"Fight! Are you crazy?"

"We fight to retrieve Jacob and then escape as planned. I’ll try to copy its wings and then we'll all escape on my back."

"Can’t we just take him quietly and escape?"

"That would be ideal, but I don’t think any of us can do it. We need to start the fight with the premise that we're at a disadvantage."

"S-Should I fight too?"

"You need to heal Jacob's wounds enough to prolong his life. You can focus on restoring him to full health after we escape. Thinking more about it, Emily should be able to go back to the base on her own."

"You’re already imagining the worst case, huh."

Nathan climbed onto the edge, and then Silas did the same. He aimed at the bird, who was still watching in the other direction. They took two steps before a creaking sound from their feet alerted the bird. As predicted, the surprise factor was null in this case.

The bird made a noise and went for them. Nathan ran in front with his shield. He blocked three fast pecks from the bird. He had gotten used to moving first and reacting to attacks, while he was blocking the bird Silas transformed again. This time his eyes became sharp and a multitude of feathers covered his back, forming winds in his arms.

Silas went to Jacob's side along with Rebecca, who summoned her shadow. The shadow took medical instruments from the inside of its body, and with a needle it stitched the wound in Jacob’s chest. It also injected him with a sedative for the pain and wrapped a couple of bandages around the wound.

"That should be good enough for first aid!"

"Nathan, come, it's time to go!" He grabbed Jacob, and Rebecca held onto his neck.

Nathan was backing away while keeping his shield up and blocking the pecks. The bird got impatient and tried to grab him with its claws. He ran to the side and then to Silas’s back. With the three people on him, he jumped from the edge and looked down at the ground.

It took him a moment to gain control of his wings, but he waved his arms with force. Up and down, up and down as fast as he could until he began to fly. The weight was dragging him down, but at least they weren't going to die by crashing into the ground.

"Silas, go faster! He’s coming for us!" He looked back and saw the bird pursuing him. It was much faster than him. Escaping wasn’t an option with all three people on his back.

The massive talons were about to crush him. Clank, the shield took the attack, but the force of the impact sent them flying into a spiral. He lost control of the wings and Rebecca almost fell. She only managed to live thanks to her hands grabbing his leg.

I can’t fly like this. I don’t have balance. Everything is spinning! There was nothing he could do. His mind was trying to regain his sense of direction, trying to find where was up and down again. The bird was flying toward him again to finish him off with one last attack.

Nathan was still holding his shield, but he was vomiting from the movement. He wasn’t in a condition to defend again. He could only pray for a miracle that somehow the bird would hit them at the right angle and time where the shield was aligned. Is game over.

With no hope left, he could only watch as the talons came close, and suddenly a burst of shots came from his back. Of the three shots, one missed, but the other two went through the body of the bird. The beast recoiled in pain and flew away. Jacob saved their lives.

"Sorry... I’m tired, but thanks for saving me." He passed out just as quickly as he woke up.

Silas regained some balance but ended up failing into a giant bush. "Uh, is everyone alive?"

"Ugh, yes."

"I feel like I almost got a heart attack."

He stood up and looked around. A green wall covered all directions. It took him a moment to notice that it wasn't a wall but instead giant leaves. A sizzling sound came from the bottom and a strange liquid started to pour in from somewhere. "What is this?"

The form of the leaves that do not leave an exit and the liquid, they had fallen into a plant trap.

"Ah shit, this thing stings. It is like battery acid." Nathan grabbed Jacob, who was on the ground, and used his shield to stand on it. Rebecca went to his side and climbed on to the shield as well.

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Silas shook his arms and flew to the ceiling of the leaves. He tried to peck at it with his beak and tear it with his talons, but he couldn’t scratch the leaves. Is too hard. No, I think I’m too tired. I can hardly keep these wings. Is there a limit to how many times I can copy powers? Or I’m just that weak. I don’t feel any skill in this form. Should I try to change into this plant? Is that possible? No, I need to fly to save myself. In the worst case, I'll be the only survivor.

Rebecca had lost her sword, so she couldn’t try to slash the leaves. Unless she uses her power. "Rebecca, try to use the tools of your shadow to cut the leaves."

"I don’t think it works that way."

"Just try!" He was cutting the part above, but it had no effect.

Rebecca summoned her shadow and tried to call for scalpels or bone saws, but it didn’t work. The shadow refused to summon his tools, only to look at Rebecca with empty eyes.

"Please just do it once."

"How many times are you going to disappoint me?" A distorted voice came from the shadow, and Rebecca's eyes opened wide with fear. Those words were enough to make her lose composure and the shadow vanished.

"I…I…" She was astonished. Nathan couldn’t do anything in his position, and Jacob was unconscious.

I’m the only one who can do something. He attacked with more desperation, but the result was the same. Suddenly, a light shone in the corner of the leaves. A small green light was like a signal.

"Silas over there!"

He hesitated for a moment, but there was no other option The acid was rising; it had almost covered the shield and was about to melt the feet of his companions. He dashed at it and slashed with his claws. It was minimal, but he had made a hole in it. The leaves were weaker in this part.

It took dozens of hits, but after a minute, he had made a hole big enough for a person to escape. "Climb on me!" He went back to the rest of them as the acid was breaking their shoes.

With a splash, he made his way out of the plant. It stung a little, but they escaped relatively unscathed. They were in the branches of a tree, and below was Emily.

"Thank goodness. I thought it ate you like bugs."

"Uf, Emily, was it you who showed us the spot?"

"I think so. I was trying to find a way to open the plant from the inside. I try to find the weakest spot for that."

"Hahahaha, good job." He had assumed she had gone back to the base on her own. Running after them in this forest alone was dangerous, even with her tracking skills. He was so glad to be wrong. "Let’s go back."

***

After coming back to the cave, they explained everything that happened to the other three, and Rebecca healed Jacob’s wounds. He was glad to be alive, but the most they gained from that was a piece of some ore he had taken while being in the nest.

"How did you get this?"

"You said you wanted to experiment with Nadine’s power. Give it to her and see what she can do. hehe. "

Besides the ore, they also had seeds and plants of all kinds. It was going to take a while to assort and learn about all this. He walked to Nadine’s house and explained the situation.

"Yes, this is much better than the rocks around here. I can feel it, or even just looking at it’s enough to tell."

"You think you can make a weapon or maybe armor with it?"

"Give a couple of hours." He went to rest in his own home, and after a few hours, as promised, Nadine knocked on his door and showed him her work.

"Woah!" It was a green sword. It looked almost like it was made of jade, but it was very hard. "Can I test it?"

"Sure, go ahead. I already did it myself."

He went outside and walked to a nearby tree. With a single movement, he cut the trunk without resistance. I knew it. We need to gather materials to advance in this world, weapons and armor. You also need someone like Nadine, who has a specific class to make them.

"Is great, just like I imagined. Good job, Nadine. We’re going to depend on your power to make progress."

"You said it was in a nest, right? That means the bird probably took it from the ground somewhere in this forest. We don’t have to go fight to get it."

"Maybe, we need to look for ores or mines, as well as more information on the beasts here."

"You almost died, and you’re already planning another incursion into the wilderness?"

"Not that far out, and now we know to keep our eyes on the sky. Besides, it was worth it since no one died or got permanently hurt. We gained a lot of knowledge and a weapon."

"I don’t know if you’re just optimistic or something else entirely."

"Does it really matter?"

"Guess no. After all, according to Nathan, you were the most desperate to rescue Jacob. I have to say I didn’t take you as the emotional type." She said it in a joking tone and went back to the cave.

That night, Nathan went to great lengths to explain the rescue operation, as he called it, with all the details. It was a simple victory, but hearing a guild member speak with such excitement made him happy.

After that, the next few days were much better. They went on more incursions into the forest and fought several types of animals. Everyone was getting used to their new life.

Emily made a plantation for food by connecting roots from outside with the inside of the cave. Some plants were starting to grow despite the lack of sunlight or water. "I think they are taking nutrients from the plants outside. I don’t think it is too good, but it can work as emergency food."

Nadine was working on another piece of armor. There were minerals in the forest scattered randomly, but they haven’t found more of the green ore quality. Still, they had found enough to build a small armory. "It is better than nothing, but I wonder where the green ore is hiding?"

Two of their problems have been solved in the short term, but they haven’t found more people, only corpses. Days passed and they became two weeks.

Silas was keeping track of the time by marking a wall in his home. How nice of the system to make the night and day cycle the same as the earth, or maybe he chose us for that reason? After fighting several beasts and eating fruits, he couldn’t shake the feeling that this world was too similar to Earth. Was it just a coincidence or something he wasn’t seeing?

He was sitting on the roof of a small house when Emily came running and interrupted his thoughts. "Silas, there is a human. I’m detecting a human running from something in the north!"