Besides just the sasquatches, it was easy to tell where the stench was coming from. There were piles of flesh stacked up all over the clearing. Most of it seemed to be wildlife, but Eliam couldn’t be sure.

  “Uh, so that’s a problem,” Eliam said.

  Nemina rolled her eyes. “No shit. I can see the way down over there. We have to go right through their camp.”

  We had such a tough time fighting just one of those creatures. I’m not sure if it's possible to take three at a time.

  “Is there any other way?” Eliam asked.

  Nemina shrugged. “It’s been a long time since I’ve explored these mountains. If we don’t go down that path, we may or may not find another.”

  “That’s not helpful.” Eliam sighed.

  “Well, excuse me! You’re not exactly very helpful either,” Nemina said. She wasn’t exactly wrong.

  Yet, she paused and frowned. “Sorry,” she muttered.

  Eliam gave her an odd look, slightly taken aback. She really was acting strange. What had he done differently with her in this loop?

  He waved his hand dismissively. “I wasn’t mad, so don’t worry about it. Anyway, we need to make a decision. I’m not sure we can take on all three of those shitheads at once. In fact, I’m pretty positive we can’t.”

  “I’m inclined to agree,” Nemina muttered.

  A grunt off to the side caused both of them to turn their heads toward the clearing. One of the sasquatches was wandering off in their direction.

  “Yeah, all at once would be too much, but what about one at a time?” Eliam motioned at the oblivious sasquatch.

  “The others will hear us,” Nemina hissed.

  “I guess that just means we need to be quick.” He smirked.

  He activated his unseen skill and cut straight into the sasquatch. He gaped as the top half of the creature’s body slid off easily.

  “Uh, why was that so easy?” Eliam asked.

  Nemina narrowed her eyes. “It must be at a lower level than the last one. That or its aura could have been different.”

  “Aura? Aren’t those for offense?” Eliam asked.

  “No? They can be all sorts of abilities,” Nemina explained.

  A roar sounded as one of the sasquatches noticed its dead companion. Moments later, a plethora of roars followed.

  “That did not sound like two of them,” Eliam said.

  “It’s not, we need to go,” Nemina said.

  They immediately dashed by the corpse of the sasquatch and toward the path down the mountain. A large rumble shook the entire mountain as Eliam turned to catch a glimpse of what was chasing them.

  There was a whole herd of sasquatches running toward them. Some seemed less menacing than others; however, he couldn’t help but notice the one at the forefront of the pack. There were large scars and gashes all over its body. Its hair was starting to gray, and it held a ferocious look on its face. The worst part was the massive sword it was carrying in its hands. There was a distinct green aura hovering around it.

  “That guy looks like trouble,” Eliam called out.

  Nemina nodded, also having taken a moment to look behind her. Eliam had already been unsure if they would have been able to take a few of these creatures at once. At this point, he knew that he couldn’t even last a second against that guy.

  “If they watch us, we’re dead,” Eliam shouted.

  Nemina nodded. “Yes, I agree. So why don’t you focus on running and not talking!”

  Suddenly, one of the sasquatches caught up to them. Thankfully, it wasn’t that scarred one, but something akin to a scout.

  It swiped at Eliam; however, it failed to deliver enough time to block Nemina’s attack. She sliced its arm off, causing it to whimper in pain. It tried to slow down, but that would prove to be fatal as Eliam finished it off with a slice to its neck.

  Some status bullshit appeared in front of his vision indicating a level up. Eliam did not care at that moment.

  Another angry roar sounded as the scarred sasquatch watched another one of its kin die. It began to glow a deep green, which seemed to speed it up.

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  “Nemina, we’re running out of time!” Eliam frantically shouted.

  “I know!” she groaned. “We’re going to have to take a detour!”

  “What?” Eliam asked.

  She ignored him and instead dashed off their path and to the side. Eliam wasn’t sure what she was doing, but at this point, it was better than nothing.

  A whoosh sounded to their right as a massive rock smashed into the ground next to them. Eliam didn’t need to turn around to figure out who threw it.

  Suddenly, Nemian came to a sharp stop, and Eliam did as well, wondering what the hell they were doing.

  “Nemina! What are you…” He paused. In front of them was a massive cliff.

  She gave Eliam a panicked look and glanced back down at the bottom of the cliff. There was a decently sized lake that was connected to a river.

  “Surely you aren’t…”

  The scarred sasquatch roared as he stomped toward them, only seconds away. His sword pulsed with green energy as he lifted it, preparing to strike.

  Without saying another word, she grabbed Eliam’s hand and jumped, dragging him with her. The sword smashed into the ground where they had been standing just a second earlier.

  Unfortunately, Eliam had a much bigger problem.

  We’re so dead!

  They flew down the side of the mountain, rocketing toward the lake.

  I know this isn’t Earth and all, but I’m pretty sure we can’t survive this here either. What a way to end this run.

  They hit the water with a loud splash, and all Eliam’s mind went blank. Yet, it was only for a moment. A few seconds later, all of his feelings came rushing back to him as he tried to breathe, but only succeeded in gulping down water.

  He started to panic as he flailed around.

  Why couldn’t I have just died on impact? Am I going to drown? What the hell?

  Suddenly, a hand yanked him and started to pull him up. He forced himself to calm down and assist his rescuer in swimming upward. Finally, they broke through the surface, and he was face to face with a very annoyed-looking Nemina.

  “Are you trying to die?” she screeched.

  “Uh, no… why did you just… do that?” he asked.

  “To save our lives! Another second and we have been turned to paste by that Gorelex. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

  Eliam wanted to snap back, but Nemina was kind of right. They swam to shore and pulled themselves out of the water.

  A distant roar sounded as Eliam glanced back at the top of the cliff. The sasquatch was looking down at them; however, it was clear it was unwilling to follow them down. A few moments later, it turned around and left.

  “Ugh,” Nemina groaned.

  Eliam glanced at her and couldn’t help but chuckle. She was soaking wet. In particular, she was struggling to move the strands of her blue hair from off her face so she could see.

  “We need to get moving in case that Gorelex gets any ideas about coming down here,” Nemina said as she took off her shirt.

  Eliam tripped backward, terrified of what he was going to see.

  Nemina glared at him, fully pulling off her shirt to reveal wraps around her chest. However, her glare quickly morphed into a look of embarrassment.

  “Did you really think I would strip in front of you?” she asked.

  “Well…” Eliam paused before quickly waving his hands. “No, of course not. I was just startled, that's all.”

  Nemina looked away. “Startled? Am I really that ugly?”

  “No, it’s not that at all!” Eliam cried. “I was purely just surprised!”

  She glanced at him, judging his face to see if he was lying. After a few moments, she nodded and turned away from the lake.

  “Denovere should be that way. We’ve now reached the Denoverian plains,” she said.

  Eliam nodded to acknowledge her, but he was still focused on how Nemina was acting.

  Is it because I’ve spent so much time with her? Did I say something? Could it have been related to me mentioning that fairy tale?

  “Well? Are you ready?” Nemina asked.

  Eliam nodded and started walking once again. All he could hope for was that the rest of their trip was peaceful. Most of it had not been.

  “Hey, Nemina,” Eliam said after an hour of silence.

  She glanced at him, a hint of red in her cheeks. “What?”

  “We make a pretty good team, huh?” He smiled.

  Nemina paused for a moment, then she did something Eliam wasn’t expecting. Her mouth lifted into an awkward smile.

  “Yeah… I guess we do.”

  She smiled! I actually made her smile! This is an accomplishment for the ages.

  Eliam stared at her with wide eyes before laughing. Nemina quickly glared at him.

  “What? Why are you laughing?”

  “I’m happy, that’s all,” he said.

  “About? I don’t see what there is to be happy about?” she grumbled.

  “You smiled,” he said honestly. “I think I’ve only seen you do that once before.”

  Nemina continued to glare at him before she grinned. “You’re such a moron.”

  Eliam was about to say something back before shouting off in the distance utterly destroyed the moment.

  I just had to go and jinx us, huh?

  They both went serious and turned toward the noise. A man was running their way. Chasing after him was a stampede of these lizard-humanoid-looking things. At the sight of them, Nemina relaxed.

  “Finally, something we can handle,” she smiled.