Chapter 10

Continuing our travels across the arid scrubland, I wondered if helping Clarice secure her new mount was in fact a good idea. Putting aside the time and effort to recover its missing HP, Clarice had now begun taking Thunder Thighs out on ‘scouting’ missions. Judging by the stream of EXP notifications and the fact that we could still generally see what Clarice was up to, it was obvious that she was just riding around on the Draptor ganking Razortooths.

This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, since it was EXP we probably wouldn’t be getting otherwise and it was keeping Thunder Thighs fed and in top health. However, constantly kicking up dust like this was bound to attract attention and we still had no idea if anyone else from the Guild was in the area or not. There was also the distinct possibility of another type of monster we haven’t seen yet is in the area.

Since Nadine had not wanted to go ‘scouting’ with Clarice, it was just the two of us on foot. Well...Shady was too I suppose, but short of being able to make a sled, that wasn’t going to change any time soon.

Toofy really seemed to be enjoying riding Beaky, and I regretted not having the opportunity to make a cloak for her to have flapping in the breeze. That was another thing I found weird about the Labyrinth, the circulation of air. Even though meteorology and science, in general, was not my area of expertise, I honestly wouldn’t have thought worlds this small could circulate air like this. I wonder if there are hidden vents or something, or if it is just magic pushing the air around?

“Uh, guys?” Tobi called out uncertainly, “I think we might have company,” he was leaning back on the saddle and to the left pointing in roughly the same direction while tightly hugging Emelia’s waist with his other arm.

Slowing down a little so Beaky would pass us by, Nadine and I looked off in the direction Tobi had indicated and did indeed see a number of small dust clouds on the horizon. They were too far away to make out much of anything, but it was very likely to be more Draptors at the least.

“Catch up to Clarice,” I told Emelia, “Tell her that we might have a fight on our hands and to come back right away,”

Emelia nodded and flicked the reigns before Tobi had the chance to begin to dismount.

“We should probably try to close the gap a little too,” I suggested to Nadine.

Nadine glanced briefly at the approaching dust clouds and nodded, “I think that’s a good idea,” she agreed.

So the three of us broke into a light jog trailing along behind Emelia. While the scrublands were not particularly hot, it was definitely on the warm side. So I was fairly impressed by how well Shady was holding up, even with the Hardy synergy bonus, his black fur was a distinct disadvantage for regulating body temperature in this environment.

After jogging for around five to ten minutes, Emelia and Clarice had both circled back for us.

“Should I go take a look?!” Clarice asked excitedly, perhaps keen to do some actual scouting.

Nadine seemed conflicted, “Alright,” she agreed hesitantly, “Just a quick look though!”

I nodded in agreement. The last thing we wanted at this point was to get drawn into a fight after splitting the party.

“Be back in a few!” Clarice called out excitedly as she drove Thunder Thighs into a sprint.

We continued on ahead towards the rocky outcropping at a decently fast pace, just to make sure we would keep enough breathing room to make a decision once we knew what we were dealing with.

True to her word, Clarice returned a couple of minutes later and looked quite badly shaken. Bringing Thunder Thighs to a halt, Clarice waved urgently at Nadine “Get on! Get on! Hurry!”

Initially a little shaken by Clarice’s panic, it took Nadine a few moments to react. “What is it?” She asked insistently as she accepted Clarice’s help in climbing onto the back of the Draptor.

“Spiders!” Clarice croaked, unconsciously shivering, “Bloody huge spiders!”

Looking back at the dust clouds headed in our general direction, I could now vaguely make out Draptors with riders. Were the spiders chasing them? I couldn’t see any spiders yet, so I had no way of knowing.

“Should we change course?” I asked hurriedly as Nadine finished slipping her boots into the stirrups.

Nadine shook her head adamantly, “They would probably just chase us anyway. We just have to hope we can lose them.”

I nodded and motioned for the others to begin moving, breaking into a sustainable jog myself with Shady loping along at my side. Realistically, I assumed that I would need to break into a long sprint at some point, but doing so prematurely would leave me tired and limit my options if the situation were to change. Besides, it was entirely likely that I would need to snatch up the big cat and carry him if he began to tire, and I wanted to avoid the extra weight for at least a short while longer.

After a few minutes of running, I looked over my shoulder and was relieved to see that the raptors and their riders had stopped heading in our direction and were instead peeling off far to our left. It also gave me my first look at the giant spiders Clarice had mentioned, and I was incredibly grateful that they were determinedly chasing the unknown Draptor riders.

Each of the giant spiders was the size of a small car and vaguely resembled a few pictures of camel spiders I had seen once. They were like large scorpions with large mandibles and without the stinging tail, but I swear I could see something resembling a stinger on its abdomen.

With a fresh shiver running down my spine, I forced myself to look away and keep moving. I swear, if we make it out of this situation, I am going to make a sled, even if I have to make it out of desiccated shrubbery!

After running for another ten to twenty minutes, Shady began flagging behind and with only the options of me carrying him or stopping for a rest break, we chose the latter.

“Those things were fucking huge!” Clarice complained, shaking slightly as she awkwardly dismounted from Thunder Thighs.

Tobi looked quite pale and nodded. An impressive feat for his normally dark complexion, “I don’t think I will be able to sleep tonight...”

“Were they really that bad?” Emelia asked nervously, glancing back at the way we had fled.

“You didn’t look?!” Clarice demanded incredulously.

Emelia shook her head, “Riding is pretty hard...” She mumbled defensively.

I was actually fairly impressed by how well both Clarice and Emelia had been able to ride the raptors at all. I mean, the ‘saddles’ I had made for them were honestly not that good, and I could see that some of the ropes had begun slipping and would need to be adjusted before we set out again.

Clarice just stared at Emelia with a strange look and shook her head.

Nadine hadn’t joined in on the conversation at all, instead fixedly staring at our destination with a thoughtful yet troubled expression.

More concerned with what was bothering Nadine, I wasn’t paying much attention to what the others were getting up to besides keeping an eye on Toofy. Thankfully, Toofy was happily taking advantage of Shady’s momentarily exhausted state and was playing with his tail. Giving Shady a meaningful stare for a moment, I felt confident that the Shadowcat wouldn’t do anything too outrageous.

“Tim?” Nadine asked quietly, “Do you mind if I ask you a question?”

“Sure, I guess?” I agreed a little apprehensively, unsure what she wanted to talk about.

Nadine didn’t ask her question right away, instead of continuing to stare thoughtfully at the distant horizon. “Is there something you want out of life?” Nadine asked rather abruptly.

“Uh...” I didn’t know how to answer that. I had intended to become a registered nurse and work in hospice care, but that really wasn’t an option any more. Well...that wasn’t entirely true either. I had honestly never really given my future all that much thought before, always being distracted by the present. The main reason I had gravitated towards nursing was because of Gina, Mum’s home care nurse. Gina did so much for my Mum and me just...I just wanted to feel useful. “I don’t know,” I admitted a little gloomily.

Nadine gave me an openly appraising look, and after a few moments, she nodded as if coming to a decision. “I have just been thinking about ways we could try and pay you back for helping us, but I realized that I had never asked you what you even wanted, I mean, long term.”

“Oh...” I didn’t really know what to say to that. I guess I had just kind of resigned myself to doing whatever they had wanted to do. That was pretty depressing now that I thought about it. Oh, right, I hadn’t taken my meds in about a week, of course, I was slipping into old habits...

“Tim? Are you alright?” Nadine asked, looking a little worried.

I sighed and stared sombrely at the horizon, “I don’t know,” I admitted, feeling more than a little conflicted over the question. On the one hand, I certainly felt far more alive than I had in a long time. But the stress of being hunted...of being a literal monster...it just kept piling up, and I was becoming worried about what I would do when I couldn’t handle it anymore. I guess the problem was that I didn’t really have anyone to talk to about anything. Toofy helped, the little goofball and her child-like antics were keeping me grounded. The fact that she needed my protection gave me the purpose and direction I otherwise lacked. I was grateful to have her in my life.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Nadine asked quietly, her expression making it obvious that she was more than a little concerned by my lacklustre responses thus far.

Mulling it over for a couple of minutes, I released a long sigh, fuck it. “Do you think I am a monster?” I asked pointedly.

Nadine seemed somewhat thrown by the question but quickly collected herself, “Ah, well...” She gnawed at her lip and looked away for a few moments more while trying to think of a suitable answer.

This was pretty much the reaction I had expected. After all, I very obviously am a monster.

“No...” Nadine replied, shaking her head and looking at me thoughtfully, “No, I don’t think you are,” she repeated confidently if in a somewhat subdued tone. “Everything about you, everything you do...It’s far too...different. The way you talk and behave, it’s too...normal. If I hadn’t seen your stats I would have...I would have thought you were no different to the rest of us, that you were human,” Nadine stared at me questioningly as she continued, “There are a few different special creations of the Labyrinths that I had thought explained why you were so different. But none of them felt quite right. Also, when you came back to save Toofy...when you became the manager's slave. That isn’t something a monster would do. Even if what Rose told me about the specially named monsters is true, I still doubt that they would trade their free will away to save someone outside of their community. So no, I don’t think you are a monster. I think...I think you may be human.”

I nodded in silent agreement with her explanation. Just as Jacque had pointed out a couple of days ago, I was not hiding very well and Nadine was a rather observant person. In hindsight, it was only a matter of time before she figured it out on her own. My leading question had merely caused her to reach the answer a little bit sooner. “I am,” I confirmed quietly, “Or I was,” I stared at my hands and sighed. Very little regarding my physical appearance had changed. I had confirmed it twice using my reflection in the bathwater to do as thorough an inspection as possible. “The last thing I remembered before suddenly appearing in the forest where I found Emelia, where you found me, was being pushed off a rooftop and falling to the ground...”

Nadine stared intently at me for a few moments before nodding, “I believe you,” she stated firmly and then averted her eyes as she winced, “I’m sorry, we should have treated you better.”

Remembering our first meeting in the forest, I shook my head and sighed, “No, there is no way you could have known.” This was something I had already thought about a great deal. Given the circumstances and what they had known at the time, Clarice, Emelia and Nadine had treated me better than I could have expected from just about anyone else in the same position.

“Still...” Nadine shifted uncomfortably, “It has probably been tough enough adjusting to your new body, let alone being treated like a monster.”

“Ah...” I hesitated for a moment and smiled a little awkwardly, “Actually, this is how I looked before...”

Nadine looked surprised, “Wh-what?!” She stammered incredulously.

Feeling more than a little embarrassed, I looked away, “I have always looked like this. The doctors, erm, surgeons, called it an unfortunate instance of inherited recessive traits. Basically, I was unlucky.”

Nadine was quiet for a moment, “Unlucky?” She asked curiously.

“To be born this ugly,” I muttered bitterly.

“Oh...” Nadine mumbled awkwardly, “I’m sorry, I didn't mean to-”

“-It’s fine,” I interrupted, “There's nothing I can do about it anyway.”

“I don’t think you’re as bad as you make yourself out to be,” Nadine insisted, “You have a good heart, I can tell by the way you take care of Toofy, the way you have looked out for all of us...”

I shrugged. I made my peace with being ugly a long time ago and did my best to avoid thinking about it too much.

Walking over to Toofy, I sat down next to her and tried to unwind a little. I had basically just told Nadine my biggest secret, and now time would tell if it was a colossal mistake.

After everyone was well-rested again, we continued travelling at a brisk pace until late evening and needed to make camp again. Feeling emotionally exhausted, I didn’t put up much of a fight when Nadine argued that I should be allowed to rest uninterrupted until dawn. After all, I had been the one walking for most of the day while they all rode the raptors. Or at least that is what she had said to convince them anyway.

As I closed my eyes, I held onto a faint hope that I would dream of the beach again and that perhaps maybe this time, she would be waiting for me.

*****

Watching Tim sleep, while still doing her best to keep an eye on their surroundings, Nadine had a lot to think about. Things were far more complicated than she had expected, and Tim’s revelation had only made them more so. The fact that Tim was human, is human? Bah! Tim’s origins changed everything.

He wasn’t just a sophisticated creation of the Labyrinth, Tim was amongst many other things, a victim of circumstance. The fact that the Labyrinth could revive someone and alter their status was incredible and terrifying. It beggared the question, are the other special named monsters the same? Was Toofy in fact a child revived and altered by the Labyrinth? Or perhaps even a child of one of these monster settlements? Surely if the Labyrinth could revive humans, it could do the same for its own monsters, right?

The fact that Nadine had no ready answers to hand was frustrating. She briefly considered waking Tim up to see what else he knew, but after all, he must have been through, Nadine thought better of it and let him sleep.

Recalling Tim’s odd behaviours, his hesitancy and fear, how they had forced him to fight and kill...It made Nadine feel sick and ashamed. Partly, because of how okay she had been with the arbitrary distinction between Tim being a monster and human had been, yet the monumental difference it made in her reactions and expectations.

Growing up in an orphanage, there had been a very real possibility of being kidnapped, turned into a slave and sold on the black market. Her fair appearance only made her more of a target, and the prospect of being made into someone's slave had terrified Nadine to the point that she barely slept some nights. So the fact that she had willingly participated and encouraged the others in the activity herself...it disgusted her.

Nadine’s whole life, she had considered herself a good person. Perhaps not the best, but still fundamentally good! But this...this changed things. What made things worse was that Tim had already seemed to forgive them for what they had done to him. While it would be easy to accept that forgiveness at face value, Nadine knew there was more to it than that. She had always prided herself on being able to read people, to understand their driving emotions. This was one of the reasons why her aptitude for the Enchanter class had been so high. However, this was also why Nadine was now thoroughly convinced that Tim was depressed and very likely had been for a long time.

Tim had not forgiven them simply because he was a good person. He had forgiven them because he thought so little of himself that he didn’t consider what they had done to him to be wrong. Recalling Tim’s interactions with Toofy, it was obvious that he was living vicariously through her. Only allowing himself to feel happy when she was happy. It was also partly why he was so fiercely protective of her. Toofy very likely represented the one thing in his life that made it worth living. He had nearly died protecting her, just about bleeding to death as he fought the Goblin chieftain.

Now that Nadine knew the truth, she had to decide how best to break it to the others. Assuming Tim agreed, which was not guaranteed considering how reluctant he had been to admit it in the first place.

Clarice would probably be easiest. Nadine knew that her family was descended from gladiators of the fighting pits and colosseum. It was probably why she had a rather interesting attitude towards the concept of slavery in the first place. Similarly, she had a strong moral compass regarding her ideal of honour. Clarice hadn’t hesitated at the prospect of becoming Tim’s slave in return for saving her life. There seemed to be a little bit more to it than that, but it was obvious that Clarice would probably accept Tim being human better than Nadine had.

Emelia on the other hand...She was more difficult to get a read on. Nadine had thought she knew Emelia reasonably well, but then she handed Toofy and by extension, Tim, over to the Guild so readily that Nadine wasn’t sure what to think. Nadine’s initial impression of Emelia had been that she was impulsive, somewhat reckless and slightly dim. However, Emelia had not demonstrated any behaviour that would have suggested what she was truly capable of. In fact, Emelia had been shocked when confronted by Nadine the amount of pain her unwitting commands were causing Tim. It was almost like Emelia hadn’t known how her own class abilities worked...

Nadine’s brow furrowed in concentration. There was something to that line of thought that bothered her. Glancing over at Emelia, Nadine began actively recollecting everything they had done together since first being introduced at the Guild. Emelia had been prone to wandering off the wrong way, allegedly ‘exploring’ despite the signs and directions provided for them. She also frequently asked Nadine's opinion when selecting her equipment, despite everything being clearly labelled. Then there was the fact that Emelia had left Nadine to fill out the majority of their initial paperwork for finalizing their adventurer identification to receive their way-stones. At the time, Nadine had just thought Emelia was lazy. But now...maybe there was more to it?

Putting her theories regarding Emelia aside, for the time being, Nadine considered what to do regarding Tobi. She honestly knew very little about him and most of that was what she had heard secondhand from Clarice. Tobi definitely seemed grateful to Tim for saving his life, but it still didn’t explain why he was so willing to help them. Tobi had to know that he was making a powerful enemy of the Guild branch manager. So why was he helping them? Nadine hadn’t sensed any guile from him and he had seemed earnest enough when he insisted on helping them out. So far as Nadine knew, Tobi’s class was some sort of archer or tracker, so it wasn’t like he was using a charm or enchantment on them all either.

Since Tobi’s turn on watch was next, Nadine woke him up a little early so they could talk. It was selfish, but given the situation, she felt it was the right call.

*****

Waking up early, like I always do. I stretched and tried my best not to wake Toofy.

However, my efforts were in vain and Toofy’s eyes promptly snapped open and immediately fixed on me expectantly, “Breakfast?”

Smiling, I nodded and pulled over the pack I had been using as a pillow. Knowing that Toofy seemed to like sausages the best, I searched amongst the food parcels until I found one with the sausages. “Just try to savour them okay? There aren't many sausages left.”

Toofy accepted the food parcel with the solemn dignity of a priest handling a holy artifact, before hastily pulling apart the knot and shoving the first sausage in her mouth.

It took a great deal of restraint to hold myself back from laughing after watching Toofy’s newfound piety descend into hedonistic barbarism. Well, I suppose we all have our vices. I wasn’t feeling hungry, so I buckled the pack and took a look around the surrounding scrubland.

Nothing had changed since last evening, well, nothing I could see anyway. Although we did appear closer to the rocky outcropping than I had initially expected. We might even reach the cave this evening if they pushed themselves a little to make a good time while travelling today.

“Awww,” Toofy was staring dejectedly at a scrap of parcel cloth and waving it as if expecting more sausages to appear from thin air.

I sighed, surreptitiously removed what was now definitely the last parcel of sausages in the pack, and held out my open hand to Toofy expectantly, “Do you want to see a nice trick?” I asked cryptically.

Toofy narrowed her eyes, “Trick?” She asked suspiciously.

I nodded solemnly, “Hand me the parcel cloth,” I instructed.

Toofy obliged, still looking very suspicious.

Closing my fist and bringing my hand behind my back, I quickly swapped the empty parcel cloth with the last remaining parcel of sausages. “Now I need you to count to five,” I instructed Toofy.

Toofy gave me an intense scrutinising look before promptly turning her attention to her hand and began silently counting out the numbers. Nodding to herself, Toofy then began counting aloud, “One, two, three, f-four,” she paused and furrowed her brow in concentration before nodding again, “Five!”

I withdrew my hand from behind my back to reveal the parcel of sausages.

Toofy stared in open-mouthed amazement, for all of a second. Quickly regaining her composure, Toofy snatched the parcel of sausages and began eagerly pulling apart the knots to get at the delicious cases of meat inside.

“You're spoiling her, you know that right?” Clarice commented with amusement. She had taken the final watch, so it was just the three of them awake at the moment.

I shrugged. I figured so long as I reigned in her less desirable excesses, allowing her to indulge in relatively harmless vices was alright. Besides, I had noticed something over the past couple of days and wanted to confirm it, “I think Toofy is still growing,” I explained, drawing Clarice’s attention to the pants and tunic that now looked slightly too small for Toofy.

“Huh,” Clarice moved in for a closer look, even going so far as to risk lightly pinching Toofy’s cheeks. “I think you are right,” she agreed, more than a little surprised by the revelation. “Is it because she is growing into her latest evolution you think?” Clarice asked, scratching her head thoughtfully.

“I don’t know,” I admitted, “I did think it was a little strange that she didn’t immediately grow after evolving like she had when increasing in rank. Maybe Nadine has the answers?”

Clarice rolled her eyes, “You mean Emelia’s book, has the answers.”

I shrugged, “Nadine’s the only one who has read it though.”

Clarice made as if to answer, paused and nodded slightly, “Forgot about that,” she admitted. “Still though! You know I can read too right?!” Clarice insisted as she knelt down by Nadine’s pack and began rummaging around for the book. “Here we go,” Clarice muttered, pulling out the book and flicking through the pages until she found what she was looking for. “Hrm...nope, nothing in here about that. I mean, this book is for beginners. Not really surprising it doesn't have all the answers,” Clarice replaced the book in Nadine’s pack.

I nodded thoughtfully. She had a point. But there was perhaps another reason why the information wasn’t found in the book as well. Toofy had told me that another monster, Leafy, had taken care of her before we found her. If Leafy was her mother, then it made sense that Toofy was quite probably still young enough to be experiencing growth spurts. Factor in her recent evolution and it was also possible that her gradual growth was now observable because primeval Goblins were a larger species, making the gradual growth more obvious. It kind of made sense that if eating other monsters accelerated the healing process, that it could do the same for growth as well. I mean, my own racial ability artificially accelerated my metabolism, so this wasn’t all that far fetched. Actually, perhaps that was it? Maybe my Iron Gut synergy was responsible for accelerating her growth?

“What is it?” Clarice asked shrewdly.

“I think I figured it out. I am pretty sure Toofy is still an adolescent, she is still experiencing growth spurts. Or maybe is experiencing it again now that she has evolved into a similar species. It’s entirely possible that my Iron Gut ability is responsible for her accelerated growth,” I explained.

Clarice raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms, “Why would your racial ability do that?” She asked sceptically.

“Well, firstly, my racial ability description specifically states that it accelerates healing. Growing is just another form of self-repair or ‘healing’, so it makes sense that my ability would accelerate it,” I explained excitedly.

Clarice looked more than a little confused and was not particularly convinced. However, she doesn’t seem willing to put up a fight over it, “Okay, so why is that a big deal?”

“Well...It isn’t really. I just thought it was pretty amazing,” I admitted.

Clarice shrugged and began tending to her equipment.

Travelling across the scrublands gave me a great deal of time to think. Particularly since the elevated position of the others on the backs of the Draptors gave them a better vantage point for spotting trouble. Unfortunately, there wasn’t really anything I wanted to think about. This made time seem to pass painfully slowly. The only upside was that the rocky outcropping was growing noticeably closer with each passing hour.

With the sudden boost in morale, we decided to keep pushing ahead after taking only a very short break around midday.

It was perhaps for the best because sometime in the early evening, Tobi spotted familiar dust clouds headed in our direction. Since there was no real possibility of the encounter being a positive one, we immediately quickened our pace.

Having a decent headstart on whoever was headed in this direction, we arrived at the cave first and encountered a serious problem. Another group was already there and appeared to be waiting for us.

There were five young men and women blocking the entrance to the cave with a makeshift barricade made from an overturned wagon. Four of them were standing behind the barricade and had crossbows aimed in our direction, while the last, presumably their leader, was riding a Draptor and waiting outside. All five of the adventurers seemed to be wearing steel or iron breastplates and helmets in addition to their padded armour. So things were not looking good.

“What should we do?” Nadine asked worriedly, “If we get any closer, they will probably open fire on us.”

“We should just outflank them and sweep in from the side!” Clarice insisted angrily, “That way they won't have the chance for more than one shot at it!”

“We could siege them with our slings to force them out,” Tobi suggested hesitantly, glancing back at the approaching dust cloud.

Clarice followed Tobi’s lead, “Shit!” She cursed angrily, “We don’t have time for this!”

Three Draptor riders were closing in fast from behind, the riders swinging slings above their heads as they suddenly accelerated towards us. Even though they had not thrown any stones yet, it was only a matter of time.

Loading a rock into my sling, I doubted I would manage to hit any of them, but I hoped that the size of the projectile alone would make them back off. Targeting the rider in the middle, I released the rock and watched it tumble through the air. Poorly weighted and unbalanced, the rock veered off target and exploded slightly ahead of the rider on the left flank.

Even though the rock had missed, the shrapnel must have injured the Draptor, because it tripped and crashed into the ground a couple of moments later, flinging the rider off its back.

Tobi had now taken my lead, dismounting and preparing his sling, “Watch out! They have bolas!” He cried out in warning.

Bolas? I didn’t know what that was, but the fact that it had Tobi worried was rather disconcerting. Clinging another rock, I missed so badly that it could have only been further off-target if I had managed to throw it backwards.

Tobi had far more success, hitting a Draptor in the chest and quickly preparing to throw another stone at the same target.

“You better hop off!” Clarice growled, “Looks like their leader is gonna charge!”

I glanced back briefly and saw Nadine hurriedly dismounting. I also saw Toofy almost lazily twirling her sling as she slowly walked over to join me and Tobi.

Hurling a larger rock, I managed to cause the lead rider’s mount to balk when the rock thumped a few feet ahead of them, narrowly missing the Draptor’s beak.

Tobi scored another hit, but it appeared to have only been a glancing blow.

Toofy continued twirling her sling, gradually building up speed as she continued staring at the approaching riders.

Hearing cries from the direction of the cave, I briefly glanced back as I loaded another rock.

The crossbowmen were firing at Clarice and Thunder Thighs as she counter-charged the group's leader.

However, just as the crossbowmen fired, Clarice and Thunder Thighs disappeared in a burst of black smoke. They reappeared a moment later next to the leader’s mount. Clarice and the leader both appeared just as shocked as I was. Thunder Thighs was unaffected and slammed his beak into the leader’s gut hard enough to dismount him outright and send him tumbling awkwardly to the ground.

*Crack*

[Toofy has slain {Draptor: 3 } +600 Exp]

As stunned as I was, I turned around just in time to see that one of the Draptors that had been charging to attack us was skidding into the dirt. Its rider was sprawled awkwardly a short distance ahead and wasn’t moving.

At this point. the rider at the rear with the wounded mount decided to withdraw. Unfortunately, the remaining rider, still fresh and uninjured did not appear to be so easily cowed and was finally in range for a counter-attack. The rider hurled what I had initially thought was a sling, but Tobi had labelled a ‘bola’. The leather strap flew through the air and caught Tobi around the chest, rocks tied to its ends causing the strange weapon to bind his right arm securely to his chest as the rider continued charging past us.

Unfortunately for the rider, Shady suddenly appeared next to his mount, leaping from the shadows and tearing him from his saddle. The rider screamed in terror and pain as Shady began biting and raking into his chest and gut through his armour.

*Thwack*

Toofy hurled a stone into the back of the now riderless Draptor, causing it to stagger and barely remain upright as it tried to flee the battle.

“TELL YOUR MEN TO STAND DOWN!” Clarice roared angrily. She had dismounted Thunder Thighs and was holding her sword above the prone form of the adventurers’ leader. Apparently not getting a satisfactory answer, Clarice pressed her sword against his chest, “I said do it!” She threatened coldly.

“P-PUT DOWN YOUR WEAPONS!” The leader cried fearfully, “D-DO IT! PUT THEM DOWN!” He sounded truly terrified.

Clarice yanked the leader up onto his feet and shoved him forward in the direction of the cave, keeping her sword pressed against his back. “OUT OF THE CAVE NOW!” Clarice demanded, “GET ON YOUR KNEES AND WE WON'T HARM YOU!”

It was weird how this scene was playing out like some fantasy police drama and I almost expected Clarice to begin rattling off a fantasy version of the Miranda rights.

The four adventurers quickly scrambled over their makeshift barricade, nearly tripping over one another in their haste to comply. Considering how rapidly the fight had turned in our favour and how it had happened, I couldn’t really blame them.

The rider Shady had been so affectionately mauling was a bloody mess. Unlike the adventurers in the cave, he did not have a breastplate to protect his torso and his padded armour was torn to bloody ribbons and soaked in his blood.

Looking shying away from the gruesome sight, I could see Tobi needed help freeing himself so I moved over to help.

Now that I had a closer look at it, I now realised that I had seen something like the bola before in movies. The stones tied at each end of the three lengths of leather cord would not only give the cord sufficient mass to drive it forward but would also provide the necessary momentum to bind the target on a successful hit. Objectively, it was a pretty terrifying weapon when I stopped to think about it. Without help, Tobi would have been relatively helpless for at least a couple of minutes before managing to free himself.

Nadine spared a moment to try and save the bloodied adventurer's life, but the lack of glowing light made it clear that he was already dead.

“YOU GUYS COMING?!” Clarice demanded impatiently, already halfway to the cave and still escorting her prisoner while flanked by Thunder Thighs.

We all quickly moved to catch up to Clarice and her prisoner.

“P-please d-don’t k-kill m-me!” The young man sobbed pitiably, “H-he m-made us d-do it!”

Getting a closer look at the adventurer, I was surprised to see how new most of his equipment looked. Was this why the fight had been so easy? Had the Guild managers just conscripted some nearby adventurers, thrown some equipment at them and expected things to just work out? Why hadn’t they just sent higher level adventurers? Come to think of it, I think I saw slave collars on at least one of those Draptors they were riding as well...

When we reached the cave, Clarice began tying up the adventurers. Given that they seemed to have been coerced, I was glad that we weren't doing anything too drastic. Somewhat surprisingly, Nadine and Clarice had both readily agreed with one another to leave them the lion's share of their gear too.

“The Guild can track certain items,” Nadine explained while rifling through the adventurers’ supplies from the wagon. “If it is valuable enough, they will have marked it. So anything with the Guilds mark on it is out.”

“Can we keep the wagon?” I asked curiously.

Nadine paused to think for a moment before shaking her head, “No, it’s better not to risk it. Too high a chance that there is a mark hidden on it somewhere.”

This whole mark tracking business had me more than a little worried. Before Nadine had mentioned it, I was seriously considering scavenging one of those collars and a saddle from the fallen Draptor.

“We gotta go!” Clarice called out suddenly, sounding more than a little worried.

Looking out at the scrubland, I could see another dust cloud on the horizon.

“Toofy,” I waved to get her attention and motioned for her to follow along beside me.

Toofy obediently rushed to my side, somewhat jumpy with nervous energy.

“Just stick close to me, alright?” I tried to reassure her.

Toofy nodded but didn’t say anything as we entered the cave.

The cave was large enough that Emelia and Clarice could have ridden the Draptors inside. however there were some dangerously low hanging stalactites, so neither of them seemed willing to take the risk.

I had actually expected to encounter some sort of monster in the cave, but it was apparently empty. I had to assume that those adventurers outside had lured them out earlier because I couldn’t think of any other way to explain it.

After a couple of minutes following the winding tunnel downward, we entered a large cavern. Illuminated the flickering light of the portal at the far side, I couldn't see any monsters here either.

“Looks like the coast is clear,” Nadine observed warily, “Still, let’s try to stick close. I am not sure how long those reinforcements will take to get here, so we may not have much time.”

Following her advice, we all cautiously approached the portal and anxiously waited for Nadine to give the word. After waiting for a while, we had watched the portal cycle through at least three different landscapes. One was a forest similar to the first floor, while another was a frigid hinterland. The final and current area displayed by the portal was a foggy swampland.

Shady became agitated and began growling in a warning tone.

“Uh, I don’t think we have much time,” Tobi stated worriedly, glancing pointedly down the passageway.

“I say we just take the portal next time it changes,” Clarice insisted.

Nadine winced but nodded, “Agreed.”

Emelia shifted nervously, clutching Beaky’s reins tight as she kept alternating her attention between the passageway and the portal.

“Damnit...” Nadine cursed as the portal changed again but displayed another stretch of swampland.

“We gotta go!” Clarice insisted urgently, roughly taking Nadine’s arm and dragging her through the portal while leading Thunder Thighs with the reins.

Emelia quickly followed next with Beaky, while Tobi, Toofy, Shady and myself were not far behind her. Even though the portal would remain open for at least a few minutes before changing, none of us was eager to encounter the adventurer's reinforcements.

There were three things that immediately caught my attention upon crossing through the portal. The first was the smell, it was not pleasant, reeking of rotten vegetation. The second was the humidity. Lastly, A large black alert panel with blood-red text had appeared in front of my eyes and made it incredibly difficult to see.

[Mandatory Quest: Conquest! {Active}]

[Conquest! {Stage 1}: Designate a Totem/Flag/Marker to designate the heart of your domain. You must complete this task within 1h. {Success} will bind the territory to your will and unlock the next stage of the quest. {Failure} will result in your death. Good luck!]

The black panel disappeared the moment I finished reading it and was replaced with another much smaller panel at the top of my peripheral vision.

[ 0d : 0h : 59m ]

Seriously?!

“Woah! What the hell?!” Clarice demanded, “You guys seeing this?!”

“Y-yeah...” Tobi stammered, obviously shaken.

Emelia just gulped and nodded.

“Toofy see,” Toofy nodded, but seemed confused.

“We need to get out of here!” Nadine insisted, “Those reinforcements might enter the portal chamber at any moment, and I would prefer it if they didn’t know we were here!” She began determinedly setting out in the opposite direction we had originally been facing upon exiting the portal. “Remember to keep an eye out for monsters!” Nadine reminded everyone grimly, drawing her sword and regarding the swampland warily.

As a positive to this mess, we had at least arrived on a rather sizable landmass and were a decent distance from the murky pools of water slightly further out. However, heavy as I and the Draptors are, our feet sunk noticeably deeper into the ground than those of our human party members. Toofy probably wouldn’t have many problems, but I wasn’t willing to put her at risk, so I was carrying her on my shoulder.

“So you all saw that quest panel?” I asked anxiously as we continued walking along the landbridge, heading deeper into the swamp.

“Couldn’t miss it,” Clarice grunted angrily, “What sort of bullshit quest has an auto-kill feature for failure?!”

“I didn’t even know they could do that,” mumbled Tobi dejectedly.

“Mandatory quests shouldn't even appear until the twentieth floor at the earliest,” Nadine agreed, more than a little freaked out and on edge.

Emelia just confused quietly following the group and warily keeping an eye on the murky swamp water.

After walking for a few minutes, Nadine looked back at the way we had come from and seemed satisfied that we weren’t followed, “Well, that’s one problem dealt with,” she sighed wearily.

Clarice snorted, “Yeah, now we just have to deal with this bloody quest! It doesn't even tell us what the reward is!”

“We should try to find somewhere fast and just get rid of it!” Tobi suggested hastily.

Nadine shook her head, “This is a chain quest, it said part one, there is going to be at least one more part to it. Considering that this quest is labelled Conquest, it will probably involve a subjugation quest type or perhaps even...a raid,” she gulped hard and shivered, “S-so we need to choose the place carefully!”

No one argued with Nadine and thankfully, after spending another fifteen minutes walking in roughly the same original direction, we would soon be leaving the wetlands of the swamp behind. Well, that wasn’t strictly true, but the patches of land were becoming much larger and there were now small hills and many more trees and shrubs.

What was disturbing, was that we still hadn’t seen any signs of any wild monsters. This just made me more nervous every time we were forced to move closer to the water before being able to continue pushing ahead.

[ 0d : 0h : 13m ]

“Okay! We really have to decide on a place to do this!” Clarice insisted urgently, “We haven't seen a single monster since we got here, and I don’t wanna die just because you ‘think’ we might find somewhere better.”

Looking rather pale, Nadine nodded in agreement, “We should just mark one of the trees to serve as the totem. Since we don’t know who the primary target of the quest is, we should all just carve a symbol into one of these trees.” She then pulled out a knife, approached a nearby tree and gauged a line into it.

When the timer continued counting down, we all moved off to do the same. We were a decent distance from the closest body of water, so it seemed like it was relatively safe. Toofy carved a big toothy smile into the tree, or she tried to. The end result was just a jagged line. Seeing what Toofy was going for, I borrowed her shiv and carved out a closer approximation of her smile and then at her insistence, added a pair of slitted eyes to match her own above it. The carving pulsed with an eerie red light and a black status panel appeared in front of my eyes again.

[Mandatory Quest: Conquest! {Active}]

[Conquest! {Stage 1}: {Success} Totem has been established]

[Conquest! {Stage 2}: Select a compatible {Racial Ability} to strengthen {Minions} through your {Totem}. You have 10m to decide! {Success} will imbue the {Racial Ability} into your {Totem} and unlock the next stage of the quest. {Failure} will result in your death. Good luck!]

Just as before, the panel collapsed and was replaced with a familiar countdown timer.

[ 0d : 0h : 9m ]

“Pretty sure it means me!” I called out nervously, “Which ability should I pick?”

The others quickly gathered around our new ‘totem’, which was still shedding the same eerie crimson light and pulsing slightly as if it had a heartbeat. The combination of the face and the lighting was definitely creepy, add to the fact that it was starting to get dark, that we were all alone in a swamp, and this was getting a bit much.

“Does it really matter? Just pick one!” Clarice growled irritably.

“Y-yeah!” Tobi agreed anxiously, more than a little frightened by the repeat of the enforced auto death on failure.

“Wait!” Nadine stated sternly, motioning for everyone to calm down. “This is obviously some sort of quest to form a settlement or maybe even a foothold! We need to think long-term!”

Clarice and Tobi calmed down somewhat.

“A settlement?” Emelia asked uncertainly.

Nadine nodded, “Notice the name of the quest? Conquest! That suggests we are claiming a territory for occupation. Even the quest descriptions support this theory. If I had to guess, the minions that the quest is referring to are us,” she gestured to herself, Tobi, Emelia and Clarice, “This might be a divergent quest chain that became available only because Tim is party leader! We could be part of a once in a lifetime opportunity here! So we need to think LONG-TERM!” Nadine's emphasis on the potential benefits somewhat calmed the others down, but I was still staring fixedly at the timer.

[ 0d : 0h : 7m ]

“Ah, so which one?” I asked again, trying not to panic. Knowing I had seven minutes or less to make a decision or die was not doing wonders for my long-term planning skills.

Nadine and Clarice shared a somewhat telling look with one another, before warily considering Tobi and Emelia.

“I think we should go with Iron Gut,” Clarice suggested firmly. “Extra damage and damage resistance won’t mean much if we run out of bandages or mana, and if we are getting hurt, then there have to be monsters to eat.”

Nadine nodded in approval, “Iron Gut is the safest choice,” she agreed.

Tobi seemed more than a little flustered, no doubt watching the timer as closely as I am. “Iron Gut? That was the healing one right? Yeah, okay, I’m fine with that!”

Emelia was far more composed, “yeah, I think that would be safest!” She agreed, albeit a little hesitantly.

“Ah, so I wonder how I am meant to do this?” I wondered aloud, momentarily drawing a blank.

[ 0d : 0h : 5m ]

“It is probably something like. Quest objective, select Iron Gut, Confirm,” Nadine suggested helpfully.

[Mandatory Quest: Conquest! {Active}]

[Conquest! {Stage 1}: {Success} Totem has been established]

[Conquest! {Stage 2}: {Active} Your {Minion} {Nadine} has selected {Iron Gut}. Accept? (Y/N)]

“Accept!” I confirmed, more than a little relieved.

[Mandatory Quest: Conquest! {Active}]

[Conquest! {Stage 1}: {Success} Totem has been established]

[Conquest! {Stage 2}: {Success} Your {Totem} has now been successfully imbued with {Iron Gut} and will impart its effects to nearby {Minions}.]

[Conquest! {Stage 3}: Defend your {Totem} from monsters in the contested territory! Your {Totem} will periodically attract monsters within 1 mile for the next 24h. {Success} Complete the Conquest! Quest and receive a reward equal to your achievements. {Failure} will result in your death. Good luck!]

“OH COME THE FUCK ON!” Clarice swore loudly.

Reading the third and final stage of the quest, I was inclined to agree.

[ 0d : 23h : 59m ]

When the large black panel was replaced with the timer, I could see that the expressions of the other fully encompassed the myriad of emotions running through my mind. Anger, fear, and strangely, determination. So long as Toofy had a chance at survival, I wouldn’t give up.

“We will need fire,” I stated firmly, moving over to one of the smaller trees and leveraging my weight against it, yanking back and forth until I uprooted it out of the loose soil. Throwing it to the side, I moved over to another three to uproot another.

“Tim is right!” Nadine stated loudly with far more confidence than I currently felt, “We need to get busy and prepare! It will be dark soon and we need fire!”

Leaving Beaky, Thunder, Shady and Toofy to keep watch on our surroundings, we all began gathering together as much flammable material as quickly as possible. It would be nightfall within a few hours, and the prospect of fighting completely unknown monsters in the dark was intolerable.

[ 0d : 19h : 34m ]

We had managed to set three large bonfires a couple of dozen feet from the totem before the sunset and the swamp was dimly illuminated by moonlight. Nadine was confident that we had enough wood stockpiled that we could keep all three bonfires burning all night, but given the lack of clouds in the sky, I was now beginning to wonder if we had made a grave mistake.

Afforded a rather impressive view of the surrounding area, especially now that I had removed all of the smaller trees, I nervously kept an eye out for signs of movement. Noticing a number of logs in the lake a fair distance away from our camp, I was not fooled by their innocuous appearance and quickly pointed them out to the others, “We have monsters approaching from across the lake,” I called out for Clarice’s benefit since she was watching the opposite direction.

Clarice quickly glanced back to see where I was pointing and scowled, “you're sure?” She asked, turning back to cover her position.

“Very,” I insisted, “Those are almost definitely monsters pretending to be logs. After all, how many floating logs did you see on the way over here?” I asked rhetorically. I could picture scaly crocodile sluggishly swimming towards us in the murky water and was glad that I had insisted on a crude platform to be lashed together in boughs of the tree serving as my Totem. Confident that Toofy would be safe from most dangers up there, I could devote the rest of my attention to spotting threats the others might have overlooked.

“Fuck...” Clarice cursed, “You’re right, I saw one move!”

“Crawlies!” Toofy shrieked excitedly pointing at the far bank.

Large crab-like crustaceans the size of large dogs were scuttling into the water and headed our way. Similarly, I noticed more than one telltale s-shaped ripple in the water heading towards us as well.

“Snakes and crabs!” I called out in warning.

“Uh, some sort of big plant thing over here!” Tobi called back.

I quickly glanced back towards Tobi and saw a shambling humanoid shape emerging from the water. With Shady, Emelia and Beaky to serve as backup for his flank, I was confident that they would be alright.

I was more worried about myself honestly, but that was only because I was the only one protecting a flank on my own. Even Clarice had Nadine and Thunder Thighs for support. Each flank was basically determined as the space between two of the three bonfires, with the totem being in the centre. If anyone was badly injured, it was agreed that they should fall back to the item and quickly eat as much of the food left in our packs as they needed before returning to support until Nadine could help tend their wounds. With no mana potions, Nadine was currently limited to four uses of her ability, but would hopefully finish regenerating the fifth point sometime during the night.

Hearing a fight break out from the other side of the camp, it took a great deal of willpower to stop me from turning around to look. It was a good thing too because those suspicious ‘logs’ were growing dangerously close.

*Crunch* *Splosh*

[Toofy has slain {Scourge Swarmer: 2 } +200 Exp]

“The hell was that?!” I asked, hearing a stone whoosh through the air somewhere behind me.

“Flying blood parasite monster!” Nadine called back, “Good job Toofy!”

I shivered involuntarily as I considered a monstrous version of a mosquito, ugh, no thanks! I’ll take the giant crabs thanks!

Seeing my first enemy dragging itself up out of the water, I tuned out the sounds of combat behind me and focused on the thick scaled and six-limbed crocodile quickly ambling towards me. Thankfully, the crocodile monster was somewhat small by crocodile standards. Unfortunately, it was still a monster, so I had no idea if it had any special abilities not hinted at by its appearance.

Curiously, the undersized monstrous crocodile didn’t slow to try and lunge at me, instead, just barreling straight towards the tree.

*Thump Crunch*

I had swung my morningstar down into the crocodile’s body, temporarily stunning it. Pulling my weapon free again, I stabbed it in the face as it tried to bite at my shins. Very aware of a crocodile's bite strength, I was very careful to keep my legs out of its reach as I lunged to deliver another body blow.

*Thump Crunch*

The blow didn’t kill the croc but seemed to have knocked it unconscious. Unwilling to take any chances, I sighed, steeled my nerve and brought my morningstar down on its head.

*Crunch*

[You have slain {Swamp Lurker: 1 } +300 Exp]

Swamp Lurker huh? Yeah, that’s an appropriate name for an ambush predator, I thought absently while watching another croc rush out of the water. Knowing I would not have the luxury to continue spending so much time on each opponent, I readied a powerful double-handed blow for when the Swamp Lurker drew close enough.

I was left vaguely aware of the grunts, cursing and shouts of the others as they engaged in fights of their own. Without our group synergies, this quest objective would probably have been outright impossible. But for now, it seemed like we should be able to hold our own.

*Crunch*

I disabled the next Swamp Lurker by caving in half its skull and with a second blow, killed it. Unlike hunting the Vrabbits, I felt no hesitation in attacking these obvious predators.

*Thwack* *Splash*

I sent a brightly coloured snake flying back down the hill and into the water. I don’t really know much about monster biology, but I am pretty sure the bright colouration meant it was poisonous.

[You have slain {Swamp Moccasin: 1 } +150 Exp]

Huh? I was pretty sure I didn’t hit the snake that hard. Seeing that I had a few moments before the next croc would make landfall, I concentrated on where the snake had fallen into the water. Seeing the water growing increasingly agitated, I realised that there must be another type of monster in the water. Since whatever it was had not tried leaving the water, I suspected that it must be some sort of fish. It was obviously carnivorous and vicious, having killed the wounded snake in a matter of moments...

Oh no...

I made a mental note to avoid the water at all costs.

“Bastard!” Clarice cursed loudly.

*Schwick Splat*

[Clarice has slain {Bull Bufo: 3 } +900 Exp]

My curiosity got the better of me and I quickly glanced over at Clarice’s flank. Unsure what I was seeing at first, due to the mess of bodies, I soon recognised what had to be the source of Clarice’s cursing. A pair of bull-horned amphibians with bristly manes running down their backs were attempting to lash Clarice with their tongues. However, Clarice was viciously counterattacking and by the looks of it had already killed four of that monster already.

Startled by a familiar hiss, I turned my attention back to my designated flank just in time to avoid the snapping jaws of large Swamp Lurker. Vigorously pounding away at its head and neck, I didn’t stop until I received the kill notification. The last thing I needed was a croc regaining consciousness mid-fight and breaking my leg with a death-roll.

Seeing another snake coming up the hill, I wanted to try something different this time, to confirm my suspicions.

*Crunch*

I smashed the snakes head into the ground, killing it instantly. Grabbing the end of its tail, I swung the snake around a few times to get my momentum up, then hurled it at one of the approaching crocs in the water. Unsurprisingly, I missed it. However, just as I had expected and feared, the water around the dead snake quickly became disturbed and the snake’s body was pulled under.

What I hadn’t expected was for the water around the navy croc to become disturbed as well. Within moments, the croc was thrashing and biting at hidden assailants in the water. The other crocs began detouring towards the commotion as well, but I doubted they were intending to provide assistance.

With fascinated horror, I watched the scale of the violence grow exponentially larger with each passing minute. If it weren't for the snakes actively avoiding the conflict, I honestly wouldn’t have anything else to do. Judging by the monsters diverting from either side, I could only assume that our situation overall was very likely improving.

“You alright over there Tim?!” Clarice called out a little raggedly.

*Thwack*

I sent the latest snake tumbling down the hill and straightened my back. Bending over so often was actually starting to tire my back out. “Mostly!” I called back, “Why? You want to switch?” I glanced over at Clarice’s flank and saw that she was looking very tired. The frogs and plantmen had not diverted to the murderfest in the lake, so she had very likely been fighting constantly this entire time.

“Y-yeah...” Clarice called back tiredly as she noticed how calm my area was in comparison.

Making sure there were no snakes in the immediate vicinity, I hurried over to change places with Clarice, while she and Thunder Thighs Took a short breather. The Draptor actually looked to be in high spirits and seemed uninjured thus far. Not a bad achievement, given that I had assumed the Draptor would be weaker than most of the monsters on this floor. Perhaps it was because of Clarice being so aggressive and holding the attention of the monster?

I didn’t have much time to think, as one of those shambling plantmen came stumbling at me with open arms. I now realised that there may be a problem with switching places with Clarice. I was not so sure my morningstar would do all that well against a monster apparently made of clumps of mud, reeds, branches and other rotten vegetation.

*Splat*

Okay...

Apparently, I know nothing about monster anatomy, because my first strike against the plantman obliterated its arm and a good chunk of its chest, sending the rotten detritus flying.

The plantman staggered and clumsily lunged at me, ripping apart its midsection in the process and causing it to miss, badly.

*Splort*

[You have slain {Mud Doll: 1 } +100 Exp]

The plantman fell apart as it hit the ground.

Well...that was far weaker than I thought it would be.

*Thwap*

One of the dog-sized frogs tongues smacked my shoulder and I felt a faint scraping sensation. As the tongue retracted, I spotted small spines on the end of the frog's tongue.

[Tim - HP: 44/45 - Normal ]

Quickly glancing at my status, I was relieved to find that I hadn't been poisoned. Deciding to be more proactive, I rushed at the frog and made a swing for its centre mass.

Unfortunately, the frog easily dodged the attack, leaping up and over before suddenly leaping straight at me in an attempt to gore me with its horns.

*Thworp*

I barely managed to backhand the frog away, receiving a shallow cut across my forearm in exchange. The monstrous frog’s stomach was torn open, spilling its guts and entrails around the immediate area. Even so, the frog still didn't die immediately, weakly attempting to crawl back towards me for a final attack.

*Splat*

I put the frog out of its misery and was spattered with blood for the effort. An hour hasn't even passed, and I am already beginning to feel the onset of mental fatigue. Even so, I had no other choice than to keep fighting. If we failed this quest, at the very least, I would die, but there was also a chance that the others would be killed by the Labyrinth as well.

If the Labyrinth is able to so effortlessly kill adventurers, why does it even bother with spawning monsters? It didn’t make sense to me.

*****

Hana fled through the forest as fast as her short legs could carry her. Supported by her intuitive understanding of the flora, and strengthened by her magic, Hana ran like the wind. Yet it was not enough! The Destroyer was always just a handful of seconds behind her, one mistake, a single lapse in concentration, would mean her death.

The Destroyer had already slain Hana’s mother and sisters, burning their heart-trees and cackling in glee as everyone Hana loved writhed in agony and was burned from the inside out. Hana had wanted to fight, to protect her family, but they had insisted that she flee, buying her the precious seconds now keeping her alive with what had remained of their own.

Hana had been running for over two days straight and was slowly succumbing to mana fatigue. Even though the forest was generous and lent her what strength it could, Hana was too immature to contain the mounting impurities.

At best, Hana expected that she would be able to continue running for maybe another day before her inevitable collapse. But all was not lost, Hana knew she may yet survive if she managed to reach the Orc settlement of the Stone Tree tribe. They had an alliance with her mother and would render aid against The Destroyer. Hana was close now, no more than an hour away at most.

Resolved to see The Destroyer pay for their crimes, Hana felt a fresh wave of strength well up within her and redoubled her efforts. Hana would not fail, not when she was so close!

Hana grinned fiercely as she passed a stone totem that marked the boundary of the Stone Tree tribe’s territory. But that smile wavered as she sensed something was amiss.

Pulsing her consciousness through the surrounding trees, Hana nearly lost her footing as the scene unfolded in her mind. The Stone Tree tribe were no more, the butchered remains of men, women and children scattered throughout their territory. The only solace Hana found in this tragedy was that a number of the tribe had possibly managed to escape the slaughter.

The wanton violence was doubtless Orchestrated by The Destroyer or one of its many servants. Hana had no doubts regarding The Destroyer's depravity and ruthlessness.

Knowing that there was no longer any assistance to be found with the Stone Tree, Hana almost lost hope. There was no one else she could reach with her remaining strength. But fighting The Destroyer was suicide and hiding had proven similarly impossible. Somehow, The Destroyer always knew where Hana's hiding place was. It was hardly surprising though since their grove had been incredibly well hidden in the first place. So naturally, The Destroyer had to possess a special ability or item that assisted them in hunting her.

With no other options left, Hana continued to run, desperately hoping that a miracle would save her or slay The Destroyer. Unfortunately, as the hours passed and Hana’s strength began failing, no such miracle presented itself.

The Destroyer was right behind her now, growing closer with every passing second.

Limbs numb from overdrawing so much mana, Hana tripped and fell to the forest floor.

“Ah! Are we perhaps done playing this little game?!” The Destroyer cackled.

Knowing there was no escape and too weak to stand, Hana faced her enemy with silent defiance.

The Destroyer was an unnatural creature of metal, fire and hate, its aura exuding a disdain for all life. “Awww, nothing to say little one?!” The Destroyer cackled, its voice like crackling flames, “Well, I suppose this is it then!” Azure flames coalesced in its outstretched hands as The Destroyer slowly began walking towards her.

Seeing her death approaching, Hana nearly broke down in tears. This was how it would end, in spite of her mother and sisters sacrifice, this was how Hana would die.

“Any last words?!” The Destroyer hissed, the buffeting heat from its flames scorching her skin.

Gathering the last of her mana, Hana willed it into a final desperate attack, one way or the other, this would be the end of her. Glaring into the pitiless mass of metal that formed The Destroyer’s head, Hana was ready to face the end, “DIE!!!” She screamed, releasing all of her pent up rage and fury.

The forest itself bent to Hana’s will, branches from nearby trees sharpening to stakes and driving through the weak gaps and crevices of The Destroyer's metal body, impaling and pinning it to the ground.

Amazingly, The Destroyer lay immobile, the azure flames guttering and then becoming extinguished.

Barely clinging to consciousness, Hana could barely believe her eyes. Somehow, she had actually managed to kill The Destroyer! Perhaps his arrogance had left him vulnerable or-

“AHAHAHAHAHA!” The Destroyer cackled and the branches impaling its body turned to ash, “The look on your face! Priceless!” The Destroyer got back to its feet and briefly regarded Hana with its head tilted slightly to one side and shaking in mock disappointment, “Don’t tell me you actually expected such a weak attack to kill me?!” The Destroyer snickered, “I barely even felt it!”

Hana slumped in defeat, there was nothing left to do now except wait for death. Even now, her vision was fading and Hana could barely keep her eyes open.

“It isn’t so bad,” The Destroyer said in an almost comforting tone, “The struggle is over. All you need to do now is accept the inevitable,” the azure flames enveloped its hands again and The Destroyer reached out to end it all.

[Congratulations {Hana}! You are qualified to receive the opportunity to serve a Lord of the {Hurst Labyrinth}! You will be expected to serve the role of {Settlement Overseer}. Complimentary {Relocation} and {Promotion} will be provided should you accept this opportunity! All glory to the Great Plan!]

[You have been selected for {Relocation} and {Promotion}. Accept? (Y/N)]

Tears welled at the corners of Hana’s eyes. The miracle she had hoped for had arrived! “Accept!” Hana croaked.

[As compensation for accepting {Relocation}, all negative Conditions shall be cleansed and your body restored to prime condition. {Mana Fatigue}, {Despair}, {Marked} Conditions {Removed}. As compensation for accepting {Promotion}, you shall receive an upgrade to your class. {Druid} Upgraded to {Arch Druid}]

A blinding flash of golden light erupted from Hana’s body as she was empowered and restored.

“NO!!!” The destroyer howled in fury, desperately reaching for Hana but unable to find purchase as her body began to disappear. “I WILL FIND YOU! I WILL BURN YOUR SOUL TO ASH!” The Destroyer howled in impotent fury.

As The Destroyer’s voice and the golden light faded away, Hana slowly became aware of her new surroundings. Tentatively extending her consciousness into the surrounding area, she very nearly recoiled in horror at the amount of death she detected in the immediate vicinity. With the golden light no longer impairing her vision, Hana could see a hulking brute towering over her, covered head to toe in blood, mud and gore.

Instinctively, Hana understood that this was her Lord and whom the message said she would serve. Very nearly driven to despair, the only solace Hana could find in the situation, was that she was still alive and might be able to one day seek revenge for her murdered sisters and mother.

*****

It had been one hell of a slog initially, but after about an hour, the immediate area seemed to have been depopulated. That gave us a few hours to rest before all of the monsters respawned again at midnight. However, we knew what to expect the second time around and despite a few non-threatening injuries, we made it through to the following morning without any real problems. Then it just became a matter of waiting for the quest timer to run down while we took turns recuperating and sorting through the bodies and disposing of the most mutilated carcasses.

[Mandatory Quest: Conquest! {Completed}]

[Conquest! {Stage 1}: {Success} Totem has been established]

[Conquest! {Stage 2}: {Success} Your {Totem} has now been successfully imbued with {Iron Gut} and will impart its effects to nearby {Minions}.]

[Conquest! {Stage 3}: {Success} chain quest Conquest! {Completed}]

[Determining degree of success...]

[Acquiring rewards...]

[Congratulations! You have completed {Conquest!} and will now receive x1 {Settlement Overseer} and x10 {Minions}. Standby for immediate delivery! Ownership of {Tim’s Settlement} confers upon you the rank of {Labyrinth Lord}!]

Blinking away the quest notification I was surprised to find that a small girl, no bigger than Toofy had appeared in front of me. With weird grass-like hair, deep green eyes, pale olive skin and tapered ears, she really did seem quite strange. The fact that she was at least wearing some sort of short dress woven from plant fibres was a relief.

Looking down at the strange little girl sitting on a small wooden crate filled with bizarre black and technicolour eggs, I was somewhat worried by her frightened expression. Taking a moment to look myself over, It was actually a rather reasonable response, given the situation. A monster she may be, but that didn’t mean she was without common sense.

Glancing briefly at the others, who didn’t look much better than myself, I sighed and knelt down to bring myself closer to her eye level. “Uh, hi. I’m Tim,” I said with as friendly a tone of voice as I could manage to compensate for my horrific appearance.

The strange girl looked up at me, seeming somewhat confused, “I am called Hana, my Lord. The Labyrinth has decided I will serve as your settlement overseer,” she replied quietly.

“It’s nice to meet you, Hana,” I responded warmly, “You can just call me Tim if you like.”

Hana nodded warily and looked around our surroundings. “Lor-erm, Tim...This is your settlement?” She asked somewhat dubiously, her attention lingering on the mound of monster corpses before halting on the settlement totem.

I sighed and nodded, “I know it isn’t much, but we just finished the quest you see?” I tried to explain.

Hana glanced briefly at me and nodded before approaching the totem and running her hand across the surface of the tree. “At least you have good taste,” she murmured quietly, nodding in approval.

“Euf,” I couldn't help but groan as I got back to my feet. The constant fighting had really done a number on my back and I was feeling more than a bit stiff. Taking a closer look at the eggs, it only just occurred to me that these were meant to be my aforementioned ‘minions’. “Anyone know what kind of monster eggs these are?” I asked optimistically.

Nadine shook her head and moved in for a closer look.

“Do you know if we have to keep them warm or something?” I asked Nadine nervously.

Nadine shook her head again and now had a thoughtful expression, “I don’t know anything about this sort of thing,” she admitted curiously as she picked one of the eggs up to take a closer look.

“Eggs need mana to hatch,” Hana explained, returning to the crate and taking a look for herself, “You can inject the mana directly, surround them with mana stones, or rely on ambient mana,” she explained somewhat stiffly as if reciting a lesson from memory. “You should probably avoid hatching them until you have a nursery and suitable defences Lo-Tim,” Hana insisted somewhat nervously, “Newborns have trouble fending for themselves and make prime targets for predators.”

Eyeing the pile of predators nearby, I nodded in agreement. “I guess we should focus on making some sort of shelter,” I sighed and began taking stock of the reduced number of trees in the general area. After all, we had burned most of them to last through the night,

Hana fidgetted a little uncomfortably, “If I might suggest something?” She offered.

“Please,” I nodded and smiled reassuringly.

“While I may not be very strong, I can shape plants to serve as shelter. If you are able to transplant some trees, and...and provide me with mana stones from nearby monsters, I could reshape the trees to serve as shelters from the elements and monsters alike,” Hana offered, although seeming somewhat reluctant in reference to the mana stones. Perhaps she thought we wouldn’t trust her? Or maybe she knows how valuable they are?

“Alright let's do that,” I agreed, “I’ll uproot a few trees while you guys keep an eye on things, maybe introduce yourselves too?” I suggested pointedly, more than a little surprised that I was the only one who had done so.

Judging by Hana’s appearance, I assumed that she was some sort of wood sprite, especially since she claimed to be capable of ‘shaping’ trees. With that in mind, I carefully uprooted the first young tree and brought it back to our camp.

Hana had already cleared a hole in the ground a short distance from the totem and had also dumped a good deal of ash into the hole as well.

The moment I put the tree in the hole, a green aura began emanating from Hana’s body and the transplanted tree’s roots began aggressively burrowing into the ground. Raising her hands high, the tree’s trunk began growing taller and wider. Within a matter of seconds, Hana had multiplied the tree's size enormously.

Slumping slightly, the green aura dissipated and Hana removed a mana stone from a small pouch at her waist. Raising the stone to her lips, Hana hesitated for a moment, seeming conflicted. But the moment passed and was replaced by a look of grim determination as Hana placed the mana stone in her mouth and swallowed. A few moments later, Hana was once more surrounded by the green aura and continued accelerating the growth of the tree.

Over the next few hours, Hana demonstrated that she could make good on her claim, and had grown the tree to a truly impossible size. It was easily more than fifty feet wide and who knows how tall. She had even formed twisting stairs from the tree itself and hollowed out a section roughly twenty feet off the ground to serve as our shelter for the night.

After cooking what we could and allowing the Draptors to eat their fill, we dumped the remaining bodies into the water for the carnivorous fish to take care of while Hana caused the vegetation underfoot to absorb what remained.

Over the course of ‘shaping’ the tree, Hana had consumed no small amount of mana stones and was now a full head taller than Toofy. After we shifted all our supplies inside, Hana removed the lower steps, making it impossible for anything other than the mosquitos or frogs to reach us.

With how gross my clothes had become, I had few qualms about stripping off my tattered tunic and pants. It was a sentiment shared by the others, although they at least had spare changes of clothes to change into afterwards. Painfully aware of what I had to assume were some form of monstrous piranha’s in the water, There was no real way for me to clean my soiled clothes either.

Toofy had stripped off her padded armour pants, but not because they were particularly dirty, but because of the humidity. Tobi was following my lead and seemed to be taking the opportunity to flex a little. I can’t really blame him, Tobi’s a decently attractive guy and the girls are objectively in really good shape themselves.

Leaving Tobi to his ‘peacocking’, I decided that I should probably try to find out more about Hana. She seemed rather tense and I was almost certain that she was in pain. “Hana? Can I speak with you for a moment?” I asked gently.

Hana stiffly regarded me for a moment before crossing the room and waiting to see what I wanted, her face an unreadable mask. However, Hana’s frosty wooden demeanour did not extend to her eyes. They were fixed on somewhere, something, I couldn’t see, windows into the turmoil of emotions clashing just beneath the surface.

“Hana, is there something you want to talk about?” I hoped I was wrong, that I was misreading the signs.

Hana’s facade lapsed for a brief moment, exposing her intense fear, anger and sorrow. But just as quickly, her mask was fixed securely in place again. “No,” she replied quietly, turning to leave and sit on her own again.

“Hana wait,” I insisted, “I...I’m sorry if I have done something to upset you. I didn’t mean to abduct you from your home. I had no control over the quest rewards, but if I can, I’ll try to make it up to you, alright?” I offered earnestly.

Hana paused, her resolve faltering, “You didn’t steal me away,” she replied quietly, “I chose to accept the summons and posting as your Settlement Overseer.”

“Then...is there something else that is wrong?” I asked warily, “Have we done something to offend you? I know you seem to like trees, but we only burned what we needed to survive,” I assured her.

Hana stared at me for a short while and I could tell she was weighing a difficult decision. “I am the only one left...” Tears began welling in her eyes and Hana’s facade came crumbling down, “Sakura, Hanaye, Tsubaki, Kohana, Reika...M-Mother...” Her slender fingers closed into fists as tears streamed down her cheeks, “The Destroyer killed them all! My entire family! Burned them alive...” Hana shuddered and stifled a whimper, her eyes flashing dangerously, “I’ll kill it, no matter what! Even if it takes the rest of my life! I will never forgive! Never forget what was taken from me!” She hissed bitterly, “My...my family...” Hana shuddered and weakly fell to her knees, cupping her face in her hands to mask her grief.

Before I even had a chance to do anything, Toofy had leapt forward and wrapped Hana in a tight hug, pressing the relative stranger comfortingly against her chest and rubbing her back reassuringly, “Hana sad, is okay, Toofy sad too, Tim help Toofy, Tim help Hana too,” Toofy insisted.

Hana made no real signs that she had even heard Toofy, just letting out deep racking sobs and pitiable wails into her tunic.

Unsure of what I should or even, could, do, I was grateful that Toofy was demonstrating such emotional maturity and empathy

After some time had passed, Toofy gently guided Hana over to me and the both of them huddled in close by my side. Toofy looked up at me with a pleading look, glancing briefly at Hana before shifting back to me again.

I nodded to show Toofy I understood. I would do what I could for her. “I’m proud of you,” I whispered, tousling her hair affectionately.

Toofy gave me a small smile and nodded, hugging Hana a little tighter.

I could already tell I wasn’t going to be able to sleep tonight, so I did my best to make sure that at least the two of them would be comfortable. I knew from personal experience that a good night's sleep could do wonders for improving your ability to cope with life's bullshit.

Watching the pair of them sleep, I couldn't help but snort derisively as I recalled a particular argument I had with my Mum when I was fifteen years old. I had adamantly insisted that I would never be a parent, on the basis that no one would ever willingly consider me a viable partner. Yet Mum had insisted that I was wrong and would have more kids than I knew what to do with. I guess we were both right. I wonder what she would think if she could see me now?

Thankfully no monsters attempted breaking into our refuge during the long night. I think one of the stranger aspects of this world, or the Labyrinths specifically, was the lack of ambient noise. Without the various insects and small wildlife, the nights in particular were disturbingly quiet. I could only assume that the atmosphere in a swamp on earth would be so lively you would need earplugs just to stand a chance at sleep.

At least the long night had given me a chance to look at everyone's stats. After killing so many monsters, everyone had gained a level up. My level up gave me another point of Willpower, Nadines gave her another point of Intelligence, Clarice got another point of Strength and Toofy gained another point of Agility. Toofy was actually the highest level member of the party, now at level five.

Toofy’s new class ability was actually rather interesting.

[(Class Ability:Desperate Strike {Rank 0}): Expend MP to deal additional damage with {Primitive} and {Improvised} weapons. {Willpower} increases the amount of bonus damage.]

At first glance, it seems rather generic, which I suppose it is. However, when you factor in Toofy’s preferred choice in weapons and that her progression towards her next evolution would also be increasing her max MP, Toofy could very well turn a fight in her favour by burning through MP, which I suppose is the point of the ability in the first place.

As I had hoped, Hana seemed to be doing much better by the time she woke up in the late morning. Although more subdued than she had initially been last evening, I believed that this was healthier for Hana than putting up a strong front.

“Breakfast?” Toofy asked eagerly, dragging Hana along behind her like a lost puppy.

I was trying to decide if eating croc meat was worth the risk or not. While I have no shortage of barbecue experience, I had very little experience with cooking meat over the coals of a bonfire. Deciding it would probably be best to avoid food poisoning, for the time being, I figured we could always leave the ‘cooked’ meat for the Draptors and Shady. Fishing out a parcel of roasted meat, I handed it to Toofy before retrieving another and hesitating.

“Uh, Hana? Are you alright with eating meat?” I asked worriedly. It was pretty much gospel that elves and other mystical forest creatures were strictly vegan or at worst vegetarian.

Hana gave me a curious look, “Yes, I eat meat,” she agreed and took the parcel of roasted meat, “What else would I eat?”

“Ah, I don’t know, maybe a salad made from vegetables or something?” I replied lamely.

Hana looked disgusted, “I would sooner eat my own arm,” she stated, curiously watching Toofy to see how to untie the knots.

Well, that’s weird, and a rather extreme reaction too, “Do you mind if I ask why?”

Hana shifted a little uncomfortably, “I can sense the thoughts and feelings of nearby plants by activating my ability,” she explained a little hesitantly, “The idea of eating something I have shared experiences with, or could accidentally share experiences with during consumption...it is not pleasant...”

“Oh...” Yeah, that makes sense, “Ah, wait, are you sure that it won’t upset you when we use wood to make fire for cooking food?” I asked warily.

Hana considered it for a few moments and shook her head, “No, it is fine. You do not burn the trees for the sake of destruction, and so long as it is for constructive purposes, I will continue to support the practice.”

‘Well, that’s very considerate and well reasoned of you to say,” I replied appreciatively.

Hana shrugged, greedily removing a piece of roast meat from the open parcel and stuffing it in her mouth, “MMM! SHO GUD!” She rubbed her cheeks appreciatively and squirmed in delight.

Well, I guess that settles it, Hana is a carnivore.

“Oh, right. Hana, I have been meaning to ask you, what kind of monster are you?” I asked curiously.

Hana seemed surprised, like the answer was obvious, “I am a Dryad,” she replied with a shrug, “Although I am still a sapling...” Hana admitted sheepishly.

Assuming that being a sapling was a reference to age or evolution, it seemed like she was telling the truth. “Is the tree shaping part of your abilities?” I asked.

“No,” Hana shook her head, “That is from my class.”

“Oh, what class do you have? If you don’t mind me asking?” After seeing what she was capable of, I was more than a little curious.

Hana nodded, apparently quite aware of how impressive her ability is, “I was a Druid before accepting the promotion, so now I am an Arch Druid,” she replied matter of factly.

“WHAT?!” Nadine cried, spilling her own breakfast and rushing across the room, “Are you really an Arch Druid?!” She demanded, equal parts incredulous and excited.

“Yes?” Hana replied, warily edging away from her.

“That's a Master class!” Nadine declared excitedly, “No wonder it is so powerful!”

“I assume that Master comes after Advanced?” I asked curiously.

Nadine nodded, “They are exceptionally rare! Even amongst monsters! Although I suppose it would only make sense that a Dryad would unlock the druid classes. Even so! It is still incredibly impressive!”

Realizing that she was being praised, Hana squared her shoulders and straightened her back slightly, “Of course!” She preened, “In the wilds of the Labyrinth, the strength of a druid is largely without equal!”

Toofy distractedly watched the exchange briefly before noticing the scattered remains of Nadine’s breakfast and quickly scurried over to claim them before Shady or the Draptors had the chance.

“What sort of limits do you have with the ability?” I asked, already thinking of a few different things we could try.

Hana shrugged, “So long as the plants have access to sufficient nutrients and sunlight, just about anything is possible. Only, encouraging significant growth requires a lot of mana,” she stated pointedly.

“So we need to kill a bunch more monsters is what you're sayin?” Clarice noted.

Hana nodded, “Depending on the size of the settlement and defences desired to surround it,” she clarified.

“Well, I would rather be hunting monsters than uprooting and planting trees,” Clarice admitted, making it clear where her preferences for the day’s labour lay.

“Me too!” Emelia added hastily.

“Me as well!” Tobi joined in.

Why did this feel like a game of not it? It wasn’t like Tobi or Emelia could uproot even the smallest trees without spending a great deal of effort. So I wasn’t sure why they thought I would suggest they do it.

“Nadine, do you think you could chat with Hana and come up with some sort of plan for the settlement while I try sourcing some more trees?” I asked as I got to my feet and began to stretch.

Nadine nodded emphatically, “Sure! This is such an exciting opportunity! I've never had the chance to design a Settlement before!”

“Alright, well I guess that leaves mana stone harvesting to the six of you,” I motioned to Emelia, Clarice and Tobi before repeating the gesture with Thunder Thighs, Beaky and Shady. Talk about overkill, at least they should be safe with those numbers.

Lastly, turning to Toofy I decided to give her a choice, “Do you want to stay here and keep Hana and Nadine company, or help me pull up some trees?” I asked neutrally.

Toofy considered both choices for well over a minute, “Toofy stay,” she stated grudgingly.

I smiled and tousled Toofy’s hair, “You're being so responsible! Such a good girl Toofy!”

Toofy grinned and leaned into my hand, “Toofy good girl!” She parroted.

“Yes, you are!” I agreed.

With everyone now assigned their duties, we each began preparing to set out to get to it. Unfortunately for me, this meant I would be uprooting trees in my underwear.

Letting out a long sigh, I picked up my morningstar and spent a few minutes limbering up. My back was still a little stiff from yesterday and I hadn’t gotten any sleep last night, but rather surprisingly I was doing pretty alright all things considered. Descending the steps, I still couldn’t shake the feeling that I had forgotten something. Only vaguely aware that it was something important, I wracked my brain as I tried to think of what it was.

Then it hit me, it was the stairs! Hana hadn’t replaced the lower section of stairs again yet! I really wish I had remembered that little tidbit BEFORE falling face-first over the edge...