I swallow what I’m currently chewing, before crouching down, and observing my surroundings. Danger Sense only gives me a low hum, no matter where I look. I continue looking around my immediate surroundings, my senses sharpened by the feeling of danger. I can not spot anything unusual. Everything, from the grass to the animals, are moving how they’re supposed to. The birds continue their merry chirping, and the grass continues to sway in the wind. I can’t smell anything unusual, and everything seems to be perfectly in place. I start to inch away from the corpse of the rabbit, keeping a wary eye on my surroundings. What’s going on? Nothing is out of place, yet my Danger Sense is still going off.

I continue to slowly back away from the rabbit. Danger Sense suddenly blares. I leap as far as I can to the right, and almost jump straight into some nearby bushes. I quickly dig my talons into the ground, to stop that from happening. I swiftly turn around to see what attacked me. What meets my eyes is nothing but a strange object, sticking out of the ground. It is a small thing, some wood wrapped around a sharp piece of metal. Not a dagger, but something resembling it. Despite the new landmark, everything continues on as it was before. However, now I know that something is attacking me. I jump back into the bush that I stayed away from before, and used my Flora Camouflage to hide myself. I slowly move deeper into the bush, pausing and reapplying the skill every couple of seconds. It doesn’t take more than half a minute for me to reach the deepest parts of the bush, but it feels like an eternity has passed. My heart thumps loudly, but otherwise, I am silent.

If I did not have Danger Sense, I would’ve died there. That metal thing would have gone straight through my head. I quickly realize. Although, I probably would’ve died three times already, if I didn’t have that skill. First from the vulture, then the fox, and now this. I really am fortunate that I have it, huh? I hastily clear my mind. No time for distractions. I will die if I allow myself to stop focusing. I refocus my gaze on the metal object impaled in the ground. Every couple of seconds, I look over the clearing, to see if whatever attacked me will reveal itself.

Suddenly, a loud shout comes from the way I entered the clearing. My eyes shoot towards the source of the sound. A tall, muscular, humanoid creature walks in, covered in leather and metal plates. In its right hand is a large blade. On its left, a shield. My eyes drift to examine the creature itself. It is massive. It would tower over me, even if I stood at my full height. Underneath the dense armor, it is possible to catch brief glimpses of green amid the dense patchwork of armor. I can not see any more from my current position.

The creature stomps into the middle of the clearing, before shouting something again. I can’t understand what it’s saying, but a response comes from atop one of the lower branches of a nearby tree. I look up, and see another humanoid crouching atop the limb. They are dressed in far less armor, and instead wear a black cloak that covers the entirety of their body, only leaving their face bare. In their hands is a stringed stave, a bow, and another of those strangely shaped pieces of metal. I realize that it is an arrow, albeit a strangely shaped one. I watch the two creatures shout at each other. The one crouching on the tree has a completely different tone of voice from the one on the ground. I listen to their conversation, or shouting match, I can’t tell, and stay crouched in the depths of the bushes. Suddenly, the two quiet down. They put their backs to me, and face a completely new direction. I hear loud stomps coming from that direction.

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I slowly turn to look at the new creature. A large bear, taller than even the large humanoid, emerges from the bushes. Emblazoned on its chest is a large, white V made of fur. The rest of its body is covered in a thick brown pelt. I instantly recognize it as the same species of beast that chased me away from my first meal. I watch as it erupts from the bushes with a roar. The creature on the ground hefts his shield, and holds it in front of him. The other one, pulls up their bow, and draws an arrow. The arrow flies through the air aiming for one of the bear’s eyes. The bear turns slightly to face the bipedal creature on the ground. This makes the arrow miss, hitting just a little bit to the right of its eye. To my surprise, the arrow doesn’t even draw blood, just hitting the pelt and falling down. The bear lets out another roar, and turns toward the direction the arrow came from with hate filled eyes. It quickly looks at the canopy, obviously scanning for whatever dared to shoot it. I’m surprised when its eyes move right over where the archer was before. I turn my head slightly to look. My eyes widen in surprise, when I see no trace of the archer. No indication that they were ever there. Where did that bipedal creature with the bow go? Did they just move really quickly? Maybe they used something like Flora Camouflage? My gaze snaps back to the bear when it starts moving again. It turns away from the trees, and back to the other humanoid. However, the distraction the archer provided allowed the other creature to sneak close to the bear. It brandishes its sword, holding the blade’s hilt with both hands, and brings it down on the bear’s lower back. I watch as, instead of rebounding like the arrow, the blade digs deep into the bear’s durable flesh. It moves far past where I’d expect the bear’s spine to me, and deep into its internal organs. The bear roars in pain, and tries to turn around to strike the creature. However, since its back legs have been paralyzed, it instead collapses, while wildly swinging its paws around. The creature uses the bear’s immobility to approach its neck from behind, and slice down. The blade cuts through the bear’s skin, and there is seemingly no resistance. One moment the bear is struggling and flailing its limbs around; the next, it is lying on the ground motionless, its head and neck unaligned.

The creature that beheaded the bear shouts again, and the response comes from the same lower branch the archer was standing on before. I turn to look at the branch again. The archer is standing the same way they were before, in the same spot. So I guess they’re either really fast and have a great memory, or they used a skill like Flora Camouflage to hide themselves in plain sight. That second one makes more sense. The creature on the ground pulls at a large blade. The blade is undecorated, and the hilt seems to be made of a simple wood. The creature on the ground, the warrior, starts carving off the bear’s pelt with the simple knife. Meanwhile, the archer remains crouched on the tree, scanning the area around the warrior, presumably to detect anything sneaking up on the small group. What just happened? I quickly go over the events of the last five minutes. One moment I was eating a rabbit. The next, I’m dodging a bladed projectile. I quickly jump into the bushes and hide, activating my Flora Camouflage to help. I watch the creature who ambushed me, and the other creature fight a bear that I’m certain I couldn’t kill. They slaughter it with ease. It doesn’t even take them a minute. Then, the warrior who slew it starts carving it up. So much happened in just five minutes. What should I even do now? I can’t escape yet, because the archer is scanning the area, and will certainly see me if I start running. I guess I should just sit here either until they leave, or the archer stops paying so much attention to their surroundings. I stay still in the bushes, Flora Camouflage staying activated the whole time.