On leaving the gingerbread forest, it was decided that we would bypass the place and come out on the road on the other side.

During the rounds, surprisingly, nothing happened to us, but we were still on guard.

So out of all of us, the only one who can do anything against the enemy is Adele, since she has magic.

Everyone else is unarmed right now, including me, so relying only on stats and bare hands is still ineffective.

Passing by the gingerbread forest, I wondered aloud, "how many other strange and unusual areas are there in this forest? I wouldn't want to go to a place like that again."

"There are many of them, one such place is called the 'river of recovery' and it is located near the gingerbread forest," Adele replied.

"And how exactly does it work?" asked Kyle with aggression in his voice.

"I'm not sure," Adele whispered.

"Yeah, Adele may have been a little foolish to believe the legends, but she's already realized that herself, no need to hold a grudge," I said, turning to Kyle.

"F*ck you!" he shouted at me. "What right do you have to push me around?! Who put you in charge in the first place?!"

We stopped, I turned toward the rat.

"I'm speaking from a position of moral superiority," I replied. "And I didn't hear any grumbling when I led you all on. Anyway, either no fighting or get the f*ck out of the band."

Kyle looked at each member of the squad in turn until he realized that no one would support him, after which he finally calmed down.

We continued on our way, he followed us, but kept a short distance. Needless to say, he's already pissing me off?

"Anyway, what is this river of recovery?" I asked.

"Well, according to the legends, it's a place at which travelers can rest, fish and bathe, receiving the river's blessing and recovering all their wounds," Adele replied.

If that's even half true, then my bad luck isn't so bad. But! It's likely that when we get there, we'll run into some terrible problem.

After traveling some part of the way, the outline of the river became visible in the distance.

"Is this the right place?" I asked in disbelief. It was unexpected that we would reach a new point of interest so quickly.

Adele looked to her left, and there was still a gingerbread forest in that direction.

"We are still close to the borders, there should be gaps between such places in the form of a regular forest area," Adele replied.

"Is this also knowledge from the legends?" asked Kyle.

Adele nodded.

"Tsk, well, who would doubt it," he said irritably.

Okay, it's probably not the same recovery river and it has some other obscure and possibly negative effects.

What do we do? Bypass it? No, it could be very long and, in theory, could cross the entire forest.

How about forcing it? But I don't even want to go within a mile of it.

Turn back and forget about this forest like a bad dream? No, we'd be easy for the furries to kill us.

Of all these options, I don't like any of them, because not only are they bad in and of themselves, but my luck adds a pinch of trouble. Or rather, my bad luck.

"Listen, if we walk along the river, maybe we'll come out to some town or village?" I asked Adele.

"No, all these rivers only exist within the forest," she replied.

By now we had reached the river. I looked first to the left, then to the right. Both ends of the river went far over the horizon.

Then I looked ahead, the river wasn't very wide. Comparatively, of course. About 20 meters (22 yards) or so. The water itself was a little murky, but I didn't see any fish splashing around.

"Adele, how much mana do you have left?" I asked.

"2 units, why?"

"When you cast Ice bolt, what happens first?"

"Well, first I say the spell, then the mana gets concentrated in my palms, then it starts to freeze and condense, taking the shape of a bolt or something similar."

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

"Condensation? Does that mean the mana is originally in a vaporous state?"

"Exactly," she nodded, not fully understanding what I wanted her to do.

"Great, can you try casting a spell but not condensing the mana so it stays in a vapor state?"

"Oh, I get it! You want me to freeze part of the river so we can cross to the other side!" she rejoiced.

"Yeah, can you do that?" I asked again.

"I'll try, but I can't promise anything," she sighed. "Ice bolt!"

She put both hands together, leaving her palms open, and then energy – mana – began to form inside them. Something resembled a frost dragon opening its maw.

Gradually, steam began to emanate from the energy, and Adele's fingertips became covered in frost. Soon an ice ray of mana erupted from the epicenter of the mana, directed at the water.

As soon as the two elements came into contact, the river was immediately covered in what looked like a thick layer of ice.

Adele raised her hands up slightly, thus changing the trajectory of the ray to cover a larger area. In the end, the ice road was created.

"Good job, you did well," I praised Adele with a smile.

"Thank you," she said, and then turned aside in surprise. "I learned a new spell, Ice ray! All thanks to you, you're just a genius, thank you!"

With those words, she swooped down on me, enclosing me in a tight hug.

I was taken aback, wondering if my companions had been replaced again. But I quickly dismissed that thought. Sometimes one can rejoice, especially if one has such a good reason to do so.

"Congratulations," I said, enclosing her in an answering embrace. I'm not the only one suffering from suffocation!

Pretty soon we stopped hugging and I looked around at my teammates.

"Who will go first?" I asked the crowd, because I didn't want to.

I could easily fall through the ice and I'd rather let that threat show itself at the end than at the beginning.

"Ladies first," Kyle said with a smile, looking at Adele with a predatory gaze.

I was about to send him off first, but suddenly Uncle Jack intervened.

"I'll go," he announced, taking another sip from his flask.

As soon as he stepped onto the ice, a dangerous cracking sound was heard, though visually everything was normal.

Uncle Jack took a second step and all was well, then a third and a fourth.

Under such a seemingly heavy man, the ice stood up with ease. We should be all the more okay, shouldn't we?

Half a minute later Adele came second. She ended safely, too, which gave Kyle confidence, and he followed Adele when she reached the other side.

As my turn came to me, there was a disturbing rustling of grass behind me.

As soon as I turned around, there was the mimic cake that had been chasing me before!

I rushed onto the ice road, hoping that all my bad luck was over for the day.

The faces of my comrades reflected anxiety and fear, but I had already managed to get halfway there! Behind the rustling did not stop, the monster was clearly already preparing to get up on the ice!

It was just a little bit away! A-a-and...

The ice beneath me collapsed, and I was sent hurtling down the river, unable to get out.

Yeah, I had definitely started getting excited too soon.

I tried to grab at the ground and grass with my hands and fingernails, but the current was clearly not agreeing with that. I ended up with only dirt in my hands and my nails were broken.

What surprised me the most was that the monstrous mimic did not decide to retreat, but jumped into the water after me!

The river was not very deep for him, so half of his three-story body was peering out, and he seemed to be using his spider legs to move along the bottom.

But I, unlike this monster, could hardly stay afloat and was almost drowning! I couldn't even feel the bottom with the tips of my feet! Pretty soon the mimic would get to me and I would die, what to do?

"Ice ray!" I heard through the sounds of splashing water.

The spell hit the enemy directly, causing him to wail furiously.

His backside turned into an icicle, which dragged him to the bottom because of its weight and immobility.

But at some point he stopped, as if the river current was nothing to him.

And I continued to swim farther and farther away, a strong feeling of fatigue seized me.

I wouldn't be able to get out of here on my own!

"Ice ray!" I heard the familiar spell again.

An icy surface formed behind me, like a bridge or a road.

As the current brought me to this bridge, I grabbed onto it. The ice itself was up to my chest and did little to impede the current.

It was difficult for me to get up on the ice bridge, but I did not stay in that position long – my companions came running to me and Uncle Jack helped me out of the water.

I was about to thank them for their help, but the mimic who had come up on dry land prevented me.

He looked really bad now and could barely stand on his spider legs. His backside resembled an ice hump, all the cream had come off, exposing ugly pinkish skin.

It still resembled a three-story cake, but it was beginning to change.

"I'm out of mana," Adele said too calmly.

I looked at her in panic and horror. What are we supposed to do now!?

At that moment, the mimic let out a battle cry, and its body turned into a huge meat mass with tentacles, somewhat resembling an octopus on land.

But, besides the monster's screams, I heard another, more muffled scream.

At that moment, a sword pierced the mimic from within, as if created from light.

It was as bright as the sun on the sunniest day, yet this light did not blind the eyes at all, but instead made one look at it.

"Run!" shouted Uncle Jack, picking me up by the arm and breaking the magnetic effect of the sword.

I wasn't at all opposed to getting out of here as soon as possible.

As we ran, the monster's screams echoed behind us as if it was being cut alive. It wasn't far from the truth.

After running a fair distance away, we stopped for a moment to regain our breath.

"What was that?" I asked the trivial question.

At that moment, all the guys' gazes were directed at Adele.

"Phew, now," sighed Adele, clearly tired from running through the forest. "When a mimic weakens, he loses his form and slowly disintegrates. It is very dangerous at this point, as it has no control over its own limbs, causing them to act erratically."

"He also loses control of his digestive system, allowing undigested 'food' to be released," she continued.

"That sword of light..." whispered Kyle, "that sword could belong to a holy paladin!"

"Or the bastard who killed the paladin," I added with a dose of pessimism.

The others looked at me with surprise and concern, but still nodded at my statement. Except for one.

"Why don't we check it out?" suggested Adele.

...

You seem smart, but sometimes you come up with some very questionable ideas, bae. What if we get killed?!

"We don't need to check anything," replied a low female voice.

"Exactly..." nodded I. "Wait, who's that?!"

Standing behind us was a woman in gilded armor and carrying a seemingly ordinary sword in front of her.

She had bright red hair, but it was short and cut in a bob. She had plain brown eyes, a slightly crooked nose, and sharp cheekbones.

Overall was cute, but expressed sternness and a sense of duty, and her gaze expressed adamantine.

Holy paladin!