“This isn’t working,” Anthony declared after another thirty minutes of wandering around.

He wasn’t the only one thinking it, but he was the first to speak up. The entire group was incredibly tense, and each minute that passed without signs of the enemy was making things worse. They were nearly a quarter of the way through their time in the trial and had only faced a single monster.

“Do you have any better ideas?” Jess asked. She was clearly frustrated, wondering what to do just like the rest of them.

Anthony shrugged, “Could one of us climb a tree for a better vantage point?”

“I tried that a while ago,” Muhammad replied, his voice carrying from ahead of them. He wasn’t in Alex’s line of sight, but the forest was nearly silent. He’d heard Anthony’s question just as easily as they heard him, “I didn’t see anything promising.”

“Nothing at all?” Becca asked.

“This forest is weird,” Muhammad said, “I’m trying to find a tree that’s taller than the others, but they’re so uniform. It’s like this is some sort of orchard.”

“That could be meaningful,” Alex mused, “Maybe this whole forest is the boss monster’s orchard?”

“The trees aren’t placed precisely enough,” Becca disagreed, “An orchard would have rows and more uniform distance between trees.”

“It could be an array,” Alex pointed out.

“If the dungeon is an array on this scale we never stood a chance,” Anthony said, “Better to assume it’s something we can handle.”

“Sure,” Alex agreed, “But that’s only if the array is meant to beat us. Maybe it’s just an array to help the trees grow.”

“Does anything change if you’re right?” Muhammad asked, “It’s not like we can map out an array of this size in three hours. Even if we could, we’d be better off just looking for monsters.”

Alex frowned, he had a good point. Even if they were able to figure out some parts of the array, that didn’t necessarily mean they could deduce the whole thing. A monster ready to reach Tier 2 would understand mana and arrays far better than they could hope to, assumptions based on their knowledge could easily be wrong.

Figuring out some parts of the array was already nearly impossible. They had no frame of reference to start, so they’d need to stumble on something important. Even if they managed that, they would probably fail to use the information.

“We just have to keep looking,” Jess sighed, “Muhammad is good at this. He’ll find something eventually.”

Muhammad nodded, “The forest can only be so big. I think we just had a bad starting point.”

“At this point, I think we can assume that there aren’t that many monsters in the trial,” Jess stated, “There may be a massive horde waiting for us somewhere, but that wouldn’t fit the pattern of undead trials so far.”

“It could just be a sapient boss drawing his forces together, but that doesn’t fit with us finding a big one all alone.” Alex agreed, “Monsters like that golem would’ve been the first ones the boss called back to it.”

Anthony winced, “What if the monster was heading towards the boss, and we went where it came from instead?”

The entire group froze for a second, Alex wondered why he hadn’t thought of that.

“It makes sense,” Jess agreed, “And it would explain why we haven’t found any more monsters in this direction.”

“I can take us back to the golem,” Muhammad stated confidently, “Do we want to check it out?”

There was a round of agreements, and they were off. The urge to stay quiet and avoid setting themselves up for an ambush was discarded as they moved. The monsters hadn’t shown themselves yet, and the group didn’t have time to waste.

Quickly, they found themselves back where they’d fought the golem. Alex took a second to be impressed by Muhammad’s ability to remember the directions so easily. There hadn’t even been a pause to consider the best direction, he’d just led them straight back to the golem’s corpse.

The now permanently dead body was exactly as they’d left it, with nothing of interest to be found in the vicinity. Alex felt more than a bit embarrassed at the realization that none of them had thought to follow where it was going before Anthony. So much time had been wasted because they’d failed to think it through more thoroughly.

“We need to slow down,” Jess reminded them, “Make sure we don’t stumble onto any monsters before we’re ready.”

“We can’t afford to move too slowly,” Alex said, “I agree we can’t rush but there’s less than three hours left, at this point.”

“There’s a middle ground between our rush to get back here and our earlier pace,” Becca pointed out, “We just can’t be reckless.”

The group set out, with Muhammad in the lead. The initial signs weren’t promising, but it only took another few minutes for them to find something.

Of course, it wasn’t what they were looking for.

“It’s a barrier,” Muhammad stated. His hand was pressed up against an invisible wall, unable to go any further, “We’ve reached the outer limit of the trial.”

“Looks like this is the wrong way, after all,” Anthony sighed, “My bad.”

“It was a good idea,” Alex said, “And this isn’t necessarily the wrong way.”

“The boss could be somewhere along the edges,” Becca agreed, “That would explain why there weren’t monsters in the more central area.”

“We’ll follow the perimeter,” Jess stated.

They quickly discovered that the perimeter seemed to create a near-perfect circle. A few minutes of walking at a brisk pace showed a perfect curve.

“Circular arrays are normally anchored in the center,” Alex pointed out, “It’s the strongest point to use.”

“We don’t know it’s an actual circle,” Jess disagreed, “This is just part of the perimeter.”

Alex nodded, “I agree, just wanted to point that out.”

They continued moving, and after around fifteen minutes Muhammad found something.

“It’s another golem,” He stated. The low Perception of the undead allowed him to speak with his voice only slightly lowered.

“Any differences from the last one?” Jess asked.

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“It looks the same. No real Mana Body.”

“Good, we’ll take the same approach. Try to blind it while Alex and I keep it busy.” Jess stated.

The golem wasn’t in sight as they planned the fight, but that changed quickly as they sped up to approach. Their opponent was facing away from them but turned around to face them as they drew near.

An arrow met it as it turned, but the angle wasn’t quite perfect. A piece of metal lodging itself in the monster’s skull was still a good hit, but it wasn’t the perfect start they’d had to their last fight.

The monster immediately raised an arm to pluck the arrow out of its head, a move that would’ve been unbelievably stupid for anything but an undead. Without a living heart pumping blood, the risks of opening a head wound weren’t as severe.

Alex struck second but pulled his blow at the last second to dance around an arm that tried to pulverize him. The fist didn’t have the monster’s full strength behind it, thanks to the distraction of an arrow in its head, but taking the hit would’ve been a poor decision.

As Alex moved into a counterattack, Jess’s spear hit the golem in the knee. Like last time, the blow didn’t immediately cripple the joint, but the monster’s mobility would definitely suffer. Alex’s sword opened a cut on the arm that tried to hit him.

The golem was marginally smarter than the last one, as it kept one arm up to defend its face. Muhammad’s second shot hit the forearm, as he failed to sneak the arrow through.

Between Alex and Jess, Jess had dealt the more decisive blow at first, and the golem pivoted on its injured leg to punch her. If not for the damaged knee, Jess probably wouldn’t have gotten out of the way in time. Her armor was heavier than what Alex wore, and the extra weight limited her mobility.

The golem’s lumbering movement opened its side to Alex, who happily capitalized. While the monster was a slow heavy hitter, Alex was a fast heavy hitter.

Three cuts opened on its thigh in quick succession. His weapon wasn’t as well suited for thrusting into a joint, but he could sever muscles rapidly.

The monster continued to press Jess, seeming to understand that it would never catch Alex. It was right that it couldn’t hope to keep up with him, but Jess holding a monster’s attention while Alex killed it was the duo’s comfort zone. Ideally, Jess would be strong enough to actually stand up to the monster, but Alex was confident she could hold out.

Jess barely dodged a second punch, and Alex’s sword went deep into the monster’s gut. He pulled his sword back out and retreated before a backhand could reach him. The monster glared at him but stuck to its tactic, turning back to Jess.

Alex frowned at this. The behavior didn’t feel natural at all, but Jess was off balance from needing to dodge, proving that there was some merit to the golem’s strategy.

Another arrow struck its already damaged knee as it stepped towards Jess, and it staggered under its own weight. Alex was on the opposite side, so he couldn’t hit the knee again himself, but the delay was enough for Jess to regain her footing.

Alex pivoted to the monster’s back and struck with a horizontal slash below the ribcage. His sword was stopped without harming the spine, but that was far from unexpected. Reinforcing bones like the spine and skull had to be an important part of golem design.

Another arrow struck the monster’s knee as it attacked Jess again, and this one finally crippled the joint. The energy animating the golem could keep the knee moving through serious damage, but there was a limit and they’d found it. The monster didn’t immediately fall to the ground, but it stumbled again and was now clearly off balance.

“Becca!” Jess called out, not needing to say anymore. Becca moved forward to join the engagement, as the golem’s threat was now significantly diminished.

Things had escalated beyond its control, and the golem used the arm which had been defending its face to try and push Alex away, which Muhammad immediately punished. Missing an eye and a leg swung the pendulum even further in their favor, and the team took the monster apart from there.

“This one was a bit smarter,” Alex noted, “But that might’ve just been because it had both eyes.”

“I don’t know about smarter,” Jess said, “I think it was commanded to focus on me instead of you.”

“How would the boss know to make a command like that?” Becca asked.

“It just doesn’t feel right,” Jess explained, “The first golem fought more naturally, this one basically ignored Alex. It knew that it couldn’t hit him.”

“I agree,” Becca nodded, “I just don’t know how the monster would know to behave like that. Do you think there was a monster we didn’t notice observing the first fight?”

“Muhammad would’ve seen it,” Jess stated.

“Unless the boss has stealth abilities,” Anthony argued.

“If the boss had stealth, it would’ve attacked you and Becca while we were busy with one of the golems.” Jess pointed out, “There’s no benefit to waiting when we’re separated like that.”

“Even if it was cautious and didn’t try the first fight, it would’ve attacked during the second,” Muhammad agreed.

“So the boss is a weaker form of Lich?” Alex asked, “It shouldn’t be a true Lich at Tier 1.”

“Technically, a Lich at Tier 1 is possible.” Becca said, “We just have no records of any on Earth.”

“Do we know that seeing through the eyes of subordinate undead is unique to Liches?” Muhammad asked, “It might just be something that powerful undead can do with their minions.”

“Any powerful undead is a Lich,” Becca stated, “It’s just a matter of control over their apertures.”

“Plan for the worst,” Alex stated, “We need to assume that the boss is watching these fights. It might be a Lich, it might just be a powerful zombie who can see us through some other means.”

“It will only have one Soul Aperture as a Neophyte, so it won’t be as hard to kill as a higher-tier monster,” Anthony stated, “Liches are annoying because they have plenty of apertures.”

“Agreed,” Jess stated, “But this doesn’t change our strategy, it’s not like we can avoid fights.”

Everyone agreed, so she continued, “Let’s stay along the perimeter for now. This makes two monsters we’ve found near the edge.”

“It could be a fakeout if the boss is at the center,” Muhammad pointed out, “Monsters draw us to the edge to waste time and the boss hides in the center to wait out the four hours.”

“Why would a Hell Mode boss need to do that?” Alex asked, “It should be confident that it can win a fight.”

“It doesn’t need to risk a fight if it can distract us for four hours,” Becca stated, “I agree with Muhammad.”

“We should try to map out more of the perimeter first,” Jess said, “I’m still not confident it’s a full circle.”

“Heading back to the center doesn’t mean we’ll find the boss,” Alex agreed, “And any monsters we kill now are monsters that can’t be called back when we’re fighting it.”

“That’s a good point,” Muhammad nodded, “Perimeter it is.”

Without any more objections, the group continued along the edge of the trial. They were more confident after two fairly easy victories in combat.

“Do you think the boss and its Soul Aperture might be separated?” Anthony asked as they moved.

“It wouldn’t make sense,” Alex replied, “We can prevent the breakthrough by destroying the body or destroying the aperture, and a sapient monster will know that.”

Anthony was referring to the Ability that made a Lich a Lich, taking their Soul Apertures out of their body to avoid true death if their bodies were destroyed. While humans couldn’t survive as just an aperture, undead were significantly more hardy.

“That’s true,” Anthony nodded, “Even if the aperture is separate, it will be well hidden. No point in looking for it.”

Thanks to their faster pace, it only took another twenty minutes for Muhammad to return with news.

“I found another golem,” He stated, “Looks the same as last time.”

The fight began the same as the first one, with Muhammad managing to puncture the golem’s left eye as they approached it head-on. Alex leaped forward, spearheading the assault. If the golem wanted to focus on the others, that just meant he could fight even more aggressively.

Jess moved in behind them, and they got to work. Their half-blind opponent couldn’t keep up with Alex’s offense, and Jess just had to hold on while he worked. The fight quickly turned in their favor, as remote commands couldn’t match the adjustments they’d made after real experience with these monsters.

Alex was distracted from the fight by Becca shouting, “Muhammad!” He jumped back to look at his friend, worried that the archer had been ambushed.

Muhammad was staring straight ahead, completely unmoving. Alex followed his gaze to see an abnormally tall ghoul with glowing eyes. His Sensitivity immediately made him aware of the Soul Aperture in the monster’s stomach sending mana up its chest, through its Heart Rune, to its eyes.

Alex moved faster than he ever had before. Inspire coursed through his veins with a single purpose. He was vaguely aware of Anthony sprinting for Muhammad and Becca moving to engage the golem with Jess as he moved, but his focus narrowed down.

The shock and worry were pushed from his mind. Only one goal mattered. He had to kill the Neophyte monster.

Inspire boosted all of Alex’s physical attributes, and the current buff was beyond anything he’d ever experienced. His Perception was so high that even without paying attention he could hear everything that was happening while he stared directly at his target.

Before he reached the ghoul, Muhammad’s knees hit the ground.

The monster turned to face Alex.