My surroundings warped around me as the cold dark mountain cave turned into a lush and full jungle. The nausea didn’t hit me nearly as hard this time, allowing me to experience the other sensations much more vividly.

It was odd, to go from freezing temperatures to something so tropical so fast. Not that it was a bad feeling, in fact, it was better than coming out of the freezing cold into a warm shower. Besides that, I felt almost weightless for a moment. Something I did not notice before. Maybe this teleporter had something to do with gravity manipulation?

I pushed that thought to the back of my head and scanned my surroundings. Nothing was recognizable, just as before. It had grown even wilder since my last visit and the paths I had carved before were swallowed up by vegetation.

Merely a moment later Rhea appeared behind me. Her face flushed red as she grasped her mouth, seemingly about to retch.

“You’ll get used to it.” I laughed. How often could I pretend to be more knowledgeable or experienced than Rhea in anything? I savored that moment briefly.

As soon as she had fought back the urge to vomit, her eyes darted around in curiosity, “Unbelievable,” she gasped.

The Adventurer’s Guild Master followed behind her closely. I was intrigued that he showed no sign of being nauseous. He looked perfectly calm, as if taking a stroll. “This is quite fascinating.” The Guild Master placed his hands behind his back while taking in the surroundings.

After him came the rest of Valkyrie members, almost every single one moving to the side to vomit. The scene was comical, three of us enjoying the scenery as if on vacation while multiple people heaved their lunch into the jungle grass.

“Do you feel anything Joseph?” The Adventurer’s Guild Master suddenly asked me.

“No beasts…” I said, “but even the plants here are alive.” I could feel them everywhere, signs of life. Their souls were not big, but it didn’t mean they weren’t dangerous.

We took in the surroundings for over a minute before more and more people started to come through the portal. It seemed they had waited to make sure nothing bad happened before daring to enter.

Some could hold their nausea, and others rushed to the side and began emptying the contents of their stomach. The area was growing crowded fast, and we would need to clear a path soon to keep moving.

I couldn’t help but think people were not respecting the West Abithos continent at all. Many had rushed directly up against the wildlife to hurl. There was no sense of caution or danger at all.

Almost immediately after I had that thought, a gigantic vine came rushing through the tree line for an unsuspecting victim: a middle-aged man dangerously close to the boundary of our little circle. He had just finished wiping his mouth after emptying his stomach.

It was fortunate for him that I had taken note of any particularly large plant life in the area. I could have warned him as soon as I saw him stray to the edge of our group, but I understood already how that would go.

I would be shooed away and told to mind my business. Everyone here was someone of status and prestige. Their arrogance was engraved into their bones. It was best to let him experience a bit of shock.

This was an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. Not only could I gain some goodwill, I could learn for myself just how the plant life attacked or reacted to foreign entities. Of course, I didn’t plan to let the man be maimed or die.

“Careful!” I yelled. I was actually already on my way to him before I shouted out, but this approach increased the sense of urgency by many times. He jerked to attention and saw me rushing at him, scythe extended and mid swing.

“What are yo…” The words didn’t finish coming from his mouth when he was forced to duck. My scythe came over his head and met the sturdy vine. The cut was clean but the resistance was tremendous. With a scythe of this much mana I would have had no problem cutting through metal, and yet if this vine had been a little bit thicker I wouldn’t have cut through it at all.

“Are you trying to kill me?” the middle-aged Adventurer shouted out loud. The plant’s attack had happened so soon after he had stopped retching that he did not realize what had transpired. I could not blame him though. These plants were very different from monsters with bloodlust.

“Not at all,” I said with hand outreached. He grasped it in confusion before standing up. It took him a moment to notice the long tentacle-like vine still squirming on the floor.

“Ah… Damn!” He jumped several feet away before piecing together what had happened. “What is that?”

“Some sort of plant that was trying to eat you I suppose.” Only after facing him did I see his emblem was that of the POWER guild.

“Guild leader? Are you okay?” someone asked.

So, even better, it actually turned out he was the guild leader of POWER. It seemed my play may have introduced me to a potential ally and a strong one.

“Yes, I’m fine.” He started to wipe his clothing off and regained a bit of composure. “Thank you, young man. Rhea is lucky to have you.”

Perhaps I shouldn’t have taken any risk at all, but the end result was a good one. It was likely he would have been able to ward off the vine himself with a bit of a struggle, but my quick reaction seemed to have won his favor. Moreover, it was a useful lesson generally: others who had watched the spectacle from start to finish would now realize the jungle itself might end up as being as dangerous as any monsters here.

It was hard to detect something that had almost no life force, no hostility, and no bloodlust. I, however, could at least tell there was a living plant present. Because of that, I had a humongous advantage here compared to the others in the raid.

“Alright, is everyone acclimated?” the Adventurer’s Guild Master spoke up. “We should scour the area and find a suitable place to set up camp. The assignments have been discussed beforehand, so every guild knows who they are partnering with.”

I found my place next to Rhea and watched as everyone shuffled to their respective groups. “Try to give a good impression,” Rhea suddenly said, “these Adventurers will be our partners in battle for the foreseeable future. We want comrades, not enemies.” I nodded in understanding.

It took a few minutes as people figured out where each guild was, and very soon I realized my gamble from before had paid off even more than expected. We had two partners, one of them being the POWER guild and the other a small guild called Misfits.

“Joseph, this is Corbin. He’s the guild master of POWER.”

I reached out my hand to shake his, “Feeling better than before?”

He scratched his head with his left hand while shaking with his right, “Yes, a bit better now, heheh.” His laugh became a chuckle of embarrassment.

Rhea looked at me as if to say ‘you two know each other?’ I could only shrug in response before facing the second person. “This is Vichi. She’s is the guild master of Misfits. Don’t underestimate her because she leads a small guild.”

“Nice to meet you.” I extended my hand and shook that of Vichi. Her hand was smooth, unlike that of Corbin, which immediately told me she was a spell caster of some kind. She gave me a very odd feeling that I couldn’t put my finger on.

“Nice to meet you as well.” Her voice was fairy-like. An enchanting and captivating quality that somehow enticed me to the point where goose bumps raced across my skin.

Rhea noticed my reaction and whispered into my ear, “Surprised eh? She’s the most gifted Enchanter in all of Yetera. Careful.” She spoke with a wink. I could only think one thing… dangerous.

“Let’s get moving everyone!” The Adventurer’s Guild Master called out, “we need something established before nightfall.”

I looked at Rhea, “We should go this way.” I pointed. It was the direction of my original discovery, and the place where Rhea’s ancestor had lived. It was possible we could find clues there.

The Adventurer’s Guild Master approached as groups started to depart in different directions. He nodded in understanding at everyone before looking at me with a stern face, “Be smart.”

“You’re not traveling with us?” I asked.

“I will be floating and doing my best to assist any group that needs help. I can’t baby you.” He lectured. I didn’t dare respond when he spoke like this, it was pointless to argue. I nodded in acceptance and waited to depart.

Rhea, Vichi, and Corbin began discussing amongst themselves while the rest of us waited just a few feet away. It felt weird to be packed in with people that could be old enough to be my father.

The age gap made it hard for me to feel comfortable speaking with any of these people, and my special status made them unsure on how to approach me. Fortunately, there were a few that looked only 5 or 6 years older than me. They were all in the Misfits guild.

Vichi didn’t look much older than me at all, actually. I couldn’t be sure if that was a special perk of her being an Enchanter or not. The word dangerous crossed my mind again before I shook it off and tried to focus on the mission ahead.

“Alright, we’ll be heading this way.” Rhea said. “Corbin will be leading the front and clearing a path. Everyone else will remain closely behind.” Corbin pulled out a large sword at her words and started to haphazardly slash into the wilderness.

I had to admit, his brute force was frightening. He didn’t need more than two slashes per obstacle to slowly carve a path forward. We were traveling in the direction I had pointed out to Rhea. No doubt she informed them of it as well.

Not only were we looking for a reasonable place to put up camp, discovering a ruin was definitely a high priority. Society had declined since being pushed off the West Abithos continent and knowledge of magic and spells had as well. Finding lost records could make you rich or increase your power level in one swoop.

We hadn’t been walking for more than five minutes when I heard that alluring voice sound out behind me, “Hey Joseph.”

I suddenly had chills run up my back and was scared to turn around. I decided to pretend I hadn’t heard her.

That wasn’t going to fly, apparently as someone called. “Hey kid. She is speaking to you.”

My head turned slowly as I tried to put on a calm façade. If Isabelle had achieved a captivating quality like this she would have conquered a continent already. I was on full defense.

“Yes? What do you need?”

“Come, stand back here.” And then Vichi beckoned to her side.

My mind was screaming internally. WHAT TRICK IS SHE PLAYING? “Right, no problem.” I said stiffly. My body felt like wood as I fumbled over. But when I reached her, Vichi simply stopped speaking and said nothing at all.

I found it hard to concentrate but it didn’t seem like she was up to any funny business. My attention quickly returned back to the path ahead. The direction we were traveling had a few beasts dotted in the distance as well as dangerous plant life all over.

“Careful!” I shouted.

“Watch out!” And just after I had called out, so had Vichi. She somehow reacted at the same time as me.

Our alert allowed Corbin to prepare himself. A trunk-sized vine with a razor sharp tip smashed into his two-handed sword, sending his feet digging into the jungle floor.

The pressure on him was immense despite his humungous strength. He managed to tilt his body slightly and slice upward as the vine pushed past his chest into open air. “God damn, those are strong as hell.” He shook one of his hands.

There was a large explosion of energy from the opposite direction to that we had traveled. It seems the other groups were also facing battles. The battle for ground had begun.

As we kept walking the signatures of strong beasts started to dot the distance. We were approaching the place where I had discovered the signboard for Fresey. Ideally we could clear the area there and search.

With no immediate threat, I began to wander how Vichi had anticipated that attack at the same time as me. It seemed she was thinking the same thing as me, “Joseph, what set you off there?”

“Think it was a good guess.” I lied. “And you?”

“Well, enchanters receive a certain level of affection from all living things. That makes me particularly sensitive to these things. Even plants exhibit an emotion. It might not be bloodlust, but I could feel the hunger behind that attack.” I actually felt bad from holding back after hearing her explanation, as she had been sincere in her response.

For now though, I needed to keep my abilities a secret as to keep myself protected. World-ending apocalypse or not, the Tyrant guild would find me a considerable threat and would do anything in their power to eliminate me if they knew the finer details.

We didn’t have to walk much further before coming to an opening. It wasn’t the exact place I had seen recently, but it was clearly a ruins of some kind and the thickness of the jungle greatly diminished.

Instead, flowers, mushrooms, and weeds the size of humans filled the area in various parts. There were even enormous insects traveling from flower to flower. Occasionally a plant with terrible looking teeth or an extendable vine-like tongue would suck up an insect, whose struggles only lasted a moment before all that could be seen was a dark shadow trapped inside the plant’s maw.

“How do we proceed?” someone asked. This place seemed to be a no-man’s land considering the lack of animal activity.

I could sense monsters just on the opposite side, but none dared to stray too close to this area. Some of these plants were man eating, even the mushrooms that seemed completely still had small signatures. It was possible they were poisonous, or exploded, or did any number of deadly things.

“Let’s just cut it all down.” Corbin suggested with a wave of his sword.

“Not a good idea.” This was from a black-haired girl I’d noticed called Annetta. “It doesn’t look like we’ll even be able to get close.” As she said that another vine-like tongue shot from the mouth of a distant flower and pulled in a dog-sized insect.

Corbin winced at the sight, “Seems I can’t use brute force like I normally do. Any ideas?”

“Let’s go with fire magic.” Rhea suggested. “Torch the lot of em.” She had an oddly destructive side despite being a renowned high priest. I agreed with her suggestion.

“How many mages do we have?” Rhea started to count the heads trying to remember every single person’s role. “I think three, maybe four if we count Joseph.”

“I have some fire magic I can cast,” I said. Cremation would still be pretty useful for roasting some stationary plants.

“Alright, let’s get moving then. Torch a path ahead.”

The four of us moved to the front and started to burn everything in the path. Even the jungle grass below was not spared. The smoke was unbearable as the wet and green plant life burned up.

The crackling was mixed with a mournful and low screeching. As the jungle grass below disappeared we could see a vast network of thick green vines. They began digging themselves deeper into the soil to avoid the heat.

After thirty seconds we came across the first large mushroom. It was a mixture of brown and red with spore holes all over. I cast Cremation directly beneath it as the others bombarded it with fire spells.

It was surprisingly resilient to the heat, and did not show signs of burning up at all. The stem began to sway slightly as the plume morphed in an odd way. It was expanding and contracting oddly as if letting out steam from the sheer heat.

“No good! Place a barrier!” Vichi suddenly yelled. I could see nothing wrong, but Rhea did not hesitate in the slightest.

“Barrier!” Immediately after that, the mushroom expanded one more time. The entire plume grew rapidly before exploding. Mushroom spores rocketed through the air ripping holes through every plant and trunk in the area.

The places that touched those spores started to sizzle and melt as extreme poison melted everything. “Back up!” Rhea yelled. The barrier had managed to block the initial projectiles, but it was quickly starting to melt away. Little spores fell to the ground below and exuded a terrible poison.

Everyone rushed back dozens of feet back. By then, it was already too late for one warrior as a member of POWER fell to his knees and started to vomit aggressively. Veins bulged up his neck and his face turned a terrible shade of purple.

“Wind magic, now!” Corbin yelled. Those gifted in it sent gusts of wind down our corridor and hoped to disperse any poisonous fumes in the air. Rhea kneeled down and immediately began treating the sole member afflicted with the poison. In the end, a Panacea was required. That alone was not enough to recover him fully and Rhea continued to slowly heal him.

“Are you okay?” Rhea asked.

“I still can’t feel my extremities. My fingers and toes are completely numb,” he confessed.

“If the poison itself isn’t enough to kill you, being completely paralyzed should do the trick.” Someone joked. It didn’t seem like the numbness was going to save him with how quickly his body was changing colors.

“I think I can move again,” he said after about fifteen minutes.

The spores ahead weren’t exuding nearly as much fumes as before. “Torch them again and let’s continue.” Rhea said. Time was of the essence, and we merely had a few hours left to secure some sort of base camp.