"What the hell is the matter with those things!" Alex jumped away from yet another giant penguin that kept trying to bite her.

The group had left the city without any issues, and for almost one hour, nothing happened. Then, a flock of penguins appeared out of nowhere and surrounded the party. They stood there for thirty minutes hoping the monsters would just move along. When that didn't happen, Hera and the others tried to push them away without hurting the creatures not to trigger a violent response, but that still didn't work. Only by killing a couple of the monsters, the group managed to push forward. However, with the death of their brethren, the creatures roared and started attacking.

Every penguin had navy blue skin and a white beak with black beady eyes, but each of them had a unique yellow pattern on their fins. Some had geometrical shapes, while others looked like tribal tattoos. Despite that, there was little difference between their behavior, even if they had different markings. The penguins were faster than one would expect, and they could even fly short distances in small bursts of speed. Because of that ability, Hera and the others couldn't get away from the monsters. They reached a breaking point when, for the second time, the penguins flocked around the group, surrounding them completely.

"How many?" Mylo already pulling his staff from his back.

"Shit, 47. Most are behind us," Shane replied, already loading a bullet into her gun.

"Can we book it to the doorway?" Alex suggested.

"It's too far away. Besides, if we just try to run, they might hit us while we transfer," Bonnie created her three motes of elemental energy in the air around her.

"I have an idea," Blue prepared a large cloud, "Mylo, when I say go, start running ahead. Just kick anything in front of you out of the way. Everyone else, stay behind him and get ready to run."

"I see what you are thinking. Here," Helena pulled the shadows from the ground and wrapped them around everyone's waists, creating a makeshift rope connecting them all, "Don't worry. This won't do anything unless those monsters have the same spells I do."

Blue pushed out the ball of mana between her hands, and a massive cloud covered most of the area, "Go! Don't stop running. It's going to get really loud really fast!"

Mylo wasn't exactly sure about what was going to happen, but when the cloud covered everything, he understood. Pulling out his staff, he used it as a lance and charged ahead like a Rhinoceros running through the savanna. Hera and the others saw his marker start to move on their visors and followed along his path. Their sprint was by no means organized. Alex jumped ahead and almost went past Mylo. Bonnie and Shane bumped into each other a few times. Hera and Helena threw spells at the penguins but almost hit Silah since she was about the same size as the monsters. The only one that didn't have any issues moving in the cover of the cloud was Blue. Since this was part of her legacy, she could sense everything that was inside her ability. A few seconds after everyone started running the sound of thunder could be heard from within the cloud.

The ones who were having the most trouble were the penguins. They were creatures that focused on sight, and now that everything was smoke, the monsters couldn't find their prey. Seeing that the creatures were confused, Blue started to drag the cloud along but quickly gave up. Moving the cloud around took way too much mana to be sustainable. Instead, Blue kept creating more clouds and tossing them around the group. She didn't make them just in front, but at the sides too. All of this was in hopes that it would be enough to confuse the penguins and allow the group to run away.

Blue's plan worked perfectly. With the monsters crying out and the rumbling thunder in the clouds, the creatures weren't able to distinguish the people in the middle of the mayhem. This allowed the explorers to run far enough away to avoid being detected by the monsters. No one said a word even after leaving the cover of the clouds. They all understood that loud noises could attract the creatures once more. Just because they mainly relied on sight, it didn't mean that they didn't have other senses.

Quietly, Hera and the others continued running through the hills. The Cold Water Lake had a lot of different biomes for such a small room. Aside from the lake and the grassy plains connected to it, there were some small foothills and a sparse woodland area. The doorway to the next room was located in that grove, and, for some reason, the penguins would avoid the area unless they were chasing something. After a few minutes, everyone felt comfortable enough to talk. Nothing was chasing them anymore, and they would still have some time before reaching the next room. Even so, Shane kept rushing everyone to pick up the pace.

"We wasted too much time here already. Let's go!"

"That wasn't our fault. And why so much hurry? We are still going to get in the next room today," Alex asked.

"The next room has some issues. I told you guys that it triggers some weird effect during the night," Shane explained.

"What kind of effect?" Bonnie asked after catching her breath. She was the one with the lowest stamina among the group.

"People still aren't sure. For some, it puts them to sleep, others have some lucid nightmares, but apparently, the nightmares can manifest. They found some weird markings and tracks that couldn't be from any of the monsters from there," Shane had her tablet out to confirm that information.

"Are you sure? Couldn't it be like a rare monster or something else?" Helena walked over to the explorer.

"We don't know. The guild still hasn't found any clues, but anyone who stays in the woods at night can be affected by that."

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"I don't like that idea. I hate nightmares," Mylo mumbled.

"Maybe it's some type of monster that can make a connection with our subconscious, pulling out our deepest fears and using them to shape a spell," Bonnie's mind was already considering the possibilities.

"Or it could be a shapeshifter. They are rare and very troublesome to deal with," Helena sighed.

"Could they be, like, actual nightmares?" Blue asked.

"I don't think so, but then again, no one can say for sure what is possible inside the MAZE," Shane replied.

"Is there a point to be worried like that?" when Silah spoke, everyone turned towards her, "I mean. No one knows what is going on. Sure it's good to have a hint of whatever is happening, but since we can't tell for sure, anything we think will only make us more nervous."

"This is a basic thing for explorers. We need the information to understand what we will be dealing with," Shane shrugged.

"Yeah, and that was the part about people falling asleep and having nightmares. Everything after that is just conjecture that may make our opinions biased. If we think it's a nightmare, but it's actually the effect of a spell, the way we fight back would be different," Silah continued.

"You are not wrong, but you are not completely right either," Hera replied, "If we discuss what it can be and find something that matches the description, it might give us an edge when fighting it. Sure, it might change our plans for the worse, but we don't have to follow that plan. Being an explorer is all about improvising and changing things on the fly, so even if we go in thinking it's the wrong type of monster, we can change to an effective way to fight it when we see it."

"I see… but if it's just a strategy meeting of sorts, why is everyone so tense? Wouldn't that be a problem for the fight?" Silah turned to Hera.

"She's not wrong. We get too anxious when we don't know what we are going to face. That only makes things worse," Mylo nodded enthusiastically.

"I suppose it's because of our lives. We tend to overreact to a lot of things and put too much pressure on almost everything. Like, if we have to run from a monster, it's not like we just ran, but we gave up. Things like that," Bonnie sighed.

"That's stupid. If you have to run, just run. It's better to run and live than stay and die," Silah scoffed. There were some human customs that she still couldn't understand in the slightest.

"Either way, we are about to find out. Look," Shane pointed to the grove. Smack dab in the middle of it, there was a large white doorway with the symbol of a tree with small Zs around it.

The more Hera looked at that scene, the more strange it felt. The leaves seemed to glow softly, and a thin mist gave the entire area a mystic feel. A small gust of wind brushed the trees, making them dance, and the ruffling of the grass was almost like a song. That doorway wasn't just there. It was inviting people over, calling them to cross and discover its mysteries.

"That's suspicious…." Helena said after the group stopped for a few moments.

"I know, right? It's like a trap, but it matches with where we are supposed to be going," Bonnie replied.

"Places like that are never good," Mylo was squinting at the doorway.

"Really? Are things like this common?" Silah asked.

"Not really. Rooms like that are dangerous. They have something inside that makes you want to stay forever," Mylo replied without looking away from the doorway.

"Like what?" Silah asked but got no response from the fighter. He just continued his staring contest with the entrance to the next room.

"He's still bothered by the time we went to a room with a bunch of hot springs," Shane chuckled.

"Why? That seems great," Blue turned to the explorer.

"Because we ended up staying there for a couple of weeks before even realizing. Those waters were too good. We would go out, do a couple of quick dungeon runs just to make some money, and spend the rest of the day in the springs. That room was amazing. I have to go back there soon," Shane explained as she started walking towards the doorway.

"It was too easy to make us forget about everything else. I don't like that," Mylo huffed, but he followed Shane.

As they walked towards the doorway, that mystic feeling seemed to die down, almost like it was hiding or running away. This only made Hera even more curious about the room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Would you like to be transported to

Forest of Dreams - 6th Layer

[Yes] [No]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hera pressed yes, and her body froze as usually happened, but before the warm feeling washed over her, she could've sworn that she heard some distant laughter.

The Forest of Dreams was very similar to the grove they just passed through. The colors were all more vibrant than usual, and the wind seemed to make the greenery sing. There were also small blue lights floating around. At a closer inspection, those were all fireflies. Oddly enough, the insects were all level 1 despite being in a layer where the minimum level should be 13.

"Is everyone here?" Shane looked around to double-check if they all had gone through the doorway, "Good. Let's move. We don't have a lot of time."

The sky was already getting dark, and the sun was almost touching the horizon. The night should start within the hour, and that's when the monster of the forest would appear. Half an hour went by with the group trying to hurry towards the outpost, but they were all tired. Running away from the penguins required more energy than they expected, and they all had trouble breathing properly during a considerable amount of the marathon since Blue's cloud was covering everything. The result was that when the sun completely vanished, they were still in the middle of that singing forest.

Worried about what was about to come, the party gathered around in a battle formation, with Bonnie, Helena, and Shane in the middle. Doing their best to keep a good pace, they cautiously continued their journey, everyone constantly looking around. Hera used her pulse spell, and with the [Shaper of Mana] skill, she managed to spread the pulse almost like a net that would stay a while before dissipating. It was thanks to that spell that Hera noticed when something small approached.

"Guys, don't make sudden movements, but check my left, above the branch on the closest tree," Hera whispered.

Flying above one of the verdant trees, there was a small humanoid creature about the size of an olive. Its body was emanating blue light, and only the shadow of the eyes could be seen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sleep Sprite - Level 16 - Elemental Spirit (Sleep Affinity)

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"Oh! That's an elemental spirit! It's the first time I've see one," Helena gasped.

"What the hell is an elemental spirit?" Bonnie, Blue, Hera, and Alex all asked at the same time.