Chapter 3
Chapter 3
Extreme Circumstances
A few hours into the forest, avoiding monsters and being wary of my surroundings–
The trees became denser and thicker and less and less light could seep inside making it dark.
I had come to Peixa forests with father a couple times before to hunt but we had never gone this far deep.
The deeper I went, the presence of monsters and animals disappeared and all that was left was the sound of my footsteps and the rustling of the trees.
A fear quite different from the one you get when facing monsters, seeped into me while in this odd atmosphere. And finally I found a place that could become something like a base for me.
Not exactly the underside of a cliff, more like a space between 2 big rocks.
2 giant rocks crossed over to make a somewhat makeshit roof, and the entrance is only wide enough for about three of me, so I don’t have to worry about being surrounded by demons, and large demons can’t enter in the first place.
Strong against rain and wind as well, it was a natural “fort”.
The large amounts of insects crawling around and the moss growing all over is a bit of a negative, but neither is a dealbreaker.
To quickly make it more habitable, I decided to deal with the aforementioned problems first and foremost.
Soon enough, I caught some of the insects while exterminating the rest and cleaned up the moss as well.
Furthermore, I made a simple mat out of leaves and branches to lay on the muddy ground, and thus, my little base was complete.
Now all I can do is wait for the time to pass but…….
Humans, tend to get hungry when there’s nothing else to focus on.
Not to mention, I haven’t even had breakfast today and had to run all the way to the deep area of this forest just to run away from Klaus.
Having exhausted myself beyond anything I had ever experienced in my life, even the ugly, wriggly worms that I captured could make me swallow my spit from sheer hunger.
Of course, those are my last resort. First I want to try and feed myself with the vegetation growing around the first.
I left my temp base, grabbed a nearby shrubbery and put it inside my mouth.
Bitter yet better than nothing, it didn’t matter if it was poisoned thankfully for me, yet was difficult to swallow.
Still, I needed the energy so I forced myself to eat whatever I could find that looked somewhat edible. From weird looking fruits to odd mushrooms.
Oddly enough, the weird appearances, most were easy to swallow; the bitterness was still there of course.
For the time being, I ignored the appearance of things and gathered whatever my stomach said felt tasty until my bag was full.
.
Returning to base, I took the edibles out and stored them in a corner.
All that’s left…..is to find a source for drinking water.
While I was gathering my food, I tried looking for perhaps a nearby stream or such but the best I found a was dirty, muddy pool.
There was nothing on the way here either so I either had to return to the spring in the middle of the forest where I took a break, or settle for the muddy pool.
It would take a few hours to go that spring and back, but in the first place, I don’t have a clear route to its location.
I was averting my eyes from reality and had kept walking on like an airhead, but I have no idea on my bearings, or where I came from in the first place.
In that case, the muddy pool will have to do….
Just like the food, [poison resistance] should keep me safe from the muddy water as well but just thinking about how it would taste sent a shiver down my spine.
Just the liquids from fruits and shrubbery wont give me enough water and if I didn’t use the muddy pool, I’ll certainly die of dehydration.
Having resolved myself, I headed to that puddle, and used both my hands to scoop up some water and drank it.
As you would expect from water that was dark enough to look like tea, not just taste but the residue left in my mouth made me want to vomit but I held back to avoid further loss of water from my body.
No real food, no proper water either.
I wanted to cry from the extreme situation that I was stuck in and my resolve to survive was already wavering.
I will give payback to Klaus and my father.
Using those emotions to well up strength again, I wiped my mouth, and I returned to my base.