The Green Forest (3)

[Task hunt: 5/5 Hornet Rabbits...complete]

That notification sounded in my head while I was approaching the small party before me. I can see it in their eyes—cautiousness.

"Hello, there are adventures. My name is Isaac. What brought you to this forest?"

"We are on a quest from the Adventure Guild," responded the guy with the sword and board, taking a step forward.

Oh, so he is the leader, huh?

"What a coincidence! I'm on a quest too, so I assume it's for the Hornet Rabbits." As soon as I said that, they got tense. Hmm, why?

"What do you know about what's happening to the [Horned Rabbits]?"

{Huh?  What does he mean by that?}

I think my face shows that I was puzzled by what he said because I heard it.

"He doesn't know anything; I guess he is not from here or is an excellent liar". Said the healer at the back.

"Indeed, as she said, I'm not from here. I was only told to hunt some [green slime] and some [horned rabbits]. The first ones were easy, plenty of them, but the others I needed to walk deeper into this forest until I heard you guys fight".

"I see, my name is Eric, and I'm the leader of this party," he said, extending his arm for a handshake.

"Like I said, my name is Isaac, but I'm intrigued by what you said. Is something happening to the rabbits?".

"The Horned Rabbit wasn't supposed to be hard to find; they usually reside in the outer zone of this forest, but something or someone changed that, and we are investigating who or what did it".

"So I can say that attacking this way wasn't supposed to happen either.".

"That's right".

{Hmm...interesting, I still need to complete the last mission, so why not help them now that I'm here? Besides,  if the dungeon recreates something from another world, I want to know how they lived.}

"Got it, can I come with you guys?"

"Wait a minute," Eric says, then signals his party to gather a little far from me.

POV Eric

"What do you guys think?".

"I don't like him." Of course Guts would say that he doesn't like strange people, even us. The first time he met us, he needed time to get used to us like a wild beast.

"I agree with Guts; we don't know him." Ari speaks the truth in a fight-or-die situation: trust is the most important.

"I agree with both of you, but we don't know what we are facing, and I can feel that he is more powerful than us, so I better have him close to the party than he is, taking us by surprise and getting us killed.".

So Mary felt it, and when I shook his hand, I feel it. He is powerful, probably 3 to 4 levels above us.

POV Isaac

It's been 5 minutes since they started discussing things, and I'm waiting for their sudden decision.

[Random quest]

[Capture or kill the source of corruption in the Green Forest]

{This is the first time that I receive a random quest, capture or kill, huh}

{So there's something here doing something to the rabbits, but it doesn't say rabbits but forest instead}

"You can come with us," Eric said, bringing me back to reality.

"Huh... ah, sure, thanks," I responded with a little delay.

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I was just thinking, What is messing with the rabbits?"

"That's what we're going to find out; first, there are rules if you're going to follow us."

"I'm all ears."

"One, you need to obey my commands; two, we need to know what you are good at; and three, don't get yourself killed; you got it?"

"Crystal Clear" 

"Very well, we need to move deeper into the forest, so chatting and walking, let's go, everyone."

I had a pleasant conversation with the healer of the group; her name is Mary, and the other two are called Guts and Ari.

Apparently they don't like strangers. We keep our conversation going, and I was asked about my combat style and my position, so I told her that I'm a solo adventurer, so I have no specific position. As for my combat style, it's all about hitting hard with magic.

We keep walking for about an hour when we notice something: the forest is turning dark, not like there's no sun at all; the trees, leaves, and grass are turning charcoal black.

"Stop." We all gather around.

"Any idea why the hole forest is turning black?".

"To be honest, there are many reasons that I can think of, but neither of them is good for us".

"What do you mean, Mary?" asked Ari with a little concern.

"[Forbidden Rituals], [Nature Corruption], [Dark Mages] are at the top of my head, and all of them are way up in the danger scale for us right now".

"Got it, we collect samples of the soil and the vegetation for the guild, then they will know what to do". 

Propose Eric was followed by Ari and Guts collecting things from the surrounding ground; meanwhile, me, Mary, and Eric are on high alert.

Then I felt something; it's approaching us fast.

. "Something is coming," I yelled to the party. Immediately Eric put himself in front of me and Mary. Guts grabbed his broadsword and took stance as I just saw Ari climbing the tree beside her really fast.

We see it now; something is coming our way, and the only thing I can say to describe it will be filthy.

"[Miasma]?" said Mary with shock in her voice. What the hell is Miasma?

"Eric, Guts, don't touch it directly; you will get corrupted." Mary said that as they were charging into the monster, which looked like a humanoid beast with long arms and legs, he had claws instead of nails and little horns over his head.

"[Minor Protection]" chanted Mary to Guts and Eric while they were fighting the creature; their tactics were simple. Eric got the attention of the beast, while Guts from the rear dealt damage, very basic RPG style.

"Shadow Bind," let's make things a little bit easier for them.

From the shadow of the creature come up some ropes made out of darkness that bind the creature to a halt. At that moment, Guts and Eric took the chance to inflict as much damage as possible by Eric stabbing the stomach and Guts his back, until they heard, "Please stand back a little bit," which, without missing a bit, they did.

"[Boost], [Fireball]" a massive fireball gathers above my staff aid by my [Boost] skill, which increases the damage by 5%, then I point my staff to the creature launching the fireball.

It hit directly in the body of the creature, and we can only hear a chilling scream.

 (hhhhiaaarrrggggh)

It was getting burned alive, and I can smell something foul from it too.

"Get back, everyone; it's releasing miasma."

Guts and Eric get back as quickly as they can.

"Ahm, what's [Miasma]?" As I said that Mary just looked at me as if I were crazy or mentally challenged; either way, that looked hurtful.

(sigh)[Miasma] is a form of corruption that is native to one race... [the Demon Race]".