A day passed for Jason, then another. Step, step, pause. His mind was slowly churning, not over anything in particular, just churning. He had spent some time thinking over the map. This area wasn't particularly pointed out. It was a danger zone, but blended into nearby areas. Only a forest a good distance to the left had any kind of distinct boundary.

Still, Jason felt it would be a close thing. The road continued on through a thin area of this grass forest, though thin was relative. He guessed maybe another day before he was out. That might be enough, might not.

It wasn't. When Jason realized he only had a quarter of a day left in him, he was still half a day away from the next area, nevermind the fact that who knows how much further he would have to go to actually be safe. After all, he can't exactly sit down right outside the grass forest and expect to be left alone.

That left one option. Jason needed at least an hour of uninterrupted meditation to fit another six hours in. He had wanted to go as far as he could, depending on himself.

Jason continued onward a couple more minutes until he found a location where the grass was shorter than not. Once there, he came to a stop and dropped to the ground. Then he let Lily out of the harness and closed his eyes, putting his trust in her ability to defend him, even going so far as to cut off his senses to squeeze out every single drop of rest that he could. Either Lily would succeed or they both would die. There was no middle ground.

Since Jason had been talking to Lily about it, she wasn't confused when this happened. Instead, she was ready and determined. Over the last month or so, she had watched Jason run himself ragged and now it was her turn to keep them safe.

So, of course, the monsters stayed up in their grass for a good five minutes. That was because the monsters were honestly confused at the situation. Jason hadn't really noticed, but while there were a lot of monsters involved, it was a single group. They would keep watch until Jason was out of sight and then rush ahead to continue watching. Over the last few days, they had gotten used to Jason's odd way of walking and the sudden change was an honest surprise.

Still, five minutes wasn't that much time and soon the six-armed insectile foxes were clambering down the grass with their twisted monkey paws. As the first trio approaches Lily, she takes the initiative. Her powerful back legs launch her at the furthest monster of the three.

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Lily spins in the air and her back feet glow as they punch through the monster's head, sending her towards the monster that had gone ahead. Her fur spread out like porcupine spines and they pierce through the side of that monster's face as it turns to follow her. The last of the monstrous trio backs up as Lily hops off of the falling corpse.

Now on the ground again, Lily shakes the blood off and with a short hop is back next to Jason, ready for the next group of foes. The last of the trio at this point turns and runs. This doesn't stop the other fox-headed monsters from approaching and they're ready for her this time.

As nine monsters begin their approach, they stay low in the grass, protecting their heads. Not a problem for Lily as she understands this isn't a straight up fight, but rather a battle of attrition. All she needs to do is last long enough that Jason has recovered.

So while the instant kill she pulled off on the other two was satisfying, another method was needed for the long run, especially with what would likely be an ever-increasing number of monsters. That means instead of jumping towards the monsters at full speed, she makes use of a number of small hops to come in from the side. Then instead of going for a killing blow, a move the monsters were prepared for, she aims for their back most legs, crippling them.

It certainly took longer for this strategy to work and Lily did end up having to attack two of the monsters a few times to fully take them out of the fight. Though as soon as they go down, Lily is forced to use a full power leap to get back to Jason as another trio had approached from the opposite side. These she went for gut shots as they tried to protect both their heads and back legs.

The monsters just couldn't catch a break as Lily's Energy kicks and her charged fur were capable of causing grievous wounds. Her kicks easily shatter even the toughest bones. Her fur causes nasty wounds that require extra effort to heal simply from the massive amount of ravaged flesh. Both attacks are perfect for disabling her foes.

Still, the only reason the first half hour passes is because she uses Energy. If Lily used Mana or Qi, she would have run out of those resources. It is a fact that flashy fights in NeoRealm tend to last seconds. While large explosions are fun, a mage is only going to be able to throw so many fireballs around. So the fact that even after a half hour of non-stop fights, Lily was able to keep her fur charged and claws glowing was simply amazing.

That, however, doesn't change the fact that only halfway through the fight, she was starting to tire. Lily wasn't like Jason, she didn't have the Stamina stat unlocked so even if her Energy continued to flow; the body wasn't able to keep up. Through this all, she kept fighting.

All around her there are piles of monsters. Well, maybe only a couple monsters deep, but they are beginning to pile up. Some were alive, some dead, but all were unable to threaten Jason.

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