“I don’t like it,” Sadie said, her hands clenched into tight fists as she looked back at the town. “I don’t like this at all. We’re supposed to be helping people, not…abandoning them.”

Elijah was inclined to agree. He certainly didn’t support the notion of letting the Immortals – and their enigmatic and unnamed leader – run amok. But despite that, he’d agreed to their current plan of action.

Or lack thereof.

“You heard Atticus, same as me,” he said. “They don’t want our help.”

That was true. The people who’d thrown their lot in with the Immortals had done so of their own volition. It wasn’t something that had been forced upon them. It had only been offered, and they had taken it.

“They don’t know what they’ve done,” Sadie said.

Ron spoke up, “I should’ve been there. If I had been…”

“This isn’t your fault,” Elijah said to the sparkly-robed Healer. However, none of them could escape the reality that, in a lot of ways, that statement simply was not true. Before joining their group, Ron had run the Nexus Town’s only infirmary. He’d saved a lot of lives, especially during the first couple of weeks of the Trial. Because of that, people had grown accustomed to his presence. Many had begun to take risks they otherwise wouldn’t have, secure in the knowledge that they could always return to the Nexus Town and have their wounds mended.

And then he suddenly wasn’t there, creating a situation that had resulted in a dozen deaths and quite a few people who’d been crippled. It had also set the stage for the Immortals. Elijah wasn’t certain if it had been planned, but with how everything had worked out, it certainly seemed to have been.

The Immortals had offered a bunch of desperate people a chance, and many had taken it. Nobody outside of their organization knew precisely what they had to do to fend off death or mend their crippled bodies, but it was undeniably effective. People who’d been on the brink were suddenly healthy and whole, which only improved the efficacy of the offer. Before long, they’d had people lining up – metaphorically – to join their ranks.

Would it have happened if Ron had been around?

Maybe not. But Elijah suspected that if the Healer hadn’t joined his group and left Nexus Town, there was a good chance that he would have been met with some sort of accident.

Whatever the case, the new Immortals seemed content with their choices. Perhaps that wouldn’t always remain the case, but Elijah and his friends couldn’t very well save people who neither wanted nor needed saving. So, as alarming as the Immortals’ recruitment drive had become, there wasn’t much they could do about it.

Besides, they’d brought some degree of order to the Nexus Town. Sure, they charged people a handful of ethereum to access the Branch, and they sometimes got a bit rowdy, but none of their offenses were terribly egregious. So, without much reason to intervene, the group had spent a couple of days resting before finally setting out for the fourth challenge.

But none of them were happy with that choice, even if they knew it was the best option.

“Maybe it wasn’t my fault,” Ron said. “But it damn sure feels like it is.”

“Ron –”

“Never mind. No sense whining about it,” he said. “Let’s get moving. Sooner we get these challenges done, the sooner we can leave this damned place.”

After that, they set out. Unlike when they’d tackled the other challenges, they actually had a choice of targets. Three new challenges had been discovered – one that seemed to represent Silvara, another the Underrealm, and finally, Ignis – which meant that, for the first time, they had options.

The three challenges were all in different directions, and reaching the closest would take at least a couple of weeks of hard travel. In the end, they’d picked Silvara, largely because Elijah hoped that his strong attunement to nature would give him an advantage that might allow them to conquer the challenge more easily than the others. It was a slim hope, but it made the difference between their choices.

The next ten days were characterized by nearly constant battle. Most of the time, they fought against the ubiquitous wraiths, but they also had a few clashes with ka’alaki hunters. None of the encounters truly pushed them to their limits, but they each represented different challenges. Most of the hunters seemed to have Ranger archetypes, but there were Healers, Warriors, and Sorcerers among them as well. That made each fight a novel experience that forced Elijah and his group to adapt their tactics to each individual situation.

Fortunately, now that they had a proper Healer in Ron, they were an extremely flexible group. With Elijah playing something of a wildcard role, they could adapt to a wide variety of challenges. In turn, that put a lot of pressure on him to be whatever the situation needed him to be. Sometimes, he played the role of a caster, dealing ranged damage via his spells. Other times, he stalked their more vulnerable targets under Guise of the Unseen, bringing them down with his potent venom. Still other times, he used the Shape of the Guardian, helping Sadie shoulder the burden as a pseudo-defender. And finally, there were multiple occasions when he was required to help Ron with the burden of healing.

In all, Elijah pushed to utilize every facet of his versatile class, and his efforts were generously rewarded. He gained another level, bringing him to ninety-seven, but he also tested and discarded many of the strategies he’d begun to develop. He kept a few – especially the ones that worked well with his companions – but for the most part, he knew that his strategy would need to constantly evolve. There was no right answer to any particular situation, and even if there was, the threats they faced were constantly evolving to the point that flexibility became the only answer.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

But they all continued to come up with new methods until, at last, they reached their destination.

Sadie muttered, “A swamp?”

“Nobody said nothin’ about no swamps,” Kurik growled.

Dat just slapped his neck as he was bitten by some sort of flying insect. Immediately, he went pale, but fortunately for him, Ron was there to heal him. “Thanks, bro. Got dizzy there for a second.”

Just then, a bird ventured out over the swamp, and something threw itself out of the water, latched onto the avian creature, then snatched it below.

“Was that a spider?” Elijah wondered.

“Water bug, maybe?”

“That bird was a thousand feet up,” Elijah said. “At least.”

“Big water bug?” Dat suggested.

Whatever the case, it put an end to any thoughts of simply flying over the top of the swamp. If Elijah was honest, he had sort of expected as much. The system wanted them to experience the challenges, not bypass them.

“This presents a problem,” Sadie said, gazing out at the swamp.

“Just the one?” asked Elijah with a slight smile.

“Be serious.”

“I am,” he said, still grinning. He actually had somewhat fond memories of his time in the last swamp he’d encountered. Certainly, he didn’t enjoy being covered in mud and wading through stagnant, foul-smelling water, but he’d also met Konstantinos and his family there. And Bessy, the tame guardian alligator. However, when he looked out at the landscape stretching before them, he was reminded of all the issues most other people would have to deal with.

For one, there were the insects and other pests that congregated in any swamp. If Dat’s reaction was any indication, the ones in this swamp were quite venomous. There were probably leeches in the water, too. Or given that they were on an alien world, something leech-adjacent.

Traversal would be a problem, too. Trekking across a swamp would prove treacherous. And when it wasn’t outright dangerous, it would be frustrating.

“How do we want to do this?” Sadie asked. “Should we build a raft or something?”

“It would need to be a damn big raft,” Kurik said. “I could maybe whip somethin’ up, but…”

“It probably won’t stay together long enough for us to reach the challenge,” Elijah said.

Sadie sighed, then asked, “Any other suggestions?”

“I have one,” Elijah said. “But I don’t think any of you are going to like it.”

“What do you want to do?”

He massaged the back of his neck, then said, “I want to go in alone.”

“No. Absolutely not. I knew you were going to suggest something like that,” Sadie said.

“Huh?”

“She predicted it the other day when we set out for this challenge. She said you’d want to go alone so you could commune with nature or something,” Dat said. “Is that why?”

“No. I’m just better equipped for that swamp life.”

“Swamp life?” Sadie asked.

“Yeah. That’s what I call it. I’ve only done it once, just now, but it’s catchy, right?” Elijah said.

“It’s not catchy, bro.”

“It’s kind of stupid,” Ron agreed.

“I don’t get it at all,” Sadie stated.

“I ain’t got no comment,” Kurik muttered, shoving his hands in his pockets and pointedly avoiding eye contact.

“Wow. Just wow. The betrayal…”

“It’s not like that,” Sadie said. “We’re just –”

Elijah grinned again. “I’m just kidding. Seriously, though – it makes sense. I can move through the swamp a lot faster than any of you, and I have an attunement for this challenge’s theme. I bet I can dip in, conquer it, then be gone before you all even have a chance to roast marshmallows.”

“What are marshmallows?” asked Kurik.

“Not the point. But I do think this is the best way. Besides, do any of you honestly want to go in there?” he asked, gesturing toward the swamp. It didn’t just look inhospitable. It looked downright deadly. And on top of that, Dat’s complexion had once again paled after being bitten by another insect.

In the end, it came down to the fact that, so far, Elijah had proven that he could survive all manner of dangerous circumstances. So, the others reluctantly agreed to let him go on his own, albeit with the caveat that he would retreat if he faced any significant opposition. Elijah agreed to those terms, and once they’d backed away to a safe distance, he shifted into the Shape of Venom, used Guise of the Unseen, and slipped into the swamp.

Unlike his previous experience with swamps, the trees in the area were quite a bit sparser than he might have expected. Indeed, they were so spaced out that he was unable to employ his original plan, which was to jump from one limb to the next and avoid the water altogether. Instead, he quickly found that the evolved form had another advantage over the Shape of the Predator – it was perfectly capable of swimming.

As he cut through the stagnant water, Elijah was well aware of just how many pests, parasites, and predators there were in the area. Not only were there leeches – huge, bulbous things that looked like they could suck someone dry of blood in a matter of minutes – but their enormous mosquito-like insects buzzing around as well. In addition, Elijah saw a host of unfamiliar – but clearly venomous – reptiles, a bunch of rat-like mammals, and even nests of spiders that had woven their webs through the sparse trees.

Thankfully, they all ignored Elijah, either because of his archetype or his attunement. Never was he more grateful for that than when a giant serpent – at least a hundred feet long and twenty feet wide – swam past him. A few moments later, Elijah watched in horror as that enormous beast struck a hippo-like creature the size of an African elephant, then killed it via constriction.

It happened in the space of moments, proving just how deadly the area was.

Seeing that, Elijah was grateful that he’d left the rest of his team behind. There was no way they could have traversed the swamp without being constantly attacked. Perhaps they could have survived, but the terrain was so treacherous that it made for a poor battleground. They’d have had to fight their own inconsistent footing almost as much as the beasts native to the swamp.

All of that flitted through Elijah’s mind as he slowly made his way deeper into the marsh. Along the way, he saw the danger escalate as the native beasts grew larger and deadlier, while the terrain slowly changed to something closer to what Elijah was used to. The trees – which resembled a cross between mangroves and sprawling oaks – became more common until they grew in dense clumps that almost resembled islands.

On Elijah went, and eventually, day turned to night, and that night became the next day before, at last, he received confirmation that he was on the right track.

You have reached the Swamp of Ill Omens. To conquer the Challenge of Silvara, collect the three pieces of the Broken Branch of the World Tree.

Reward: Shard of Nature’s Might

Elijah narrowed his eyes at the reward. He had no idea what a Shard of Nature’s Might would do, but he definitely wanted it.