The day was still early when Susan blinked her eyes, awakened by a cold, soft sensation running down her right hand. Her sleepiness suddenly disappeared when she found a black snake slithered around it.

“Gosh! Go! Go!” Susan gasped in panic and screamed spontaneously. She waved her hands, trying to throw away the reptile. However, feeling threatened, the reptile attacked and plunged its fangs into Susan’s arm instead, making her shout in pain.

Pogna woke up and caught the snake’s head. He then let go of the snake stuck in Susan’s arm.

The reptile was quite large, with a length of over five feet. To prevent it harmed the others, Pogna rushed to kill it by cutting off its head with his knife.

Susan sat under a tree, clutching her aching arm. Her breath was gasping and her skin paled.

Anna came near Susan to look at the snakebite. Two bloody red dots appeared while the surrounding skin turned pale. “The snake was poisonous,” said Anna.

“Cold….” Susan’s body shivered. The poison seemed to spread throughout her body at a rapid rate.

“Regulum induscent.” Anna cast a spell while bringing her palm to the wound on Susan’s arm. A glimmer of a green soft light emanated from her palm. A moment later, a blackish-red liquid flowed out of the two snake bites. It then gradually turned a fresh red after a while. Susan was no longer shivering, but she still felt weak.

“I just sucked your blood to remove the poison,” said Anna. “You are safe now. I have removed the poison. But I need some medicinal herbs to help you recover faster.” Anna then stood up and prepared to go looking for the plant she was referring.

“I will go with you.” Peter hurried to his feet as well. Despite knowing that he wouldn’t be much help, letting Anna go alone in the woods made him worried.

“Okay, I’ll take care of Susan while roasting snake meat for us to eat,” said Pogna with a smile. He then tried to wake Borin. Despite all the fuss that had just happened, he was still snoring.

Anna and Peter then left for the woods. Forest in the morning seemed much better than at night. The sun’s rays shone through the leaves to form elongated beams and brighten the atmosphere. Peter and Anna walked through the grass and foliage that were still wet with the morning dew.

“What kind of plant are we looking for?” asked Peter.

“Hmm… I think grapes would be good enough.”

“Alright, I will look over there.” Peter then went separately.

A few moments later, Anna found a fruitful green vine nearby. She came closer and rushed to pick it up. “Come here! I’ve found what we are looking for.” Anna waved her hand to call Peter.

The boy came to Anna and, out of nowhere, showed her a small yellow flower. “I found this.”

“What is this for?” asked Anna, confused.

“For you. I think you’ll like it,” said Peter with a clumsy smile.

“Oh… thanks.” Anna received the flower and turned around to hide her blushing cheek. She then busied herself by taking some grapes and giving them to Peter to hold.

“I think this is enough,” said Anna. They then hurried back to where Susan was resting.

Anna crouched next to Susan while holding the grapes she had just picked. “Truce sangerin.” She cast another spell. Miraculously, a soft pink ray emanated from his grasp.

“Here, eat it.” Anna then gave the grapes to Susan.

Susan’s stamina gradually improved every time she ate the magic fruit. Her strength was fully recovered after swallowing the sixth grape.

“Thank you, I owe you my life,” Susan said while holding Anna’s hand.

“No problem. I am glad that I could help.” Anna replied with a smile.

A moment later, Pogna announced that the grilled snake was ready. So hungry, they all ate fast.

“It tastes good tho,” said Borin with his mouth full. Unlike Pogna, who was used to living in the wild, Peter and Borin had never eaten snake meat.

“Wait, there seems to be something there.” Pogna suddenly stopped eating and gazed at a point. A brown figure with black stripes lurking from behind a bush.

The five youngsters immediately gasped when they found out that the figure was a large striped tiger.

“RUN!!” said Pogna.

A moment later, the big tiger leaped. Its jaw opened wide and let out a terrifying growl. Its saliva dripped from its sharp fangs.

Seeing such a threat, the five youngsters ran helter-skelter. There was nothing they had in mind besides sprinting as fast as possible. With ragged breaths and pounding hearts, they dashed through the dense forbidden forest. The wind rustled against their sweat-drenched faces.

“Jump!” Pogna signaled his friends when seeing a root sticking out in front of him. After that, they had to duck to avoid the tree branches. There was no time to care about the pain caused by the sharp branches scratching their skin.

Meanwhile, the tiger crashed into everything in front of it, making the forest ravaged. On one occasion, Pogna pulled Susan into a sharp right turn to distract the predator chasing them.

The beast kept running to chase Peter, Anna, and Borin, since they seemed to be slower.

However, when there was a large tree in front, Peter gave Anna and Borin a signal to pivot to the right. Peter’s plan worked. The big tiger couldn’t keep up with the agile movements of its prey and crashed into a tree in front of him.

Not wanting to lose the opportunity to escape from the predator, Peter, Anna, and Borin continued to run as fast as they could. Meanwhile, the monster shook its head, aching from crashing a tree.

“Are we safe?” asked Peter, as he continued to run. He breathed short, his face was dripping with sweat.

“W… Wait… I couldn’t run anymore.” Borin stopped running as he fell to the ground.

However, it turns out that they are not yet safe. A moment later, the beast reappeared to continue its hunt.

“Let’s climb!” said Peter. He helped Anna to climb a tree and catch up soon after.

Meanwhile, Borin seemed to have a hard time climbing because of his larger body. Peter tried to reach for his friend’s hand but always failed.

As the predator drew near, Borin gave up and chose to run again. However, his body had already reached its limit. His legs could no longer move fast. The predator then jumped and pounced on Borin, making him fall face down to the ground.

Borin shouted in pain as the sharp tiger claws stuck to his back. The boy wriggled, trying to crawl away. But it was meaningless. The burden on him was too heavy. The enormous jaw full of fangs was now only a few centimeters away, while foul-smelling saliva dripped down his back.

Now there was nothing more Borin could do. His jaw clenched as his hands gripped the ground in reaction to the pain and fear that ran through his body. “H… help me…,” he said in desperation.

During the time of crisis, an arrow shot fast and right into the tiger’s left eye, making the beast growl in anger and pain. Susan stood there, holding her bow and preparing her next arrow.

A second later, the next shot hit the predator’s back, igniting its fury. It then moved away from Borin and prepared to attack Susan. Luckily, Pogna acted just in time. He—who had previously climbed a tree near the beast—leaped bravely onto the tiger’s back and stuck a pointed bamboo stick into the back of its head.

The tiger roared in pain, then collapsed to the ground in a heavy breath. Susan and Pogna immediately rushed over to Borin to check on the boy’s condition.

“Are you okay?” asked Susan.

“Yeah, thanks. Hopefully, the wound is not fatal.” Borin winced in pain. Susan immediately coded for Anna to come down from the tree and help.

However, before Anna and Peter could come down, another strange thing happened. A smog suddenly appeared to envelop the tiger’s body and carried it away like it was swallowed up by the earth. There was no trace left of the brown body with black stripes. It just disappeared into the thin air.

“What kind of magic is this?” Borin’s mouth fell open and his eyes widened. He couldn’t believe what he had just seen.

Before their shock had worn off, there were sounds like dogs barking. Smelling danger, Susan and Pogna reflexively hid behind the trees. However, it was unfortunate for Borin. The boy didn’t have time to move when a rock the size of a ping-pong ball flew and hit his head with a bang, causing him to fall unconscious.

A swarm of kobolds came to attack. They threw small stones using slingshots. Since Susan and Pogna had gone into hiding, while Anna and Peter were still up in the tree, the kobolds took Borin away.

Peter and Anna rushed down from the tree. “Let’s follow them. We can’t lose track this time.” Peter led the rest of his friends, following the herd of half human half crocodile creatures.

After walking east for about a mile away, they finally arrived at a hillside. That’s where the kobolds live. Their houses are circular and shorter than normal human houses. The walls were made of stones and clay as an adhesive, while the roof was made of thatch arranged in the shape of an eggshell.

Peter and his friends couldn’t get any closer because there were a lot of kobolds there. The youngsters could only watch as Borin was brought into a cave under strict guard.

“Maybe Miss Gladys is there too,” said Anna in a low voice.

“Yeah, but how do we get in there without getting caught? There’s a lot of them.” Peter felt his guts shrink.

They haven’t found a way to break through the kobold settlement when a lizard suddenly fell from a tree, right in front of Anna’s face. She screamed in surprise, causing the kobolds to know their whereabouts at once.

“Run!!” said Peter to his friends as the green kobolds began to chase. They appeared from all directions and dashed so fast. Small stones were flying again, fired using slingshots. There was no other way for Peter and his friends but to run back toward the river.

They groaned as the small rocks hit their arm. But it was impossible to stop in that situation.

Running as fast as possible. That was all Peter and his friends had in mind. Even though some parts of the body ached from being scratched by a twig or being hit by a stone, there was no time to complain, let alone stop and treat the wound.

Luckily, even though dark clouds began to appear, the intensity of the sun was still quite high. They could find the right direction and jump to avoid obstacles.

In urgent situations, the human body can exert more abilities than usual. It didn’t take long for them to reach the riverside. Even so, the enemy had not given up. They kept chasing and shooting with slingshots.

“Jump!” Pogna said to his friends when they made it to the river bank.

After everyone got into the boat, Pogna rowed with all his might.

On the riverbank, the kobolds finally stopped their pursuit. For some reason, they didn’t want to cross the river.

“Almost….” Pogna breathed a sigh of relief after seeing the crowd of kobolds gradually return to the forbidden forest. Just then, the rain started pouring.

“Forgive me.” Anna felt guilty since the kobolds realized their presence because of her scream.

“It wasn’t your fault. You didn’t mean to.” Susan tried to comfort Anna.

“Then what about Borin?” Peter looked so worried. It was the first time in his life being separated from his best friend.

“We can’t do anything for the time being. There are too many of them,” said Pogna.

“It’s still noon. We can go back.”

“All of us are tired,” replied Susan.

“We have to rest and treat your wounds first,” said Anna.

“We will definitely come back to help him. But not now,” added Pogna.

Having no choice, Peter had to accept the situation that it was not the right time to return to the forbidden forest. Going there with a tired and injured body would be too risky. Moreover, it was raining heavily. They then decided to go back into the cave where Susan had hidden them the night before.

Arriving at the cave, Pogna made a bonfire to warm their body while Anna offered to heal Peter’s wounds.

“My wound doesn’t hurt too much. Go heal yours first.” Peter felt bad because he knew that Anna had also been hit by several stones.

“My body can heal by itself.” Anna then showed her arm, which has already recovered from bruises. Peter became even more amazed at Anna’s healing abilities. By then, he let his wounds be treated.

“Passima laetrix.” Anna cast a spell and in an instant, the bruises on Peter’s body disappeared without a trace.

Susan and Pogna also took turns being treated by Anna. However, due to using too many spells, plus the exhaustion of running away from the kobolds, Anna’s body became weak. She felt dizzy and had to rest on one hand to prevent her body from collapsing.

“Don’t worry, this isn’t fatal. I just have to rest for a while to recover my physical and magical stamina.” Anna tried to calm his friends since they all looked worried as Anna’s face turned pale.

Susan then helped Anna to rest more comfortably.

“Looks like there’s nothing we can do for the time being,” said Pogna.

“Yes, we have to wait for Anna to recover. Going to the forbidden forest without her would be too dangerous.” Susan agreed.

Meanwhile, Peter just sat there in silence. He was frustrated since his friend’s safety was at stake. However, the girl he loved, who had sacrificed so much, was lying weakly by his side. He couldn’t possibly leave her in this condition.

They were silent for a while with thoughts wandering.

“How about we go back to the village first? My mom and dad will be worried.” Pogna broke the silence.

“Well, I think you’re right,” said Susan. “Okay, we’ll head back to the village for the time being. Our leave may arise suspicion,” said Susan. Peter had no choice but to agree. He then nodded weakly.

“It’s safe here. You’ll be fine. We’ll be back tomorrow to see how things are going,” Susan added, and after that, they left Peter together with Anna in the cave.