Franco couldn’t move. The wounds on his legs made it hard to jump. The only one in a position to fight was the stranger. He sent another shockwave trying to hit the monster’s core, but the vines blocked it.

Its regeneration was too fast. The wound was almost gone when a sword stabbed him in the back. It was Emily.

"What are you doing?" He tried to yell, but Silas ended up vomiting blood. You can’t deal enough damage to kill it!

It was insane. She had revealed her presence and got herself into striking range to gain nothing in return. He felt the instruments touching and moving his body. Rebeca had come to heal his wounds. "I'm... fine. Go help Franco. He needs to kill it fast!"

"But your body—"

"I can regenerate. Stop wasting time; it doesn’t matter if we all end up dying anyway!" he pushed her aside. "GO!"

She ran to Franco's side and began to heal his wounds. Silas was still worried about Emily. She was hanging from the back by holding onto her sword. It was the only thing keeping a part of the wound open.

The monster regained balance and sent its roots to grab Emily. "No." She tried to fight, but she got trapped. He could only see the explosion of blood as the roots squished her.

"Aaaaggh!" the stranger punched up and sent a shockwave away. Emily’s fell to the ground with her limbs broken and wounds all over her back. She was like a broken doll, her limbs twisted in the wrong ways.

Franco and Rebecca ran to her while the monster sealed his wound and prepared another barrage of attacks. While Franco managed to block them with a rush of strikes, Rebeca grabbed her and backed away.

He was using all his energy to punch the roots away. All his experience and work training in the gym was paying off for this moment. He moved his feet fast and dodged the vines, imagining they were hooks and jabs. Left, down, left again, up and then right...

The adrenaline pumping through his body was the only thing keeping him alive. His mind was working at 110% and his wounds were barely treated. Each punch made the bandages loosen and, despite dodging ten roots, two more cut his side or pierced a limb. Despite the pain and the exhaustion, Franco was feeling alive. He wasn’t doing it to save the others or to protect his own life; he was doing it to prove something to himself. Push, push, push and...

Silas was biting his teeth until his legs were good to get back into the fight. The regeneration had healed almost everything. It was impressive, but he was more worried about defeating the plant monster. He looked at his guildmates and the monster. Where is he? Where is the monk?

The stranger, the man they had come to help, had disappeared. The worst fear came into his brain. He left us. He took his chance to escape while the monster was fighting us. Shit! He was angry, but he couldn’t blame him. He would have done the same if he was in a similar position. But now the chances of victory have drastically gone down. The only choice now was to run away.

How can we lose him? We don’t have any power to hide or stealth skills, is impossible. We could try to run back to the base and fight with all of us, but I don’t think we can make it that far.

He couldn’t think of anything. His legs were back to normal and he ran back to the fight. While Rebecca was healing Emily and Franco was acting as tank, he would use the green sword and attack straight into the center. It had very little chance of success, but it was all he had.

If we run, then he’s going to hunt us down before we get too far. He grabbed the sword with his roots and charged. He ran fast to not waste the chance Franco had created and then jumped.

The monster reacted without moving, and half of his roots changed direction without delay, blocking Silas' attack. The sword got stopped before reaching the body. It was over; he had no power to pierce beyond the vines.

His eye caught a shadow on the other side. It was the stranger. He hadn’t run away; he was hiding, waiting for an opportunity, and with all his power he struck the monster right in the torso, pushing him into the sword.

The sword reached the core, and the monster began to shake uncontrollably, flailing his limbs around, hitting everything. It tore trees down, and Silas was pushed aside with force after losing another leg. The monster tried to take the sword out, but the stranger was still on his back.

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"This is for killing everyone, you fucking monster!" He jumped up and grabbed the sword and began to twist it into the core, making it bleed more sap. The monster turned even wielder and attacked the stranger without holding back. It smashed its own chest with force, and after two hits, the stranger was nothing more than a bloody stain on its bark.

Those few seconds the stranger spent wounding the monster ensured its demise. It made a weird noise and fell to the ground. During his last moments, they could hear a small voice talking.

"Fail… mission… not good… servant…" It was done. Silas managed to use the skill again to heal his leg while Rebecca was tending to Emily and Franco.

"I finished with the first aid, but I’m getting tired of using the shadow so much. I'll have to heal you when we are back at the base. Is that fine?"

"Sure."

"Thank you, Rebecca."

"Can you heal him?" Silas came to their side and pointed to the stranger.

"I... no, he’s already dead." It was obvious at first glance that he had been squished like an insect. Her power couldn’t help the dead, but Silas was still puzzled by the encounter.

Who was this man? Did he have knowledge of something they didn't know about, or was it just an unfortunate incident? Was it the monster that talked or, somehow, it could communicate with them using telepathy? Too many questions remain unanswered. He went to the remains of the monster and took his sword back. He wanted to check something.

"I’m going to look inside for the core. Keep an eye out." He opened the wound on the chest of the monster, so it was big enough to enter. He crawled a bit before reaching a mass covered in sap. He cut some of the roots and managed to take it outside.

Emily was about to touch it when he moved it away. "What are you doing?"

"I was going to check if I could feel something."

"You think I forgot that you made a reckless, dumb attack? You almost die for nothing!"

"Hey, don’t yell at her. We all did the best we could."

"There is a difference between doing something on your own and just being an idiot. Going for a surprise attack was useless. You really think you could have defeated it?"

"No!"

"Then why did you do it then?"

"Because you almost got killed, idiot! If you were dead, then I thought you would have said to kill it before he could recover. Franco was hurt, and the other guy was busy blocking the roots. Rebecca and I were the only ones who could do something, and we all know which power is more valuable."

"That, that is still too risky. The best option was to run away with Franco and leave me behind and the guy as bait."

"So, you’re allowed to risk your life, but the rest of us no? Are you doing this to try to act like a leader?"

"No, it is just the best play!"

"OK, knock it off you two. We came here to help a person, and now he’s dead. You almost died, and I got stabbed like fifteen times. Stop fighting like little kids and let’s go back to the cave before my wounds open again." Franco didn’t have time for their petty squabbles.

Rebecca didn’t want to get involved, so she only nodded behind him.

"Fine, I'll let you touch it with one condition. Say you are sorry."

"Excuse me?"

"No one is perfect. Mistakes happen, but I need to know that you aren’t going to do it again."

"Are you serious? Are you ten? How can you be so petty?"

"Is the person who made the best moves or the girl who just ran with a sword without any idea, which one of those is the child."

"Forget it, I’m out of here. I remember the way back. I don’t need to hear this. Are you coming with me, Rebecca?" Franco asked.

"Y-Yes, I’m tired." The two of them began to walk away while Silas and Emily kept yelling at each other.

"Oh, you brat!"

"Hey!"

Emily's patience ran out and she managed to grab the core. At that moment, a dark presence overtook the forest. It was like if all the air had turned cold and the day had changed into the night. Darkness was the only thing they could feel. It wasn’t only them; the plants turned away their leaves and some small animals ran away in fear.

They could hear a voice in their minds. It was similar to the monster, but this one was much clearer and more intelligent. It sent a shiver down their spines.

"Oh, so the slaves were destroyed. Impressive, I guess you vermin are more capable than I gave you credit for." It was wrong. It talked almost like a human being, but the tone and the way it sounded, it was like a movement of plants trying to communicate like a person.

It should have sounded wrong, like the monster, but it sounded fine. That was the scariest part.

"What? I’m sure I'm communicating to you minds and yet the four of you are all frozen in fear. An appropriate response for vermin like you. There are more powerful and intelligent creatures in this world than you can possibly imagine. You’re just another pawn used by the vile System."

"…!"

"Crawl away if you want, or hide in your cave. I’ll come to find you soon. Feel free to use the stone of my slave, the one that you’re holding right now. I want to see how intelligent this new species of vermin is."

Just like that, the air turned warm again, and the darkness holding their hearts tight vanished as if it wasn’t there.

Emily dropped the core, revealing the shining stone inside. Its red color was an omen of death. Silas hesitated for a moment, and she could see that his hands were trembling, but despite his fear, he picked it up.

"Why? You aren’t going to take it with us, right? He’s going to know our location."

"He already knows. I don’t know how, but he talked about the cave. If he was talking to us from another place, then maybe he had already read our memories. is a risk, but tell me Emily, do you think this thing has any power?" He had no way of knowing, but Emily had a power that connected her to nature.

She wanted to say no, to forget that voice and the threat it had just made, but she couldn't. "Yes, I feel power coming from it. It’s not alive, but at the same time it is."

Silas turned to Franco and Rebecca, who were holding their breath. "We have to have Nadine see if she can make something with it. If not, then I’ll destroy it far away from the base. Is that okay?"

Their faces said no, but they didn’t have the luxury of wasting resources. Especially now that a new enemy is looking for them.