Ren and Nautilus had no time to rest.
Shrill screeches echoed from all directions, blending with the rustling of leaves and the sickening, slithering noises of creatures crawling through the decayed earth.
The fog remained thick, hanging like a deathly curtain that obscured every possible escape route.
Ren took a step back, his eyes sweeping through the hazy mist, but all he could see were warped, distorted shadows, figures stretched and twisted as if caught in an endless nightmare.
They weren't retreating.
They were growing in number.
Ren clenched his jaw, his knuckles turning white as he tightened his grip on his sword. A cold chill crept down his spine, but he forced himself to stay steady.
Behind him, Nautilus took a deep breath, his breathing was heavy but controlled. He was still conscious, still composed. Good. They would need both of them to get out of this mess.
But the situation was getting worse by the second.
Little Nepenthes slithered out of the fog, their gelatinous tendrils swaying lightly in the air as if assessing their prey.
The sound of wet, slick flesh rubbing together filled the space, mixed with the occasional snapping noise as smaller ones stepped over broken twigs.
Then, suddenly, one of them screeched.
Instantly, the rest of the Nepenthes sprang into motion.
Their grotesque bodies stretched toward them, tendrils lashing out like whips slicing through the air.
A strike barely missed Ren's face, forcing him to duck. Nautilus instinctively jumped back, but the Nepenthes behind him quickly slithered forward, closing off the gap he had just created.
They were being cornered.
"Damn it…" Ren muttered, quickly scanning their surroundings for a way out. There wasn't one. They were completely surrounded.
No escape.
"Ren…" Nautilus' voice came from behind him, more tense than before. He was pressing against Ren's back but wasn't trembling completely.
Still holding onto his composure. That was good. But for how long?
"I know." Ren responded shortly, forcing his breathing to steady, adrenaline surging through his veins. There was no time for fear. No time for doubt.
There was only one way out of this.
"Don't let them separate us." Ren said, his eyes locked onto the Nepenthes. "If we get completely surrounded, we're done for."
Nautilus swallowed hard but nodded. He understood the situation just as well.
There was no other choice.
Ren spun his sword in his grip, the steel glinting faintly through the thick fog. They had to break the encirclement.
And there was no time to hesitate.
"Let's go," Ren growled.
And they plunged into battle.
Two small, lone figures, lost in the suffocating mist, moving constantly within the tight spaces between trees and tangled vines, dodging the relentless attacks of the creatures closing in on them from every direction.
They couldn't afford to stop, not even for a second. Every moment of delay, every uncontrolled breath, every misplaced step could be the opening the tendrils needed to lash out, coil around them, drag them down into this living nightmare.
Ren gritted his teeth, shifting left to evade a tendril whipping down from above. His right hand moved on instinct, slashing through the mist his steel blade flashing as it severed an incoming tendril cleanly.
A Little Nepenthes shrieked in pain, its grotesque body convulsing as fragments of pixels shattered into the air. But Ren had no time to stop or savor the fleeting moment of victory.
Because the moment one fell, two more slithered up to take its place, fresh tendrils growing and lashing down like writhing whips, enclosing every possible escape route.
Beside him, Nautilus was also fighting to the brink of exhaustion, his sword strikes becoming increasingly hurried and imprecise.
He no longer trembled as he had when first facing the monsters, but his footwork was beginning to falter, and each breath grew heavier with every movement.
A long slash on his arm flashed red, blood spilling out in fractured pixelated shards, dissolving into the air as if it had never existed.
Their HP bars remained in the safe zone.
But their stamina did not.
Ren's heartbeat pounded in his ears, his breath laboring within his tightening chest, as if unseen hands were constricting his lungs from within.
Sweat trickled down his spine. His arms were starting to go numb from swinging his sword nonstop, his fingers aching from gripping the hilt too tightly for too long.
His body was reacting, a warning sign.
If he didn't find a way out of this situation soon, their stamina would deplete before they had a chance to eliminate the horde.
But the monsters showed no signs of stopping.
The tendrils kept slithering toward them. The Nepenthes shrieked and crawled out of the dense fog, one after another, layering over each other endlessly with no sign of retreat or dispersal.
Unlike ordinary mobs that knew fear and would back off, these creatures simply kept surging forward, more and more of them, closing in from every direction.
If this continued…
They would be drained of energy before they could kill them all.
"Ren!" Nautilus gasped, his voice breaking between ragged breaths, laced with desperation and urgency.
Ren knew.
He knew exactly what Nautilus was thinking.
He understood just as well as him.
They couldn't keep this up any longer.
They needed an escape route.
Immediately.
Both of them had realized the brutal truth, the monsters weren't diminishing.
No matter how many times their blades carved through the slimy bodies of the Little Nepenthes, no matter how many times they shattered into pixelated red fragments, their numbers never stopped growing.
No matter how many they killed, the monsters didn't dwindle.
The scattered ones from afar had also begun slithering closer, their flexible tendrils undulating in the air like snakes sensing prey.
From within the dense fog, from behind towering moss-covered trees, from beneath thick, rustling foliage shifting with ominous movements, they kept emerging.
Some crawled out from the tangled roots protruding from the earth. Others dropped silently from overhead branches, like predators lurking in the shadows.
It didn't matter how many they had slain.
It didn't matter how many times their blades had swung.
It didn't matter how many had been cleaved in two, dissolving into pixelated fragments in the air.
The monsters kept coming, one after another, then in pairs, then in entire swarms. Tendrils flicked through the air, and ear-piercing shrieks reverberated in the suffocating space.
As soon as the front line fell, more slithered forward to take their place, like an unending tide that never receded.
They were no longer just scattered mobs.
They had become a closing trap, tightening around them with every passing second.
And in that moment, Ren realized, if they didn't find a way out right now, they would collapse from exhaustion long before they reached the limits of this endless swarm.
Even though their levels were higher than the Little Nepenthes, even though their equipment had enough durability to endure, when an entire horde surged forward at once, when dozens of tendrils lashed down upon them.
Even a full VIT tanker wouldn't last under the accumulated damage.
Luckily, the spores released after the red fruit on the Nepenthes had exploded had completely dissipated.
Because of that, fewer monsters were being drawn to the area, only a few stragglers reacting to the surrounding noise.
But that wasn't something worth celebrating.
Because right now, they were still being relentlessly attacked by over twenty creatures at once.
Every breath was crushed under the weight of the tendrils lashing in from all directions, and every swing of the sword only briefly pushed them back, before another took its place immediately.
The numbers had stopped increasing.
But the encirclement remained as unyielding as tempered steel.
And their stamina was draining with no signs of stopping.
Then suddenly..
A deafening sound tore through the suffocating mist.
The clashing of metal rang out, echoing like rolling thunder through the forest,
Blades slicing through the air, sharp and relentless.
The strikes weren't particularly powerful.
But they were fast, unyielding and unwavering.
Carrying the desperate weight of a battle for survival.
Ren froze for a split second, his breath ragged, fingers clenched tightly around the hilt of his sword. Fresh red pixel fragments still lingered on the steel blade, the remains of the Little Nepenthes he had just slain.
He turned to Nautilus. Their eyes met, a moment of silent understanding passing between them amidst their labored breathing. Then, Nautilus spoke first, his voice hoarse from exhaustion.
"You heard it too, right?"
Ren nodded. There was no need to confirm. He hadn't just heard it, he had felt it.
Those sword strikes didn't belong to a monster.
They belonged to a player.
Neither of them needed to say it out loud. They both knew.
The rhythm of the attacks, the decisiveness in each slash, the way the sounds echoed through the air—this was a real battle.
Someone was fighting desperately, with no sign of stopping.
"Could it be Yuna?" Nautilus swallowed, tension clouding his expression. "If it's her, then..."
Ren didn't answer immediately. He wasn't sure. He couldn't say for certain.
Whether it was Yuna or another player, one thing was clear: they were trapped in their own battle. A battle fierce enough to shake the entire forest.
Ren tightened his grip on his sword, forcing himself to make a decision.
If it was another player, they could join forces.
If not, they still had to use this chance to break through before it was too late.
"Let's go," he said, his tone leaving no room for argument.
Nautilus took a deep breath and nodded. There was no other choice.
Both of them gripped their weapons, pushing their exhausted bodies forward, charging toward the source of the battle sounds within the mist.
But the monsters' encirclement cut off their path.
Ren knew they were running out of time. If they hesitated any longer, the circle would close completely.
There was no room for hesitation.
He scanned the surroundings, the slimy tendrils of the Little Nepenthes slithered in from all directions. Faintly visible through the mist, their grotesque lips quivered hungrily, long tongues flicking out, dripping with disgusting, viscous fluid.
Then, both of them moved at once.
Ren's sword carved a deadly arc through the air, scattering red pixel shards as he tore through the monsters.
Nautilus dodged swiftly, landing precise strikes at their soft, vulnerable cores. Step by step, they carved a path forward.
But the monsters kept replenishing their numbers.
And the moment Ren saw a small opening in the enemy lines, he realized, only one of them could escape.
And his choice was already clear.
"Nautilus!" Ren shouted, his voice cutting through the clash of battle. "Go! Head toward the sound!"
Nautilus froze. "What about you?"
"I'll hold them off!" Ren kicked a Nepenthes lunging toward him and slashed through a tendril. "If you don't move now, we'll both die here!"
Nautilus gritted his teeth. He knew Ren was right, but...
"Are you sure?"
Ren glanced at him, eyes cold yet unwavering. "Do I look like I'm joking?"
There was no time to argue.
Nautilus clenched his sword, then turned and ran toward the battle sounds, leaving Ren behind in the swarm of monsters.
Ren took a deep breath, raising his sword into a defensive stance.
His grip was so tight his pale fingers looked bloodless.
His heart pounded uncontrollably as the horde of monsters surged toward him like an unstoppable flood.
Ren wasn't sure...