9th Day, Crisis (1)
9th day, morning at 7 a.m.
It's been 48 hours since I got trapped in this tree, yet the rainfall and rising water levels show no signs of easing. It's truly eerie how relentlessly it pours down.
And last night, unable to sleep and worrying Franc, I clutched the pouch containing her Soul Stone in both hands and kept cycling through my Search ability the entire time.
Through the faint irritation, I felt a small, bumpy protrusion and gently stroked it, but Franc showed no reaction. It seemed the stimulation only came when I made direct skin contact.
I closed my eyes, feeling the Soul Stone's texture through the cloth, and alternated my Search ability. Especially, I focused on detecting Phase Power and other unfamiliar energies inside the Soul Stone, repeating my concentration to understand them.
For some reason, whenever I sensed that energy that I thought was Franc's soul, an urge to analyze kept building... I can't really explain it well. It might have something to do with that vague feeling that I no longer needed to worry so much.
Franc lay beside me in a prone position, propped on her arm, asleep. It had been about three hours since she dozed off. I gazed at her sleeping face like admiring a masterpiece, then quietly plucked some leaves and chewed them without making a sound.
Mmm. There aren't many edible leaves left. I'll have to cut more branches when Franc wakes up.
......
Still, my chest has been fluttering since earlier, making it impossible to stay still... This feeling isn't the flutter of excitement. An inexplicable anxiety keeps pushing in.
I sat up from my spot, and Franc, who had been awakened by the movement, rubbed her sleepy eyes and looked at me.
...... Should I be honest?
“Somehow, my chest is fluttering. It's not excitement or anything like that... it feels more like it's due to some anxiety...”
At my words, Franc pushed herself up, shaking off the sleepiness, patted the floor with her palm, and began crawling out.
Two plump, rounded buttocks. A charming little valley with a single flower blooming in the gap appeared.
“......”
No, no. Was that hand gesture just now telling me to wait here? She said she was going to check around?
Soon, Franc's swaying hips disappeared from view, and I, who had been frozen for a moment, felt a bit dazed. I removed the wind screen and followed her, and there was Franc floating in the air.
“Why did you come out when I was waiting inside? You cheeky little sister,” I said, putting wind into her cheek, and Franc quickly waved both hands at me, urging me to go back inside.
“When you're anxious, you have to relieve that anxiety. If you just stay still, the anxiety will keep growing until it becomes a panic attack.”
Of course, it was a lie I made up.
Real panic attacks or panic episodes happen suddenly with various accompanying symptoms, unlike the gradual fluttering of the heart and rising anxiety like right now.
And innocent Franc, who doesn't know how to suspect others, had that expression that said, “Is that true? But it's dangerous...” but since she couldn't physically stop me, she had no choice but to slowly float around me.
“But flying in the sky doesn't require any strength or anything, right? If you feel something bad, don't do it.”
At my concern, Franc smiled brightly and gave a small nod, but that wasn't the expression of “I won't do it because you told me not to” that would make me happy for worrying. She was actually happy that I was worried.
Annoying girl.
I felt a small sigh about to escape and scanned my surroundings with Telescopic Vision, but there was nothing particularly out of the ordinary. More than that, when I looked down at the cliff with my naked eyes, an incredible sight unfolded.
“Wow, if I just go a little further, it’ll turn into a perfect lake.”
Water was rising below the cliff, and the water level had already reached 11 meters. If it rose just a little more, most of the trees near the cliff would be submerged.
The sight stretched all the way to the horizon... What kind of phenomenon was this?
It was a scene that didn't make sense with the common sense I had learned at school and absorbed through various media and books. Not a flood, yet the water level kept rising. And the valley wasn't narrow on either side.
When I looked into the water, there were only a few small whirlpools here and there at the spot where the waterfall fell, with almost no current, just stagnant water.
Was the area over there particularly low-lying? Or maybe high mountains surrounded that distant place.
Anyway, with rain and water continuously flowing in, the water level would steadily rise.
Even while looking at the cliff below, my heart kept fluttering a little, but when new thoughts came to mind, I felt slightly more at ease. So I turned to look at Franc... and suddenly, Franc's Y-shaped thighs and the closed clamshell lips came into view, making me startled.
When I looked up, Franc was floating in the air, resting her shoulder on mine and checking the left side.
“......”
Suddenly, I wondered if there would be any sensation when touching Franc's spiritual body, and for some reason, I raised my hand and brought it toward her hips.
My hand went straight through without any resistance into Franc's spiritual body.
But Franc must have felt something. She looked down at my hand inside her lower belly, turned to me, raised her eyebrows slightly, and gave me a troubled expression that said “this pervert.”
Embarrassed, I pulled my hand back and scratched my head, and Franc, with a slight smile, came down and stood beside me.
And every hair on her body stood on end, and her whole body stiffened.
Wh-what is this.
My throat tightened. Something terrifying... was watching me...!!
Franc, seeing my stiff body, panicked and flew around erratically, but my paralyzed body wouldn't move, like a frog in front of a snake.
......!
I forced myself to stay conscious and tried to use my Search ability to figure out what was happening, but it only felt blurry, like fog.
I forced my stiff head to turn. My muscles screamed in pain, but I ignored it and kept turning to look behind me.
And I saw it.
Far away, slowly crawling, a huge... Rogue Imugi.
Rogue Imugi, an anomalous species. Length about 350 meters, body thickness 24 meters, a pair of deer antlers sprouting near the temples.
The head and body were like a snake's, with dark blue scales on top and ivory on the bottom based on the mouth. A 3-meter white beard covered the underside of the jaw. The skin was also scaled like a snake's.
It controls lightning, and no physical attack works on its body.
As one of the beings standing at the peak of anomalous species, it shows no mercy to hostile beings, delivering an unyielding death, but it shows mercy by not harming non-hostile beings, so despite being an anomalous species, it is treated as a spiritual being.
Only four Rogue Imugi anomalous species have been discovered so far.
The tier of Rogue Imugi registered in anomalous biology is...
Highest Tier.
My heart pounded wildly.
The enormous Rogue Imugi, ignoring perspective, approached slowly with its sapphire blue eyes staring directly at me.
Why didn't it attack when it was supposed to show no reaction? But it was precisely staring at me.
What did I do?!
A mad alarm rang in my head, and the thought of fleeing filled my mind, but how could I escape from the strongest anomalous species among those at the highest tier that humans can't handle? Especially when the surroundings were a sea of water!!
The screams of trees being shattered and torn apart under the huge body were now faintly audible between the drumming rain and waterfall sounds.
Damn it! Because of the waterfall sound and rain, I couldn't hear the Rogue Imugi approaching!!
No, more than that, fuck!! How did this place where I ate have the highest tier anomalous species!!
The anger stirred by the injustice rose, suppressing the fear.
The US Ark Angel, known as the world's strongest raid team at the time, had attempted a Rogue Imugi raid with a total of 500 members, including three A-rank ability users and B-rank.
Result? A single lightning strike that sounded like the ringing of a huge bell turned 400 people, including the three A-rank ability users, into ashes.
After that incident, there was heated debate over whether the Rogue Imugi should be classified as high-tier instead of highest-tier, but in the end, the Rogue Imugi received an outside-tier judgment, and a sticker was slapped on it saying “Highest Tier Anomalous Species, absolute prohibition” after a single battle result, as seen on the internet.
Why do I have to see this kind of thing... While feeling aggrieved, suddenly the documentary I had watched at school as a middle school student came to mind.
It was a historical documentary about the Phase World, and it said that the number of people who died in the Phase World so far was 20 billion.
In reality, about 60 million people die every year for various reasons, and after the Phase World appeared, an average of 20 million more died each year.
I was greatly surprised to see that even while 80 million died annually, the Earth's population maintained 6 billion.
Hahaha.
Yeah, among them, there must have been people like me who died in such a shitty way. So would my name be among the 20 billion?
Even as my teeth ground together, anger kept rising in my head.
Why, why only me.
Everyone says that when they first enter the Phase World, they can't even see low-tier anomalous species, let alone mid-tier!
Why only me!!!
The sight of the enormous Rogue Imugi breaking and toppling trees as it crawled was visible, but since it couldn't be detected even with Telescopic Vision, it seemed to be crawling from more than 300 meters away.
The sight of ignoring perspective made me feel empty. The distance between that Rogue Imugi and me would be my remaining lifespan.
Looking at those sapphire blue eyes that kept staring at me, no method to escape this situation came to mind. My head was stiff, and my thoughts were scattered.
The body that didn't listen to reason was stiff, staring only at the Rogue Imugi's fierce eyes, and suddenly Franc's face appeared in front of me.
Franc blocked between me and the Rogue Imugi, and a tragic smile floated on her face toward me.
Was that smile the same one I saw when I first met Franc...?
Looking at her hands clasped tightly like praying, my mind seemed to clear a bit. Thanks to Franc blocking the Rogue Imugi's gaze, the stiff body gradually relaxed.
Cough! Gulp, gulp! Huff, huff.
Suddenly realizing I hadn't been breathing properly, I took a deep breath. The cold, fishy air filled deep into my lungs.
“F, Franc?”
Franc, without forgetting my face, looked at me for a moment, then pointed to the Soul Stone hanging around my neck.
Eh?
And she turned in the direction and pointed to the Rogue Imugi.
Ha... haha...
“W-what does it mean?”
I already understood, but I asked again. But instead of answering, Franc just smiled brightly with eyes full of tears.
...... Fuck. The Rogue Imugi came targeting Franc's Soul Stone?
Sparks flew in my eyes.
Franc made a throwing motion as if tossing the pouch with the Soul Stone to the Rogue Imugi, and I watched silently. Franc smiled kindly while shedding tears, and I realized that was her final greeting.
I closed my eyes.
When I closed my eyes, my tension, fear, and anger responded, and my Search ability expanded to the maximum, starting to analyze everything within the range.
My head ached from the countless pieces of information that flowed in, but more than that, I focused on the short time together with Franc's appearance flowing like a panorama in my mind.
Franc smiling tragically. Franc smiling brightly. Franc pouting. Franc angry. Franc happy. Franc surprised. Franc crying. Franc dancing. Franc seductive...
I opened my eyes and looked down. The large sound of water from the waterfall behind me echoed in my ears along with the rapidly flowing water.
And I raised my head and glared at the Rogue Imugi.
No, actually, to avoid looking hostile, I stared as calmly as possible. But my eyes burned with fire.
Why steal Franc from me?
The Rogue Imugi crawling slowly. Thinking about the Rogue Imugi's Phase Power piled up massively, the speed didn't make sense.
It had enough time to arrive in front of me and either eat me or take Franc's Soul Stone. But why crawling so leisurely... It reminded me of a cat playing with a mouse before eating it.
After firmly imprinting the Rogue Imugi's face in my mind, I looked at Franc with soft eyes, who was shedding tears beside me and urging me to quickly throw the pouch with the Soul Stone.
Really. Franc, I didn't see you like that, but your memory is bad.
I ignored Franc's urging to throw the pouch with the Soul Stone and, clenching my fluttering chest, took a deep breath and spoke.
“Franc. Do you remember what I said?”
“......?”
“I said I would be beside you, Franc. I promised to definitely bring you back to reality.”
Ah, the second one I didn't say?
At my words, Franc shed tears profusely. The Rogue Imugi approaching slowly from beside was visible, and at the same time, anger boiled in my head.
My heart raced, and my breath quickened. Emotions I didn't know if they were tension or fear swirled in my chest.
Actually, it's only been three days, almost four since we met, and Franc is not a living person. A normal person would have abandoned Franc and run away.
But I couldn't abandon her.
Simple expression. Innocent eyes. Kind appearance that doesn't know how to suspect others.
“I fell for that look... I started liking Franc. So.”
I took a deep breath.
“I won't abandon you. I can't give up.”
And I declared while looking at her.
“I won't give you to that snake! Franc is mine!!”
Franc's eyes, covering her mouth with both hands while looking at me, swirled with tears and indescribable emotions.
I smiled at those eyes, gave the Rogue Imugi a gaze full of anger, and jumped into the flowing water like a rapids.