CHAPTER 4: Avoid or Die, First Quest.

"Bullshit! Why didn't you say anything earlier?!"

"That's right! We already spent our gold stellas!" 

"If you know, you should've told us earlier!"

Luck turned his head to Ethan who's looking at the people that are yelling at him. 

"Seriously? We tell them about it and they're mad?" Damon asked, shaking his head in disbelief. Amethyst felt nervous and hid herself behind Luck unconsciously. The guy glanced at her and saw her nervous expression. 

"W-what do we do...?" Luck turned his head to the timer. 00:50.

He sighed before speaking.  

"HEY," Everyone faces Luck as he yelled with loud voice. Even Amethyst was startled, she flinched and run towards Ethan, tugging on his shirt. 

"Why are receiving hates now? We thought a lot about this using our own heads. Do you think we knew it right away? That just shows how stupid y'all are. Was it our fault that you all are meat-brained, not thinking before your actions? You need to prioritize strength to defeat those? Just look at the levels above their heads, do you think you can defeat that even if you throw all your golds to strength? Did you really not think at all? This is a game, but it's also a reality. If you die here, no one's going to revive you, we just entered and we have no revival items yet, you see?" Luck glanced at the timer again. 

00:13.

"Instead of getting mad us, why don't you blame your stupidity for it?" Luck added and looked at everyone with blank expression on his faces. Luck sighed and shake his head. 

'I didn't want to make a big impression, but I just did,' Luck thought, regretting what he just did. 

Everyone exchanged looks as they realized their mistakes. 

"H-hey, I'm sorry I was just--"

The other man was cut off between his words when a notification appeared in front of them. Unlike the color of their status window earlier, this is just plain white, with something written on it. 

[ Greetings, I'm back! Now that everyone has upgraded their stats, we shall proceed with the First Quest! The title of this quest is --- 'Let's Play Tag'! ] 

'I knew it...' Luck thought, ignoring the stares of his teammates whoa are all surprised that his guess was actually right. 

[ First Quest - Let's Play Tag

- Play tag with the monsters while avoiding their attacks!

Rewards:

- 30,000 Stellas

- 10,000 Gold Stellas

- 100 Gems

- 300 Clovers

- Plain Sword (3-star Weapon)

You have 60 seconds to hide, so hide yourselves well! ] 

After that, another timer appeared above the magic circle in the middle of the room. At the same time, the surrounding changes to a wide and spacious forest, as if everyone is transported to another world. Huge trees that are impossible to climb, grasses that are almost as tall as a person, and a sunlight that's being blocked by the huge branches of the trees. 

"This is like a forest for titans," Damon spoke, wandering his eyes around the whole unfamiliar forest. 

"W-We're suddenly in another world?" Amethyst asked. The three guys with her roamed their eyes around the forest, not answering Amethyst's question. 

"We only have a minute. Are we going to hide separately?" Damon asked, turning his head to Luck. The latter stayed quiet, just watching the surroundings as if he's thinking about something. 

"Hmm..." Ethan, Damon, and Amethyst stared at him. 

'Why are they relying on me now just because I told them about how the quest is going to be?' Luck thought.

"Going separate ways sounds plausible...but that also means we won't be able to watch each other's back," Luck spoke, looking up to the branches of the large trees. 

'It's impossible to climb these trees...' Luck sighed. 'Where the heck are we suppose to hide here? Seriously?' Luck roamed his eyes again to look for a good hiding spot. 

"That's right. A team should protect and save each other," Ethan replied, nodding his head to agree with Luck. 

"B-but what are we going to do now? We're...we're running out of time," Amethyst mumbled with nervous voice. 

"Look there, there's a fallen tree trunk. There's a hole in the middle that seems large enough to hide four people in it. Should we go there?" Ethan asked, pointing to the fallen tree trunk not far from their location. 

"Yeah, good idea. Let's go!" Luck started running towards the trunk and the three followed him.

"If ever we're found by those monsters. Our strategy is to escape and save. But don't go throwing yourselves to each other and then die. Watch out for the monsters, and inform us where it's aiming its attack---and who is the target, that way we can help each other," Luck said as they all run together towards the fallen tree trunk.

"Aight!"

"Alright!"

"Yes!"

As the timer decreases to ten seconds, the four of them are desperately running towards the trunk. Luck grabbed Damon's wrist as he throw him inside the hole of the tree trunk. 

"Ouch! Please be gentle with me!" Damon yelled, but Luck ignored him and let Ethan and Amethyst followed Damon before he entered the middle trunk. 

* dun dun dun * 

[ The quest is starting, please do your best to stay alive!

10:00

9:59

9:58...]

Luck felt his chest aching because of how fast his heartbeat is. He never left their town before, and now that he got out from his comfort zone, the very first one to approach him are those monsters who are ready to attack any humans they see. 

"Damon..." Damon tilt his head to peek at Luck, but the guy took a deep breath first before he continued. 

"Can you go at the other end of this hole? Watch over the monsters on the left, I'll watch this side," Damon nod his head as he crawl to the other side of the trunk. Amethyst bend her knees and hug it. 

"This tree trunk is still not safe. We're not going to stay here until the timer ends," Ethan spoke. Luck nods his head to agree, he glanced at Amethyst and then to Ethan, cocking his head once. Ethan turn his head to Amethyst who looks extremely scared about the situation.

"W-we need to survive this for ten minutes...?" Amethyst asked, trembling.

'Right, those creatures looks extremely dangerous than the ones we knew outside...' Luck thought, carefully peeking outside the trunk. Damon is doing the same to the other side of the trunk, making sure he's not seen by the monsters. It is also a good thing for them that the grasses are tall because it can hide them from the monsters.

"What are you scared of, Ai? Do you think I'll let you die?" Ethan wraps his arms around his cousin and ruffles her hair. Amethyst sniffles, closing her eyes as she tries to calm herself. 

'Her stamina's not bad...I think he can run away from those monsters. Plus, she upgraded her stamina, endurance, vitality, and agility. She should be fine...' Luck stared at Amethyst who looks like she's trying her very best to calm down.

"Right. We're a team, we won't let anything happen to you," Luck spoke, giving the lady a soft smile. Damon glanced at Luck and then turned his head to Amethyst.

"Don't worry, Ai. You're not alone," Damon added, Luck and Ethan nods their head as Ai blinks for a couple of times after hearing the words of her new friends. She sniffles, then took a deep breath.

"T-thanks...I'm fine now," Amethyst wiped her tears and clenched her fist.

"I-I...I'll protect you all as well!" Amethyst gulped and her expression shows determination. Luck, Damon, and Ethan smiled at her as they all nod their heads.

"Now...let's watch out,"

---

I never thought cheering Ai up can calm this fast-racing heart of mine. I wasn't the one that was cheered up, but I feel like my nervousness faded away after hearing the words of those two guys. Now, I just need to do my best.

I grit my teeth as I saw a huge butterfly. No, its wings are the only one that looks like of a butterfly...is that a--

"I-is that a dinosaur with butterfly wings?!" 

"Shhh!" 

Damon covered his mouth with his both hands when all three of us hushed him. We continued watching the flying dinosaur, and I can't help but to feel really nervous again. That massive butterfly-dino looks extremely terrifying. 

"L-Luck...are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Damon asked. I roamed my eyes again and I was surprised to see a dog---wolf? No, what the heck is that? It has the head of a dog, but, it has a mane around it's head as well, as if its a lion. 

"These monsters..." Ethan mumbled. He crawl towards my location and is also peeking outside the trunk.

"They are chimeras..." Chimeras? What the heck is that?

"What is that?" I asked, because I truly have no idea what that word is. I know I'm dumb.

"Chi...chimeras, t-they are creatures that...have two or more features of other creatures," Oh, I see. I thought it was something more important. But, well...they are right. These monsters are like combined features of another animal.

I nod my head as I peek outside again, however...

My eyes widened when I got a freaking eye contact with one of the monsters. It has the head of a cat, but only has one eye...and was it walking upright? I immediately hid inside the trunk again as I cover my mouth.

What kind of creature was that...?

No way, I can feel its stares because I upgraded my sense.

"Damon, hide..." I gulped as I look at the three people with me.

"Ethan, Ai. Move towards Damon's place, and if I said run...you run," The three of them are looking at me with confusion all over their faces.

"What? Why? All of a sudden?" Damon asked. He really shouldn't be asking that...

*Ngeoww*

Dang it, even its voice sounds really scary. Was it roaring or meowing?

"Damon, did you scout your area? Were there any monsters?" I asked.

"Well, yes..." He answered.

"Lots of them?" Damon creased his forehead.

"Not much..."

"How high are your stats? No, endurance, agility, vitality, stamina. Tell me in order," I spoke. Because I upgraded my senses earlier, I can actually feel and hear a lot of things right now. And I can tell that that cat monster is slowly walking towards here.

The good thing here is that all the monsters are slow.

"...1978, 2021, 1998, 2391," Ethan answered. His agility is not bad. Still, is that enough balance? I'm not really good at this...

"Uhh...1845, 1943, 1798, 1689," Ai answered. I wonder if those are enough to escape those monsters? They move slowly, but we're not sure about that. I haven't heard someone getting chased yet.

"2310, 2188, 2351, 2414," Damon's stats are quite high. Well, looking at his physique he's actually built fine.

"Ethan, Damon. Do you think you can escape those monsters while watching over Ai?" I asked. Among the four of us, she's the one with low stats after all.

I wonder why she joined?

"What's your stats...?" Ai asked. I turned to her and smile.

"Secret," I chuckled when she creased her forehead, face covered with confusion.

"Now..." I turned my head to the hole where I was peeking earlier. I can feel it now, the strange feeling when I had an eye to eye with that monster.

*Ngreowww*

"Kya--"

Damon covered Ai's mouth when a huge eye of the cat monster peeked on the hole of the tree trunk where we're staying. I bend my right knee.

"Go, run!" I yelled as I forcefully kicked the cat monster's eye. It was thrown back a little as we all hear its scream.

The three run out from the tree trunk and I quickly followed them.

"Don't show yourselves to the monsters, hide on the grasses!"

They followed my command as we all run away from the cat monster. However, when that monster screamed in pain after I kick its eye, a lot of other monsters turned to it. And they are all running towards the cat monster!

"Avoid--avoid them! Don't show yourselves!"

I made sure to maintain my voice in a volume that is enough for the three of them to hear.

I can hear all the loud footprints of the other monsters that are running to the direction of the cat monster. They're all huge, and I feel like we're only an ant compare to these creatures.

At least they're all moving slow. But, their steps are freaking huge!

I look up to another monster that is approaching us. It's not looking at us, but to the cat monster.

"E-everyone, dodge!" I yelled as we all run to the opposite direction on where the monster's foot is stepping. We all rolled to the ground, but it's a good thing that none of us were stepped on by that giant monster's foot.

"Run...don't stop! Towards that tower!" I pointed to the tower that's slowly appearing far from our direction. I haven't seen that earlier, but now its there.

"Huh? Where?! There's no tower!" Ethan replied. Dang it--is it because I upgraded my senses? I'm the only one seeing it?

"Nevermind, just keep running ahead!" I yelled. The three of them started running again and I followed. Damon's dragging Ai with him, while Ethan is behind Ai.

The tower, it could be that it's so far away, that's why they can't see it. But, if we just keep moving forward, we'll definitely reach it. I have no idea what's inside that tower, but I think we can hide there.

We run as we avoid the monsters. I wonder why they're ignoring us? Can't they sense us? They're just heading towards the cat monster.

I turn my head behind, and tried to look for the cat monster but, I think that was a wrong move.

Are they...eating it?

Huh? It wasn't even dead yet...but they're--

"Bleugh--" I covered my mouth as I face ahead again. I feel chills down my spine after seeing that horrible sight. I want to throw up, but I don't want to worry these people with me.

Why did I even try to look back?

"Luck, are you al--"

"Don't look back! Just keep facing ahead!" I cut off Ethan's words when he was about to turn his head to me and ask.

"Alright!"

I can't let them see that sickening view.

Just, ahead. I shouldn't look back as well. Those huge feet of these monsters are already hard to avoid. I shouldn't be distracted by anything.

***