Hunters dropped off the branches above, since there wasn’t a lot of room for them to fight with. The teams spread out, but still kept a sort of formation with each other. Hunters were, by nature, constantly battling against each other for the limited resources available to them, but against this many monsters, it wasn’t about resources.

It became a battle of Hunters versus monsters. In instances like this, instinct pulled everyone together with one goal: to win.

Stronger teams stepped forward while weaker teams took the back row, as similar as they could to a Gate Surge formation. There wasn’t a designated leader, but we all knew enough to know what to do.

Unfortunately, we were outnumbered. And the whooping grew louds.

A couple Mages threw their hands in the air and sent out emergency flares, to call for backup. The colorful magic shot up, winding through the branches. Just before the magic touched the thick layer of leaves that covered the rainforest and dimmed the light, magic hit an invisible barrier and exploded prematurely.

My lips parted in shock. How was there a barrier there? That shouldn’t be.

The Mages gasped. Several stubbornly sent more emergency flares up, but none of them got through.

“What?” Yellow gasped, looking at her hand like it didn’t belong to her. “Where did that barrier come from?”

“If flares can’t get through,” Purple asked quietly, “do you think the transportation portal still works?”

A chill settled down my back. If that was the case, there was no backup coming even if we could get an emergency flare out.

I Mirrored my kindjal. “The barrier is probably connected to the Portal Burst.” Kesstel said that each world fragment had a boss. The barrier was probably connected to the boss inside the world fragment on the other side of the Portal Burst. If it was on-going, that mostly likely meant the Portal opened, but hadn’t shut yet.

Just like the Orcs that kidnapped me months ago.

My fingers tightened around the handles of my swords. “The barrier will disappear when the Portal closes.” Or the boss inside is dead. The S ranked boss.

I took a breath. For some reason, I wasn’t as scared as I thought I’d be. Maybe it was because I was stronger. Or maybe because I truly understood what was going on. Either way, there was no way out but going forward.

I walked to the side, away from the rainbow brigade, and commanded my mist to draw back toward me and hover only ten feet around me. I didn’t want to disadvantage anyone else. I turned my head and spoke over my shoulder. “I’d stay out of my mist now. It’s about to get really thick.”

True to my word, the water vapor increased as I pulled in rain that was ever falling around me. It was so thick, a normal person wouldn’t be able to see their hands in front of their face. Perfect.

“Good luck,” I told them.

Monsters swarmed around the thick trees in front of us, finally giving an image that went with the horrible whooping that echoed in the air. C ranked Goblins, ugly with large pointed noses and narrowed yellow eyes, clambered over each other as they darted at the Hunters. Tattered clothes revealed more of their dull gray skin than it covered, but they each carried a weapon, be it a knife or a short sickle.

Let’s do this. I lunged forward towards the east side of the swarm and attacked. Something about my mist disoriented the Goblins. I don’t think it was just because of the thickness, but as soon as the vapor touched them, they all seemed to jar backward and pause before resuming their creepy, violent selves. I took advantage of that as much as I could, mowing down Goblin after Goblin.

I didn’t have a team to back me up, but the Goblins didn’t voluntarily go in my mist either. It helped prevent me getting swarmed. I was able to deal with the waist high monsters one or two at a time before going to the next. But that didn’t mean that I got away scotch free. Each battle took a toll on my HP and my MP consistently decreased.

The Goblins seemed endless. As soon as one disappeared under my blade or died in front of another Hunter, another Goblin took its place.

[You have Leveled Up!]

The Goblin stuck on my blade vanished before it could finish its squeal of pain. Breathing heavy, I reached out and grabbed it’s drop item. Around me, other Hunters were finishing off their kills, adding the carcasses to piles that littered the black blood soaked ground. Right now there was a little lull in the fighting, but instinctively, I knew this wasn’t the end. Every monster that we faced was rank C. The boss still hadn’t appeared yet.

When the last monster died, nobody celebrated. There was simply a sigh of relief as teams started tending to their people. Injured Hunters sat or laid on the ground, being treated by the Healers in their groups. The Hunters that didn’t make it to a Healer in time were taken away from the piles of Goblins, their bodies laid in a row so their companions could bid them goodbye.

As exhausted as I was, I didn’t sit down. It was just too gross. Instead, I opened my System menu and assigned the bonus Stat Points I got. After, I stood, staring at my depleted HP and MP numbers. I glanced southward, towards the location of the transportation circle. The heavy presence that shook everyone earlier was still there. I simply didn’t have enough time to wait for Regen to work, I needed a Healer now.

My fist thumped on my thigh as I thought and looked towards the rainbow brigade not far from me. They had survived, but all of them showed wear and tear. Yellow was currently plopped on the ground, breathing hard, while Green squatted next to her, talking low. Purple and Orange, apparently already healed, were as disheveled looking as the rest. No matter who it was, there were scratches and cuts on their armor, robes or underarmor. Purple’s ponytail had fallen out, her black and deep purple hair spilling down her back.

Pink’s hand hovered over Blue’s chest, her golden magic healing him. The magic stopped and she stood back with a cute smile.

I looked around to make sure no one was paying attention to me, cancelled Stealth and crept out of my mist and away from the crowd. I commanded my mist to stay put as I walked over to the rainbow brigade.

They looked over and focused on me.

Green was the first to react. “Hey, you’re that girl from a couple days ago.”

I gave them a small smile. “I got separated from my team again. They turned back,” I motioned to the branches overhead, “but I didn’t have another transportation token, so…” Before they could think too much about my lie, I got the main point. “I’d like to exchange information for being healed.” I glanced specifically at Blue and Pink.

It was a normal day, I could simply ask to be healed. But we were facing another battle, with no way of knowing when it would end. As a teammate, Pink was obligated to ensure her team gets healed. In fact, there had been cases, although rare, of Healers being left behind and discarded in the Gate because they didn’t have enough MP to fulfill their roles. I understood this team enough to know that Pink wouldn’t be abandoned. But it was still poor form for me to ask for something without an exchange. I mean, the MP that she’d use to heal me could mean life or death for her teammates.

Blue frowned at me. “How do you know that we want your information?”

I hooked my fingers on the belt around my hips. “You’re looking for a Cyan-Agaric, aren’t you?” Maybe it was a shot in the dark, but if they were still here, it had to be because they hadn’t found one yet. And I got the one for today, already.

They all took a collective breath, obviously shocked.

Purple scowled and crossed her arms over her chest. “How do you know that?”

“I heard you talking about it a couple days ago. Since you’re still here, I assume you haven’t found one yet. The one for today is already long gone.” I mean, it’s already disappeared inside my Items Bag and I had no idea where the System put things after removing them, I had no idea how to get it back. “I’ll exchange information on how to find one in exchange for being healed.” I paused. “Or will that not be helpful to you?”

Yellow hissed low. “You aren’t trying to steal our post, are you? We already signed a contract with Dr. E. Don’t even think about it.”

I shook my head. “Believe me, the reason why I know about them has nothing to do with a post.” I shifted my weight to my right hip. “Do we have a deal or not?” Out of the Hunters here, this was the group that would most likely heal me. And the only other ones that I had something to offer. If they didn’t take it, I’d been in trouble.

“Hey.” A Hunter in expensive, full armor approached us from the right. “We’re going to make a break to the transportation circle. Who knows how long it will take for the next wave of monsters to attack. We all agree that we should make a move before another wave comes. Or the Velociorheas return.”

The thought of the bird monsters coming back left a chill in the air. The Goblins we killed were C ranked, technically the same rank as the Velociorheas. The difference was, there was no teamwork or strategy in the Goblin’s attack so they were easier to kill. However, with the Velociorheas, what made them so hard to deal with and almost elevated them up higher than their ranks was their flawless teamwork and strategy.

The Hunter focused on Blue. “If you’re going to join us, we’re heading out now.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder to the Hunters that were starting to get up. With that, he walked away.

I turned to the rainbow brigade. “So?”

Blue nodded and motioned to Pink. “There’s safety in numbers. For everyone.” He looked at me specifically. “We gotta go.”

Pink walked over to me and touched my shoulder. I didn’t know a lot about magic. Honestly, until a couple months ago, it was all a bunch of hocus pocus. But I was becoming sensitive enough to tell that Pink’s magic, while very effective, was just as soft and fluttery as she came across as. Cute.

“Thank you,” I said to her then focused on Blue. “The Cyan-Agarics grow in the trees.”

He nodded his head. “We know that.”

The corner of my mouth hooked up. “But I don’t think you understand, they grow in the base of trees.” I could tell by the way they stiffened that this was news to them. I looked around until I saw what I wanted. I pointed to a tree ten feet away. “You see there? That crevice in the trunk? They grow in places like that. At the bottom of trees, in a dark hole. You also have to be careful of roots. They suck blood and are very fast. I’ve nearly been caught by them every time.” I had a feeling that the reason they weren’t bothering us now was because of the Portal Burst. I glanced at Green. “If it wasn’t for your help the other day, that might have been the end of me.”

We were still competitors when it came to finding the mushrooms, but I couldn’t bring myself to hate them. I also had confidence that I would get another one before they did, since I had skills and abilities they didn’t have.

My information startled and worried them.

Blue took a deep breath and nodded slowly. “I understand. Thank you for the information.”

My HP bar hit full and Pink stepped back. “All better.”

I smiled at her. “Thank you.”

She frowned and tilted her head to the side. Her finger tapped on her lower lips like she was thinking. “Your voice sounds really familiar.”

I bet it did. But they didn’t need to know why. I waved at them. “Thanks again and good luck.” With that, I turned and followed after the Hunters that were starting to creep through the rainforest. Once I was far enough away, I released my mist and ignored the shock of the people around me when they found it was empty inside.