"Well, since I'm Unclassed, I'm not sure if I can say much about myself that you wouldn't already know," I said, "but I've had a good amount of practice with the sword. I've been going to the training grounds every day for a few years now, so I'd hope that'll help at least a bit with today."
Dorrn simply nodded. "If everyone's ready, let's head out."
It was surreal being out in the forest surrounding my village for the first time – I'd never been outside the walls due to the roaming monsters that patrolled the wilderness.
The only way anyone Unclassed came out of shelter in these parts was like me: surrounded by an escort of powerful Classers.
The forest felt greener up close. Back from the walls, it was just a few splotches of whatever. But here, I could look to my left and see hundreds of trees – individual trunks all sprouting from the ground and covering the air with a thick canopy of leaves – or I could look to my right and see a hill topped with a strange rock formation – probably formed by some Classer casting a powerful Spell.
It took about an hour of hunting before we saw anything worth noting – a large, furry beast that I immediately identified as a Dire Bear. I recognized it from the monster manuals I'd read, but the experience of reading about it versus seeing one up close was completely different.
On all fours, it was still about as tall as I was, and blood-stained claws tipped its paws. Still, despite its imposing figure, Dorrn and Feiya leapt into battle.
Dorrn charged and cleaved his axe through the beast's side and Feiya cast a Spell that flung a spiked chunk of earth at the monster's head, exploding into shrapnel on impact. Within seconds, the wild beast was dead.
"Only Level 8!" I heard Dorrn call, but I was still frozen in place by the show of absolute power. I blinked, barely recognizing that he was speaking to me.
Sure, I knew that someone at a Level as high as theirs could single-handedly slaughter a village of Unclassed people, but experiencing that power myself truly got the message across.
"Not quite high enough for a Class," Feiya said. "Do not worry, though, we will continue our search."
We marched on, repeating encounters like that, with the adventurers killing strong-looking monsters while I watched, waiting for the call to come and get the killing blow. The call hadn't come yet, but I was ready.
It had been hours upon hours upon hours by now – I could even see the sun begin to set in the brief times we passed through a clearing and the thick canopy of leaves disappeared for long enough for me to see the sky.
We weren't following any sort of road or trail; most monsters avoided man-made structures, recognizing them as dangerous.
So instead, we wandered the deep wilderness, straying away from any town or farm so as to find the largest and most dangerous beasts. I'd long since completely lost track of where we were, or even what direction we'd need to go to get back to town. Sure, we left through the south exit, but had we strayed to the west? East?
I wasn't worried about not being able to get back, though. Dorrn and Feiya knew these areas like the back of their hands, so even though it was my first time out here, they'd always be able to lead us back to civilization. Still, I imagined we must have gotten very far and very deep into the forest after such a long time traveling and hunting.
At some point, I felt something brush up against my ankle as I trailed behind my escort.
I was so nervous that I swung my sword at it without even looking to see what it was.
[You have struck Level 0 Rabbit for 22 damage using Sword.]
[You have slain Level 0 Rabbit.
Due to being Unclassed, you have earned 0 XP.]
I stared down at the decapitated bunny, my face turning red with embarrassment. Dorrn and Feiya looked at me with amused expressions, but thankfully they didn't say anything.
Everyone had a first time in the forest, so I was sure they understood how scary it was for me.
Just then, though, Dorrn's head snapped over, looking at something through the treeline. He held up a hand in a gesture that, at this point, I'd learned was one he made whenever he saw a hunting target. This time, however, he didn't rush into battle like usual. He waved me and Feiya over to come look at whatever he saw.
I crept forward, taking care not to make any noise, and gazed through the break in the treeline. What I saw made me immediately understand his hesitation.
The being I looked at was obviously Humanoid. It had two arms, two legs, and generally standard proportions. That said, it definitely wasn't Human. It was facing away from us, but even without seeing the front of its body, I could tell that much.
It was taller than the average person; it could easily stand head-and-shoulders above me, and its fingers ended in sharp claws rather than rounded fingernails. Its skin was crimson red, with veins of blue blood shining an unnatural neon through its skin. It was bald-headed – in place of hair, it had two long, pointed horns. And instead of standing on the ground, it hovered, its feet suspended barely above the dirt.
It was a Demon – the red-and-blue coloring gave that much away – but I had no idea what kind it could possibly be. I'd heard of horned Demons, but those were normally the animalistic variants, like Hellhounds, not the Humanoid ones. And I'd also never heard of a Demon that could float off the ground like that.
Flight was advanced magic, and I'd certainly have heard of a Demon that could use it. From the looks of their faces, Dorrn and Feiya were just as confused by the monster as I was.
"Plan?" Feiya muttered to Dorrn.
"We kill it. If we flee, it could notice and get the drop on us. We got the upper hand now, so we need to make use of it."
"We do not know how strong it is."
"If it's out here and we haven't heard of it, it can't be too strong. If it'd been terrorizing the locals for months, they'd've put out a request to kill it."
Feiya seemed to consider this for a moment, then nodded.
Dorrn and Feiya crept toward the two-horned Demon, taking care to stay silent, while I hid behind a tree, head poking out so I could watch the fight. The monster's back was still to us as Feiya prepared a Spell and Dorrn hefted his battleaxe.