Sheryl's POV
I didn't know how many days had passed since we started retracing our steps back to Euclid Village, but we were now in an open field where the crops were dead, and the soil was all muddy.
"I don't know if I should rejoice that we're getting near that stinky forest again," muttered Emi.
"Let's just be glad that we're alive," Ford said.
I sneered. "Alive but might as well be dead. We smell worse than a rotten corpse!"
"There's going to be a river in the last forest before Euclid village."
"I don't need your sympathy, Megu," I retorted.
Megu shut her mouth and apologetically smiled at me, which got on my nerves. For an adult, she was acting too much like a shy teenager.
"Ma, yaAarRgh!"
Megu chuckled and held her child's hand with hers. "Yes, sweetie. We're near the village now."
Augh! My ears felt like they were about to be broken every time I heard her daughter wail.
"She's already one. Can't she speak human?" Emi grumbled.
If there was something Emi and I could agree on, it was what she had just said.
"It's said that babies only develop proper speech when they're two," Stan butt in, stuttering.
I glared at him, effectively shutting him up.
"At least the baby's wails aren't as loud as your voice." Edgar laughed.
"What did you say?!"
"Stop fighting back there," Brago called out. "It's about to get dark soon. Let's pick up the pace."
"Hey, what's that?" Ford asked, pointing at the horizon.
I rolled my eyes and sarcastically answered, "Dark clouds."
"No." Ford jabbed his finger further into the ocean. "THAT!"
We all looked to where he was pointing and found a cluster of strange-looking red clouds that came together from the sea. Thunders rolled, and the wind howled as it was fast approaching our location.
"W-what is that?" Stan almost wet his pants again.
Megu held her child close to her while Emi squinted her eyes, trying to dissect what she was seeing.
"C-could it be . . . the Apocalyptic Event that everyone's been talking about?" Ford's face went pale.
In fact, all our faces had probably turned pale at the sight of the red blood sky that was swiftly covering the horizon.
"Let's go." Brago's voice snapped us out of our daze. "NOW!"
We quickly moved and entered the forest.
"Where should we go?" I asked, looking back to check what we had seen earlier. There was blood-colored rain coming from those clouds.
W-what are those?
"Go to the goblin's cave!" Emi shouted.
"B-but that cave is infested with goblins," Stan argued.
"Unless you have a better idea?"
"W-why don't we go directly to the village?" Megu suggested.
"By then, the rain would have already caught up to us, genius," Emi retorted.
"Just go to the cave first, and we'll figure things out!" Brago ordered, and we ran into the woods and into the Goblin's lair.
We defeated those goblins before, so I wasn't worried about their presence. What I was more worried about was the rain.
ραпdα Йᴏνê|(сòm) Something told me that the red-colored rain was bad news. The cold wind biting my skin and the first sound of water landing on the soil sent all my fine hairs on edge.
"Don't stop and keep running!"
"It's almost upon us!"
"Run!"
Eventually, our group made it to the Goblin's cave in one piece. Brago and Ford took the lead, slaying the first sign of goblins as we entered the safety of the cave.
But the slowest among us, which was, of course, Megu — since she was carrying her child, was still meters behind us, and the rain was almost at her back.
"Megu!" Brago was about to leave the safety of the cave when Emi stopped him.
"You crazy?! We don't know what that rain could do to us!"
For all I knew, Emi was just too happy that Megu and her kid would finally be out of the way. I felt the same.
They were dead weight, and I couldn't be any happier if they were gone. More gil, EXP and food for me.
Besides, we needed canon fodder — an experimental subject that would show us what that odd-looking rain would do to us.
It was not like I had always been evil or anything. I was once a happy teenager, living the best of my life back on earth. In fact, everyone got along at first. But in this world where living was difficult, and resources were scarce, it didn't take long for our hidden nature to come out in the face of death.
Every woman for themselves.
Looking at Megu, who was desperately protecting her child from the rain, I was more eager to know what would happen than worry about her, to be honest.
But I was left disappointed when Megu got inside the cave. She was panting, and her face looked bloody. Her body wasn't too wet, but her face was drenched by the scarlet rain that looked like blood.
Megu wiped her face using her robe but not before she was done checking her child. The baby was more than alright — not having even a single drop of rain on her. If there was one thing Megu was good at, it was taking care of her daughter.
"S-sorry," Megu smiled after a while. "I was too slow."
We looked away. None dared to meet her sincere eyes since everyone here, except maybe Brago, was expecting that something would happen to her under the rain.
"If your boobs weren't so big, they might not have weighed you down," I said it in a whisper, but it ended up like a shout. My words bounced from the cave walls, producing an echo.
I didn't care, though, and pretended to check my nails.
Megu only smiled and apologized again.
I clicked my tongue, faced with her passive attitude. It would have been better if she retaliated, but she was being submissive in this situation instead, making me angrier.
"There's nothing to apologize about. I'm just glad that you're alright," Brago said.
Emi sighed on the side. "So it's just regular rain?"
Ford stepped a little closer to the entrance before he extended his hand into the rain.
. . .
. . .
We waited for something to happen, but even after a minute, nothing happened.
Ford withdrew his hand and released a sigh of relief. "Except for the weird color, it seems to be just normal rain."
Emi sneered. "We can see that."
"So what now?" Edgar placed his hands on his back. "Are we still going to stay here?"
( . . . continuation on NOTES)
----
A/N (Doesn't consume coins)
To combat piracy, 100 words or so at the end of every chapters will be posted on NOTES.
This will reduce coin and also a way to fight piracy, so it's a win2x situation
Hoping for your understanding 🙏
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter