"Eh...?" Lillian gazed down at the conspicuous metal staff lying in a place where Millis had previously been.
Reaching down, she held it in her hand and inspected it confusedly, "So she stored this and didn't bother taking it out...?"
Scratching her head, Lillian decided not to spend too much time wondering why and instead shifted her attention towards the fight between Marionette and the Second Prince. (3)
"I wonder if their fight had concluded yet..."
She tried to gaze up through the canopy of the dark trees and scowled.
"I can't see..." She grumbled. (2)
Unable to gaze at the humongous screen displaying the leaderboard, Lillian began to walk around, trying to find a spot that allowed her to see through the thick canopies.
After walking around for a bit, she finally reached a spot that would allow her to.
["3rd. Lillian Ker Arius: 61 Monster Kills, 32 Contestants Eliminated."]
"Third, huh...? To think 20-plus people had been eliminated in such a short amount of time... wait, did I really eliminate half of them?" She tapped her chin with a thoughtful expression.
She then felt something smooth... and sticky drip onto her hair.
She immediately summoned her sword and dashed away—looking left and right for any enemies.
However, instead, it was a thin golden string of what seemed to be honey dripping from the sky. She tilted her head upwards and witnessed the cracked and mutilated body of a once-magnificent hive belonging to a species of oversized bees.
"Oh! So this is where it spawned?"
The hive always had a randomised location. But it was always situated inside the Great Forest of Critters.
She stored away her sword and retrieved another item from her inventory.
A putrid purple sack with a brown stain at the bottom appeared into the virtual realm before inevitably falling onto the floor with a wet thud.
Lillian felt repulsed by the strong, potent smell of what may be rotten meat slathered in faeces.
It was vile...
She pinched the mouth of the sack that was tied around with a small, thin rope and widened it.
Lillian then stretched it out far away from her and began to collect the dripping honey into it.
She waited, and she waited. With boredom overtaking her, she decided to gaze around her surroundings.
"This place looks oddly familiar..."
The open clearing that she was in was the exact place she had just left earlier.
Holes riddled the trees—smoking. It was as if something intensely hot had penetrated it.
Slash marks of what seemed to be from a broad blade of a weapon decorated the floor.
Her muscles felt tense. She knew these were traces from Marionette's and Reph's intense battle.
Her eyes quickly darted around, trying to get a glimpse of the comforting triangle.
Lillian became uneasy as she discovered she could not find it whatsoever.
'Where could she be...?' Fear crept into her heart.
She hurriedly peeked inside the sack and discovered that it had filled to an acceptable volume of honey.
Lillian then took a hesitant glance back at the leaderboard and saw that it had changed... once again.
Instead of third, she was now in second place. Meaning...
'The Second Prince lost...' She thought grimly.
She had to leave now.
She stored the sack and made a run for it.
She couldn't tell if it was due to the paranoia, but the feeling of a pair of eyes honing in on her was apparent.
It was chilling...
Lillian continued to run and run. She took sharp turns at every chance she could to throw off the watchful eyes.
The dreadful feeling still hasn't left, even with her attempts.
The air began to feel stagnant.
The already dim forest grew darker over time.
She then heard something shuffling through the trees—its leaves rustling loudly.
Could it be a monster?
She couldn't tell, and she wasn't going to stand still and find out.
Marionette was a proper assassin. Would she really point out her location so clumsily?
Her breath became ragged. With each exhale, she breathed out a cloud of hot mist. (8)
As she was running, something gently brushed against her neck.
She panickedly turned around and summoned her sword—swinging it and slicing through nothing but air.
Swish...
Her eyes trembled as she looked around and saw on the ground was just a... (2)
'Oh... it was just a small leaf...'
She breathed a sigh, and as she was about to continue running—she suddenly witnessed a dark blur, followed by a sharp and paralysing pain in her liver. (2)
She doubled over and knelt on the floor—vomiting blood as she saw it was a javelin made entirely out of dreadful darkness.
Soft and quiet footsteps soon entered the frightening ambience.
However, to Lillian, these steps resounded loudly inside her ears. Her blood went cold as she gazed up and saw a woman with frightening red eyes staring down at her.