After almost three weeks of wandering, they returned for the umpteenth time to the ruins. They were short on food, were filthy, and lost half their animals.


    One of the new mules just wandered off in the middle of the night during the first week. Sharpclaw noticed it too late and wanted to go after it, but fortunately, Prof was able to reach her before she went beyond the rope. Losing a beast of burden was less of a problem than losing one of the party members. With how strange a way the Valley worked, Prof was sure, they would never see the mule or the Kobold again.


    The other was killed by a strange cat monster with green fur, excellent camouflage capabilities, and larger than the mule itself a few days later. In one moment they were hiking through a quiet forest, the next there was an enormous cat on top of a dead mule, preparing to pounce on the next in line, Foxy.


    Both jumped at the same time, Foxy sailing above the cat, while the latter landed not far from Prof. He had only enough time to un-sheath his axes and evade the next pounce, leaving the next in line, Mini, to face the cat. She already had her crossbow in hand, preparing to let loose, but Binky had other ideas and lurched forward. Flinging the vampire to the ground.


    Following the cat, Prof tried to Observe it, but in return, he only got the impression, it was above Level 10 and at least an Elite. Not much information…


    Wanting to help the Scorpionlizard, he dived into the fight. As it transpired, that was not his best idea ever. Have you ever tried to separate two dogs fighting each other earnestly? Imagine the two dogs being each upward of three hundred kilos and two meters in height, with an overabundance of sharp claws and teeth. Prof was not bitten (he probably wouldn''t have survived the experience) but only kicked in the chest by a hind leg.


    The leg in question was green, but both monsters being green did not help him to discern the attacker. It probably had fur and not scales.


    Fortunately, his traditional overcoat and expensive armor mitigated most of the damage, but he was still left hurting and short on breath. And out of the fight for a short time to collect his bearing.


    Foxy was smarter, throwing small root fragments at the two, casting her root trap spell on rapid fire. Not that it helped much, half of the spells fizzled, the other half slowing down the combatants for only fractions of seconds.


    “Binky! Disengage! Come here, buddy! Binky!" Mini tried hard to separate the two verbally, all the while trying to get a clean shot. After one or two minutes, her mount finally heeded her call and disengaged. Both animals were bleeding profoundly, and Prof couldn''t decide which one was in worse shape. Remembering that Binky was a Level 20 Elite, he gulped. That was probably not good.


    As soon as Binky was clear, Mini let loose. As did Shinead. Either she had worse equipment or her Skill was not up to the task, but her arrow just bounced off the cat’s fur. Mini’s two bolts not so much, the cat’s pained grunt told about some serious damage received. Probably. Hopefully.


    With Foxy''s spells doing nothing noteworthy, and Shinead''s arrows being useless, they had only one choice, going close and personal. Seeing the state Binky was in, they were justifiably reluctant. Only Prof and Mini had any armor that deserved the name.


    “I will try to occupy it!" Prof decided. He had the heaviest armor of everyone present, he would have to tank the cat. Or play bait. "Mini, shoot at will, the others, try to flank it!"


    The dance has begun.


    Prof had to pull all stops just to defend against the overgrown pussycat, but even his 201% in [Evasion] wasn''t truly enough. He managed to evade all direct, full-powered hits, but even the glancing attacks did the damage. Despite his armor! In short order, he was down to just 20 HP. A few other glancing hits, and he was back in the Afterlife Office, reading another Rulebook. Hopefully, that also included every last rule and wasn''t just a guide.


    He was saved by Binky, who pushed him aside and re-engaged the cat. Fortunately, this time he just occupied its attention and did not attack all out. Prof downed a few potions and prepared for the second turn.


    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    In the meantime, the others were busy too. Foxy equipped her strange hand-claws, Shinead attacked with her dagger, and even Sharpclaw was able to make a successful sneak attack. The cat was, however, still fine.


    “Hundred fifty HP more” Foxy called out. 150 HP?!?! That was fifty percent more than Prof had in total! What kind of over-leveled monstrosity they happened on?!?!


    With Binky as a tank, Prof joined in attacking the cat – and disengaged almost immediately to feed a potion to Sharpclaw who got hit by a swing of the cat’s tail.


    “Protect the animals, try not to die," He told her, and joined the attack once more.


    They managed to defeat the cat after what felt like hours with maximum effort, but except Mini, everyone suffered injuries in return.


    “Phew… That was a Level 15 Boss...” Foxy informed them, panting hard and holding her left hand. The deep gash on it was already healing. “Let’s not do something like this again.”


    Prof surveyed their kill. The pelt was ruined by all that shooting, biting, scratching, cutting, smashing, and other versions of animal cruelty. A pity, that would have fetched a good amount of money – assuming they could have prepared it sufficiently. With how low their Skills were in that regard and the absence of stuff to prepare the pelt with… Yeah, rest in peace, good amount of money.


    From the rest, Prof was able to save the heart, (so far hearts of powerful animals were sought after), the claws, and the fangs. Prof saved a claw for his lucky charm – he still needed someone to make it, though. The heart went into Foxy''s belly bag of holding, the rest into their packs.


    After redistributing the packs to their still-living beasts of burden, they continued chasing Guillermo.


    The camo-cat was their most dangerous encounter, but not the only one. Lesser cats, a few wolves, a giant spider, a nest of meter-long ants, snakes (one of them was a five-meter-long constrictor), and even a giant bird. And so on. They encountered a whole zoo in their travels. Prof was almost crying, they had to leave most of the usable loot behind, Foxy''s bag wasn''t infinite, after all, and Mini refused to let him use her clothes-only backpacks.


    Injuries mounted, and so their stock in Potions dwindled. And finally, it ran dry.


    Prof was also down to his last but one pair of pants and shirts. The two Elves, having no problem with nudity stowed their clothes before the end of the first week, and ran around naked, much to the amusement of Mini. Mini, on the other hand… Followed their example, only leaving her leather jacket on.


    Sharpclaw didn''t mind either, as Prof figured out clothing in Lizard society was something only the higher castes did, and even then only for decoration. A whole world full of an exhibitionist! A wet dream! For someone else, Prof was already sanitized.


    Feeding Mini was another issue. Her need for blood for everyday existence was practically non-existent, but even that minuscule amount added up. As soon as she used her Traits, the consumption skyrocketed. Feeding her animal blood was not a viable option, low-Level critters gave her almost no blood at all, and the few higher leveled ones they would have needed to keep subdued long enough to let Mini feed. In order to not let her starve, first Foxy, then Prof and Sharpclaw, and finally Shinead volunteered to provide a bit of blood every other day or so.


    Getting Shinead to agree wasn’t easy and involved a shouting match.


    They found a few other abandoned campsites too, some with a cairn, some without, and some had the cairns scattered. Some (probably the earlier ones) had graves, but later on, no one cared enough to bury the dead. To judge by the scattered remains that were left after the local animals had a banquette.


    They could piece together, that Guillermo’s band shrank to a couple of Grey Elves and a few accompanying Humans. The others went missing, were killed by the flora and fauna and a few were even executed or killed by their fellow members of the expedition. Foxy pocketed every last journal and edited the letter left behind.


    Arriving at the field with the ruins again, Mini threw herself to the ground.


    “This is sooooo boooooring! Gimme something fun to do! Or do some funny things to me! Or WITH me! That would be much better! I’m not going any further!”


    Except for Shinead, everyone had enough of the Valley and just wanted their chase to end already. Having nothing important and pressing to do didn''t mean they enjoyed the wild fool''s chase in the constantly shifting forest. Only Shinead was prepared to wander as long as it took to have her revenge.


    “Agreed. Not with the funny stuff, but the wandering about!” Prof replied to Mini “We keep returning here, no matter where we go. Let’s rest for a few days, and wait for Guillermo here!”


    “Wait for me, why exactly?”