Hero or Villain, Both

But in the end, we couldn't find any other monsters.

That wasn't strange since it wasn't just our group that had entered this forest.

This was a field trip for the Verdant Academy, which meant that there were many other students that had entered this forest as well.

In this place, there was only a limited number of spirits that had been set to create these monsters and they only created these monsters when they sensed elves approaching.

So there would be more and more monsters in this forest over time, but this first day was when there were few monsters that were inside of this forest. Until the second day started, it wouldn't be strange if we only encountered a single group of monsters.

I knew all of this because this place was one that had been in the game as well.

It was a special dungeon that had been made available as part of the Verdant Academy questline.

Only since I was a high elf, I didn't actually have to do that questline since it was only for elven characters. As a high elf, I had the right to skip that questline and directly come to the reward, which was this special dungeon.

The reason that it was known as a special dungeon was because of the benefits that came from it.

Basically, this place was an EXP farm.

The more monsters that one took out, the more EXP that they would earn in a short period of time.

Though it wasn't as if I was in a rush since I had plenty of time to experience this special dungeon.

At the same time, I knew that there was something else special about this place.

It was something that wouldn't happen for a few more days, so there was no need to rush right now.

"Why can't we find a single monster?" Nimue couldn't help complaining as she tried finding more monsters from her position up on the tree.

But it seemed that no matter how she looked, she really couldn't find a single monster at all.

"Are you sure that you're looking for the right thing? How could there not be a single one in this entire area?" Rania couldn't help asking when she heard this.

Nimue stopped looking around and looked down at Rania before saying, "Then why don't you come up here and take a look for yourself if you think that it's that easy?"

Rania revealed an awkward look when she heard this.

There was a reason why it was Nimue that was up there rather than Rania.

It wasn't just because Nimue was stronger than Rania physically, though that did play a large part in it.

It was simply because Rania was scared of heights, which was why she didn't go up in the tree.

Seeing that Rania had that awkward look on her face, Fae went over to her side as if she wanted to comfort her. It was just that Fae didn't really seem to know what she was doing, so she just awkwardly stood beside Rania.

The two of them really seemed awkward standing there together.

I couldn't help shaking my head with a faint smile seeing them like this before saying, "Alright, let's just find a place to set up camp for the day. It's not as if there's a point in trying to rush in hunting the monsters. Let's just find a place where we can operate from for the next few days."

Nimue didn't seem like she was happy about this, but she didn't say anything since I was the one that suggested it.

Rania looked at me with a grateful look since it saved her from her awkward situation.

We had been about to head out to find a place to set up, but we were stopped by a voice that came from the distance.

"Please help! Someone save us!"

The moment that we heard this voice, all of us couldn't help knitting our brows.

That was because we all recognized this voice.

It was one of the elves from our class that had come with us into this forest.

Without any hesitation, we ran off in the direction that the voice came from.

It didn't take long for us to find our classmates, but they weren't alone. There were monsters that were attacking them.

However, it seemed like they were being overwhelmed by those monsters.

From a distance, the monsters seemed normal. But when we came closer, I could see that there was something off about these monsters…

The monsters had the form of deers just like the ones that we had faced before, but there was something strange about their appearance. It seemed that they were far more aggressive than the other monsters that we faced before.

At the same time, it also seemed like there were parts of them that seemed to be bigger like their horns.

It was almost as if they were an evolved form of the monster that we faced previously.

I couldn't help deeply knitting my brows when I saw this.

That was because I recognized this monster.

This monster was supposed to be something that showed up after ten days, when the forest slowly adapted to the level of the elves that remained. It created monsters that were stronger than the monsters that it created at first, giving them more of a challenge.

But these monsters also had far more spirit energy in them, so they also gave more EXP.

It was just that these monsters shouldn't have shown up yet according to the normal timeline.

It seemed that there was something off about this place that the monsters were evolving early…

Only I didn't have the time to actually think about that as the monsters were still charging at our classmates.

"Water to restrain and fire wall to protect." I said to Nimue and Rania before pulling out my bow.

They didn't waste any time in following my orders as water tendrils and a flame wall appeared.

That caused the monsters to turn their attention to us.