《The Ruined World 破壊された世界》[Arc 1] Chapter 6 - Wretched Lands [Part 4]
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While White was considered a 'nocturnal' back on Earth, he wasn't exactly a superhuman either. Just like anyone else, the only way he could see in the darkness was to get used to it. And since he had came to this world, time progressed as normal. Which meant that White had been exposed to the sunlight long enough for his 'advantage' to lose effectiveness.
The sky had already turned dark blue, and it wouldn't be long for even that darkness to consume the glitter of the stars in the sky.
How much... further?
He thought anxiously as he wandered even deeper into the thickening forestry. There was no sound of crickets, nor cicadas. It was unnaturally silent, but that made him even more worried.
Doubts began to spring into his head. Maybe, the man had lied?
But why? The man had no reason to lie to him. He was being chased from quite a distance away, and he couldn't serve as a suitable scapegoat...
No, why am I doubting him... I am the one in need of help in the first place... I knew this, but I'm really a terrible human being...
White shook his head and focused on his task at hand. He was not to lose his focus or he might miss the entrance to the hideout. It was at this time that White had regretted not waiting for some additional clues in order to find it.
And then he found it.
Not the hideout, but something peculiar.
A woman...? No, a girl...?
It wasn't really important how old she was for now, but White had stumbled across an unconscious woman stuck in a net. It looked like one of those net traps one would see a hunter use in documentaries when securing wild animals. The ends of the net were tied to two nearby trees, and it looked rather secure.
No no, why am I calmly analyzing the net now... that person... why is she trapped in a place like this?
Maybe it was because he held a generally favourable opinion of the opposite gender, or maybe it was simply because it was also another person he had stumbled across in this dangerous land, it seemed like he wanted to release her from the net.
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Before he knew it, his legs had already stopped.
And while he didn't think that stopping now would be a good idea, White would never have realized that trouble would be knocking on his door so soon.
Silently, and crawling.
White began to notice an itchy feeling on his right ear.
He scratched, and felt something that made his skin chilly.
It was a maggot, the size of a small capsule ball.
"WH-AT THE F-"
It wasn't just on his right ear. As he looked down frantically, he could see a swarm of them crawling speedily up into his pants.
Disgust, shock, fear... all of those emotions surged together at once. White jumped up and down, flailing his arms and shaking his head madly like his life depended on it, literally.
This maggot was probably another monster. It did not even register to him that they were crawling on top of his skin until they had taken a good bite off his flesh. It was a horrifying monster which he would later find out to be a 「Mutated Lilac」.
He shook some of them off, but they continued to crawl up all over his body. Some were almost getting into his ears, while some had already gotten into his mouth. White had to repeatedly spit them out before any of them slid down his throat. More than disgusting, he felt that if the Lilacs swarmed him even more, it would reach a point of no return and he would die from being eaten alive before even considering the fact that he would also bleed to death from all of the external wounds he had received.
His eyes turned to the female still trapped in the net, dangling in between two trees.
He felt that if anything, that person was even more in danger than him. She could not move while unconscious, and it would be a matter of time before these Lilacs swarmed together and overwhelm her too.
White had already held feelings of wanting to save her initially, thus he could not help but focus a part of his attention on the female.
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Ughh... th-there's too many...!!!
Just when all seemed lost, he noticed something bound to one of the trees very close to him. A coil of rope was wrapped around its trunk, securing it in place. White quickly realized what it was from the look of it.
A torchlight!
Without hesitation, White extended his left arm forward and grabbed the torchlight.
A beam of light immediately appeared after its switch had been turned on.
They're... afraid of the light!
The grass patch infested with the Lilacs was being put in the spotlight, and almost immediately all of them scurried away in all directions.
I... I can do this!
White immediately shone the light on himself, and in his clothing. He managed to get most of them off, but he had already suffered from quite a few wounds. On top of having close to no more stamina, he was also starting to bleed profusely.
But what about her? He thought frantically, already thinking of climbing the tree to save her.
Of course, it was just thinking.
He could not possibly do it, not in this state. Nor was he confident of climbing a five-meter tree at his best.
He shone on the underside of the net, as he watched the insect monsters crawl up from the bottom of the trees and reaching the ends of the rope leading to the net.
Still, he wanted to help. The first few Lilacs would awaken her from unconsciousness, and then he would tell her to try and rotate her body around so that he could try and keep them away with the torchlight. For himself, he would jog on the spot lightly such that they would not be able to get to him as easily as before.
Sure enough, he noticed that the female had woken up from the pain.
She quickly noticed her surroundings. What emotions did she have, when she noticed that there were barely any space to move around in the net? In the first place, how had she gotten in a place like this...?
As if suddenly coming to a realization, she widened her eyes.
"N-no way... he..."
That voice was of a mature woman, and finally White could call her one in his mind. But that was but a fleeting thought, as he would never see this woman again.
"Tu-turn your body around! I'll shine the light on them!"
The woman suddenly heard a voice coming from underneath her, and noticed that there was certainly a light coming from below. The voice of a young man, and he had a torchlight.
But the woman did not have the time to think of such things either, as she felt another sting in between her breasts.
"Agahhh!!! Help me!"
She screamed in a voice louder than White.
"Help meeee!!! What is this?! What are these things! No, nooooooo!!! Get away from me!!! Ahh, it hurts! It hurtssss!!!"
White could no longer speak from a lack of water content in his throat, yet there were still screams.
Screams of pure agony and despair.
White's jogging became less and less energetic, but his hands on the torchlight were still on the back of the net. His eyes twitched and his smile became slightly crooked.
"No way this is... happening... right...?"
A small voice could be heard if the woman listened close enough, but the maggots were already plugged into her ears and nostrils. She could no longer perceive her surroundings, flailing about in the tightened net like a butterfly caught in a spider's web. She had already closed her eyes off as the slimy legs of the Lilacs had began to melt them like acid.
"Hurts... It hurts!!! Help me!! Help me!! Aghh, ack, ish' intho' my mhouth'...!!! H'lp... h...p..."
The screaming became a whimper, and soon enough the quietness of the forest returned.
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