As a figure rushed out of a bush suddenly during the night. Everyone was quickly startled and rushed to pull out their weapons. Lila yelled to the trespasser.

“Stop! Who are you and why are you here.”

“You guys forget about me… and now you can’t even recognize me. Don’t think you guys have been too cold to me recently.”

The figured responded back with a tired voice. While Lockon quickly figured it out.

“Goliath? What the hell happened to you…”

It was no surprise that none of them could recognize Goliath. After all his face was completely covered in dirt, his armor was destroyed no longer the shiny silver colour but instead was dented in and in worse areas punctured with holes. He was a tragic sight leaving him unrecognizable by his own party members. Rina rushed over to heal him before asking him what happened.

“I met that pig i enraged earlier. It seems after being enraged it learnt a skill [enrage]....”

“That technique is truly fearsome alright.”

“Yeah I’m glad it was him and not me…”

“Umm I think you guys should be comforting him right now….”

“Also what were you guys doing while I was nearly killed for the second time today huh? If I don’t like your answer don’t expect me to tank for you anymore…”

The three of them looked away in guilt. It was true their reasons wouldn’t justify why they ignored his whispers. Naturally they saw a window pop up from Goliath but they were too busy playing with Pan to care what he was doing. And because they were such close friends they knew they couldn’t lie to his face without him knowing. So Lockon found the best way out of the situation.

“Quick Pan! Use tail-whip!”

Pan rushed over and wrapped its three tails around Goliath staring up at him. Goliath in turn stared at Pan and shook his head.

“You guy’s are seriously trying to turn him into a Pokemon….”

----------------------------------

As Hydra, the chicken, and the smart girl were carefully sneaking their way out of the village Hydra was slowly becoming less worried. The distance they have covered was already halfway to the exit. It would only be a bit longer till they could run away leaving behind this high-leveled area. Hydra was sure even at level 50 he wouldn’t dare coming here confident in winning. The easiest part about sneaking back was Hydra already found the fastest route so he didn’t end up getting lost would cut their time and chances of being found in half. Once again they arrived to a pathway that lead towards the bonfire. While Hydra went ahead to make sure their were no guards around and that no one could see them crossing the pathway he lightly tapped their shoulders. Quickly realizing it was safe to go they unhesitatingly walked by. The girl and man both knew that their only hopes of survival was to place their hopes on their savior, therefore hesitation would lead to their demise.

Time went by, and they all passed another row of houses. Meeting with no resistance letting their tense bodies relax. Every time Hydra would notice a Liza he would patiently wait for it to pass hoping it wouldn’t get the sudden urge to check around the corner. The two NPC’s were in even a worse situation it became harder to breathe every passing second they had to wait. They trusted their savior but not being able to see him and that he wouldn’t return for sometime could only give them thoughts of abandonment. But to their relief every single time without fail Hydra would come back tapping their shoulders. Sometimes it would take so long they would nearly give out a soft shriek but swiftly calming themselves was the only chance of survival.

Finally. They arrived at the last row of houses. Smiles crept on their faces and joy was taking over. It might have been far away from their village still, but anything was better than being in the village. Unfortunately just as their hopes were rising, it was immediately crushed after hearing a considerable amount noise.

“THE PRISONERS HAVE ESCAPED!”

“I want them back. If i don’t eat them for my meal I guarantee I’ll eat one of you! Do whatever you can and find them!”

“”YES””

The Liza clan screamed. Now neither of the three were calm. Hydra hastily released his stealth, and for the first time the man and girl could see him. Before allowing them to adjust to the situation he grabbed their hands and ran.

“I have a few friends camped out a few minutes away. The moment you leave the village just run straight. Tell them ‘Hydra’ sent you and they will bring you back to the city. If you can’t find them just keep on running. No matter what don’t turn around!”

The girl thought for a second than worriedly called out.

“what about you! We can’t leave you to die!”

“Don’t worry about me. If you do you’ll just die. Get yourselves to safety. I promise I’ll live.”

‘Cause I still need to get the rewards from this man’ was what he wanted to say, but left it for now. It wasn’t time to argue and with every second they wasted it was another second that allowed the Liza to catch up. Reluctantly the girl hesitated before running off. While the man was already gone, long gone in fact the moment he heard the shouts of the Liza he nearly dragged Hydra along with him running at speed he couldn’t believe. Once again Hydra had no clue as how this guy got caught in the first place.

‘Now…. are you a curse or will you be my savior this time…’

Hydra opened his menu and stared at his Luck stat. Considering he was too weak to fight, and although he didn’t want to, relying on the luck was all he had at this moment. As he closed the window. He saw hundreds of red eye’s glittering in the night. Hydra was no longer near the bonfire so their figures were only lightly outline by the shadows. But Hydra knew, he knew exactly the moment they laid eyes on him. That they would chase him until the end of the world. The impression the Liza clan gave off was just that strong. Hydra noticed that the girl had already disappeared before the Liza had arrived.

‘It’s now or never.’

Hydra turned and ran for his life. Unfortunately it was the literal meaning and curse his happiness over getting his first quest. While Hydra had started running the new chief saw him from the back of the army of lizards and roared.

“GET HIM!”

“RAAAAAAAWRRR!”

The sound of over a 1000 Liza roaring was enough to shake the entire area. Birds silently sleeping were scared awake and flew off before knowing what happened. The soft chirping of the crickets looking for mates ceased to exist. The forest in the night was suddenly brought to life.

‘Uh, this is the absolute worse. My only hope is to run for 30 minutes when my Stealth is no longer on cooldown.’

But that in itself was an incredibly difficult thing to accomplish. Hydra who was level 9 was required to out run Liza warriors who are much stronger and higher level than them. Speaking logically in the game their stamina would out last Hydra quite a few times over so running for even 5 minutes without getting caught would already be amazing. But he had no choice in the matter. It was to lure them away from the NPC’s or let them die. How could Hydra let his rewards go up and disappear like that? At least if he died, as long as the father got home safely he could complete the quest later! The only thing that Hydra could hope for was a miracle. He was scared of a miracle as it could even make the situation worse! So even without being told to or standing hoping for a miracle to happen he ran. He ran for his life while the hundreds of red eyes lit up the forest. Thankfully Hydra could tell from the sheer amount of crashing that these lizards were not nocturnal. While thankful he didn’t slow his pace for even a second and quickly ran as straight as he could possibly accomplish. As he kept on running he ran into a dark swamp area. Before he could get accustomed to the natural area a window popped up.

You are the first to discover ‘The swamp of Death’

This swamp was naturally formed however because it is situated deep in the forest no one has found it, or upon entering they have immediately died not being able to pass on the tale. Because the swamped went unperturbed for centuries and other monsters have left it alone, the ecosystem has evolved creating danger plant life and other mysterious lifeforms.

‘Should I just die by the Liza? Miracle came, miracle became terrifying, miracle is going to kill me!’

Thought complaining to his utmost Hydra kept running. And while running messages kept popping up one after another.

You have stepped on a poison frog. Luckily you have boots on.

You have stepped on an exploding Lotus. Luckily it was a dud.

The air has been filled with nice fragrance drawing you to the area. Luckily you missed a giant man-eating plant because of this.

‘I might seriously consider quitting this game..’

After terrifying messages kept appearing and because of his Luck stat he was able to safely avoid everyone. The Liza behind him were not so fortunate. Hydra could hear a bomb go off warming his back even though he was already a fair distance away. Just was he checked the situation he saw a giant man-eating plant grab 5 of the Liza clan in one gulp. The Liza clan were at least 2 meters and to see a plant take one gulp to end them caused him to shake uncontrollably. While he sometimes cursed his luck at this moment he had never been so thankful. The distance between him and the front of the Liza army was increasing with every passing window that luckily Hydra didn’t have to go through. Sometimes it was a quicksand swamp other times it was a Hidden boss that had been sleeping and woken up by the rushing Liza warriors, but Hydra didn’t feel sorry for them at all. The only regret was all the items and experience was not going to him and instead going to the swamp to make it even stronger. Therefore Hydra quickly made a note on the map to never come to this location in his entire life. it didn’t matter how strong he was, this place was banned forever.

Hydra was able to finally see the forest clearing again. He rushed straight into the forest forever leaving behind the Liza clan. The Liza clan on the other hand was still trying to chase him but to no avail. Thus one senior looking warrior ran to report to the Chief.

“The human has escaped Chief.”

The Chief Liza, a giant warrior whose skin was a darker shade of green like jade, only glared towards his subordinate before walking away.

“Gather the army. We march for the human city.”

The senior warrior who almost thought he life was void at that second didn’t hesitate and yelled to gather the remaining Liza. The army had lost a few but the number was minuscule to their original number. Their target was the beginner's village!