The elder myriad released a slow grunt, followed by a cry of pain—a primal one that echoed through the forest. His arm thrashed from side to side, and I watched the flesh tearing before my eyes.

  It was hard to understand what was happening, but I had a similar skill. It had to be an invisible enemy.

  I wasted no time and rushed toward the elf, driving my dagger down with speed toward the invisible foe. The blade connected and sank easily into soft flesh. I did it again, and blood poured from the creature’s invisible body. The third time, I aimed a little ahead and missed.

  The elder seemed to understand what was going on and started punching the air. He had a gauntlet in his hand, much like a brass knuckle. He struck true.

  As soon as his punch connected, a crushing sound echoed, and an animal materialized before us. The elder had just crushed the brain of what looked like a black panther. The enemy was the size of a normal big cat, but its fur twisted from black to transparent until it stopped breathing. It collapsed, its fur now completely dark.

  I heard more stampeding footsteps surrounding us—several of them nearby.

  “Together!” I shouted, and everyone followed, some scrambling on the ground but finding their place. Except for one of the elves, who, in the middle of her way toward us, was taken down by one of the invisible foes.

  Her neck tore open in an instant, and she didn’t even fight. The monster kept eating her neck as her eyes stared into oblivion.

  How quickly had we forgotten how merciless this place was?

  “Illusions, Elk. And fire—a lot of it,” I called to Elk, who had his back to me.

  In the next second, another group like us stood at the edge of the ravine—Elk’s illusions. He also created a serpent of fire surrounding both our group and the others on the ravine. I counted four.

  “That’s the most I can do without removing our line of sight with circles of fire,” his voice seemingly tired from the effort of pulling off so many illusions and fire magic at once.

  The panthers fell for the bait and jumped at the illusions. However, as they landed, the snake was there to ignite their fur.

  Still transparent, the creatures thrashed on the ground, trying to extinguish the flames. They were only half successful. The embers still burning on their skin gave us the perfect direction to attack.

  I released a lightning bolt, and it hit the creature.

  Stunning Effective - Activated.

  Seeing the message, I threw my dagger and killed the creature instantly.

  Before I could celebrate, another monster lunged at us. Thankfully, Mary’s hearing was sharp, and she raised her shield in the general direction of the blow. The monster crashed into it with its claws, and a wave of energy rippled through the ravine.

  I glanced at the elder beside me and saw his arm had started healing at the edges. It was still bloody and ugly as hell, but the parts near his elbow had been reconstructed.

  “Keep distracting this one,” I told Mary. She nodded, realizing her healing was working.

  At the edge of the ravine, a pair of Elk’s snakes were wrapped around two panthers, revealing them and making them easy targets for Tress and one of the other female myriads.

  It was hard to count, but I imagined there were two more free, besides the one Mary was relentlessly pushing away.

  Branches creaked, footprints appeared on the ground, followed by a dust cloud—two coming my way.

  One was faster than the other.

  I raised my wand, praying for it to hit, and struck with a lightning bolt. The footsteps near me vanished—the beast tumbled across the ground toward me, dead.

  The one farther away kept coming. I stepped forward, activating my [Shadow Step].

  The monster charged toward the others, still circling them, unaware I was now right in front of it.

  I counted to three and tackled the creature, my dagger driving down violently and fast.

  After the fifth strike, I received the message.

  Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

  Congratulations! You have slain - Camouflaged Panther - F5.

  You earned 3 credits.

  The message repeated a few more times and one last time when Elk finished off with a fireball the panther Mary was deflecting.

  I released a breath and collapsed onto the ground.

  The elder, his hand now completely healed— both by his natural healing from being a myriad and Mary’s skill— rushed toward his fallen friend. He spoke close to her ear, words I couldn’t understand, his eyes brimming with tears—so different from the ones he’d shed when we arrived.

  “See? That’s why we need to find the others. Without unity, this place will tear us apart.”

  His voice carried too much emotion. It was hard to watch, but I did—out of respect. I wanted to put a hand on his shoulder and tell him everything was going to be okay, but it wouldn’t.

  Not until we won the game.

  Elk, Mary, and I investigated the surroundings, trying to find any sign of more beasts, but it seemed they’d gone all in on us. Judging by the different positions of the moon in the sky over the past hours, I deduced we were already on day three.

  The challenges would only grow harder. If invisible jaguars were the monsters we had to fight on the third day, I couldn’t imagine what awaited us on the last day before the city stones became available.

  Looking at the woods, seeing the trees growing denser as they moved away from the sea, I couldn’t help but picture this place as hell with a countdown.

  “We need to move,” I whispered, looking at Elk, who nodded in agreement.

  “As much as I enjoy their food, we better get going. They should too. A place with so many openings isn’t safe,” Elk added, and Mary nodded in agreement.

  “I’ll check on Tress.” She moved back to the mourning group in the middle of the ravine, leaving me alone with Elk.

  “Are Max’s group moving?” I asked.

  “No, they’re probably sleeping.” Elk sat against a tree at the edge of the ravine.

  “Still nine?”

  “Yeah. What do you want to do?”

  “Let’s check the map.”

  I opened the screen and sat beside Elk. The devil gave me space as I grabbed a small branch and drew a rough square on the ground. Inside it, I sketched the shape of a cave, the lines of the shore, a small triangle, and the symbol marking where we needed to go to reach the city stone.

  “What are you doing? I know these shapes. The cave where we were, the lines of the beach… Is this the slope we were on before we found Tress’ tribe?” His brow furrowed as he pieced it together. “Do you think the city stone we’re heading to is in a mountain?”

  “Maybe.”

  I looked at the map again and noticed how steep the triangle below the shape was. It probably wasn’t a mountain since we couldn’t see it from high places, but it was most certainly a hill.

  “I’m trying to create a map legend for us to follow. We know the lines for the river and sea, the caves, and other landmarks, but they mentioned dungeons as well.”

  “I’m not familiar with the concept,” Elk looked up at me.

  “If this follows game logic from Earth, dungeons are like the tower they put us in during the battlegrounds, but instead of going up, we go down.”

  “And almost die?”

  “And find rewards—rewards that could make us strong enough to defeat Max even without the elves—myriads’ help.”

  The excitement in my voice was met with uneasiness from Elk, but I tried to ease it.

  “What do you think represents Dungeons on the map?”

  Elk seemed triggered by the question, eager to solve a mystery. He thoughtfully scratched his tiny horns as he pondered.

  “What about these door-like shapes?”

  Realizing I had no idea where he was pointing inside his screen, he drew on the map. It was a diagonal line from our position to the east. I accessed my map and noticed the rectangular shape amidst the symbol of three small slopes, as if it was guarded inside a crater.

  “That could be it! And it wouldn’t set us far from our objective. Damn, it’s on the way and close to the sea.”

  The words left my mouth more excitedly than I expected, but thankfully, Elk didn’t back away.

  “It wouldn’t hurt to check it out,” he shrugged. “It’s not like finding a nice place will make a difference—those invisible monsters will find a way to us. Better if we find them first.”

  “Exactly.”

  I smiled confidently and got another in return.

  “We can get there in about one and half a days, see if it’s worth it or if it’ll take too much time, and after that, we rush to the city stone—it’s about a day away. What do you think?”

  “It’s a solid plan, mate. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, though. I’ll fill Mary in, and you do the same with Tress.”

  Elk’s smile vanished as the dark situation behind us returned to the forefront of his thoughts.

  The elves dug a hole where Lirya would be buried. It was sad to only learn her name after she was dead, but that was the harsh reality of the game.

  Tress stood nearby, her hands clasped in front of her. She looked down at me, her eyes still wet.

  “Is this strange to you?” she asked.

  “No. We bury our dead as well.”

  I looked at her, trying to offer a small, comforting smile. She thanked me with her eyes and turned her gaze back to the hole on the ground.

  “Do you remember when I told you I had no fear?”

  “I do.”

  “Back then, I hadn’t realized how much things had changed. A part of me believed we were one step away from returning to normalcy. That’s not the case, is it?”

  “I guess there’s no normal anymore, Tress.”

  I was as honest as possible, and she nodded, holding back some tears.

  “The wind comforts me. It has my whole life. I trust in the Faceless—they put you, Mary, and Elk in my life for a reason. But today… when I saw Lirya’s empty eyes… I was afraid.”

  I reached out and took her hand, holding it firmly. She tightened her grip and locked eyes with me.

  “Don’t die, okay? I don’t want to be afraid again,” she pleaded, her serene voice cracking.

  “I won’t die,” I promised.