Saki looked up to see the campsite.
'There's no monsters—safe. Thanks god.'
She breathed out a relieved sigh.
She would spend the entire night without a single light source, excluding the hand spotlight she had brought for emergencies, so she would hope that no accident would happen tonight.
With a more relaxed mind, Saki the tent. She would first treat her wound before eating some dried meat for her dinner.
She spent her afternoon like that. Before long, the night came.
Unfortunately, she only managed to level up once before, so she still lacked one point before she could purchase Hide, the skill that could help her conceal her aura from her opponents.
'I need to survive this night before I can go hunting some more monsters.'
The light was humans' companion even from ancient times. Without light, she naturally began to grow restless. The fear of darkness gripped her heart tightly, and no matter how hard she tried to ignore the feeling, she wouldn't be able to escape from it since the darkness was everywhere.
After her vision was rendered useless, her sense of hearing became more sensitive. The sounds of wind, the faint sound of fluttering grasses, and the songs of insects filled her ears.
She had even become more aware of her own movements. The slight shift of her hands, fingers, her breath... Everything suddenly became something that she counted actively using her mind.
That's why,
When a new sound appeared, she immediately tensed.
Scratch... Scratch...
Saki looked up only to find gaps had been ripped open in the tent curtain.
A faint glow of moonlight entered the tent from the gaps.
Saki reached out towards her daggers while continuing to keep her eyes on the gaps.
Nothing. She could see nothing there.
However—
Scratch...
The gaps slowly widened,
As if someone or something with claws was ripping it open.
And Saki recognized the identity of the culprit the moment she looked at the size and form of the gaps.
It was that thing.
And as if to confirm her suspicion, a red marble suddenly bounced down toward her.
Saki abruptly got up and slashed the other side of the tent to escape from the thing.
She was about to run away from the campsite when her steps came to a halt the moment she noticed that the ground surrounding the campsite had been filled with red marbles.
Saki didn't know the purpose of these red marbles. She only knew one thing about them, and that was the fact that they were coming out from the thing itself. And since they came out of the thing, it means they were dangerous!
Saki turned around and squinted her eyes back toward the tent, eyeing it vigilantly as she slowly stepped away from the tent.
Since the way out had been covered, she could only circle around the campsite, but since there was still enough space for her to maneuver, she went against the idea of gambling whether the red marbles were dangerous or not and chose the safest option instead.
Scratch... Scratch... Scratch...
The hole in the tent that Saki had opened widened with scratching noises.
She still couldn't see the thing's appearance.
But she knew that it was the best time to attack since she knew the current location of the thing.
She rushed forward, her daggers taking turns to slash at her front.
She continued running toward the hole in the tent and slashing blindly at the air. Before long, she was already inside the tent again, panting.
She looked at the place she had slashed before, her eyes widened.
'I could feel... Nothing!'
Again.
It was nothing.
She had sliced that place where the thing should be standing, but she felt nothing, not even a sensation of slashing flesh.
It was just... Nothing.
Then,
The red marble dropped to the ground before her, slowly rolling toward her.
Saki gritted her teeth in frustration before rushing out of the tent once more to put some distance between herself and the thing, her brain overworked to find a way to deal with the thing.
'What should I do? My attacks couldn't reach it, but it still attacks other things like the tent and my bed.'
'It's ridiculous! What kind of creature that thing even is, a ghost, a devil!?'
After she was 5 meters away from the tent, Saki stopped and turned around, her daggers raised in guard against any attacks that the thing might launch at any moment.
The tent was once again being ripped open by the thing as it made its way toward Saki. She knew the thing was approaching her, but, frustratingly, she was neither able to see nor sense it.
Then again,
A red marble fell to the ground.
Saki looked at the marble, fear and irritation clear on her expression.
She hesitated for a moment before reaching out to grab the marble.
'Ok, fine! Let's see what you could do to me with—'
The moment her palm covered the marble, she shuddered.
No.
Not because of the marble.
But from something else.
The owner of the red marbles.
Finally,
She can see its true appearance.
Saki looked up, her entire body trembling.
There, 3 meters away from her, a dark figure was standing.
Its long, black hair reached down to its stick waist, covering its elongated limbs.
The thing was tall, towering over her with its more than 2.3 meters height, and it was its hunched height.
The thing tilted its head, its pair of red eyes stared at her hand that grabbed the marble.
Then—
A wide, ghostly grin appeared on the thing's face.
The thing laughed, its ghostly voice like a poison for Saki's ears.
That's why, when the thing raised its hand, Saki couldn't move.
The moment she blinked, she was already twirling in the air, her chest had five claw wounds on it, and her blood splattered in the air wildly.
Her mind frozen.
Her body won't move.
She could only stare at the thing widely, horror and despair filled her pupils.
She then fell to the ground, hardly.
It's hurt. Terribly hurt.
"ARRRGGHHHHHHH!!!"
Suddenly, even breathing was a task that could transfer pain to her brain.
"Argh! Cough! Cough!"
Her vision was red because of blood. Her throat was also filled with blood.
The pain then fades away as she continues to lose more blood.
It's become hot,
And cold.
And numbing.
And congested.
'Am I going to... Die?'
She blinked for the last time, then she was stunned.
Because a girl with a body and clothes made of water suddenly appeared beside her. She crouched beside her, the girl's palm stretched out to pour water over her body.
The water was warm, comfortably so. And relaxing.
Saki could only give the girl a last stare before she fell asleep.