Everything had a price. There had to be some way to buy enough protection, even in the worst-case scenario of not being able to level at all, and staying a ‘regular’ human.

He’d been hopeful about unlocking his interface before his conversation with the Guide. Hopeful for answers. But she had torn that optimism down to shreds. He felt like she’d completely written him off. ‘Class, weapon? I don’t care, take whatever— no, not the good stuff!’

Emm wished a stray arrow ‘accidentally’ ended up in her bum. The wooden things were still flying all over the place, and the group was wisely giving the fresh archers a wide berth.

Michael broke Emm from spacing out by shaking his shoulder.

“Let’s go. They’re leaving,” he said.

“Oh.”

They hurried after the group to catch up. Miss Simmons was taking them away from the camp towards the forest. The camp was in a slight depression, they were walking at a slight incline.

The only thing off about the trees was a vague difference in color. They were paler than what Emm was used to, and had a tinge of yellow. The terrain was mostly flat.

He saw nervous expressions all around. The discussions had died down as they reached the trees. Michael was playing with his knife the entire way. When he saw Emm looking, the circus performer closed his eyes and juggled the dagger blind for a few seconds. Showing off.

Emm gave him an awkward thumbs-up.

Miss Simmons spoke without breaking her stride or turning back.

“The monsters are going to start appearing in a few minutes. They’re [Ascian Vinesnakes], level two to three. Mostly harmless. I’ll take care of the first one, so pay attention.”

Emm felt relieved. He could handle small snakes. At least, he hoped they would be small. He was afraid their first monster would look more like what the Commander had killed back at the clearing. Maybe a wolf, or an enraged boar.

He glanced back, and in the distance saw a crew of three men working on the large corpse. They were hacking at it with tools, bringing it to pieces.

His stomach turned at the sight.

I’m not going to eat that.

They forged on ahead. Emm made sure to watch his every step. He was looking out for any sign of the snakes. The others were doing the same, staring down at their feet. The forest was starting to get thicker, and there were bushes and ferns Emm had to avoid.

He tested the sharpness of his spear on a few trees along the way. He wasn’t strong enough to pierce more than an inch or two into the thick bark. But the blade had sharp sides— so when he swung it at a branch, he wasn’t surprised it managed to cut through. Emm wasn’t strong, but the weight of the weapon gave it quite a punch. He stopped before his arms got tired.

The crunching of leaves under their feet filled the silence. At one point, he had to climb over a dead log— the Guide had jumped over it as if she was stepping over a rock.

Shortly after, the monster appeared.

It dropped down from the sky, and a flash of bright green that lunged at the Guide. She snatched it between her hands in a heartbeat and held it by the head while it squirmed around and snapped at her. A moment later it stilled and started hissing at her.

Emm stepped closer to get a better look. The ‘snake’ was at least two inches thick, and over ten feet long. Neon green— how had nobody noticed it earlier? It was hanging by the tail from high up above, holding onto a branch. What was special about it were the numerous tendrils growing out of its body at various points like thorns, trashing around. They resembled thin tentacles. Emm realized each limb ended in a smaller version of the snake’s head.

All the heads had joined in a cacophony of hissing. There were no tiny-snakes growing from anywhere near the head, so Miss Simmons wasn’t getting bit by the tendrils.

Emm’s head was starting to hurt. That was a Level 2 monster? It looked like something straight out of a nightmare. Getting close to the things without being bitten would be challenging.

“If you have trouble hitting them, hold the skull like this, and they can’t touch you. Or stomp them into the ground while your partner kills them. They won’t do much damage to you even if you get bit, there’s no reason to hesitate,” the Guide said. “Please try not to hit each other.”

She squeezed her fingers and the monster’s head burst into goop. Purple blood dripped from her fingers. She let the snake loose and it remained hanging limp like a vine. Its tendrils hadn’t stopped squirming though. In fact, they trashed around madly in random directions with more intensity than before.

The group gave the monster a wide berth as Miss Simmons led them deeper into the forest. There wasn’t as much light as before, the treetops got denser. There weren’t any birds chirping either, unlike when they’d just stepped in.

Emm was getting colder. He looked forward to drying off in front of one of those campfires back at the camp. Just sitting down and being able to finally relax.

“Is the whole world filled with monsters like this?” a girl asked the Guide, who ignored her. She had refused to answer any of the questions the others tried to ask before as well.

It wasn’t a minute later until another three [Ascian Vinesnakes] snapped out from the branches above from different directions.

Weapons were swung at them in response. They stayed as far away from them as possible, with groups of four to five people surrounding every monster. Michael and Emm didn’t step forward to join them; no snakes had appeared close to them. The archers and lone mage stayed back as well.

Would the monsters grant experience to anybody who helped, or just to the person who landed the last hit? Levels were so crucial that Emm worried the group would argue over the experience. It was bound to happen.

Emm watched them attempt to hit the snakes over and over again. Not many attacks were landing. It looked like wide sword swing worked the best, but they bit deep enough to truly hurt the thick monsters.

“Let’s just go find one on our own,” Emm proposed. He nudged his spear forward, pointing away from the crowd.

“Sure. Let me grab the first one,” Michael said. He’d stopped playing with his dagger.

They walked away. Emm’s heart was thumping hard. But he was confident he could hack away at a snake no matter how freaky it was, as long as it was staying relatively still. And his spear was long enough that he shouldn’t be worried, logically speaking.

Still, his hands were sweating. He couldn’t even wipe them off his nice work shirt; it was still moist from before.

Their eyes scanned the trees above as they walked in a vague circle around the group. They made sure not to leave their sight, in case they got ambushed by too many enemies. The snakes were unusually good at hiding.

Emm’s thigh burst out in pain.

He looked down only to meet the eyes of the snake monster.

The green monster was growing out of the ground, and was currently biting down on his leg just above the knee. Its fangs effortlessly pierced his pants.

Shouting, he fell on his backside, dropping his spear in a mad rush to push away the monster’s head with his hands. But its skin was too slippery in Emm’s hands and the red blood didn’t help. He couldn’t find purchase, couldn’t get it to separate itself from his leg, its teeth were stuck, and the more Emm tried to dislodge it, the more pain he felt. It brought tears to his eyes.

All at once, he stopped struggling.