Kezo slashed downwards with both his swords, sending swirling black flames at the Laphishere rolling towards us. They erupted into a shower of light just from that one skill.

To my right, Megan summoned a [Spell Bonded Totem] at the cost of about a fourth of her life—I saw her health bar decrease as she planted an ethereal statue on the ground. It depicted a snarling squat creature I hadn't seen before, standing about the height of my waist and as wide as my shoulders. From its open mouth came a fiery beam that torched the Cedarlyons stomping out of the forest to attack us.

The reason for the name of her skill, [Spell Bonded Totem], became apparent as Megan also fought. She used the same fire skill as her Totem, shooting two blinding beams from the end of each wand. The Cedarlyons quickly died from the massive damage Megan and her Totem dished out.

As for Nitana, she didn't try to kill any of the aggressive monsters attacking us—there was no need to lift a finger anyway as Kezo and Megan were more than enough to clear the mobs. Instead, she was munching on a slice of Swineling Pie while making loud sighs of boredom. She mentioned it had been a long time since she last tasted MCO food. After seeing me eat, she also wanted to do it.

But she did contribute to the team's efforts despite her obvious lack of enthusiasm. Her [Friendly Fire] was below us, boosting Megan and her Totem's fire damage. Nitana also summoned some fire fairies and sent them to shower buffs on Kezo and Megan. And she also protected me with some sort of crystal-like orange barrier.

In comparison, I had zero participation in our group. "Wow, that's awesome," I loudly said after I decided I'll be Herald Stone, the Official Complimenter. "I'm excited to get as strong as you guys."

"Don't worry about the Essence you're getting," said Kezo, looking back at me as he sheathed his swords. "I'll give you Artas later. It'll be just like we didn't disturb your Swineling farming."

"You didn't disturb me. I'm happy to be able to practice with you guys." Practice walking is what I'm doing here. "And I already said you don't need to give me any Artas."

"It's only right for me to give you compensation for your time since you likely won't get any loot drops from the bosses we'll target. I won't either since the bosses I'll choose are far from my level. If we're fortunate, Megan and Nitana will be lucky with the drops."

"The Rotted Cedarlyon has wands, right?" Megan said. "Fingers crossed I'll get them. They're supposed to be cheap because not many Mardukryons use wands and they're low level compared to the others available. Problem is, no one is farming the Rotted Cedarlyon so there's no supply. Ugh...so annoying."

We continued deeper into this peculiar forest with an alien ecosystem of plants and animals with all the colors of the rainbow. A couple of minutes ago, only a few of the monsters attacked us. Now, every creature we came across charged at us like we were the last surviving humans in a zombie apocalypse.

"We are entering the area of the Rotted Cedarlyon," Kezo said. "It might take a bit of time to find it, but I'm sure that guy is up because no one cares about it. Those who are still into boss hunting are around level sixtyish, maybe seventyish, so they'll get nothing from it because of the level gap penalty."

"So they're skipping it?" I asked.

"Exactly. I don't think there are any boss hunters in this area. They're mostly competing at farming the bosses of Rabisu Peak." he said. In answer to my quizzical look, he added, "Rabisu Peak is the furthest area we have currently unlocked on this mountain."

Not a minute had passed when Megan cried out, "There it is!"

"Huh? Wha-what?" Nitana absentmindedly said. Surprised at Megan's sudden shout, she almost dropped the juice she was sipping from a dried husk of a fruit.

"The mini-boss?" I said. "Where?"

"Over there." Megan pointed. "It's hard to see, but it's over there. It moved again."

Sure enough, past the screen of trees on our right side, we could glimpse an oversized Cedarlyon. It was about a head taller than the normal ones—if the part of its body with the lion mask could be considered its head—and about twice as wide, showing its age as a tree. If it didn't shift its position to look at us, I wouldn't have noticed it in the backdrop of the rest of the forest.

"Nice work, Megan," said Kezo. "Let's steer clear of that guy for now. Don't aggro it. Our first order of business is to clear mobs around this area."

And so we did just that.

Or rather, they did just that.

I cheered them on while observing their skills, giving occasional words of encouragement. Too much cheering and it might be distracting. Or they could also become too strong, which was why I had to rein in my inspirational declarations. I bet I could motivate eggs, water, and flour to become cake on their own, baking themselves from the heat of my words alone.

Nitana noticed that I wasn't all that serious with what I was saying and smirked at me. Then she decided to follow suit and jokingly cheered for Kezo and Megan. See, I'm doing my part in bringing our team together.

As we came full circle back to our starting point having killed everything in our path, Kezo loudly said, "Everyone still remembers what I told you earlier? Don't forget your roles and stick to them."

But I don't have a role? I thought as I confirmed I recalled his instructions. Megan nodded while Nitana simply shrugged.

The Rotted Cedarlyon was the mini-boss of this area, Kezo had explained. Fighting it was mostly straightforward in its mechanics, but it has very high attack and defense for a mini-boss for its level. And so, Kezo was going to switch to tanking gears and use [Enraging Taunt] to hold it. If ever the Rotted Cedarlyon escaped him, it'd quickly wipe the rest of us.

He confessed he only had a hastily cobbled-together tanking set, but he was confident he could survive the Rotted Cedarlyon's attacks. Unfortunately, he couldn't utilize the full might of his DPS build so killing this mini-boss was going to be slower than if we had a real tank.

I apologize to all my fans that I'm still squishy. Hardness comes with time—time that I didn't currently have. You can’t just tell someone to immediately get hard.

The Rotted Cedarlyon had several skills, including increasing its defenses and heals. But it was nothing worth noting. Kezo calculated that he and Megan would eventually be able to overcome its healing rate and take it down. The only problem was that, every once in a while, the Rotted Cedarlyon would call other monsters to aid it. That was the reason we had to kill nearby mobs first before fighting this mini-boss.

For now, only a handful of monsters had respawned. But eventually, they'd keep coming, wave after wave. And it would get harder to clear them because the Rotted Cedarlyon would buff them.

Not an impossible boss to kill, but a difficult encounter nonetheless.

Kezo had repeated several times that he and Megan would focus on the boss—maintaining consistent DPS was the priority to end the fight fast. They would only kill mobs that would directly interfere with them. Nitana and I would be on our own. She was on mob clearing duty while supporting Kezo and Megan with her buffs.

While I...would probably die. Kezo didn't mention that during our planning, only telling me to 'survive the best I can'. But I could tell all of them didn't expect much of me.

"Herald, don't worry about dying, okay?" Kezo said. "No pressure. This is what practice is for."

"Yeah, we'll come to get you after we finish this boss," added Megan.

I assumed they were concerned I'd quit their party if I got trashed by much stronger monsters. That could be demoralizing to some, but not to Herald Stone. They didn't know Herald Stone would not leave his people. We were going to become an awesome team and succeed in the Great Hunt. In fact, I was going to make a specific MCO Goal for the Great Hunt after researching more about it.

"I'll protect you." Surprisingly, it was Nitana who said it. She raised her drink to me before downing the rest of it, making it disappear.

"Let's go!" Kezo said.

Through the trees, we charged at the Rotted Cedarlyon. Upon seeing us, it stood at its full height. Pieces of its bark fell off every time it moved. It had holes and cracks throughout its body, and its mane was mottled green in some places. Several mushroom colonies had grown on its arms and legs. It roared at us, its call muffled by its cracked stone mask.

"Here they come," Kezo said, referring to the mobs rushing to block our path to the mini-boss.

"What are you doing?" Nitana asked me as I whipped myself.

"Stacking Ancestral Constitution," I answered as I switched back to dual-wielding shields. I did it instinctively, not realizing that it'd look weird to other people.

"Oh, okay," she said with a grimace. "To each their own." She waved her magical staff in a wide arc and summoned half a dozen fiery spirits. With another wave, she sent them towards the rolling Laphisheres. The spirits detonated to damage the monsters.

Kezo dove through the mobs, slashing those within his reach and ignoring the rest, heading straight for the Rotted Cedarlyon. Megan was following right behind him. The mini-boss wasn't interested in them—Kezo had told us it would prioritize the highest damage dealer, and that was currently Nitana.

Our party leader veered hard right, burning through a normal Cedarlyon, as he rushed to intercept the charging Rotted Cedarlyon. With an [Enraging Taunt], the mini-boss turned its attention to him. Megan set up her [Spell Echo Totem], [Friendly Fire], and all other buffs, and the two of them got to work killing it.

"Herald, watch out!" Nitana shouted.

A Laphishere hiding behind a Cedarlyon shot one of its component rocks at me. I didn't have time to evade it. I immediately held up both shields.

Boom! There goes my shell. I cast [Greater Pyro Shell] again followed by [Healing Touch] as I moved out of the way of more hurtling rocks. Nitana targeted the bastard Laphishere gunning for me.

More monsters came as the Rotted Cedarlyon called for help again.

I didn't know it was going to be this hectic!

A [Lvl 31 Nixigaunt] clasped its barrel-sized hands together and brought it down on me. No way I was going to try tanking that!

I dove to the side. The meaty sledgehammer slammed the ground where I stood a moment earlier. Even if I evaded it, it had AoE damage that popped my shell again. The vibrations of the ground shook my hooves and went up the length of my legs. Small static shocks tickled my skin.

The Nixigaunt growled in displeasure. It held up its right hand. Ice coated it, forming a crystalline spear.

I didn't want to stay and find out what it was going to do with it. I needed to cast my—Huh? I can't move! I couldn't even cast any skill. Looking down, I saw that my body up to my humanoid chest was covered in ice.

The spear hit me, shattering the ice that held me in place. My life dropped like a stock market crash. I cast [Greater Pyro Shell] as it came off cooldown. Another Nixigaunt jumped on me and slammed the ground, easily removing my shell once again. Ice crept up my body and froze me where I stood. One more hit and I’d be dead!

"Nit—!" I called out. Nitana, help me, was what I wanted to say. But those pathetic words shouldn't leave my mouth. And it was probably better to die here than bother them.

Nitana was busy fending off the [Lvl 33 Frost Imps] attacking Kezo and Megan, but she turned around upon hearing my yell. She pointed her staff at me. The Nixigaunt swung its spear once again.