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The two men appeared to know each other since the other blond addressed the musician as Cyrus. "The most likely place for them to have met would have been their tutorial given the relative weakness of Cyrus." Natalya mused, making a mental note of the Russian accent of the other man as Cyrus answered her question.[break][break]

"I see. Well, at least help managed to arrive in time for you." Natalya stated. She still felt that the man was a bit slow but there was no need to showcase that and make any unnecessary enemies if she could help it. She instead decided to hang back and listen to the pair's conversations, seeing what she could glean from them.[break][break]

"Cyrus still doesn't appear to be that strong so it couldn't have been that long since he logged in. They must have met each other during their tutorial. That type of environment definitely breeds familiarity and closeness." Natalya thought as she continued to work out the relationship between the two.[break][break]

While she was doing that, Hana soon dealt with the swarm of slimes and made her way back over to the group, introducing both herself and Natalya to the group. Mentally sighing, Natalya gave a slight nod to the two, barely noticeable to them. "A pleasure."

[attr="class","landtag2"]Hana Sakuyuki cyrus alexei [TAGGED]

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It seemed that she had been the only one to do a deeper dive into what exactly their stats meant. Since she had both F and E rank stats, she got to read the system's description for each of them. That was why she knew that the bear had to have F-rank power since it hadn't been able to destroy her shield in one go.[break][break]

Thankfully, Mr. Beast soon understood what she meant so she wouldn't have to waste time explaining to her meatshield. "Of course, I trust you with my safety completely Mr.Beast." she said, giving the man a warm smile as she turned to the doll creature. "You as well Ragline."[break][break]

With the pair on the same page, Mr.Beast taunted the bear making it charge toward him. Natalya fired off one of her seed attack, striking it in the head and distracting it enough for Ragline to gut it with her claws, killing the bear. "That was certainly unexpected." Natalya muttered before she walked up to the pair.[break][break]

"I hate to interrupt but if I could have you help to move this to the front steps if you will." She indicated at the bear's body. Looking at the system message told her that the latest wave had ended, leaving them with just 6 more so she wanted to make the most of the downtime. "I want to use it as bait to see whatever that monster was."[break][break]

If he agreed, she'd indicate for him to leave it beneath the windows, leaving them sightlines that they could use for attacks on anything that came to inspect the dead body. Meanwhile, she began fixing up the shop, reorganizing their base to better deal with the next few waves before she asked Mr.Beast a question that had been on her mind for a while.[break][break]

"How exactly do you capture a monster Mr.Beast?" If there's a chance to let you capture whatever that creature was, I'd like to let you take it.

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Natalya was touched that Mr.Beast was willing to sacrifice himself to save her, truly she was. And that was why she stepped in to save him because he was too valuable to her with his ability to tame pets as well as being a generally good meatshield. That was why she used her ability, letting the bear crash into her thorn wall.[break][break]

As the pair followed the thrown pet into the garage, Natalya spoke up, her mind having come up with a plan. "The bear is just that weak. While I boosted the defense of my bush, it still isn't all that strong. I believe that we could take it out here and now. There are still more waves that we have to go through so I'd rather not have to look for another shelter." she stated, wanting to see what Mr. Beast would decide.[break][break]

In the other room, the pair would hear another painful roar before Natalya felt her shield disappear, having expended its energy. "The bear has a strength of about F rank. If we can get it to come into this room, you and Ragline will be able to strike it as its tries to enter. That would hopefully be enough to take it out." she whispered, not wanting to draw the beast's attention just yet.

[attr="class","landtag2"]@mrbeast [TAGGED]

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That taunt sent the last gnome into a rage, charging toward the woman with its fist swinging wide. Natalya smirked at this, seeing that the gnome had gone into a berserker rage. Running into the forest, she mentally patted herself on the back for choosing to ambush the other gnome rather than deal with the last one.[break][break]

The only issue left was that she didn't really have any methods to take it out. Her only attack at this point was on cooldown and she wasn't sure if her seed attack would be able to take it out in one hit or not. She didn't have much in the way of vitality and had no idea how strong the gnome was but perhaps she'd have to take that chance.[break][break]

When the gnome took another instance of poison, Natalya turned back around and charged. She fired her seed attack though the gnome managed to avoid it striking it in the eyes; instead hitting the forehead as it charged back at her.[break][break]

As the first punch landed, Natalya didn't feel any damage coming to the understanding that the gnome couldn't penetrate her defenses. "So much time I wasted." She mentally chastised herself as the gnome finally fell from a combination of the poison and her strikes.[break][break]

With the battle won, Natalya went back to the sheep, using some more of the bush's leaves to lure them back to the farm and informed him of having taken care of his gnome issue. He was quite thankful, bowing in gratitude as she walked off heading back to the teleportation pad.[break][break]

"Think I might go rent out an apartment for a soak."

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The gnomes argued back amongst themselves about what to do with the sheep they had stolen. It had been easy to lure them away from the stupid farmer once they broke a piece of his fence and they had originally planned to bring them back to their own village in order to raise but eventually realized that they had lost one along the way which lead to the bickering.[break][break]

Just as things were about to dissolve into a physical bout, a volley of thorns erupted from a nearby, stabbing into all 3 of the gnomes. As they angrily pulled them out, they noticed that these thorns were a deep purple with a strange liquid dripping out of them. It wasn't until one of them started to feel sick that they realize that they had been poisoned, something that sent them further into a rage before two of the gnomes charged into the forest to look for the culprit while the remaining one stayed behind to keep the sheep calm.[break][break]

As the gnome nervously glanced around at the surrounding flora, Natalya moved on to the next step in her plan. Waiting for the right moment, a small seed shot out from her finger, striking the gnome in the eye and sending it reeling to the forest floor in pain. She quickly ran out from the underbrush, giant branch in hand, and began to bash the gnome's skull in, only stopping once she was sure it was dead.[break][break]

With that part done, she'd drag the body behind her as she prepared to deal with the remaining 2 gnomes.

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"I'll admit. I had been a bit skeptical when your first showed up miss but you definitely have me eating crow now." the man said, scratching at the side of his head.[break][break]

When she had first come back to the farm empty-handed, the farmer had initially thought that she had given up. It was after she explained her plan, he had agreed to go along with it though remained skeptical. Natalya though knew how well the lure would work from how deeply the sheep had been enjoying the food.[break][break]

"Once I bring back the other 4, I'll grow some bushes for them to feed on. They weren't anything poisonous so it should be fine for them to eat. If I find the gnomes, I'll take care of them as well." she offered, receiving a nod from the farmer.

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With her decision made, Natalya soon picked up the sounds of low baaing coming from up ahead. As she continued forward, she made sure to be more careful with her steps as she didn't want to end up having to give chase in this type of environment.[break][break]

Peeking out from behind the bushes, she spotted the sheep lazily grazing on a bush. It was absorbed in its meal, clearly enjoying it from the gleeful baas that it released every few seconds and appeared to be alone. "Did the rest of its fellows just abandon it here? Or perhaps it wandered away from the others." she speculated as she began to plan out her move.[break][break]

Given her lack of offensive capabilities, she had to think more outside the box to win fights, something that she was used to doing. There was her ability as well but she'd prefer to save that for an emergency; perhaps if she ended up fighting the gnomes. No, if she wanted to catch this sheep, then she'd have to use the environment to her advantage.

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