**A few hours before Jacq ate the Gnome Mint Berry.
As Jacq fell, Don and his two teammates looked down before Don recovered a map from his pocket. He waited to open it until the sphere was fully formed, stopping the harsh winds from blowing the map away. Looking around him and then back at the map, Don signaled to the other two as he pressed towards the sphere and changed his direction as he followed the route on the map. After a while, the trio landed near each other on the ground.
"The cave is up ahead, we should get there in a couple of hours. Make sure to keep an eye on the wild beasts, let's go," Don looked around his surroundings before giving the command to head out.
Hina walked alongside Don while Tony was keeping guard in the back. Taking careful steps, the group ventured deeper into the forest while using the map to navigate forward. All around them were flowers and herbs that they had never seen before, some looked so beautiful that Hina wanted to pluck them. She looked down and saw a flower with six pink petals, the color became brighter from the tip of the petal to the core. Inside the core was a small light pink gem, which stood out due to the dark pink surrounding it. Hina stopped near it and bent over to pluck the flower.
"You will die a miserable death if you pluck that one. Senior brother specifically told us to stay away from the herbs and flowers on this path as they are poisonous," Don reminded her. "We should avoid all of these things until we recover that item that Senior brother asked us to get, obviously we'll use it on ourselves instead."
Hina hesitated for a moment, the flower was very beautiful and she didn't want to leave it behind. Having no choice, she put on her gloves and plucked the flower. Bringing it close to her nose, she took a good inhale of the scent before carefully placing it in her bag.
"I still want it. I feel a connection with this flower, I don't know why," Hina replied back while slowly standing up.
"Fine. Tony keep an eye on her in case that flower becomes a problem," Don ordered Tony, who simply nodded in response.
Looking around, the group continued on their path forward into the forest. The trees towered above them like skyscrapers. There were some monkey like beasts watching them walk as the beasts swung from tree to tree using the vines that hung on the trees. Don knew about these dark blue beasts, the Water Monkeys, from the slip that the Senior brother had so generously gave them before their departure from the space ship.
The Water Monkeys were a common beast of the forest, which was called the Dark Rain Forest. These beasts were two to three meters tall, with a skinny tail a meter and a half long. The fur around their faces were a lighter shade of blue compared to the rest of their body. The face itself was pure white, like a skull, which was rather scary to look at when one was trapped by these beasts. The patch around their chests and abdomen was also pure white.
The Water Monkeys were swinging from tree to tree on the vines using their skinny, long hands as they followed behind the group. Their long nails cutting into the trees as they tried to get the attention of Don and his team, causing them to be nervous.
"Don't worry, as long as we don't make eye contact or provoke them, the Water Monkeys will leave us alone," Don read a hint off the slip of paper to comfort the group. The Senior brother seemed to want this item so badly that he didn't mind giving Don and his group advice about the wild beasts that they would most likely encounter.
Nodding, the other two followed behind Don as they stepped into a new area of the forest. There was a clear path made up ahead, almost as if multiple beings had walked down this route before them. Continuing on, the three arrived in a slightly open area, but the towering trees made the sunlight dimmer than before. The area in front of them had many rocks on the ground which became more in numbers as they progressed forward. Soon, a cave was in sight.
With hunched backs, the Water Monkeys continued to stalk the group until Don, Hina and Tony arrived at the mouth of a cave. Seemingly disappointed in the outcome, the wild beasts turned around and ran away. The cave entrance had big stones stacked in a pile, like steps leading up. Tree roots were also protruding from the ground and into the cave, the atmosphere was dark because of the lack of light. Even the herbs around the entrance were dark in color.
The three looked at each other before Don pulled out two daggers and stepped in, followed by Hina who took out a small sword while Tony guarded the back with a small shield and sword he received from the Senior brother. The entrance of the cave wasn't too big, barely able to let Tony in after he had slightly crouched down. Looking around, the group saw spider webs on the wall and piles of bones littered everywhere. However, none of the bones looked like human ones, so it was safe to assume there had never been humans in this area before, or the ones that had come were too strong to die here.
"CLINK"
"The wall is pretty sturdy," Don analyzed after trying to cut at the wall.
Hina and Tony jumped for a second but calmed down after realizing it was Don who made the noise.
"Honey, I don't think that's a good idea, who knows what monsters are in this cave! We should be silent!" Hina lectured Don while a frown formed on her face.
"What's there to be scared of? Clearly there are just some spiders here, those were even common on Earth! We'll just squish them all! Senior brother even gave us a hint, stabbing the neck will be easy enough. Sure, they may be stronger than the ones on earth, but it shouldn't be something we can't handle," Don replied back with a little hint of annoyance. "It is simply spiders, nothing to worry about,' he thought.
After not getting a reply back from Hina, Don continued to lead them forward. After walking for more than fifty meters, they arrived at a crossroad.
"Senior brother said to go to the left tunnel and we will encounter the Cave Spiders. Then we can see what is so great about them," Don spoke after they surveyed their surroundings.
Taking the tunnel to the left, the group became much more tense. After a few meters, something screeched behind them.
"SSSHHKKK"
Looking back, Don saw the "simple spiders" standing behind them. There were three of them, ranging from two to three meters in height.
"Well, fuck," Don spoke as he started backing up.
"SSSHHKKK"
Another screech was heard from the front of them. Turning around, they saw two spiders standing there, staring at them with hungry eyes. Tony grabbed the shield and prepared to defend the two as they slowly walked back towards the wall to make it easier on them. The first spider jumped at them, it's hairy legs coming down on the shield while Don took this moment to stab under the head of the attacking spider, right at the weak point that was listed by the Senior brother.
"SKREEE"
The spider made a loud screech as the blade cut deep inside it's neck before falling off the shield and onto the ground where it convulsed for a bit before dying. The four remaining spiders glanced at each other while Don tried to boost the teams morale.
"Look, that wasn't so bad now was it! We can beat them!" Don spoke in a slightly happy voice. At the first appearance of the Cave Spiders, he was genuinely shocked. He had never imagined that spiders could become so huge. If that wasn't all, the legs of the spiders were as thick as a grown man's arm. It was lucky for them that Tony was much stronger than an average grown man, hence he was able to defend them.
The three were calm even in such a situation due to their previous life styles. Killing and fighting for survival was a daily thing for them. Even Hina had practiced wielding weapons. As the other four Cave Spiders jumped at them, Don rushed forward to slash another Cave Spider in it's eyes while Tony bashed his shield on two of the Cave Spiders.
Hina grabbed her small sword tightly while dodging the Cave Spider that was attacking her. She was used to combat, but unlike Tony and Don, she hadn't been doing it as long, so she was still not ready to handle these Cave Spiders. Don ran up on the back of the blinded spider and stabbed down on it's neck before quickly hopping off to help Tony who was slowly being out numbered and over powered.
The first shield bash that Tony delivered caused the Cave Spider to enter a daze while Tony charged at the next one. After a moment, the dazed Cave Spider came back to it's senses and started teaming up with the other Cave Spider. The Cave Spiders backed up and spewed webs at him before continuing on with their attacks. The pressure of two strong beasts caused Tony to be pressed against the wall, if not for his shield, he would have long since died.
One of the Cave Spiders crawled up to him and slashed down with it's legs, scratching Tony on the shoulder while crushing him against the wall. The other Cave Spider took this chance to go in for the kill. It screeched as it's venomous fangs glinted in the dim cave. Don charged into the Cave Spider before it was able to attack Tony. At this time, Hina was thrown back against Don before she tumbled over the two men and dropped behind them unconscious.
The Cave Spider that threw Hina charged onto the dazed Don before biting him on the back, causing him to roar in pain.
"SON OF A BITCH," Don yelled out, feeling the fangs infect him with poison.
Seeing his boss in such a situation, Tony bashed the shield against his opponent's head repeatedly before slashing down at the spider on Don's back. He threw his sword at the Cave Spider that was charging at them, stabbing it right in one of the eyes before reaching out and grabbing the dazed Cave Spider and throwing that at the wounded Cave Spider too.
Reaching down, Tony grabbed the two daggers that Don had dropped when he was bitten and charged on top of the two dazed and wounded Cave Spiders before stabbing them repeatedly underneath their skulls until they stopped squirming. Looking around him and making sure everything was clear, Tony ran back to the two.
"Let's take a small break and rest, we also need to give you the antidote before the poison spreads," Tony said as he looked towards Hina who had just regained her consciousness.
Don nodded weakly as he stood up and walked over to Hina and helped her up. Tony kept guard in the back as Don and Hina found a rock that was big enough for them to sit on.