The rain does not stop.
It's getting thicker instead.
Mirroring the tumultuous state of the Puddle's heart at the moment.
'I did it...'
The Puddle looked at the massacre he had made.
'I am a murderer...'
The last bit of humanity inside him screamed rejection at the fact. However he reasons it, be it to protect Whitey and its mate, or because of his own hatred toward Humans, it still does not change the fact that he was now a killer who had stolen the lives of five people.
The fact felt heavy, and also light, unexpectedly.
It's heavy because it's hurt himself with guilt, but also felt light because there was satisfaction in it. Satisfaction that he had killed Humans he had always hated.
'No...'
But Ronata himself knew that that way of thought was bad. Thus, he stopped himself.
'I killed them because they harmed Whitey and its mate. It's felt heavy, but I'll endure it. That's it.'
Ronata, who now had his Puddle stained by blood, finally rearranged his mind again.
He consciously began dissolving the blood that flowed into him before shifting his attention back to Whitey and its mate.
Whitey is still alive despite its wounds. Its mate supported it, licking its wounds to help it cleanse its slice wounds. They then come toward Ronata and imbibe a sip of water.
Ronata didn't know whether his water had a healing trait or not, but surprisingly, his water had an effect of healing on Whitey's wounds. His water does not instantly heal it, but only slightly hastens the speed at which its wounds would be closed.
'Perhaps the Mana inside my water works on it?'
The bunny couple gives him a strange look before they curl back into their grass house to shelter themselves from the rain.
Ronata then shifted his attention back to the carnage he had made. Back towards the sliced corpses. Who was just alive not too long before.
'What should I do to these corpses?'
There are a lot of beasts and monsters wandering this plain. If left be, the scent of blood would soon attract them to this place. Which, in turn, would then become a threat to the bunny couple.
'Should I dissolve them as well?'
After giving it a thought for a while, Ronata decided that it would be best for him to dissolve them in his water. If he consciously encourages his trait, the process of dissolving it would at least take a week at most.
Thus, Ronata steeling himself.
He controls the raindrops to gather with his magic and move them to engulf the corpses, blood, and all. He then began dragging the corpses towards his Puddle, a corpse after another.
His current width and depth, of course, are not enough to take all of them in without risking himself to lose most of his mass. So Ronata uses his magic to control water to soften the soil before transferring it to the surface, slowly increasing his width and depth.
For the first time, he also began gathering raindrops actively using his magic.
The task, surprisingly, is way harder than he thought before.
He was a Clean Puddle. In his current state, with blood almost colored all his water red, and five corpses drowned inside him, he felt like a man who had drunk too much alcohol.
Nausea, headache, dizziness...
It was the worst time he had had after he reincarnated as a Puddle in this world. The only silver lining of this situation is that he now knew that he was not an unkillable being, even as a Puddle. Maybe, if his Puddle somehow fully contaminated beyond his ability to speed to purify himself, he would...
Ronata feels sleepy.
His 'head' felt way heavier than ever.
He needs to rest.
To close his 'eyes', and enter the realm of dream.
'But I haven't dissolved these corpses yet...'
Suddenly—
Light disappeared from his vision.
He fell unconscious.
...
A monster gained life from Mana, fed on Mana, and lived to seek more Mana.
It was no different even for a solitary Harcrum that had lost its herd.
Too small and too young to face the outside world, it had no bigger Harcrum to protect it—yet the same rules still applied to it.
Harsh, yet fair.
It would be reduced to a half-dead state every time it encountered other monsters. Even a normal animal was a threat to it at that time.
It was only after it found the Puddle that its life changed.
The Puddle always gathers Mana from its surroundings. Most of it is absorbed by the Puddle itself, but some remained near it, which, for a monster like the Harcrum, was highly beneficial for its growth.
It immediately marked the place beside the Puddle as its nest, using the grass blades to create a place for it to use as shelter from rain and hide from threats.
The Harcrum began feeding on the Mana the Puddle does not need, ingesting it to hasten its growth.
Time flew, and in no time, it had reached its adultery. Not only that, but it even became stronger and faster than its parents.
The mouse, which always left it with lethal wounds whenever it encountered them before, had now become Harcrum's main prey. With only a single bite from it, no mouse could survive another second and instantly became its dinner of the day.
It continued to grow, never stopping to feed itself of the Mana the Puddle doesn't need.
It grew beyond its race limit.
Strength filled its body.
At a point, even the mouse no longer could satisfy it. However, it remained vigilant. Its memories of when it was still weak warned it not to be swallowed by its newfound power.
So it continued to feed itself with Mana, growing, and continued to grow.
The Harcrum even found a mate for itself. The one that had a similar origin to him, a leftover of a destroyed herd.
It also now had children, though they had yet to be born.
All was because of the Puddle.
For the Harcrum, the Puddle was its guardian, the one who had given it a chance to challenge the world once more.
The Harcrum felt that its days were wonderful.
Until,
It met them.
Humans.
Ii thought that it would die there. That it would lose everything; its life, its mate, even its unborn children—
But the Puddle saved them.
The Puddle finally showed that it was not merely an unremarkable puddle that could gather Mana from its surroundings, but a real, bona fide 'living' being.
However, the Puddle was wounded because it had saved them.
Its clean, sacred water, had now been stained by blood. It is now filled with the corpses of Humans, spreading the rot scent to the surroundings.
The Puddle...
...was dying.
All because of them.
If only the Harcrum had not so recklessly shown up before the Humans.
If only it were stronger.
If only...
They're not using this place as their nest and brought the threats to the Puddle's front.
A normal Harcrum was a mere brainless monster, incapable of complex mental activities.
However, both it and its mate had already evolved beyond their race's limit. They're abnormal.
Fortunately, the Puddle was not dead yet. It still had its ability to absorb Mana, despite being slower and weaker than ever.
The Puddle could still be saved.
No—
They should—
They will save it.
As a monster, a being born from Mana, the Harcrum knew how important Mana truly is. It believe that with more Mana, the Puddle would survive.
So it would feed the Puddle Mana.
And when talking about the source Mana, the Mana Crystal that was the Monsters' cores was the best. So the Harcrum decided to challenge this plain's strongest monster, the Lycan.
Its mate also agreed with it. It ignored its heavy body and followed the Harcrum to look for the lord of the plain, the worry of damaging their children was set aside.
After a thorough search, they finally found their target.
A panther, black and robust, was walking through the grass as if the place were its own property.
And that's true. At least in the past.
Now.
It would die—on their fangs.
The fight, as expected, was intense.
The Lycan, with its bigger and stronger body, has the strength to kill them with a single attack.
Fortunately, the Harcrum could outspeed it with its agile legs. However, its mate, with its extra weight, was not able to unleash its full speed and received a gaping wound on its stomach in exchange for the Lycan's eyes.
The Harcrum only focused on killing the Lycan. It was believed that its mate was not so easy to kill, after all, it had lived beside the Puddle with it.
With its fangs, the Harcrum tears the Lycan's throat, killing it. Atop the Lycan's dead body, the Harcrum let out a roar. A cute, small, but dominating Roar.
They had gained victory.
And this victory was for their guardian and benefactor, the Puddle.
The Harcrum first takes care of its mate's wounds and feasts on a small amount of the Mana-rich meat of the Lycan before returning to the Puddle with the Lycan's core.
Needless to say, the wound on its mate's stomach, of course, had damaged their unborn children. They don't know whether their children would survive or not, but they wouldn't lament it. Because whatever the cost, they had brought a victory for their guardian.
The Harcrum let its mate imbibe on the Puddle's water as it let the Lycan's core fall into the red water.
It was their form of gratitude for the Puddle.
It was... Their gift.
A farewell gift.
They didn't want to bring harm to the Puddle because of them any more than this, so they decided to leave after this.
They knew that their leaving wouldn't mean that the Puddle would be free from any threats. However, that way, at least, the Puddle would have an option to hide its identity as a 'living puddle' a secret.
After all, who would have thought that a Puddle is life?
The Puddle wouldn't be forced to take actions anymore.
It could just live its life peacefully without worry.
So... This was a farewell.
The Harcrum gave the Puddle a last squeak before it brought its mate away from this place.
To a place they don't know. To a world they are unfamiliar with. To unknown possibilities waiting for them to unravel.
With a hope to see the Puddle again later when they are stronger, the bunny couple left the plain.