This path stopped way before the other paths, turning from ferns into a lush jungle with a shady canopy.

"Woah, this is like the Sanctuary," whispered Lenna, smiling in a beam of sunlight.

Dengu chirped in what I swore was agreement.

"You've been inside?" I asked, keeping my eyes peeled. The pavers slowly faded and the spaces between them grew further apart, making the path hard to follow.

"That's where I bonded with Dengu," she said, stepping around a short fern. "His mother bonded with my mother, but she had him travel into the Sanctuary to get to level 15 before he bonded with me. I needed to prove myself by finding him."

The underbrush stayed close to the ground in the shady areas, making it easier to see farther into the distance. A large upright rock caught my attention, next to a grouping of pavers. Beyond that, the trees grew further apart with moss dangling from above. Fallen logs and rocks dotted the distance, along with a few bushes. The land was mostly pretty open, though.

"That must be the first marker," I said, pointing. "Scales and hides… I expect something with armor, but I'm not sure what to make of the term hides." The cats were the only creature with what I'd consider a hide that I'd seen so far. The chance to face more of them excited me more than it worried me. I'd beaten the alpha, and I'd been much weaker then. I snorted, thinking about how he'd spoken. My eyes widened, and hovered over Dengu.

The Alpha spoke, and now Dengu needed to finish a quest like that. Had the Alpha cat finished the same quest?

Dengu skirted around Lenna and approached the stone, slowing down after glancing at all of us. He waited until we hiked closer before stepping next to it.

[You are being hunted, but can you escape the Scaled Hunter? Make it to the temple and complete the challenge.]

My head tilted to the side at the notification. Why would we escape the hunter, instead of defeating it?

Dengu lowered his head almost to the ground, sniffing, before stepping forward. He paused and glanced back at us, almost with worry.

"He says he smells water, but can't see it," said Lenna. "I'm guessing a swamp, or quicksand."

I immediately extended my spear, while Hammy grabbed a branch slightly off the path. "I'll take the left front if you take the right."

He nodded.

I poked at the ground in front of Dengu to the left, making sure it felt solid. After pressing a little harder than necessary, I took the step.

"This is going to be a long journey," I grumbled.

"I'll keep watch for this hunter." Lenna took a position behind Dengu, with her bow ready.

Even with her keeping watch, I stretched my senses as far as they would reach. Various things pinged, some prey here and there, but nothing that felt bigger. Or worrisome.

Hammy poked at the ground in front of him before continuing on his way.

We kept up the slow, steady, and safe travel for several feet. Then Hammy's stick sunk into the ground way too quickly.

"Woah, found something." He started poking all around it to find the edges of the quicksand. It looked like leaves on the ground until he poked it and the dirt rippled.

Dengu whimpered at the site, and then sniffed it. He stepped closer to me, much closer.

I made sure that in front of me and to the farther left the ground stayed solid before I took the step. I let out a breath.

Everything remained good.

Something slammed into Hammy, pushing him toward the quicksand. Dengu's teeth snapped out to grab his arm, but the dino jerked back when Hammy stayed upright.

Lenna shot an arrow, while I used insight.

[Hidden Lemur, Level 25, Prey, Unknown.]

"Well, that kinda hurt," said Hammy while rubbing his shoulder. Then he snorted. "I might be a little too heavy for that kind of attack."

The arrow hit the creature before it vanished in plain sight.

"Ah, so we have high stealth creatures… nice," I whispered, studying the area where it had disappeared. It flickered on my radar, so to speak, as it paused on a branch up to the right above all of us. The more I stared out of the corner of my eyes, the easier it got to trace the outline of the Lemur. Its skill made its hide blend into its surroundings.

I motioned to Lenna with a finger, then pointed, keeping Dengu between me and the Lemur.

Another arrow flew from her, hitting the creature and shattering its stealth. It screamed in pain, racing away over the branches before slipping on a jump. It snagged a vine, but dangled over the ground for a split second.

It was enough for Lenna to get a third arrow in the air. Then it tumbled to the ground, dead.

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I chuckled, but froze as the ground beneath the carcass rippled. It sank slowly into the dirt, disappearing.

"Ah, so not that way, right?" asked Hammy.

The next attack came as we focused on the path ahead.

As soon as I caught the streak out of the corner of my eye, I ducked and slammed the butt of my spear into the creature. Dengu snapped his teeth on its legs and shook it back and forth, crunching with his jaws.

[You have gained experience from combat against level 23 Lemur. Your experience is banked.]

Dengu turned his head to me, staring with one eye.

"Eat it, buddy, it's all yours." I turned back to poking the ground with my spear. Surprisingly, we needed to travel directly to the left to move around a different sinking point in the ground.

Time ticked by as we slowly progressed across the area. Now and then I swore it felt like someone was staring at the back of my neck. Yet, no more attacks came from the lemurs. The more progress we made, the more we needed to detour away from the main path I was trying to keep track of. Here and there I glimpsed pavers near trees or rocks off to the side of us, and we kept having to detour away from those glimpses.

Suddenly, my spear sank over an inch with barely any pressure on the dirt. The water underneath rippled, and I jerked back, ready.

Nothing came, but the ripples highlighted that this wasn't quicksand anymore.

"I think we hit a swamp." Hammy spoke up as his branch passed easily through the water right in front of him.

"How deep do you think it is?" asked Lenna.

I stuck my spear into the water and found solid ground after 4 inches. Narrowing my eyes, I shoved on it a bit more to figure out just how solid it was.

Splashing came from my right as Hammy stepped into the water, but he only went down around 4 inches. It sent ripples even farther than my spear.

A shiver ran up my spine.

"This was the only solid path, and it leads here…" I said with a frown, trying to find a way around heading into the water.

"We need to keep moving," said Hammy, taking another step into the water. He didn't sink any deeper. "Whatever's out there will find us no matter what. The dungeon will see to that, right?"

Dengu went next and took several steps beyond Hammy.

I stayed put, ready for whatever watched to make its move.

Nothing happened.

"I'm going to ride Dengu," said Lenna, as the dinosaur backtracked to her location. She jumped up on his back and repositioned herself. "I'll be able to see more from up here."

Given the difference in height between the two, it made sense. I just didn't know she could ride on the velociraptor's back like a horse.

Jealousy rose in me, and I squashed it down like a bug. Maybe if I asked nicely later Dengu would give me a ride. I just didn't want to step into the water. While we'd stopped back at the compound days ago, I'd forgotten one very important thing.

To get my boots repaired by Denver. The two small holes in my boot from my fight with the cat mocked me.

Dirty swamp water would fill up my boot, and I hated wet socks.

I should have found some sort of solution, but here I needed to walk through gross water.

Hammy's feet stood almost 6 inches off the ground because of the exoskeleton. So it was only me.

"Do you want a piggyback ride?" asked Hammy.

"What?" My head snapped around to stare at him.

"You seem very reluctant to keep going."

Everyone stared at me.

"I'm fine, I just have a few holes in my boot." I pointed them out. "A cat got me good."

A rush of water sprayed over us, as the thing that had been watching finally tried to take down Dengu.

Dengu darted away, Lenna clutched to his back as the creature's bite attack missed.

I leaped into the air.

[Scaled Hunter, Level 30, Predator, Tasty.]

Terror washed through me as I landed on its back, stabbing down repeatedly with my spear. It suddenly reared back, flinging me into the air.

Lenna shot arrows at its underbelly when it flipped up, but I couldn't see if they were doing any damage.

I hit the water. Air rushed out of my lungs as I focused on my spear and not letting go. My feet found the bottom, and I stood up with my mouth barely an inch above the water.

I needed to get out of the water.

A nearby fallen tree was my best hope, as I tried to use my ability to leap. I gave it everything I had and barely cleared the liquid, but I reached the trunk, scrambling up the moss-covered surface.

My heart pounded as I waited for the giant crocodile to follow up and try to attack me. Yet, once again, nothing came.

The sound of fighting came from the area where the others were.

I blinked in shock at what I saw.

Hammy wrestled with the crocodile. His metal mittens held its mouth open as he screamed.

Dengu dug into the side of the creature, while flaming arrows slammed repeatedly into its open mouth.

[You have gained bonus experience from combat for surviving against Level 30, Scaled Hunter. Your experience is banked.]

Hammy yanked the crocodile behind him as he stomped through the water to the dry land we had paused earlier on.

"Alex are you okay?" called out Lenna.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just deeper over here." The idea of swimming through the water made me want to scream, but I didn't see what else I could do. After putting my knife away, I crouched down and leaped off the tree trunk. I flew across the open water, before diving underneath, aiming for a shallow dive just under the surface. From there I kept swimming, waiting to be attacked at any second.

Instead, the water became shallower until I could stand up easily and march my way out of the mess. Muck coated me from head to toe, and I wished for a hot shower to magically appear.

Dengu paced back and forth on the smallest strip of land next to the carcass. His eyes locked on me and he stared at the kill.

The Scaled Hunter wasn't as big as it had appeared from the air. While its tail was longer than me, the rest was compact.

"He's waiting for you to cut it up," said Lenna.

"You guys rocked." I motioned to the carcass as I pulled out my knife. "Like, Hammy, that was amazing. You kept its mouth open. That had to suck."

"I didn't really have much of a choice if I didn't want to get bit." He blushed and glanced at Lenna. "It helped that it swallowed my branch the wrong way. Lenna quickly realized the weak spot."

"We worked together," said Lenna. "And we won."

"Can you help me flip it?" I asked, after cutting the tail off.

Hammy marched up and we both shoved it over.

I smirked as I cut into the side of it where the armor thinned. Dengu had torn into its side as well, but hadn't gotten very deep. Its belly sliced open with ease, though, and I almost cut into the heart by accident. "Woah, it really didn't have any protection down here."

I pulled out the heart and noticed Hammy had turned away. He picked up the tail and Dengu latched onto the other side. The first bite reminded me of the turtle, and the second as well.

[You have devoured Scaled Hunter and gained an insight into Adaptive Body - I. Adaptive Body - II: Your body is improved from head to toe, needing less water and rest. You automatically heal poison and venom. Whatever you devour provides energy and speeds up the healing of any injuries or fatigue. When threatened you can create heavily armored areas providing increased resistance to damage.]

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