Seeing the wolf leaving the cave Jason began to think, while that beast engages in combat, I will see just what item has caused all of this commotion.
He began to quickly run through the cave while planning internally. 'Why would the wolf go outside alone don't they normally travel and hunt in a pack.'
Just as Jason began thinking this the bodies of other wolves came into his sight as he began to slow down.
At the same moment a retched smell began to enter his nose. It was undoubtedly the smell of decomposing flesh.
As he approached closer he could see the wolves ahead were fatally injured, some of them seemed to have already been eaten by another beast while the decomposing ones all were closer to the entrance.
Jason was forced to hold his breath at this moment the air had become so toxic and polluted with the scent and aura of death.
Upon closer inspection Jason could tell that these dead wolves were at the very least in the late stages of the b rank when they died causing the grim expression on his face to become darker.
'If those kids didn't have those spirits with them I would be forced to find them nd retreat them at this moment.' Jason thought to himself. 'Still, I should move faster.'
He began to ignore the corpses of the wolves as he proceeded further into the cave that began to become more narrow.
A about 500m past the dead wolves the sound of dripping water began to enter Jason's ears as he maneuvered through the cave.
A slight glow began to enter his eyes as an inexplicable aura began to fill the air. Jason took a breath in and noticed the smell of the dead wolves had completly dispersed at this point and was replaced by that of moisture like the smell after a spring shower.
The aura of death also dissipated as a pure energy radiated from the cave's internal lake system.
"Why are you here, my dog couldn't prevent you from coming here or is that stupid beast distracted?" A deep powerful voice sounded from the lake.
Hearing this voice startled Jason slightly as he couldn't detect a single living thing within 100m of him and this lake.
"Who are you?" Jason asked as his guards began to raise wary of this disembodied voice.
The water in the lake began to churn as if someone had taken a massive paddle and started stirring the lake.
A whirlpool began to form in the center of the lake and from the whirlpool particles of water began to float up until it formed the shape of a man.
"My identity is of no concern to you, you are far stronger than anyone this world harbors, where did you come from?" The man of water spoke as the water began to condense into a man with blue eyes resembling the deepest ocean and his pale skin had blue scales like that of a sea serpent or a dragon.
'This man is at least an S rank.. or it seems like he is in a recovery state with the slow speed of his internal energy. Despite his appearance I can still feel there is a treasure below the surface of this lake, that should be the root cause of all this chaos.' Jason thought to himself.
"You say that as if your observation extends to each corner of this world, surely that can't be the truth." Jason said subtly prodding into the man's strength.
"Anywhere water can reach I too reach, my knowledge is without flaw, why have you come here? I would like to not dirty my hands if I do not have to." The man of water said veiling his treat.
Hearing this jason unconsciously took a step back as the pressure coming from the man seemed to multiply tenfold as cold sweat began to drip down Jason's back.
"It seems that I have become involved in some garbage again, why can I never just go on a regular mission and I always have to face these scheming monsters?" Jason began to ask himself out loud ignoring the man in front of him.
As Jason finished talking he disappeared from the man's sight as he seemed to fade into darkness like a sunset fading into dusk.
Seeing this the man above the lake raised an eyebrow not expecting a concealment ability of this level.
A moment later the man's head snapped downward sensing the disturbance with the treasure in the lake as he immediately turned into water again falling into the lake like a simple splash.