Their destination was a forest in the middle of transforming into a dungeon and located within a monster’s territory.

The monsters called Li-Yangs, were one of fiercest creatures capable of giving top adventurers of soldier ranks trouble. Their shapes were similar of a lion; with a mane around their necks and everything below their neck was scaled. It was known these lesser fanged drakes hunted in packs like wolves.

“They have long ears, and big mouth full of razor-sharp teeth. Their claws may be stubby but can leave a nasty scar if you’re not careful.

“Don’t forget to tell him about the bushy tails they have.” Lily added.

“They’re not really that bushy, but they’d be good to make writing brushes with. Oh! I heard rumors adventurers started seeing a monster they named as Screechers.”

“I heard that too, but not much is known about them. What do they even look like?”

Kihet grunted or nodded at every word while keeping his eyes on the road. The scenery was dull, nothing but barren lands and occasionally patches of dried-up yellow grass. They were within the capital’s view, which was a great indication of being safe from roaming monsters. As city walls slowly faded into the horizon, the air thickened, and they were greeted by a heavy acrid scent.

“The poison’s creeping closer to the sacred tree.” Martha muttered.

“How far, was it?”

“See those abandoned buildings over there?” Lily pulled back her hood. “Over there used to be roughly the good and bad lands a month before I set off to find you.”

The ruins of a village stood about seven kilometers from the city. The rate of spread was slow, but not enough for the sacred tree to purify and negate the amount of poison closing on its roots.

“Being the priestess, I feel like the ceremonies aren’t having much of an impact. I can’t help but think there’s something blocking the intake of poison, but there’s no proof.”

“All more the reason why the Empress can’t risk sending you two to Vivrus until it’s safe.” Climbing over, Martha then took a seat next to Kihet. “This feels nostalgic. The three of us riding together. I hope there will be more chances like this.”

“That’d… be nice.”

“Indeed, but it’ll have to be after you save the world. I’ll take that as a promise.” She opened her hands towards him. “Overexerting yourself is unhealthy. I can take over from here.”

“But-.”

“You’ve been at it for hours. This is the least I can do.”

He knew he couldn’t win against Martha in terms of stubbornness. Restless, he took a quick glance around his surroundings before obediently hand the reins over.

“If you see anything…”

“I’ll let you know immediately. Rest up.”

“What she said. Come join me and take it easy.” Lily beckoned.

“Lily, you still have a job to do.” Martha hollered.

“I’m doing it!”

When Kihet climbed to the back, he noticed most arrows had red cylindrical objects and paper slips tied to the shafts. As he picked up one and inspected it, he failed to detect magic, yet Lily mass produced them on wooden arrows.

“They’re our secret weapon against Li-Yangs. For some reason, they don’t like the color red.”

“Hate red?”

“I don’t know why either, but it’s how it is. We can use these to ward them off. There is a chance they will still attack us.”

An object swooped into the carriage. Running out of magical energy, the Shikigami bird returned to its unfolded form and fell flat beside Lily.

“It’s a message from Kenji. He wanted us to send a letter back before we enter the dungeon.”

“You can reply.”

“Kihet, Lily. We’re nearing the Li-Yangs’ territory.”

Upon Martha’s announcement, Kihet moved towards the back, keeping his eyes towards their rear while sharpening some wooden sticks into javelins. Upon entering the forest, he spotted claw marks and footprints. He could tell they were carved a long time ago from the age of the markings with overgrown vegetation overlapping them.

Lily, having to complete her set of Li-Yang detergent arrows looked at her handiwork satisfied. She wiped the imaginary sweat off her forehead with a accomplished smirk but then noticed Kihet starring absently out towards the back.

“What is it?” She asked.

“Are they active monsters?”

“Hmm… it’s late fall. They should be pretty active to get ready for hibernation. What’s wrong?”

“It doesn’t feel right.”

Was it the lack of animalistic noise? The haunted atmosphere? From his experience as a hunter, territorial beasts would confront or stalk trespassers. Although they neared the area, he was certain they weren’t being followed. The absence of Li-Yangs in their own territory was a sign of bad omen. There were two scenarios he thought of. Either the pack of fanged wyverns deemed they were unworthy prey or were preoccupied with a larger threat.

Hoping for the former, they began cutting through the forest until the carriage came to a sudden stop. Reins around the horse jingled, its ears perked. It suddenly reared up. Martha, thinking it was a fluke, gently whipped the reins. The horse shook its head and trotted a few steps backwards instead.

“Kihet. Its refusing to go.”

As much as he liked riding, bringing a frightened animal along would be a liability. Without another word, he grabbed his belonging and jumped off.

“We’re not taking it with us?”

“It’s safer.”

“Ehh…” Lily frowned, climbing down.

Kihet turned the horse around, giving it a hard slap and sent it running to the direction they came from. He was confident the horse was well trained enough to return to Xu on its own since it was able to stay quiet when sensing danger.

“What about our trip back?”

“Add that to the letter.”

“I had a feeling you would say that.”

“Use one, to scout ahead?”

“With this? I can’t.” Lily shook her head. “I won’t know if the Shikigami encountered an enemy. It’s not a familiar. At best it’s only used as a messenger.”

“I see.”

Black haze oozed from trees and flooded around them. Just like the tower, it was dark. Lanterns and torches weren’t enough to entirely disperse the fog, but they could see about ten meters down a straight path where light reached.

“Martha, can you fight?” Kihet asked.

“I cannot.”

“This is why I was against her joining us-! Ouch!”

A small ripple of light pulsed in the air as Lily smacked face first into a small hexagonal shaped barrier.

“But I can do that.” Martha wiped her hand through the air, dispelling the barrier.

“Martha!”

“Stop being loud.”

“It’s your fault.”

“Enough.” Kihet interrupted, holding out a lantern towards Martha.

Since Martha was not a combatant, she was designated as the torch bearer. Lily rubbed her slightly reddened nose. After her glaring was dismissed by Martha, she kept an eye and sharpened her hearing while Kihet led the way.

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Not too far along the path, they encountered their first forked path. Left and right looked identical with both paths stretching beyond trees.

Kihet kneeled by the intersection. He ran his fingers across the dirt, looking frantically around. His eyes darted elsewhere every second.

“Are you looking for something?” Lily squatted next to him.

“Footprints.”

“Oh! That makes sense. We could just pick up where they left off.”

“But that also means we’ll encounter monsters.” Martha reminded.

“And towards the core.” Kihet added.

From the path on the left, he discovered a series of irregular indents along the soil. It was most likely from the adventurer fleeing the woods.

Not long after they entered the leftward path, the wind gradually grew more violent. The sky always looked stormy, so no one thought anything of it until Lily heard something beat towards them.

“Do you hear that?”

“Hear what?” Martha asked.

“The air. It’s- WAH!”

The beat grew louder when they were suddenly assailed by gale force winds. Lily covered her face, peering between her arms and saw a slithering figure with wings quickly zoom over them.

The wind quickly died down as fast as it came. No, a dome of light sheltered them.

“Are you two alright?”

“Thanks Martha.” Lily said.

“What was that?” Kihet rubbed his eyes.

He only caught a glance within the violent winds. The creature unleashed a spine-chilling roar in its wake. He knew it couldn’t have been a bird, but it had feathers.

“A Wyvern?” Martha guessed.

Kihet picked up said pinions and inspected it. The size was five times larger than pigeons and black with a dark green tint when exposed to light. Unlike Dragons -which had six limbs-, and drakes -which had four limbs and no wings-, Wyverns are easily identified with four limbs and the ability to fly.

He wondered how he would fare against such a creature that ruled this forest’s airspace. He had neither time nor supplies for a hunt. Back in his village, hunters planned extensively just to hunt a common wyvern, gathering information of its roost, and how to keep it grounded.

It was the party’s best interest to avoid catching the wyvern’s attention.

“Seems like the adventurer missed a little detail.” Lily complained. “More importantly, I think we’re lost.”

The adventurer’s footprint and Lily’s Xs were buried under unrooted trees and vegetation.

“Help! No! Please no!”

A sudden desperate voice cried for help. Any valiant adventurer would immediately dash off to the rescue, but not them.

“It’s a trap.” Kihet said.

“If we don’t go, monsters would get to her!”

“Lily, calm down.” Martha said. “I’ll have to agree with Kihet. That cry could attract a lot of monsters towards her.”

“No.” Kihet shook his head. “The adventurers that didn’t return, were reported to have died. In Scout’s testimony, he witnessed deaths.”

“So you’re saying…”

“It doesn’t add up.”

“But there might be a chance.” Lily argued. “They could have hidden themselves or something.”

“We haven’t made enough ruckus.” Kihet drew a spear. “Unless we’re found.”

In the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of a shadowy silhouette ducking behind the foliage. Not missing this chance, he hurled his weapon. At this distance, the spear missed and snapped upon striking a tree.

“Tch.”

“I got it!”

Lily threaded an arrow between the tightest gaps. Seconds later, there was a whimper, but it was too late as another arrow whistled off, abruptly silencing the lurker.

“Gotcha!”

“I don’t like how it was lurking.” Martha said. “Was it spying on us?”

When they reached the culprit, they discovered it was an Li-Yang. It looked identical to a lion with dark green scales, a mane that felt and looked like long grass. The creature had ginormous jaws as big as hippopotamus’.

Kihet kneeled beside it and spotted a black tail flickering on one of its spikes. Thinking back, he encountered this identical situation before with Oriks found near his village.

-It’s strange that it showed up after we heard the voice calling for help. Hm? Just like the Oriks from twelve years ago. Does that mean the Tower at my village was already forming dungeons around it?-

Pointing to the fading shadow, he asked. “Martha, are these common?”

“Yes. The Empress has determined those were the cause why monsters grew more aggressive. They can still be killed by ordinary methods unlike tower monsters.”

“I see.”

“Kihet, I hear more of them.” Lily interrupted.

“This way.”

They heard footsteps racing from all sides and Kihet marched up to a log barely hanging from a net of vines. After Martha and Lily safely moved to the other side, he yanked the trunk down and blocked the path behind them.

Regardless how narrow a path was, the forest had an abundance of land to move through. While Kihet sealed off a direct route leading towards them, the Li-Yangs searched for alternate pathways and slowly closed the distance.

“They’re getting closer!” Marth shrieked.

“Not so fast!”

Lily launched an arrow with a red piece of paper attached. It struck a charging Li-Yang’s between the eyes.

It survived. Panicking, it roared and howled from the sudden color of red covering its view. The creature slashed wildly at its surroundings, crashing into trees and clawed its face. The others avoided it, taking an unnecessarily wide detour to avoid the red piece of paper.

Kihet thought Lily was joking, but he was surprised it worked.

“There’s one ahead!” Lily warned.

“I’ll block it!”

Martha pushed her palm forward and concentrated at a spot above. Just as the monster leaped at them, a hexagonal screen of light materialized and caught its stomach mid air.

As it slid off Martha’s barrier, Kihet firmly held his spear and met the creature where it landed. He thrust the tip into its eye, letting go of the spear and swapped to his sword to carve out a piece of its neck. Blood gushed out like an overflowed dam.

“Lily, go.”

“I’ll take the lead. Martha, don’t slow down!”

“I’m trying!”

Uneven rocky slopes, concealed tree roots under pile of leaves made it hard for them to run at full speed. While Lily nimbly avoided the obstacles with ease, Martha had a harder time stumbling through the rough terrain. Kihet kept pace with Martha, guarding their rear from the enemy.

The party continued forward with Lily picking off their pursuers one by one. While unable to kill some with her arrows, she kept them at bay using paper charms.

“I see an open area!” Lily pointed.

“We’ll fight there.”

After they broke out of the forest, the group assumed a defensive position. Standing up front, Kihet readied his last wooden spear with his shield up. His almond size pupils narrowed and every hair on his body stood, filling the air around him with bloodlust.

“Martha, can you stop them?”

“I-I won’t be able to hold their numbers, but I can funnel them. Please be careful!”

When the creatures jumped out, they immediately sensed Kihet being the biggest threat. As they pounced towards him, Martha strategically erected barriers to block their advance. Their heads rammed into transparent walls, tumbling back then slammed their bodies at the air in front of them.

“Lily, I think it’s a good time to use those.”

“En! Buy me some time! It’ll take a few seconds to prepare!” Lily said, launching one more volley of arrows.

As an Li-Yang squeezed past Martha’s barrier, an arrow hit its eye with pinpoint accuracy. It was blinded on one side, but the monster ignored pain and went in a frenzy.

He met the beast head on, wrestling with it. One hand held up the creature’s head and the other planted a wooden spear next to him. He heaved the Li-Yang up then suddenly pulled it down and impaled it using its own weight falling onto his spears.

However, Kihet was within its biting range. It jaws stretched open towards Kihet. The size of its mouth could swallow him whole. Before its fangs shut down, he stepped on the tongue and pushed up with his shield, prying the jaws apart. Slowly but surely, the first snap locked the creature’s maw wide opened. The following crack and pop dislocated it.

After moving above the creature, he steadied his blade high in the air as he pulled on the fallen Li-Yang’s mane. In one fluid motion, the blade sank into its neck and was viciously decapitated.

He tore the head and held it steady with the creature’s face towards the beasts. Thick ribbons of blood and viscera dripped from its exposed neck. Its maw loosely dangled. The mere sight of one of their kind brutalized and Kihet’s death glare was enough to halt the Li-Yangs’ rush.

Then a burning scent filled the air. It came from the backline as he noticed Lily lit the fuse attached to a batch of red cylinders.

“It’s lit! Fire in the hole!”

“Cover your ears!”

Lily flung it into the group of Li-Yang. Pop! Bang! Crackle! All sorts of loud noise blasted the air as the bundle of red cylinders flailed uncontrollably like a fish out of water. The monsters bolted into the forest with their tails between their legs.

“Kihet. Kihet?” Martha tapped his shoulder. “It’s alright now. You don’t have to cover your ears anymore.”

When the girls found him, he was curled up beside the Li-Yang’s body with his hands pressed against his ears.

“All… gone?”

“Yes. They ran off. Are you okay?”

“Ears ringing. What was that?”

“Firecrackers!” Lily answered with a gleaming smile. “It’s mostly for festivals, but it makes a great distraction. A lot of adventurers use it when on a quest.”

Curious, he rolled one in his palm. His eyes followed the short wick leading into the red tube. As he squeezed the outer layer of thick paper, he felt the inside was packed with some powdery like substance.

“Kihet, I know you’re interested. They might be useful, but they’re also dangerous. If you’re not careful, it can explode on you.”

“Can I have some?”

“Gladly!”

“Didn’t you just hear what I said?” With a sign, Martha narrowed her eyes at the two. She popped open a flask and swished water in her mouth.

----------------------------------------

Ever since then, hours went by uneventfully, not even an encounter with monsters. Without an accurate map, all they could hope was get lucky and stumble across the incomplete dungeon core. They walked, took a break, and walked again until they discovered one of the missing adventurers. A body of a female adventurer dressed in robes, presumably a caster.

She sat under a tree with a chunk of her right side gone. A long streak of blood trail stretched to the left. It was impressive after sustaining a lethal blow, she was able to crawl this far before bleeding out.

Silently, Lily searched the body and yanked on a tag. She closed the adventurer’s half opened eyes and pocketed the item. It was the only thing the group can do.

“This isn’t something that was done by Li-Yangs.” Martha said. “The bite is too clean.”

“Not only that.” Lily lifted the corpse’s chin. “There’s a hole. It looked like something was ripped out of it. This is all so wrong.”

Could that voice we heard earlier belonged to this woman?

Unsure, Kihet heaved his bag over his shoulder and followed the blood trail.

There, he uncovered remains belonging to the scout’s companions. Copying Lily, he retrieved their tags and put them in his satchel as he did his investigation. What he found in common were holes in their throats.

After searching around, he found a map caught in a bush. Part of it was unreadable because of bloodstains, but it showed the majority of areas they needed to go. Down one path, a line turned into scribbles. It was most likely where the party had encountered Tower Monsters.

“Lily, Martha, found something. And more casualties...”

“That’s four. There’s supposed to be one more.”

“Let’s see.” Lily counted her fingers. “A caster, a ranger, a pharmacist, a defender. The scout survived so the last one is a fighter.”

“They had such a balanced party too.” Martha said, taking a look at the map. “It makes me wonder if the three of us is enough.”

“You’re doubting us after coming this far? We’ll be fine. Big sis Miyabe would’ve sent more people with us.”

“I hope so. What do we do with the bodies?”

“Leave them.” Kihet kneeled by one of the bodies and began searching. “Grab what we can use.”

The party scoured the area for supplies and valuables. The dead weren’t going to use them anyways.

Lily, as an archer, was relief to find an extra bundle of arrows. After giving a short prayer to the body, she took the ranger’s longbow and slung her shortbow on her back.

“All set over here! Martha, did you grab anything?”

“Only the minimum. I don’t have experienced in this type of work.”