"What was that?" Ona asked.

Ronnie looked at her but did not say anything.

"They want to show us something," Latludious replied.

"Isn't this a trap?" Faolandan clarified in a trembling voice.

"I don't think so. If the monsters wanted to kill us, they would have attacked."

"Iron logic," Ona laughed and picked up a flamethrower. "Come on. Let's see what's in there."

All five of them set off. Stamina had recovered. The first peal of thunder sounded from the south. Trees with lush crowns and shapeless trunks grew on both sides of the well-trodden path. Fluttering fireflies indicated the direction. All five guests kept their eyes open, and their fingers on the triggers. Ten minutes later, they were in a glade. Where hunched plants with white withered flowers bent towards the wanderers. In the very center, there were white crosses made of two iron beams fused together. On the other side of the glade appeared a creature whose skin tissue consisted of tightly woven herbs and covered with green magical armor. Instead of a head, it had a helmet made of branches, through the holes in the visor, one eye glowed green and the other purple. In its hands, it held a shield and a spear stained with purple blood.

"How to understand what he wants from us?" Latludious asked.

Ronnie took out the Barrett and headed forward. The others were watching his actions. He walked up to the first cross, bowed his head and pointed at it with his finger, and looked at the monster’s reaction, it did not move. The sniper paid tribute to each grave. The Forest Guard stood rooted to the spot and watched.

"What's going on?" Faolandan asked.

"We are trying to understand what is going on in the head of this vegetarian salad," Ona replied.

"I hope there's no wind," Latludious said.

"I hope it's not Caesar sauce," Ona said.

"How will we understand?" Faolandan asked

"Just give Ronnie a chance," whined Sitting Bull.

The forest guard stuck the tip of the spear into the ground and put the shield next to the trunk of the sleeping Ent. The sniper followed his every action and then noticed his left hand, struck by unnatural magic for these places. Black and purple color. A fleeting memory of where he'd met such a thing popped into his head. Ronnie's eyes darted around, and when they stopped, he exhaled and took the rifle off the safety, pulled the bolt, and pointed the barrel of the Barrett with a silencer in the direction of the creature.

Ona reacted before the others and pointed the flamethrower at Ronnie's back and shouted:

"Don't even think…"

The sniper pulled the trigger and the whip-like sound of a shot rang through the forest. A second later, the forest guard fell. A soul burst out of its body, thanked him with a nod of its head, and flew away through the ground. A burdock bloomed in that place, over which fireflies flew. A blinding flash. The whole group closed their eyes, and when they opened them, they saw a new cross.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"How did you understand?" Latludious asked.

Ronnie checked the amount of experience: 8%. He took a scanner out of his pocket and stuck it into the rotting body of the guard and asked:

"AI."

"At your service."

"Is the body infected with the same magic as the minions of the wild-boss from the Nepril Desert?"

"Analyzing…"

"Can you answer him already?" Ona shouted. "What is this stupid habit of yours to stay silent silence?"

"The analysis is completed. You are correct, Ronnie."

Ronnie opened the bestiary, found the creature he killed in the desert. AI named it TagFindar. To the left of the 3D image was written its race: Orc. The monster's parameters were highlighted on the sides. And below - skills.

"AI. Can representatives of the Orc race live in this forest?"

"Based on the available information, there is a small probability."

"How many percent?"

"About five."

"Based on what?"

"You are the first and the last to meet representatives of the Orc race in these lands. The magic is the same. But no matter how many players have passed through the paths of this forest, no one has ever encountered anything like this before."

"So they came here recently…"

"Or a long time ago, but no one has met them before."

"Hence the five percent."

"That's right."

Ronnie felt someone squeeze his shoulder hard and put his knee on his leg, and put the muzzle of a machine gun to his head.

"Will you fucking answer?" Faolandan asked.

Ronnie got up, turned to him and said,

"If you point the gun, then shoot."

Latludious walked up to the withering body of the forest guardian and used the spell "analysis" and told the others:

"The body of this monster seems to have been infected by dark magic. As my AI informed me, the forest brotherhood does not kill its own. They asked us to do this. I'm just wondering how did you figure that out, Ronnie?"

Ronnie saw an alert appear on his HUD. It says:

You finished the Side Quest. Your reward is 48.665 CP + a virtual chest with a hidden bonus inside.

"In that case, the question arises: if the infection does not kill, then why are there so many graves?"

"How would I know that? Maybe your AI is wrong, huh?"

Ona came up to Ronnie and punched him in the shoulder and said:

"Why do you solve issues with violence? Maybe Latludious could cure it. No one allowed you to kill a conscious monster."

He turned to her and answered:

"Do you really think the druids and ents of the ancient forest couldn't heal it themselves if it was possible?"

Latludious used a spell of light and tried to cleanse the guardian's body of filth, but the infection did not succumb. Then he tried to heat the affected area to a temperature of 80 degrees Celsius, but the damage did not decrease by a millimeter. The magician tried for a couple of minutes more to somehow resist dark magic, but the attempts were unsuccessful. He got up and said:

"Ronnie, you were right this time, but in the future, you should discuss your actions with your comrades, even if you don't take them as such. If you'd made a mistake a couple of minutes ago, we wouldn't have made it out of the woods. There's nothing else for us to do here. Let's move on."

"Did you hear him?" Faolandan asked Ronnie. "You should be quieter than a fly."

Ronnie smiled and slung his rifle over his back and replied:

"If you don't like something, then hide in a corner like a little girl you are and start crying to your commander. I signed a contract with him. And there was no clause in obeying every order and discussing your actions."

Faolandan walked up to Ronnie and spat at his feet. Ona pulled him by the shoulder and said:

"He's not worth it."

Faolandan walked up to Sitting Bull and said:

"I won't carry you anymore."

Ona squatted down in front of the wounded Indian, took off her hood, thereby exposing her burned face, and added:

"Sometimes pain sobers the mind."

Latludious exhaled and thought that it would be nice to have a "calm down" spell or something in the arsenal.