I Died and Was Reincarnated as a Goth Femboy

The Murkwood Marsh was even worse than Kenjiro could have imagined. The air was thick, humid, and carried a nauseating stench of decay and stagnant water. Swarms of oversized mosquitos immediately descended upon them, seeming particularly drawn to Kenjiro's exposed, pale skin.

"Get off me, you stupid bugs!" he yelped, swatting frantically at the air as he ran back and forth, trying to escape the buzzing cloud.

Ryo, looking completely unbothered, simply waved a hand. A flurry of tiny ice shards shot out, freezing the mosquitos in mid-air, where they dropped to the ground like frozen raindrops. He gave Kenjiro a smug look. "Having trouble?"

While Ryo casually handled the smaller pests, Gluteus Maximus was the party's bulldozer. Giant, vine-like plants that snapped at them like angry whips were met with the unyielding wall of his shield, and his massive sword cleaved through the thickest, most hostile flora with ease.

Their trek was interrupted by a sound that did not belong in a swamp: a loud, guttural "Mooooo!"

From the murky water ahead, a monstrous plant erupted. It was a writhing mass of green vines and thorny leaves, but at its center was a grotesque, oversized cow's face, complete with droopy eyes and a slobbering mouth. It moaned again, shaking the very ground they stood on as it charged in their direction.

For a split second, Kenjiro's bodybuilder instincts took over. His eyes lit up. "Free protein! Get 'em, boys!" he yelled.

But the cow plant was deceptively fast. It dodged Kaito's fireballs and Ryo's ice shards, its massive head snapping at them. Gluteus had to plant his feet firmly, his shield taking the brunt of the creature's powerful bites with resounding metallic clangs.

"Its hide is too thick!" Gluteus roared.

"Then we'll chill it from the inside!" Ryo shouted. He began chanting, his hands glowing with a frosty blue light. A massive spear of pure ice formed above him and shot forward, impaling the cow plant straight through its mooing mouth. The creature froze solid and then shattered into a million glittering pieces.

As they continued deeper into the marsh, Kenjiro's frustration grew. "I hate this place," he complained, pulling a leech off his ankle. "The mosquitos, the smell, the giant plants... everything!"

Ryo looked over at him, his lips curled into that familiar, infuriating smirk. "Oh? Wasn't it you who always said, 'It's not water with muscle, here we build fiber'?"

Kenjiro's face flushed. "S-shut up! I used to say that, but not while looking like this!" He humphed, turning his head away and stomping ahead through the mud, which only made Ryo's smug grin widen.

After another hour of trekking, the oppressive atmosphere of the marsh began to change. The air grew cold, and a strange, electric hum filled their ears. They pushed through a final thicket of reeds and entered a large, unnatural clearing.

In the center of the clearing, five robed figures stood in a circle, their arms outstretched. The ground beneath them glowed with a complex, pulsating magical sigil. They were chanting in a low, guttural language, channeling streams of raw, violet energy into the center of the circle. The very air crackled as they focused their power, trying to tear a hole in reality and summon something truly horrific from beyond.