Alice raised a brow and approached Zaria, then glanced in the direction her finger was pointing.
And immediately, her eyes widened.
There was a path carved out in the jungle, and while she didn't feel anything off, she knew it wasn't monster-made.
After all, there were dozens of slashes on the jungle trees, and she knew for a fact no monster could carve out something so precise.
Alice turned to Lar skeptically. "Did you send a scout ahead?"
But he merely shook his head. "We're the only ones here. I made sure to contact the ones managing this dungeon—the last time a person was in here was six months ago."
"Right... then should we go out and call for backup?" Alice said. "I'm a bit too young to be suicidal, so I'll head out now."
With that, Alice turned around and headed toward the portal, which was...
"...Where's the portal?"
"Fuck..." Zaria muttered, taking in the surroundings. "It was there when we entered. When did it disappear?"
She turned to Asher, who was standing by a tree. "You, gloomy guy. Did you see what happened?"
Asher simply stared at her for a moment, and just like last time, Lar was the one to answer.
"I kept track of the entrance since the start in case something happened. I can assure you, it just vanished into thin air."
"Mate, can you let him speak for himself?" Zaria said with a glare. "He's not your dog."
Asher flinched, and after glancing at everyone present, proceeded to speak up.
"A-After we all entered, the portal began flickering slightly... When Z-Zaria spoke up earlier, that's when it fully disappeared."
Zaria nodded. "Alright... so what was the protocol for this again...?"
"Sit tight and wait, or attempt to clear the rift," Alice stated from the side. "In this scenario, we can try the latter."
"And if it's mutated? There are too many risks involved," Lar interjected. "I believe we should stay here and wait. I texted the ones in charge when we all gathered, and again right before we entered. If we don't come back in a day or two, they'll come looking for us."
"And if the portal isn't there?" Alice scoffed and turned to the group. "Let's cast a vote. Who wants to get out of here quickly?"
Immediately, Zaria raised her hand.
Alice nodded and glanced at the two guys. "Okay... so I guess the two of you want to just stay here?"
"Naturally," Lar affirmed. "You can do whatever you want. We'll set up a perimeter here and wait for enemies. If you can track down the boss monster, then we'll come and help you."
"Right..." Alice muttered. I guess there's no choice. I didn't bring a lot of food, and I don't want to risk being spiked by these weirdos.
Therefore, to everyone's surprise, Alice began walking toward where the trees had been cut.
"Welp, see you later, I guess?" Zaria said with a chuckle, and ran after Alice.
Having only Zaria by her side was a bit sketchy, but it was definitely better than being alone.
She had her ways of protecting herself, and if need be, Alice would use her sword.
After all, the late-night practice definitely didn't go to waste, since by now she could deal with D-ranked monsters using just her sword.
Even her proficiency had shot up all the way to C-rank already.
I don't need to showcase my swordsmanship. A girl wielding a sword is nothing special... but a girl who's a healer with a good track record? Yep... that's much better, Alice thought with a small smirk.
The ground below was in tatters just like the rest of the surroundings, and it only got worse the farther they walked.
It was a blessing that Zaria stayed quiet. She was a crass blabbermouth, and Alice felt that if she let her guard down, Zaria would literally assault her.
Just as she had those thoughts, however, Zaria suddenly grabbed her by the collar, stopping her in place.
"Wait a sec, princess," Zaria said calmly as she took a step onto the patch of soil Alice had been about to step on.
To both of their surprises, the soil caved in, revealing the corpse of a green jaguar.
Zaria didn't waste any time and proceeded to dig it up and put it on display in front of them.
There were a couple of glaring details they could spot, and the most important one was the cut on its torso.
It was savage, and if Alice had to guess, a barbarian was responsible.
"I'm kind of starting to rethink my decision to come here now," Zaria remarked with a giggle. "What do you say, princess? Wanna go back?"
"You can go back if you want. I'm going forward," Alice replied plainly.
The moment she did, she heard a dull sound a couple hundred meters in front of her.
It was as if something or someone was fighting.
Zaria seemed to notice that as well, so with a nod, she began running toward the noise.
The ground seemed to get warmer the closer she got toward the noise, and she could even smell some smoke.
Did someone start a fire there? Alice thought, puzzled.
Finally, they arrived, and Zaria merely parted the massive tree leaves, revealing quite an interesting sight.
There was a shirtless man jumping between trees and fighting some sort of giant black serpent.
The man seemed her age, but from the scars and the amount of blood covering his face, it was hard to be certain.
However, his white hair somehow wasn't affected by blood in the slightest, and even his purple eyes—they were looking down at the black serpent with malice.
But that was not all, since in the very next moment, the man revealed his hand, and in it was a giant red scythe, which had a green fire enveloping it.
Then, the man kicked off the giant tree, flying toward the black serpent like a bolt of lightning.
And before the serpent could even fully open its mouth, the man sliced its head clean off.
The green flames enveloped the black serpent for a few moments, but they didn't burn its body.
Instead, they slowly coiled up the man's scythe and vanished into the handle.
Soon, the man's malice-filled eyes traveled toward Alice and Zaria, making them flinch from just his gaze.
"You shouldn't be in here."