n

n

nThe tree of bone and flesh continued cracking apart, and soon began to give off a feint glow. And with that, Foster roughly knew that this was something caused by Thiodrus! It was working, he was most likely destroying this tree from the inside now!

nBut at the same time... something rather bad happened. All the parts that fell off the tree after it started cracking, now began to move as well. All those flesh-like leaves rolled up and turned into maggots or leeches. The bone-like bark of the tree started cracking up into more pieces, and were forming into skeletal versions of different animals. But in absolutely horrific ways.

nThe shards of bone weren't really shaped like they were supposed to. They simply gathered in the roughly right positions so that the resulting masses looked like beasts, but these certainly weren't actual skeletons left behind by animals. And the worst, somewhat most disturbing part was that all these bone-shards were shifting, fusing together in some parts and cracking apart in others, creating loud, uncomfortable sounds with every step they took.

n

"Erm... I... I guess we'll have to figure out a way to get rid of them..?

" Foster muttered with a wry smile, looking at the black sludge,

"I've got it! We need to try and push them into the sludge! Bones decay slower, but they do also decay! That's the only-

" He turned around toward the archer and the swordswoman, but he was only able to see their backs as they entered the dead forest.

n

"What the hell are you still doing there?! Come on, we need to leave!

" The swordswoman exclaimed, seeing that Foster was still there, and the young man slowly looked back at them,

"Right... That actually seems like a much better idea.

"

nAnd so, Foster pushed his foot into the ground and started to run forward at the highest speed that his body could muster. He still had some of that sludge stuck to parts of his body, so whenever he ran into some branches or happened to touch a bug on accident... it started to wither away immediately.

nIt seemed like the sludge was slowly but surely disappearing from Foster's body, as if simply disintegrating on its own. Luckily, the gauntlets were doing perfectly fine, though. The sludge could probably only affect biological matter.

nEither way, that wasn't something that Foster should keep thinking about. For now, he should just keep running. Sadly, it seemed like all those bone-creatures were thinking something similar, and started working together with the flesh-leeches, since those guys were crawling all over the bone-creatures' bodies, as if the two were trying to come together to create actual, living beings.

nIt looked kind of disgusting, even from afar. And that was a good enough reason for Foster to not want to look at them from closer up. As much as he could, Foster kept on running and running, even though he was growing exhausted with every step. He just had to keep going.

nAnd after about twenty minutes of sprinting through this forest, a loud crash could be heard in the distance. Foster turned around for a moment, since that sound clearly came from the huge tree. And there he saw it. A beam of light stretching into the sky. The sea of clouds that had formed above them in the dark sky immediately disappeared, showing the stars.

nFoster just stood there, even ignoring all those bone-creatures. Somehow, he wanted to go back. He wanted to be there. Foster wanted to-

n

"Hey! Why are you stopping?!

" The swordswoman yelled out, and Foster turned around toward her,

"I think... The tree is gone?

" He said, and that was when the swordswoman took a closer look into the distance as well.

nShe saw the beam of light, spreading out at its top. As if it was turning into a tree itself. But not a tree of death like what stood there before, but a tree of life. Something that gave hope instead of despair. It was beautiful to not only Foster, who had arrived here in this world just a day ago, but also the swordswoman who had lived here her whole life.

nThis was a sight that neither of them had ever set their eyes on, and might never see again. And while they were standing there, one of the creatures finally caught up to the two of them. It made sense, since they were only standing there, staring into the distance.

nHowever, before the creatures were able to reach the two of them, something like a shockwave spread out, its source seemingly being the place where that tree formerly stood. It seemed to nearly push Foster backward, although the swordswoman stood steadily on her feet.

nBut not only Foster reacted to this shockwave. So did these bone creatures and the flesh maggots. And when they were hit by the shockwave, they simply... died. If that was the right term for whatever happened to them, at least. The shards of bone that their bodies were made of simply stopped sticking to one another, creating nothing but piles of shattered bones.

nMeanwhile, the large flesh maggots melted into a red, bloody sludge, turning these piles of bone shards into a rather horrific scene that could usually only be seen after a demented serial killer did their thing.

n

"What... just happened?

" Foster asked, turning his head toward the swordswoman. She looked back at the man standing next to her, shaking her own head,

"I... don't know...

"

n

"Do you think that we're safe now?

"

n

"Maybe? I'd honestly hope so...

" The swordswoman replied, finally squatting down to catch her breath. By now, the Archer noticed that neither his companion nor Foster were following him anymore, and had turned back after realizing that the situation had become better.

nThe archer looked at the two people standing next to each other, but even upon seeing that they were safe, he didn't slow down.

n

"Ah, you're safe as well! Good, then-

" Foster spoke with a light smile on his face, his breathing rather heavy. He would say that he had good stamina, but even he wasn't able to sprint for this long without it showing at least to an extent. However, maybe it was this exact fact, that he was just so exhausted, that made him forget about one important detail. A detail that he remembered upon feeling the archer's fist on his face.

n---

nYou have taken 2 Damage

n---

n

"You piece of **!

" He yelled out,

"Who the ** do you think you are?!

"

n

"What, I-

" Foster held his hand onto his nose. Luckily it didn't seem to be broken, but it still hurt quite a bit. But even though Foster wanted to speak, the archer continued.

n

"Don't you dare answer that question. You... you sided with a calamity, you sided with Thiodrus Argomna, a Superior Lich. Because of you, our friend died. You killed Simon.

" The archer said. Foster silently looked back at the archer, who was seething with anger.

n

"You done?

" He then finally said,

"Listen man, I'm... I'm really, legitimately sorry about your friend. You saw that I tried to help him, right? Like, even I understood that something beyond what I knew of was happening. But still, he killed the first friend I made in this world, you expect me to not be pissed off about that?

" Foster asked angrily, and the archer and swordswoman looked at each other for a moment.

n

"You're like... what, 20..? 25..? And your first friend was... Thiodrus Argomna..?

" The archer asked, holding his bow in his hand in a way that would let him react immediately if necessary.

n

"Well, not my 'first' friend in general, but my first friend in this world. I'm not from here.

" Foster said,

"I'm an 'Otherworlder'.

"

nThe moment that Foster said what he said, he had the blade of a sword held in front of his throat while the tip of an arrow pointed at his forehead,

"Y-You're an otherworlder? Is that why you were speaking that weird language before?

"

n

"Weird lan- Bitch, that was english. To me, your language, whatever we're speaking right now, is **ing weird. So don't judge me. And put these away, they're not toys. Listen, I get that you don't trust me, and I don't trust you either. But sadly, you're amongst the top five most trustworthy sentient beings I've met in this world. I get that you had some kind of grudge against Thiodrus, I really do, I worked in that kinda business for years myself. But at the end of the day do you and I have a grudge against each other? No, so let's talk. Aight?

" Foster suggested. The archer and the swordswoman looked at each other for a moment again, although this time it was just a glance respectively.

n

"Fine. But if you make just one more suspicious move, I swear I'll shoot this arrow through your skull.

" The archer threatened Foster in a growling voice, and of course, the young man nodded his head. He understood that he was being serious, after all. Foster looked around for a moment, soon seeing the mountain that he most likely fell off of.

n

"Should we... head back to the cabin and talk there? Feels like a good a place as any for that.

" Foster suggested to the two, and the swordswoman was the first to nod her head.

n

"Alright. I'll lead the way.

" She said, swiftly turning around to make her way back to the hut. But before she was even ten meters away, Foster pointed something out.

n

"It's in the other direction.

"

n

"Eh? You sure?

"

n

"I'm fairly sure, yeah....

"

n