From where he was standing, Saul could see the group of murlocs as they ran at him. Three of them were still in the water, while the fourth was running along the riverbank. Despite the clear water, he had been unable to see the monsters until they popped out of the water and began their attack. ‘Maybe they have some sort of camouflage? I’d better…’ “Track murloc!”

Suddenly, he got a sense of the monsters. There were several signals nearby, but the ones that were the closest were the four charging him from about two hundred yards away. ‘Stay calm. Let’s just take this one at a time. From this range I should be able to…’ He drew in a deep breath, steadying himself and lining up his shot. By the time he released the arrow, the murlocs had probably gotten 30 yards closer. The arrow thudded into the head of the monster on the shore, causing its health bar to display and showing damage by roughly halving the red bar. ‘Nice. You’re first.’ He drew another arrow. Deep breath. Draw. Aim. Hold. Release… Hit. The murloc’s health went to 0 and it stumbled, falling onto its face. The other three were only about 120 yards away at this point. ‘I could kill one… Or I could hurt all three… Hm. Sounds better.’

He pulled another arrow and aimed toward the beasts, firing at the nearest. The arrow missed the critical threshold, thudding into the murloc’s chest, but it still reduced its health by about a third. ‘Good enough… next.’ His fingers found another arrow, and as easy as breathing he sent it towards the second closest murloc. This arrow flew true and buried itself in the beast’s head, halving its health bar. One left. They were only about 40 yards away from him at this point. He nocked, aimed, and loosed an arrow at the last murloc, then dismissed his bow and arrow.

With a thought, his spear fell comfortably into his hands and he took his stance, sinking low in preparation for combat. ‘Basi, handle whichever one gets to me last.’ He commanded along his bond.

“MMGRLRLLL!!!” The murlocs cried as they got into melee range. The first one was holding a spear. He was huge compared to the others, almost as tall as Saul himself. The murloc extended his spear in a thrust, and Saul’s body moved on instinct. He brought his spear down in a parry that knocked the amphibian’s thrust off course, then pulled his spear back with his lead hand while pushing forward with his off hand in a powerful strike. The blow hit the murloc in the face, powerful enough to knock it back but not doing a terrible amount of damage.

‘Must be resistant to crushing damage or something. Good thing I plan to stick him with the pointy end.’ He didn’t have much time to consider his next course of action, however, as the next closest murloc reached him with a similarly fierce cry. This one held a fierce, if primitive looking club made of a thick oak branch with a jagged rock lashed to the end. Before the murloc could swing its weapon at Saul, he danced forward with his spear at the ready, pressing forward in a skillful jab that caught the monster’s leg. His hit must have done a fair bit of damage, as that health bar registered about a quarter at this point.

Saul jumped back to put some distance between him and his opponents, eyeing them warily as they gathered themselves and prepared to charge again. He checked his track skill as he watched them, feeling for other murlocs - There weren’t any that seemed to be approaching at this point. ‘That’s good at least. Man I love this skill.’

He heard and felt Basi engaging the third murloc, the sounds of the lizard hissing and the sensation of the beast’s aggression flowing across their bond in waves. He could almost feel the way his lizard fought - A bite here or a swipe with his claws there. Basi was growing rather fierce, so Saul trusted him to handle the murloc.

As the murlocs charged again, Saul danced forward to meet them. The one with the spear had some skill, but compared to Bardal his technique seemed amateurish. Saul feinted as if to attack low, and when the murloc lowered his spear as if to block, Saul exploded forward and buried his spearhead in the murloc’s chest. He yanked backwards on the weapon quickly, allowing him to bring it up overhead in time to block the blow from the murloc wielding the club.

‘Jesus!’ Saul thought as he absorbed the blow, his body shaking. ‘I thought fish people were supposed to be physically weak.’ He grinned in the murloc’s face and then brought his head forward in a headbutt, hitting it in its ugly face.

Its healthbar didn’t change. His did, reduced by a sliver. ‘Okay, note to self: Don’t headbutt the ugly frog monsters.’ The beast growled at him and tried to bite him. “Ah, ah, ah, you forgot the magic word.” He teased, bringing his foot up to kick the beast backwards and give him some distance to use his spear. His health bar was at about 60%. The big ugly one was around 40%. The one that tried to bite him was close to 50%. ‘Should be fine. I’ll handle the one with the club first, then I can use the big one for more practice.’

With a plan in mind, he crept forward, crouched low and in perfect balance. The big murloc charged at him, swinging its spear more like a club. Saul ducked below the swing and stuck his spear out at knee height, tripping the beast to take it out of the equation for the moment. He moved into an attack against the murloc with a club, using his superior reach to stab at the murloc over and over.

It did what it could to block his spear with its club, so Saul began to mix feints in. He’d feint high then stab low, or feint low and stab high. Before long, he landed a blow that was fatal for the murloc, its health dropping to 0. He yanked his spear free and looked in Basi’s direction to find his lizard eating… Was that the corpse of the third murloc? Disgusting… He shook his head and turned to face the spear wielder. He sank low into a stance, lifting his lead hand from his spear and making a beckoning gesture. The murloc took bait, moving forward more cautiously than it had before. It seemed to realize his superior skills, but it was still willing to fight him - He didn’t blame it.

He could tell he was better with the spear than it, but their difference in talent wasn’t actually that great. The reason he was doing so well against it was because he’d been sparring with a true master of the spear mere hours ago.

Compared to Bardal, it was like the murloc didn’t even know what a spear was. Saul could see the weaknesses in its attacks because of the perfection he’d experienced recently. The beast got close enough for him to strike, so Saul moved first. Stepping forward powerfully, he leaned forward and launched a sweeping attack at the murloc’s legs from its right side.

The murloc leaped over the attack, a surprisingly good dodge from the monster. Saul stepped inside, following his attack by pressing forward with his backhand, knocking the monster back with the shaft of the weapon. He stepped back again, watching as the beast came at him once more.

Saul settled into a defensive stance at this point. He could practice with the beast, and he had Basi nearby if he needed help. ‘Basi, keep an eye on things. If I look like I’m in trouble, dinner’s served.’ A flash through their bond indicated that the lizard understood the gist of what he was saying.

As the murloc came forward, he parried. It attacked again, and he parried again. It tried to rush forward, closing the distance to use its bite, but Saul kept his spear point between the Murloc and himself at all times. He spent the better part of ten minutes fending off the murloc, before he saw its movements beginning to grow sluggish. It must have been getting worn out.

He couldn’t blame it. He’d be discouraged after all those attacks and no success. As the murloc stabbed forward once more, he decided to put it out of his misery, ducking low and lunging forward in a counterattack that caught the monster in its neck. Its health bar drained to 0 in an instant and it dropped its spear, dying without so much as a whimper.

Exp gained: 1600!(400x4)

Saul smiled to himself and checked the loot bags, not finding anything of note in any of them. He pictured a pill of minor healing appearing in his hand and it left his inventory to appear in his hand. He popped it into his mouth and chewed on it slowly, watching as his health bar increased slowly. It got close to full before the pill seemed to wear off.

‘Come on Basi, let’s get a drink and head out.’ He let his spear return to his inventory and then returned to the riverbank. He could feel the murlocs presence, he could tell they were far enough away that they weren’t likely to be a problem. ‘They must have a village down the bank somewhere. I’m not sure why I can’t see it. Some sort of magic? Oh well, not my problem…’

He drank his fill and then turned back toward the trail, continuing along it with Basi by his side. This part was almost worse than the battle. Despite his strength increase - According to the stats, he was well over twice as strong as he had been when he arrived - It still took a lot of effort to climb the steep trail. Before long, beads of sweat were rolling down his face, his arms and legs saturated despite the cool air.

After he’d been hiking for a few hours, Saul looked up at the sky to check how much daylight was left - It seemed like it was sometime in the mid afternoon. Up ahead, he saw a spot in the trail that seemed wider than the rest. He was more than ready for some rest, breathing heavily and sweating more than a little. He moved over there and took a seat on the smoothest looking rock. He looked up and down the trail for anyone else, and not seeing anyone, he reached into his inventory and withdrew some rations.

He had some travel rations from the Slime Villagers left over. They were fairly small, about half the size of a sandwich, and nutrient dense. They tasted like chalk, but they went down quick and easy. He felt full afterward, so he couldn’t complain.

He waited there for about ten minutes, and he was almost done with his rest when he saw an adventurer making their way up the trail. They were walking alone, holding a large wooden staff that seemed to scream “I’m a wizard!” Right now, though, it just seemed like a pragmatic choice, the staff being used as a walking stick to help reduce the knee strain the trail would cause on an inexperienced hiker.

The stranger wore a large gray cloak that covered most of their body, and had a hood that was currently up. At the current hour, the sun was descending over the other side of the mountain range, so the shadows were growing longer. That made it impossible to see their face.

Not quite ready to move on, Saul decided to give a friendly greeting, “Hello, friend! Have you come from the Dwarf village?” The person seemed to start, their hood moving upwards slightly as they apparently changed their focus and saw him sitting there. “Oh, hi there! I didn’t see you. I always watch every step when I’m on a trail, never know when you might trip and fall off. There aren’t exactly guard rails here, and I’d hate to be the first guy who falls to death in the dungeon.”

Saul blinked. That was quite the chatty barrage. Not quite what he’d been expecting. “Yes, well, that wouldn’t be good. It’s probably a good idea to watch your step. I’m from the city and don’t have much experience with mountains, these trails have been brutal for me.”

The Adventurer nodded as if in understanding, though he really didn’t seem to be having much, if any, trouble with the trail. “I’m on my way to the next level. The dwarves mentioned that the gateway was somewhere along this pass. I feel like I may have passed it, but who knows, really?” Saul nodded and started to respond, before the man continued, “Of course I found this level kind of strange. Not nearly enough monsters here, if you ask me. On the prairie I feel like there were monsters all over the place, but here… I saw a few corpses back by the river, but up here? What sort of beast could attack?”

Before Saul could respond, a screeching cry rang out from above as if in answer to the man’s question. Two large creatures descended from the sky, bat-like wings flapping powerfully to keep them hovering. They screeched in challenge as a health bar appeared overhead. ‘Hellbat, Level 7’. Saul had to admit, the name seemed to fit. They were roughly the size of a man, with giant talons at the ends of their wings, and they did resemble a bat. He stood and summoned his bow, preparing to fire at the monsters

While Saul processed everything, the Adventurer was busy grumbling under his breath, “Of course, the second I say anything they…” Saul couldn’t hear the rest, but he assumed it was further complaints. The man lifted his staff and seemed to concentrate for a moment, before a bright red beam of light shot forth and engulfed the bat on the left. It seemed to scream, and then a moment later it vanished, totally vaporized.

‘Whoa!’ Saul thought. He drew an arrow from his quiver and let loose. Before his arrow hit the beast, the wizard had let loose another beam of destruction, this one causing a tremendous amount of damage to the monster but not quite killing it. Its health bar was critical when Saul’s arrow took it in the chest, killing it.

‘Exp gained! Your contribution: 4%’ Saul let his weapon vanish from his hands, ‘That’s interesting. I guess I only get full experience for a shared kill if we’re partied up.’ The Adventurer spoke up at that moment, “I guess there are bats here. Thanks for the help, by the way. I’m Ishan.” He ambled in Saul’s direction, hand extended in greeting.

“Saul, pleasure to meet you. That was a pretty handy spell!” He grasped Ishan’s hand in a firm shake. The wizard laughed softly, “Yes, it’s powerful. I don’t have a ton of mana at the moment, though. I only have a few good shots without a mana pill or potion.”

‘His spells seem much stronger than Edwin’s, but he can’t cast as many. Good thing I didn’t go with a caster class. I’d hate to worry about mana.’ Speaking up, he said, “Well, we’re both heading the same way. How would you like to team up until we reach the gate or possibly even beyond it?”

The man nodded, “I’d like that.” At that, Saul spoke up, “Party invite: Ishan!” Ishan’s health and mana bars became visible to Saul, who could see the mana bar was about half empty but filling at a fairly fast pace. They set off down the trail, encountering a few more of the flying monsters here and there, but between Saul’s bow and Ishan’s beam of destruction they weren’t much of a threat.

Before long, they turned the last corner in the mountain pass and saw the end of the canyon ahead. Across from them, they could see the vague impression of a great forest with massive trees. The trees couldn't be made out with any real detail, but they were larger than anything Saul had seen before.

'A forest level or something like it. Interesting.' As they got closer to the gate, the level of detail behind it didn't increase much at all. Just like before, it was like the gate was the only passageway through which the forest could be accessed. The gate stood in the middle of the path, without any way to go to the left or right.

Before long, they arrived in front of the gate. Without any hesitation, they stepped through the portal to Level III.