Jace''s night passed without anything of note. Although the tiger did push the bone creature''s body onto the fire to cook it. It was interesting to watch the tiger as it watched its meat cook.

    Jace''s dinner consisted of lizard-mantis kebabs and water. While the tiger munched on well cooked bone creature parts. He did notice something particular again. The bone creature had the same extra organ that he had not seen before that was in the illusion-wolf. It seemed the local wildlife had adapted for a specific digestive track and for whatever reason this tiger seemed to like eating those organs specifically.

    When Jace came down from his tree he found the remains of the bone creature that the tiger left behind had disappeared. He glanced at the tiger as it jumped from branch to branch to reach the ground.

    Since it was early in the morning he would first go to the north side of the plateau and put up a sign warning about the stealth based creatures. Then once it was midday he could go to the south side, the spider-like thing''s territory.

    As he moved through the forest equipped with a bow, his knife, and another makeshift scythe spear he listened for movement again. This time his helmet had the radio disabled for the time being. He could not listen to it all the time because he only had a single spare battery for the radio, so he would have to come up with a pattern of when he would need to be listening in.

    He was able to make it to the north side of the plateau without encountering any lizard-mantis creatures. He could actually hear them in the distance, the few times they got near him they veered away. Almost like the creatures were now avoiding him.

    Jace was able to leave a simple wooden sign tied with a vine to three where the vine rope was attached. Just a simple warning about invisible creatures would work. Then he walked back to the south side of the plateau. Once again he avoided encountering anything, mostly because everything was avoiding him.

    That would make it difficult to hunt later when he needed food. After arriving at the south side and putting up another side he looked at the tiger that had been curiously and obediently following him.

    "Well that is my task done for the day. What do you think we should hunt for food today?"

    —-------------------------

    Salem was confused about what she was looking at. "You are saying the vine attacked you?" Three of the people she had designated as scouts were looking somewhat scuffed up with a few cuts and bruises but otherwise fine. Sitting on the makeshift wooden table she had made was a long vine they had brought back. Sёarch* The Novёl?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    "Yes ma''am. We were looking around the base of the mountain and Casey stepped on one almost tripping. But before we even had a chance to react the vine grabbed him and started dragging him away." Another of the scouts reported.

    Casey, who was half covered in dirt nodded in agreement as he continued the story. "I managed to cut myself loose though and then ran like hell with this part still wrapped around one of my legs."

    "We figured coming back and reporting this was more important than finishing the scouting of the base of the mountain." The third one finished the report.

    "Very well," How annoying, she was hoping to get some solid intel about an alternate way up the mountain instead she had stumbled into a new problem. "I will figure this out myself, get someone to dissect this, and find out what the difference is between this vine and the normal ones. After that you can rest up and do some less stressful work."

    Salem turned away as the three did a quick salute. She made her way over to a group that was not going to be on watch for a few hours. They were standing around the makeshift armory that had bows, crossbows, and spears. They had gotten the idea after finding the arrows yesterday.

    "You six are coming with me. We are going to see if we can draw out a new creature that was encountered by the scouts." Salem grabbed a crossbow and a bundle of bolts as the rest of them quickly got ready, not expecting to be called to action.

    "What do we need to know about this creature?" One of them asked as they stepped in behind Salem as she began walking away.

    "It either uses vines or appendages that look like vines to capture its prey. So be careful where you step." Salem answered as she led the way out of the camp where a wall was being erected.

    "Yes ma''am!" The group responded quickly.

    Salem had quickly established herself as the leader of the group and taken charge. But even when she knew what they were saying was the truth she was still in disbelief. There was a lot out there, but living vines? That was unlikely. Which is why she wanted to handle this herself.

    Well that and see if she can hear Jace''s mind from nearby. She was certain he was up on the mountain. But trying to climb the mountain using the vine was not going to happen, she was not crazy enough to attempt that. They needed safety systems in place in order to attempt going up the mountain by climbing.

    Half an hour later she arrived at the base of the mountain. She looked along both sides before following the cliff face going to the west. It was the direction she had the scouts moving along the mountain for the scouting missions they were doing. They would follow a similar path to try and find this vine creature.

    As she moved along the mountain wall with the others behind her she had the crossbow braced against her shoulder with a bolt in place. The vines became more frequent as she walked.

    "Do you think these are them?" One of the people she brought with her asked as he nodded at one of the vines running along the wall.

    "Hit the vines to find out." Salem chuckled while giving her answer. "We are going to head to the source of the vines. It looks like some of them run from cracks in the mountain and ground while some are from those trees." She pointed at the line of trees they were walking along. "These ones on the other hand," She motioned toward a bunch of vines that were running parallel and were going further west along the mountain base. "Are probably what we are looking for. But I want to avoid alerting whatever creature this might be if I can."

    "Ohh…" The various soldiers she brought with her made noises of understanding while they continued following her. Making a noticeable effort to avoid the vines she pointed out.

    As they walked the amount of vines running parallel and in the same direction only increased, making their efforts only more difficult as they avoided even touching the vines for fear of triggering them. Their efforts were rewarded an hour later when they came around to a cave that had vines running out of the entrance covering every conceivable inch. If they wanted to enter that cave they would be forced to step on those vines.

    "Well that does not look feasible. What do we do now boss?" His question both surprised her and unnerved her. Being called boss was the first time for Salem, there was something about it that bothered her.

    "We are not going to enter." Salem answered before looking over the area then pointed to a set of trees. "What we are going to do is move over there to get a better look into that cave. If you have a better method of seeing what is inside I am all ears." Salem looked over the others who exchanged quick looks before telling her that they did not have a better method.

    Salem carefully made painfully slow progress until she arrived at an area where she could look into the cave. But the fact she could not even feel a wild creature''s mind was bothering her. She should be close enough to feel it at this distance.

    She could barely make out what she saw near the entrance. It appeared the entire cave was covered in vines. But near the entrance were four small pulsating green-grey bulbs. Two of them are on the floor and two of them are on the ceiling. But beyond that it was too dark for her to see anything else.

    "The cave tunnel runs pretty far back. But it does go up at a very slight angle." Salem looked over at one of the people she brought with her. The young man''s eyes were making a dim glow that did not even distinguish a specific color. "Aside from being covered in vines I can not see anything else."

    After a few moments of thought Salem nodded and came to a decision. "Then we have part of what we came for. Let me try something then we will retreat back to base camp. First we should make some distance."

    They took a few minutes setting up before Salem took aim at one of the bulbs from up in a tree. She fired her crossbow and watched the result of her attack.

    The bolt pierced the bulb, causing acid to splash out of it. There was no noise but the vines around it began shifting and moving. Causing other vines to sift and move, after a minute the vines all settled down.