"Roar—!!"
Suddenly, a chilling howl pierced the sky.
Then, something vague and shadowy plunged from the blazing light, like a kite with its string severed, falling from the sky toward the ground.
Someone was running fast.
They were desperately shouting something.
But it was useless.
There was nothing they could do to stop it.
They could only watch helplessly as a golden beam of light pierced through heaven and earth.
...
"Ah!"
Ash jolted awake from the nightmare, her forehead drenched in beads of cold sweat.
It was clear that the nightmare she had just experienced had left a heavy psychological impact on her.
"What happened..."
Ash wiped the cold sweat off her forehead, her heart pounding rapidly and erratically.
Had she just... dreamt? A nightmare?
She couldn't remember what exactly had happened in the dream, but she could still recall the piercing, chilling pain, helplessness, and despair.
Was she too tense?
Ash scanned her surroundings before looking up at the sky, finally realizing that she had unknowingly spent the entire night in her sleep.
Looking at the sunlight filtering through the tree branches, Ash felt a pang of regret.
She didn't pay much attention to the nightmare, dismissing it as a result of being frightened by the strange rustling sound last night and the resulting mental tension.
Right now, Ash was simply a bit angry with herself for having slept so deeply in such a dangerous environment.
If anything had happened last night, she might have been left lying here forever.
Just thinking about how close she came to death made Ash feel a wave of dread.
Fortunately, nothing had happened last night...
"Forget it, I should leave here first."
Ash shook her head, trying to push the unsettling thoughts from her mind.
The consequence of not building a shelter or starting a fire was that her body had nearly frozen stiffly by morning.
Ash couldn't help but marvel at how she had managed to sleep through such cold conditions!
She slowly exhaled a breath, leaned against the tree behind her, and carefully stood up from the ground.
Her body was still a little stiff, and her movements were somewhat slow.
But none of that stopped Ash from performing some simple tasks.
She first removed the waterproof cloth draped over her body, then grabbed both corners and shook it vigorously.
After all the dew had fallen off and onto the ground, Ash stopped shaking the cloth, folded it neatly into a square, and placed it into a plastic bag she had prepared earlier before putting it back into her backpack.
"So cold..."
After finishing all of this, Ash couldn't help but rub her arms to warm up.
Although after some movement, Ash's body had warmed up considerably, the cold from the night still lingered inside her, not yet dispersed.
Past experiences told Ash that it was best for her to find a safe place to build a fire and warm up, or the continued hypothermia would eventually bring her down.