The peaceful atmosphere and surroundings made the Misty Peaks a very beautiful place, both for the monsters inhabitating it as well as the people who lived here in peace. Whether it is the foreign forests, landscape or mountains, there were several reasons for Ben to feel at ease as the two hunters arrived within the small encampment that was stationed atop of the hills.

"The box is still filled with stuff, the Chief assured me we can take whatever we need. I'll take two potions and a map, okay?", Darren exclaimed while Ben merely admired the scenery, almost missing his words.

"That's alright, I'm well prepared. So where should we go first?", having his mind continously wondering about the mysterious monster, he found it increasingly hard not to let his thoughts wander around, again, almost missing the words of Darren.

"Last time our friend saw it has been…. here. Area 5. Let's check it out."

"Alright, let's be careful, if we find anything else strolling around, we'll just mind our own stuff and go a seperate way.", as Ben finished his sentence, he followed Darren out of the camp and down the hills, the first beings coming across their way being the local Gargwa who simply chose to ignore them or run away in fright entirely.

"Shesh, calm down, we haven't done anything…", Darren muttered as he watched the retreating Gargwa staring at them from a save distance away, slowly going back to drinking but without ever letting them out of their sight. Were they radiating such a dangerous aura? A few moments passed as the two of them made their way through several landscapes and towards the dense forests, always on the lookout for something that matched the description they were given.

"This could stretch into a long searching session now that I think about it.", Ben muttered to himself, never being optimistic about finding something if you are searching for it in particular. It was almost like an unspoken rule, regardless what it is that is evading you…

"Ben… calm down, I'm…completely out of breath…", turning around in obvious confusion, Ben witnessed Darren slowly catching up to him from behind with ragged breathing. Had he been that excited and too far ahead to notice? Halting beside him, he took a moment to catch his breath while Ben began to survey the area, noticing that is was mostly empty besides of the two Jaggi running around a small distance away. A river was flowing through the middle of the forest, leading directly into area 6, which was covered in several patches of high and dense grass.

"Let's take out these two Jaggis first before the start causing any trouble, I can almost feel them glancing at me… you take the left one.", with that said, Ben charged forward with the Jaggis becoming aware of their nearing demise. With a quick move, he pulled out his longsword and jumped high in the air before bringing it down and cutting through the Jaggis flesh. It flew away and lay dead on the ground before it even knew what happened. The same with the Jaggi on the right, his friend hitting it right in its face with his shield.

"Alright, with that being settled, if we don't manage to find it during the day we'll have to return to the Guild, so I suggest we should split up and look for it seperately.", seeing that it was the best thing they could do with their time being limited, Ben nodded in agreement before they set out to cover the different areas. However, unbeknownst to him, there was a pair of eyes curiously watching him behind the waterfall ever since he had first stepped into the area, and just as Darren had left, he found himself being the object of interest to the unknown being that was continously regarding him.

Had he known that it was closer to him than he could have anticipated, he wouldn't have agreed to split up as a bubble suddenly appeared in front of his face, its glimmering surface causing him to stare for a long moment.

"What the…", as he looked around, he noticed several more of the bubbles flying in the air, as well as a sweet smell coming off from the water below him. It was only then that he witnessed something moving behind the cover of the waterfall, a shadow forming behind before a snout slowly emerged. Ben stared in awe as more of the creature's figure approached him, his hand slowly moving to grasp the hilt of his sword until the monster stood in front of him entirely, eyeing the hunter with curiousity. But unfortunately for him, that was not something that he could have determined at that time…

It had a pink skin and purple fur covering the underside of its entire body and tail, its figure alone reminding him of a fox and a leviathan combined. Four flappers were adorning its head along with a few smaller ones below its snout, which were also pink in color along with some yellow samples covering them. Bubbles were floating around everywhere near it, the foam coating its fur causing it to glimmer together with its scales. As Ben continued to stare awestruck, it growled slightly in a low tone, giving him all the more reason to grip his sword only tighter before he unsheathed it, much to the monster's dismay as it narrowed its eyes slightly, the curiousity mixing with confusion and irritation.

Again, a detail that went unnoticed by the hunter.

"So… this is it then, a Mizutsune… I was not exactly planning to get spotted…", he merely muttered to himself as it simply regarded him, tilting its head slightly. However, once it began to take a step forward with its head lowered to be on eye level with him, it was exactly that unknown fear which gripped him as it stared into his eyes, causing him to act.

Charging forward, Ben jumped high into the air and tried to hit it from above, however, it quickly read him and glided through the foam at an incredible speed to avoid the attack. As Ben landed back on the ground again, he found himself unable to move properly as the foam began to cover his armor. Everytime he tried to charge at the Mizutsune, he would slip and fall to the ground in frustration before it suddenly jumped back and fired a big bubble at him. Being unable to attack, the Mizutsune took the chance to counter attack and fired off a water laser which hit him with the same force as a strong punch into the stomach, knocking the breath out of him for a moment.

His landing was ungraceful, but the clean water beneath him managed to wash parts of the foam away, giving him the ability to stand properly at last as the monster regarded him from a distance away, another small growl escaping it.

"This thing is tough… definitely didn't mention a breathing water laser before…", however, as he regarded it more closely, it surprised him that it was merely staring back at him as well, swearing that it narrowed its eyes a bit as he found himself gawking at the monster.

Once again preparing himself, he kneeled down and held his sword to the side, causing it to tilt its head again slightly before he charged forward and slashed with a quick and precise strike against its side, much to the monster's unpleasant surprise as it cried out in pain. He used the momentary disruption to land another hit on its forleg, the Mizutsune pulling back immediately before it turned and glided away, keeping its injured forleg close to its fur before it disappeared back into the waterfall. Ben heaved a sigh as he sheathed his sword, slumping down onto the ground before he let the recent experience come back to him. With the fear from just a moment ago slowly wearing off, he regarded the space which had previously been occupied by the fox with multiple thoughts coursing through his head. There was no telling what it would have done to him should he have hesitated… right? His friend was already lucky to get away like that.

Noticing that the paintpall was still hanging on his belt, he realized he had forgotten the first step he always did whenever he faced a monster. He didn't even notice how tense he was during the situation… but first and foremost, he should look for Darren, tell him of the encounter. He managed to land a clean cut, it couldn't have gotten too far away.

As he slowly rose from the ground, he suddenly noticed something shiny laying on the ground, the sunlight shining through the trees causing the object to glimmer in many different colours.

"What is that?", picking it up from the ground, the memory of the Mizutsune came back to him, reminding him of its glimmering scales. Was that one of them…?

Knowing one thing for sure, it was beautiful...