"So, now we go to the left, right?" Blue asked.

"I think we go left, not right?" Alex replied.

"So, right?"

"No, left."

"Left?"

"Right."

"Right?"

"No, left."

"Didn't you say right?"

"Sweet fuck, can you two stop. I feel like I'm having a stroke," Leo gasped.

"We are just trying to figure out where to go," Blue shrugged.

"Can you not do it while acting like a bad comedy movie?" Leo rolled his eyes.

"It wasn't that bad, was it?" Alex asked.

"Let's not talk about that," Hera patted the assassin's shoulder, "We need to head there. Towards that tree with glowing blue veins. At least, that's where the directions tell us to go."

"What tree? I'm not seeing any tree like that," Blue looked around.

"Here, look to the left, between those two large trees with a rock in the middle. Do you see a brighter shade of blue?"

"I think so. It's kind of hard, tough. Everything is blue," the controller sighed.

"It is. Do you think this helps the spirits make us feel sleepy? I mean, it's a calming shade," Leo looked around.

"That actually makes a lot of sense. People use similar shades in mental hospitals, don't they? It's supposed to have a calming effect, I think," Alex nodded.

With Hera taking the lead, the group kept moving towards the dungeon. According to Camila, and the people in the guild, the 'Spirit's Plea' dungeon was very combat-oriented, but at the same time, didn't require you to kill anything. Inside, they would have to push away invaders from the forest, and depending on what they did, the sprites even could give them buffs to help. However, no one could tell exactly what would happen inside. More than twenty parties had challenged it, and all of them had different objectives and circumstances. The monsters changed, the layout of the forest changed. In one case, there was even a mirror version of the forest upside down in place of the sky, and the party had to enter a gigantic trunk to reach that area.

It didn't take long for them to reach the entrance of the dungeon. After finding the tree with blue veins, they had to head west for a few minutes until they reached a pair of identical trees that were connected by a web of branches on the side that was so thick not even light could pierce through it. When touching said branches, the dungeon notification would pop out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Do you want to enter the Spirit's Plea dungeon?

[Yes] [No]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Everyone ready?" Blue asked.

"Yeah. I'm itching to do something with my spear," Leo nodded as Tiger squeaked in agreement.

"Dude, you have to think before speaking. That one sounds really bad," Alex rolled her eyes.

"Oh, that was nothing. You should see the other guys in the battalion," Leo snickered.

"I don't even want to think about that. I'm sure it was worse than a frat house," Blue sighed, "Should we go in?"

"Yeah, before Leo regresses to someone who says everything is 'lit,'" Hera chuckled.

"Hey! I would never say that," Leo gasped before they all pressed yes in the notification.

The branches opened a passage, and the group walked through. They crossed a tunnel that seemed to be a part inside a tree and emerged on the other side. At a glance, the forest was already very different from what it was outside. Instead of that uniform, vibrant colors, now the trees, ground, and grass seemed almost colorless compared to the leaves of the trees, which were such a verdant color that it almost hurt the eyes to look at. Everything also seemed much taller than before, and the trees didn't have any branches in the middle of their trunks. It was only when reaching the top that a set of branches would appear and create the same spiderweb-like structure from the dungeon entrance, forming a canopy that even blocked some of the light coming from the night sky. That wasn't all. The greenery would also get up almost a full meter before blooming in the green blades of grass. Completing the picture, a small but thick layer of fog covered the ground that stopped anyone from looking at the soil. Everything gave off the feeling of a dream, more so than the forest outside the dungeon.

"This is amazing!" Alex gasped

"Kind of. I don't like not being able to see where I'm stepping," Blue tried to use Stormcloud to push the fog aside, but the mist was too peaceful to be affected by the legacy.

"Guys, look there," Hera pointed to the side where a couple of humanoid creatures appeared. They were completely blue, and you barely could tell where their eyes were. Every part of their bodies glowed in soft light. However, the weirdest part was that each of them seemed to be the size of a watermelon. Wanting to confirm if these were a different species, Hera triggered her [Observe]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sleep Sprite - Level 16 - Elemental Spirit (Sleep Affinity)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Well, shit," Hera gasped.

"What's wrong?" Alex didn't take her eyes out of the sprites.

"They have the same name as the ones we saw outside."

"So?" Blue asked.

"So, this means that either there are sprites that size outside or that we are much smaller now."

"Oh… I don't know what's worse," Leo looked around, already getting ready to attack in case something jumped from the trees. Tiger, on the other hand, didn't seem to be bothered by the situation. It wasn't that long since the frog was much smaller than everyone else. In a weird way, he was used to seeing everything from this angle.

The two sprites got closer, one of them pointed to the group, and images of a third sprite appeared. The spirit was hiding inside something that looked like a giant birdhouse, and outside it, a few large creatures were moving around. Whatever they were, they were biped and had large mouths covered in the same type of bluish-gray fur as the rest of their bodies. In the vision, one of them opened its maw almost like a snake, becoming at least 50 centimeters taller while it yawned. The image shifted to another one who seemed to be feasting on something. Large blood sprays gushing out and painting the trees. More flashes came, showing a path that would let them reach that birdhouse. When the spirit pulled back its finger, everyone understood what they had to do.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You have found the dungeon quest Trapped Sprite.

One of the Sleep Sprites is being chased by a group of hunters. Rescue the sprite and return it to its brethren.

First time rewards: 60 000 gold, Token of appreciation

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Did anyone else notice how big those things seem to be?" Blue asked after she snapped out of the visions.

"Yeah, they seem to be bigger than us. Not like a certain snake, but maybe around 2 or 3 meters tall?" Alex replied

"I have no idea how tall they are, but we should be careful. Did you see their hands? They have massive claws, and it looks like the entire hand is made out o keratin," Leo nodded.

"Really?" Hera asked. She didn't notice that detail in the vision.

"Yeah, their hands seem stiff, almost like a rhino's horn," Blue nodded.

"I only noticed how much they could open their mouths. One of those things grew by half a meter just by yawning," Hera scratched the back of her head.

"So giant, biped, fury, snakes with monster claws. Great," Alex rolled her eyes.

"I mean, things here should be at most level 17, right? They shouldn't be that dangerous. We still need to be careful, and if push comes to shove, we can just run away and give up," Hera said.

"True. Let's first see what we are fighting before freaking out," Leo started walking towards the path revealed by the visions.

Hera looked back at the sprites, but they were gone. It seemed like this dungeon was among the straightforward ones. No issues to find the quest or anything like that. Just enter, kill some things and rescue the sprite. According to Leo, most dungeons were like that, just go in, kill something and leave. Helping people make a doorway or a wedding was among the rare types that ended up attracting more people in lower layers, but fewer the deeper you get inside the MAZE. After all, high-level explorers tended to care more about strength, and having to deal with something that wouldn't help them train wasn't high in their list of priorities. So, unless the rewards were good or the dungeon gave some particular insight into what the explorers did, they wouldn't even bother trying it.

The group kept moving through the forest while trying to make as little noise as possible. Whatever those creatures were, they seemed dangerous, and the group didn't have any information about them aside from their appearance. After a couple of minutes, they started hearing some scraping sounds from the north. Everyone got lower, trying to hide within the fog and the tall leaves of grass. Mixing with the grass wasn't that much of an issue for everyone aside from Tiger, who was too big to stay beneath them even if he tried to lie down in the ground.

"Hera, let's head in first. I think we are the best to stay hidden," Alex whispered through their comms.

"Ok, take the right. I'll take the left," Hera replied.

Leo saw the two moving, but he didn't say anything despite not hearing anything. The movements of the two women were so in sync that it felt like something they had agreed to do before, like one of the combat tactics that the hunter used to see in the coalition. Moving as quietly as possible, Hera approached the noise. After a few meters, she noticed the source of the sound. It was one of the monsters, a large, almost ape-like creature with large muscular arms that ended in sharp solid claws. It had eyes like a frog atop the head of a wolf, but instead of a snout, there was a hooked beak.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dream Invader - Level 15 (Strength affinity)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"It's level 15," Hera whispered through the comms.

"Where is it going?" Alex asked.

"To our left, but it keeps looking around. I'm not sure if a sneak attack would work."

"Only one way to find out," Alex moved towards the monster, getting ready to strike with her sheathed blade. With all her buffs and skills, the first strike should be enough to cripple the monster, if not outright kill it.

Hera was worried about the monster having good senses and followed along, trying to keep her distance just in case she ended up tripping or making noise by mistake. It was hard to walk here since they couldn't see the floor. Even the monster seemed to have some issues and would occasionally step into some loose branches or dried leaves.

Alex moved without making a sound. Her hide skill was already rank five, and adding to a spell that she had, it was almost impossible for Hera to notice where she was after she activated everything. Before the assassin could reach the creature, it started looking around and smelling the air. Alex got worried that the monster might notice their smell and jumped to attack. However, the odd look of the forest messed with her depth perception, and in reality, the invader was considerably farther away than she had calculated. The beast managed to jump back and avoid the attack altogether. Hera knew that this meant that Alex would currently have a debuff for being seen and jumped out of her hiding, firing a poison needle at the creature. The invader avoided the projectile and jumped at Alex with both its claws out. Seeing that her friend wouldn't be able to evade the attack, Hera jumped at the monster, trying to block its claws.

A few meters behind, Leo and Blue, were startled by a loud scream coming from beyond their view.