"Do you think human kills would drop any loot?" Elias asked as he jogged back to us, Alaric flying above him. I frowned. I had the same question, but at least Elias could be a lttle more subtle about it. Kaelen seemed to agree.

The girl crossed her arms, "We should be... more remorseful about this?"

Elias shrugged, smirking, "Sure, but wasn't you raining down thunderbolts and cooking that guard there? I didn't watch, but I'm sure that Terra can tell us how much you enjoyed this."

"Fighting was thrilling," Kaelen defended herself, "But at least..."

"At least pretend to care, Elias," I finished for her. Alaric hooted his affirmation, and the girl nodded. I continued, "But if you want to satisfy yourself, we can get a few fights in before coming back for the night."

I called up my notifications as I waited for their reply. If my guess was not wrong, the guards should drop some, if not all, of their inventory. That was the better choice that I was hoping for. The other, of course, was the normal type we would expect from a monster, and that meant that we would be getting human body parts of some kind. I was not looking forward to owning one of those, but there was also a decent chance of it happening.

You have slain Rocky Snider [Human] [Lvl. 4]! You gained 400EXP, 1x Skin Suit [Unbonded], 3x Mutated Bear Claws, 1x Skeleton Cage, 2920 New Gems

You have slain Alvin Lawrence [Human] [Lvl. 3]! You gained 300EXP, 1x Human-Hair Wig, 1x Fox Tail [Evolved], 10x Three-Headed Cobra Scales, 2440 New Gems

You have slain Lark Norris [Human] [Lvl. 3]! You gained 300EXP, 5x Forest Deer Meat, 4x Horned Wolf Meat, 2220 New Gems

1400EXP to next level!

"Sure," Elias grinned, already making his way to the gates, which was now unobstructed. I waited a moment to see if there would be more notifications, but I did not hear anymore ding sounds, so I had to assume that my Battle Group members' human kills wouldn't give me any benefit. That was not a significant loss, and the loot I just obtained from the three guards were more than enough to satisfy my expectations for the battle. The System was generous this time, allowing me to get both human-related loot drops and the spoils of battle that others had given to them to place in their Inventories. I smiled just thinking about how I could use them all, once I had the time to sit down and look at them later today.

Kaelen patted my shoulder gently, bringing me out of my thoughts, "Terra, if we don't catch up soon, we will lose track of where Elias is going. Alaric had already left with him."

I nodded, calling out the pair of lion claws to function as emergency weapons, just in case something jumped out at us, and followed her. We soon catched up with Elias, who slowed down so that we were walking in a single line. It probably was not the best stealth method, but it would work for tonight if we stayed close to the safe space.

We walked in silence, until a few minutes later, as the owl appeared from above, flying down to meet us.

"Call me, hoot, when it's time to fight!" the owl flapped its wings a few times and landed on Kaelen's shoulder, where it disappeared into a ball of silver light that was immediately absorbed by the girl's skin.

Kaelen explained, "Alaric is an owl, so he likes night more. I don't know what happens to him when he... enters me, but he's probably resting now."

That made sense. I guess I shouldn't have been that surprised to see that the System's arrival did not change the fundamental habits of the animals on Earth. As we fell into the harmonious silence again, I looked around at the forest around us. There were no monsters that I could sense with my limited human capabilities, and if there were monsters mutated by the System anywhere nearby, we would have known by now, since every enemy so far had tried to kill us the moment they laid their eyes on us. Therefore, I allowed myself to relax somewhat, but my grip on the lion claws did not get any looser.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

The forest was decently lit, the light of a late afternoon sun penetrating through the canopies to light our path. The trees were large, and some had gnarled roots and hollowed tree trunks. Parasitic vines wrapped themselves around those dying trees, their coils getting tighter and tighter as it spiraled its way up into the canopy. There were not many animals nearby, not even normal ones, but there was a constant buzzing in the air that came from apparently nowhere. I frowned, remembering the bees and how that battle did not go well, at least not for me.

"Are the two of you hearing that noise?" I asked, "There's no insects nearby, and the noise is driving me crazy."

"Terra," Elias said, his face serious, "I don't think you can get any crazier after what you did back there with the guards. Your voice was so scary."

I stared into his eyes for a few seconds, and he burst into laughter. Suddenly a little embarrassed - I actually believed him -, I glared at him and tried to channel the power I felt when I was dealing with the guards.

It must have worked somehow, because Elias gradually calmed down, "Okay, okay, i'm sorry. I wasn't lying about the scary part th-"

A loud roar from somewhere beside us startled all of us, and Kaelen, reacting the fastest, pulled up a force field around us to guard us against whatever was incoming. Turning to face our threat, I found myself face to face with an enormous skeleton. There was an eerie glow coming from its ribcage area, but before I could inspect it further, a frantic System message came.

This is- We've got no time for that, you know who I am. Run, Raven, run! Go back to the starting zone, and think of a plan with the information we will be sending you. Don't fight it now!

I nodded at nothing in particular. My System Worker sounded serious, and the sheer size of the skeleton corroborated the danger of the situation the three of us were in at the moment. I shouted louder than necessary, "We need to go, now! It is too strong for us, especially with no preparation."

Elias opened his mouth to argue, but closed it when he met my eyes. Kaelen yelled a countdown before our barrier came tumbling down, just as the giant skeleton raised its fist up high to strike. We ran, dashing through the tall grass and shrubs that filled the ground. Several times I almost slipped, but Kaelen was always there to help me balance. The skeleton had realized by now that we were no longer in front of it, and it growled, turning to glare at us again. Its heavy footsteps pounded through the forest and its grunts echoed all around us as it chased us.

Almost there! We quickened our pace, scrambling as we darted the rest of the way to the starting spot. The monster hurled one of its bones at us just as we pushed through the gates, the bone fracture piercing into the fence just moments after we closed the door. There were pounding on the other side, but the fence held strong even with the power of the skeleton's punches. Eventually, it lost interest, realizing that it was just wasting its time, and left. When the loud banging finally ended, we all sat down near the entrance, relieved. There was a System notification waiting for me, and I clicked it open immediately, remembering my System Worker's promise to supply me with more details on the giant skeleton.

Skeleton

Category: Quest

Giant skeletons are practically indestructable physically. It is built to withstand most of the damage you can throw at it, magical or physical. However, all of them have a weak mind and a special heart. You should know how to exploit their minds. For the hearts, they are souls that the skeletons' hard exterior cannot protect, but they are hard to destroy even if you can get your hands on it. You are lucky that you have someone in your Battle Group who can do that, though. Good luck, and don't forget to check out your new chat request when you are done.

Reward: 5 Ancient Crystals

Failure: 1 Cut

Complete Condition: A Giant Skeleton must die at your Battle Group's hands

Duration: 1 week

Whoever gave this quest was clear enough in what they wanted me to do, but I needed to first get my teammates to agree to this. No matter how much I did not want to get the failure result, my System Workers made it clear that I could not take on the Skeleton, at least not by myself.

I clicked the Quest notification away, and said, "I think I know the trick to winning against that skeleton."