A ghost town.

Once the town had been evacuated, I started using the dowsing pendant.
The pendant was supposed to ignore our own mana since we were travelling in a tight group.
If there was one human, even one with low mana, in town, the pendant was going to detect it.
And it was going to detect any magic objects the size of those large crystals.

We started from the eastern gate and slowly moved to the western side of the town.

After going through at least one third of the town, we detected something.
It was a signal coming from a barrel just outside a fruit stand in a small street market.

Leonel: I'm detecting something here. It's inside the barrel. We have to be careful when opening it; otherwise, the crystal might shatter, and the nara will appear.

Faylinn: Then how do we open it?

Leonel: Astra, can you do it?

Astra: Leave it to me.

Astra slowly and carefully opened the barrel.

Astra: There is one right here. A blue crystal. But... there is something beneath the crystal.

Astra picked up the crystal and tried to look at the bottom of the barrel.

Astra: There seems to be... is this the same gunpowder Leo showed us?

Leonel: What!?

Alejandro: Gunpowder? Beneath the crystal? Why?

Astra: Maybe that's how he destroyed the crystals to release the nara from inside. Leo, is there a way to ignite gunpowder from far away? I don't think he would use fire magic since this was locked inside. Is there a way to ignite gunpowder that is inside a locked container?

Leonel: No, that's not possible. But there is something... let me check to see if I'm right.

I removed some of the gunpowder from the bottom of the barrel with my hand and saw a tiny tip of a fuse coming out of a hole at the bottom of the barrel.

Leonel: That bastard... he used a fuse to ignite the gunpowder.

Alejandro: So, that means we just have to follow the fuse, right!?

Leonel: It seems this one goes through a wall into the building right here.

Xiomara: Is the bald guy inside?

Leonel: I don't think so. It's very likely there are lots of fuses like this one, and they probably all merge somewhere. We just need to follow the fuse wherever it takes us. Astra, can you open the door to this building?

Astra: I'll do it right away.

Astra broke through the door with her right hand, removing the doorknob, the lock mechanism, and basically anything that was inside the door.

We slowly walked into the building, only to find the fuse went through another wall and came out through the other side...

These fuses were partially hidden between normal everyday objects.

Leonel: Guys, it's on the other side of the wall. We need to circle around the building...

We proceeded to check on the other side of the building and spotted the fuse going between a series of pebbles and small pieces of wood scattered over the dirt "streets" of this town.

Xiomara: How far is this going to take us?

Faylinn: Guys, I hear a noise. A slight buzzing sound coming from all directions. We should be the only ones in town right now.

Leonel: Buzzing sound?

Xiomara: Isn't that the noise of a fuse that has been lit?

Alejandro: What!!!!????

Leonel: Guys, get ready; the nara will appear soon!

I was right. Not far from here, two humanoid nara showed up.
They were walking toward us. They weren't very fast and certainly not huge like the last one.

Leonel: Guys, follow me! Let's go to the eastern gate! We will take the battle outside of town. They will definitely follow us!

We all ran towards the eastern gate and waited for the nara to arrive.

The first one to reach the gate was a large semi-spherical creature with a bunch of legs. It reminded me of a beetle, but more round. But, as usual, the dark fog prevented us from seeing the exact details of its body, and the hundreds of simultaneous whispers coming from it were as annoying as usual.

Leonel: Girls, how do we deal with this one?

Astra: That's probably a steel beetle. The only vulnerable part of its body is its underbelly. That part is vulnerable to fire, but it's always close to the ground, so it would be hard to shoot a fireball at it.

Alejandro: Can't we just turn them upside down?

Astra: Even with my strength and Faylinn's combined, we wouldn't be able to do it. We would barely be able to hold them in place, but flipping them would be impossible because of their weight.

Leonel: I have a plan. Astra, Faylinn, you hold them in place for a while.

Faylinn: Sure! That's easy; they may have a lot of legs, but they only have two arms!

Astra and Faylinn went ahead and grabbed the creature's arms while trying to stop it from moving.

I grabbed something from my backpack: one of the crafted items we had prepared for our fight against the bald bastard.
Three Molotov cocktails, ready to be used.
I grabbed one of them, set the rag on fire, and threw it under the body of the nara. That way, the fire would affect the underbelly of the creature, which was the only vulnerable spot.

Faylinn: Hey! What did you throw down there!? Was that a bottle with oil!?

Leonel: It's one of the most primitive weapons in my world, but it gets the job done.

Astra: You are not wrong, Leo. This creature is losing strength and is now trying to walk away from us, but I won't let go of its arm.

The creature was roasted from below until it no longer moved.

Leonel: Okay, next ones are those two humanoids and something resembling a really fast animal coming at us at full speed.

Astra: I'll deal with the animal. That's probably a fire boar.

Astra stepped forward, and the nara tried to ram her, but she stopped it with her hands.

Faylinn quickly moved to punch the creature's head while Astra was holding it by grabbing what appeared to be tusks. It was defeated in a single punch.

Astra: Faylinn, get rid of those two slow-moving creatures; I'll stay here just in case.

Faylinn: Got it!

Faylinn ran toward them and punched one of them so hard that her fist went through its body.

Faylinn: Aaaahhhh! This creature was filled with acid!!! Faylinn was definitely in pain, which was not normal for her.

Leonel: Alejandro, lend her your sword!

Alejandro threw his sword to Faylinn, and she grabbed it in the air.

She then used it with her left hand to literally cut off the head of the other nara while jumping away from it to avoid getting any acid on her body.

Astra: Faylinn! Come here and wait with us until the rest of the nara arrive!

Faylinn's right arm was now covered in acid. The parts of her arm and hand that were covered in scales were fine, but the rest of the arm was now severely hurt. Also, the blade of the sword she got from Alejandro was now melting.

Astra: I will need to heal her, which means she is going to be stuck near me for a while.

Just as Faylinn started to walk back to the group, something erupted from beneath the ground right below Astra.

Two things covered in dark fog came out of the ground and grabbed Astra's feet.

Another thing, perhaps a part of the same nara, came out of the ground behind Astra.

Whatever it was, it attacked Astra from behind by spitting acid at her back.

I started to see a pattern here.
All of the nara seemed to be obsessed with attacking Faylinn and Astra, and acid attacks were becoming more and more common.