“HELL YEAHHHH!”

I can’t believe I survived that fiasco. If I fought the vulcatfish and those cavecrawlers in their natural habitat, I’d be toast right now… but! I won, I survived and I’ll continue to live until I escape this hell hole!

Ah, the sweet aftertaste of victory is caressing me~

Hmmm I’m starting to get hungry, time to get some fruits…

.

.

.

Now that I’ve had my fill, it’s time for my next move-

“Onwards it is”

I had already picked some emergency food or in this case; emergency fruits, in case I don’t come across any fruit bearing trees later.

I can’t just randomly eat monster meat or the vegetation here, anything could be poison, which is why I only ate fruits that were also eaten by the monsters as a precaution. The fruits growing here are different, they taste odd and somewhat okay but the real difference is that for some time after eating, I can feel my arc burning up. It seems that the fruits here help adaptation to the dense arcana pool in the atmosphere. That being said, this place really is a blessing in disguise.

I don’t particularly travel fast. I have to conserve my energy in case a monster shows up after all. Things would be different if I was strong but I’m not… I’m not confident enough to say that I’m strong…yet.

I encountered small fry monsters along the way, well, compared to those goblins from the whiteroom, the monsters here could be said to be monsters among them. The goblins were weak but made up for their weakness by using formations, strategy, communication, tools and whatnot but the monsters here didn’t need that since they were strong.

To my surprise, I could handle them thanks to my new affinity and new core but at first I could barely keep up. Now that I have some battle experience, I can say that I’m a little bit confident than before but I never should forget the mindset of the weak or else my confidence and arrogance may be the cause of my demise.

I’ve been walking for a few hours already and for quite some time now I feel like… I’m being followed.

Ever since I came here, I haven’t come across an intelligent being but the thing that’s following me seems to be cautious. If I don’t step up my game, maybe it’ll corner me. I have to lose em.

I imbued minimal arcana unto my legs and spread some tidbits of arcana around me like a sensory barrier, to ease my maneuvering.

I ran and ran and ran for more than an hour it’s been about ten minutes since I lost the feeling of being followed so maybe they couldn’t keep up.

I searched for an interim hiding place in case they were still following me. I found a crevice by the bottom of a cliff, I slid inside and waited for whatever was following me to pass.

After some time, no one came. I retracted my blade that was at the ready and as well as my arcana flow and just as I let out a sigh of relief-

“Haaaaaa~”

Thonk

“AAAAAAAAA MY EYE!!!”

An arrow pierced my left eye…

Inside this crevice, as I was hidden, an arrow came through the small opening and took my eye.

“Huff…huff…calm…down…me-“

A second arrow came; it was headed straight to my forehead…

Right now… this moment… is taking so long…

I’ve heard in stories that moments before death, time flows super slow…

This is probably that…

From those stories, the people dying usually think about their regrets right?

Hmmm regrets…

Giving my family a better house, a steady life…

Buying mom the oven she always wanted…

Getting the watch that dad always stares at when he passes by the jewelry shop on his way to work…

Seeing my sister get married… I hope she doesn’t but that’s inevitable…

Vinyl becoming a gem rank vessel like he always dreamed of…

Ellie…

Eh?

I don’t really know what she wants since she never told me… how unfair…

Seeing Ellie and telling her everything’s alright…

Having a family…

Haaaa…

I don’t even have a girlfriend who am I kidding…

Guess this is it-

Thonk

“Zephyr, did you get him?” [Orion]

“Yes sir, the first shot missed just bit but the second surely pierced through that human’s skull.” [Zephyr]

“Good work… seems like our stroll out here wasn’t all that useless after all. Let’s go retrieve his loot! Sniper archers, stay behind and prepare for back up just in case, bows at the ready.” [Orion]

“”“YES SIR!”””

I didn’t get a closer look but that human was carrying a lot of stuff, surely there’s something worthwhile in there. If not, we’ll bring his body as food for our livestock.

“Commander Orion, sir” [Sanskrit]

“Yes, Sanskrit? Good job scouting earlier” [Orion]

“Ah no sir, it’s the least I can do” [Sanskrit]

“So? What is it?” [Orion]

“It really is amazing sir” [Sanskrit]

“What?” [Orion]

“The efficiency of the commands you give and as well as the archer’s skills… Even I can’t imagine hitting a target from over two kilometers” [Sanskrit]

“That’s a given, those archers are special. From the moment they are able to move their limbs, they already started handling the bow” [Kariya]

“Vice commander Kariya-“ [Sanskrit]

“You’re not so bad yourself but getting noticed by the enemy is the biggest mistake of a scout. Reflect on your actions later” [Kariya]

“I apologize ma’am! I’ll do my best to make up for my mistake!” [Sanskrit]

“Who you calling ma’am huh!?” [Kariya]

Ah, this young scout has much to learn-

“Pft-“ [Orion]

“Oy Orion…” [Kariya]

Yikes

“Stay sharp. Enough chatting” [Orion]

““Yes sir””

We arrived a few meters from the crevice where the man was hiding. This person is unknown to us but here in the Lino Ghan forest, it’s kill or be killed. I don’t really feel sorry for a human; an inferior species, but here in the underworld, luxury is scarce. You could have at least bought some decent loot for us-

“Halt. Sanskrit, recon, go” [Orion]

Sanskrit nodded and as he was about to enter, I felt an outburst of energy from behind and there he was…

The dead man, full clad in lightning so dense and pure-

“TYLOS!” [Kariya]

Even having lost an eye, he held an expression of a beast that was cornered;

With nothing to lose.