"Why... why..."

A mangled corpse fell out of the net after holes had been created from the Lilacs. The woman was already dead, but the remaining Lilacs that were about to crawl up to White had switched their focus to the sweet scent of blood. The insects piled up onto the remains of the body like a flock of vultures. The layer of meat the woman still had around her skeletal frame was quickly being devoured, and her size shrunk even more.

At least, he wanted to know her name. His narrowed eyes laid rest on the body which had already been layered by a horde of ｢Mutated Lilac｣. He repeated the use of his only appraisal skill in his head until he could do so without saying it. ｢Status Window｣.

He shone a light quickly over, and in an instant, the Lilacs made way for the light. White had achieved the precondition to have to view a portion of the target in order to use it.

｢Human Corpse｣

As if mocking his efforts, the window displayed those cruel words. White felt the grim reality of a person's death. He had witnessed someone else die before him, in the worst and most cruel way possible. There was no way that he wouldn't be shaken by it.

Even though I've tried my best... even though she did nothing wrong...

For an 18-year-old, death was not a common sight, even if he had attempted to drown his own life away countless times. It was a fact that even White who held more importance over his own safety, wanted that woman to live.

She had done nothing wrong, or at least, he wanted to believe so. They were all victims of this world.

...And the one who had sent him here, was that Goddess.

For once, White could feel something brewing inside of his chest close to anger. But the person himself did not have much time to settle down his thoughts.

He had to get out of this place, he told himself many times repeatedly. He had to get to the hideout.

Stamina [4] Hunger [4] Thirst [2]

He was running out of options. He only had this torchlight.

White's pace reduced to a light jog, and slowly turned into walking. And then walking which required him to take frequent breaks.

Stamina [2] Hunger [2] Thirst [1]

He was going to die.

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"Fuuu..."

I exhaled heavily.

It seemed that the matter this time was rather serious. A transfer? Really?

I closed my eyes and admonished myself for being such an idiot.

At least, he still managed to bring me out properly right before he actually died. That was, to me who had stayed inside for not very long, the situation was rather annoying. This was the second time in a long while, and the gap in between was rather quick.

A flood of information seeped into my head, and I quickly understood our predicament.

"So this... is it... huh..."

｢Mutated Lilac｣

This was the monster that hated light. This thing probably came out the moment it turned dark.

And then there was the other creature he had encountered.

｢Mutated Mana Worm｣

This one was an aquatic type. And it only appeared when he had ingested the muddy water.

Both of them had the word 'Mutated' in them, perhaps this was a place where everything had deviated from the norm. In that case, it was silly for him to even consider eating anything around here carelessly.

The purple trees which did not wither even in this wasteland. A forest right in the middle of it, everything about it just seemed suspicious.

And so?

There was nothing else I could do about it. My feet had turned heavy, and I did not have the resources to fuel myself forward any longer.

Seriously, this is the worst. To always bring me out in situations like this.

"...You already know how much I hated being in the open..."

I muttered softly under my breath.

I had to find a solution huh. My feet had stopped, and I thought even harder again.

The illumination from the torchlight danced from tree to tree, I soaked in every single detail and etched them into a mind map. The environment was useless... then were there anything else... something that could get me out of this place, someone that could get me out...

My eyes fell upon the clothes I was wearing. It had not been torn off the entire time.

And then the answer occurred to me.

"...Ugh..."

Still... I'd like to not use it if I could. But I guess it couldn't be helped.

Beggars can't be choosers.

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A pair of footsteps rustled as they moved along the tall grass that got to one's kneecaps.

A man dressed lightly held a large amount of caution as he continued forward. In one of his hands, there was a wooden stick with its ends set ablaze. That was a fire torch that one would see when 'adventurers' moved into the dungeon depths. Of course the use of such a torch was slightly different here, but it generally had one use for having it.

It was to keep out the monsters that lurked in the darkness.

With the help of the flame illuminating the surroundings, the man did not spare much effort in navigating his way around. Still, he did frequently check the places around the trees where he had marked them with a knife.

Where he was going, was quite clear.

He was going to collect a woman. And while it might be good that the other kid that was around earlier was still alive, it was merely just an added bonus. He was beginning to run out of food after all.

Snickering to himself internally, he had finally arrived at where the woman was.

But almost immediately, he had lost a substantial amount of calmness.

"Fuck...!" The man gnawed at his own teeth, furious by the unexpected results.

It seemed that the net was already broken, and that the trap did not stand well against the critters that appeared after nightfall. More specifically, the bottom of the net had been bloodied and hung loosely. Normally he would've employed the use of a more secure trap, but he didn't really have much of those left. Those kinds of traps were one-time uses, and it was annoying to have to remake them again and again.

So his experimentation had failed, and it had cost the life of such a precious stock.

But he could not see the corpse anywhere.

The man moved the fire torch around and tried to see traces of a skeleton. He knew how the Mutated Lilacs acted. They did not consume anything beyond flesh, and the bones would naturally be kept intact.

"Hmm...?"

The movement of his hand holding the fire torch stopped as he noticed a small spot of light on the ground not far from here.

Ah, the torchlight. He assumed rather quickly. Did the woman manage to get away after falling out from the net?

The man licked his lips, and sauntered towards that direction.