Mindy's eyelids moved aside and exposed her eyes. She then blinked a couple of times before turning her head and spotting Nate, sitting in a chair with his eyes closed.

"Ugh..."

Her head ached as she tried to remember what happened. Then, the image of large man with lion's head charging at her came to her mind. She promptly checked all over her body but found no injuries.

...

"... what a... crazy dream..."

If that actually happened, she would be dead. No doubt about it. Why did she have such a crazy dream?

When trying to get up, she realized her body felt weak and her stomach was empty. Unable to properly move, she looked around the room instead. And that's when she noticed oddities.

The furniture near the entrance turned into a rubble, something white blocked off the door, and a long sharp object was sticking out of the floor.

"What...?"

While she was confused, Nate's eyes opened as well. The moment he spotted Mindy, he jumped out of his seat.

"Mindy! You are awake!"

And he lost no time running up to her and embracing her.

"Gya! N-nate! What's wrong?!"

But instead of replying, he squeezed her in his arms.

"You finally woke up... I thought you would never wake up..."

"W-what are you..."

And that's when Mindy realized that the 'dream'... most likely wasn't a dream.

After Nate finally detached from her, Mindy asked him.

"What happened here?"

Nate's face darkened as he heard that question. He then described everything that occurred while she was out. He told her about the ambush, how they were saved and then how he 'healed' her.

"T-there's your hair under my skin?!"

Mindy quickly checked all over her arm in panic.

"Calm down... there's still more to this."

Although reluctant, Mindy silently held her arm and kept listening.

"I found out that there's more to our change than we thought... We might have... become monsters."

"W-what do you mean?"

Instead of answering, Nate closed his eyes and stood up.

"Come with me. I will show you instead."

He then helped her stand up and walked to the blocked door with her. His arm rose up and his mouth opened to produce the magic word.

"Unlock."

The hair slid aside and let them through. Mindy was surprised, but didn't say anything as they walked through together. The door resealed itself afterwards.

"So... you also have some powers?"

"I guess so..."

Mindy felt a little excited, but the tone Nate's voice indicated he had the opposite feelings.

They headed to a random nearby tree and stopped a short distance in front of it. Nate then pointed his hand at the tree.

"Eat."

His hair stood up and stabbed into the tree one after another. The tree then gradually lost its color and crumbled to dust, just like last time.

Mindy's mouth opened wide as she watched that.

"H-hey... wha..."

"Now you try it."

"Huh?!"

Shocked by his words, she wanted to protest, but upon seeing the seriousness in his eyes, she gave up. Afterwards she repeated after Nate and slowly raised her arm while pointing her fingers to another tree.

"...eat."

And sure enough, tentacles sprouted from her hand and coiled around the tree. It didn't take long until the tree turned into a pile of dust. And after that happened, Mindy realized her hunger was gone.

"W...what?! What the hell is this?!"

She yelled out loud with shock painted all over her face. But Nate kept silently standing there. He didn't have an answer.

They then returned to the cabin to discuss their next action. One opinion was trying diplomacy with these 'people'. But seeing as they already murdered some of them, it didn't seem like it would succeed. And after thinking about it, Nate figured the growls and roars back there must have been their language. In other words, communication is impossible.

"Gh... in every novel I read, the language is always the same in a different world..."

Only now has Mindy realized just how absurd that was. It's like going to a different country and expecting the locals to speak your language.

With the diplomacy option no longer on the table, they had no other choice but to continue aimlessly wandering through the forest. Since Mindy was out for the entire day, it was more or less morning again. So, after grabbing their bag and cleaning up the mess in the cabin, they set off again.

"Sorry Mr. cabin owner... whoever you are, I hope we can make it up to you in the future."

Mindy said that, but Nate already suspected who the owner was. It must have been one of the 'people' that attacked them. In the worst case scenario, one that died. And that means... they can't make it up to them anymore.

And so, even though their mood and enthusiasm was at an all time low, they were ready to leave the cabin.

But right after taking the first step into the forest, Nate looked up at the bright sky and had an idea. He spread his arms and closed his eyes.

"Soar."

The hair on his head extended and weaved into two big sails. Those then flapped around like wings and lifted Nate off of the ground.

"Whoaaa?!"

But right after that, his entire body spun around and he crashed back down.

"N-Nate?!"

Mindy ran up to the boy holding his head in pain and looked at the two sails growing out of his head.

"W-what the heck are you doing... are you cosplaying a rabbit?"

She said that while trying to suppress her laughter.

"S-shut up... I just wanted to try if I could fly."

Nate looked away, looking annoyed. But thanks to that incident, the tension and bad atmosphere was ever so slightly lifted.

After that, they tried a few more 'spells' as they traveled through the woods. Some of their discoveries included 'dig', which would make Nate's hair and Mindy's tentacles spin and drill through the target; 'cut', making their tentacles/hair slash horizontaly; and also...'home', which built a tiny shelter out of the hair threads when used by Nate, while Mindy's version... curled up the tentacles into a disk and started emitting a suspicious purple glow in the center, making it look like a portal.

When those two realized it, they froze and went silent. After a few moments, Mindy broke the silence.

"... do we jump in?"

Nate kept staring at the never-ending darkness emanating from the 'portal' in front of him.

"... I'll pass... Let's leave this as our last resort."

"Yeah... good idea."

There's no telling what these tentacles recognize as 'home' after all...

Their other 'spell' trials revealed that some words, such as 'fireball' and 'arrow', produced the same results. And some words, like 'inventory' or 'status', didn't do anything at all. Although their powers initially seemed omnipotent, they were actually quite limited.

"But I tried so many things when we first got here... why didn't it work back then?"

Mindy posed a good question. 'Fireball' was the first thing she yelled when they arrived and it didn't work. Why does it work now?

As they walked, they soon noticed a mountain range in the distance. At first, they wanted to turn around and go in a different direction, but Mindy then proposed using the mountain as a means to map out their surroundings. Although climbing a mountain is not an easy task, Nate figured it wouldn't be as hard with their powers, so he agreed.

On their way to the mountains, the trees gradually thinned out. Eventually, it was impossible to call it a forest anymore. Mindy also noticed some birds flying near the mountain... or at least she thought it was birds. Upon getting closer, she realized these 'birds' only had wings and bird-like talons, but other than that, they looked like human women.

"Are those... harpies...?"

Being able to only see dots on the horizon, Nate confirmed his earlier suspicion.

"Hey Mindy... aren't your eyes a little too good?"

"Hm? What are you talking about?"

Since she was clearly confused, Nate elaborated.

"I can barely see anything flying there and you can even make out their detailed features."

"Eh? C-come on now... they are right there! How can you not see... them...?"

Nate continued to wordlessly stare at her, to which she let out a resigning sigh and pointing at her eyes.

"It's these eyes... isn't it?"

"Probably."

Mindy grunted and crossed her arms while pointing her gaze downwards.

"Thinking about it... it really is a little too far."

And then sighed.

"We really are monsters now, huh?"

In a different place and about the same time...

Deep down underground, in a dimly lit cave, there silently walked a person, advancing through the corridor. It was a woman with crimson hair and wings. She looked on with her ferocious yellow eyes while stepping forward with her bird-like talons.

She soon entered a small room illuminated by a fist-sized white orb sitting on a pedestal. She then stopped about one meter away from the orb and kneeled down before speaking.

"Mother, it seems that we have a guest."

In response to her, the white orb emitted a soft and very slow female voice.

"Yes... I'm aware, Freya... Let him in..."

Freya nodded and turned to the tunnel. There, a man dressed in a suit sporting wolf-like ears and a pair of white wings emerged. He took a few steps before bowing down while placing a hand on his chest.

"Greetings, lady Aria."

"Well, well, well... now what could Fi's personal guard possibly be doing here...?"

Hearing the sarcastic tone of Aria's voice, Marwen, the guest, knew there was trouble.

"I carry a message from the princess. Two new demons have recently made an appearance not too far away from your dungeon."

After a second of silence, Marwen got the response he was dreading.

"Yes, yes... some of my children have already informed me... they spotted a pair of mimics without beast ears or angel wings... so those were actually demons, you say...?"

Marwen nodded while trying his hardest to mask his nervousness.

"Why is it that I have not been informed earlier...? Didn't Fi make a promise...?"

The man nodded before explaining.

"Princess Fitodela would like to apologize for delaying the message. The demons caused too much chaos among the people in Roaris kingdom. There were several deaths as well. And princess' priority was to prevent this from escalating any further."

A moment of silence followed. Marwen's unease rose with each passing second.

"I see... Then I guess I will forgive her... but next time... tell her to spare at least one person to inform me... alright...?"

Marwen nodded while feeling a mixture of surprise and relief from that response. Wasn't it a little too easy to convince her?

"Ah but... since you are already here... surely, you will help us... dealing with these demons... right?"

And that was when Marwen realized where the trap lied this time.

"... of course. I will assist in the best way I can."

Being a mimic, he wasn't too powerful on his own. He needed a proper wielder to utilize his weapon forms. And Aria knew that. This must be the punishment for the late report, Marwen thought. So, although unwilling, he had to agree in the end.

"Good, good... Freya, please take care of him... we wouldn't want Fi's precious guard getting hurt..."

After hearing out these sarcasm-filled words, Freya bowed and turned to Marwen.

"This way..."

The two then left and the room was filled with silence.

"Demons... huh? This could be interesting... The imp last time was very fun to experiment with..."

After that, an unsettling creepy chuckle echoed in the air.