30 minutes ago - Phil

  The grating sound of metal on a whetstone filled the cave Eve had brought Phil to. He sat on a chair he'd thrown together as he watched Eve sharpen the axe she'd apparently claimed from the overseer that had kidnapped him.

  Bringing his attention back to the system notifications before him, he frowned at the number of people messaging him. He'd made quite a few friends and loyal customers back in Arkania, and they kept him up to date on everything that happened on the surface.

  "Eve…"

  "I'm not going. I don't care if they're killing each other or whatnot. Their issue with each other has nothing to do with us anymore."

  "...Then why have you been restlessly sharpening that axe for the last 20 minutes?"

  The scraping sound came to an abrupt halt, "I just… I need to make another sweep of the caves and want to make sure my equipment is in good shape."

  "As if you haven't already cleared out every single cave system close by already."

  "Shut it."

  "Eve, I'm not blind. I know you don't care for Trey and Nix's political rivalry, but you can't pretend you're completely uncaring. Not to me. I see through your act."

  "There wouldn't be any purpose in going. I won't help either side, and I'm not a peacekeeper who can magically make them all dissolve their issues."

  "Even if you don't have a purpose in going, it'd be better to go and do nothing than to not go and regret it later. Heck, it'd be better for you to go so I can stop worrying so much."

  "Worrying?"

  "I can't explain it, but ever since that overseer took me I've had this awful feeling. Since the beginning of the tutorial they've sat in their camp, watching over us. What do they hope to gain? The one who took me may have been an aberrant, but who's to say the rest of them won't follow suit once our protected status is gone?"

  Eve nodded slowly.

  "Won't you at least go and watch from afar? I can barely take watching these messages come in, let alone watching you fidget."

  "But if I leave and the worst happens there will be nobody to protect you down here."

  Phil laughed, "As I said, you've already cleared out all the surrounding caves. And I've got enough dried food to last a month if need be. Trust me, you've made it virtually impossible for anyone or anything to get in here and harm me."

  "...Fine. But I'm only going to watch. Then I'll come right back."

  "Of course."

  ***

  Eve

  She had only intended to watch from afar. The conflict between the camps was something she didn't understand, and she wasn't about to stick her neck out for anyone else.

  But when the forest had been disturbed and what could only be described as a giant robot emerged from the ground, Eve knew she had to act.

  A battle is one thing. If that thing is allowed to act it won't even be that, it'll just be an extermination.

  Still, she didn't actually have any idea how to bring the thing down. Even from a distance, it was clear the thing had been thrown together hastily. Every piece of hazy blue armor on it was misshapen slightly, and there were large gaps in the exterior plating where she could see the internals at work.

  I guess those are where I should aim, but would an arrow even do much? Even if I use Heavy Impact, if it simply pierces through without hitting anything vital then it isn't like it'll do much other than waste my mana.

  Engaging it head-on was also out of the question. Even if she was able to do damage to the exposed bits the thing simply had too much mass. Her strength was absurdly high, but she wasn't delusional enough to imagine it being high enough to deal any damage worth a damn to it. At least, not without getting swatted away like a fly.

  Those thoughts were wiped away as she saw the thing charging up an unimaginable amount of mana. It didn't matter if she couldn't really hurt it. Right now she just needed to stop whatever that was from hitting either camp.

  So with Heavy Impact active, she loosed an arrow imbued with as much strength as she could possibly put into it. She almost thought her bow was going to give out from the strain.

  The arrow struck the side of the robot's 'head' and the impact forced it and the attack it unleashed to the side. But when it turned back Eve felt a shiver at the sight of the damage her attack had left.

  A dent. An arrow imbued with her maximum strength and Heavy Impact had only left a single dent against its hazy blue armor.

  [Alert]

  Emergency Quest issued: [Kill Nix]

  Karmic link detected. Altering failure Penalty.

  [Kill Nix]

  If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  Kill Nix. Failure to eliminate Nix within 1 hour will result in a Penalty.

  Reward: Karmic Affection.

  Failure Penalty: Karmic Disdain.

  What the…!

  She didn't have any time to contemplate the notification, as the robot started moving simultaneously. It didn't move its legs, instead seeming to propel itself forward using mana. It didn't stop to try and move around trees, instead plowing straight through them as if they weren't even there.

  So fast!

  It was on her in seconds, and she was forced to desperately run to the side as it brought a fist down where she'd been standing only moments before.

  There's absolutely no way I can fight that thing. The best I can do is try to lose it in the canopy of trees.

  But no matter what she did, it was no use. The robot doggedly followed her through the forest, carving a path of carnage in its wake. Every time she thought she lost it it just barreled through, wreaking havoc and causing her to move lest she be crushed underfoot.

  A large branch of a tree collided with her, knocking her into the trunk of another tree. She grunted before looking up and seeing the blue light from before as mana gathered in the weapon inside the robot's head.

  I can't run away from that, it'll just follow me with its aim. No way will it allow me to ready another arrow either.

  Just as it seemed hopeless, something changed. A cluster of roots shot out from a particularly dense region of the forest and struck the side of the robot, causing it to lurch to the side and interrupt the charging sequence.

  What the hell is that?

  The roots drew back into the forest, and Eve saw the cluster of trees move. Like the writhing limbs of an octopus roots were drawn into that dense mass of forest, until they bloomed outwards like a flower and the trunk of a tree rose above the canopy of leaves.

  Eve thought she saw a small creature nestled within the hollowed-out trunk before the roots rose up alongside it and covered it in a tangled mass of forest.

  [Loksri Ipra, Lord of the Forest - Level 60]

  That's the lord of the forest? I'd heard it was found, but I had no idea it looked like that!

  The roots twisted and writhed until they shot out towards the robot. Like a thousand arrows they flew through the air, creating a bridge of mass.

  The robot swung an arm through the air, knocking the massive barrage of roots to the side. However, many of them just latched onto the robot's hand, crawling into the cracks between the armor.

  The robot's other hand grabbed onto the tangled mess of roots that were latched onto it and pulled. Eve saw the robot's footing change as it used its hold on the thick mass of roots to yank the lord of the forest out of its territory, and Eve heard the snapping of what sounded like a million twigs as the massive bundle of writhing wood was pulled straight out of the ground.

  The lord was whipped around and thrown like a ball on a rope, and it crashed into the forest on the other side of the robot. And for the first time, Eve saw the robot's back.

  This is my chance! I can strike while its head is turned the other way!

  She still wasn't sure if she could actually damage the thing, but she had to try.

  However, as she put all of her strength into leaping off the top of one of the nearby trees the machine spun. Even with its head turned the other way it sent its arm out on a perfect intercept course with Eve.

  On instinct, she activated the token she'd gotten as a reward for clearing the monkey dungeon. A shimmering bubble appeared around her, but as the robot's arm collided with her it shattered instantly.

  She was blown backwards and crashed into the ground before she even knew what had happened.

  Ow. Where the hell am I?

  She felt blood trickle down her face, and one look at the arm she'd instinctively raised to block the arm showed it was bent in the wrong direction. The rest of her body seemed to scream in agony, but that was more from the blunt force trauma of her collision with the ground than anything else.

  She looked around as she took a healing pill. She wasn't in the forest anymore. She'd been blown all the way out into the middle of the plains.

  There was no doubt the defensive shield token she'd used had absorbed most of the robot's force and saved her life. Its effect was to completely block a single attack, but she imagined an E grade token simply hadn't been able to compensate for the insane amount of force behind the robot's arm.

  Still, the hell am I supposed to do now?

  She could see the robot and the lord of the forest still fighting in the distance. It would be easy to run back over as the healing item took care of her broken arm, but was that really the right choice?

  Being away from that goliath of metal presented the opportunity to run. She'd saved the armies from that horrifying first attack. If they were smart they'd have already stopped fighting and started trying to figure out how to placate the robot.

  No, there isn't a single person in this place who stands a chance against that thing. Even as a group, it'd just roll right over them. If I leave things as they are then there's no telling how much death that thing will cause. It's just unbeatable.

  As Ever wracked her brain for an idea she looked around again. With a start, she realized she knew exactly where she was.

  A grin formed on her face from the absurd idea that came to mind.

  ***

  Trey

  Trey ran through the forest at full speed. He didn't have any clue what he was supposed to do. Everything had fallen into complete chaos.

  [Alert]

  Emergency Quest issued: [Kill Nix]

  [Kill Nix]

  Kill Nix. Failure to eliminate Nix within 1 hour will result in a Penalty.

  Reward: Karmic Affection.

  Failure Penalty: Death.

  The emergency quest refused to leave his system view. As far as he knew, every other living being within the tutorial had received the same quest, with the same promise of death if they failed.

  The battle between the camps had fallen apart almost instantly. Nobody cared who belonged to which side when they'd all die equally if Nix wasn't killed.

  Even the overseers were taken by the same fervor. They'd abandoned their plan of killing the humans and ran through the forest alongside them.

  They were a mass of desperate beings all running towards a giant mech engaged with a living forest. Every single one of them knew that to throw themselves into that battle would spell certain death, yet certain death also awaited them if they did nothing.

  Then Trey saw a blur leap from the treeline and a new figure appeared with a roar of defiance as claws skitted off the mech's hazy blue armor.

  Past the desolation of the flattened forest Trey could see what looked like a purple tiger shrouded in hazy mist. He recognized the beast instantly from descriptions he'd heard of hunters that had stumbled upon its territory.

  [Yurnak Trandar, Lord of the Plains - Level 60]

  Off to the side he thought he could see Eve as well, and he instantly understood why the lord of the plains was so far out of its environment. He'd seen the mech blow the girl away just a few minutes earlier, saw her fly through the air like a wayward comet.

  She must have landed in that thing's territory and lured that thing back here. What an insane plan.

  He once again tried to get a message through to Devon, only for it to be left hanging again.

  Where the hell are you, Devon? I kinda really need your help out here!