Cara focused on the enormous beast bounding through the trees. Identify took its sweet time, even with Fast Identify. Whatever it was, it was high level. Far too high level for them to stop. Her hand itched at her side; it was time to call for backup. As Jeremy couldn’t stop reminding her—identify, signal, engage.

Deep-Forest Gorilla

Level: 40

HP: 550/550

Stamina: 520/520

MP: 115/115

Status: Ravenous

Ice filled her stomach. She activated Horn of the Rangers and blew one short, sharp burst—ranger in trouble, come quick. A lull, and another three more short bursts—very dangerous, a village threatened. The first time she’d heard that call, let alone given it. Forest willing, she’d never have to again.

Hopefully, it wouldn’t be needed, but if the Rangers failed, or were too slow, Tolabar had to know. She crouched down and pressed her hand against the exposed root of the Great Tree. Someone would be listening. She forced the idea of a giant gorilla heading toward the village into the tree-song.

Would they understand? Even if they did, there wouldn’t be enough time to evacuate everyone, not at the pace it was going. They had to slow it down. She had to slow it down. “Jake, head for the village. They need to evacuate immediately. Let the Rangers handle this.”

“I’m not leaving you.” He notched an arrow in his training bow. Even his best shot wouldn’t do anything more than make it mad. He had to know that.

Her heart pounded in her chest. “Jake, now’s not the time for—”

“I wouldn’t be able to find my way back in time, anyway.” His voice barely wavered. How was he the calm one? “What’s the play?”

Every muscle went rigid. It was his choice. There wasn’t time to argue. “Distract, skirmish, survive.” And pray help arrived before the gorilla ripped them limb from limb.

The lump in the human’s throat bobbed. “Can we outrun it?”

She shook her head. “Not a chance.”

The black gorilla closed at an alarming pace, taller than three large elves. Each leap between tree trunks triggered painful cracking sounds. The trees couldn’t handle its weight. How could she hope to stop it?

“How good are dungeon spawn at detecting Stealth?” Jake asked.

Almost certainly better than he was at Stealth, but a faint glimmer of hope was better than none. “You can’t Stealth while in combat in a dungeon. So… I don’t know.”

The ground shook. They shared a glance. What did they have to lose?

Jake offered up a smile, ruined by the trembling of his lips. He wasn’t calm, either. “We bounce them between us. Get their attention, peel them off, then disappear into Stealth.”

“Alright.” If it saw through them, they’d die. If it was too fast, they die. If they ran out of stamina, they’d die. She shifted her weight and forced out a smile of her own. Duty required sacrifice, and this was her duty. “I’ll go first.”

***

It left a bitter taste in his mouth, but Jake nodded. Cara going first was the logical choice. Better Stealth, better Endurance; she could keep going longer. Even if everything went according to plan, between sprinting and sneaking, they’d run out of stamina quickly.

She strode toward the creature’s path, clutching her bow tight. “I’ll hold it off as long as I can before activating Stealth.”

Why hadn’t he run when he’d had the chance? It would have been the smart choice. No one would have blamed him. This wasn’t his fight.

Wasn’t it? That stupid quest reared its ugly head, the pink elephant in his soul that refused to disappear. The timing of these dungeon spawn appearing couldn’t be a coincidence. It had to be related somehow. A joint cause?

The unwelcome thought of his father loomed, a towering presence that brought more questions than answers. His father was involved in whatever this was. Did that make it his fight?

Cara faded into the forest. He shook his head. No. He wouldn’t do this because of his father. Cara, Reltan, all the other wood elves in the village—this wasn’t their fight either. They didn’t deserve any of this.

Minimizing stamina usage would be key. That meant as little movement as possible. He found a spot with good lines of fire and sufficient foliage cover, and activated Stealth.

His heart hung in his throat. His breaths refused to remain slow and steady. Couldn’t this have waited until he had magic? The knot in his chest tightened and twisted. Feeling mana had just been one final cruel joke before he died.

Assuming death was the end. His Hero status was still there, still defying every question about it. Maybe he was immortal, but there was no way he was testing it based on a ten-thousand-year-old rumor. A shiver tingled down his spine. Not intentionally, anyway.

An arrow flew toward the gorilla and glanced off his fur. Not enough to damage it effectively, but more than enough to make it furious. With huge, muscular arms, it hung from a thick branch and bared its teeth. It surveyed the forest floor, its head slowly turning in a grid-like search pattern.

You’ve got his attention, Cara. Don’t go for another Stealth Attack. Just wait.

The gorilla hurled itself from its perch. It smashed through branches and smashed into the floor. Its blood-curdling roar slammed into Jake’s psyche, every point of Mental Resistance straining to keep him upright and functioning.

Cara stumbled; her Stealth shattered. With her focus on physical stats, she’d never stood a chance.

She was impossible to miss. The gorilla advanced. Jake swallowed. This was it. He fired.

Glancing blow! 3 piercing damage dealt!

The gorilla didn’t even notice. It bore down upon her. The stun hadn’t worn off.

Glancing blow! 1 piercing damage dealt!

Another shot, equally ineffective and ignored. Blood pounded in his ears. He had to do something. She wasn’t dying on his watch. “Hey dumbass! Over here, take on someone your own size! Yeah, you!”

Battle Cries skill increased 0 → 1!

Glancing blow! 4 piercing damage dealt!

Bows skill increased 4 → 5!

The twenty-foot-tall gorilla turned, its enormous fist ripping bushes up by their roots. It growled, huge teeth on display, and charged.

Jake sprinted full pelt. Where to hide? Those would be some terrible last words.

The pounding thuds grew louder. Death closed in. He’d better be immortal. If this world was just as rigged as Earth, he wanted to be on the other side for once.

A bush. Would it be enough? Too late. He dived into the undergrowth, rolled to a halt, and activated Stealth. Every drop of concentration focused on being still. Sweat pooled on his brow. He stayed still. No matter how badly it itched, he had to stay still.

The ground shook. The slamming grew closer and closer. He tensed up. At least he’d get to find out if being a Hero was worth it.

Silence. He didn’t dare move. The silence continued.

Had it worked? Looking around wasn’t an option. He had to wait. His chest tightened. What was it doing?

An arrow hit the ground nearby. A deflection?

The creature roared, terrifyingly close. No power in it. On cooldown?

Its footsteps thundered in Cara’s direction. Jake pulled himself up and notched another arrow. She couldn’t outrun it; she’d need another distraction. He’d be ready.

For now, she was doing fine, darting ahead of the beast, putting her high Dexterity to good use. How long could she keep it up? Adrenaline ebbed away, leaving sore muscles reporting in. How long could he keep it up?

Stamina: 76/230

Shit. He wouldn’t be able to do that again, not without ending up in more pieces than he started. He dropped out of Stealth. No matter how hard he willed it, how carefully he breathed, his stamina refused to rise any faster.

He gasped for air and watched. It was a deadly dance, with Cara always one step ahead. She didn’t need him, not yet, and he had two new perks that might be useful. Bows first. Damage wouldn’t help now, and even he could hit a creature the size of a barn. That meant Quick Draw. Battle Cries was new. Anything useful there?

Intimidating Shout (0/5): Grants and improves the Taunt ability. Effect is limited against sentient creatures.

Demoralizing Shout (0/5): Grants and improves the Demoralizing Cry ability.

Inspiring Shout (0/5): Grants and improves the Inspirational Cry ability.

Guarding Shout (0/5): Grants and improves the Protection Cry ability.

Call It Out (0/5): Grants and improves the Bring Them Down ability.

Final Shout (0/5): Grants and improves the Until Death ability.

Who the hell had written such useless descriptions? Was there a list of abilities somewhere he’d missed? There wasn’t time now.

The beast gained on Cara. Every second, it pulled closer. He drew his bow and waited for his cue.

The beast swung. Cara dodged, putting a tree between them, and faded into the forest. Jake fired.

Glancing blow! 3 piercing damage dealt!

The beast roared. Its power slammed into him. He flinched but stood firm, saved again by distance and his Mental Resistance.

Cara had been almost at the epicenter. She stumbled, visible and exposed. The creature smashed through the tree trunk between them like it was nothing.

Tension coiled in Jake’s arms. She wasn’t dying while he still drew breath. He shoved a point into Intimidating Shout and activated Taunt. A cry forced itself from his lips and bellowed through the forest. “Fight me!”

He blinked. He’d shouted that? The gorilla bounded toward him. He turned and ran. He needed a plan, any plan, so long as it didn’t end in being torn apart.

Stamina: 23/230

Not enough. Hefty footsteps slammed behind him, closing fast. Not enough space or cover to Stealth, no more stamina to sprint. Time to find out what it meant to be a Hero.

A bright light flashed to the left. Two wood elves charged forward. A glowing arrow protruded from the beast’s chest.

“Ko’aska-fa si!” one of the elves shouted, female.

The instruction to kill the gorilla flow through his body, empowering him. He turned and fired. He added arrows at a blistering pace to the flurry of shots aimed at the creature.

Glancing blow! 3 piercing damage dealt!

Glancing blow! 4 piercing damage dealt!

Glancing blow! 2 piercing damage dealt!

The beast roared. Power smashed into him. Pressure pounded against his temples. He dropped to his knees. Everything went fuzzy. Muscles refused to respond; he couldn’t stand, couldn’t lift his bow.

“Ro’luratara-fa bi!” the woman shouted, with twice the urgency of the previous shout and none of the magical power.

A glow illuminated the blurry forest. The beast charged. The light flashed. The ground shook with a heavy thud.

4100 XP received!

Level increased 3 → 5!

“You okay?”

An elf stood over him. A ranger. One of the two who’d interrogated him. Jeremy?

Jake nodded. Mostly. Could he stand? No. He held up his arm.

Jeremy pulled him to his feet with ease. “He’s fine.”

The ranger materialized a horn much like Cara’s. Two short bursts. He dismissed it and moved on to the felled dungeon spawn.

Cara clutched her bow a short way away. Shaking, alternating between slow breaths and gasping, but alive. He breathed out and quivered. They were both alive.

Arid smoke grated against his throat and lungs. The beast’s corpse bristled with arrows, surrounded by a twenty-foot-wide blast radius of plants burned to ash. Whichever of the elves had done that, he never wanted to be on the other end of their bow.

The other ranger was Elivala, Jeremy’s superior. The one who’d washed her hands of him, who’d been happy to leave him to die, and now he owed her his life. Great.

That was a problem for the future, and still better than the alternative. For now, Cara needed him. “Hey.” He approached and offered her a hug. “We did good. You did good.”

Her lips pursed. Still shaking, she glowered up at him. “You nearly died.”

“Nearly being the operative word there.”

Her gaze fell back to the floor. “You don’t have to pretend.”

“Pretend what?”

She slumped against the tree and sighed. “Doesn’t matter.”

Instinct told him to leave her be. The weight in his chest agreed; this was her problem.

Just like dying on the forest floor had been his problem. That hadn’t stopped her. He shook his head. “It matters.”

From behind a scrunched-up face, she tilted her head from side to side. “You’re mad at me.”

“Not at all. But if you wanted to make it up to me, Elivala’s over there, and I have no idea how to start that conversation. ‘Hey, you wanted to leave me to die last time we met, thanks for saving my life.’”

A smile lit up her face, and she chuckled. “Don’t lead with that, please.”

“I guess you’ll have to introduce us properly, then.” He shrugged. “Otherwise, who knows what I’ll say? And I seem to remember you being responsible for me…”

“You’re impossible.” She flicked him on the nose as she passed. “Let’s get this over with.”

***

To Jake’s equal consternation and relief, Elivala remained silent on the way back. Jeremy, on the other hand, spent the time quizzing Cara on the fight and reviewing every detail.

Jake listened in as best he could. Jeremy’s accent was a little odd, and Cara spoke much faster than usual. Or, more plausibly, this was her usual speed, and she’d been making it easier for him. Even so, most of it made sense, and a notification informed him his Wood Elvish language understanding had gone up from Experienced to Adept.

The more tactical knowledge he could pick up, the better. Jeremy clearly had a lot of experience, and wasn’t shy about sharing it with Cara, to varying degrees of success.

“I should have taken that second Stealth Attack at the beginning,” Cara insisted. “Perfect opening, and I left it in the bush.”

Jeremy’s patience continued unabated. How did he do it? They’d already gone around in circles several times, and he wasn’t wrong. “Would it have made a difference?”

“Well… That’s not the point!”

“That’s precisely the point.” Jeremy switched to Common. “What do you think, Jake?”

“Err…” He blinked. Cara’s expectant eye wiggles on one side, Jeremy’s calm, correct certainty on the other. Being a silent eavesdropper again was more attractive by the second, but would only annoy them both. “We needed to maximize holding out. Nothing we hit it with was effective. Staying in Stealth was the right call.”

“Traitor.” She grinned; she was joking.

Mostly joking, anyway. A new subject was in order. “How did you guys get there so fast? There’s no way you ran from Tolabar that quickly.”

Jeremy held up an empty vial, the inside coated with a blue residue. “Teleportation. Not very precise over those distances, especially not with a passenger.”

Teleportation would be extremely useful. Jake’s teeth clenched together. A shame they wouldn’t teach him it. “Well, thank you again, both of you. A moment later and I’d have been done for.”

“Whether you join or not, if you protect the Forest, you’re a ranger to me.” Jeremy looked to Elivala and received a nod. “We trust you. No more all-day escort.”

“Yes!” Cara hissed. “Sorry.”

Jake shrugged. “It’s fine, I get it.” They’d been stuck together for a week. Who wouldn’t want some space? On the bright side, they finally trusted he wasn’t out to kill them. He bowed his head to Jeremy. “Thank you. You won’t regret it.”

With a dip of his head, Jeremy reciprocated. “I hope not. Elivala, meeting at sunrise?”

“Correct.” Elivala turned her sharp gaze on Cara. “All rangers to attend.”

“A meeting?” Cara blinked, a deer caught in headlights. “Oh, right. The meeting tomorrow. I know that.”

Jeremy’s smile bordered on a smirk. “You didn’t forget. We’re calling it now. Tell the other Tolabar Lookouts.”

Her face and ears turned red. “Yes sir.”

“Jake, you’re with me.” Jeremy set off at a brisk pace, without even a glance over his shoulder.

Hadn’t they just agreed he didn’t need a guard? He wasn’t a soldier to bossed around. The man had saved his life, though. There was probably a good reason. “See you in a bit, I guess.”

He scurried off after Jeremy and broke into a run to catch up. “Where are we going?”

“Magic. Do you want to learn it?”

What kind of question was that? “Who wouldn’t?”

Jeremy stopped and stared Jake in the eyes, no hint of a smile or any joy at all. This wasn’t just his usual gruffness. “Make a mistake, you might explode. Or worse.”

The remaining rush of survival fled. Jake’s heart shrank. It figured that the one thing he’d be good at here might blow him up. “I better not make any mistakes then.”

“Good idea. Bad plan.” Jeremy resumed walking, his pace even faster than before.

Jake jogged to keep up. “What’s wrong with that plan?”

“Everyone makes mistakes. Trick is to make sure your mistakes don’t kill you. Don’t push yourself unless you have to.”

“Did you have to today?”

Jeremy’s expression tightened. Tension hung in the air. Eventually, he nodded. “It worked out, this time. One day, I won’t be so lucky. Even for you, there’ll be a cost.”

A knot twisted in Jake’s gut. “What does that mean?”

The ranger kept walking. “You should tell her. Sooner rather than later.”

“Tell who, what?”

No response.

“Come on.” A tightness gripped Jake’s chest. Did he know? “What do you mean?”

Jeremy came to a stop, shook his head, and let out a heavy sigh. “Cara. That you’re a Hero.”