CHAPTER 52: Status

I woke up to the sun hitting my face. I felt a weight on me and I see Daikichi over me like a dead fish.

“Ugh.” I tried to wiggle out but it was impossible to do unless I wake him up. He’s right on top of me horizontally as if he was lying on a yoga ball. I wriggle some more and I see him abruptly open his eyes.

“Yo,” I whisper to him the minute we lock eyes.

“Yasu is awake.” He whispers and I feel my body sways as he gets up. I feel something shuffles right above me and all of a sudden I felt a cold embrace in my forehead and feel someone breathing on top of me.

“Phew. No fever. How do you feel?” I hear Ms. Sam’s voice right above my head.

“Just sore. How long was I knocked out?” I whisper while slowly sitting up. Daikichi helped support my back as I felt tired up to the core of my bones. I see everyone slowly wake up and once I got a good look at our surrounding, we were tied to a tree floating about with water everyone that goes further than what my eyes can see.

“Only for a day. As you can see, the hurricane has ended but now the whole forest turned into a swimming pool.” Amaguchi says as he sits near the edge of the raft cupping water in his hand to wash his face.

I see the raft survived the ordeal but have taken considerable damage. Some logs are missing and the vines are barely holding anything together. Everyone is huddled close together as the space we occupy is really small compared to the original size we had before. They all slowly sat up trying not to sway the raft too much. I look up and block the sun with my hands to adjust my vision to the sunlight.

The sky has turned bright blue and the heat from the sun. The trees, on the other hand, have lost most of its leaves and some are snapped in half. What was once a lush forest full of life has become a watery grave. The whole area was covered by water and rose up covering the tree's halfway.

“This place becomes a lake forest,” Lisa says as I see her sit on the other side of the raft to wash her face.

“You should have seen yourself, dude, your nose was broken when the rock hit you,” Daikichi says as he places his hands on my shoulder.

“My nose? Rock?” I trying to remember everything.

“Ah you probably don’t remember, but, when the raft suddenly flew up, I noticed a rock came flying out of the forest and hit you square on the face. It’s like someone pitched it. We couldn’t do anything up until the eyes of the storm came.” Daikichi explains.

“Yeah, if you didn’t warn us, we all probably would have never remembered. Thank you.” Kana tells me and I gave her a smile.

“You’re welcome,” I whisper at her while chuckling a bit. They all look my way with a weird expression that made me confused. “W-what?”

“We’ve never heard you laugh out loud, genuinely. It seems like you’re super happy you got punched by a rock. You sure you don’t have a fever still?” Daikichi says jokingly and I laugh a bit more.

“I’m just in a good mood that’s all, I had a fever?” I asked them and in the back of my head, I remembered my conversation with my dad. Even if it’s a dream, at least was able to talk to him and hug him.

“Yeah, luckily you gave me those antidote or else, it would have been difficult to treat you here where everything is wet around us." Ms. Sam says as she places her hand over my forehead, checking my temperature. She gave me a quick nod and I silently thank her.

“Well, at least I know you’re not dead,” Daikichi says lightly punching me in the arm.

“So, what’s our plan now?” Lisa asked as she turns around after washing her face.

“How about we all just go to the next town. Right now, I’m worried that the town itself. If the water rose this much, it might be submerged completely.” Takumi says as he washes his dagger.

“True, and I don’t think they’ll care now if they see Takumi or Yasu,” Lisa says as she tried washing her hair.

“What if they’re all dead?” Mamoru asked and it's weird seeing him talk rather than staying quiet like what he’s been doing.

“Damn, I hope not. Mamoru, can you create a portal to go there?”

“No, I can only create portals on places I have visited but there’s also a range on how far I can create the portal. I remember in the bandit town, to create the giant portal, they brought me to a location not that far away. So if I know where it is and it’s too far away, we need to get closer first.” Mamoru replies to Daikichi.

“How about we paddle there.” Mr. Goro-sensei suggests as he gestures the motion of paddling.

“We can paddle from here to there but let’s use the river the rest of the way as we originally planned. I think the current is still flowing since we had to tie the boat to a tree to prevent from moving.” Takumi says as he tugs the vine testing its durability.

“That’s true,” Daikichi says as he looks around. “How about we fix the raft first?”

“I can fix it, I just need materials. We need more wood and I’m going to need more vines to tie the raft together again, this looks like it will break apart any minute.” Takumi says as he inspects the knots tying the logs together that’s keeping us afloat.

Everyone agreed to not swim in the water because we don’t know what type of monster the hurricane brought here. It was nice that they didn't dwell on everything that’s going wrong and kept pushing forward to find a solution. I was worried they’d wait for me to make decisions and I’m glad they didn’t. Since everyone is tired and Takumi needed to fix the raft, we all decided to stay one night where we’re at while some of the guys swim around collecting logs and sticks that would float and pass by our raft.

We couldn’t see the bottom of the water since the mud underneath is probably going to take a while to settle. After running out of wood in the area, Takumi quickly got to repairing the raft before we use it to float around the forest. They told me to just rest so everyone got to work swimming around looking for vines. As soon as they come across one, they would quickly collect it and to tie the raft together. But this whole ordeal has left a lingering feeling in my gut. I don’t know but it’s might be what Unum told me before.

They’re getting closer. I whisper in my mind as I daze out looking at the flow of water.

“Ok, I think this is enough. Let's try to make some paddles.” Takumi says snapping me out of my daze and I see him look around for any stick flat enough to be used as paddles.

“I can help, bring the raft closer to a tree,” I tell him and they paddled towards the closest one.

“Sharpen,” I whisper as I jam my sword into a tree and my skill made it feel like I was cutting butter. I carefully carved a plank off and they all watched amazed that I can cut things so easily.

"That's a really useful skill. I wish I picked to be a cook." Amaguchi whispers as he watches me carve another one.

“Trust me, I died because of this class. It’s only good later on. Like Suyeon’s.”

“Oh speaking of class, Suyeon, holy shit, you’re like Yasu. Flying everywhere.” Lisa says as she grabs Suyeons arms and they both started giggling. I would never understand girls. They always end up giggling every time they embrace each other.

After cutting off the second plank, I told them to paddle to the next tree since I didn’t feel safe near something that can topple over us and break our raft. I cut a couple more planks on different trees until everyone has a plank on their hand.

“Ok guys, give me a minute,” I tell them as I climb the last tree I cut up. As soon as I got up the branch, I told them to go back a bit since my skill causes anything beneath me to erupt.

"Seismic step," I whispered and I felt the vibration appear under my foot. I jumped up towards the sky saw the water rippled causing a wave to extended outwards in all direction. The tree snapped but good thing it toppled over the opposite direction of everybody. As soon as I gained some height, I see the whole forest at a better picture.

“Holy shit,” I whisper as I look at the forest is submerged by water. A lot of the trees have lost its leaves but some areas are still too thick to see through. Our section looks like a dead forest and with the lake combined, it all looked like a giant swamp. I felt my body descent and I braced for impact as I headed straight for the water. I quickly emerge as fast as I can and swam towards everyone while they paddle to meet me halfway. I grab on the edge of the raft and I see Mr. Goro-sensei holding his hand out to help me up.

“What did you see?” Goro-sensei asked as he pulls me out of the water.

“The whole forest is covered in water. And the water extends as far my eyes can see. I couldn’t see any dry land except probably the mountains from a distance.”

“Damn. Did you see where the river is at?” Daikichi asked and I nod towards him pointing at a direction.

“It's right there. I see a bit of open space and I notice the water is flowing to one direction." I explain to them as I wipe my face. We all started paddling towards the river and whenever we get lost or unsure, I place a leaf on top of the water and used the leaf as a guide.

“We’re getting close I think. Ms. Sam whispers as she paddles in harmony with everyone else. I also feel the raft is moving a bit faster than usual which means we’re getting closer to the river.

“Everyone, stop paddling,” Takumi says as he sits back and stretches his arms. “We’ll just use the river to guide us.”

We all sat in the raft as it slowly moved in one direction. Everyone rested while I remained alert. I had enough sleep and they probably healed me through the night that my body feels better than ever. If the river has a current, it means there’s a section where the water is being pulled from.

Most likely, a waterfall or an exit out of the ocean.I say in my mind. I hope it’s not a waterfall.

I wouldn’t want to fall asleep with everyone and end up free falling into our deaths. The girls ended up taking a nap while Goro-sensei and Mamoru used a stick they picked up as it floated along towards us. Using a vine, they tied it into a stick and a rock on the other end of the vine. They used leftover boar meat we collected before the storm and attached a small amount near the rock as bait. Which I know will fail because they forgot to put a hook. I sat on the edge at the front of the raft guarding it against colliding with any debris. The water below us was murky since the mud from the forest has traveled everywhere making it cloudy and impossible to see the bottom. If there were anything lurking beneath us, we would never know.

I sat there thinking about all that had just happened. If I went through it alone and they weren’t there to protect my unconscious body during the storm, I would have died. So many thoughts in my mind and it kept tightening the knot I feel in my throat. But in the end, I see how valuable it is to have a couple of healers. If they weren’t here, it would probably take some time to wake up. Healing my body while I’m asleep has sped up my recovery.

If it weren’t for them, I would have died drowning in my sleep. I whisper in my mind.

.

.

But if they weren’t them, I would have never dove in the water the first place.My own thoughts suddenly surprised me as I start tapping on my head.

“Ugh, what am I thinking?” I whisper as I close my eyes and try to listen to the wind to relax my mind. “I’m far too weak,”

I reminisce meeting Unum. I know that if I fight him, I’ll have a hard time. Earlier he showed me probably a portion of his strength and I wonder how strong he is if he goes at us at full power.

.

.

I smiled remembering my dad.

At least. I got to hold him. I whisper in my mind as I feel the wind brush through my skin. At least, I got to talk to him.

.

.

.

The day quickly turned into nighttime and everyone is fast asleep. Using the torches I have in my bag, I handed it out to Takumi, Goro-sensei, and Daikichi. I lit them up using the stalactite and rock and they helped me illuminate the raft during the night. I placed a couple of stalactite in the raft illuminating it more but we used the torches as a heat source since the temperature started dropping as soon as the sun started to set. I kept my gaze in front as the raft slowly moved with the river. The moon also helped illuminate the river as the light reflected on the surface of the water.

“Damn,” I whisper as we sat around the raft. I stayed in front while Takumi stayed in the back and Goro-sensei along with Daikichi is watching each side.

“What happened?” Diakichi whispers back.

“Whose bright idea to do night watch? It's really scary when the water becomes pitch black.” Takumi says what I was about to say.

“It’s ok kids. The worst that can happen is something big topple the raft making us swim in the dark cold water.” Goro-sensei says jokingly.

“Sensei…” Daikichi groans and we chuckle a bit as we see him pull his legs up and out the water. I look back towards in front and I suddenly stop laughing as I see something floating from a distance.

“What the-” I whisper as I squint my eyes trying to get a better look. It seems to be a rock but I felt nervous as I noticed we never got close to it.

“What is that?” Daikichi whispers over my shoulder as we both stare at it.

“I don’t know. Maybe a log.” I whisper to him as I watched it float along ahead of us.

“Guys, what is it?” Takumi asked as he looks back at us.

“We see something floating ahead but we don’t know what it is.” Daikichi whispers and I can see him squint trying to get a better look. “We can’t catch up since it’s floating along the current.”

I started contemplating whether I should grab a paddle and speed up the raft or I should wait it out.

“Damn, try throwing something to it. See if it moves.” Goro-sensei says and I grab a plate inside my bag. I threw it as a frisbee and I hit it directly bouncing off it.

"Oh, shit, bullseye," Daikichi whispers right beside me.

"Nice shot kiddo," Goro-sensei says as he slowly gets closer to us.

“Did it move?” Takumi whispered and we both shake our heads.

“The plate didn’t shatter or make a noise. I got a bad feeling. Guys, let’s slowly paddle to it.” I whisper back as I look at it float along in a distance. We went to each side of the raft and slowly paddled increasing our speed. Moving was a bit difficult since everyone was sleeping in the middle and any movement sways the raft too much. Once we got to the side, we paddled twice to speed up the movement and I went back in front along with Daikichi, Takumi, and Goro-sensei. We waited for the raft to be a few feet away from it and I was tempted to jump in and check it out.

“I wonder what that is. Who volunteers to swim?” Goro-sensei asked and we all pointed at Daikichi.

“What? I am not swimming in the dark towards that thing.” He protests and we all started laughing. I decided to lean a bit closer and grab on it. As soon as I got a better look, it's red cloth.

"Holy shit, it's heavy," I whisper as I pick it up and the minute I submerge a part of it out the water and soon enough, I was face to face with a corpse. Daikichi backed away tripping on Amaguchi and the raft swayed so much we thought we were going to capsize. I ended up letting go of the corpse to grab onto the raft since I almost fell forward into the dark water at the sudden movement.

“Holy fuck. Shit, what the fuck as that?!” Takumi shouts and I see him also on his ass. They all back away a bit as the body was stuck in front of the raft being pushed forward.

“What happened?” Kana groaned as everyone slowly woke up due to the raft swaying and Takumi screaming. Even Goro-sensei was at the far back while I remain kneeling at the front next to the body.

“Fuck, you guys scared me instead of him,” I whisper as I look at the red cloth floating in front the raft.

“What’s scary? What’s going on?” Ms. Sam says and she looks at the red cloth attached to the raft being slowly pushed. “What is that?”

“Uh..” I hesitated to say since I didn’t want anyone to freak out so I told Ms. Sam to come closer so I can whisper in her ear. “It’s a dead body.”

She looked at me and her eyes went wide as she looks back at the red cloth floating with the raft. She slowly inched her way towards it and inspected its neck if it has a pulse. Good thing she’s used to seeing dead bodies when she was traveling around the world as a doctor so something like this won't faze her.

“Help me push him off.” She whispers and I slowly push the corpse away unhinging its shirt from the raft and pushed it down the water. It sank and I looked back at the raft to see if it’s going to float back up but it didn’t.

“It won’t float back up.” Ms. Sam whispers as she wipes her hand on her clothes. “Sinking it will fill its lungs with water replacing the air so It’ll continue to sink until a couple of days or weeks when its insides like the guts get filled with gas. It’s the best I can do since we can’t take it with us and do a proper burial.”

I see her clap a few times before offering a prayer. I did the same and once I opened my eyes, everyone looked confused.

“What? What's going on?” Lisa asked as she looks around to see what we were looking at. “What was it?”

“It was a corpse.” Ms. Sam says after saying the prayer and that woke them up fully.

“We thought it was a log but when Yasu pulled it up, he was face to face with it. How the hell did that not scare you? Never mind, don’t answer that.” Daikichi says as he slowly sits up.

“Guys keep your eyes peeled. I think we're getting close to the next town. I remember it was near the river." I hear Takumi whisper as he walks in front of the raft. "Is anybody out there?!”

“Hello! Anybody out there?!” Ms. Sam shouted also and everyone started shouting trying to look for any survivors.

Help!

“I don’t think anyone is out the-“

“Everyone quiet!” I shout as I thought I heard something from a distance. “You guys hear that?”

“What?” Amaguchi whispers as he places himself behind me. “It can’t be a ghost right?”

“I don’t know but it might be a person stuck somewhere. If anyone is out there! Make some noise!!” Daikichi shouts and we waited for a bit.

Help!

“There it is!!! We’re coming! Keep shouting so we can find you!!!” Ms. Sam shouts and we waited for the voice to come back.

Help!

Help!

It got clearer and clearer as we moved along the river. It was a lot harder to see in the darkness and with the leaves on the trees, it made it even harder to spot anything from a distance. If it was like the area we came from, we would be able to see if there weren’t any leaves left.

“Guys, it seems like it’s coming from inside the forest,” I whisper, and everyone started paddling until we were off the river and floating along the dead forest. This place was as creepy as it can get. The trees blocked the light from the moon and only bits of pieces in the area were illuminated while the rest was shrouded in darkness.

“Keep shooting!” Ms. Sam shouts out loud and the voice kept saying help over and over until we’re able to hear it clearly.

“Is that a little girl?” Kana whispers as we see a girl on top a tree-hugging it.

“What where-“ Amaguchi stops as soon as he sees her. “Please don’t be a demon baby. Please don’t be a demon baby.”

“Hold on! We’re coming to you!” Lisa shouts towards the little girl and Amaguchi quickly covered her mouth.

“Stop! What if that this is not…a little girl. What if that demonic kid who eat you heart- Ah! Why’d you bite me?!” Amaguchi quickly pulled his hand back and I can see the bite mark on his middle finger.

“And what if it’s a little girl stuck up on a tree? Stop being a pussy.” Lisa says and I can hear Amaguchi groan as he moves behind me again.

“I rather am a living pussy that a dead one.” He whispers as he stays behind me peeking bit by bit over my shoulder.

“Help me! Please! I don’t want to die!” The little girl shouted out and they paddled as fast as we can towards her while I ready myself just in case Amaguchi is right. We got under the branch she was standing in and Ms. Sam extended her hand out towards her.

“Come jump! We’ll catch you!” Ms. Sam told the little girl but I can see she petrified of the height. For her, everything probably seems too big.

“P-please don’t kill me!” She started crying as she looked away from us.

“Don’t worry! We’re not the bad guys! Come jump so we can heal your wounds!” Ms. Sam says as she moves a bit closer to the tree putting herself right underneath her. As we got a closer look, I can see her body was full of scratches and her clothes were full of dried blood. It looks like she was in a fight as her clothes were torn at certain parts. Probably due to being caught in twigs since we see broken twigs still in her clothes. She turned towards us and snot was coming out of her nose as tears traveled down her cheeks. Dried blood traveled down towards her chin coming from her head.

She hesitated to jump at first, but Ms. Sam kept trying to reassure her we’re not here to harm her. Then all of a sudden, the little girl fainted and her body fell towards the other side onto the water.

“No!” Ms. Sam screamed as she jumps into the water and dove into the dark.

She quickly emerges out of the water and swam towards us. We pulled her out along with the little girl and Takumi tied the raft onto the tree while Ms. Sam and Miki-sensei along with Kana focused on healing her. She had bags under her eyes and it looks like she’s been here ever since the hurricane destroyed everything. Her hair was all knotted up and her feet were full of cuts and splinters from the tree.

“Holy shit. She must have been here all by herself. It’s insane she survived that crazy storm.” Amaguchi says looking around the forest to see if he can spot anymore survivor but we didn’t want to scream abruptly waking up the little girl so we stayed quiet while they healed her. We tried shaking her awake but she slept and Ms. Sam told us it wasn’t a good idea to force her to wake up so we let her sleep while we paddled back towards the river. After a while of floating along, the little girl woke up before we reached the river and she almost jumped off. She was so scared of our presence I can see her body shaking from fear as she hyperventilates.

“Relax Relax. You’re safe now.” Ms. Sam hugs her and the little girl finally broke down and hugged her wailing like crazy. After a while, we gave her something to eat and she ate her food as if she was breathing it in. Ms. Sam and Miki-sensei took care of her while we slowly paddled into the river until the slow current moved us along. We kept shouting just in case there’s anybody else stuck up on any tree but we didn’t get any response.

“Is anyone out there?! Please make some noise!” Takumi shouted out and we didn’t hear anything but silence.

“Hey, I’m Kana. What’s your name?” I hear Kana ask the little girl. She sat near Miki-sensei who’s now letting the little girl sitting on her lap while she ate slowly this time.

“I-I’m n-Nala.” She says and all the girls made a noise as if they’re all looking at a cute teddy bear.

“Nala, how long were you out there?” Kana asked and she was hesitant to answer at first.

“I-I has been out there s-since t-the giant rain. I was out there with m-my big brother. W-We was playing in the woods when it started raining. The water came out of the ground so me and my brother climbed a tree.” She explained and somehow, not finding her brother is giving me mixed feelings.

“Where is your brother?” Ms. Miki-sensei asked but we all had an idea where he is. He probably drowned. I say in my mind as I kept my sight in front the raft just incases I spot another dead body.

“He-he was taken away.” She replied and it caught us all off guard.

“Who took him away?” Miki-sensei asked and I could see she had a furious expression. Nala didn’t reply and just brought her head down probably recalling the horrifying moment her brother was taken away from her. “Ok, I’m sorry. Take your time okay? you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

Miki-sensei stroke her head and hugged her as the little girl cried and cried nonstop.

“Damn, poor kid,” Daikichi whispers beside me.

“Well, what’s done is done. Let’s keep our eyes peeled. Whoever took her brother might still be around.” I whisper to him and he nods my way.

Miki-sensei, Ms. Sam, Kana, Mamoru, and Amaguchi sat in the middle of the raft while the rest of us spread out in all side looking at all direction. The moon is almost reaching its peak, which means it’ll be only a couple of hours left before the sun starts rising.

“Daikichi, can you ask Kana if they can ask her how far we are from the town,” I whisper to him and he nodded slowly standing up.

After a couple of minutes, I hear Kana talk to Nala stroking her head. “Little Nala, how far is the town from where you were?”

“I-i- don’t know. W-we usually plays until the sun sets and we run back home before dark.” The little girl explained and not having the concept of time made it difficult to even guess.

“Do you know how many minutes it takes you to get home?” Kana asked and the little girl stayed silent for a few seconds before answering her.

“M-muinuties? What is that?” I hear Nala asked as I kept my attention at the front of the raft.

“Ah, in this world they don’t know minutes or hour since there’s no clock. They usually use bells to indicate that the sun is setting. Only in the big city, they started using a clock when we introduced them the sundial.” Takumi explained and I didn’t know how old school the setting of this world is.

“Oh.” Daikichi whispers and I thought about different scenarios in my mind.

If they can run home from here, that means the town is not that far away. If the water rose this much, there’s a chance that the town is submerged.

“Guy’s. Keep your eyes peeled. I think we’re closer than we think.” I whisper to them as I try to look in the water to see if I can spot any rooftop. I don’t know how tall they built the houses but, these trees are quite tall from its base and the water has reached up to its halfway point. For all we know, we’re going over a sunken town.

Shit, it’s too dark.I say in my mind as I suddenly remembered the bandit town where I swam through the dark water and used a stalactite to light the place.

“Item bag," I whisper to myself while catching the bag that materialized in front of me. Right, when I was about to take out a stalactite to drop it in the dark waters below when I suddenly heard a sound that sent a shiver down my spine.

Ahhhhhhhhh!

“What the-“ Daikichi suddenly turns towards his right and we all look at what seems to be the direction of the high pitch scream.

“Another survivor! Guys paddle!” Daikichi shouted out grabbing a paddle. “Hey! Are you ok?! Keep making a noise so we can find you!!”

We all paddled towards the voice as it kept screaming. Thinking of the worse, we paddled as fast as we can.

“We're coming to save you!!” Amaguchi shouts and they all started shouting not knowing where she is or whom she’s with. We kept paddling until we see a white figure from a distance on top of a tree. The minute me were able to get closer to get a better look, she stopped screaming and just cried.

“Miss! We’re coming!! Hang on!!” Ms. Sam shouts out to her as we frantically paddled towards her. As soon as we got closer I noticed her hunched down hugging her knee as she faces the tree showing her back at us. Her white one-piece dress was soaked with water showing her back through the cloth. It looks like she’s been starved as her spine shows through her skin. Getting a better look with, she reminded me of Suyeon when I first met her. She’s practically skin and bones.

“Hey! Are you okay?!?” Lisa shouts at her but all we hear is her sobbing as her body rocks back and forth.

“It’s ok! We’re coming! Jump and I’ll catch you!” Amaguchi says placing himself in the front of the raft while it slowly drifts towards her.

“N-n-No! No!” Nala suddenly burst out screaming while trying to run at the back of the raft. The minute she got close to Kana, she hugged her burying her face on her side as she shakes her head while screaming over and over again.

“Nala! It’s ok! It’s ok! What’s going on?!” Kana tries to pry her away to hug her properly but Nala hanged on so tight while crying. I tried approaching them to see what’s going on and all of a sudden; I see her pants start soaking as she peed herself.

“Nala! It’s ok! We-re here!” Miki-sensei says hugging her from behind and at that moment, that’s when it hit me. I quickly turn around and looking at Amaguchi who looked at me and we both lock eyes for a minute.

“W-what?” He whispers to me confused and I slowly brought my vision towards the girl up the tree silently sobbing.

“Amaguchi, slowly walk this way. Everyone, get away from her.” I whisper and they all look confused but followed what I said and got near the back of the raft. I thought it would tip over due to the weight being all in the back end but I’m glad it didn’t. I slowly walk towards the front clenching my fist.

“Yasu, what’s going on?” Kana whisper and the only noise we hear is Nala silently whimpering and the eerie sobbing of the girl up in the tree.

“I don’t know but slowly paddle away from her,” I tell them as I took out a dagger out my bag instead of a stalactite.

“Yasu, what are you doing?!” Ms. Sam shouts as she put her hand on my wrist. “That is not an enemy! That’s a person!!”

“No Ms. Sam,” I whisper to her without looking away from the girl in white. “That is probably not a person.”

“What do you mean? That looks like a person to me!” Ms. Sam says adamant for me to put my weapon away but the raft was getting closer and closer that I finally saw what I was looking for.

A name and a level.

Weeping Siren Lvl 67

“Holy shi- paddle away!” I shout as I see its level. I have no issue dealing with it but, for these guys, it’s dangerous to be even around that thing. “Now!”

Everyone grabbed their paddle and when they’re about to dip it into the water to steer away, the girl above a tree slowly stood up and we held our breath and paused as it started clicking its head. Even her movement is unnatural. She stopped crying and just stood there facing the tree showing us her back. I didn’t notice since she was hunched down but, this thing is abnormally tall.

“H-Hey are you-Mffhm!” I muffled Ms. Sam’s mouth while looking at the girl to see if she’s going to move but she didn’t. She just kept staring at the tree.

“Guys, that’s not a human. Look above its head.” I whisper and when they all look, I can feel they want to start panicking but kept calm trying not to alert it.

“W-what do we do?” Daikichi whispers and I slowly let go of Ms. Sam’s mouth while gesturing her to be quiet. She gave me a weak nod and slowly retreated behind me.

“I can take her on but, if there’s more than one of them, I can’t protect everyone,” I whisper back and her current condition of it being drenched with water gave me an idea where she came from.

“Slowly paddle away,” I whisper as I clench my weapon. In a swift motion, the weeping siren dropped down into the water disappearing in an instant. We looked around as everyone moved to the center of the raft with our backs against each other. I kept my gaze at where she dropped and, in a few seconds, I saw the siren’s head slowly peak out and anyone who’s weak-hearted would probably cry at the sight of its face. I saw it as the moonlight illuminated its facial feature. Her eyes were crystal red and on her face, a smile more sinister than anything I have seen. Her smile traveled from the bottom of her ear to the other. She smiles so much I saw a glimpse of its multiple teeth similar to a shark.

“Everyone! Paddle!” I shout and they all scamper to get to the edge to paddle us out of this area.

Shriiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!

The sound brought me to my knees as it numbed my legs. I covered my ears with my hands but the sound it made still got through and I felt like my eardrum will burst. It suddenly stopped and when I looked, it swam towards at a speed anyone won’t be able to react to.

BOOM!

It jumped out of the water speeding its way towards Kana who’s hugging Nala as they try to regain their hearing. I didn’t have time to think and I jumped out in between them.

“Argh!” I yelp in pain as I felt its teeth lodge in my sides. I didn’t have time to activate my chef’s coat and we both came tumbling down towards the water and it didn’t stop as I felt my body get dragged deeper and deeper.

“Pound!” I shouted underwater and almost choked as the water enters my lungs. I swung my fist towards the weeping siren clamped in my sides and the water made it harder to even get a proper impact. The impact of my attack managed to hurt her as I felt her jaw let go and I started swimming to the surface as fast as I can.

“Puah!”

Cough*

Cough*

I felt the water rise up my throat as I cough making the next one much more uncontrollable. I look around and find the raft slowly drifting towards me as they paddled as fast as they can.

“Yasu!” Ms. Sam shouted my name over and over again. I felt my sides burning as if someone poured alcohol on an open wound. I tried to ignore it and began to swim towards them when all of a sudden; something bites my leg as I felt a sharp pain towards my shin.

“Agrh!-“ I shout in pain but quickly closed my mouth as it dragged me back into the darkness below.

“Tenderize!” I shouted underwater and saw both my hands glowed red. The water was so blurry that I couldn’t see clearly in all directions. But one thing that I did notice is the two red lights on my leg. The eyes of the weeping Siren as it swam backward keeping its eyes on me. It kept dragging me further and further towards the bottom and that’s when I noticed more red lights right underneath us that made my heart sank faster than me.

Fuck!I screamed in my mind as I punch wildly below me. The first attack hit the siren that on my leg as I feel it let go. I didn’t stop punching and kept going until I felt my body fly out of the water.

Cough*

Cough*

“F-fuck," I whisper as I free fall towards the water again.

“Yasu!” I hear a shout from a distance and I see the raft drifting further away as the waves from my attack pushed them. I see Suyeon jumps into the water and right before she lands, she shouted her skill causing her to fly towards my way. I feel her body tackles me as she wraps her hands around my waist and we both went flying away from the raft. Right before we land in the water, I hear her shout her skill and I felt both out bodies fly up for a brief moment before we started descending again.

“Jump!” She shouted one more time and I felt my body go the opposite direction towards the raft like a ragdoll. I couldn’t move, my whole body felt like it was on fire and it’s spreading towards my neck.

“Jump!" She kept on shouting hopping around the water using her skills until we reached everyone.

“Yasu!” I hear Kana shouts as she grabs me while Suyeon sets me down. I felt my consciousness fading and feel the world spin so much it’s making me want to puke.

“Watch out! Another one!” I hear a voice, but I couldn’t focus as I hear them struggle to deflect a siren attacking the raft. I vomited as I turned sideways, and I felt sick making me gag over and over again. As I look up, I see a siren from far away staring at me. It gave me the widest smile before I succumb to the dark.

.

.

.

“Wake up.”

Huh…

“Wake up!” I hear the voice right in my ear and I suddenly jolt up. I felt like I was choking, and it took me a while to adjust to my surroundings. I see everyone from a distance surrounding me like I’m a dangerous wild animal they have encountered for the first time. Most of them are injured but everyone is alive. At first, I thought I was dreaming again until I felt Ms. Sam’s hand cover my forehead.

“W-what happened?” I asked and the minute I spoke, I felt a jolt of pain in my sides. “Agrh!”

“Yasu!” Kana cried loudly as she hugs me tightly not helping with the pain I’m feeling. I see everyone on a verge of tears as they all slump down the ground. The sun has already risen, and I notice we’re on top of what seems to be a rooftop.

“Fucking hell. Finally.” I hear Daikichi whisper lays down. He seemed exhausted and everyone wasn’t any better.

“How’re you feeling?” Ms. Sam asked as she removes her hand from my forehead after checking my temperature. Even I noticed she’s injured, and sleep deprived. Her face was full of signs from lack of sleep.

“Good that the fever has died down.” She whispers as she gives a sigh of relief.

“Fever?” I asked confused.

“You don’t remember?” She asked me, making me more confused.

“No, what happened to the Sirens?” I asked her while remembering about the Siren's attacking us before I passed out.

“After you passed out, we hauled our asses out of the forest, but they followed us even to the river. Luckily the sun started rising and they all retreated to the dark parts of the water.” Amaguchi explained which probably explained their condition. Some of them looked roughed up with bags under their eyes.

“I’ve been passed out all night?” I asked and I see them look at me. “What?”

“You really don’t remember?” Lisa asked as I shake my head.

“After Suyeon got you, you vomited and passed out. Once we got to the river and morning rose, that’s when hell broke loose.” Amaguchi explained.

“It’s probably due to the bite of the weeping Siren but, Yasu, you turned into a maniac when you woke up,” Lisa explained as she sat down.

“A maniac?” I asked confused.

“Haha, yeah. The first time you woke up, you wanted to eat all of us alive like a cannibal. The second time you woke up, you wanted to drown us in the water. The third time you woke up, that was the creepiest, you woke up in the middle of the night and got into a corner of the roof facing the water and started crying.” Daikichi explained.

“What?” I was confused as I looked around. Seeing them all worn out and remembering they surrounded me when I woke up slowly made me understand what was going on.

“Yeah dude, none of us bit by the siren so we assumed it was the cause of that,” Amaguchi says.

“Yeah, when you woke up a few minutes ago, we thought you would go on a rampage again,” Kana says as she lets go of me and she wipes her tears.

No wonder they were all surrounding me like I’m a wild animal.I say in my mind hearing their story.

“T-thank you,” I whisper to them, but I felt guilty knowing the fact that I was the one who injured them. I looked around and that’s when I noticed that Ms. Miki and Goro sensei is missing along with Suyeon and the little girl we saved.

“Where is Suyeon?” I asked worried that I accidentally killed her.

“Well, before you went crazy, she went on a rescue mission to save some villagers not far from here. We found someone on top this rooftop and she was the one who told us of where the others were.” Takumi explains and I just sat there listening. It felt like I exercised nonstop as every part of my body felt sore. “I would have gone with them but, it would have been better for me to stay here since Suyeon insisted to go.”

"Ah, makes sense," I say grabbing my sides that still throbbing. If bot of the strongest in the group left while I was out, that would have left the team vulnerable to anything and anyone.

“How are you feeling Yasu? I couldn’t heal you properly since my level is too weak, but I closed most of the wounds on your leg and body.” Ms. Sam says as I notice my pants ripped open and my leg has a red mark where the Siren’s sank its teeth.

“I didn’t hurt anyone of you, badly right?” I asked her while looking around.

“No dude, it was a nice pace that you wanted to eat all of us. I thought you turned into a zombie dude, what the fuck.” Amaguchi says jokingly as he lay on his back.

After a while, they told me to lie down and rest. Kana along with a couple of people decided to sleep while Daikichi stayed awake to explain everything to me since I couldn’t sleep. He told me after we got out of the river, it wasn’t long before they found the roof where they placed me to rest. When I woke up, I tried to kill them all without saying anything. Luckily, he told me I didn’t use my skill while I was going crazy or else it would have been a different outcome.

“Dude, it’s like you're a different person," Daikichi whispers as he kept the fire going with the wood Suyeon gave them. It seems like she stored so much in her bag that we don't need to go around collecting branches.

“We have to be careful of the monsters. How many days ago they left?” I asked him.

“They left around the same time we got here. There was a person here and begged us to save everyone. I might be wrong but, I think I saw him as one of the slaves in the bandit hideout.” Daikichi says making me remember the one diamond I lost trying to save a mother and son.

“I wonder what’s Dorang up to," I whisper as I watch the flame flicker. "We have to be careful not to get bitten. Being out in the open water like this is making my hair stand up."

“I heard this place was an outpost and the village is a couple of miles away. I don’t know how fast that little girl ran but the village is definitely isn’t walking distance from where we found her.” Daikichi explains as I look around us. The moon shone down the water and I was tempted to send fire everywhere to burn the trees around us as I kept thinking about the sirens.

“Do you think she’s not human?” Daikichi asks me.

“The sirens? I doubt it. It also seems like they only prey on children. That’s why-“

“They took her brother.” Daikichi blurted out.

“The little girl?” I looked at him and he just kept feeding the fire with a grim look.

“Ugh, thinking about those MMORPG games, this place is like hell. Bandits, monsters that eat children, this is nothing like the games we played back home." He says as he looks up the sky staring at earth right above us. “Well, get some rest. I’ll stay up and switch with Amaguchi. The weeping siren never made it this far, so I think we’re safe. If anything, I’ll wake you up right away.”

Feeling weak still even after eating, I decided to agree and lay down. Even when I tried, I couldn’t sleep knowing that I might wake up and kill them all in their sleep. I watched Earth as it rotated and after a while, I noticed Daikichi fall asleep, so I decided to stay up and guard them. It’s the least I can do given the fact that they went through a lot to keep me alive.

“Damn Yasu, it’s hard when there are people around. Protecting people is hard.” I whisper to myself thinking that it was way easier by myself. Fighting, eating, sleeping, rinse and repeat, I didn’t have any responsibilities of taking care of people. So far, I’ve been getting hurt easily due to using my body as a shield or helping them stay alive.

If they don’t get stronger, we won't last against Unum.I whisper in my mind thinking that each and every overlord could probably have murdered them while I was sleeping.

“Shit,” I whisper thinking of the possibilities. Morning hits and Kana scolded Daikichi for falling asleep making me stay up and do guard duty. I just laughed at him looking like a sad puppy as Kana lectures him. It made me remember when we’re in our club room but that soon faded as I had more important things that have been circulating through all night.

“Guys, huddle up. I need to tell you something.” I tell them and they all surrounded me like I’m about to tell a campfire story.

“Ok, to start. Thank you for saving me multiple times. But I think we need to focus on getting you all stronger. This way, you can protect yourself easily.” I tell them and some of them looked a bit down probably blaming themselves for the fact that I got hurt multiple times due to saving them which wasn’t my intention of portraying.

“Listen, when I ran towards the forest before the storm, I met Unum again,” I say and most of their eyes went wide.

“What? What did he say?” Kana asked.

"Well, he used the image of my mother to lure me out and when I got to a certain distance, all of the overlords surrounded me in an instant," I tell them and they all diligently listened. "Basically, he gave me an offer to join them which I refused and punched him in the face.”

“You what?!” Ms. Sam eyes went wide giving me a better look at her blue iris.

“I thought I would do at least a bit of damage but, even when my punch was packed with my skill, I didn’t even leave a dent. There is no doubt about it that if any of the overlords attacked you guys while I was unconscious, you all would have easily died. Which is why you guys need to get stronger.” I explain to them but even in this situation, we won’t be able to train if we’re surrounded by water.

“So, what do we need to do?” Amaguchi asked.

“When they come back, we need to leave at dawn, so we don’t come across those sirens. We’ll head for the mountains and look for a dungeon.” I explain to them.

“Back to a dungeon?” Lisa asked worried and I know they all had bad experience inside a dungeon making it harder for them to probably agree to the idea.

“Want to know how I got so strong? It wasn’t because I trained like a madman out here, it was because of a hidden dungeon I got stuck inside for a year. If we can find a dungeon, it’s surely teeming with monsters. One, it definitely will drop equipment’s for you all to use and two can help you all level up.” I explained to them my experiences inside the hidden dungeon and not once they protested which came in a bit surprised thinking that they'll start to disagree right away the minute I said dungeon.

"True, I feel like we're not progressing and always coming across issues that lead to near-death experiences," Daikichi says.

“Well, I don’t know about you guys but, I’m down. I just want to get out of this area.” Lisa says and they all nod in agreement. After waiting for a while, we notice them coming back which surprised us all as they waved happily seeing us.

“Holy shit,” Lisa whispers as we all stare at the army of people behind them. The whole village is on their makeshift raft and they all are floating towards us.

“Yasu!” Suyeon shouts my name as she got close to the roof and ran towards my way hugging me tightly. Little Nala also ran towards Ms. Sam and Kana.

“Took us a while but we finally found them How you are feeling kiddo?” Goro-sensei says as he approached me.

“Well, I would say they found us.” Ms. Miki-sensei whispers as she stretches out her arms yawning. As I look at the people that came with them, I see someone they look my way trying to remember a familiar face they see.

“You, you’re Yasu are you not?” An old man approaches me, and I look at him warily while having his hand out. “Thank you.”

I grabbed his hands as he kneels in front of me like I’m some kind of king.

“Uhh, …what’s going on?” I whisper at Suyeon who still hugging me.

“Oh, they all know you. They said they owe their lives to you.” Goro-sensei whisper and it made me remember what Daikichi said.

“Don’t tell me…” I tried to look at all of the people they brought as they started pulling their rafts towards the rooftop.

“Come on bro, don’t tell me you forgot all of us?” A voice ranged from the group and a familiar face emerges out stepping into the roof.

“Fucking hell, you’re still alive Dorang,” I say lightly punching him as he got close to me.

“Well, I’m a bandit after all. Dying is not my forte~” Seeing a familiar face was refreshing but somehow, deep down inside I felt agitated. More people mean more thing I have to worry about protecting.

“Huh, I thought you’d be far away by now. The hell you are doing living in this town?” I looked at him while raising an eyebrow.

“Well, that was the plan.” He tells me looking at all the people. “When I left, they all followed me, and we all ended up in the town around this area. Since there were too many of us, they let us build our own village.”

“Wow, who’s the village chief? You?”

“Hahaha no. I leave that to these old folks who moved in with us.” He tells me as he points towards the old man that kneeled before me.

“Are these all the villagers?”

“Well, these are the people you saved. For some odd reason, once the storm came, the other villagers disappeared before it even happened. I remember visiting the village and the whole place was empty as if they knew it was coming. Fucking bastards not even warning us.” The minute he tells me, I paused trying to think of the whole situation. “Shit, so what now? Where are you guys headed? We were heading towards the mountain to get to dry land. There's one from a distance at that area.”

“Oh, well we’re both going the same way,” I tell him.

“Wait, we are?” Takumi asked and I nod.

“I’ll explain later once we set out. Since its daylight still, we all should go now.” I tell them and Suyeon along with Goro-sensei who seems to be confused at the sudden change of direction.

I approached Suyeon who stopped hugging me a while ago and moved towards Lisa, “Hey, uh. Thanks for saving me.”

I felt icky saying thank you and she just happily nods and smiled at me. I noticed Daikichi whispering with Kana while looking at us. He had an expression making me want to punch his face as he giggled with Kana without removing their gaze at us. After we all got acquainted, we quickly got on the raft as fast as possible and headed for the mountains. Dorang along with Little Nala got on our raft and they slowly pushed off to float away towards the mountain.

I hear them all talk together about a plan after getting to the mountain, but my mind is something else different. As a team, we need to get stronger. I’m going to beat some level into these guys.I need to get stronger. And fulfill my resolve.

“Status window,” I whisper to myself as we floated along slowly. Everyone was huddled at the middle of the raft and the rest of the group followed us behind with their rafts.

Status Window

Name

Yasu

Class

BLADE

Level

297

Guild

Diamond

Skills

skill level

Grill

200

Fry

220

Boil

140

Steam

1

Bake

1

Bartender

1

Sharpen

400

Inspect

270

Overdrive

90

Heaven's Slice

380

Seismic Step

610

Pound

530

Skill list page 2, to view say(Page 2)

Passive skills

Passive skill description

Chef's soul

Gives you a chef's natural abilities.

Purify

Whatever you cook is automatically purified making it safe to eat.

Midas touch

All food and beverages you create taste better

Mind break

Upon immediate extreme danger mentally and physically, you will lose all sanity and limits.

Chefs knife

Gives you the ability to wield blades of all types.

Leather

Gives you the ability to wear leather equipment.

Ham

Gives you the ability to wield hammers of all types.

Wolverine

Boost your healing abilities by 7% when eating.

“Page two,” I whisper to open another page and look at my new set of skills.

Skill list Page 2

Knockout

97

Tenderize

317

Scorch

107

Freeze

170

Pierce

87

Dark

7

Master Blade

7

Hell’s Blood

7

I sat on the raft looking at the last three skill. The most dangerous skills I have. These skills are even worse than overdrive. I almost died using them, so I vowed to only activate the skills when I’m fighting Luro. I smiled to myself as the skill window disappears and I look at the morning sky. Right on the horizon in front of us, is our destination. I’m not going to lie; I miss fighting strong enemies. I'm sick and tired of running away from things that don't matter. Now, I only have one focus, one goal I need to achieve to end all of this.

Oh, Yasu. I whisper in my mind before blurting out, “You will never change. Kekekekeke.”