Sean quickly collected some flesh from the wolf-like monster, which had already been cut by Ela and was probably left as waste. He went near the fire and carefully placed it on a rock that Ela had set there for heating. While waiting for the flesh to cook, Sean began to ponder his situation. He felt that the events of the past few hours had been extremely strange.
When he first stepped into the Colorless Forest, he hadn't put much thought into it, believing his death would come at any moment. But even the fact that he had survived a couple of hours in this infamous place was strange. Many things didn't make sense. The most obvious was the lack of monsters near the Rift. The reason Rifts always caused chaos wherever they appeared was mainly due to two reasons. The first was that Aliha was a monster-infested planet. The second was that Rifts attracted monsters. Any creature near an area where a Rift formed would draw monsters to it like there was no tomorrow.
This was general knowledge on Earth. Because of this, people would stay as far away from Rifts as possible, and Awakened would secure the area completely. Now, Sean could come up with only one answer as to why no monsters were swarming toward the Rift, which wasn't too far from him.
'This area is ruled by a very high-class monster.'
Monsters were classified into six categories, just like the Awakened. The monster Sean was cooking belonged to the Bearer class—the third category. These monsters were considered dangerous enough to cause massive damage to a city.
'Classy meal...'
With this thought, Sean stopped heating the chunk of flesh he had taken from the wolf and stabbed it with a sharp stick, also left by Ela. With the cooked flesh stuck on the stick, he began blowing on it to cool it down.
Once it was cool enough, Sean muttered,
"Bon appétit,"
and then took a mouthful of the cooked monster meat, chewing it slowly.
"Mmm... Not bad. Lacks salt, but... beggars can't be choosers, I guess..."
He voiced his thoughts aloud while chewing the meat.
It took Sean a while to finish, and when he was finally done, he started walking toward the remains of the wolf monster. The creature was huge, with blood still pouring out of its cleanly slashed wound.
"To smell like blood..."
With those words, he threw himself onto the huge cut and began to cuddle the corpse. After a while, he was completely covered in blood. His face was almost red, and his hair was soaked. Thick, red blood dripped from his clothes.
Sean took a deep breath through his mouth. He could smell nothing but metallic liquid. Raising one hand, he covered his mouth, then began to giggle disturbingly.
Sean felt like a madman for his actions, even though he had his reasons. Surely, if someone had seen him doing this, they would've distanced themselves from him as much as possible—and rightfully so. But the reason Sean did this was so that other creatures couldn't smell him.
Sean was done with his side trip and ready to get back on track—to finally end his life.
This time for sure...
Committing suicide wasn't easy, and Sean understood that well for obvious reasons. Unlike the first time, his thoughts were cold and collected now. He was sure he wouldn't give up again... not in the broader sense, at least.
Leaving a trail of blood, Sean began to walk toward the amethyst-leaved tree. He chose this direction because it was near the area where he had first sighted the wolf-like monster and its likely cub.
What Ela hunted must've been another of the same kind.
Sean reasoned that, since Ela had arrived from the opposite direction when she reached the berry tree, the wolf monster must have been a different one than the one he had seen.
Not long after, Sean could see the tree from a few hundred meters away. The forest was dense, but the trunks of the normal trees here were spaced logically far apart. Just then, he stopped in his tracks as he spotted another wolf monster to his left—at possibly the same distance as the odd tree. It was looking at him, just as he was looking at it.
The same species, yet a different monster. Sean suspected a herd nearby. Three sightings weren't rare, but they weren't exactly common either—not within such a short span of time, and of the same kind of monster at that.
Time to face my insecurities.
With this completely irrelevant thought, Sean calmly started walking toward the tree, staring directly into the monster's eyes. The monster didn't rush at him either. Instead, it began walking toward him at a slow, lazy pace. It seemed to understand Sean's hopelessness completely.
Saying nothing and thinking nothing more, Sean simply walked toward his destination: the amethyst-leaved tree.
When he was finally under its shade, he raised his head and took one last glance at the leaves. Then he closed his eyes and turned around. When he opened them, the monster was about twenty meters away, limping toward him—getting closer every second.
'So that's why it didn't just run at me...'
The wolf was badly injured all over its body. Its legs trembled with every step, muscles twitching unnaturally, as though the creature's will to move had long outlived its body's ability. It was surprising that it was still alive—let alone walking. Sean could hear it growling—a raw, broken sound, like metal dragging across bone. He wasn't sure if it was from pain or from the creature's attempt at intimidating him.
Sean's eyes were empty, but something flickered beneath. Not fear. Not even sadness. Just a bleak curiosity—would this thing kill him, or collapse before it reached him?
He raised one blood-soaked hand toward the wolf and muttered,
"Shall we…"