For the past two days now a stifling silence was what had filled the air, and because of that Rain had begun to think that maybe bringing up the conversation on the Glades had not been the best of ideas.

Of course he knew that Alice was not one to talk unless necessary, but now it felt like it was even worse. Rain hated it and because of that couldn’t concentrate.

A sharp throaty growl whooshed through the air swirling about the woods, and as a result snapped him back to the matter at hand.

His eyes had not been taken off the Tibetan fox across from him all this while, his gaze had just been passing through it. Well, now he saw it clearly again. Its soft but thick red fur with a gray undercoat; its long, bushy tail with a white tip; and most of all, its belly which was slightly rounded and distended.

This fox was not physically mutated. But that was not what bore the brunt of his hesitancy to attack it.

Rain bit down on his lower lip.

The fact that he’d noticed that this fox was pregnant meant that Alice had noticed it way before him, so why had she pushed him into battle with it either way?

His grip tightened on the hilt of his knife.

With vigilance explicitly etched on the fox’s face, she strode to her side, each step a cautious one that was impacted by her gait being affected by the physical changes that came with pregnancy. When she noticed that her actions did little to affect Rain’s stance, she went further to bare her fangs once again at him with a guttural growl like she had done at the start of their standoff.

There was anxiety in her tiny narrow eyes, he could see it. His Perception had not been assigned any points yet, but his gut feeling was still as sharp as ever. There was no way he could do it.

“Alice,” Rain voiced as soon as he’d resigned himself to follow his thoughts. “I can’t do it.” His hands dropped to his side as he straightened up with an exhale.

There was silence for a moment, even from the fox, before Alice asked, “Why?”

He wanted to turn back to glare at her for that question, but he would not expose his rear to a wild animal that was not subdued, pregnant and mentally mutated or not.

“She’s pregnant,” he answered with a clenched jaw. “And mentally mutated.”

“And so?”

The arrival of those words made him feel like his heart had been thrown into a blending machine and turned into a smoothie. He almost couldn’t hear his own breaths, and heat rose beneath his eyelids. But despite his boiling rage, he had nothing to say.

“You want to let her go?” Alice added.

Rain replied stiffly, “Yes.” And before any other words were spoken, he raised his hands up the same way he had done with the Chimera Anaconda, and as a sign of showing his unwillingness to fight, threw his knife to the ground. The fox’s gaze followed it. “You heard me,” he said. “Leave now.”

The fox inched backward, but she didn’t leave. She obviously felt like she was being deceived. Rain couldn’t blame her, so he tried something different.

“J!” he called, and a second later his Companion was beside him. “You know what to do.”

J purred, went in front of him, and vocalized a weak roar that did the push to send the fox scurrying away as fast as it could.

[Side Plot Completed]

Side Character Rain Leclair has successfully survived against his adversary.

Rain picked up his knife, inhaled and exhaled, and shot a piercing stare at Alice. Although, she wasn’t looking at him as she had gone ahead to pack up her things. Sean could seemingly feel the tension in the air—it was all over his face—therefore he remained silent.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“What was that?” Rain voiced.

“What was what?” Alice asked.

“You saw her first; you knew she was pregnant, so why did you ask me to hunt her?” He was unable to mask the tinge of rage in his tone. In fact, he didn’t want to.

Alice slammed her hand on her bag, startling Sean who was standing beside her. Did she even have the right to be angry at this moment? “What does it matter if she was pregnant?”

“Huh?”

She glared at Rain. “I asked a question.”

“What does it matter? I-I don’t know. But she’s mentally mutated.”

“So if she was not it wouldn’t have been a problem then?”

Rain’s mind blanked, and in return he became mute. For the first time since he’d woken up to this desolate world, he had no answer, not even a made up one, to a question asked.

“What?” Alice continued. “Do you know how many points you just let waddle back into the woods? If killing a single beast gives you three points, how many do you think killing a pregnant one would?”

What the fuck?

Rain’s stomach gurgled as his lips shook. “You’re a VET. How could you say—”

“Was,” she corrected him. “The world has long gone to shit, all that is in the past. And, honestly, I’m beginning to wonder if you’re serious.”

His eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”

Alice picked up her bag and threw its straps over her shoulders, then she approached him and whispered, “I’ll say it again, I do not want someone’s death on my shoulders. Keep your hypocrisy elsewhere. If you want to survive, then focus on surviving.” She glanced at J who barely had her fangs out in aggression. “Your ruse with your Companion was just mere luck. Keep trying that everytime and you’ll definitely end up dead. If that’s the freedom you’re seeking, then have fun.” Sean was who she looked at next. “Let’s go.”

Rain watched blankly as Alice continued on and Sean followed silently behind her with a downcasted expression. He was not sure how to feel at this moment because, even though hurtful, she was right. But he also didn’t want to bend on his ideals. He wished he could do as she’d said, but he knew he couldn’t.

There was no way he could harm what meant him no harm.

And also, why was she talking this way? He recalled her confirming the existence of Mentally Mutated animals at the GEF, so why was she so harsh towards every she came across? What exactly was going through her head?

“Let’s go, J,” he finally said as he bent down, picked his crossbody bag and dropped his knife back inside.

It did not matter what she was thinking, his tantrums were pointless and unwise. He should apologize to her once he’d gotten the chance.

###

Apologizing was easier said than done when the tension between two people was high. He had resolved himself to not be angry any longer, but Alice, on the other hand, he couldn’t know if she was feeling the same way.

So, he thought of the best way to apologize.

The first thing was to start up a conversation that would interest them both. And there was nothing better than letting her know he had come to understand her intentions for plunging him into ten battles with beasts.

Yes, during his ninth tussle with a mutated hare, just before they’d come across the Tibetan fox, Rain had realized that despite him not having put any Experience Points into his Attributes, he had become better at fighting. In other words, he’d grown naturally.

Now he wasn’t completely sure how this worked, but he got the basics down flat. He still had the same Attribute stats as three days ago, but his inherent abilities had improved, which meant that the more he grew naturally, the stronger he would be when he finally put in his unassigned Experience Points into his Attributes.

Honestly, it was crazy, considering his Experience Points now amounted to twenty.

The only other thing he was confused about was why his Attribute Points were not yet increasing on their own. Was it that during all his fights he had not surpassed his limits once? This would prove problematic if that was the case.

Rain looked at Alice who was ahead of him.

She has all the answers…

As he sighed, Rain saw a road sign that read “Cumbernauld Rd.” He’d seen it on the map the night past. It was the road that led into Glasgow, one of the major cities in the United Kingdom.

He was only starting to feel a tad bit good due to the length of their journey to the GEF shortening further, when Alice suddenly stopped.

“Wh-What is it?” Sean asked with unease in his voice.

Alice didn’t answer. Rain realized. Her Perception was acting up again. This was the same way she’d behaved before the madman had appeared. Something was close. Something unpleasant.

And as if to affirm his thoughts, a loud rumbling sound, which was a mixture of a deafening roar and thuds, shook both the earth and heavens. It first started in the far distance to their side, then slowly it drew closer and closer, the trees that rose up with nothing to restrain them to their roots, falling like bodies being bulldozed by a bull.

Rain’s heartbeat raced as Sean hurried to his side. J poised herself to act. And then Alice opened her mouth as she unsheathed her sword while a drop of sweat rolled down her cheeks, “Run!”