A wide expanse suddenly appeared before the pair, Stella's hand tightly grasping Alex as she wondered what they would face in this new world. It was a vast desert with only one feature; an enormous mountain range that stretched out to either side of them like a wall.

The mountains were jagged and sharp-edged but seemed strangely beautiful rather than intimidating or foreboding.

They had no snow on their peaks, nor did any trees grow atop them a€" instead, the grass was on all sides. A soft green covered everything from the base to the higher reaches, where it became browner. There was something familiar about those towering walls, though...

"So bizarre!" said Stella quietly, her voice echoing across the open space between the two groups. "What is this place?" She turned back to look at Alex, who shrugged his shoulders helplessly. He'd been wondering too! Neither could recall ever seeing such a landscape. But then again, neither had seen anything strange since arriving here.

[Entered Novice Dimensional, Quest Zone!]

- Duration 2 hours

Task:

Eliminate 10 Mutated Kobolds Kobolds within the time limit.

Reward:

2 Apocalypse Coins Per Kobold

Failure:

Lose 10 Apocalypse Coins, cannot take the quest for 24 hours.

a"€ Status Change (New): Stage 1 - Novice

The words 'Beginners' flashed above Stella's head when she entered the zone and started looking around herself. Her eyes widened slightly when she saw how many people were already inside.

This wasn't just a few adventurers wandering into another dungeon and trying to get rich quickly by killing monsters; this was an entirely new world, countless people from the various safe zones would enter these worlds, and the more difficult the quest and stage a taker, the longer they would remain in the zone.

In theory, if you wanted to be sure of getting your hands on some coins without risking yourself, there were plenty of other ways to do so besides taking quests. Of course, most people had no choice because they needed money desperately enough.

For better or worse, everyone else had come here for the same reason. And now that they knew there was a way to leave the safety zones behind again, why wouldn't they?

Stella looked up at the sky and felt a sudden pang of fear run through her body.

It took her a moment to realise it wasn't moving. Nothing moved anywhere near them, which made sense considering it was still day outside. However, she couldn't shake off the feeling that someone or something was watching over them. Or perhaps, not even watch, but wait patiently until its prey arrives.

She glanced at the ground, noticing several strange, furry humanoid creatures scurrying away. These were kobolds, and judging by the number present, they numbered somewhere north of a hundred.

Their bodies were short and stout, with small heads and stubby tails. Most wore simple loincloths, but others had leather armour covering their arms and chests. All carried crude swords and spears, quickly clearing the area of enemies.

They weren't alone either; several dozen humanoids walked towards them, wearing similar clothing and carrying weapons. Some bore shields, while others wielded bows and arrows. One woman, in particular, stood out, dressed almost identically to the men save for her long hair tied into braids.

She also had a bow slung over her shoulder, and a quiver full of arrows nocked beside her hip. As she watched, the group stopped walking, forming a line facing outward towards the horizon, drawing closer together. Then, as one, they began to sing.

The women released a volley of arrows when the last note died away. Several of the archers drew back further, firing more shots before the first wave had finished falling. When the second barrage ceased, the entire band resumed marching forwards, continuing to fire upon the enemy.

There were shouts of alarm from the other humans, followed by screams and cries as the kobolds fell dead. Soon, the lines were empty except for the occasional straggler fleeing past the advancing soldiers. With a final cheer, the warriors continued, leaving the battlefield behind.

Stella stared after them momentarily before returning to Alex, whose expression mirrored hers. They shared a glance and grinned at each other.

"This place is chaotic!" exclaimed Stella excitedly, pointing at the massed ranks of armed fighters.

Almost all the dead kobolds that fell to the assault dropped to the ground, their bodies torn apart by the humanoid warriors, their ears torn off, teeth ripped, and even their hearts pulled from their chests. It seemed that all of their parts were worth something in this world.

Alex stepped forward, and he noticed a group of around 20 Kobolds rushing into the forest to his west; grasping the soft hand of Stella, the pair began to dash through the strange desert that was more like mud than actual sand, with trees and flora easily growing inside it.

'What a strange and wonderful world...' Alex thought as his body easily darted countless metres in a few seconds, unaware of the woman with her hair tied up watching them, a strange smile on her face as she watched the half-naked Alex's muscular body and licked her lips, as she began to refill her quiver and took a group of female warriors from the group and sent the other's back to the small city in the distance.

While the woman slowly began to sneak after Alex and Stella, her beautiful brown skin glowing with a silky finish in the sweltering sun.

As soon as they arrived, Stella wasted no time in using her soft bat wings to take to the air, floating into the trees to gain an elevation advantage; the tracks of the kobolds led to a small encampment inside the forest, only a couple of hundred metres away from the pair, Alex stepped forward slowly, his weapon wasn't finished, so loaned a basic sword that was similar to his nodachi, just with less curve and quality from the blacksmith McAlister.

'There are more than a hundred, was that group earlier not the main force but another forward unit? A mere scouting band?' Alex thought, his body lowered and slowly approaching the camp; he knew it might be folly to try.

Still, the timer was ticking down, and for the longest time, he could sense the presence of several females moving closer; hoping to use them to his advantage, he knelt, now able to see the kobold camp.

He didn't know how many were sleeping, but he saw three large tents set up, with six guards posted outside each tent. Two tents had smaller structures attached to them, probably used to store foodstuffs and other items.

Two paths led deeper into the woods; he assumed both went to different villages.

'I have to assume we'll need to kill every single one of these guys, ' he thought, 'but I can't afford to let my guard down; they may well ambush me once I'm close enough to strike.'

Alex wondered if there was some reason that the group of fighters didn't attack the kobolds if they knew they were here when he first began to chase them.

Nevertheless, after realising the kobolds were not stupid, they set up traps, diversions and other ways to divert the attention of the humanoid warriors; sadly, as a ghoul, he could easily sniff out the scene of this exotic flesh, one that made his lips ooze with saliva.

With a deep breath, he charged forwards, swinging his blade wildly at the closest guard, cutting him cleanly in two before leaping backwards to avoid the second man's spear thrust. His next swing caught the third warrior in the chest, sending the man flying back against the tree, landing hard on the bark.

His foe managed to roll onto his back and raise himself, but Alex was ready for this; spinning on the spot, he swung his sword downwards, catching the creature in the throat. Blood sprayed everywhere, but the wound was fatal, and the beast slumped lifelessly to the ground, occasionally twitching as blood pumped out of the gash.

Now, Alex focused on the remaining five; his movements quickened as he slashed at their legs, knocking two unconscious.

Three others tried to rush him at once, but Alex blocked one blow with his sword and parried another; letting go of his sword momentarily, he grabbed the attacker by the arm and hurled him back against the tree trunk. Another rushed forward, stabbing Alex in the stomach as he struck, causing the ghoul to double over and gasp, coughing up a mouthful of red liquid.

Then, he heard a shout from behind him, and a dagger flew right past his ear; he turned, raising his fist to punch the assailant, but found himself staring at the smiling visage of the woman following him.

She held a short knife in her left hand, her right hand gripping a shield as she sliced the throat of the kobold easily, her face beautiful with a strange tribe-like marking along her face that only added to her beauty, with dark skin like the desert and black hair like the evening sky, she watched him with alluring silver pupils, her shield and dagger still primed to protect herself.

'That looks familiar,' Alex thought absently, 'what happened to my mind?'

A loud crack resounded through the forest as another arrow whizzed overhead; Alex spun about to find yet another archer standing atop a nearby tree.

The young girl raised her bow and fired another shot, penetrating the throat of one of the kobolds playing dead. Alex smiled and waved at her, indicating he meant no harm, and she nodded before returning to her position.

"Why are you here in our forest?" The voice was not spoken in his common tongue, but Alex could understand it perfectly, wondering if it was a side-effect of being a dimensional mercenary.

"I am here to hunt them!" Alex didn't show any lies; he'd already seen people with the skill to detect lies or a person's ill will.

The moment the woman heard his answer, she nodded and found it strange that he could speak their language so flawlessly; despite being so different, she admired his face, the handsome features, with clear battle scars, although she thought he was very pale and usually preferred a more dark-skinned male, this male was just as nice, the striking difference to her norm was more exciting if anything else.

"Shall we work together?" The woman suggested, holding her bow and pointing towards the huge kobolds still roaming as if they saw and heard nothing.

Alex was confused for a moment until he saw his cute succubus standing on a tall tree above the kobolds, her body filled with the shadowy mantle as it pulsated and seemed to spread her dark energies across the entire camp, likely using her illusionary skills at once, which caused him to feel impressed.

'This girl... Her knack for combat and instinct is growing faster than mine!' He realised suddenly.

"Yes," he agreed, "we should combine forces."

Noticing his gaze, the woman saw the pretty, pale woman but didn't comment.

Strong warriors in this world had countless partners; she too had several males at one point but soon grew tired of such a boring lifestyle, now only finding her pleasure from intense combat and conquering stronger males, making them submit to her in both the battlefield and her bedroom.

'Why are there always women swarming around us!? Stupid Alex... stop looking at their fat assess and stupid chests! Look, their pussy hair is so thick... you might get sick! Look at me... My ass is big too...' Stella thought, her mind and chest feeling itchy when she saw another group of women drawn to Alex.

'It's like he's a magnet for troublesome pussy...' Her bitter thoughts turned into an insult, yet she didn't realise that meant she, too, was a troublesome pussy...

Another troublesome woman had marked Alex; if he knew that your destination for the first 10 leaps would be the same, would he have gotten so close to her? Maybe not, but Alex would discover this after clashing with this beautiful female desert warrior.

Alex took a deep breath, his body swirling with huge amounts of mana as his muscles contracted and bulked out before twisting in a strange form.historical

'These women are so damn sexy...'

He began lowering his hips and preparing to dash into the kobold's territory, behind him a group of 22 female archers, all wearing a simple loincloth made from kobold fur, barely hiding their huge, bouncing breasts and plump, meaty buttocks which would drive any normal man crazy with lust as they didn't try to hide those wonderful sights.

'Let's go.'

"Fire!" The woman's deep voice sounded the instant Alex moved, as if she was perfectly in tune with his actions and thoughts, the arrows instantly shooting into the sky, an arc-like volley that protected his flanks from any sneak attacks, as the kobolds finally noticed something wrong.