"They are still here…" (Hikaru)
Even after waking up 7 hours later, the wolves were still wandering around.
They can't see me since I am inside the barrier, but by eating a bit of my meat, their palates must have awoken to the taste of a human, or maybe this area is their base to begin with.
Whatever it is, it looks like I will have to steel myself here.
I use 1 Crystal to buy the information of the wolves.
[Ringpill Wolves: Regular Body – wolves found around the whole continent of Ringpill. They act in packs, and there's times when they hunt giant sized monstrosities. They feed on small animals, but they can be omnivorous, and can eat things like nuts. Packs are commonly 8-20, but there's times when it can go all the way to 50. The ones that become a Wondrous Entity will in the end devour their own pack, and after that, be killed by another Monstrosity. In rare cases, it will become an Extermination Predator. The appraisal target is of regular body. Probabilities of a Spirit Stone appearing are: Water 20%, Pure 80%]
"It showed up with the giant monkey too, but what's this 'Monstrosity' thing…?" (Hikaru)
It is an explanation assuming you know the unknown terms, so it doesn't click. Basically, it is a wolf.
It doesn't have a 'Big Size' description on it, so that must be the common size. Or more like, there's creatures like that giant monkey 4 meters in size, so a slightly bigger wolf falls into the 'normal' parameters, huh.
I stand up and confirm my surroundings from within the barrier.
"…It is not anywhere in sight, huh." (Hikaru)
I must retrieve the Barrier Stone I dropped. That's something I bought for 1 precious point. It should have fallen nearby.
There's still remaining time in the Barrier Stone, so I won't be going out yet, but I must decide what I should be doing.
I used the Barrier Stone at 8:00am.
I don't know when I lost consciousness, but I remember walking till dawn. In other words, I fainted early in the morning and was attacked before 8:00am. The wolves were probably searching for breakfast.
And right now it is 3:00pm.
The effective time of the Barrier Stone is 12 hours, so I can stay like this till 8:00pm.
"Will I be able to slip away at night…?" (Hikaru)
I find it hard to believe that the wolves will be sleeping at daytime like I do. There's no way they can act for 24 hours straight, so they should return to their nest once the sun goes down.
At the time when I was attacked, the wolves didn't enter my Darkness Fog, so it will work out somehow… It should.
That hint must still be effective.
I trained my Dark Spirit Abilities as much as time allows.
I am scared of that Great Dark Spirit showing up from using Darkness Fog inside the barrier, so I prioritize Shadow Runner which doesn't concentrate darkness that much.
Sunset came in the time I was doing that, and the wolves ran off somewhere as expected.
◇◆◆◆◇
8:00pm.
I was searching all around for about 1 hour after the barrier vanished, and managed to find the Barrier Stone I dropped, so I once again covered myself in darkness and began walking.
There really must be few nocturnal creatures here, I managed to walk without much issues.
I would find coral currants growing en masse every so hours of walking, so I had no problems with food.
If I had the ability, I could have hunted animals like big squirrels and birds, but I am currently incapable of that. But well, no luxury allowed here.
I have had a constant stream of 6 hundred million viewers every day since a while ago.
It is a hard to believe number. Is that even possible?
I am simply walking in the darkness the whole time. I may have met monsters, but only monkeys and wolves. Moreover, it is not like I am fighting them. I just stayed cooped up in the barrier.
I can't think of my actions as something that would bring 6 hundred million eyes.
The only possibilities I can think of are that they are cheering for the Chosen that suddenly appeared and are watching in amusement at how I am on the verge of death, or maybe they are cheering for me who is desperately trying to survive.
How are the other Chosen doing? There's way too little information a Chosen can get.
I got the [Reached 2,000,000,000 Total Viewers].
There's 1,000 Chosen. There's a limit to how many one can watch.
In other words, no matter how I slice it, I am up there…as one of the people who is being watched the most.
"There must be people watching their screens even now…" (Hikaru)
Having 6 hundred million people watching me still doesn't feel real right now.
No, that's obvious.
I was so desperate in trying to survive that my mind didn't have much leeway to.
But now that I am walking in the night like this, I end up thinking about it.
"Wonder…how everyone is doing…" (Hikaru)
I think about my parents and my two sisters.
Are they watching me right now with their hearts racing?
I am technically alive because of this transfer.
I simply didn't die, it is not like I have been disowned by my parents… It is pointless now, but…as someone who couldn't even manage to get a 'I will be leaving now', my only way to tell my parents that I have graduated from them is by not dying.
It is a night with bright moonlight.
It isn't a complete full moon, but it was still illuminating the night forest gently.
I found a slightly bright place and stopped there.
I don't know how it is being broadcasted.
I don't see anything resembling a camera around.
Maybe it is far above in the sky.
That's why I don't know if what I say is going to reach.
But I wanted to tell them.
"…Father, Mother, Celica, Karen; Even I…don't know how things have ended up this way, but I am somehow…staying alive. My coming here was pretty much an accident, so…I don't know if I can go back, but if possible, I would like to survive this and go back." (Hikaru)
I was feeling flustered at this unknown experience of directing a message at empty air.
Me being killed together with Nanami, the culprit; there should be a lot I want to tell them about, but I don't know how to transmit it to them in a one-way message.
"Nanami should have come here, so I will search for her, and once we have reunited…I don't know what to do after that, but I think I will be able to manage somehow, so please don't worry. Right now it seems like it will be taking me time to get out of this forest, but it is okay. I still have Points, and it seems like there's not that much danger when moving at night." (Hikaru)
I was acting tough here.
Thinking about the fact that my sisters are watching, I couldn't spit out any weak words.
I actually want to cry here.
Speaking to my family…just that reality alone was stimulating the weakest parts of my heart.
I don't know about Nanami either.
There's the chance that she died and that's it.
Uncle and auntie might have been killed by that man too.
I don't know about the other Chosen either.
Maybe they have all died and now I am the only one left to watch.
I don't know anything about this world either.
It might be a world of death with only ruined cities.
I was in the forest, all alone in a parallel world, assaulted by a myriad of insecurities.
That may be why…
I didn't even think about the guy that killed me and Nanami.
I don't know anything. No means to.
What I can do right now is to send a one-way message to my family.
"This message as well…I don't even know at all if it is reaching them… I don't know why everyone is watching me… But there's a lot of viewers, so I get Crystals, and honestly…it is helping me out. Thanks... Thank you very much." (Hikaru)
I didn't even understand what I myself am saying.
I am what you would call an introvert. I am not good at talking with many people.
Speaking out my opinion, or speaking about myself.
Tears welling up in my eyes, I suddenly use [Darkness Fog] and hide in the dark.
I am not alone.
By believing this, I could feel the will to live…to fight on.