Jed had been walking for quite some time now, the plants gradually increased in number and it was starting to look like a forest of the deadly, luminescent flora. With the knowledge he'd gained from the fight against the first lizard under his belt, it was a simple matter of breaking off the chunk of himself where they bit him before the acid could spread. It rendered their secret weapon useless and he could just repair himself afterward.

Once a few more of their brethren had been crushed with ease, they seemed to have understood that he was a threat because every time he tried to attack one, it would quickly dart away into the crevices in the shadows and vanish from sight.

'Dammit, they see me as a predator now and the little bastards are too fast for me to catch. I felt like I was getting close to another level up too... But with all these overgrown asparagus plants around the place, I must be getting close to their nest, at least I hope so.'

A swift kick snapped the base of a plant that had gotten a little too close for his liking, sending it rolling across the dirt. He had to take out his annoyance on something and he could have sworn that vegetable was looking at him funny.

'They're supposed to be level 7 monsters! Have some pride and stop running from a level 3, come face me like a man...lizard...lizardman!'

Jed entered a larger part of the cavern that opened up into a huge wide-open area where the vegetation was so thick that he'd need to push his way through it. Scanning the area, his ethereal blue eyes noticed that the roof was almost five stories high above him and the familiar flutter of dark wings could be seen going back and forth from naturally formed shelves of rock sticking out of the walls. At the far back of the cave there were a series of rock formations that looked almost like massive stairs and though he had a difficult time seeing over top of the stupid plants, he noticed several of the lizards laying around on their surface.

'Jackpot. I'm not letting any of them escape this time.'

He heads back toward the mouth of the tunnel he'd just come from and piles up every stone in the area that he's able to lift, completely sealing off the exit to thwart would-be escapees. It takes away his own choice of running away as well, but he's confident that now, knowing all their tricks, he won't have too much trouble.

'The lizards could become dangerous if I get swarmed by too many at once and the bats would be an annoying distraction if they got involved. Looks like I should try to take out some of them first before I go any further.'

Jed stands next to a nearby boulder and starts to break off different slabs of stone until he's got a neat little pyramid of fist-sized rocks, as well as a pile of pebbles on his other side. He wills three of the larger ones to float, making their way slowly upward through the air and closer to the bats.

'This is tougher than I thought it'd be, I've never tried to control them when they were so far away from me before. I think it will work out but hopefully this doesn't eat up too much mana.'

They start to swell with energy, vibrating and spreading out a little bit more to encompass a larger area of the room. Without warning they explode and Jed feels a noticeable wave of fatigue hit him all at once. That's when all hell breaks loose.

Dozens of the small corpses rain down all over the room and there is a sickening melody of cracking bones and gore splattering around, painting a hefty chunk of the asparagus forest red. One even bounces off his head and onto the floor, letting out a squeak of defeat before it goes still.

Hissing can be heard across the room as the reptiles frantically try to figure out what is causing all the commotion. Jed ignores them for now, they're far away and he isn't going to make the same mistake twice. It was clearly a good decision because three of the much larger bats look completely unscathed and are barreling toward him through the air like fuzzy missiles from hell.

Jed does his best to avoid freaking out, he concentrates on bringing the pile of pebbles aloft and into a spinning motion around his body. Thinking about how he'd done it before with them orbiting his hand, Jed just has to apply that to a larger scale. They start whipping around him faster until all that's left are blurs in the air, just in time too, because the bats are a split second from bearing down on him.

The first to arrive unleashes a pained screech as a large hole is torn through its right wing and another two pebbles slam into its side, flinging it onto the ground. A stray projectile blows off the leg of the second bat, causing it to turn away and retreat for the moment. With most of the orbiting rocks having already served their purpose, the final attacker manages to slip past Jed's defenses without getting hit and slams right into his chest.

However, this isn't like what happened last time. Jed's eyes shone a little brighter with glee, his footing holds and he manages to catch a hold of a wing in each hand. The tearing noise as he rips off both of its wings is music to his ears and when the flightless torso of the beast plops onto the floor, a stomp soon follows, putting it out of its misery.

Bat number one is flailing around helplessly in a futile attempt to take off from the ground, the massive missing part of its wing and the wounds to its side left it in no condition to fly. Taking note of its position, Jed aims his arm directly at it and then sacrifices a piece of himself, firing half of his arm off like a cannon, leaving nothing but bat paste strewn across the ground.

While that happened Jed never once let the last bat out of his sight, he'd learned his lesson about losing track of these guys. It lets out a small growl which must be the bat's version of a battle cry and swoops down at him. Jed fires off the last couple pebbles that had still been airborne, all but one missing their mark.

It was enough though, the one hit he'd scored threw its trajectory off, slowing it down enough for Jed to make out its movements. He reeled back the arm that wasn't half missing and sent a punch straight at it. What resulted from the exchange was a bloody explosion that left his hand covered in bat bits and what was left of the demolished creature sailing across the room and sticking to the wall.

'I used a bit more mana than I'd like but that went pretty well.'

Jed activates assimilation and waits for the battle report to appear, except it doesn't come. Confused, he looks around only to notice that the lizards which had been up on top of the rocks at the far end of the room were nowhere in sight. His eyes scan the forest of plants that they could be hiding anywhere inside.

'Oh dear.'