As misfortune would have it, Kenji’s instincts were right.

They never found the fortress and walked straight into a goblin ambush, and now they were running for their lives after killing two of the snarling, ugly beasts. Stumbling over tree roots, maneuvering under low limbs, gasping for breath. Misumi would stop, nock an arrow, and take out one of their pursuers every once in a while, only to be keep running until another opportunity presented itself. Meanwhile, Kenji kept his eyes forward, as occasionally a team of goblins would loop around and try to cut them off. He barely managed to avoid them and their arrows, though he was forced to pounce into one, stabbing its neck and killing it in an instant.

They ran for what seemed like hours, searching for any means of escape. There were dozens of goblins behind them, others trying to flank them, and Kenji knew his party was being corralled like cattle, though he didn’t know to where. Somehow, they had to break away and go the opposite direction; otherwise, they’d wind up filleted like rabbits in a grueling stew.

He growled with a bitter tongue, “I am so not dying here! Hell no!”

When they started running parallel to a stream tainted by the poisonous ooze of the Rupture, a lightbulb ignited in his brain, and he had an idea. Then, as he ran, he told it to the rest of his party so they could put it into action.

When the timing was right, he gave the signal and they all jumped into the stream and started swimming across, protected from the toxins by Cleo’s Buffer skill, and while two foolish goblins leapt in after them, the majority stayed behind on the shore and began firing arrows at them, missing every shot. The gray-skinned fiends howled like wolves on the hunt.

However, as Kenji and the others emerged on the opposite shore, the protective barriers around them wore off as Cleo stepped out from the poison, and an arrow struck her left shoulder, sinking deep into her flesh as a shrill cry rang out from her lungs.

“Cleo!” Misumi shouted.

She fired arrows at the goblins as Kenji moved in and caught Cleo before she collapsed. On the side opposite the arrow, he put Cleo’s arm over his shoulder and kept moving.

“We can’t stay here, okay?” Kenji insisted as she scowled at the pain. “Just hang in there and we’ll take care of the arrow once we’ve gotten to safety.”

By that time, two more goblins were down as Misumi dropped them like flies, and her party hobbled into the woods, into the shadows, moving at Cleo’s wounded pace. They lost sight of their pursuers rather quickly, but it took even more time to rove out of earshot. Roughly ten minutes passed before they felt safe enough to rest, and they sat Cleo down on the trunk of a fallen tree, her eyes clenched tight and tearing up from the intense pain as everyone gathered around her.

Misumi panicked and rushed behind Cleo, where she examined the wound, breathed heavily in and out, and finally said: “We have to treat this…”

“You think?” snapped Cleo.

In a hurry, Amelia began searching through her pack for bandages and medical supplies, but without anything to stop the bleeding, they needed a healer—which they didn’t have. And while she pulled out supplies, Misumi used a knife to cut part of Cleo’s clothing and expose the wound, which actively seeped blood even as the arrow remained.

“Kenji…” she said. “…we need to head back to Duncaster. She needs a doctor.”

During all of this, Kenji stood nearby, breathing erratically himself, sweating, and he didn’t know hot to respond. They couldn’t go back. Not while Linette and Vincent were still held captive. But at the same time, he couldn’t let a member of his own party suffer or even worse—bleed out. Therefore, he exchanged stares with Cleo and nodded, though she paid him little mind, as she spent all her energy fighting the tears.

“Alright, let’s go,” he said. “We’ll have to put our faith in Desmond and the others for now, but what’s most important is getting Cleo out of here.”

“T-Thank you,” Cleo sputtered.

Their current location was unknown, but once they broke free of the trees, they’d be able to find the cliff and its zigzagging trail, then their way out. And as Cleo stood up to walk, she slumped to one side, bags under her eyes and taking labored breaths. Getting out of there wouldn’t be easy—or fast—and she knew it, but fortunately, Kenji stepped up and got under her right shoulder, insisting he help her walk.

“No, don’t,” she stated while pushing him away. “Let Amelia do it. You and Misumi need to focus of our surroundings in case the goblins come back.”

He hesitated but soon agreed, stepping away to let Amelia take over, and from there a long journey back to the Spire’s exit began, though it would be anything but easy. They crept through the woods. Misumi kept her bow drawn. Kenji clutched his dagger, spying through the trunks and scattered sunbeams between the canopies. And as an hour passed, the forest seemed peaceful again, quiet and at ease, yet the poisonous ooze was still there and needed to be avoided, forcing them to watch every step.

As for Cleo, her condition gradually worsened, though not by much. Yes, the wound was bleeding, but with the arrow still lodged inside, the blood only seeped like clogged pipework rather than pouring out like a faucet. A healer or doctor would be able to fix it right up. The only problem was reaching one.

Before long, they spotted a ragged bridge in the distance that crossed over a stream, and were walking over it when a rustling and thumping noise came from the shrubberies on either side of the bridge, and before they knew it, goblins surrounded them again. The beast’s spears were rusty and adorned with raven feathers; their swords were corroded to the point of being chipped and frail. Salivating, gurgling snarls came from the gray-skinned demons like they sought vengeance. And as Kenji and Misumi each took up a position on either side of the bridge, they realized it was the same horde of goblins as before, and that this time, there wasn’t anywhere to run.

“Damn it!” Kenji scathed as gripped his dagger and kept near Cleo and Amelia. “There’re dozens of them!”

“Yeah, and they’ve blocked us on both sides,” Misumi added.

They didn’t stand a chance against that many enemies, especially since the goblins were a different breed than the ones they were used to. And with Cleo unable to fight back, they were sitting ducks. What were they supposed to do?

Suddenly, the pack leader of the goblins shouted some godawful command in a langue no Adventurer could interpret, but even so, Kenji knew exactly what was said, for the hordes descended upon their cornered prey with guttural roars. They stormed the bridge, spears and swords thrusting forward, and as Kenji shouted for Cleo to cast Buffer on herself and Amelia, he strong-armed them off the bridge and into the toxic water below. They screamed and hit the surface with a splash.

“Get out of here!” he bellowed.

As the onslaught began, he and Misumi fought the goblins—which would surely be a losing battle in the end—and they used every skill at their disposal. Kenji stabbed with Poisoned Blade and Misumi used Tri-Shot and Quickdraw in combination with one another, killing several enemies in rapid succession. The recently acquired skill Enhance Sight made Kenji’s peripheral vision perfectly clear, putting his increased agility to good use as he defended himself from multiple weapons at once.

Blood was everywhere. Cries rasped out. But as he heard a shrill scream from Misumi, he glanced back to see her thrown from the bridge and into the poisonous water below; meanwhile, Cleo screamed her name from a distance and rushed back into the stream after her, coming into contact with the toxins herself.

His entire party was falling apart so fast, crumbling under a weight too heavy for them, and now Kenji was the only one left standing on the bridge. Once he was killed, they’d be next. Cleo could never outrun them. Therefore…what was he supposed to do? Just die? Accept that his life in that world was destined to end suddenly like his life in the last? Couldn’t he push back somehow? As reality stampeded over him like a herd of wild horses, Kenji remembered the last time life treated him unfairly, how he suffered every day at school only to die in a car accident after kicking the asses of everyone who made his world crack and shatter. He couldn’t let that happen more than once—and especially since Septic Eel hadn’t been put in their place yet.

As the goblins mobbed him, he crashed into one and knocked it down, then slashed the throat of another; he kicked one off the bridge and pushed aside another’s spear, guiding it straight into an unsuspecting enemy’s chest. Kenji just kept fighting. His face was a warped version of what it used to be, now distorted by violent hatred, and he refused to slow down or show mercy. They wouldn’t show it to him, so why not be ruthless in return?

The goblins went down one by one, some dying instantly, others bleeding out, and as they howled and fought harder, so did he. His dagger pierced the flesh of every one of them at some point, and when he was utterly drenched in blood, as his clothing stuck tight to his body from being soaked, the last one collapsed after striking and missing with a rusty sword, only to be stabbed straight through the heart by his blade. When the poor creature’s body fell limp to the ground, Kenji himself swallowed and stared angrily into nowhere, puffing in and out through exhausted lungs that now sputtered with the onset of tears in his eyes. The fight had ended, yet he still felt bitter and afraid.

His friends’ lives had never been so close to death. Neither had his—except for the one time he actually passed away. Now, the adrenaline caused his heart to pump at jet-engine speed while his brain teetered on the edge of belief and disbelief, wondering if her was truly out of danger. The bodies around him attested to the former.

“D-Did I…just…survive?” he stuttered as his muscles trembled with fear. As his anger dissipated and turned into shock, he glanced left over the bridge. Misumi and Cleo were on the embankment, both in obvious pain while Amelia did everything she could to help. “Hold on, guys! I’m coming!”

Clumsy with fatigue, Kenji fumbled down from the bridge and rushed to Misumi’s side, instantly noticing a stark difference in her appearance than—with Cleo appearing just as bad. Their veins were darkened and they seemed to be covered in bruises. Their eyes were rapidly turning bloodshot, despite having just been exposed to the toxins a few moments prior, and from the sweat gathered on their brows, from the way they sealed their eyes tight, it was clear they had a fever and were in pain. Especially Cleo.

Misumi tried climbing to her feet but staggered, and she fell into Kenji’s arms, wobbly with something like vertigo. Behind her, Cleo wobbled teetered back and forth while sitting like she was about to pass out. The toxins acted way too fast.

“Isn’t Divine Blessing supposed to help with stuff like this?” Kenji questioned.

“Y-Yes,” slurred Cleo, barely conscious. “B-But I’m…wounded…getting weaker...the skill will have less of an effect if the user is in poor health…”

“Shit!” Kenji hissed.

If he and Amelia didn’t get them out of the Rupture quickly, the poison might take them over is as Cleo got weaker; or, if she happened to bleed out from the wound on her shoulder, Misumi would die as well.

In the face of those options, Amelia had a suggestion: “I believe one of us should run and seek help while the other remains. If we try to carry them, we will never make it in time.”

Kenji nodded. “Yeah, I agree, but…if I go, the three of you will be practically defenseless. If you go, you might run into trouble and get hurt. We’d never even know.”

No matter what decision they made, somebody would be left out in the open without any real chance of defending themselves. And yet they had to choose. Who would stay and who would go? Kenji finally decided after eyeing the nearby woods line.

“Let’s get them out of the open,” he said. “Then I’ll go back to the Expedition Hall and get help. I’m faster, so it makes sense. All you have to do is stay out of sight and avoid anything that comes your way.”

Amelia nodded intensely. “I also believe that to be our best option.”

From there, Kenji hoisted Misumi onto his back, while Amelia aided Cleo in walking to the nearby trees where they could remain hidden behind the underbrush. However, as they hobbled along slowly, another set of problems approached them from further up the path, across the bridge—except this time it wasn’t goblins, but people. There was half a dozen, a full party, and they all looked incredibly skilled, yet when Amelia and Kenji begged them to help, they just smirked as if laughing off an offensive comment.

With Misumi over his back, Kenji took gradual steps backward, as did Amelia and Cleo, and when the opposing group’s leader stepped forward wearing the vilest of smiles, he knew those people were not friends but foes.

“You think we’re here to help, kid?” the leader said, an Adventurer in the Ranger class. “No, we’re here to retrieve you. You’ve walked into Septic Eel’s territory now, and you’re not going anywhere unless you come with us, got it?”