I panted heavily as I leaned on the stone wall, sweat dripping down my face. I felt so sticky, which sucks so bad. My legs were aching, and my body felt so heavy. I had just disabled my Physical Enhancement and all pain came rushing in. I was so exhausted, so drained, that I plopped down on the ground, leaning my back on the stone wall, looking up at the sky as I took deep breaths. I had never been this fucking exhausted in a while. My heart was throbbing terribly.

  Fuck…

  At least, we should be far enough now. I have to say, straying off the path really made moving harder. The terrain was rougher and harsher, with no proper straight pathways whatsoever. Had to climb over some rocks, climb up the side of the hill, anywhere that had a surface flat enough for me to move over.

  I could have my wind to fly, but using too much magic was not an option, too dangerous for me. Wouldn’t want to get incapacitated in this region, it would be deadly. Falling unconscious all of a sudden was the last thing I wanted.

  “Are you alright, goddess?” Nira leaned towards me with a concerned expression.

  Nira looked fine by the way, not a sweat on her precious face. Well, she had been flying all this time, so she had it easy. She didn’t have to worry about falling over or anything. Flying must be very convenient indeed.

  “I will be. Just need to rest,” I said with a pained groan. I was feeling a bit dizzy. Would I really need to shut some eyes? Ugh. No, I must not. Just needed a moment of idleness, no need to sleep. I closed my eyes. “I just need to rest my eyes for a while.”

  “I-I see. I’ll, um, keep watch.”

  “Yes, please.”

  This was a monster infested place. Wouldn’t want any kind of monster to just pounce at me out of the blue while I close my eyes. Using powerful magic, and spending a good amount of mana… Really knocked out a few health in me. I was afraid one attack from a monster would instantly kill me.

  This sucks.

  How I wished I could just blast all the annoying things in front of me. But that monster, that dead angel, was just not it. That thing was absurd, by the way, in every imaginable way. How could such a thing even exist? There was no way I’d try fighting that thing directly if Taneva was getting wrecked like that. That thing could kill me if I ever make a single mistake.

  At any rate, we should be safe from that thing for the moment.

  I opened my eyes slightly, glancing at Nira. We had no food. Nira was not the one carrying the food. It was on the guys. Dammit. The little girl didn’t need any food, but me.

  Oh fuuuuck… This place is gonna kill me.

  Not of any monster, but of plain old hunger. This was bad. I needed a lot of food, I was weak. Food was a big way to mitigate that weakness. I had some water on me, but that would not be enough to help me survive. Ugh, I hated this so much. But I should set that aside for now and focus on resting.

  I heard rattling from the corner. I turned my head towards the sound and saw Nira grabbing and killing a small reptile — I say small, but it was the size of my arm. As long as the monster was at that size, Nira should be able to take care of it pretty easily.

  Now that it was just the two of us, I couldn't afford to be lax like before.

  A short time later, I slowly stood up. I was feeling a bit better. The dizziness had subsided. I wanted to take a proper sleep, but now was not the time. First, we needed to find a safe place to take shelter.

  “Let’s move.”

  “Okay.”

  We started traversing the rough, rocky terrain. This time, I didn’t use any magic. So it was a given that it was a bit difficult to move through things.

  I almost slipped and had to grasp the edge of a protruding stone. While moaning in annoyance, I continued on. Why did things become difficult like this? Ugh. Everything was going well! And that fucking angel just have to pop up and ruin everything.

  “G-Goddess, where are we going?” Nira asked as she jumped up at the elevated surface. She was moving ahead of me, given that I was moving slow as fuck.

  “It will be difficult to find them in this place. So we continue on to our destination.”

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  “To the capital city?”

  “Yes. If they survive, we should be able to meet them there.” Certainly, the others would think the same. It was the only place we’d be able to converge. Searching for each other in this place was just impractical and stupid, and a waste of time.

  “D-Do you know how to get there? I… don’t know where we are right now… and I’m not used to maps.”

  We didn’t have any map in hand, it was in the bags with the guys. So it would be a bit difficult to navigate without it. However, I had taken a close look at the map, so I should be able to tell where we should go.

  I looked up at the sky.

  “I have a rough idea of where we are. If we move in that direction,” I pointed. “We should be able to get out of this region more quickly.”

  I was averting our initial direction, so instead of heading directly to the direction of the city, I decided to get out of this dangerous region as soon as possible. Getting into a lesser dangerous area was better than being stuck long in this more dangerous area.

  That being said, at the pace we were going, it might take days. ‘But Estelia, what about you just fly?’ Want me to die? ‘What if you just let Nira carry you up?’ She was still a kid in their standard, there was a weight limit to what they could carry. We asked Nira that once. Lifting something while standing on a surface, and lifting something while in their half fog form was different. Furthermore, it would be a struggle for them even if they could lift something. That was why when Taneva went after me during the sea days, he wasn’t carried by the Cursed Children and had to find a boat himself. Carrying him throughout the sea would be incredibly difficult, and would slow them down tremendously. Heneis carried me once, or rather, snatched me once, but hey, I am a light person, and no one knew how long before he gets strained carrying me.

  I have to say, what a selfish ability. But then again, even when I used my wind while carrying somebody, I had to exert more force and mana. Weight was a crucial factor to consider. Like how planes need more propelling power depending on the weight they carry. Nira would just come plummeting down if she tried to lift me up in the air.

  “I understand. But, goddess, we should find shelter first… It will be night in a few hours.”

  “Yeah. So let’s keep moving.”

  All of our camping equipment was with the others, if we don’t find a good place to sleep, that might be a problem. This place was cold as hell during the night — that phrasing doesn’t make sense, but you get what I’m saying.

  We slowly got down the hill, finding a good pathway. Not really as big as a proper road, but was enough for a footpath. I leaned my hand on the nearby boulder, my legs were sore already. I had not used healing magic on my body after that extreme use of Physical Enhancement.

  Not only that, I was feeling a bit hungry already. What could I even eat around here?

  “Goddess?”

  “I’m okay.”

  I continued onwards, thinking hard on how to survive in a place like this as I endured my suffering. I never had to experience a survival scenario. There’s a first time for everything, right? Well, not every first time is good. And there are just other first times that I would rather not experience firsthand.

  “Nira, I will need to have a deep rest later tonight. Can I give my faith to you? To keep me safe.”

  No matter how hard I must push myself, I had to rest properly sooner or later. Lest I just drop suddenly on the road.

  “Y-Yes, goddess.”

  I nodded. “Good. I’m relying on you.”

  Now, as for the food. Where was I going to get it in this place? The only ones that had meat here were monsters. As long as the monster was not venomous or poisonous, they should be fine to eat. But, dammit, I would not like eating any monster. But I was not in a situation to be choosy. Being hungry is pretty bad for a sick person.

  Well, I also shouldn’t eat any reptiles. Those were usually bad things to eat. No, I heard people eating reptiles before, so… Ugh whatever.

  As the night drew closer, the ground beneath us suddenly shook. I quickly stepped back, and a worm emerged from the ground. It was the same kind of worm that the crew faced earlier. It shrieked at us.

  “Goddess?”

  I drew out my blades. “Kill it. You get its attention.”

  “Right.”

  Nira first attacked the monster, swinging her claws at its face. The monster focused its attention on her, lashing out its head to attack her. Now its attention away from me, I poured mana into my body and into my weapons. Just a small amount.

  I sprinted towards the worm at swift speed, jumping and slashing the back of its neck two times with both daggers. I was being thrifty with my expenditure of magic on my weapons, all I did was coating my blades with magic, and nothing else. Getting through the tough skin was trivial.

  The worm cried before rattling and pulling out the rest of its body out of the ground. It swung its tail at me, and I dodge while spinning around to slash it. Nira leaped at its head and thrust her claws into it. As the worm tried to shake her off, I jumped over the worm and slashed at its body several times all at once, its blood flicking off the air.

  It threw off Nira, and I took the chance to jump and stab it in the neck. With the dagger secured deeply into its flesh, I pushed my body and the dagger down. Blood spurted out as its body was cut open. I only managed to cut its upper half before I hit the ground, and I quickly jumped away to avoid its violent writhing. As it writhed, its blood spurted off in the air and splattering on the soil.

  Considering that I inflicted fatal damage, it soon after dropped to the ground. Seeing that it completely stopped moving, I let out a relieved sigh. Looking around, there wasn’t any other monster nearby.

  I stepped close to the monster as I sheathed back one dagger. I recalled what Taneva said, about this thing being edible.

  I winced.

  Not a worm… Fuck. Not a worm again…

  Eating those wolves might have been a better option, but they were not the ones I encountered here and now. Dammit.

  Is this what I’m reduced to? This sucks.

  But I was becoming hungry, and I didn’t have a lot of options. So now was not the time to be picky.

  Ugh, worm it is.

  “Goddess?”

  “... Nira… We’ll camp here for tonight. This worm… will be food.”

  “... I see…” She said in a low voice, even she was a bit hesitant.

  I hate this place.

  Can we nuke this place already?