{BELL}

Bell sat underneath a tree close to the stream, it wasn’t too close to the stream but it was enough to see Ryu and Astoria bathing. He decided to check his system.

[Current Quest]

[Pass the exam within three days]

[Time left: 64:28:13]

[Reward: ???]

[Penalty: ???]

_not being able to see the punishment make it more scarier to think of_

He signed and looked at the girls again, Astoria was busy trying to start a conversation with Ryu but Ryu wasn’t really interested. Bell stood up and approached the girls.

"I think that’s enough, it’s time to keep moving"

"No, we aren’t done yet!" Astoria yell even though Ryu didn’t care, Astoria didn’t even care.

"Come on, stop acting like a child" Bell replied, his voice sounding tired. "We have already wasted so much time"

"Time?" Astoria said with a confused look on her face. "Why are you in a hurry?, It just the first day and besides we don’t know when weather we’ll see another river"

"If you want to stay then you can stay, Ryu and I are leaving without you"

"Okay, okay. Just give me a moment" Astoria replied. Bell nodded with a sigh and helped Ryu out of the water, leaving Astoria alone. Few seconds passed and he heard Astoria yell. "Hey, stop it!"

Bell turned to her as Astoria struggles to move but something seemed to be holding her.

"Astoria, you’ve had enough time me. Let’s go!" Bell reminded her again.

"I would if I could!" Astoria yelled back. "But something is holding me and it won’t let go!"

"Stop making up excuses, I’m leaving without..." Before Bell could finish his statement, a giant slippery snake-like creature lifted Astoria up from the water and threw her towards a tree, luckily, Bell was quick to catch her.

"Ahhh~!" Astoria yelled shyly and closed Bell’s eyes. "Don’t look at me!!!"

"I’m not looking at you, there’s nothing to see" Bell immediately threw her to the ground and pulled out his dagger.

The snake-like creature then launch at Ryu, who was still in her underwear and wrapped itself around her waist. Bell rushed to hold his sister but the creature quickly lifted her up and almost pull her into the water when Astoria cast a fireball at it, forcing it to let go of Ryu. Bell quickly ran an caught his sister before she hit the ground.

"What the hell is that, Astoria?" Bell asked.

"I’ve heard about it before but I never knew it lived here" Astoria replied still shocked as the creature slowly emerge from the river.

The creature got out of the water and stood right in front of the trio, it was almost ten feet tall and stood with all four limbs with the legs twisted to the back, it’s green body was covered with slime, it’s horizontally slit eyes which was both sides of it’s head was fixed at Astoria.

Bell stared at the weird creature, puzzled. He felt like he has seen something like this somewhere, but where?.

"It’s a green hopper! Watch out for it’s tongue, it’s very sticky and it can completely swallow a fully grown adult"

"Can we avoid it?" Bell’s ask as he jumped back and landed beside Astoria.

"It’s already licked me, there’s no way to avoid it now. It will just keep on following us if we try to run"

[NEW QUEST!]

[Kill the green hopper]

Bell sighed and kept Ryu behind Astoria. "I guess we’re fighting after all" He turned to Astoria. "I’ll tackle it while you provide support"

"Noted" Astoria nodded.

"What about me?" Ryu asked as the stood up. "I can help"

"I can’t let get hurt, just stay still and we’ll protect you"

Ryu bowed her head and remained silent.

The hopper stuck it’s tongue at Bell but he avoided it, letting it get stuck on a nearby tree and he cuts it off. The green hopper began leaping around frantically as blood spills out it’s maw but Astoria targeted it’s back legs and cast some [fireball] at it and it fell down, then Bell jumped onto the monster and tore through its stomach and pulled out it’s core, killing the monster instantly.

[Player gained 80 exp]

[Exp: 95/120]

[Ryu gained 40 exp]

[Ryu’s level has risen to 3]

[Astoria gained 50 exp]

[Astoria level has risen to 12]

Astoria dropped to the ground.

"That was scary, for a moment I thought I was going to be eaten alive"

"See! This is why I said we should keep moving. We stay at a location for too long and some kind of monster appears out of nowhere and tries to eat us!" Bell replied. _To be honest, I think the monster was weaker than the wolves_

Astoria stood up and held Ryu’s hand.

"Okay, let’s keep going"

"Aren’t you going to put on your clothes first?"

Astoria blushed and covers her body, "stop staring at...." She suddenly felt dizzy and fell down, Ryu fell on the ground too.

"What’s happening?" Bell felt confused watching the girls.

Some parts of their skin began to turn red,for Ryu it was around her waist, exactly the spot where the frog had held her, and for Astoria, it was her ankle.

[WARNING] 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

[Ryu has been poisoned]

[Astoria has been poisoned]

"Guys, are you okay?" Bell asked again.

"Big brother, I’m feeling dizzy and my stomach feels like it’s burning" Ryu said and fell unconscious.

"Do you think it’s from..."

"The giant hopper. It must have been when it touched us with it’s tongue" Astoria answered, she appeared to be less affected by the poison since the the hopper only touched her ankle with it’s tongue.

"Is there any way to cure it?"

"I don’t have a potion" Astoria said weakly and forced herself to stand up using her staff. "But, I know something that can help"

"Okay, let’s hurry"

"I’m too weak to move, so you’ll have to find it yourself" Astoria fell back to the ground. Bell carried and kept her next to a stump on a nearby tree, and kept Ryu besides her. "There are some herbs deep into the south of the forest. I think those will do"

"Then what about both of you, I can’t leave you here"

"We’ll be fine, it will take at least a day or two for the poison to circulate but It’s won’t kill us. We’re just paralyzed"

"Oh..." Bell released a sigh of relief. "Okay, just don’t try to move too much and I’ll be back as soon as I can"

Bell said as he stood up but Astoria didn’t reply, she was already unconscious. Instead of letting them there, Bell carried them back to the spot where they had camped the night before and his them there. Before leaving to find the herbs with nothing but his dagger.