Finally, the view from behind my eyelids begins to lighten. I have not felt any bugs in a while, so I risk opening my eyes. I am in an inch of mud in an only moderately thick forest, a thin veil of fog hanging over me.
[I'm close, I must be! Yes, this is very near the edge of the forest, I must hurry.] I push my legs, trembling with exhaustion, to carry me forward, running as fast as my aching, tired body is able. To resist my own exhaustion, such behavior is hardly abnormal for me. Even as my tiredness had increased, I still kept casting spells, not taking any more time for a break than necessary, with the only exception being my most recently available spell.
I resisted the inclination to cast a wind bullet as soon as I was capable, instead saving it for defense should I encounter anything as I leave the forest. I thoroughly doubt that it will actually be of much help in a real situation, but at least I feel better not totally unarmed.
Finally, the mud fades to dirt at my feet and the fog dissipates. I run with all the speed I am capable of until, without even realizing it, I am atop the hill where we had camped a few nights ago. There are still signs of our recent time on this hill, but it is currently devoid of any soldiers.
[Crap! I hadn't thought that they might actually leave while Lector and I were missing, continuing the mission without us. That I had thought for a second that they would is obviously idiotic on my part. Reinhart is nothing if not dedicated to a mission, there is no way that he would wait up even if a commander were missing. Besides, Lector going missing alongside me likely wasn't a cause for concern. He most likely assumed that we went off to train during the night and were late in returning, and thus he left it to us to find him and the troops again. Even as we didn't arrive for a day, assuming the demon didn't attack in that time, of course, he would have assumed that either we would find him when we wanted to or were somehow tied up, in which case there is little they could have done anyway and Reinhart would have prioritized the mission in any case. Well, for now all I can do is follow these mountains, hoping to catch up… crap! There is no way that I will be able to, they run too fast, I won't ever catch up!
[Well, how about I follow these mountains for a while, at least far enough that they could have traveled it in a day. If I see no signs of a battle, I can only assume that they are safe, and I shall go on my own way. If I catch them for some unexpected reason, I will warn them of the demonic threat. And if I find them dead… well, best not to be so pessimistic about things, If I have to deal with such a situation, then I will deal with it when it comes.]
Though I would very much like to immediately begin my pursuit, I know that such behavior is infeasible due to my current physical state. So, with great regret, I lie down upon the ground, and, shortly thereafter, fall into a deep sleep.
I awake to see the sun directly over my head in a scene quite reminiscent of my first moments in this world. Unlike then, however, I am now in a much stronger, yet also worse, physical condition.
I force my still-sore body to my feet, stretching in a feeble attempt to alleviate some of the soreness in my body. I have to resist the desire to immediately start down the thin trail through the green hills as fast as my legs will take me. No, first I must eat.
I am no longer in a swamp, I am in a quite appealing, lightly wooded area with abundant foliage. Animals too, plenty of singing birds, but I have no way of hunting such creatures, so I must resort to finding something edible.
It doesn't take more than a minute of searching to find a bush drooping under the weight of its succulent, deep purple berries. However, the idea of eating an unknown wild berry… eh, screw it. Worst case scenario, I have to build up my poison resistance skill somehow. One nibble, I'll give it an hour, and we shall see. Besides, it can't be [that] poisonous, right? Some berries are missing, presumably eaten by the local wildlife, and I see no nearby corpses. I know that's not really how this works, but who cares.
I pluck a large, juicy berry and nibble a tiny bit of it off, hardly enough even to be considered a sliver. Even the tiny amount brings an incredibly sweet taste to my mouth. [Eh, whatever. I'll die for sure if I don't eat, and I don't have time to find other food options, I'll just have to rely on this wretched world for a bit of luck, it owes me at least that.]
Faulty reasoning processed, I begin to stuff my face with the delicious berries. After days of difficult exertion without any sustenance, the berries taste almost heavenly. To my great delight, I don't immediately fall over dead, so I suppose my experiment was a success.
Once I have eaten my fill, by which point the bush looks rather barren, I leap to my feet and without even a glance around, I take off down the road as fast as my pathetic body is over. [You may be weak, me, but I shall train you up good! In this world, the most efficient method is to persist at an activity at your skill level's capacity until it levels as well, thus full-speed sprinting is a really good way to level up speed skills. Strength skills are better leveled by deadlifting, but I digress.]
After a night of sleep and eating my fill, I feel quite invigorated as I run down the narrow trail. I am wary of potential monsters all the way, especially the case as this territory is not under any country's jurisdiction, so I am sure to pay attention to the area around me.
On and on I run, up and down rolling green hills of soft earth, passing by occasional trees and cautious animals. Though my speed cannot compare to my speed previously, and does not even compare to the speed of those whom I intend to catch, I still push it for all I am able. This is not a world in which one benefits from taking breaks, after all, my rest when I can sprint no more is only to walk until sprinting becomes again possible.
The day passes by quickly as I travel as quickly as I am able across the land, utilizing occasional bursts of wind to fling me along. Though I know how to fly, the intricate manipulation of wind elemental particles that is required to do so is far above my current ability, even if I had the elemental energy to actually move them. However, I still feel as though it is a waste to just fling air orb attacks about, so I resort to my old method of accelerating my movement through pushing myself with wind. As for why I didn't do so previously, when moving through the swamp, the answer is that the effect would have been almost nonexistent, likely only causing me to trip unnecessarily when buried up to my thighs in mud.
It would seem that the berries I ate earlier are quite abundant in this region, as whenever I grow hungry, I seem to have little trouble finding more. Though no berry tastes so good as that which I had first eaten after not doing so for days, they are certainly enough to keep me going for some time.