help her situation. The only things she could think of were her fire spells, but against the wet wood of a dam, it was very unlikely that it would work.
"It's worth a shot, I guess."
Hera cast a fire arrow and aimed above the dam. It was the first time she fired at something so high up and far away, and the spell fizzled out before hitting the target. She tried it a couple more times, but the mana she was putting in the spell wasn't enough to make it reach the dam. On her fifth attempt, she managed to hit the wooden blockage, but the fire barely did anything. Grease fire didn't have enough range to reach that, and even if it did, it was too risky to use something like a flamethrower in the middle of a forest. Her only remaining option was to use the flaming poison rain. She never considered using that spell in such a long range, but if it worked, it had potential. The projectiles would spread poison that would be ignited by the flames, making it more likely to burn down the dam. This time, it took only two attempts for the spell to hit her target. Hera kept the spell going for as long as she could without running out of mana, and by the end of it, the dam burned enough to start breaking apart. Hera quickly left the river area, trying to stay on the north bank, and found a sturdy enough tree that didn't seem that could be swept by any incoming waves. She was halfway up that tree when the sound of something large hitting the ground echoed through the valley.
The dam had collapsed, and all the stuck water flowed once more. In a moment, the area surrounding the river was flooded. Waves crashed from the sides, covering a large area of the jungle in water. Hera could see the river now starting to fill from her position, and just as she hoped, the flow was anything but calm. The rapids swiftly covered the dried-up river. The noise attracted some of the orangutans, but they just started yelling and shouting. Hera saw a couple of them on her side of the river trying to cross over. One managed to do so, but the other was swept away by the current.
You have completed the Jungle Biome - 2nd task
Jungle Biome – 3rd task
You have created a barrier in the Darikon Orangutans' territory. Now, they will be unable to grow their domain beyond the river. Due to their high reproduction rate, if any stragglers are still on the northern bank of the river, their territory might start expanding again.
Hunt down any Darikon Orangutans on the northern bank of the river.
"At least it worked. I just hope that there are not too many of them here," Hera mumbled as she got down from the tree.
Just as her feet hit the ground, she heard a roar from the side. Four of the orangutans started approaching with their fists already glowing.