<h4>Chapter 14: A Simple Ordeal</h4>


    We made our way through the thick greenery, walking in a single line. Erik was taking point while I was right behind him. Vincent was watching our back and Joshua, with all his sleepiness, was walking right behind me, constantly yawning.


    As we went deeper into the forest, the air grew cooler and the foliage around us grew thicker. The sunlight was having a hard time piercing the thick greenery above us. It was impossible to tell what time of day it was.


    "How far away is this thing?" Erik mumbled as he climbed over a fallen tree. I sighed and shook my head. I wasn''t tired yet, unlike the others, but I was feeling the mental strain of constantly expecting an attack. How long had we been walking? An hour? Two hours?


    Thankfully, before too many hours passed, we arrived at a small cave entrance. I could immediately smell the stink of animal faeces and fur. "This is it." I whispered as we approached. "Be quiet. We don''t know how many of them there are."


    "Actually, we do." Vincent quietly said as he opened the quests panel. ''Kill the monsters: 0/20''


    "Oh." I mumbled. I had forgotten about that. Erik chuckled, then slowly entered the cave. Now worried by the overwhelming numbers advantage the enemy had, I followed him. Almost as soon as we stepped into the damp, dark cave, we heard growls and howlsing from deeper.


    "Don''t go any further." I said, grabbing Erik''s shoulder. "They''re getting closer anyways. Let''s just let theme to us." Vincent was quick to support me while Joshua just yawned again. Erik hesitated, then shrugged. "Fine."


    I used Fallen Grace as soon as I heard the creature''s footsteps. As power rushed to my legs, glowing red eyes greeted us from the depths of the cavern. Many fangs and ws leapt forward, only to be blocked by Erik''s shield. With the additional speed I had gained through Fallen Grace, I used the reach my staff provided me with to strike the fatal points on the creature''s necks and heads.


    To the side, Vincent was holding off three of these creatures. His shortsword was perfect for such close quartersbat. Joshua was leaping forward to stab or sh at one of them before hiding behind his brother again.


    The bulk of enemies were attacking Erik. He was clearly having trouble holding them off. His longsword wasn''t very useful in such a narrow ce and he wasn''t very good at using it either. Instead, he almost solely focused on defence, allowing me to deliver the killing blows to the creatures.


    The bloody battle ended with us having in all twenty of them. Vincent and Erik had some minor wounds, but they were nothing more than a few scratches. "That was easy!" Erik shouted with a pride-filled voice. I sighed, how was he so carefree?


    "You guys are going back. Have Alina treat those scratches." Erik tried to protest, but I red at him. "I won''t ept ''no'' as an answer, Erik." Perhaps it was my tone that convinced him, or perhaps the purple shine of my eyes in the darkness of the cave and my pale, inhuman look; but he relented surprisingly easily.


    Vincent shot me a grateful look as Joshua approached me. "Thanks. I''ll make sure they don''t try toe after you." I forced a smile and nodded as they slowly set off. I could only hope they wouldn''t get lost.


    Once they were out of view, I sank onto the ground and leaned by back on the moist cave walls. I was tired. This body – avatar – wasn''t made to fight like this. It was physically weak. If I wanted to keep up with the others, I had to train my stamina.


    I reimagined the fight. I was shocked by how well Erik kept the enemies at bay. Vincent''s swordsmanship was on point as well, aside from some of the overly shy moves he was trying to pull off. I couldn''t quite see Joshua in the darkness but judging from the corpses, he did a damn good job as well. I knew they weren''t capable of such feats in reality. Could they do all this because we were in the virtual world?


    With a tired sigh, I opened the quests panel. There, two of them were marked aspleted. Alina and Samantha had apparently finished securing supplies and we had killed these creatures. All that remained was to map the surrounding area. I called forth the map, only to see a highlighted area on it. It stretched from theke I had found yesterday all the way to this cave.


    Was this the area I was supposed to scout? With a moment''s hesitation, I touched the map. A small text appeared. ''Quest: Map the Immediate Surroundings – 34%pleted.'' Indeed, only about a third of the highlighted area was mapped out. It was a rather wide area – I had to get going if I wanted to finish this before nightfall. I motioned to get up when my stats panel caught my eye.


    ''Kai Friseal – Level 2 Soul Keeper | Exp: 225/150 - - Souls 22/100 - - Level up Avable.''


    I was given one more stat point. I chose to save it as I still wasn''t sure of what to do with it. Instead, I focused on the new skill point I was given. I could choose to learn a new skill or upgrade an existing one. I hesitated; the only skills avable were ''Death''s Scythe'' and ''Soul''s Respite''. I wasn''t too keen on upgrading ''Fallen Grace'' – the skill was useful, but I felt like I needed a better offensive option. Having made my decision, I picked ''Death''s Scythe'' and confirmed my selection.


    ''Kai Friseal – Level 3 Soul Keeper | Exp: 75/200 - - Souls 22/100''


    "Seems fine," I mumbled as I pushed myself up on my feet and took my staff in hand. I was going to be alone from here on out, I couldn''t allow myself to be caught unprepared again. I checked the map and decided to walk along the edge of the highlighted area first.


    I left the damp cave and slowly started to make my way east. The thick greenery was blocking my vision and I jumped at nearly every slightly unusual sound. I was on edge, perhaps a little too much. As the sun rose to its peak, I checked my map again. I had walked through most of the unmapped area by now. All that remained was the peak of a rather steep, rocky cliff.


    With a tired sigh, I lowered myself onto the ground at the foot of the cliff. I needed some rest before attempting that climb. I ran my hand through my hair. It was tangled up and dirty. It looked more grey than white now. Since there wasn''t much I could do, I just shrugged and leaned on the tree trunk.


    I listened to the birds chirping. It was surprisingly rxing. Just as I thought of getting up and moving on, I spotted a small, furry creature with the corner of my eye. It grabbed a small, red fruit from the bushes and looked around with erratic movements. When our eyes met, it froze only for a moment. Then, with an almost cheerful chirp, it ran away.


    I chuckled; it was almostical considering the grim situation we were in. I couldn''t fathom why they''d bother coding such little creatures into the game, but then again, I didn''t know much about games to begin with. If I hadn''t seen it for myself, I wouldn''t have believed such detail was possible.


    I slowly stood up and nced at the long climb ahead of me. It wasn''t going to be easy. With a sigh, I started to climb. Using therge, steady rocks as steppingstones, I easily made my way to the halfway point. The vegetation started changing after that height. There were fewer woody nts and more weak bushes growing in between therger rocks, leading to fewer spots I could grip to pull myself up.


    After about half an hour of struggling to climb, I finally relented and used Fallen Grace. As some strength flowed into my legs, I finally got past thest few rocks and pulled myself up to the peak. I felt a rush of cold air as Fallen Grace''s effect dissipated. I climbed to my knees as I noticed a shadow over me despite the ring sun. I looked up in confusion which quickly turned into fear as I saw a familiar figure standing before me.