[Teleporting in 3…]

[2…]

[1…]

A dense forest with towering trees. That was what Esther saw right after being teleported. She looked around. The trees were arranged densely in a circle so that escape was impossible.

What if….

She lit a fire atop her index finger and approached one of the trees. However, her Cube glowed red just as she was about to light it on fire.

“Tch, you’re not letting me do anything.”

The Cube didn’t respond to her words. It never did. She just wanted to punch the shit out of it, but she knew better than to risk it.

A blue screen appeared in front of her.

[This is the combat tutorial.

In the future, you will be teleported directly into the level.

This is meant to make you familiarize yourself with the enemies of this level. Please learn carefully]

“...As if throwing a bunch of goblins at people isn’t enough learning experience.”

Uncaring about her sarcasm, the blue screen continued.

[First enemy - Dropsnake]

From blue particles, a green snake appeared right before her. It blended in very well with the ground, and she could only imagine how dangerous it could be if it was on trees.

Anyways, with a few simple stomps, the snake was dead.

[Second enemy - Treant]

The ground rumbled. A humanoid creature made of wood rose from the dirt. Its eyes were bright red, and killing intent emanated from it.

However, its movement was clunky. Not that she needed to move to kill it when she had [Flame Cannon] ready.

[Combat Tutorial complete. Teleporting to the level….]

Esther’s vision went dark again. When she regained it, she found herself inside a camp surrounded by a dense forest.

Three more people were there with her. By the looks of it, they were all Koreans. One short man, one tall man, and a plump woman. Champion Mastubator, Tennis Master, and Slutty Clerk.

Good. I can actually talk to them. But why are their titles so weird?

No one talked to each other. Instead, their sights were solely focused on their blue screens.

[Level 1 - Lamat’s Garden]

[Target - King Treant

A benevolent king beloved by all Treants. But his reign obstructed the rapid industrialization of nearby countries]

[Please kill the target

Time limit: 1 hour

Failure: Removal from this world]

After the screens disappeared, everyone just stared at each other awkwardly. And it would’ve stayed that way if it wasn’t for the plump woman speaking up.

“You can call me Clerk. Let’s try our best!”

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The short man nodded. “We all want to survive, right? Ah, you can call me Champ… please.”

“Okay, Champ-ssi.” The tall man snickered. “Just call me Tennis. I also want to get out of here alive.”

Esther was the only one left. And of course, all eyes were on her.

Truthfully, she didn’t care whether or not these people lived. And getting three whole meat shields was a good idea.

“I’m Master Healer. But you can call me E.”

“Kid.” Tennis laughed. “Stay behind us. We’ll protect you.”

The other two nodded.

Esther furrowed her brows but said nothing. If staying with them proves too inefficient, I’ll just leave.

“Now then, we should discuss strategy.”

Clerk nodded at Tennis’ suggestion. However, Champ objected to it.

“Should we waste valuable time doing this? We don’t know how far away the King Treant is.”

“The System gave us 1 hour. I think it’ll be fine.”

“But still….”

Sensing that an argument that would lead to nowhere was about to heat up, Esther intervened. “How about we discuss this on the way? Of course, we also need to keep our guard up. But it’s better than staying here.”

“Hmmm…. You okay with this, Champ-ssi?”

The short man nodded. “Fine by me.”

“Alright. I have a shield so I’ll take the vanguard. Champ-ssi, I see that you have a spear. Stay behind me. And Clerk-ssi, who has a bow, stay behind Champ-ssi. And E, you stay in the back. We’ll protect you.”

The group moved through the dense forest. Champ and Tennis were discussing strategy along the way, but Esther didn’t really care.

What she cared about was Treants silently popping out from the ground and trying to sneakily attack them.

She was the one supposed to be protected. And yet, she was the one protecting them instead.

“Strange….” Tennis scratched his chin. “Why haven’t we encountered any monsters?”

Because I killed them, dumbass. I can’t believe he didn’t assign any rear guard.

He technically did, but not intentionally.

Fortunately, Tennis’ worries would soon be quelled. From the trees above, a single Dropsnake dropped onto his head, blinding him.

“MMMMPPHHHHH!” He let out a muffled scream into the snake as he flailed his shield around.

Champ quickly moved. He stabbed his spear into the snake and yanked it away from Tennis.

“T-Thanks.”

“Heh, no probs.”

After that, the group moved like before. The only difference was that Tennis was holding his shield above his head.

This seemed to have worked as the dropsnakes couldn’t do any more damage.

Eventually, they reached a crossroads.

There were two paths separated by wooden stakes that were packed densely to form a wall. Esther sat down on the ground and waited in boredom as everyone else discussed what to do.

“We split up?”

“We split up.”

“Is that okay, Clerk-ssi?”

“T-That’s fine. But I want to go with Tennis-ssi!”

Champ winced. That hurt, a lot. But he didn’t dare to voice it out loud. “I’ll take the left then. With E.”

Clerk shook her head. “I don’t think leaving a child with you is a good idea.”

“What’s that supposed to mean!?”

Before things could get more heated. Again. Esther stood up and sighed. “Don’t worry about me. We’re swarmed with monsters already. I think Champ-ssi is reasonable enough to know what not to do. Right?”

Relieved that someone came to his help but annoyed that everyone had such a low image of him, Champ reluctantly nodded. “That’s right. I’m a man of reason first and foremost.”

Although Clerk still had some concerns, Tennis just laughed it off. “I think it’s reasonable. We’ll take the right, then.”

The group parted ways. Esther walked along with Champ on the left path; neither speaking a word with one another.

Treants still popped up here and there, but Esther made such quick work of them that Champ didn’t even notice.

After fifteen minutes of walking, the reached… a dead-end.

Champ scratched his head and sighed. “I guess we go back, then.”

“No.” Esther simply refused and stepped closer to Champ.

“What? You want us to stay here?”

Esther shook her head. “What I meant is, only I will go back.” She quickly took out Requiem and stabbed Champ’s heart. “You will stay as a rotting corpse.”

Champ, not even being able to process what had just happened to him, fell to his knee and exploded into particles.

“Tch, not even a corpse. Why do you have to ruin my cool moment?”

With another sigh, she put away Requiem to preserve her sword time.

“What’s my current contribution?”

[Contribution: 72% → 80%]

A smirk crept up her lips.

“Two remains.”