Dmitry and the other three were at the entrance of a swamp.
A place completely flooded with numerous trees overrun by fungi and vines that wrapped from the roots to the tops of the trees, seeming to suck the life energy from them, with tiny eyes scattered all over the vines.
But the trees weren't the only things the vines were attacking. As Dmitry and the others walked through the swamp in search of the statue of the innocent girl, they saw several dead creatures floating on the water's surface, their bodies completely overtaken by fungi. Meanwhile, as they passed by numerous vines clinging to the ground, they seemed to insert tiny tendrils that sapped their energy.
"This is so annoying," said Anlow, stomping hard and splashing water all over everyone.
"Could you not do that? It's going to be hard to sleep while wet," said Trins, creating a piece of cloth and wiping his face dry.
"We're already wet, so there's nothing wrong with it. Besides, these vines are really irritating," Luke said with disdain, looking through the water and directly at the vines. "Because they're sucking energy from the master."
Dmitry said nothing and continued watching the three troublemakers, wondering if there was any way to exchange these three for other NPCs that were easier to handle.
'They may be strong, but they give me a lot of trouble if they keep acting like children,' Dmitry thought.
Dmitry and the others continued walking through the swamp until they saw tiny eyes emerging from the water, making an incomprehensible noise and catching everyone's attention before starting to flee.
Luke recognized what the creatures were and shouted as he ran after them. "Master, they are sea rats, creatures that usually guard treasures."
"Ah! Got it, you two, what are you waiting for? Let's go," Dmitry began running after Luke, who proved to be the fastest of the four, probably due to his race being not just a vampire, but the progenitor of vampires in this world's lore.
Anlow stopped bending his knees and, with a smile on his face, looked at Luke and leaped, hovering twenty meters above the swamp trees.
"I'm not going to let you get all the enemies," Anlow said before landing a hundred meters ahead of Luke, starting to run and creating a trail in the water, eyeing the sea rats running faster than any of the four.
"Can't you see you're practically destroying the entire place?" Dmitry said, completely soaked, opening a game map and marking Luke's location, able to see them without actually seeing them. "Trins, ignore the two of them; they're not listening to us."
Dmitry grabbed Trins' hand, who looked at him sleepily, yawned, and transformed into a bat. "So lazy... I'm so sleepy."
Dmitry began running, closing his hand to keep Trins comfortable inside his grip.
After twelve minutes of following the sea rats, they finally found the location of the innocent statue. Dmitry, knowing it wouldn't be this easy, looked at Luke and Anlow, signaling for them not to move. "Trins, create a black sphere and throw it near the statue."
They couldn't see the statue's appearance due to the sunlight hitting the trees that cast a shadow over it.
"Yawn~ squeeze my hand, Dmitry," Dmitry opened his hand, and Trins jumped out, transforming back into his human form and pointing his arm at the statue, gathering dark energy in front of his palm and firing a black sphere. Unsurprisingly, an enormous crocodile with green skin, its body wrapped in vines and almost entirely overtaken by fungi, appeared, showing that the crocodile was controlled by the fungi while the vines fed on its life energy, and the fungi fed on its flesh.
"Oh! Hey, Anlow, didn't you want to fight someone? Then look ahead," Dmitry said, looking around and spotting three crocodiles. One was missing an eye, and another's flesh was decomposing, seemingly rotting.
The three crocodiles roared and jumped towards them, while Anlow leaped, striking one between the eyes and sending it flying away, then kicked the open jaws of another crocodile, breaking its teeth and throwing it aside.
As for the third, Anlow braced against a tree and propelled himself backward, placing his hand over its eyes and slamming it down, landing on the crocodile's body.
"They were too weak," Anlow said, looking around but seeing no one. "Hey, where are you guys?"
He asked, then hunted for Dmitry and the other two, finally seeing them in front of the statue, now revealing the appearance of a beautiful woman holding a stone plaque inscribed with words.
"For the Queen of Beasts to awaken, you must show true love," Dmitry read the message written at the base of the statue.
"So she wants a kiss?" Dmitry thought, considering that since this was a game, the player would need to kiss the statue to link them as master and servant.
"A kiss?" Trins asked, running his finger over the statue's mouth and noticing that the lips were moist despite the rest of the body being made of a cement-like material.
"Hmm, as if the master would accept such a request. He'd never agree to kiss a dirty, unknown statue," Luke said indignantly.
"Well, he already kissed it," Anlow said, watching Dmitry kiss the statue and surprising Luke and Trins.
"I think that should be enough," Dmitry said as a game mission appeared in front of him.
[Show your love to the statue of the innocent]
[Only 50% left for the Queen of Beasts to awaken]
"Fuck" Dmitry said.