The afternoon sunlight streamed through the gaps in the leaves above, illuminating the vast greenery of the forest. Yakeru and Kenji glanced around in awe. Flocks of birds sang a tune as they expertly glided through the trees. Curious wildlife observed the passerbys from a safe distance as they sauntered down the path. Yakeru marveled at a deer with three horns sprouting from its head monitoring them from behind a thick layer of shrubs.

"Woah, check out that santsuno!"

Kenji's peripheral captured a blur with a hint of red scurrying off into a hole in a fallen tree.

"Was that a twin-tailed fox? They look so cool in person!"

The two boys were giddy with excitement as they pointed out every animal they came across, earning an eye roll from their more mature party member.

"I swear I'm with children." Fuyumi sighed.

Kaneki chuckled at her remark.

"Forgive me, but aren't you around the same age as them?"

Instead of replying she continued walking. It'd been almost an hour and Yakeru and Kenji had done more sightseeing than escorting. Fortunately, Kaneki didn't seem to mind. He assumed this might've been their first mission based on their reactions, but the girl was a little harder to crack. She'd barely said a word the entire trip, keeping a cautious eye out for any danger. Well, he couldn't complain since that was her job after all.

They traversed down the uneven path before a deafening silence washed over the forest. Fuyumi's eyes darted from one shrubbery area to the next as her hand hovered over her dagger. Yakeru listened closely only to hear the sounds of their muffled footsteps on the soil.

'Why'd it get so quiet?' Yakeru questioned, sensing the change in atmosphere.

It was almost like the animals knew something they didn't and chose to keep their distance. A patch of dirt began to morph behind them. Turning, they saw what looked like appendages manifesting from the dirt, startling Kaneki.

Tan lanky arms rose up and pressed down with their hands, pushing the rest of their sickly thin bodies above the soil. Their fingers stretched into jagged claws and their orange eyes bulged out of their skulls. They opened their jaws far beyond human capability, revealing a black abyss in their mouths before emitting a high-pitched screech in their direction.

Yakeru recalled the stories his sister used to tell him every day when she returned from her adventures. One such story mentioned her encounter with a type of monster with the ability to meld itself with nature, patiently waiting for unsuspecting passerbys.

"Forest lurkers!" Yakeru roared.

The lurkers charged them as Kenji hurried to raise his staff. Willing radiance into it, he conjured a barrier in front of the group just before a lurker rammed into it. It made wide, exaggerated swipes attempting to take it down as another flanked his side. Swinging its claws, it aimed for the conjurer's neck before blue filled his vision. Its arm was swiftly dismembered as a blue liquid sprayed from the stump.

Yakeru appeared where its arm had just been, his blade dripping with the blue substance. It screeched in agony before he thrusted his infused blade into its chest where its heart should be. Blood spewed from the wound as it collapsed. He couldn't help but crack a small smile after taking down his first monster, even if it was rather easy. However, what they lacked in physicality they made up for in numbers.

Distracted, Kenji's wall of radiance was shattered, allowing the remaining lurkers to advance. They began to swarm them as Yakeru struggled to retrieve his sword from the corpse. Just before a lanky beast could avenge its fallen brother, raising its clawed hand, multiple streaks of light slashed through its midsection.

Upon dropping to its knees, its diced-up top half crumbled with Fuyumi standing behind it, her blades now dripping with its blood. Another lunged forward and stabbed the air where her chest used to be. Ducking under its poor attempt to skewer her, she sliced through its legs. Its dismembered appendages snapped under the weight they used to support.

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𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘥!

It used its arms to prop itself up but before it could react, she slashed through its neck as the last lurker tried to grab at her. Leaping into the air, she performed a flying roundhouse kick to the side of its severed head, launching it into the last lurker.

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘮!

Its ribs crunched from the impact as it slammed into a nearby tree, twitching before its corpse slid down motionless with its chest caved in.

"Woah. You weren't kidding about her, huh?" a stunned Kaneki muttered under his breath.

She flicked her daggers, flinging the blood off her blades as Yakeru did the same after finally retrieving his sword.

"Let's go," she ordered, returning them to their sheaths and resuming her march down the path.

Along their journey, they came across more lurkers though Fuyumi effortlessly slaughtered them all. Before long, she was soaked in blue. Yakeru and the others felt themselves relax as the dagger-wielding ranger took care of most of the grunt work. Regardless of her reasons for sticking around, having a B-rank accompany them on their travels was undoubtedly the best case scenario.

Eventually, they heard what sounded like running water straight ahead. Arriving at a rope bridge, their suspicions were confirmed. Below them was a raging river crashing into the rocky cliff face as it raced downstream. Kaneki studied the map, tracing his finger from the bridge to Hanataru.

"We're nearly there," he assured, slipping the map into the bag's side pocket.

Fuyumi went first, then Kenji followed by Kaneki. As Yakeru stepped onto the bridge, a small shadow darted from one tree to the next. Startled, he spun in its direction but could only see as far as the overgrown brush would allow him. He scanned his surroundings, wondering if it was either his imagination or just another twin-tailed fox.

"You coming, Yakeru?" Kaneki asked the paranoid ranger.

"Uh, yeah. Just thought I saw something," he replied with uncertainty in his voice.

As they began to cross, the old wooden planks creaked under their weight and strained the already withering ropes. They felt slight palpitations in their hearts as the fragile bridge threatened to drop them with every light sway. They reached about halfway when Fuyumi froze in place. Kenji figured her nerves had gotten the best of her but quickly realized how silly that notion was. If anything, the monsters they've seen thus far would've had that effect yet she left them as corpses.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, puzzled.

"What is that?" she squinted her eyes at a small figure on the other side.

He peeked over her shoulder to see a small grey creature resembling a rabbit. The hairs on the back of Yakeru's neck stood up as the sounds of shuffling behind him reached his ears. He spun around to see dozens of these grey creatures. They had a rabbit-like appearance yet their features were distorted. Their glowing red eyes slightly illuminated their unruly fur. Their crooked jaws exposed the chattering dagger-like teeth as foam gushed from their mouths.

"Rabids!" Yakeru shouted.

Dozens of them streamed out from the shrubs, locking their beady eyes onto their trapped prey. Both Yakeru and Fuyumi hurried to draw their weapons triggering Kenji to wave his hands frantically.

"Wait! Don't!" he was desperate to stop them from using their weapons. "We can't risk cutting the bridge!"

Hesitant, they followed his instructions and sheathed their blades, Yakeru whipping his head back to Kenji.

"So what do we do then?!"

Kaneki trembled as they began pouring onto the bridge, gnawing at the wood and ropes. A hanging plank dislodged before the violent rapids below tore it to shreds in an instant, serving as a reminder of what would happen should they fall in.

Kenji held his staff close, his mind scrambling to find a solution to their predicament. Under normal circumstances, they could've easily taken E-tier monsters in a fight, but the unsteady bridge complicated the situation.

'Wait. Could I...?' a light bulb went off in the conjurer's head. Grabbing Fuyumi's shoulder, he ordered her. "Get behind me!"

Without the luxury of wasting precious time, she repositioned herself behind him before he conjured a wall in front of him. The wave of rabids slammed themselves into his barrier as he advanced forward. With each step, the monsters tumbled over the edge into the deadly waters below.

'If I can just push past these things in time...!'

He looked back to see the rabids behind them gnawing at the ropes. With his heart pounding, he quickened his pace before a rope snapped. They gripped onto the remaining rope to regain their balance as the bridge swayed violently back and forth.

"We're almost there!" he resumed his march, brute forcing his way past the wave of rabids until he was finally on the other side.

Once on solid ground, Fuyumi immediately sprung forward, hacking away at the remaining rabids as Yakeru and Kaneki hurried to safety.

"Come on! We can still make it!" Kaneki urged.

𝘚𝘯𝘢𝘱!

Yakeru's heart skipped a beat as the second rope split in two. Kenji and Fuyumi's eyes widened in horror as Yakeru and Kaneki descended into a free fall. Kenji reached out his hand in a futile attempt to save them.

"Yakeru!!"