The Jungle Is An Entrance

The being nodded once before disappearing into thin air, its speed completely outmatching my stats at my current status.

Beneath these beings, I was basically nothing. They might have even noticed me but realized how weak I was and ignored me… just like last time.

Every single shadow soon disappeared from my senses, and even Faye gave me a slight nod of confirmation whilst we stood up, the shadow wrapping around us and draping upwards with us.

"Huff… huff… huff… huff… I think… I pissed my pants."

I could only deadpan at these words.

"Let's get moving. We have to find an entrance to the underground before we get mangled by everything in this goddamn forest."

"W-What were those things?" Faye stuttered as she cautiously followed behind me, her eyes snapping all over the place, keeping an eye out for anything remotely like the beings we had just encountered.

"I just call them Mantis People, but what the people of this realm call them-"

Cricket

I paused for a moment upon hearing a familiar sound, and as my eyes drifted to the dirt below me, I noticed a pitch-black frog with glowing yellow eyes.

Upon confirming what the monster was, I breathed a sigh of relief before continuing my explanation.

"Geez, I thought we found our way- Anyways, those Mantis People are called Deathstalkers by the habitants of this plane."

"Deathstalkers? That's like the darkest fucking name something could have, and we didn't run away from that? I could have easily buffed us with defensive spells-"

"No defensive spell will mitigate their damage and sharpness. Plus, even if we were able to defend ourselves from their attacks, we would be tracked to the ends of the earth. They don't have a hivemind, but they might as well… their communication travels miles upon miles, and their language consists of basic creeks and cracks. Think of them as bugs that communicate like snakes."

"You know a lot about this place, don't you? I've been meaning to ask, but-"

My eyes set on the woman, and seeing how my pupils nearly drilled holes into her skull, she quickly slipped out a word and shut up, continuing to follow me.

"Sorry."

I rolled my eyes as I continued to trudge through the heavy foliage coating the ground. It made my speed practically useless. Not that I would have risked running, but even if we did try to escape the Mantis people… we would have been caught almost instantly.

What I described to Faye was something very surface-level about the Mantis people as their way of living is beastly and something I can only describe as brutal.

But, they also do have the brains to develop some form of sadism that allows them to draw happiness and pleasure from torturing their foes physically or mentally.

Essentially, they're on top of the food chain in this jungle.

For the entire day, we walked and walked and walked while I searched and searched and searched seemingly endlessly until the sun in the sky began to fall.

And before I knew it, the moon had taken the sun's place, yet I still decided against taking a break since staying up here would only cause me more problems.

"H-Helu… c-can we take a break? J-Just a short break? My feet and ankles hurt from the uneven terrain… I-I'm also really sleepy."

I turned back towards Faye, who I completely forgot was behind me. My eyes shifted up and down her hunched-over posture, filled to the brim with exhaustion. For a moment, I just wanted to turn back around and start walking again, but if she died of exhaustion before I got to use her, then I wouldn't be able to forgive myself for wasting time later on.

"*sigh*... Alright, we'll sleep for now. But we're getting up early in the morning. Make sure to ration out as much food for now. I don't know when an entrance will appear."

"You keep talking about an entrance… what entrance? And to where? Isn't this our destination?" Faye questioned while falling back, letting the greenery around her fold over and act as a makeshift mattress.

"No, you can think of this jungle as the thorns on a rose or cactus. It's meant to ward away others to prevent outsiders from getting in on its real beauty and fruit."

Faye blankly stared at me as I sat down, deciding whether to continue to the conversation or not.

"Stop telling me in fucking riddles," The woman groaned, hearing a light cricket erupt from right beside her ear.

She jumped in surprise and quickly sat next to me. An uncomfortably close amount next to me, but I just decided to snack a bit instead of telling her off.

"The real place we want to go to is what's beneath this soil. And to tell you in simpler terms, an entrance will appear through the mouth of a frog. We will go into the frog, which allows us to slide past the thick layer of bedrock below this soil and into the first layer of this tower."

"Tower? Like a tower-tower? Like a tower-tower-tower?"

"Yes, like a tower. This realm is a separate space from the words you are used to. This isn't a word, but a space created by angels."

"A-Angels?"

"Ugh, yes, I'll explain more of it tomorrow. Just get some rest," I muttered, pushing the rest of my jerky back into my bag and then reinforcing the layer of shadows once more.

Just as I was about to start watch duty, I felt a soft loaf of silky hair press against my tricep, and as I looked over, I saw Faye was leaning onto my shoulder.

She was resting, but just before she closed her eyes, she asked one more question.

"Aren't you going to sleep?"

"I will once you start sleeping."

Faye's eyes glistened with some kind of excitement as she rubbed her cheek onto my shoulder, pressing in as she slowly lowered her eyelids.

"Goodnight," She muttered, her mouth slightly raised into a smile.

"Mhm…"