About 10:00 AM, when the sun, at an angle, had cloaked itself in thick clouds.

The air was teal in the Towering Willows, owing to fireflies emitting that color of light. Under tall trees of millions of elongated leaves hanging to kiss the earth, which were what the forest was named after. The insects thrived off of green flowers that somehow have still blanketed the ground even with sparse sunlight.

Kirin shoved his map back into his sack. "Right. This should be the phantom tail territory. Even if I just sat still on a boulder somewhere, these beasts should still be rallying around me. But I'd be needing to let the others know where I am, wouldn't I?"

A single tree shuffled.

Looked like some people already were there.

Well, then, Kirin should probably begin.

"Vampire Magic!" The trap swallowed air. "Moon's Call!!!"

The taunting pulse left leaves rustling as it swooshed through the entire forest. Then, almost instantly, came a pack of canine-type creatures, sporting glowing, one-foot long fangs and sporadically growing fur on stiff, blue skin, and trails of cyan smoke following their ring-shaped tails.

"Grrr-a-a-a" was how their growls sounded like when they began to gallop and charge.

"Yes! Yes! Yes! Come at me!" Kirin let his arms dangle as he arched his body backward.

"Grr-a-a!"

"Now!" A shota's voice pierced the air, just as a phantom tail was getting ready to chomp.

"Current Cuts!" Axle, the pink-haired knight with serious yet dreamy eyes, appeared and gifted the creature some wounds.

On any ordinary occasion, Kirin would have thrown. To miss a bite from fangs that were literally three inches away would have taken away his sanity! However, in that instance, it felt too resemblant to being saved by an armored prince, so the trap was more forgiving.

"Water Magic! Drip Shells!" Wismer materialized and slashed at a phantom tail.

"Sting Slice!" Skell jumped from a tree branch.

Successfully stealing the monsters' attention, the three of them hacked, whacked, and smacked the phantom tails Kirin has called.

A figure jumped onto the grass.

"Wahaha!" came a maniacal laugh too high-pitched to be that of an adult male's. Sure enough. It came from Nebby, riding on the shoulders of his brute Oldred. "What a coincidence, Table Ellipse! We find each other on the same quest again. But I did tell you we'd be seeing you around, didn't I?" A dark grin covered his face.

Kirin stared.

"What's this? Frozen on your feet? Can't even respond, huh?"

Kirin's stare intensified.

"Say something!"

"Well." The trap shrugged. "Just a piece of advice from a guildmate who's concerned. Since you're still young, you really shouldn't be so troubled about your height. I'm pretty sure you'll still be able to grow some more."

Oldred blew the hem of Nebby's robe from his face. "Shall I crush her for you, Master?"

"No! Put me down! Put me down!" Nebby threw a tantrum until his order was followed. "You!" He pointed, being lowered to the ground. "Something is seriously--SERIOUSLY wrong with your character."

"Gasp." Kirin looked away and covered his face. "You can keep trying. I'm not about to break the law."

"So many things are wrong with you!!!"

Kirin humphed and crossed his arms. "Now, now. Just because I'll never be into you doesn't mean you should be attacking me, you know."

Gnashing his teeth, Nebby convulsed in anger and turned to face his comrades dealing with the phantom tails. "Are you so helpless that you're not even gonna try to stop us? I almost feel bad."

"Oh. It's not that."

Nebby's forehead furrowed.

Kirin twirled dramatically and then posed with a peace sign. "I've already done half my job. Now I'm just waiting for the others."

"What do you mean?"

A string of shimmering runes appeared to block Wismer's Drip Shells.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"What in the--" Wismer jumped back.

"Jelly Ac--" Skell gagged as letters of the word "silence" wrapped around his face.

Axle frowned at his companions. His swirling spell was crippling a phantom tail. "What are you morons doing? Be serious."

"Aren't those words a tad bit too harsh for your companions, Axle Barnes?" asked a masked man in a brown hooded robe flailing in the winds as he flew with four others above the willow trees, using wings similar to the pair Alia had given Onyx the day before.

That the fairy and the knight were actually accompanying that party gave sense to how they got those.

"Hi, Kirin!" Alia shouted. "Did we make you wait too long?"

Onyx readied his sword.

"Nope! The quest is still ours." Kirin shouted back.

"Blaring Sentence! What are you doing here?!" Nebby clenched his rounded chin.

The hooded man glided to descend. "Why! We're here to share words of wisdom."

Axle slashed, destroying the Silence spell on Skell, and was about to send an attack at Blaring Sentence when a glittery pink orb sent him staggering backward.

"Yes. Be taken aback," said a woman with luxurious blonde hair. In a pink dress that covered barely any of her skin, she was fluttering up above with pink butterfly wings. She pirouetted. "Be taken aback by our deadly beauty!"

Four other fairies, flying in bright red, yellow, green, and blue colors, joined her in dancing ballet.

"Pastel Blood." Nebby seethed. "What's the meaning of this?"

Faolan arrived, igniting flowers where he landed. "We're taking a risk."

"What?!"

Back in Kirin's room...

"So Coral Crown's targeting us because our party's the only threat to them, right?" Kirin asked, tapping his face to concentrate. "Yet Fable Eclipse isn't even anywhere near being next to them on the leaderboard."

"They're threatened because we know we could take their slot for the Guild Games," Onyx explained.

"If that's how simple it is, then there are two possible solutions to our problem. Either we stop being a threat to them, or we stop being the only one."

Faolan gave Nebby a smile. "I hope you can forgive us for this, Coral Crown. We told everyone in the guild they have a shot at joining the Guild Games."

The blond boy shuddered. A spooked shade blued his face. "N... No way... That's why no one was at the hall."

The hooded man landed beside Faolan. "At first, we weren't interested, but all it really took to convince my party was to remind us of the prize."

The blonde fairy also descended. "If a party wins, then the king will be granting one of each of its members' wishes."

"Aaa!" The hooded man locked his hands together as imaginary hearts bloomed in his eyes. "I just looooove if-then statements, especially when they come from you, my lady."

"Tut." The blonde fairy planted a finger on the hooded man's mask. "If we win, then I'll be asking the king for Faolan's hand in marriage."

Faolan jumped. "What did you say?"

"Faolan." The hooded man called. "Engrave this to your mind. On this day, you have become my rival." A fiery fury combusted his heart-eyes.

"Wha--But I'm no--"

Nebby balled his tiny fists and cried. "Waaah! Get them! Get them all! End this quest now!"

"Master!" Oldred hugged Nebby from behind.

"Understood." Wismer, Skell, and Axle tightened their grips on their weapons.

"Kirin!" Faolan called.

"Yes!" The trap summoned a magic circle. "Moon's Call!"

Pulse!

The phantom tails looked confused momentarily, then decided to re-target Kirin.

"Water Ma--" Wismer's neck strained as a Blaring Sentence mage silenced him.

Onyx jabbed his hilt on the man's head. "That's satisfying."

Axle moved to assist Wismer but was sent rolling on the grass by Faolan tripping him.

Skell, watching his comrades go down, seemed to grow more determined as his eyes twinkled under tugged eyebrows. "Tentacle Edges!"

Dozens of glowing lines chased after the phantom tails heading for Kirin but were quickly intercepted by magic orbs thrown by Pastel Blood.

The hooded man snapped his fingers, creating a ring of runes illuminating like Skell as they revolved over him.

The glowing knight gritted his teeth and attempted to cast, but an unseen force thrust him into the ground before he could even utter a word.

Excitement filled Kirin's chest.

Now there was no one left who could possibly spoil his fun! Finally.

It was coming.

"Graaa-a-a-a!"

As the phantom tails' fangs buried into Kirin's limbs, the pleasure compelled the trap to let out the lewdest, most piercing "Kyaaah!" the people in the forest have ever heard.

An awkward air followed as Fable Eclipse, Coral Crown, Blaring Sentence, and Pastel Blood all watched, wondering what the heck they were seeing.

"Kyaaaaaaa!"

A scarlet glow filled the scene. Overpowering the fireflies' inferior gleams, it reddened the forest. Staining trees, air, and even the people who were there. It seeped into the bodies of the phantom tails attacking Kirin, then faded just when all the beasts have dropped, lifeless.

After that, only Kirin's rushing breaths and moans sliding down his tongue remained to disturb the forest's silence.

Coral Crown stared.

Blaring Sentence stared.

Pastel Blood stared.

Onyx palmed his face while Faolan and Aila looked on with concern glazing their eyes.

"Kya... Kyaaa! That was the best time of my life!" Kirin announced, legs wiggling and arms binding himself.

"Masochist," everyone said in sync.

"Hsss!" The cyan smoke expanded from the phantom tails' corpses.

"Gasp. That's right!" Nebby pulled out five bottles from under his robe. "It's not over yet!"

"No! Kirin!" Onyx called out.

"Get in the bottles!" Nebby tossed.

Kirin's hands burrowed in the sack, frantically pressing to look for smooth surfaces. Unfortunately, by the time they caught a bottle by the neck, the ones that Nebby had thrown have already fallen onto the phantom tails' bodies.

So was that it?

Was Coral Crown successful in swiping another quest?

Everyone thought so.

Until... they all noticed nothing was happening when the bottles fell.

Was there a chance?

Whatever. Let's still try!

Kirin knelt, plopped the corks from the bottles' mouths, and set the containers down on the grass.

Almost like children rushing to get home, the smokes squeezed themselves inside.

"But... how?" Nebby gawked.

Kirin rushed to cork his bottles, sealing them, then checked out the ones Nebby owned.

Unlike the rabid hollow bottles, those ones didn't have the claw design.

"Forgive him. He makes these goods but forgets about them the moment they're for sale."

Kirin giggled and faced Nebby and his brute, demon eyes flaming. "You got the wrong bottles... shota."

"W-What...?"

Kirin returned to his feet, joy bursting like a fountain in his heart. He brandished a rabid hollow and declared, "Everyone! Fable Eclipse... has completed this quest!"

Saying those words, the feeling he felt... was somehow unexplainably more pleasuring than the pain he had just gone through.