The forest was eerily quiet, save for the footsteps of many people marching through the dark with their torches held high.
“I’ve never been to the forest at night.”
“Yeah, me neither.”
Some of the players spoke to each other to lighten the mood.
They were excited to be the first to participate in a raid but the forest they were in still creeped them out. Usually, you would hear the wolves howling but tonight they weren’t. It was too quiet.
A dense fog rolled in and the players started to go missing.
A loud voice shouted, “Everyone stick together!”
It was Alex, he and a group of players lit up the path for the others to follow.
“How many are missing?” He asked.
One of the drunk men he spoke to at the inn earlier replied, “Just a few. Around 13.”
That was bad, they had above 60 players in the party but even just losing a few meant a big difference.
Could we set the trees on fire to have the fog dissipate? No that would be stupid as we’d cook ourselves to death in the forest.
“Wave your torches high above! Make sure those who are lost will see us!”
Everyone started waving their torches and the fog slightly dimmed, just enough for a few lost people to see, “Come to the torches!”
What greeted them were people who were not in good shape, one of them bled from all over and they carried another player on their back.
“What happened?” Alex asked.
“T-There’s something in the forest!” The man said with panic in his voice.
“What did it look like?”
“I-I don’t know! It was too fast!”
“Alright, go to the healers. Who’s that you’re carrying?” Alex asked.
“I-It’s my friend, we were lost for a bit and I found her lying against one of the trees all beaten up.”
Hmm.
“Let me take a look.”
“E-Excuse me? What for?” The man asked in confusion.
Alex grabbed the woman off his shoulders and took her to one of the healers, “Cast bless on it.”
The healers were confused by his commands but they did as he said, as they cast the spell on the woman she screeched in agony and her appearance shifted into a grotesque pale white monster.
Everyone who saw it was confused and frightened at the same time, “Grab that man!”
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Alex shouted as he pointed toward the man who carried the woman.
The men pinned him to the ground and Alex along with a healer stood above him.
“Do it.”
Surprisingly enough, this man was also one of those grotesque monsters. He screeched in pain and lay lifelessly on the ground.
The people stared at Alex with curiosity.
“How did you know?” The healer next to him asked.
“Remember how they looked so hurt and were bleeding?”
The healer nodded, “Yes.”
“Their health bars were full.”
“What–” Then they understood what he meant.
“Why did you ask me to bless them?”
Alex thought of how to answer them, “There’s a rotten smell in the forest, so I assumed we might be dealing with something cursed or an undead. On top of that, we’re dealing with a witch so holy spells were the only thing I could think of.”
As the night continued and they headed deeper into the forest, the same events repeated with those who were lost being monsters.
[7 Shapeshifters slayed]
[+140 Exp gained]
Eventually, during their slow march, they heard metal clanking in the distance and hurried towards it.
6 people were fighting off the same pale humanoid monsters they had encountered before, “Let’s assist them!”
The small army gathered together and helped shake off the monsters attacking the lost group.
[6 Shapeshifters slayed]
[+120 Exp gained]
“Are you guys alright?” Alex asked and looked at the state of the group.
“Ye’ we’re fine, those bastards came from the fog and attacked us while taking the shape of our pals.”
Alex was still cautious and asked the healers to cast bless on the players and they accepted it with no problems.
“Whatcha do dat’ for?” The man asked.
“It works on the Shapeshifters, we ran into a bunch of them on our way here, so it's a small precautionary measure,” Alex replied.
The man looked at Alex with an astonished look, they hadn’t been in the forest for that long and this man in front of him had already thought of ways to deal with their foes.
The man smirked, “Well I’ll bet ya are goin’ to be pretty happy what we found then.”
He pointed at a place ahead of them that seemed just like the ordinary forest they were in, “We avoided that part 'cause it was freaky as shit.”
The group entered the area and looked around, the fog dissipated and the trees changed from their ordinary appearance to grotesque-looking abominations.
The forest wept as they headed deeper in, the forest made a strange sequence of crying, screaming and laughing but nothing happened to them.
Then they heard loud distorted laughing of children in the distance and from an open canopy between the fleshy trees they saw a large beast fly up in the sky, it was silent for a moment, and then a loud crash shook the ground beneath them.
Whatever was happening in front of the group would be dangerous for them, but they had no choice but to continue moving forward.
“Let's pick up the pace!” Alex shouted and the small army of players ran toward the sounds of the ongoing fight ahead of them.
The loud clang of a sword echoed through the air and was followed by a grating screech.
The forest laughed, cried, and then screamed at them as they saw a person flying into a tree ahead of them.
Alex recognised who it was at first sight and a look of worry spread across his face as he saw his beaten-up state.
“Arthur…?”
His heart pounded painfully in his chest, and his mind was a chaotic mess of concerned thoughts. Was Arthur going to die?
“Arthur!”
He desperately ran through the group around him to reach his injured friend.
Please, please don’t die. I can’t lose you too!
“Arthur!” His legs were tired, but his concern for Arthur outweighed his physical fatigue.
In the time that he ran toward Arthur. His eyes darted around, searching for what had hurt Arthur. He located a large monster on the field to his side and a dangerous glint appeared in his eyes as he gazed at the boss monster.
You just wait, I will end you myself.