Marcus looked genuinely exhausted when Richard double-checked the schedule for the next morning. Marcus gave nothing more than a nod before devouring his dinner. Savannah looked just as exhausted, and even Elias, who was known for hiding behind sarcastic comments, turned in early. From what Richard could piece together, they had been running into multiple monsters in the forest and had been fighting them nonstop since setting foot in there. Richard mentally prepared for something horrible to happen. He had a good feeling that he would reach level sixteen by the end of the day, though. Scavenging always gave more than farming. Then again, anything gave more experience than farming.

  Richard didn’t think he would ever miss the claustrophobic feel of the trees when he walked into the forest, but he had. He didn’t like the open air of the farmland. He fell back into a habit of listening for every sound, prepared for anything.

  “Did everything go well in checking the traps?” Richard asked Marcus.

  “Yeah, it went well. I’m curious to see if anything has shown up on the map since very few people have gone that direction in a long time.”

  “They should really put the map back up,” Savannah said. “We can’t lose anymore information than we already have. It was kind of cool.”

  Marcus smiled. “All scavengers thought it was cool. It’s part of our class.”

  “Yeah, that’s what Order told me when I wasn’t too sure what class to choose. She made it seem like my curiosity about the wider world was a dead giveaway about my class,” Savannah said.

  Richard’s ears perked up at that. He needed to keep this conversation going. This was a question he had struggled with: whether other scavengers had talked to Order or Chaos. He opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. His brain struggled to think of a sentence as Reggie cleared his throat.

  “Curiosity is not a bad thing to be known for.”

  Marcus gestured for everyone to enter the clover field. “We need every class.”

  Richard searched through his mind to think of something that wouldn’t make him suspicious. Then again, anyone bringing up someone other than Order would automatically make them suspicious. He really should talk to Dmitri about all this.

  Marcus turned toward Richard. “Make sure you fill up your inventory before you put the clovers in the bag. I’m hoping you’re close to upgrading your inventory.”

  Richard smiled at that. He didn’t know why, but he stuffed his inventory with clover all the same. It had felt like years since he was allowed on missions, and he was relieved to get back to it slowly. It took weeks to gain experience as a farmer, but he could feel himself going back to the grind of wanting to advance his skills, and knowing it could happen quicker.

  A soft green light outlined the clovers, and he sensed that these were okay to pick. This was part of his ability that he never used as a farmer. He could identify what the resource was and, more importantly, tell that these were safe. This wasn’t some hidden monster tricking him. It was so strange, yet also comforting. According to his skill tree, it only helped with creatures or resources level 5 or below, but he was glad he could tell these were safe. He wondered how he had survived his newbie stage.

  Richard kept pulling out clovers and stuffing them in his inventory when Marcus materialized out of nowhere and placed a hand over Richard’s arm. He frowned, then noticed Marcus was staring at nothing. The hairs on Richard’s arms stood on end as he realized Savannah and Elias had also stopped what they were doing and held still.

  Richard had unlocked his stealth ability a while ago. He brought it up to check it again, because that didn’t take any movement. He tried not to get nervous at seeing he only had a 10% chance of being truly hidden from monsters.

  The vibration in the ground was such that Richard was surprised he felt it. It also made sense that Marcus, Savannah, and Elias sensed them sooner than he did. Richard was prepared for this. Judging by how horrible the apocalypse was, he knew there would be a few monsters he would face. He just hoped there’d be one at a time and not two boss-level creatures.

  Marcus touched his temple and looked right at Reggie as he whispered something so quietly Richard couldn’t hear it despite being right next to him. Reggie nodded and slipped out of the clover field before pulling out a sword.

  The vibration of the ground became the footsteps of one gigantic creature. That was as much as Richard could identify, which was a relief in itself. He was glad there wasn’t more than one creature, but he also knew he should wait until he had visual before dealing judgement.

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  All the scavengers remained frozen, and Richard followed their example. Reggie made so much noise outside the clover field, and he could only assume that was on purpose. Then again, it had to be impossible for a guard to move around quietly anywhere with all that armor on.

  The footsteps got closer, and Richard glanced up. Something large lumbered through the forest. This creature didn’t have the ability that the wolf did, to sprint through the trees and have them meld with its body to make it easier to travel. That was an advantage on Richard’s part. He could run back to camp if the need arose and remain safe.

  At first, Richard heard a strange clanging sound that he didn’t acknowledge until it got closer. It sounded a lot like a heavy bell ringing with not much echo to it. Whatever this monster was, it wasn’t afraid of all the noise it made.

  Richard didn’t feel the ache in his legs like he expected after crouching how he was for so long. Instead, he was focused like everyone else on the creature heading toward them. With all the trees, the creature might wander away. It was massive, over ten feet tall. Dark brown fur covered the entire body, and he could smell rotting flesh the closer it appeared. Richard resisted the urge to cover his mouth with his shirt because he was terrified of moving. The monster stood on hind legs, but Richard had no idea what those hind legs looked like behind all that foliage. The snort it made reminded Richard of a bull. He couldn’t see the creature’s face because of the trees. As the monster came close to the clover field, Richard saw white-hot shackles dripping with molten heat. It was as if this creature burst out of the chains of hell with some remaining. How were that creature’s wrists not burnt off? Then again, the drips on the ground weren’t exactly starting a forest fire, either. The chains still attached to the shackles almost reached the forest floor. Richard got a mental image of what might happen if this creature snapped the chains like a whip, and he had been practicing enough times to know he didn’t want to be anywhere near those chains.

  Reggie scrambled up a tree, making way too much noise. The monster paused, sniffing. Marcus closed his eyes, took a steadying breath, then opened them again as he unsheathed his dagger. Marcus pointed to Savannah and Elias, then pointed up. Savannah nodded and scrambled silently up the tree, and Richard didn’t even notice Elias was already up there.

  Marcus remained by Richard’s side, watching the monster. Richard pulled out his own dagger, feeling like almost reaching level sixteen had to account for something. As the monster approached, Richard felt his identifier ability probe the monster. There was no outline, but a growing sense told him this creature was dangerous. Also definitely over level five. Richard pursed his lips, wondering if he should thank Order for this ability or Chaos. True, it would advance, but right now he already knew this creature was dangerous and definitely over level five. Richard took a second to scold himself, though. He had appreciated this ability when he knew for sure the clovers were safe.

  The creature snorted again, then the head dropped below the trees and it stared right at Richard and Marcus. It had a bull's head with glowing black eyes and black horns growing out of its head. The monster roared at Marcus and Richard, but was cut off by Reggie dropping from the trees, sword forward, and slicing a chunk out of the creature’s horn and shoulder. The good thing about it was that the monster’s attention was no longer on Richard.

  Marcus stood, pulling out his crossbow. “The creature is level eighteen. Stay back and hit it with your whip if it gets close, but leave close-range combat to Reggie.” Marcus lifted his crossbow and started pounding the monster with bolts.

  Richard pulled out his whip, but stayed behind Marcus. Savannah dropped from the tree, punching the monster with her brass knuckles. Richard saw the almost after effect of Savannah and remembered she could make a duplicate of herself. It was far smarter to do that than to go herself. Soon after, a net dropped, and the creature roared as an electric current shocked it.

  Richard gripped the whip, waiting. He wasn’t sure what he was waiting for. Perhaps it was permission. Perhaps it was fear that made it easier to strike. He lifted his whip, but the monster moved first. Before Richard could react, the monster lifted his shackles and swung them around. Richard dropped to the ground to avoid the attack. The chains didn’t catch the dry brush on fire. Since the creature used them as an actual whip, some trees were cut in half and charred at the end.

  Richard had little time to check whether the chain hit anyone. He wasn’t sure how much stronger their levels were, but that chain looked deadly hot. The creature kept roaring; the chain becoming far more erratic. The bull tried to punch Reggie, which the man dodged the fist and the chain. Since the creature’s back was facing Richard, he brought out his whip, stayed a distance away, and snapped it. He was surprised at how much the trees muffled the sound.

  Marcus remained by Richard’s side, holding out a hand near Richard’s chest as he watched the creature’s movement. Everyone else would occasionally glance above the monster’s head, privy to information he was not. Richard couldn’t even tell if he hit the bull. Wouldn’t there be some sort of welt or cut? He didn’t have time to examine too closely because the creature spun, causing Richard to watch those chains again. Marcus lifted his crossbow again, pounding the creature with bolts, and Richard tried again to whack the creature with the whip, aiming for the soft underbelly. The bull roared, lifted its arm high above the head, then brought it down hard. Richard was ready to dive away, but Marcus grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him back.

  “Stay by me. Do not get separated.”

  Richard didn’t argue. Reggie stabbed the monster through the arm, and Richard flinched, prepared for that to be it for the creature, but it enraged the creature instead.

  “Hey, ugly!” Elias shouted. The creature spun, and Elias threw his net into its face. It got stuck on the horns, and the creature howled with pain as more electricity hit him. The bull grabbed the net and threw it off, despite all the pain it caused him. The creature spun the chain, but Richard noticed too late that the chain was low. Elias jumped over it, but as was habit, Savannah had dropped to her knees. Richard didn’t see it actually make contact, but he saw Savannah get caught and tossed by the chain, her body slamming into the tree before crumpling to the ground.