Looks like they were going in circles. It was also getting dark.

"Hey."

Ren shifted his attention to Roni, who appeared out of nowhere. The man smiled, but his eyes were squinting in scrutiny.

"Are you really an NPC?" he asked with a tilt of his head.

Ren decided to ignore him, but the man was adamant about ruining his day.

"I've known someone with the same name as you," Roni continued when Ren was silent. "He was a player, though."

When Ren was quiet still, Roni persisted in his one-sided conversation. "To be honest, I thought he was you because you have the same height, build, and voice. But I guess that's impossible since I heard that guy isn't logging in to the game for a month now."

Roni stifled a laughed, and Ren had to fist his hands to hold himself back at Roni's next words.

"That guy's parents were killed by an earthquake, and I heard that his girlfriend is going to be married off," he said, voice slightly trembling, already waning to keep a light-hearted atmosphere. "Serves him right. That guy is so arrogant just because he scores well in this game. I guess karma finally hit him back like a bitch."

". . ." Ren's slit eyes never strayed at Roni. He was already doing the man a favor, but he had just to ask for it.

"Ah, Sorry. I ended up talking about him." Roni smiled without remorse. "You reminded me of so much about him that I couldn't help myself."

"Hoi! Roni! What are you doing there? Don't be lazy and start collecting herbs!"

Ren was silent. He just stared at Roni's back when the latter left, already plotting his murder. Ren was already in a bad mood, and Roni had just to push it. Killing him wouldn't be enough.

Pii!

Ren blinked and flickered his attention at Pii. The little creature pointed its snout towards the dense trees where light could no longer reach.

So that's why. Ren thought, confirming his initial guess. The monster wasn't visible before because there was still the sun on the horizon, and now that the light was dim, the monster showed its fangs.

"What's that?" Hugo asked when he looked at where Ren was facing.

The others hush and stared as well.

Lurking in the shady depths of the woodland forests, there was a bony creature with a horse-like head and hooves and legs that were uncannily long, to the extent that when it crouched down, its knees reached above its head.

The Tikbalang.

A dedicated guardian of the gates to the spirit world, it waited inside of hollow trees to lead passing travelers astray or return them to the same path no matter how far they might try to walk.

Occasionally, encountering a Tikbalang could result in it becoming spiritually attached to the passer-by, causing illness and misfortune to follow them even beyond the edges of the forest.

Pesky thing. Ren cursed. He was hurrying, but this monster just had to delay him.

"A monster!" someone shouted from Great Dynasty.

"It's the first time I saw something like it!"

"It's maybe a hidden boss!"

"Let's kill it!"

Roni and the others were quick to attack the Tikbalang. But the monster's [Guardian's Warning] prevented them from even reaching it. They were kicked away by its long legs before they could even swing their weapons at it.

"Attack with ranged weapons and magic!" Hugo instructed.

The Tikbalang was quick on its feet. The forest was its domain, and it could easily hide behind large trunks to avoid magic and arrows while leaping from branches to branches to escape its pursuers.

"Damn it! Stop moving!"

"It's too fast!"

The Rangers were busy putting traps on areas where they thought the Tikbalang would land next, but the monster seemed to know where every trap was.

A Rogue managed to go behind it and strike it with its knife. The Tikbalang shrieked, and the Rogue was going to strike it again when he found his AGI reduced to zero for one minute.

It was the Tikbalang's skill [Sentinel] that when a creature hit it, the creature's speed dropped to zero for one minute.

The Tikbalang kicked him, and the Rogue was flung against a tree before falling down and suffered extra bludgeoning damage from the fall.

The Tikbalang's kick almost guaranteed Critical Damage, and adding to that, the Rogue fell from more than a ten-meter height, sealing his death.

Hugo clicked his tongue. "This thing is tricky."

Not really. Ren thought. It was only tricky because Hugo refused to strategize around the Tikbalang's stat and movements. He wanted everything to be easy by using force to kill his enemy.

No wonder they lost more than half of their numbers.

Ren shot a series of fires on the Tikbalang's way. He wasn't really aiming at it, nor was he trying to. He was leading it towards the trap the Rangers set.

Though the traps were invisible, Pii detected them and transferred their information and location to Ren's screen.

Though the Tikbalang somehow knew where the traps were, Ren made sure that it would leap to it by cornering it with another spell.

And as he planned, when the Tikbalang jumped towards the next branch, Ren exploded the branch with a [Dud]. Without thinking, the Tikbalang leaped forward on the tree in front of it in which the trap was situated.

The trap activated, and the monster froze before it fell to the ground with a loud thud. It suffered bludgeoning damage from the fall, but not enough to half its HP.

"This is our chance! Kill it!"

Great Dynasty's grins widened in glee. The greed in their eyes was very apparent. Their excitement was palpable at what treasures they would get.

Not even thanking Ren, for he was the one who kited the monster. They thought that it was only natural because Ren was an NPC, and they were glad that they followed him and encounter a strange creature that might as well be a Hidden Boss.

( . . . continuation on NOTES)