Despite the visible sunlight now descending beyond the thick foliage, an unearthly feeling swept over him as Han leapt past overgrowth and treaded past gnarly roots from ancient trees that pervaded the entire area around him.

This was supposed to be the Enchanted Forest… if you asked him, Haunted Forest seemed like the better term.

There was no clearing or pathway for him to take, everything seemed to be overfilled with the flora and vegetation. Now it made sense why the Elf had arrived last time from above the trees, it was like maneuvering through a thick and dense sea of people—except they were plants and couldn't move.

It was a good thing that he knew the general direction of where he was supposed to go, he had to thank the Demon Lord for that.

A buzz emanated in the air as he traversed the terrain, the sound was drumming and made an itchy feeling crawl over his back.

Han slapped a hand over his back.

Splat.

An icky feeling in his hands, Han reluctantly looked at his hand and wished he didn't. Dark gooey green liquid on his palm with disgusting translucent silver wings and black entrails.

[ Han has gained 5 XP! ]

The buzzing thrummed even louder around him, the beating of angry wings.

"Well fu—" It wasn't a good sign at all, Han started moving faster. Leaping and stumbling past the overgrowth. He didn't want any of it's brethrens taking revenge on him.

This wasn't what he had wanted when he started playing this again.

15 rocks

12 seashells

3 silver

Reaching for a stone from the translucent screen, it materialized in his hands and he threw it over towards the opposite direction of his and heard it reverberated against the tree tops. Was that enough? He grabbed another stone and made it soar past the trees, whistling past its leaves.

Would that be enough to throw them off?

Of course not.

Han made a run for it, ignoring the scratches and the pain that planted itself in his body. The buzzing was now a source of his speed. That was until he tripped again on some twisted root and he found himself falling over a pool of mud this time.

"Splch." He spat out the mulch from his mouth.

BZZZT

His body felt heavy and at the moment he didn't want to get up. What were bugs compared to Gargoyles right? A shudder ran down his spine. He didn't fancy getting blood-sucked though or pierced with needles…

Soon the bugs flew over to where Han was, pervading the silence of the forest with thousands of wings beating in unison—an angry chatter in the air.

Where was the Human?

They seeked to feast on his flesh.

Their antennas twitched and bobbed, where was prey?

Buzzing continued in the air as they searched for the pesky human that killed their young brethren.

But he was nowhere to be found? Impossible! Search for him more! Form groups and disperse! The angry buzzing spreaded throughout the Enchanted Forest, some would fall prey to other predators and creatures but that was fine! They wanted the Human's warm blood.

With three insects remaining and never moving forward to search—an amalgamation of mud rose from the pool and flicked blobs of its forms towards them.

One

Two

Three

They all hit their target—except for one speedy scout that watched its brethren fall onto the earth now laden with heavy mud. The scout beat their wings at the creature, elongated beak twitching as it dove towards it. Angry insectile chittering down at the monster.

A sharp stone brought it down, piercing through its translucent scaly wings and rendered it flightless.

An amalgamation of mud and stone?

What a horrifying being!

The insect shivered and shook on the earth, its two legs were broken as well. How treacherous! If the swarm were here, they would have surely defeated this monster!

"I didn't exactly want to do this." The vibration of the air was familiar, that voice!

Before it could finish its thought, the rock slammed over its bulbous head and spread green over the earth. Han proceeded to execute the other two insects with the same stone, dying it in fresh viscous blood.

[ Han has gained 30 XP! ]

He quickly dropped the stone on the ground and approached one of the trees. He wiped his hand across the tree's rough bark. Marking the tree and ridding him of the stain of the blood that stuck in his hands. He wiped his face with his cleaner hand, wiping off the mud as he sighed a bit.

"I need to get away here before they return." He looked past the murdered insects on the ground and fought back a vomit. Shaking a bit to get a good chunk of mud off from him, Han resumed his trek towards the west exit of the Enchanted Forest.

It was obvious that he was an unwelcome recipient here.

...Would things be different if he had accepted that Alliance with the Elf? Speaking of which, if this was their territory—surely the guy knew that he was around here right?

Maybe he should have tried chatting on the universal server before he made his way through the forest? Well, it had already been done. There was no use for him to cry over spilled water.

Besides, he finally found a new screen.

"Skill Screen."

[ New Skill: Terrain Camouflage Obtained! ]

[ Skill: Terrain Camouflage Lvl 1! ]

[ Skill: Unerring Throw Lvl 3! ]

Wallowing in that pit of mud helped him discover this skill, and though he wanted a skill that was cool like Moonlight Slash or something else—this was pretty good too. Especially his Unerring Throw one, it must have been due to him throwing everything he could find in his hand, bottle, stone or mud. He mused to himself silently. He had a feeling that the insects managed to have a good sense of hearing, and he didn't want to stumble upon them to find out.

Making sure that he was on guard, he'd surely be able to avoid any more encounters.

That was one way to jinx himself.

He stumbled upon a horrible scene. If he had taken one more step, he would have been doomed. A large web of sticky thread lay before him, it connected two large trees and blocked the entire path. Scattered about the net were chittering insects that he had encountered earlier.

They were still alive but unable to escape.

Han took a step backward, he had to take another route.

The crunch of a stick underneath his foot proved his endeavor a hopeless one. Thunderous skittering erupted behind him as he looked back to see a humongous spider propel itself towards him. Han threw himself to the ground, the creature flying towards its net.

It turned back towards him, ignoring the angry chitters of the stuck insects of their crushed brethren.

It was far too late to try a camouflage that would work on this one—he had to fight this one head on. If only he had a better weapon than a stone.

The spider leapt towards him, its beak now filled with a froth of purple liquid.

A stone simply bounced back on its smooth shiny black surface. Han moved aside, the spider unable to change its trajectory. It was a bit of a stupid one, or maybe he was a stupid one as well. Who fought giant spiders with their bare hands?

Apparently him.

The spider run-crawled over towards him, no longer leaping about—perhaps having learned that he could easily evade it. It tackled him but he managed to avoid its beak and simply slipped beneath the creature, for once, its smooth chitin now a liability. The exposure of its less protected underneath exterior was one thing but he dove for one of its legs, grabbing a hold of it and tugging it with him as he left.

Han pulled with all his might and received a beautiful twist and crunch in return.

Purple liquid gushed forth out of the spider's now amputated limb. Han clasped a severed leg, fighting back a grimace as he dug himself into the soil with his heels. He had done—An ear piercing screech erupted from the spider!

[ Venomous Spider's Wail! ]

[ Han has been deafened! Your dexterity has decreased! ]

He felt unsteady but held on to his prize, the spider came upon him with a mangled scream. Wincing he held the leg, steadied his footing and stabbed the limb at its agape mouth, more purple liquid flowed out of its mouth, runny as it dripped over its leg.

Han dropped it and jumped back, before stumbling onto the earth.

The spider stood frozen, impaled with its own leg before its limbs gave out. Dying with its own poison.

[ Han has gained 50 XP! ]

He had survived, he shakily laughed along with the angry chittering of the insects still stuck in the spider's net. He was alive!

[ New Skill: Unarmed Combat Obtained! ]

[ Skill: Unarmed Combat Lvl 1! ]

[ Natural Enemies: Insect Creatures! ]

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"Huh?" The Elf exclaimed as he watched the scene unfold before him. "Who would have knew? They're a natural!" He laughed to himself and ignored the popping messages from the Demon Lord. It was an entertaining sight!

And somebody else agreed. Favoring the Human had been a good choice after all.