With a torch in one hand and a wooden sword he’d stolen from their instructor in the other, Ronny led Enzi out of the city and into the forest. The thick layer of leaves that formed the treetops seemed to eat the moonlight like a starved dog. Even with a full moon above, the only source of light was the faint, orangey glow of the torch.

That didn’t bother Ronny though. His Detect Life skill worked to supplement the torchlight, though its ‘resolution’ was limited. He could make out where the shrubbery and trees were, but not much more than that. At the very least, he hoped that it would protect against any ambushes from the wildlife.

Enzi, on the other hand, had neither a torch, nor an ability. He felt blind. Staying close to Ronny was a must. The possibility of turning around and going back to the palace was a strong one in his mind but didn’t trust Ronny to survive in the woods by himself. Not at night.

Ronny noticed some of the wildlife as they walked. Small stuff, at least relative to the kind of thing he wanted to find, but still uncomfortably large. There were centipedes the size of pythons in the trees above, ants bigger than Ronny’s hands, and of course, some Rockjaw Beetles—which were several times smaller than the one that had almost killed him a few days earlier. The Dural Forest was an unnerving place to be, especially at night. Even the insects were dangerous enough to kill, and in the darkness, they had reason to try.

As the two walked, a slight paranoia began to set in. Every step they took brought them further from the safety of the city, and further from their chance of escape if something big were to attack. Cautiously, they ventured deeper and then deeper still into the forest.

They made it to the river next to where they’d dumped debris when they were still masons. Bricks were still laid about the area, messily dropped in various piles. It didn’t look like new masons had been there recently, which Ronny was relieved to see. He wondered how employee that had been injured in the Rockjaw attack was doing.

The river was a useful tool for staying on track. The bricks marked where the path to the city laid, and as long as they made sure to follow it closely, getting lost was unlikely. They started following it downstream.

Their journey was a silent one for the most part, with both wanting the other to be quiet so that they could hear the surroundings. With that said though, there was a sense of comradery in the walk. Ronny and Enzi needed each other to survive, and they knew it.

At about twenty minutes into their walk, there was a faint buzzing noise coming from the other side of the river.

Enzi was the first to notice. He mentioned it in a whisper, “Hey, do you hear that?”

“Hear what?” The fast stream of water beside him made a lot of noise as it crashed against the rocks.

Enzi pointed in the direction it was coming from, “Listen.”

Detect Life didn’t pick up on anything, nor did his hearing. He assumed that Enzi’s senses were sharper than his. “Let’s investigate it.”

The river was small, about waist deep for Ronny. They crossed it slowly and continued onwards. As they got closer, the sound got louder. Ronny could hear it clearly after a few minutes of walking.

“It’s like… bees or something,” he said.

“Those would have to be some loud bees.” Enzi had heard about a certain variety of bee that was the size of a dog, but those didn’t live in the area. At least, he thought they didn’t.

A few more minutes of walking ensued, and in that time, the buzzing grew more pronounced. The anticipation gave Ronny goosebumps. He really didn’t want it to be bees, with their nasty stingers and wings, but was expecting to be disappointed.

It took a long time to reach the source, but when they did, both Enzi and Ronny felt their stomachs drop. It wasn’t bees they were dealing with; it was wasps. Flying, stinging, vicious wasps with size akin to a small dog.

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Their nest was bigger than Enzi, much bigger. It wrapped around an old tree, covering everything from the trunk to the top. Flying around the nest were some of the wasps, they surveyed the area like security guards on patrol.

They noticed Ronny’s torch as soon almost immediately and surrounded the two men shortly after. Strangely though, they didn’t attack.

“Any ideas!?” Enzi was still as stone. He didn’t want to alarm the aggressors.

Ronny was more relaxed. He took a moment to respond, “Yeah. I’ve got one,” He held the torch up to one of the wasps, and it flew further away, “They’re not attacking us because they’re scared of the fire.”

“So what!?” Enzi didn’t like how confident Ronny sounded.

“We’re going to get what we came for.”

“And what exactly is that? Stop talking like you’re about to tell a joke and you’re holding the punchline!”

Ronny crouched down and set fire to a shrub. The flames started spreading rapidly, releasing huge amounts of smoke, “We came here to kill monsters. That’s what we’re going to do. Wasp nests are like paper you know, very flammable.” Years before, when he was still on Earth, Ronny had a very bad experience with wasps in his chimney. He’d held a grudge ever since and knew more than he needed to on the topic of dealing with them.

Suddenly Enzi thought he understood, “You… you’ll kill us too if you’re going to do that! A wildfire won’t do us any good. We can’t outrun fire, not when the wind is blowing toward our destination!”

Ronny smiled, “You’re mistaken, Enzi. Stay here for a minute, will you? The flames should keep you safe for a while.”

“But what about…” Ronny was already gone when he responded. Enzi realized that he was running to the nest, swatting away the increasingly desperate bugs as he approached.

He got a stung a few times during his sprint, and let out a yelp with each new welt, but Ronny made it to the nest and held the torch to it.

A fire broke out, and he immediately started running in the opposite direction. As he got to Enzi, he made the rest of his plan was made clear. He shouted “RUN!” as he passed.

Enzi did exactly that, and so too did the surviving wasps, who were chasing them, “What the hell was that! We’re gonna die, and it’ll be your fault!”

“Now’s not the time for this,” Ronny passed him the torch, “If you really want to escape, then go!”

Ronny knew that Enzi could run far faster than him, and with much better endurance. If the Demon wanted to, getting away would have been easy, but Ronny also knew that Enzi was a better person him and that he’d stick around.

Enzi took the torch, and as expected, stayed with Ronny. He still looked angry, but not as much as before. The wasps though, weren’t going to relax any time soon. A swarm of twenty chased them closely, attempting to sting when they got the chance.

As the chaos ensued, System went off like a broken record, “+55 XP, +50 XP, +49 XP, LEVEL increased to 11. Stats Increased, +61 XP, ENZI ETUNGSTA: LEVEL increased to 16, +51 XP…” it droned on and on.

It was exactly what he’d hoped for.

They started running a little faster when he leveled up. Not being able to see System’s notifications, Enzi attributed the sudden increases to adrenaline, but Ronny knew better.

System continued with its “+XP” tangent, and the two continued leveling up. Ronny knew that back at the nest, a lot of bugs were dying horrible deaths. Death by immolation was one of the worst ways to go. Third-degree burns across the whole body, followed by shrinking organs, and then finished by suffocation. Pain was intense throughout the process.

Not that he cared. They were just bugs.

Even after he reached level fourteen, the messages were still coming in at an alarming rate. There must have been a lot of them in that nest. He’d managed to dodge most of the stings but had still been caught a few times while running. The pain was intense, and so was the swelling.

He’d already been stung five times, and he knew that getting stung again might spell disaster. They’d gotten to Enzi too, not badly, but still more than once.

If they hoped to survive, they’d need to get away from the wasps. But even with the rapid succession of level-ups, the wasps were still faster. Between swatting away the vying attackers and running, there was little space left in his mind for coming up with a plan. Even so, he had to try something.

But there wasn’t much he could do. System was still doing its thing, and part of him hoped that destruction of the nest would make them strong enough to win with brute force. The issue with that idea was that it would take a while for him or Enzi to reach that point, assuming that there were enough wasps in that nest to make it possible. Another idea was to put out the torch and try to hide in the darkness but doing so would be a death sentence for Enzi, who didn’t have Detect Life to use for night vision.

He came up with several more ideas, but each was worse than the last. Ideas came as quickly as they left. Regular running seemed to be their only shot, as grim as it was. Flying was a less efficient mode of movement than running, so he hoped that they’d get tired and give up.

It was wishful thinking, especially since they’d already been in hot pursuit for several minutes and showed no signs of stopping. Regardless, all he could do at that point was hope for the best.