The forest within the Minnewaska Preserve took on a more ominous tone as Team 0 and Rei's group ventured deeper into the dungeon. The towering trees and thick underbrush, usually teeming with wildlife, were now eerily silent, save for the occasional rustle of leaves. The air was thick with a sense of foreboding, making every step feel heavy with anticipation.

James, leading the group, extended his psychic senses, a web of awareness that stretched out into the surrounding forest, looking for anything that didn't belong.

Amidst the natural rhythm of the preserve, a discordant presence caught his attention. It was unlike any other monster he had met so far.

It was malicious, which was expected, but it also seethed with pain and anger. More than that, there was an artificiality to it, as if it didn't belong to the world's natural order.

Wow, that's a weird feeling. I don't think monsters feel natural, but this is entirely different. The best way I can put it is that it's similar enough to what it should be to set off my alarms like the Uncanny Valley effect.

"There's something ahead.” James warned in a low voice, halting the team. "A Redcap, I think, given the rough shape. But it feels... unnatural. Like it's been altered in some way."

The team exchanged puzzled glances. Maria's brow furrowed in confusion. "Altered? Like, someone's tampering with the monsters?"

“Possibly. I don’t really have a frame of reference for this feeling.” James replied, his gaze fixed on where he sensed the creature. "We need to be careful. This will not be a simple dungeon dive."

Pushing forward cautiously, they soon came upon the Redcap. The creature was a grotesque parody of a human, small in stature but exuding an aura of menace. Its skin was a sickly pale, its body wiry and agile, with a potbelly like a goblin. The most striking feature, however, was its head – it was bright, blood-red, like a warning sign of the danger it represented.

In its gnarled hand, the Redcap wielded a large club disproportionate to its size, yet it swung the weapon with an ease that spoke of its deadly strength. The creature's eyes, glowing with a malevolent light, unerringly focused on the group emerging from the foliage. Its lips curled back to reveal sharp, jagged teeth in a grotesque snarl.

The stench emanating from the creature was foul, a mix of blood and decay that hung heavy in the air. James wrinkled his nose in disgust under his mask, but didn’t move his attention from the threat.

"It's in pain.” James observed, his voice tinged with curiosity and revulsion. "A background of constant, searing pain. That's what's driving most of its aggression."

Rei gave him a weird look, as if surprised he could tell that much, and James felt briefly embarrassed at himself for revealing his abilities. He had always been careful about that, but he could admit to being unsettled by what he was perceiving. Still, he promised himself to be more cautious going forward. The Ten Thousand Eyes might not have been the worst Guild around, but it was still a private organization specializing in intelligence gathering.

Lauren readied her knife, her eyes narrowing as she assessed the creature. "Let's put it out of its misery, then.”

As if sensing the impending danger was near, the Redcap let out a guttural howl and charged towards the team, its club raised high. Its movements were quick, as it crossed the distance with deceptive agility, its stubby legs not impeding its charge. But Lauren was quicker.

In a fluid motion, she stepped forward, her shadow-empowered knife like a dark hole in the forest's dim light. With a precise, swift movement, she decapitated the Redcap in one clean stroke. The creature's body stumbled forward before collapsing to the ground, its head rolling away, its lifeblood spilling like dark ichor on the green moss.

“Well, that’s a way to do it.” Ezekiel muttered.

After a brief discussion, James and Rei decided to split up the groups. Given the Redcaps' manageable threat level and the efficiency of both teams, it made sense to cover more ground separately. They agreed to reconvene within a few hours, before beginning the search for the dungeon's Boss.

"We'll send out a flare if anything big comes up. Otherwise, good hunt." James said as Rei's group moved deeper into the forest.

Team 0 moved in a different direction, James leading the way. The air was thick with an almost palpable tension, the shadows cast by the trees creating a mosaic of light and shadows on the forest floor.

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James's senses were on high alert, scanning for any sign of danger. It wasn't long before he picked up on the presence of more Treants. Remembering previous encounters, James alerted the others with a hand signal, determined to prevent surprise attacks.

He quickly located the two monsters, their presence masked by the forest's natural mana but betrayed by their predatory intentions. He lifted two fingers and pointed at them, directing his team.

Maria was the first to act. Focusing her fire magic, she targeted the first one. Flames erupted from her hands in the shape of a bird, engulfing the Treant the moment it crashed against it in a fierce, controlled fire tornado. The creature barely had time to stir before it was reduced to cinders, the fire consuming it in mere seconds without spreading to the surrounding vegetation.

The second Treant, sensing the demise of its kin, prepared to strike, its roots stirring from the ground, ready to skewer them. James didn't give it the chance. Tapping into his psychic abilities, he mentally prodded the creature, provoking it into reacting recklessly.

As the Treant opened its maw, a gaping hole lined with wooden spikes, he acted. James closed the distance in a flash, circulating mana into his fist.

He punched, his fist moving through the hard wood as if there was no resistance, until he released its deadly payload. The Treant shuddered violently before collapsing, its wooden body torn asunder from the inside out, a rain of splinters peppering uselessly against his psychic shield.

The team regrouped, the adrenaline of the quick encounters still coursing through their veins. James was somewhat surprised at the ease with which he had handled the Treant. His abilities were growing stronger, and he understood more of their potential with each use.

Their journey through the forest continued, the team moving with confidence in their ability to handle anything the dungeon might throw at them. The next challenge came in the form of a flock of mutated local birds - Eastern Bluebirds, transformed by the wild mana's influence.

These creatures were no longer the small, innocuous birds one might see flitting about in gardens. They had grown larger, their feathers now had a metallic hue that glinted dangerously in the dappled sunlight. Their wings had sharpened into blade-like appendages, and whenever they moved, powerful gusts of wind followed in their wake, ready to buffet their prey.

Daniel raised a glowing barrier as the flock descended, shielding them from the initial onslaught. The birds' wings struck against it with great force, creating a cacophony of metallic clangs and causing cracks to spread, which the Tank quickly plugged with a grunt of effort.

Maria and Lauren countered, the former sending jets of fire into the sky, burning the birds that dared come too close, while the latter used her shadows to swat them from the air, her daggers slicing through feathers and flesh whenever they got too close.

James focused on the larger birds, the apparent leaders of the flock. Using his telekinesis, he disrupted their flight patterns, causing them to crash into trees or each other, disrupting the flock's tactic of overwhelming their defenses. His control becoming more precise with time, as he learned just how much damage he could do with small applications of power.

I've gotten so used to punching everything that this feels a bit like cheating. I shouldn't complain that winning is too easy; that's a good way to tempt fate.

Thanks to James' intervention, Daniel was able to keep his barrier up without much trouble, which allowed the others to attack with impunity. Ezekiel clasped his hands as if in prayer and glowed briefly, chanting under his breath "No one shall fly."

The monsters immediately showed a debilitating drop in their abilities, from trying to overwhelm them to being easily picked apart.

The battle was intense but brief. Team 0 worked seamlessly together, each member playing to their strengths to neutralize the threat. As the last of the mutated birds fell under a concentrated beam of fire, the team paused to catch their breath, their eyes scanning the forest for any more signs of danger.

The ding of a notification alerting James that he had earned a level almost made him jump in the air. He chuckled, dismissing it with a smile.

I got too used to leveling constantly, and now that it's happening at an average pace, it's too slow. Well, every level now brings a lot more to the table, so there's that, at least.

After extracting the mana stones, Team 0 took a moment to regroup. The eerie silence that enveloped them was interrupted only by the occasional distant call of an ordinary bird, a stark reminder of the dungeon's intrusion into the natural world.

James, wanting to share something, signaled for a quick team meeting. The group gathered around in a loose circle, their expressions a mix of alertness and curiosity.

"I need to say something about the Redcap we encountered earlier.” James began in a serious tone. "I didn't want to say too much in front of Rei's team, but what I sensed in that creature was deeply unsettling."

Maria's brow furrowed. "What do you mean, unsettling?"

James hesitated, searching for the right words. "It felt... unnatural, unlike any monster we've encountered before. There was this constant pain and anger, unlike anything I've sensed before. Monsters don't like humans, that's true, but this felt more focused than that."

Daniel rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Do you think it might be just because it's a humanoid monster?"

James shrugged slightly. "I don't know. It might be that, but my instincts tell me it's not."

Lauren hummed, fingering her dagger. "Well, I can tell you it wasn't particularly strong. Just around the beginning of F-rank, which means tougher than almost any monster in G-rank, but nothing crazy."

"Redcap's primary strength is their great physical power and ability to coordinate in groups. Facing a lone one is not the same as a swarm of them." Daniel warned. "We shouldn't lower our guards, especially if James thinks something weird is going on. He's never been wrong so far."

Ezekiel looked around, his usual joviality replaced with concern. "What does this mean for us, though? Should we retreat and call for someone of a higher rank to come take a look?"

James shook his head. "Rei said that their guild confirmed the mana emissions. It's unlikely anyone will come looking just because of a weird feeling I have, and I really don't want to explain what I can do in too much detail anyway." He then added. "Our priority remains the same - neutralize the threats and keep each other safe. But let's also keep an eye out for anything unusual."

Just as they were about to continue their journey deeper into the forest, James's senses alerted him to an approaching danger. "We've got company.” He said abruptly. "A group of Redcaps heading our way."

The team immediately sprang into action, their brief respite forgotten. James took point, his mind already reaching out to assess the incoming threat. The unnatural feeling he had sensed earlier in the first Redcap was also present in this group, a disturbing echo that set his nerves on edge.