“I know that we kill and dissect monsters for a living,” Yellow muttered under her breath. “But this is one of the freakier, grosser things I’ve done in a while.” She shifted a piece of raw steak in her hand and wiggled it in front of her. Rain water collected on the meat and formed a fat red drop of liquid dripped off a corner. It dropped to the ground below.

The four Velociorheas on the ground went crazy, snapping at the air and climbing over each other to get higher. Try as they might, they couldn’t reach the toes of the rainbow brigade who all held pieces of steak I kept in my Items Bag.

After the first day, when I found out an easy way to make the monsters leave long enough to get to the teleportation circle, I stocked up on raw meat. Gross, but effective. And yet another random thing added to my growing list stashed in my hip satchel.

I’d spread my mist out so that the east end covered where the mushroom was and the west end, forty feet away from me, had Pink and her people distracting the monsters. The mist was thick above them, blocking the view from persistent spectators, and thin below my helpers so that the monsters had a perfect view of their temptation. Hopefully forty feet and the smell of raw steak was enough to keep the monsters away from me.

Green wriggled his piece of meat, a delighted smile playing over his wide lips. “I think this is awesome. Does anyone have any string? Why don’t we try fishing?”

Purple snorted and rolled her eyes.

Blue just sighed.

Green hummed thoughtfully, then opened his hand. A thin leather cord appeared on his gauntlet. “I don’t think this is long enough.”

Yellow gasped. “Don’t encourage him!”

Green’s face lit up like a neon bulb. “Perfect!”

Pink, who adamantly refused to hold a bleeding piece of flesh, laughed behind her hand.

“Guys,” Blue moaned.

I couldn’t help but roll my eyes and grin at their antics. If nothing else, they were good for a laugh. And they were good at driving the monsters below them crazy. Still invisible, I jumped over the east end of the mist and looked around carefully. I couldn’t feel any monsters around. I took a hankie out of my Items Bag and dropped to the ground right in front of the tree.

I landed noiselessly on soft moss that covered the ground and grew up the tree’s trunk. According to the picture that the mist put in my head of my surroundings, there was a mushroom that looked just like a Cyan-Agaric. I didn’t wait to look inside. I simply covered my hand with the white handkerchief and reached in. As soon as I touched the mushroom, I transferred it into my Items Bag and jumped away from the tree. The retrieval took seconds, but as I pulled away I felt a root wrap around my fingers.

[Task: Collect 3 Cyan-Agaric (2/3)]

I didn’t take time to celebrate — the roots were already starting to pierce through the ground and reach towards me. Instead, I jumped up into my mist. Once I was safe, I let out the breath I was holding. This was the easiest time I had ever retrieved anything the System wanted me to get. Too bad my helpers didn’t know that I was actually screwing them over behind their backs.

I turned and glanced at them … and felt my jaw drop. Technically, I just made the solid mist only stop their bodies from falling. They could trip and fall flat on their face and it wouldn’t budge. I didn’t think I needed to consider their items or weapons. If they lost anything, well, sucks for them. I mean, what responsible Hunter would lose their junk? I just didn’t think these guys would find the loophole and do … this.

Orange had a piece of meat tied up in the leather strip and dangling it down below his feet. The Velociorheas were going crazier than ever, screeching and clawing at the air. When one jumped, Orange would pull the meat up, just out of reach of its jaws. A wide grin covered his face as the rest of the team just watched in stupefied awe and distress.

“Come on, baby,” Green muttered as he drew a black arrow in his bow. “Wiggle it around,” he ordered Orange and took aim in the direction of the dangling meat.

Orange shook the meat and a watery red drip fell off.

One of the Velociorheas jumped off the back of another and lunged at the meat.

Green released his arrow. It shot right through the solid mist and sank right down the monster’s open mouth. “Got it!” He whooped and high-fived Orange.

The bird-monster screamed and dropped to the ground. It flapped its wings, trying to pull the arrow out of its mouth, but didn’t have the dexterity to. The rest of its gang paused and let out loud hissing growls at the colorful group of Hunters. There was nothing but murder in their eyes now. They didn’t seem to care about the meat anymore, their focus was one hundred percent on the rainbow brigade.

Green and Orange couldn’t care less, they were too busy celebrating while the rest of their team just sighed.

At least they waited to shoot it until after I was done. Honestly, it was a happy miracle. They couldn’t see me so they didn’t know I was done. I didn’t want to have to deal with riled up Velociorheas.

I walked over to them. “You should have gone for the kill shot,” I said.

Pink shrieked and grabbed onto Blue’s arm. The steak in his hand bumped into her arm. She cringed but didn’t let go.

The rest of the team looked in my direction.

“I take it you’re done?” Yellow asked, trying to figure out where I was.

I stopped ten feet from them. “Yes. Thank you for the help. It went ten times faster than I thought.” I looked down at the Velociorhea still trying to get the arrow out of its mouth. “And I got to see something I never thought I’d see. Good job.”

Green beamed.

“Can I put this down then?” Purple asked. “Because I think I’m a vegetarian today.”

I didn’t blame her. “Yes. Just toss them. I’ll get more later.”

Immediately, Purple and Yellow flung the meat away. Blue simply dropped his where he stood while Green and Orange picked a monster to throw it to like they were feeding ducks. Green actually had the gall to throw it at the injured monster, and was disappointed when it was too distracted dealing with the arrow in its mouth and another monster ate the meat. A pack of wet wipes appeared in Purple’s hand. She pulled one out and started to thoroughly clean her hand, filling the air with the sharp scent of sanitizer. She pulled more wipes out and handed them around to the rest of the team.

Green rubbed the wipe over his hands, grinning. “I totally just found my new favorite sport. Monster fishing.”

Yellow huffed. “Dumba—”

The sky dimmed and tinted red. In the already darkened rainforest, it was just like the Gate Vale during the night. The dim, red light only lasted for a couple seconds before it was gone and usual daylight was back.

Everyone froze, looking around. We all knew what that meant. Portal Burst. But where? The trees were so thick, it was impossible to see through them. The Portal Burst could be on the other side of Gate Vale or it could be fifty feet away and I’d never know the difference.

“Get back to the transportation circle,” Blue whispered. “Go!”

“How?” Pink asked.

The team paused and looked in my direction. Right now, they were stuck on my platform in the middle of the air.

The rest of the Hunters above were already fleeing. They filled the branch-like paths, bumping and pushing at each other. There might be high leveled Hunters up there, but Portal Bursts were dangerous for everyone below an S.

I grabbed Pink. She shrieked as I swung her onto my back, and clutched on like a koala. “This way!” I hissed at them. “Be sure to stay within twenty feet of me.” I didn’t wait before I ran in the direction of the magic circle.

The team couldn’t see me, and honestly I didn’t want to show who I was if I didn’t absolutely have to, but they could see Pink. She should be enough of a marker that they didn’t get lost. I ran at about eighty percent speed, just to make sure they all kept up. It wasn’t a problem for most of the team, and I was personally carrying the Healer Pink, but Orange wasn’t a sprinter. Green and Blue had a hold of him, heavy armor and all, dragging him faster so that he could keep up.

Even though we started after the mass of Hunters in the trees, we quickly overtook them. We weren’t restricted in the direction we could run based on what way the branches grew, nor did we have to tussle with the human next to us for our spot on said branch.

But what was interesting was the fact that no one was getting attacked by monsters. All the monsters like Assassin Vines and Hell’s Pitfalls, that loved to poke and wrap around Hunters, were curled in on themselves, as if they were trying to diminish their presences on the trees. I only subconsciously noticed it and didn’t think any further about it until I saw more than a dozen Velociorheas sprinting like arrows right at us. Then right under us. They didn’t even pause to look in our direction. A couple seconds later, more Velociorheas ran by. Then more.

“Are they …” Pink asked from my shoulder, “are they running away?”

Running away from the direction that we were headed to.

Suddenly I was hit by a heavy pressure. It washed over me and settled heavy in my chest, making it hard to breathe. I gasped and stumbled. Pink shifted on my back and almost slipped off. She shrieked in my ear so loud that I winced and almost dropped her legs just so I could cover my ears. She responded by clutching my throat so tight that my air was cut off.

I had to let go of one of her thighs so I could reach up and loosen her arms enough to breathe. “Don’t do that,” I panted.

The rest of the team didn’t fare much better. Yellow collapsed onto her stomach. Purple dropped down on her side and grabbed her in a panic, as if she thought Yellow would fall. The men stumbled to a stop, just barely not stepping on the downed women. They hunched over and clutched their chests.

Just as fast as the pressure came, it let up, leaving an unnatural silence in its wake.

I set Pink on her feet and stood up, staring at the direction of the transportation circle. The same direction the pressure came from. Damn, I had a bad feeling about this.

Pink stumbled over to Purple and gripped her arm. “What should we do?” Even though she whispered her question, in the weirdly still air, it was like she shouted with all her guts. She glanced at the monsters below us that continued to flee the opposite direction.

“The transportation circle is over there,” Blue said, his voice just as hushed. “It’s the only way out of the rainforest.”

From that pressure we felt, there was a large chance that the Portal Burst was in the same direction as the transportation circle. Which meant that there was a large possibility that there was a high level monster ahead. We could go the other way like the rest of the monsters, but we were miles from other transportation circles located around Gate Vale. I wouldn’t be able to use the other circles anyway because I didn’t have a token for them. The only way that I could get back to the Gate was by going forward.

I took a breath and glanced at my stats. My health was full, though I was a little winded from running for so long with baggage. I’d been maintaining Stealth for so long that I was down to two-thirds of my MP. “I’m going ahead,” I said. “You can come with me, or I can take you back up to the trees with the rest of the Hunters.”

The Hunters that were left in our dust had caught up, but they were faced with the same dilemma as us: Go forward and face whatever was ahead, backtrack through a dangerous rainforest in search of another transportation circle, or wait and hope a high leveled monster didn’t catch them like sitting ducks.

Blue frowned and looked at his team. “We don’t have tokens for any other transportation circles around us,” he said softly. “Do you want to stay here or go with the Josu Ghost?”

I frowned at them over my shoulder, even though they couldn’t see my expression. “I’m not going to babysit you guys. I’m not all powerful.”

Yellow rested on her knees. She pressed her lips in a smile and gave a sharp nod. “That goes without saying.”

“We’re grateful you took us this far,” Blue added.

I tsked and looked to the side. Good people. They were always the first to die. I knew that all too well.

“Well,” Green stood straight and flashed a confident grin around his team. “Let’s go! We got this!” Fearless energy oozed from his pores, infecting the air. His optimism was perfect for his team. The fear that had settled over them disappeared, replaced with energetic determination.

Yellow grinned big and jumped to her feet. “Don’t cry if I deal more damage than you,” she razzed Green. She waved her hands in the air, lightning crackling between her fingers.

“No way!” Green took out his bow and notched an arrow.

“If you shoot at me again, I’ll get pissed,” I warned him.

The whole team jumped and looked in my general direction.

Green gasped loudly. “When did I shoot…” He trailed off as if he finally remembered the cloud that he shot a couple days ago. “Oh damn! That was you? My bad! I had no idea.”

Blue winced. “Ah, our apologies.”

I huffed a breath. “It’s an occupational hazard, I guess.” I mean, he really didn’t know there was a person in the cloud. “And I think we’re all squared away right now anyway. Just don’t shoot anymore moving clouds, okay?”

Green bobbed his head.

I glanced over my shoulder. A few of the Hunters in the tree had turned back, heading anywhere but south where the circle was. The majority of the Hunters were cautiously moving forward, leaving behind a small few that apparently decided to stay.

I preferred to work alone, but against a big boss, there was safety in numbers. As long as I didn’t get hit with friendly fire since I didn’t plan on ending Stealth. I was at best when I was invisible in my mist, there was no way I was going into a big fight with a disadvantage.

I glanced down at the ground. “I think it’s safe to get down now. I haven’t seen a Velociorhea in a while and I have a feeling the tree roots are hiding like the rest of the plant monsters.” I looked at the cowering Assassin Vine forty feet above us. “I can’t keep you in the air during the fight. Too much could happen. Instead of dropping you in the middle of battle, I’d rather put you down now.”

The rainbow brigade indicated that they understood and I made stairs down to the ground for them.

I gingerly stood on the moss and damp dirt, looking around vigilantly for any roots that wanted to prove me wrong. The ground was just as eerily still as the air. Even the constant dripping rain seemed quiet.

Just then, whooping sounds echoed in the trees around us, the high and low pitches ringing off each other in hair-raising resonance. I felt a presence move our way. No, presenses. At least a hundred monsters were running our direction, spilling over the tree branches and swarming across the ground.