"Look, I will do this concession. We'll go past the lizardmen, trying to find out what drove them away, and we'll keep an eye open for the guard's quest on our way. No delays, no wide searches, no stirring off our path, but if we happen to run near something suspicious, we give it a look."

"I still don't see why we don't do the quicker and easier one first, and then see if we have time and energy to do the more troublesome one."

"That's out of the question altogether! We really need to farm xp as fast as possible if we need to survive. Especially you who suck and are still even below level 10!"

"Wait... I lost you. It's not like we'll die if we're not on the top. It's. Just. A. Game."

"What? What are YOU talking about? We need to level up hardcore for the cataclysm."

"Meh, cataclysms happen when RealWorld ends, I'm pretty sure we have plenty of years ahead of..."

"YOU! You haven't read ANYTHING on the forums?"

Forums? Pretty sure there wasn't anything about cataclysms when I looked there the last time...

"Like what?"

Spitha covered her face with both hands, taking big breaths, like trying to calm down, before she removed them and looked straight at me.

"Listen, later, after we're done rushing the quests, take a minute to go over to the forums and read what the developers posted. For now, just accept that the whole server is in countdown mode."

"Wait, what? If anything that dire happened they would have made an announcement or something."

"THEY CAN'T! It's all in their post. Seriously, Keros, back me up on this!"

"Erm, brother... she's right. But more importantly, we are wasting so much time arguing instead of rushing to save our village and the poor boy!"

"Whatever guys... Let's grab something to eat and then let's go with whatever route you guys decide."

I had the feeling that Spitha's gaze would pierce my skull the way she looked at me.

"You're... you're serious?!"

"Well, I haven't eaten yet and it's lunch time! I'll even have time to check the forums while we're at it!"

"...Keros, share the quests and let's go. If the leecher wants to come, so be it, if not, who cares? We've wasted a ton of time already."

And with that, she turned on the spot and started walking away. How rude! The elf looked at me for a bit, unsure what to do, but ultimately, the quest sharing window popped up and, he too, turned and rushed to catch up with her. Damn... There goes my lunch time. Naturally, I jogged to catch up with them.

"Heeeey! Guys? Wait for me!"

Thankfully for me, the fast pace we used to cross the forest close to the village wasn't conducive to small talk. I had to move in silence just to keep up with their, almost running, speed. For half an hour, the only words we exchanged were me asking for her staff to inscribe it.

Slowly, the terrain changed. The trees gradually got shorter, but the forest in general much thicker, with almost no open space in between them. The colors grew darker, and the flowers started giving way to more woody, thick shrubs blocking our advance and dropping our speed. The humidity rose to a frightening degree, which, paired with our speed and exertion, caused our clothes to start clinging, full of sweat, on our bodies.

"We're entering the lizardmen territory," Keros muttered as he came to a halt. "I'll be searching for the guard's son, so I'll be half blind from now on."

"Eh?"

"I'll be giving my sight to mother nature to scout areas a bit further away."

"Oh! You mean those creepy tree eyes?"

"Yeah."

I wonder...

"Give me a second to try something as well."

And with that, I summoned Windy-chan using extra skills and intelligence as her options. Her tiny and cheerful voice accompanied her curtsy.

"Hiya master! Thanks for setting me free!"

"Hello to you too Windy-chan. Do you mind telling me your abilities?"

"I can fly, I can play, I can spin and I can tumble! I can talk, I can sing, I can cheer and I can..."

"I meant the more useful ones, like attacks, magic, and such."

"Boo! Master, you're no fun. But OK!" And she gave me a tiny thumbs up. "I can attack suuuuuper fast, I can evade even arrows in mid-flight, I can turn invisible, even incorporeal for a tiny amount of time, and due to my flight I have excellent mobility!"

"Ok, ok, nice. Can you track me?"

"I always know towards where you are, yes!"

"Good... Now, listen. I will summon a few more of your sisters, and all of you will canvas the area to my left for a wounded elf. Turn invisible to avoid combat. And return to me if you find him. Can you do that?"

"...Master?"

"Yes?"

"What is an elf?"

I facepalmed as I turned towards the rest of the party, only to see Keros staring at me with his mouth agape and Spitha with her eyes wide open.

"That's... THAT'S CHEATING! Nice!"

"Brother..."

"Ok Windy-chan, what am I?"

"You are master!"

"And what are they?" I asked pointing towards the other two.

"Monsters!"

"Ok... How about that then. This one," and I pointed towards Keros "Is an elf. Two hands and legs and pointy ears. Can you search for a wounded one?"

"Yes master!"

I instructed Keros to focus on our right, and the four elementals to search on our left as we moved. And then resumed our march, ignoring Spitha's comments about cheating.

Our pace had dropped noticeably, not only due to the terrain getting rougher to navigate but also because Keros kept stumbling on logs and branches as he walked like he was half-blind, with his perception switched to the wooden eyes. At least pathfinder helped with actually finding the easiest forest paths to navigate through. Which obviously put me in the front of our formation, allowing me to set the pace to a more comfortable one.

And ultimately, after a bit more trudging through, my ears picked up weird noises ahead of us.

I notified the other two with the universal hand sign for silence and started sneaking towards the noise.

I had to prove that I wasn't just a leech. I had shown my utility with the elementals, and my support with the inscriptions. It was time to also show my actual fighting capabilities.

I moved closer, finally seeing two large figures in front of me. The lizardmen were quite big, about two meters high, and full of muscles. Their thick, oily, gray skin glistened with moisture as their long, meaty, tails, lazily wavered left and right behind them, almost like sweeping the forest floor in the process.

Apart from their tail, the second distinct feature was their crocodile-like head. As the lizardmen were arguing about something in their weird language, their huge muzzle kept opening, revealing a row of dagger sharp teeth. In their hands, long tridents were being waved around.

I took a big breath as I readied myself to sneak closer to use my opener when a loud, crystal clear, voice sounded behind me.

"Burn baby burn, DOUBLE!"

The moment Spitha finished shouting, both monsters were engulfed in flames.

They instantly turned and charged towards us letting out a gurgling shout.

"Fwoosh, boom! Fwoosh, boom! Fwoosh boom! Fwoosh..."

Every time the word boom echoed next to me, a slim flaming arrow was launched towards the advancing lizardmen, exploding with a small flash on contact.

Before I could correct the grip of the dagger on my hand, securing it to be ready to intercept the monsters, a twig arrow flew above my head.

Vines erupted around them, rooting them in place, as flame and wooden arrows kept flying, bringing both poor targets down.

It wasn't even ten seconds from the start when the lizardmen finally collapsed... I haven't even landed a single blow!

Spitha shot me a look full of contempt, making me really feel like a leecher, but didn't push further. Although there was one thing I was unsure of...

"You don't even have to chant for your spells? How is that fair?!"

"What are you talking about! I properly chanted, I said so many Fwoosh booms!"

"...that's nothing like the game's chants?"

"Well duh! That's my unique skill, gained through many trials and combinations! Instead of using the retarded game chants, I make my own. The length and the intensity regulate the casting speed, the mana cost, and the power of the actual spell. Plus, I don't need to memorize gibberish."

"And the game actually recognizes something as retarded as Fwoosh boom as a chant?!!!"

"Of course, it has crappy intensity though, but excellent speed and ridiculously low cost."

"...Still doesn't sound like a chant."

"Oh yeah? Then let me show you on the next group what a 'proper' chant sounds like." She finished with a hrumph as she put her hands on her waist.

The next group wasn't that far away. The three lizardmen were too busy digging a hole to notice us as we approached.

I stealthed once more and instantly started moving towards them, determined to at least put a hit in before the real monsters behind me butchered them. This time, I listened to something resembling an actual chant.

"Flames of the abyss obey me. Douse my foes in my pure hatred. Let the raging inferno devour their flesh like..."

By this time, the lizardmen were already almost next to me as they were rushing towards the, almost screaming, mage behind me. I jumped out of stealth, pouncing on one of them using my opener, trying to block their advance, and almost getting trampled by them as they ignored me. Keros managed to root one of them, and I had to burn my provoke on the last one who broke through the elf's vines.

I switched hatred control to produce more aggro as I tried to keep their attention on me while Spitha kept sprouting nonsense. A trident pierced my thigh, almost knocking me over as the pain surged. Dodging and blocking like my life depended on it, I finally heard Spitha finishing her yell.

"...unending torment. LET. THEM. BURN."

The next second, all three of them screamed as they become enveloped in a sheath of white-hot flames, almost a full meter thick. Despite me jumping away as fast as I could, the mere presence of the flames seared my hair and my skin almost burst into flames as well.

Seconds later, all three lizardmen were reduced to an ashen dust, their steel tridents warped from the heat.

Spitha was still panting for breath as she smugly sneered towards me.

"Is this a proper enough chant for you?"

"...what was that?! You almost burned ME alive!"

"Nah, it would only deal lethal damage to those I considered enemies. And that was the same exact, level 3 Burn talent, that I used before. Although this one took 300 mana and the last one 20..."

"...You actually managed to turn chuuni into an actual skill!"

"It's not chuuni! "

"Yeah... right."

"By the way guys, you two take care of the next pack, I'm all out of mana..."

Sigh... At least I'll get to actually fight this time.

We kept going forward, but after that little show-off incident, she returned to her normal self, vaporizing enemies before I could even get two good hits off. I did feel exactly like I was carried, apart from a few occasions I actually had to fight as she was conserving her mana, and while yes, I was getting free xp, it also felt like my skills would start to lag behind from leveling up without using them.

I was quite sure that at this point I was relegated to just be the guy who finds an easier moving path for the party and occasionally sends wind elementals out in vain searches for a quest. My battle potential nowhere near those two. At least, a good one hour later, one Windy-chan returned with news of having found some wounded elves. We followed her to a small clearing, where three elves were left dead, pierced by tridents all over their bodies. According to Keros, none of them was the guard's son though.

We got ready to leave when I noticed something weird with the ground. Almost as if someone tried to erase a path. Obviously, I started tracking down the path, and I got rewarded a few meters away when the one erasing it had failed to clear a few solid drops of blood. I looked over my shoulders, towards the others, and they both nodded to continue on. I moved on, slowly tracking, until in the distance I could clearly see a weird looking tree, all withered and dry, but on it's sloped trunk, it was almost as if someone had thrown an upended bush right on top of it.

I pointed to the other two to get in fighting positions as I slowly advanced. Carefully, I removed the bush and instantly rolled backwards, gaining as much distance as I could, and giving clear shots to my party simultaneously. Obviously, both were equally useless. Yes, the bushes covered a hole that revealed the hollow of the trunk, but inside, the only thing visible was an unconscious elf.

We managed to pull the elf out, and Keros identified him as our target. His wounds were sloppily dressed, and he was cold to the touch, but somehow, still living. Keros proceeded to pour two healing potions into the elf's mouth before he finally regained his senses, his wounds miraculously closing rapidly as the potion took effect. His first instincts, as he opened his eyes, were to try to jump away, but thankfully, Keros' grip was much stronger than his, holding him in place until his brain finally caught up with what he was seeing.

"What... what happened? Who are you people?"

"The cavalry."

"Huh?"

"Nevermind her, we were sent by your father to get you out of here alive. Seems we actually did it!"

"Young one, are you ok? Are you still feeling unwell? I still have some poti..." Keros' speech was interrupted as Spitha blocked his mouth with her hand, resulting in a tiny brawl in between them, and giving me time to actually speak with the elf.

"So, you're feeling ok now? Do you need to be escorted back?"

Please say no! I HATE escort quests!

"My father sent you? What about my friends, my party... anyone made it alive in the village?"

"Not that I know off... three guys were dead where we picked up your trail..."

"Yeah, we four tried to give time to the rest of the party, I was the last man standing, and crawled away from there. But we did manage to give them enough time! No one else made it back to the village?!"

"..."

"Shit! Fuck! Tell you what, I can handle myself, and I need to hurry back and report what we found, but if you promise to get revenge for us, by butchering as many of these beasts as you can, I promise to give you something good."

Quest: Lizardmen hunt

Kill at least twenty lizardmen warriors and bring proof back to Kfadish. Accept? Y/N

Looking backwards, Spitha was giving me a thumbs up with one hand, while she was still using the second one to block Keros' mouth.

Simultaneously, my own hand grabbed the elf that was getting ready to leave.

"Waitwaitwait!"

"What?! I really need to hurry and report back into the village."

"Yeah, it's about that. What was so crucial that you four had to die to give time for others to go to the village and report?"

"...that's confidential."

"Bullshit confidential!"

He still seemed to struggle to tell me.

"Look here kid, you may die BEFORE you reach the village. You're the last of your group. Do you really want your knowledge to die with you? Will you risk that?"

Finally! He sighed as he started speaking.

"We were sent by the elders to check on the undines. The water spirits were always the natural border between our territory and lizardfolk. Somehow managing to keep a neutral relationship with those beasts. With the lizardmen invading, we were sent to see why the undines allowed that."

"And?"

"And there were none. All undines have disappeared. There isn't a single one of them. Moreover, there isn't a single evidence of a battle happening. It's like they simply, *poof*, disappeared."

"First of all, it's retarded to think that's confidential. Anyone walking towards the lizardfolk would have noticed that. Secondly, wait a minute."

He tilted his head puzzled as I summoned four new, hour long and smart, Windy-chans and instructed them to accompany the elf back towards the village.

"Basically, use them to scout and safely move around. They should last long enough to get out of the spooky-forest and into the happy-elf-forest." I finished my instructions to the young elf.

As the elf left, Spitha looked at me with a puzzled look.

"Why you do this? You keep using your offensive skill for stuff like scouting, even granting him an escort now?! What if we need those elementals for, oh I don't know, BATTLE?"

"What are you saying sister?! We should have helped the young one even more! I still don't get why you didn't let me give him my potions!"

"Shut up Keros, if you want to give the potions somewhere, I'll gladly take them instead of the elf. As for you Spitha, THINK! Did you get xp for finding the elf?"

"No?"

"And why was that? We needed to get him back home, not just find him. Now, I'm all for going back, escorting him, and then having a good, hot lunch in the inn. But you guys went all crazy with quest this, xp that, forums, and etc. So, isn't it faster to just sacrifice ONE offensive skill, of the worst dps of the party, to not have to walk BACK to the village and BACK here again and basically fail our second quest?"

"..." She stared at me blankly. I mean, how could she NOT have figured it out?

"...We could still give him some potions."

""Shut up Keros!""

"Now, guys, obviously, we not only got an extra quest, but I assume that whatever we're looking for has also something to do with the Undine disappearing. Maybe we can score a bit extra xp finding that out too. BUT..." And this time I slowly and purposefully sat down.

"First we eat! Not only I'm starving, but we also managed to somehow do one of the quests without losing that much time! I. EARNED. MY. LUNCH!"