Fear shot across Hammy's face so quickly that I felt bad about my comment. At the same time, I wondered how he'd gotten to level 22. The folks in the colony were only now getting to level 20. Though he'd been on his own, I expected a better showing with his fighting abilities. I really couldn't figure out how he'd made it this far without being more… useful.

He was good at one thing, hitting creatures with his fists. Yet, he didn't have a high defense and couldn't dodge. He needed one or the other.

"I can't stay here," he said as a strange look pushed away the fear. He took a deep breath and forced himself to take a step. Then another. Eventually, he moved at a staggered but slow pace down the trail.

I nodded to myself.

That took care of that problem for the moment. I kept pace with him until we caught up with Lenna and Dengu. They stood next to another one of those tall standing stones.

Beyond them towered the edges of a jungle. Tall trees with hanging vines, along with bushes and boulders, created a clear line. The sunlight dimmed as the canopy stretched upward, blocking out direct sunlight. These were the tallest trees I'd seen, limbs reaching toward the sky like giants. The thick branches could easily seat all four of us.

Lenna studied the environment beyond the stone but shook her head at our approach. Her shoulders sat much lower than before. She glanced at us, her eyes landing on Hammy as he slowly marched forward.

"I'm sorry for my outburst," she said with a rush. "The last test upset me." She kept her brown eyes on Hammy.

"Me too," mumbled Hammy. Lenna relaxed at his words and turned back to the trees.

I chuckled at that, wondering what was next. I certainly didn't expect it to be easier.

"I'll take the lead," I said while stepping forward, but Dengu beat me. He crossed the path in front of the stone, which started to glow. The glow rushed down the pavers winding through the trees, showing off a few boulders I hadn't noticed.

Dengu pranced ahead, keeping his head lowered, sniffing at everything.

Bird song suddenly filled the air drawing my attention upward, but I saw nothing in the branches. Unease trickled along my neck and I pulled my knife, keeping it in hand just in case. My senses buzzed, but nothing in particular showed up. Or at least, nothing that registered as prey.

Still, I kept my eyes and ears peeled as I followed Dengu down the partially hidden pathway. Hammy stayed close to me, moving louder than I'd like, but I gave him credit for doing his best to keep up with my faster pace. Lenna took the rear, with her bow notched and ready to go.

A group of brightly colored birds flew through the upper branches of the trees. The feathers ranged from bright blue to florescent green, with a few pops of orange. Each was only about the size of a baseball, but easy to track as the group darted between branches and vines.

A bad feeling rose as I tracked their movement, unable to glance away. Getting attacked by a flock of birds would suck.

The chirping creatures flew by a grouping of short green vines when one flew a little too close to the thick leafless vine. It flicked, snatching the bird out of the air and wrapping around it tightly like a snake.

The green vine yanked its catch up to the branch from which it draped into a gaping mouth. What looked to be part of the branch was a narrow furry creature the same color as the tree bark. Several tails dangled from its back. Most stretched up to its mouth, which closed around the bird. Then the tail vines fell again, dangling from the branch like nothing happened.

It took seconds, and I almost doubted what I saw.

The flock of birds panicked, flying in all directions. More tail vines snatched several out of the air when they flew too close. A couple of bright blue feathers fluttered through the air, floating down gently from above.

The same type of vines dangled along the trail from thicker branches right near we were creeping.

My eyes locked with Hammy, who had seen the same thing. His eyes were wide but more confident than I'd seen them. He lightly rubbed his shoulder as he studied the vines alongside us and farther along the trail. We both stared at Lenna, but she didn't notice, her gaze off to the far left. Her bow shook in her hands and I assumed another group of birds had met their end.

Her head snapped in our direction, nodding frantically to continue moving. I pointed upward, but she motioned with her bow off to the side where she'd been staring. She tried to mouth a word, but I didn't understand.

Somehow, birdsong continued through the air and I tried to figure out where it came from, since there weren't any birds. I crept slowly along the path, keeping my senses pushed to the maximum. Next time when I got close to a set of vines, I pointed at them with my knife trying to indicate they were dangerous to Lenna.

Hammy frantically waved his hands for me to keep moving.

That's when it struck.

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The vines wrapped around Hammy and tried to yank him upward, yet he didn't move. The vines strained to pick him up, but latched onto his armor he obviously was too heavy.

His arms flailed about as two more vines lowered to wrap around them.

I dashed back, cutting the tail-things tying up his hands.

Lenna's eyes went wide at the scene, her mouth gapping. The creature above screamed as I cut off of vines, the ends falling to the ground. The rest of the forest went silent.

There were no more bird sounds.

Branches snapping and the sound of something crashing through the undergrowth came from the far left.

"Go go go!" frantically whispered Lenna.

Hammy yanked himself forward, snapping another vine while yanking the rest of them suddenly. The creature above scratched at the branch as it suddenly found itself in the air.

I hurried down the path as Hammy freed himself before the creature landed off to the right, smashing into ferns before it hit the ground.

All of us picked up the pace, fleeing whatever raced toward us.

[You gained experience from a level 25 Long Tailed Sloth. Your experience is banked.]

I paused, no longer hearing anything moving behind us, and the birdsong picked back up again.

"I saw a Spiked Bear. An actual living one. All the stories say they're extinct." Lenna's low voice came from behind. She shivered, glancing over her shoulder. "Drastically poisonous, and they like to eat their prey slowly, though the stories say the poison usually kills quickly enough. Still, not something I want to face."

"The vine thing was a Long Tailed Sloth," I added, studying the vines around us for any that didn't grow leaves. I tried using Insight.

[Flowering Vine.]

[Reaching Vine.]

[Ancient Tree.]

I closed the notifications with a frown since they weren't helpful. The forest contained too many things to look at.

"Well, it chose the wrong one of us to try to eat," joked Hammy as he stretched his arms upward with a grimace. "Though, I leveled up from that. I need to rest for the extra constitution points to kick in."

I gave him a thumbs up, trying to sense the bear thing Lenna mentioned but only received more buzzing from my senses.

Dengu had vanished far ahead of us during the race away from the bear and I tilted my head in that direction.

"Where's Dengu?"

"Let me check." Lenna's eyes closed before they snapped open in panic. "He's in trouble!"

I took off down the trail as fast as I could while still being quiet. Lenna dodged around Hammy, leaving him behind, and raced right behind me.

Around another enormous tree trunk the size of a car, Dengu was struggling with a set of vines wrapped tight around him. He whimpered as he spotted us. A giant Sloth grinned, showing off several giant teeth from above.

Three arrows slammed into it before I could leap high enough to cut at the first vine. It vanished behind the massive branch, tails still slowly rising with Dengu in its clasp. I leaped again, this time landing on Dengu's back with a thud. He whimpered again, but I sliced through the thickest vine holding him. A wicked smell like burnt rubber filled the air making me want to gag.

More arrows flew overhead but hit the underside of the branch. My knife found two more tails, and we suddenly jerked down. Awkwardly, I slipped off Dengu as he struggled, snapping a few more of the vines before freeing himself. He landed on one of his feet.

Lenna grunted, and I spun about to find her struggling with a different set of vines. She had only one hand free. I rushed her way as Dengu finished untangling himself. Hammy appeared around the bend in the path just as I cut Lenna's other hand free.

"That bear is coming!" Hammy yelled, then pointed ahead of us. "Is that the end of the trial?"

A large boulder sat off to the right of the trail like a beacon in a small patch of sunlight.

Lennas snatched at her knife and helped me cut her free.

We all rushed in at the rock.

Dengu limped slightly as he ran, but still moved in the correct direction.

Hammy slowed down as he passed it, then swore.

I followed suit as it didn't glow. "Keep going," I growled, letting Lenna and Dengu go by. Glancing over my shoulder, the stone we'd passed shook, then uncurled. Brown scales shimmered in the light as the creature shook itself. Tall spikes ran along its spine, dancing in the sunlight.

[Giant Jungle Groundhog, Level 29, Prey, Unknown.]

I continued down the path, which curved around another enormous tree trunk removing the groundhog from sight. Deep down I knew I could take it, but my team would suffer. A roar came from that direction, and a second different one challenged the first.

In the distance, a familiar wall of ferns grew right behind a large stone sitting off to one side of the trail. Between us and safety, a wall of vines hung across the trail.

Yet, Hammy sped up in front of us. He charged right into the mess of vines at full force. Several contracted around him, but he kept struggling with a stretch. They lifted him a foot off the ground before a thicker one snapped.

I passed Lenna, who skidded to a stop and loosed a flaming arrow right by my head. It slammed into the mass of struggling vines above Hammy. The fire flickered once, then rapidly spread, trailing from one to another.

A bunch of the vines released Hammy and snapped up away from the burning cluster. Scuttling shadows moved in the canopy away from us.

Hammy broke free before I reached him and charged past the stone.

I was next, before Dengu and Lenna joined us as it started to glow. My heart pounded as the sound of massive thuds came from behind the giant tree trunk.

The large groundhog rolled across the underbrush like a ball, spikes stuck out in every direction from its body. Its body glowed, then vanished, and the stone flashed.

Hammy gasped for breath but started chuckling. "That was different," he got out between chuckles.

"The dungeon uses a different definition of tails than me," I added. I glanced down the stone path, trying to see what was ahead.

Dengu chirped once, drawing my attention. He lifted his foot up and then tried to set it down but lifted it back up instead.

Lens rushed closer, kneeling. "He hurt his foot pretty bad." She ran her fingers along it, before jerking back her hand. Her fingers curled up into a fist. "He cracked a bone in his foot."

"Can you heal it?" asked Hammy, calming his breathing down.

"I used the last of the healing stone on your shoulder."

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