It was pitch black, but I just kept on running.

I didn't know where it led to.

But I kept running.

Running. Stopping to catch my breath. Running again.

It was pretty lucky that I hadn't stumbled onto any rocks or contours on the floor.

As I adjusted to the darkness, I found a nearby cart on a discontinued railway.

The cart seemed to be an equipment storage, as it contained a few shovels, pickaxes, hammers, chisels and pans. I picked up a shovel from the cart as it was the most lightweight, and continued running with it in tow. I also got a dusty brown cloak and covered myself with it, I'd been naked since awhile ago after all.

...Soon, I could no longer hear the psychopath behind me.

I approached traces of light amidst this dark cave full of rocks.

On closer inspection after getting even closer, I noticed they were the bright stones embedded onto the walls with a piece of rusty metal to lock it to the side.

The stones seemed to be natural sources of light in this world.

There it is! Those traces mean I'm close to the stairs leading to the top!!!

...But taking these meant that the woman who just saved me earlier, would not be able to get back up easily...!

...

But on careful consideration of weighing the balance of importance on who I should save, the results were clear.

I felt a prick on my conscience, but I shrugged it away.

I'm sorry, woman who saved me, but I don't want to die. I wanted someone to save me exactly because I didn't want to die.

I'm going to have to take these for myself and save the girls.

I'm so sorry...!!!

Using the shovel I had retrieved from the cart earlier, I broke the piece of metal that fastened the stones to the walls one by one.

When I tried to pick it up with right palm, I was scalded by the incredible amount of heat emitted from the stone that fell onto the dirt ground. My brain had registered the heat a second late, as my skin became extremely pale and clammy.

...???!!!

"!!! Nnggaaahhhhh!!!!!!!!! AaAaAAAAAAAAAaaaAAaaahHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"

I had not expected it to have so much heat..! My voice leaked out of my mouth from the excruciating pain coming from my right palm and fingers.

In an instant, my right hand became swollen.

Most of my skin there had either turned completely white or slightly charred.

I-it hurtssssssssssssssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I collapsed onto the ground in pain and hurled myself into a ball, as I tried to touch the skin around the burn.

...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I bit my left arm to ease the pain slightly.

Then, I quickly tried to put it into my mouth to reduce the temperature with my saliva.

Another pang of pain entered the nerves under my skin when I did that.

I had read an article about the dangers about putting burn wounds in your mouth as it might cause infections, but I couldn't care less.

The pain was stimulating my nerves too much...!!!

It seemed like necrosis had not fully taken place, as I could still feel pain on my right hand.

But it was cutting it very close...

It took me a long time before I could refocus and return back to following the light stones.

The pain was throbbing in my right hand, but I had to prioritize getting out of here first...!!!

The scream earlier might've caught some unwanted attention.

Although I had not encountered any other hostilities yet, it was not certain that everyone down here had been dispatched to the barrier.

The leather clothes were hard to tear off to use it as something to hold the hot stone.

Neither did I have anything else to keep them, so I left it on the ground. I also dropped the shovel that I was holding on to.

As I slowly made my way towards the other stones of light, I did not have the grip now to extinguish the traces to the surface so I just kept going forward and left every other stone alone.

...That means, she would still have a way out.

I didn't know how to feel about that.

I should go over and assist them as soon as possible...!!!

Without a hiccup except from exhaustion during the first half of running and the third-degree burn I suffered from touching the stone, I arrived at the foot of the familiar spiral staircase.

There was a body with a familiar face at the side of it.

But the pain from the burn wound was distracting me from inspecting it. Neither did I have the time. It was probably another elf part of this whole scheme and she was taken out by someone.

I had passed by 19 light stones on the way.

Steadily ascending the staircase, I arrived at the surface in about 3 minutes.

As I surveyed my surroundings once I reached the top, I found the place to be really familiar.

...?! This place...

I was right under a table.

It was the kitchen of Tasha's mansion!!! I'm safe!!!

Still grimacing from the pain from the burn wound on my right palm, I quickly reassured myself at my new prospects.

I began to look around for the girls that I was familiar with, but they were not present.

Ah, that's right...!!! The barrier!

Familiarized with the bearing of this Glass Dome in the world, I left through the front door quickly while clutching my right hand.

I headed to the north of the village where the two girls were supposedly there.

I was far from the semblance of any elf settlements now that I reached the more forest-looking outskirts, as I relaxed a little and heaved a sigh of relief.

I had reached the barrier after sneaking around with some effort so no one else would spot me.

There was this one moment where I was almost discovered because my burn wound on my right hand scruffed with some rough branches of a tree, but I was otherwise in perfect stealth from the other elves' eyes.

Looking around quickly, I could spot a group of elves dressed like Syviel and Syriel to my left. They were clad in elven armor and equipped with two kinds of weapons; swords and bows & arrows.

The leader appeared to be ... Syviel?

Where was Tasha?

Nevertheless, I was excited to see someone familiar again.

Just as I walked a step closer, they suddenly went on full alert.

?!

Unable to betray my instincts of hiding, I quickly laid back down and observed them.

At first, I had thought that they were careful towards my appearance on the right, but I was wrong. They were staring ahead at the other side of the barrier vigilantly, right in front of me.

They had not noticed me yet huh, just something in front of me...?

There was quite a bit of distance, so I could not make out who exactly were they being wary of.

But the clear screen of the transparent barrier revealed a person.

No, a woman... ...?

As I squinted my eyes to look as well, I corrected myself.

That person has... red hair...

Long and messy red hair...

She was wielding a sword that appeared red.

For some reason, I felt some kind of compatibility with it, as if I had used it before in my life...

Armor... she's wearing a full plate... but she doesn't have a helmet?

As I looked closer to the woman who wasn't wearing a helmet, I could begin to make out her face.

Her mouth was moving constantly, as if saying something.

Continuing my observations, I could notice something irregular about the person.

Eh...?

She was looking right towards my direction.

No, ...She was looking right at me.

When the woman had noticed that I was finally holding eye contact with her, her expressionless face turned...

...into a wide grin.

...?!

Eh?! That woman is...!

I began to make out what her mouth had been saying all this time with my experience with lip-reading.

"-cation. -cation. -cation. -cation."

What the... she's chanting something repeatedly under her breath, as if she was reciting a curse.

"Translocation. Translocation. Translocation. Translocation. Translocation. Translocation. Translocation. Translocation. Translocation. Translocation. Translocation. Translocation. Translocation. Translocation. Translocation. Translocation. Translocation. Translocation. Translocation. Translocation. Translocation. Translocation. Translocation. Translocation. Translocation. Translocation. Translocation. Translocation. Translocation. Translocation. Translocation. Translocation. Translocation. Translocation. Translocation. Translocation. Translocation. Translocation. Translocation. Translocation. Translocation. Translocation. Translocation. Translocation. Translocation. Translocation. Translocation. Translocation. Translocation. Translocation. Translocation. Translocation. Translocation. Translocation."

Her eyebags were very visible, as if she had not slept a wink since that day, as she continued roaming around the forest to look for me.

Fearing that she might notice me even through the barrier, I instinctively stifled my gasp of shock and surprise with my right hand, as I stepped away from the barrier slowly.

Since the barrier was invisible, it seemed like she had spotted me from an onlooker's perspective.

But the barrier has hidden its inner contents with magic...! There was no way... unless she could use magic that could bypass that too!!!

She continued to chant the same skill over and over and over again while seemingly staring bloodshot towards my direction. Her body stayed there without moving, but the intent of her mouth and eyes never stopped pointing towards me.

Creeped out, I moved to the right slightly.

When I did that, she moved to the right as well.

When I moved to the left, she would follow again.

The two-handed sword that she was dragging improperly was glowing red ominously and leaving sparks on the ground.

She was not wielding it properly, and this was creating an unpleasant screeching noise with it as the metal of the sword scratched the ground.

Then she suddenly moved.

Just as sudden as her appearance in this place. She tapped the surface of the barrier softly.

N-no way, can she really see me through the barrier?!

I was not aware at this time that the woman known as Soma had triggered her Clear eyes of a Saint specifically to look for my presence the entire time.

For the entire time I was missing from her embrace.

She was the textbook case of an extremely controlling yandere.

She suddenly smiled even more ominously, and let out a coarse voice through her parched and dry throat as her voice finally registered beyond the barrier.

Her eyes narrowed extremely quickly as she said:

"I found youuu, Masterrr~"