By the side of the putrid and eerie swamp lake, the three of them endured for almost an entire week.
From sunrise to moonset, every moment was filled with tension and anxiety.
The good news was that Cana's fairy cards finally collected thirty Swamp Crocodiles, many of which were close to B-Class in strength. If carefully nurtured, it wasn't impossible for them to break through to B-Class.
This also greatly improved Cana's strength and gave her new ideas for developing her card magic.
Marcus also made significant progress. He had mastered several of the skills related to Gaara that Ezreal had mentioned. Since both used sand, the effects achievable with ninjutsu could also be achieved with magic, and sometimes even better.
During this week, besides helping Cana capture Swamp Crocodiles, he also developed and proficiently mastered Sand Armor, Sand Clone, and Sand Substitute.
Sand Armor is created by forming a layer of extremely hard sand on the body's surface. It doesn't impede movement during combat and enhances close-combat ability. Enemies need to destroy the Sand Armor to truly harm Marcus.
Once created, it only requires a small amount of magic power to maintain, offering a good balance of offense and defense with moderate consumption.
Marcus originally knew how to use Sand Clone, but his own Sand Clone could only be used as a stationary trap.
Following Ezreal's suggestion, the current Sand Clone is an improved version. Using it requires sacrificing a portion of his soul power and half of his magic power to create one Sand Clone.
This Sand Clone can display the same strength as the main body, but since its total magic power is only half that of the main body, this skill should only be used when a quick victory is needed.
Marcus was not good at prolonged battles to begin with. Splitting his magic power in two, although he gained a clone with shared thoughts, if he were dragged into a long fight, with his magic power reserves, he would undoubtedly lose.
Sand Substitute is an application of the Substitution Jutsu from Naruto. Marcus can swap places with sand to evade attacks before an enemy's attack lands.
These three are all very practical skills.
With these three skills, Ezreal was very sure that Marcus's current strength was subtly not far from Natsu Grey's. Aside from his total magic power being a weakness, his raw strength was approaching that of an A-Class Mage.
The eighth day of their stakeout arrived. The night was cool as water, and the moonlight was like a veil.
Inside the Sand Den.
The three of them were lying on their respective beds, resting with their eyes closed.
A faint tremor came, and the fine yellow sand vibrated slightly.
Ezreal was the first to open his eyes, stood up from his bed, and whispered, "They're here!"
Marcus stretched, stood up, and said with slightly sleepy eyes, "If they didn't come soon, I would have fallen asleep."
"This kind of ground friction and vibration, there's no mistake, it's definitely a huge snake-type demon beast," Cana sat up, holding a Raven card and two Swamp Crocodile cards between her fingers.
The ground vibrations became more and more obvious. Ezreal looked at Marcus.
Marcus nodded and slapped the wall of the den with one hand.
The yellow sand slowly flowed and shaped itself, and a staircase made of yellow sand appeared, leading directly outside.
The three of them suppressed their magic power auras and quickly followed the stairs outside.
In the dim night, the trees by the lake looked like ghosts. Many Swamp Crocodiles lay by the lake, their amber eyes glowing faintly in the moonlight.
From the depths of the pitch-black forest, a dull and heavy moving sound came, as if a huge mountain was slowly moving.
Then, a terrifying giant snake emerged from the deep forest.
It was a giant black python, nearly 22 meters long. Its massive body was like a moving black fortress, exuding endless pressure.
Two sharp horns on its head, over half a meter long, looked like two sharp blades reaching out from hell, glinting with a chilling light.
Its mouth was full of sharp fangs, like rows of dense long spears, as if they could tear any life to shreds in an instant.
Its crimson eyes were filled with cruelty and viciousness.
This was the Titan Boa they had been anticipating day and night, waiting for so long.
Despite its suffocatingly enormous size, its movements were as agile as the wind.
As soon as it appeared, it bit a large Swamp Crocodile, nearly seven meters in size, with astonishing speed and precision. Dark red blood splattered onto the ground from its fangs, and the sound of cracking bones was horrifying.
The Titan Boa, having struck successfully, then turned around without hesitation and swiftly returned the way it came, rushing off.
The other Swamp Crocodiles seemed accustomed to this bloody scene, showing no reaction, still leisurely lying in place, as if this was just a trivial interlude in their daily lives.
Several large Swamp Crocodiles poked their heads out of the lake, their eyes watching the direction the Titan Boa left with a sinister gaze, then silently sank back into the lake.
The Titan Boa, carrying the crocodile in its mouth, ran wildly like a black lightning bolt across the earth. In a short while, it had run tens of kilometers, finally disappearing into a large pool of water resembling a small lake.
The three of them followed closely without hesitation. The Titan Boa's speed was truly astonishing; Ezreal and the two others could only keep up by riding the Crimson Feathered Demon Wolves. If they tried to run on their own, they would definitely lose track.
Ezreal estimated that its moving speed was at least around 90 mph. The Titan Boa was not known for its speed, so achieving this speed with such a massive body was quite remarkable.
Finally, with the help of the Crimson Feathered Demon Wolves, they arrived at the Titan Boa's habitat.
Three Crimson Feathered Demon Wolves hovered a hundred meters in the air, and the three looked down.
This place was like a mysterious kingdom belonging to snakes, where various kinds of snakes resided.
Forty to fifty Titan Boas were either lazily coiled or slowly swimming. Most of the remaining were other types of snake demon beasts; water pythons with single horns on their heads moved gracefully, drawing elegant arcs in the water, their single horns glinting with a mysterious light under the sunlight;
Gray-scaled rock pythons cleverly hid between rock crevices, only revealing a pair of vigilant eyes, constantly observing everything around them.
Around the pool, several Titan Boas dutifully guarded this snake paradise.
And the trio's target—the Titan Boa eggs!
They were right on the bank of the pool, carefully guarded by several huge Titan Boas. Beside the Titan Boa eggs were dozens of other snake eggs of varying colors and sizes.
The Titan Boa eggs were very easy to identify, about half a person tall, much larger than the surrounding snake eggs. Their shells were a deep, inky black, adorned with exquisite patterns that resembled real, dark scales.
When the three saw the scene at the pool, they couldn't help but gasp.
Marcus's forehead was sweating. "These snake eggs are not easy to get. There are three adult Titan Boas guarding the eggs, and a bunch of other snake demon beasts nearby, whose auras don't seem weak."