Then we cut over to a group of adventurers gathered near the lake.
One girl holding a staff is swearing to herself. She cannot let anything happen to Rod. After this mission, she is finally going to confess.
Someone yells at Erica to focus and quit daydreaming. She is the healer. She has to cast now, or they will not hold out much longer.
She starts channeling magic, and another adventurer yells out a warning. The creature is coming. After taking so many heavy attacks, the thing is finally ready to reveal itself.
Right on cue, a massive shark erupts from the lake. Obviously, this is the master of the lake.
It charges up a devastating water bomb. Someone screams Rod's name and casts an earth blessing to throw up a defensive barrier. Rod yells for the mage to launch an attack, and she immediately starts conjuring through her staff. Turns out she is both a healer and a mage. Talk about crazy multitasking. But right before her spell connects, another explosive blast goes off.
She tells Rod to charge straight in. He takes the opening, rushing the creature to land a brutal direct slash to the head. The entire lake completely detonates on impact.
Exhausted, Rod still manages to turn around, throwing a thumbs up to say it is done. Seriously, Rod is a powerhouse, plus a mage and a dedicated healer. That is one perfectly balanced party setup.
The mage is standing there fixing her hair, practically glowing with smiles and gratitude, while poor Erica is just sitting on the sidelines feeling like she contributed absolutely nothing. Rod and the other girl, Tia, are busy complimenting each other, saying how great it is adventuring side by side.
Meanwhile Erica is quietly seething. They made a solemn childhood promise that she and Rod would always be a duo. She has been working hard for years, but it feels like he never really sees her anymore. She was the very first one by his side. Now she is just background support, watching him clearly fall for someone entirely different.
Tia is still patching him up when Rod suddenly calls out. He tells Erica to snap out of it and help dissect the lake monster.
But suddenly, something feels completely wrong. A strange sound echoes out. The surface of the water grows violently murky. And then, boom, water blasts straight upward into the sky.
Everyone ducks immediately. Another lake beast is rising. And this one is different. This beast is the real deal.
Tia quickly scrambles to cast a third tier spell. It is massive, but it does not do a single thing. The magic slams right into the creature's neck, doing absolutely nothing. The beast counters with a brutal thunderstorm attack from its glowing horn. Brutal lightning tears through the sky.
Erica grabs Rod, yanking him out of the way while screaming for him to be careful, but he simply tells her to move back. This monster is way beyond what their party can actually handle.
She asks what he plans to do.
He shouts back that he is going to protect Tia. He brought her into this party, so it is his responsibility. Even if it means dying, he is fully ready to go down by her side.
Yeah, Erica definitely would have preferred not hearing that.
Rod charges forward.
Meanwhile, someone is silently watching this whole messy showdown from a distance. Of course, it is Anne, completely curious to witness the sheer power of a monarch level beast firsthand. If dragons truly pack this kind of strength, she figured she could finally harvest that specific part to feed the young master. But honestly, why is she always trying to feed him dangerous monster meat anyway?
The boss readies yet another brutal lightning strike. Rod knows it. This right here is the very end for his party.
But just then, Anne casually casts a binding spell. A massive lightning bolt crashes from the sky, slamming right into the creature. When Rod looks up again, the beast is plunging backward into the lake. Even that deadly attack it was about to unleash gets completely canceled out.
Someone suddenly checks on Erica, calmly asking if she is all right. It is Anne. She tells Erica to just stay out of it. She will be the one handling this monster.
And with that, Anne activates a second restriction. Erica realizes this woman is literally manipulating liquid metal. The creature starts getting pierced from every single direction. And Anne, calm as ever, casually forges a glowing sword out of midair.
She floats toward the trapped beast like she is walking on air. She announces that the monster will pay for scaring away the very fish she traveled all this way to catch for the young master. The ultimate price for messing with her grocery plans is death.
One clean slash. The monarch beast is sliced cleanly in half and sinks right back into the murky depths.
Rod watches from the sidelines, entirely speechless. He cannot believe a monarch class beast was just taken out so effortlessly. Yeah, our sweet protagonist has a ton of hard work ahead if he ever wants to reach that insane level.
Erica runs over, frantically checking on Rod. He says he is fine, but Tia is not doing great. He has a few healing potions left, but they will not be nearly enough.
That is when he asks Erica to go talk to that woman. He wants to know if she is an adventurer, and if she might be interested in joining their party. Honestly, anyone who can solo kill a monarch beast like that, well, that would be one hell of an amazing addition.
Meanwhile, Anne is busy down by the lake edge, casually gathering up leftover fish. The only problem is that she totally forgot to ask the young master which specific ones he actually likes to eat.
Just then Erica walks right up, explaining that the two fish she is holding are not edible. One smells terrible when cooked, and the other is highly toxic. She should grab the other two near the front. They are the famous edible ones from Lake Bipore.
Anne, mildly curious, asks exactly how she knows that.
Erica explains that she actually used to live nearby. A lot of wealthy nobles love those fish, so she would catch and sell them. Within fifteen minutes of watching Anne prep her ingredients, she clearly already knows exactly how to make this perfect.