They entered the hallway and they got to rest and gather their energy for the next stage. The hallway is just that– an hallway made of black and white strip metal that shone with its own light.
Temur quickly brought out his cooker and began to roast a monster's meat. "This meat is high in mana, it will replenish our mana quickly. It's expensive too and it's a shame that I have to cook it without all my favorite spices."
Jael and the others didn't care if it was his favorite spices or not, since it tasted good and the smell made them salivate then they're good to go.
They quickly ate it and drank water to push it down.
"Ahhh! Time to take a nap before the door open." Jael lay down and closed his eyes. There's no specific time for the door to the next stage to open, it might be quick or take a while. Either way, it's better to try and rest.
All of them lay down and was soon sleeping, no reason to be alert here because nothing but the door could disturb them, and fortunately for them it took a while before the door opened.
When the light from the door hit Jael he winced and covered his eyes, groaning. "I guess it's time."
The others stood as well, stretching and groaning. Temur grinned. "Well then! Let's see about this stage that can't be cleared."
When they entered through the door, they weren't shocked when they stepped into a forest with the sun shining on their head and the cries of insects chirping.
"Outdoor then?" Jael said. Some of the previous stages happened in locations like this – a volcanic rock mountain and a sea. But never a forest and a large one at that.
Dile sniffed and then he walked a few feet forward, he crouched and touched the earth, rubbing it with his fingers. "This is a swamp land."
"A swamp land." Cele grimaced, as a fire mage she didn't like it one bit.
Litha's lips twitched. If something looks too simple that usually means there's a horrible twist somewhere and there's only one place that twist can be. "Tell us about the monster."
The spirit moved closer to them. "The monster you are killing is an Onus!"
Litha hissed and flinched as she heard that but others just looked at her in confusion. "An Onus! You have that kind of monster here!"
The spirit giggled and disappeared.
"What is an Onus?" Jael asked. He'd never heard of a monster with that name and the way Litha reacted to it didn't instill confidence.
"Are are weak monsters but ranked very highly because of their special abilities."
"What abilities?" Jael asked because how can they be weak and then ranked highly again?
"They are spirit monsters that feeds on Awakener's mana and then leaped into their backs and crush them with gravity. Once they latch into your back it's almost impossible to get them off because just get heavy and heavier with gravity.
"What makes them tricky is that they are spirit and can't be killed by ordinary means." Litha explained. "They are also rare, that's why I was surprised when I heard it is the monster we are to kill."
They began to walk around the swamp after listening to Litha's explanation. They started with the exploration of the nearby swamp, they were led by Dile and Temur who are the veteran hunters among them.
They saw a trail and began to follow it but the swamp got in their way with the way their legs sunk sometimes, also the smaller insects didn't let them rest one bit with the constant biting and humming.
"We've been looking around for close to forty minutes and we haven't seen any monsters. Maybe the impossibility of this stage is the fact that we have to look for monsters that don't actually exist?" Tim asked.
Jael was getting tired of getting his legs mucky so an Idea occurred to him.