[Ice Wall] wouldn't be effective here, I knew that but I used that spell anyway. Buying time is far too important right now because I need to think.

  Backpedaling closer to the strange groups of trees caused me to collide against tree bark back first. My lips curved into a frown, I could have sworn that I positioned myself in a way that I wouldn't face any obstacle earlier...

  Panic was my only answer as for why that happened and then the moment of clarity came to pass and I am back to running around like a headless chicken.

  Monsters commonly don't have any special abilities, they'd have to be powerful in order for that to happen.

  Apparently I attracted some powerful apes because things have some basic form of that and they can temporarily boost their strength. Is there a limit to this? Possibly yes, I don't wanna find out just how far they can take it though and I avoided them as much as I can.

  My [Ice Wall] barely lasted two seconds before it was broken into pieces from a single punch, and afterwards the monkeys started targeting me.

  Using spells in some shape or form is impossible since not only am I too busy to move my wand beyond basic flailing, my lungs are also out of air so chanting [Water Ball] is not in the picture.

  Guess I found the theoretical limit of [Rune Mages]? Well, I found the limits of most mages.

  This is why they join adventurer parties, so that they have a front line to distract the enemy and can freely cast spells in the back. Without a warrior I'm just a sitting duck, forever targeted by my enemy and forced to run.

  Fun stuff.

  Now what can I do in this situation? Honestly I'm not even sure, I'm starting to wish I brought my scrolls with me or something, next time I'll do that– as well as just bring a bag in general. Did I lose the cores in my pocket? – so that I'm not defenseless when I'm caught off guard.

  I'm Kinda forced to improvise for now though...

  How do I do this?

  Scanning the surroundings with my eyes didn't give me anything substantial, or maybe that's just my eyes unable to focus on anything but the giant monkeys trying to kill me. There's nothing for me to do...

  Magic is out, running is my only option, and I'm starting to repeat myself which... No, it is not ideal. I need to find a way to get out of this situation but no matter how many times I say that nothing will happen if I don't do anything.

  Chanting? I can try chanting new magic... I know how to pronounce the runes but without practicing the spell first there's a risk that I might ruin it for myself, I can receive heavy backlash and that can only lead to death.

  But what other choice do I have besides that?

  Regrettably, I calmed myself down and started to think about what spell I can use. There are so many options but I think if I want to win then I need to cast non-offensive magic, possibly even self-enhancing magic but no, I can't take that risk.

  Picking a spell that can blow up in my face is bad enough, one that literally affects my body physically is simply not an option.

  Out of all the ones that I currently know from my scrolls, the spell that I chose is [Illusion]. The spell is simple, it's useful, and it can make me go invisible thanks to the unique way it can be cast.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Unlike most spells, which has a set effect, how [Illusion] manifests can be manipulated by the caster's thoughts. With my understanding of how light is supposed to work and the vague hope that the monkeys have become so feral they no longer use their nose, I inhaled and started to chant.

  I wanted to cast [Illusion] twice, the first is to create a smoke barrier that will engulf the area, and then the next is to give myself invisibility so that I can run away and reposition myself.

  Mana gathered in my throat and my heart started to race, there's no way I can fail this. If I do then I die.

  There's only one last thing left to do before I cast my spell and that's to run in a direction that, assuming I go straight, will lead me out of this dense group of trees.

  "[Illusion]!" The Pricorian words got uttered and suddenly, the world turned gray. I did it again. "[Illusion]!"

  Scentless. I noticed that the smoke was scentless before I shook my head and continued running forward. When I got out of the smoke I looked around and found myself in relative safety.

  Oh thank fuck...

  My knees gave out and I started breathing heavily, I can't rest now. When my adrenaline dies down, I'll be left fatigued and won't be able to run like I did earlier so I need to finish this.

  Ice spells are good and casting magic with my wand will be much more efficient but I don't want to use that, not here. What were the words to cast [Fireball] again?

  Once I remembered what I needed to say, I stood up and started to chant. I can hear the sound of trees splintering in the distance, I'm not sure what's happening but my best guess is that the monkeys must have started to go wild after they lost track of me.

  Good. That gives me more time.

  "[Fireball]!"

  This spell is a classic, who doesn't love to use good old fire? That might just be my lizard brain talking though, either way the resulting explosion of orange felt pretty good, it's relieving to know that beyond the flames the monkeys are getting cooked alive.

  Fucked up thought process right there by the way. I can't believe that I willingly felt glad at the thought of animals burning in front of me.

  Then again, I have way too much adrenaline in my system to really care about that right now so eh.

  Some would call it survival of the fittest and I agree, if I was a lot less competent back there my parents will start to wonder where their daughter had gone and eventually they'll learn that their bright little girl is dead.

  Better them than me, I have people to go back to.

  Also, how did I survive that? I'm not an expert when it comes to running or even fighting for my life and the trees gave very little space so by all means, the monkeys should have caught up to me and killed me or something.

  What happened back there that they couldn't? Am I curious enough to willingly go back there and see for myself? Nope.

  "I'm going home." Sighing for one last time, I turned away from the burning mess of trees and simians and started making my way back.

  Night had already enveloped the entire world by the time I returned to Flotol, I had left some time shortly after dinner so mom and dad shouldn't be panicking over my lack of presence.

  When I got home, the place was already empty. It reminded me of my apartment in my past life, where it's always devoid of life every time I finish working. Only when I started to take my shifts off site that the place felt lively again, before that though? Abandoned.

  Or at least it looked abandoned.

  Going through the motions of making a basic sandwich calmed me down and was a good change of pace from the stressful experience I felt back in the forest, I even cooked a bit of meat as filling.

  I sat down on the couch to eat my midnight snack once it's made. Under the cover of darkness, I didn't think that someone would spot me so I ate as messily as I could, enjoying the taste of a well-made meal.

  Humus Dungeon would be annoying to deal with, and also is it just me or have I not leveled up yet? I killed a lot of monsters earlier and I'm pretty sure they're powerful so why haven't I gotten a single level?

  Worrying about it is probably pointless, especially now that I decided to use my class when hunting. I'm not a mage, obviously, and I didn't know why I fought like one earlier.

  [Brutal Trapper]s should fight using their traps right? Not some magic wand they made in their parents' basement. Or storage shed, rather.

  All this time I've only made traps that capture, and that's mostly because the aberrant crayfish that I'm hunting needed to be somewhat alive when I first catch them, otherwise they'd start rotting. And quickly at that.

  Now though, I think I wanna use my class the way it's intended; to make dangerous traps that kill upon contact.

  That forest is about to become a kill zone for monsters, none of them will know what hit em.