Despite having to fight several creatures, Wyn finds the sub-forest oddly alluring. The silhouettes and sounds of the forest's inhabitants seem to dance in harmony with the whispers of the trees, creating a captivating symphony that draws Wyn deeper into its charm. If not for Anish, he would have become a snack several times by now. As for Yu, he has grown increasingly cautious, always checking a catnip tree before approaching. If the pouches aren’t affected by Anish’s light gust, he knows to steer clear. Meanwhile, Mira seizes the opportunity to get acquainted with Christine, one of the few times she’s not engaged in conversation with Yu.

“Like, I’m jealous you had a sister. Or have?”

“Let’s go with ‘have’ for now.”

“I don’t know why, but, like, I never really got along well with boys.”

“Maybe you should come visit my tent,” Mira says, winking.

“Oh? OHHH!”

“Jeez, Mira. Those toys aren’t enough for you?” Wyn teases.

“Nothing can replace a human. Still waiting for your visit, Oppa.”

The team arrives at a pond, where a lone motherchoad sits on a lotus pad. Yu springs forward in excitement, clearly eager to fight it. As he yells out the creature’s name, Anish bursts into hysterical laughter, bemusing the rest of the squad.

“It’s not nice to say that aloud,” Anish says, still chuckling.

“Just tell me why,” Wyn nags.

“Ain’t nothing but a cruel name.”

But despite Wyn's and Yu’s persistent nagging, Anish refuses to elaborate. Frustrated, Yu sighs and then leaps high into the air, aiming to repeat the finishing move he performed during the first test.

“I won’t miss the brain this time!”

The toad's eyes track Yu's every movement. When he's directly above it, the creature leaps back into the water. Yu's blade thrusts into the soft lotus pad but doesn't pierce through.

“Whoa! It’s bouncy! You guys should…”

Unexpectedly, the toad sucks the lotus pad into its mouth from beneath the water. As Yu lands back on the pad, he too is gulped up by the toad. The sight causes Mira and Christine to scream. Wyn quickly summons an ascending cyclone, hoping to catch the creature, but by the time it makes contact with the water, the toad has already moved away. Despite their shyness, both Wyn and Anish strip off their clothes, ready to jump into the pond.

“Blurb blurb blurb.”

Yu emerges from the water with the lotus pad covering his head and dashes back to the team.

“Why are you two in your undies? Oh my my! Sexy tight briefs, Anish!”

Anish quickly covers himself, grabs his clothes, and runs off into a bush for some privacy, forgetting he could just materialize a new outfit via the band.

“Wh…What the hell?” Wyn asks Yu, pretending not to notice Mira’s intense stare at his boxer shorts.

“The toad’s nothing compared to my strength now!”

“No, I mean that awful sound you made.”

“I had water in my mouth. What did you expect?”

“You could’ve just kept quiet instead of splurting out anything.”

Minutes pass, and Yu anxiously waits for the essence to float to the surface, but it’s a lost cause. Frustrated, Yu starts removing his clothes, determined to retrieve the essence.

“It’s a hundred and fifteen essence!” Yu insists, ignoring his team’s pleas.

“Anish, do you know how our powers work underwater?” Wyn asks.

“No idea.”

“Then let me go with you.”

“If any of the girls want to follow, I’ll go too,” Anish adds.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“Hard pass, thanks,” Mira responds.

Underwater, they find numerous creatures swimming at different levels of the deep pond. The essence is sparkling far from where they are. Although survivable underwater, Wyn struggles with suffocation the longer he stays submerged, while Yu seems fine and maneuvers effortlessly. To reach the essence quickly, Wyn propels them both with a cyclone dash, enveloping them in its current as Yu holds his blade in front to fend off any creatures in their path. The dash brings them close enough for Yu to quickly absorb the essence.

However, the spiral current also attracts several creatures. Yu signals Wyn to perform an upward cyclone dash. While airborne, Yu attempts a water dash, but with Wyn in tow, he can’t dash as far as he would normally alone. Halfway back, they’re hit by a jet of water from a creature below. Just as they’re about to hit the water again, Wyn performs a cyclone dash, narrowly avoiding a creature that snaps its jaws loudly at them. But, as expected, his dash inadvertently sweeps the rest of the team, setting back their progress toward the other campsite.

“You and your cyclone again, like, grrr!” Christine complains.

“At least everyone’s safe, right, Yu? Right? RIGHT?” Mira says, giving Yu a stern look.

“Sowwy!”

“Don’t act all cute. It doesn’t work on us,” Mira retorts.

“Awww,” Christine chimes in.

“For crying out loud, girl…”

“Anish, blow me dry, daddy!” Yu says, shaking his hips with his hands in the air.

“You know, I love you and all, but I hate your humor sometimes,” Anish says as he uses wind to dry both Wyn and Yu.

Back at the pond, they find it now blocked by a large wall of ice with two big square heads poking out in the middle. Upon closer inspection, the heads resemble purple hippos with a touch of pink on their snouts. Their mouths are wide open, displaying a set of icy, square teeth. The two hippos look similar, except one’s head appears to be upside down. Both have ten teeth on the bottom and a sheet of ice above. Each tooth has a plaque in the shape of a downward arrow. Despite their silly appearance, the hippos remain completely still.

Curious about the arrows, Wyn kills a bear-like creature and uses its severed arm to press a tooth in the upright hippo’s mouth. The first press does nothing. He tries again, but this time, the ice sheet above falls, severing the arm instantly. Though hard to see, the hippo swallows the severed part, then reopens its mouth and resumes its stillness. The remaining arm has disintegrated, leaving Wyn no choice but to stop and think.

“What is going on?” Mira asks.

“Is there, like, an order to press?” Christine wonders.

“My thoughts exactly. But what’s the order?” Wyn says.

“Can we press and then pull our hands out super duper fast?” Yu suggests.

“It requires force. I had to summon a cyclone to help push,” Wyn explains.

“Attacking them doesn’t seem to work either,” Anish adds.

Unable to solve the puzzle, the team decides to let Anish carry them over the ice wall and the pond. As they ascend to the top, the hippos retreat into the water. With their chunky, sliced square bodies but intact bottoms, the hippos spring at the team, catching them off guard. Fortunately for the unprepared bunch, the hippos crash into each other. The one with the upside-down head chomps into the neck of the other, causing both to collapse into the water. The ice wall disappears, and instead of moving forward, Wyn asks Anish to take them back to the ground.

“We can’t risk another jump,” Wyn says.

“Let’s change routes,” Anish agrees.

Just as Anish finishes speaking, an ice wall identical to the previous one appears before their eyes. The two hippos are back again, staying still with their mouths wide open.

“Are they the same hippos? Can’t be right? One of them got chomped in the neck!” Yu exclaims.

“Let’s try again. This time, I’ll fuse with Christine to add fake weight to the presses,” Wyn says.

Wyn’s new strategy works wonders. But even then, he’s unable to press the teeth without triggering the ice sheet to fall, resetting their progress.

“You fools!” an unfamiliar voice calls out.

“Who’s that?” Yu asks.

“Look closely. Ya’ll should see where to press.”

A figure of a short grandma appears from the treetops. She nonchalantly walks up to the upside-down hippo’s mouth, then climbs up a tooth and steps inside.

“Grandma, no!” Mira cries.

“Shut it, tramp. Are ya blind? I’m safe.”

“What a rude old biatch.”

It turns out, there’s no puzzle to begin with. The teeth with plaques should be avoided, and pressing all the others in any order kills the creature instantly.

“What the actual fuck?” Wyn mutters.

“Them essence is mine. Ya’ll pussied out!”

“Well, take it. I’m more curious how you figured this out.”

“The shits weren’t moving, so I lost ma cool and went inside.”

The dark-skinned grandma sports a mostly white, puffy afro. She loves the forest because she can “roll alone” most of the time. How she passed the first test at her original age remains a mystery.

“I’m sixteen now,” she says.

“No one asked. Can we see the info of the creatures?” Wyn inquires.

The ice creatures are called the Hippothesis and the Hippocracy. Each grants five hundred essence upon death. The description for both is empty. The electric and wind-wielding Grandma Mildred takes her leave, driving an A3M directly into the pond.

“Oh…so we could cross the pond that easily after all,” Wyn realizes.

The team heads back to where they started, fighting creatures along the way. They climb into the A3M and proceed to cross the pond. The underwater view is nothing special, and the creatures show no interest in attacking the machine. Once they reach the other side, they stay inside the A3M, as the area is too swampy to walk in. Leaving the swamp, they notice a large, long-bodied creature up ahead on land – it resembles a multi-sectioned centipede.