They’re too fast. I need a new plan.

Robin leapt backwards, his sword whipping in an arc in front of him.

“Shining Trail!”

He felt his MANA depleting as he waved the sword back and forth, leaving two silver lines glowing in the air. The rubbery-armed thing screamed at him with vocal cords that sounded raw and ragged, sudden, sheer inarticulate rage. It rushed directly at Robin, oblivious to the glowing lines, an elongated hand swinging out to slam into his head. Robin stepped backwards even as he knew it was too late, feeling a thud on the top of his head. He saw the creature backing away, but the weight remained. The smell of fresh-cut grass was overpowering.

That… didn’t hurt…?

Robin felt the weight slide off and fall to the ground. What he supposed had to be a Tweaker Mage started a new kind of shrieking, this one a low keening that reset itself in meaty-sounding gasps for air.

The creature had swung at the Shining Trail hard enough to sever its own arm.

These things are kind of ...stupid. Why was May so afraid of these? Sure, they are pretty fast, but they should be easy enough for her to bait into traps, especially with her class.

The silver lines began to fade. Robin lashed out with his curved sword anytool, slashing at the chest of the creature, but it was already falling back, the low keening cry disappearing into the brush. Robin spat on the

Robin lifted his sword just in time to ward off a Tweaker Mage rushing at him from the corner of this vision.

I do not think I could have reacted quickly enough to that one if it hadn’t been so far away… I need to have a better plan, or at least some battlefield control.

The wretched snarl of a human face was looking directly into his eyes now. Robin could see the bloodshot, stretched orbs twitching wildly over his form after he made brief eye contact, and then it rushed at him, claws held out to the sides like a monster from an old movie chasing the damsel.

Two pink claws snapped down from the trees above, ripping the Tweaker Mage up into the leaves in a burst of speed that startled even the monster. It shrieked, struggling wildly, but the skriek was cut off moments later with a wet crunch.

Robin stepped forward, moving underneath the area where Opal had been. Might as well make it easier on her to defend me… even if I might get dripped on.

Robin never got a chance to see the origin of the third yell, as May emerged from the direction it had come from, her machete dripping black, oily blood. She held a finger to her lips as she moved closer.

As she approached Robin, she glanced up into the trees where Opal was currently eating. Robin couldn’t see his familiar at all through the tree cover, but May seemed to be able to notice her presence immediately.

“Opal killed one of the Tweaker Mages, one ran away after I chopped its hand off, and… you got the other?” he asked hopefully.

She nodded slowly, and then shook her head.

“These aren’t… well, weren’t Tweaker Mages. Did you feel the bugs?”

Robin nodded emphatically. “It was itchy while they were around. I think they were cutting plants or something. I cannot get the taste out of my mouth, like I just walked through a yard that was actively being mowed while chewing aspirin.”

She nodded, closing her eyes for a moment.

“Just itchy?”

“...yes, just itchy. My skin was crawling.”

“Yeah, no. They weren’t Tweaker Mages. They might have been their kids or their young or spawn or whatever they do to make more Tweaker Mages, maybe, but… Tweaker Mages makes you feel like you have bugs crawling on you, actually on you. You can feel them going into your mouth, and they can actually block your throat, get in your ears. You can kinda ...mentally shake them off if you focus hard enough, but it’s hard to do that when you have invisible maybe-not-real but also way-too-real bugs crawling into your ears, mouth, and nose.”

Robin was left a little wide-eyed at her sudden outburst of words. He took a moment to parse her words.

She talks so fast. Am I like that? Is that a result of enhanced SPEED?

Wait, those weren’t Tweaker Mages? But they were so fast, and they hit like Mike Tyson going against Glass Joe when the player is AFK… Yoshi, I hate this smell. Or is it a taste?

Robin realized he was probing the inside of his mouth with his tongue. He glanced inconspicuously at her, hoping she hadn’t noticed.

She was holding out a small potion, the dark green of the oval container looking oddly familiar.

Of course. Nothing slips by May...

She shook it slightly.

Robin took the canteen, a little guiltily, and drank deeply from it. The flow didn’t seem to change, and it wasn’t sloshing in his grip… He looked at May without stopping his gulping.

She was grinning at him.

Aw, crap, what now!?

Robin spat out the last mouthful he had drank, sputtering.

“What is this!? What did you do!?”

May held up her palms, looking slightly shocked. “Woah, kid, calm down. It’s just an Endless Canteen. I thought it was kind of funny that you were trying to chug it, was wondering how long it would take you to either realize it was endless or… you know, be sated.”

She squinted at him. “Hey ki… Robin. Turn around. You have something stuck on your armor…”

Robin turned around, his heart pounding.

Why!? She is twenty or more years older than me!

Robin felt a small tug at his armor, and then a small pat as May tossed something to the ground. He started to turn around, but May’s voice rang out. “Stay.” It was unusually enunciated, even for her. Robin obliged, his instincts screaming at him to run.

Run! Run!

Wait, what? Run!

Why?

Robin took a deep breath through his nose, exhaling it through his mouth. As he was about to take another breath, he felt another small tug on his armor, and then May appeared in front of him.

She was holding a tiny chunk of something out to him, cradling it in the palm of her hand.

“See? You got a piece of one of them caught on your armor, right by your neck, and it looks like it was bleeding on you. I haven’t had any of them get close enough to do that yet, so I didn’t know… but it looks like their blood is toxic.”

She saw Robin’s startled glance at the piece of meat in her palm and shook her head. “Don’t worry. I have the Venom Immunity skill, and it gets a small bonus with every level, after the Twice-Bitten Title…”

“I have Venom Immunity, too,” Robin mumbled.

May trailed off, smiling in a way that suggested she did not enjoy the memory of how she earned the title whatsoever. “That’s good. Still low level though, right?”

May sighed.

“First off, I’m sorry I have to do my ...ranging? Yeah, that works. Ranging. I’m sorry I have to do my ranging by myself. Some of my class abilities only recharge when I am completely alone. Which sucks, a lot, but it is what it is. Secondly, I think we could work on some of your skills and general bushcraft, maybe get you up to speed, but right now, you make too much noise, and, to be frank, you smell awful. I’m sure predators are able to smell you long before they can hear or see us.”

She held up a hand, and he obligingly bit off the defense he was preparing to spew.

“I get it. You were in a dungeon. I had access to the Endless Canteen pretty early, which definitely helped. ...I guess my passive stealth abilities probably help a little with that as well. I hadn’t really thought of my own smell in a while. Huh.”

She continued, speaking quickly. “The point is, without me leading Opal around the larger threats, and by extension, her leading you around those threats, we might have gotten in over our heads fairly quickly. It’s very, very easy to stumble on to something entirely outside your weight class in the woods.”

As if to illustrate her point, a howl lit up the night air, coming from the woods to the west… Robin couldn’t tell how far. Not close, but not nearly as far as he would have preferred.

“Okay, so. Two choices. Do you want to keep the venom in your system to build up your Venom Immunity skill, or let me use my Extract Venom ability on you?“

May held up a palm, indicating for him to let her finish. Robin silently reached out and slapped her palm with his.

She ignored him, speaking again in a matter of fact voice. “I’ll warn you now, I know it works, but it hurts. A lot. Before you decide, though, you should listen to the second choice you need to make. For what it’s worth, I think you should keep the venom in your system and build up the immunity while you have a chance to do it in a ...relatively safe environment.” She smiled, painfully aware of the irony as she said “relatively.”

“Second choice. Do you want to be aggressive and go after the Tweaker Mages in their base or tweaker nest or whatever backwoods meth-making hellbillies-turned-Lovecraftian, or wait here and set traps? I saw before that we’re both pretty handy with webs. We’ll need to go over each other’s abilities if we’re going to be sticking together, by the way. We need to learn how we can synergize.” She made a face like she had just tasted something sour as she said the last word.

“I’m open to other plans, if you have any.”

She waited for Robin to say something, lifting her eyebrow, but he remained quiet, considering his options.

Stay envenomated, level up my Venom Immunity, or get rid of it now so it isn’t affecting me in the coming fight? Okay, at least one of the choices is an easy one. But… wait here and set traps or go charging into an unknown base? That might give some kind of quest or title for completion, and there's probably more treasure... but.. attacking the beast in its own domain, so to speak, might be a bad idea...

Robin gave May his answer.