Chapter 4 I Met Some Humans?

Lief happily opened his status window, excitement filling the hollow sockets where his eyes should've been.

[System Level: 2]

[EXP: 45/400]

[Forest Size: 50]

[Vitality: 63]

[Absorption Speed: 2]

[Skills: Vitality Drain 1, Vitality Transfer 1]

[Missions]

After two more days of constant work, he had increased his forest to 50 fully restored trees and received enough exp to level up the system to level 2.

Now, there was about two-thirds of an acre of land that was full of greenery, or at least, he thought it was about two-thirds. He didn't know how tall he was, though he felt pretty tall, so he just guessed he was around 1.8 meters tall.

Anyways, by leveling up the system, he had increased his absorption speed and unlocked a missions tab. So far, there was only one mission.

[Main Mission: 1) Increase forest size to 150.]

He turned to look up at Silvester, who was lounging on one of the larger branches of a nearby tree.

"Silvester, there's only one mission. How do I unlock more?"

[Main missions are sequential. The next one will appear once the current one is completed. Sub missions can also randomly appear. Rewards will depend on the difficulty of the mission. Oh, a sub mission has just been opened.]

Lief quickly checked the contents of the new mission.

[Sub Mission: Protect the forest by driving out or otherwise removing the intruding humans.]

He glanced around but didn't anyone or anything nearby that could be classified as an intruder, so he glanced back at Silvester with a questioning expression.

[Although the forest size stat only counts the living trees, the system counts the dead trees as part of the forest territory. The intruders are probably at the edge of the dead forest. I can guide you in the general direction of the mission objectives, but you'll have to find the exact position yourself.]

Lief nodded and started to run, following the system avatar.

At first, it took felt a bit odd running with his tail, but he soon got the hang of it. Now, he could use his tail to help him balance.

Normally, something as large as himself would make some sort of thumping sound due to weight, but his footsteps were completely silent. Once again he marveled at how he didn't make any noise when moving around.

About a minute after he left the living section of his forest and entered the section of dead trees, he began to hear voices and subconsciously slowed down.

For a moment, he felt nervous because he would soon meet his first humans since coming to this place, then he immediately wondered why he was so nervous.

After all, he now looked like a monster, and his mission was to get the humans to leave. He could probably complete this mission just by standing in front of them.

He watched the humans carefully, surprised by their outfits. They looked like a typical group of adventurers from a fantasy RPG.

There was a large man in a suit of armor with a large sword sheathed at his waist and a shield slung across his back. There was a female wearing a purple robe and holding a long wooden staff. There was a thin man dressed in green with a bow in one hand and a quiver of arrows on his back. And there was a female in an all white robe with a staff that had a cross atop it.

A Knight, a Mage, an Archer, and a Priest: A Tank, CC*, DPS, and Healer. All in all, a pretty balanced party.

There was also a young man who seemed to not be a part of the team, as he had no visible weapon, and the group of adventurers seemed to be protecting him.

Lief's mind began wandering as his thoughts turned to the MMORPG games he used to play with his friends. Sometimes, they would play a game just for fun and create a team of only healers or dps, but when they were playing seriously, he would usually choose a close combat class.

~~~~~~~~~~

William walked at the front of his group with one hand on the pommel of his sword, just in case any dangers appeared. He also adjusted the position of his shield so that he could easily move it to protect his group. Ever since he and his team entered the dead forest, there had been an eerie feeling of being watched.

"Marcus, are you sure this is the correct place? Isn't it supposed to be completely empty of life? It feels like something's watching us."

He glanced over his shoulder at the rest of his team who were currently showcasing varying expressions of unease.

Marcus was a cartographer and also the one who posted the mission to explore and map out the dead forest. He adjusted his glasses before holding up a piece of parchment.

On the parchment was an unfinished map of the surrounding area. The area where the dead forest should be was still blank.

"This is indeed the dead forest I wanted to map. And even if there are any monsters still living here, well, that's what I hired you guys for. There shouldn't be anything too dangerous."

Marcus was the one who was paying them, so William could only shut up and continue walking.

As he turned his head from side to side, scanning their surroundings, he noticed a flash of white in the corner of his eyes. In this dense mass of blackened and withered tree trunks, the pale color was particularly eye-catching.

He turned around to face it and his face instantly turned pale.

Standing only a few meters away from the group was a tall vaguely humanoid beast.

It was probably around 3 meters tall, taller if you counted the spiraling horns on the top of its skeletal head.

Its skin was pitch black, almost like looking into a void, and it had long, terrifying claws that could probably tear a human apart easily.

"Everyone, behind you!"

William rushed over to put himself between the team and the monster, quickly drawing his sword and shield. The monster was like nothing he had ever seen before, and he had to admit, it scared him.

Although he could feel his heart racing from fear as adrenaline coursed through his veins, he was the leader of the team. It was his duty to protect his teammates, as well as the client who hired them.