With a bleeding and heavy heart, I moved forward. With nothing but my breaths and annoyance, anger welled within me, I moved past the gaping hole with my bow in hand. The barrier buzzed and screeched as it threatened to break, the notification was blaring within my head as I saw them. One, three, five… Five Bloodfangs were repeatedly attacking the barrier, but all of them in a coordinated manner, and among the five there was one that had black fur.

[Bloodfang. Lvl. 22]

[Blood Fangtooth. Lvl. 19]

[Bloodfang. Lvl. 23]

There was a brief period of confusion as I looked at the black one’s name, but it didn’t matter. The Bloodfangs were similarly leveled, they just seemed more coordinated than usual. The Fangtooth had growled causing all of them to stop, It reminded me slightly of the situation with the King Worm and Queen Ant, both seemed to act as leaders for their race, and the Fangtooth seemed to command the Bloodfangs with soft growls, for they renewed attacking after a second of staring.

As I grabbed an arrow, I couldn’t help but think it was a bit of a waste. Perhaps it was due to my anger, but I really wanted to just… Go for it? I was unsure, but at least I remembered to open my status and place my two free attribute points into Agility. Bumping it from 49 to 51. And with that, I was pretty much ready. This time around I wasn’t going to play games. I stowed away my bow and reached for my spear, it was cold and solid within my hands, it felt just perfect. I didn’t want to waste my arrows, even if I had an over-abundance of them, they wouldn’t last forever. Moving my spear to my left hand, I grabbed a handful of seeds from my ring and pushed mana onto them.

At first I never planned on using it for battle.

They shifted within my hand as I let them drop to the ground, instantly sprouting into a group of Evergrowing Puff mushrooms, and at the center an Okra plant bloomed. It didn’t take more than a second as it began to make pods of seeds as commanded. I grabbed the first pod, it contained nothing more than Lyco Spores, or seeds? It was still a bit confusing to me, but I simply pushed my mana into it and lazily threw it towards the group of monsters.

One jumped out of the way but others ignored it. The Fangtooth growled but it was too late as the pod received my command. It exploded into a cloud of deadly spores that filled the air, and simultaneously, I grabbed two more pods. They could barely fit within my hand together, but it didn’t matter. I could feel the abundance of seeds within them, all of them ready to go⁠— nefarious, and toxic.

My leg muscles tensed as I held my spear, with another throw and a small shift from my fingers, the two glowing pods spread in a cone, looming over the group of monsters. Out of the five, the Fangtooth stood in the middle but somewhat away from the other four monsters, the Bloodfangs however stood right next to the barrier, and that was going to be their downfall. The pods broke into a group of vines as I jumped forward, I headed for the nearest Bloodfang that was right in front of me.

I shifted my spear as I inwardly commanded the vines, in an instant they enveloped the monster like a net and clasped it down. Pushing mana into the tip of my spear, I finally reached the end of the barrier and lunged forward, the sharpened spear tip went through the barrier and cracked through the monster’s head with a horrid sound, its skin and brain melted as the mana pushed forward and mangled its insides. Its body lost all strength as a notification resounded within my mind.

[You have killed: (E) Bloodfang. Lvl. 21]

The spear was removed, its body grinded against the barrier unwilling to let go of my weapon. The vines did not stop there as they reached for the Bloodfang that was to my left. I wasted no time as I commanded the vines to clamp and dig into it, the monster yelped and shrieked with pain, the spores still lingered in the air. Enough of a deterrence to slow the Bloodfangs from attacking me. In a short second, I reached the monster under the vines and stabbed its neck before breaking its bones, its head wobbled as it lost its life.

[You have killed: (E) Bloodfang. Lvl. 22]

[+50 Prime from Hunter (Uncommon E) Quest.]

I took a small breath as I reached for my bow. The spore-filled air lingered past the barrier, and now my rage was somewhat quenched. In the end, the thing I wanted the most was to just not deal with things, and simply put, just sleep my thoughts away.

The Fangtooth began to growl somewhat unexpectedly, calling my attention. Its fur began to drip with red liquid and mist began to envelop it once more. Its muscles tensed and compacted as its body seemingly cracked and rearranged its bones. Its back legs ballooned and with a war cry it jumped towards me, it was nothing but a blur and in an instant a screech resounded within my head, and in my vision the barrier energy shifted.

[Barrier Capacity: 3%!]

It blared within my head as I grabbed more seeds and a mana potion from my ring. The Fangtooth seemed to have entered a frenzied state, one whose speed exceeded my expectations, but I did not panic. I grabbed my spear once more, drinking the mana potion as I dropped now mana filled seeds onto the ground, some were Evergrowing Puffs, and others were⁠—

A crack resounded, the barrier broke and a notification resounded within my ears as the Deep Dark trees and mushrooms sprouted.

[You have entered a nest.]

The trees followed my previous command as they enveloped around me. I became closeted in the wood and a single okra plant sprouted outside. I had a brief pause as my brain processed the actual notification.

[To be fair, I am not allowed to know where nests are any more!] Glim said as it passed through the wood. [But now that we are in a nest I can at least say there is more than one guardian here!]

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

I snorted in annoyance, at least it had explained something.

[Look, I know you are angry, but we are in a super-nest! Seriously, we appeared here. There was no notification because we appeared here, we never entered. So, no time to complain, and for the record. Same thing happened with the Boreal Kame, it became a nest after you were inside. It's the same logic.]

It sounded stupid. Regardless, I refocused my attention to feeling the plants and pressed my left hand against one of the four trees. My mana felt a bit low so once more, I took out yet another potion and drank it. At that moment I heard a deep growl outside and the trees trembled as wood splintered.

In the end, I couldn’t match it in speed. I commanded the lonely okra to generate Lyco seeds, and using the connection the trees had, I guided my mana to them. In the end, I couldn’t quite command more than one thing at a time, but it was enough. I made the pod bloom and explode, the okra withstood the impact as if nothing happened, but I felt the trees shake and I assumed the outside to be filled with toxins. It didn’t sit well with me to essentially make a fortress of wood and hide inside of it, but there was no real option for now.

A growl from the other side entered my ears and with a splintering sound, one of the trees almost snapped. I snorted as I pushed my mana and forced it to regenerate. Once more, I took yet another mana potion as a precaution. I commanded the okra plant again. A pod was formed and subsequently exploded outside. It was almost calming, allowing me to be with my own stupid thoughts that was.

It felt great, it really did. All I was doing was consuming mana potions and letting the spores slowly kill the Fangtooth, but at the same time I couldn’t help but think of how lame it was. At the same time, I felt like no plants were adequate at the time being. Both types of Azaleas needed to be inside the target, and Wisteria vines required my command to catch things. The only thing that was actually useful in my situation was the Lyco Puff and its toxin-filled spores. It was nice, I supposed.

◇ ◇ ◇

Time passed, as I drank yet another mana potion. The growls and the strength of the scraping had become considerably weaker, the trees were nearly dead but it stopped mattering, the Fangtooth was barely able to threaten me any more. I detonated yet another okra before I finally decided to command one of the trees to shift and give way. Should they completely dry I was going to have to use my spear to cave my way out.

Soon, I was greeted by toxic green clouds, and I couldn’t help but stare at my makeshift fortress. It was akin to four trees intertwined against each other, making an egg shaped wood amalgamation with branches and things sticking out of it. The space inside was barely enough for me to sit and move around, and the outside had a lot of markings from the Fangtooth. My eyes lazily looked towards the direction I last heard the growl, which had happened about a ten or so seconds ago by this point. Grabbing my spear, I walked forward. Peering beyond the trees I saw it lying on the ground seemingly gasping for air, its mouth and eyes were bleeding, its ears twitched hearing the sound and it moved its head to look at me.

It growled but that’s all it did. There was no animosity or hostility in its eyes any longer. I turned to look at my surroundings expecting some sort of trap, but I saw nothing, and yet. The Fangtooth seemed even happy even as it began to growl as if it was sneering at me. I had a bad feeling about things.

I reached its side and quickly stabbed its head with my spear.

[You have killed: (D) Blood Fangtooth. Lvl. 19]

I didn’t level up. I shook my head. Things felt off. Where were the other Bloodfangs? After meticulous searching I managed to see footprints amidst the forest ground. The ground had small treads, markings of dirt between the grass. I turned to look in the direction, towards the lush forest I constantly ignored. It had draping vines and thick trees, the sky was a bright blue, but as I looked overhead I couldn’t help but notice there were a lot of mountains surrounding the place.

My hand wandered to my face, and I couldn’t help but bite my nail. The iron taste of blood spread through my lips as my annoyance grew. I really wanted to just go back to the place I had begun to call my home just today, but at the same time danger filled the place. My house⁠, my Settlement, it was in the middle of a god-damn nest. Though at the same time, I thought nests would only occur underground?

I couldn’t help but frown as I walked back to the house. I picked up my bow along the way and headed directly to the room, and towards the Shop Terminal. Without hesitation I touched the crystal with my mana and a prompt appeared in front of me. Soon after there was another one that I ignored, solely focusing on the first one.

[What do you seek?]

Mana potions. More entries generated.

[Mana potions (Basic): 5 Prime. Available: 32]

[Mana potions (Basic): 5 Prime. Available: 49]

[Mana potions (Basic): 5 Prime. Available: 12]

More and more came, but I simply focused on the first one and selected it. A new prompt appeared, one that was asking me for how many I wanted which I simply maxed out. In an instant, I had bought 30 mana potions. They generated in a pile within the terminal, and it didn't take long before I stowed them all away within my ring.

And finally, drinking another mana potion I headed outside with a frown.

The forest was lush and gave me a sense of familiarity as always, but I also felt a sense of disassociation, perhaps it was the bright colors among the plants or the fact that I recognized none of them. In the end, I simply followed the markings on the ground, stepping past the roots of trees and the moist ground. Sometimes I lost the lead but Glim thankfully helped me with it.

I didn’t know how long had passed, but eventually the forest became less abundant and the ground became shallow. It was a thin layer of grass dirt with rock underneath, at the same time at some point I reached the ledge of a precipice that I simply marched along. It oversaw yet another forest with other distant mountains, and the nest itself was⁠—

Well, a guess of mine⁠— the nest itself was atop of a mountain. The entire top of the mountain was the nest. Nests were isolated from the world with only a single entrance, or so I had concluded after my experiences.

It took a few more minutes of following the footsteps but eventually I saw more and more, all of them converging at the wall of a rocky hill. And, finally, there it was. A gaping cave. I stared for a second before I sighed.

Always a cave…

The ground trembled as a deep howl resounded, it was painful and angry. And then, a wave of them came. I caught myself second-guessing but in the end, I had to clear the nest.

Even if it was in the New World.

I stepped inside the cave.