Chapter 45: You're Next

The atmosphere grows hostile.

My guard instinctively rises.

The intuition within me starts ringing warning bells.

I glare at them while thinking.

'Who the fuck are these guys?'

To me, Gaians have always been targets of suspicion.

Otherworlders I can deal with despite being slightly wary.

They only come to the forest to gawk like they're at a zoo.

To Otherworlders this place is just a game, so their intentions are ultimately shallow.

To be honest, even if they tried something they wouldn't be much of a threat.

But these Gaians were different.

The fact they came to this forest at all was unusual to begin with.

Even A-Class Adventurers rarely enter this forest teeming with threats on all sides.

Unlike Otherworlders, they only have one life.

If they take a wrong turn and can't make it out by nightfall, that's when things get really dangerous.

So Gaians who enter here generally fall into just two categories.

First are criminals fleeing pursuit, like me or that Ryan from before.

Or those who enter with specific objectives.

"Damn, if you can't find someone after searching this much you should know when to give up. What's so special about this guy that we have to crawl into this dangerous place?"

"...Calm down. What can we do when orders come from above? Just gotta follow them."

Based on their reactions, they seemed to be the latter type.

Too busy talking to notice us yet.

I stopped Chae-rin and carefully observed them.

Various questions swirled in my mind.

'What are they searching for?'

No, before that - how did they run into us in the first place?

'Maybe viewers gave away our location...'

But I quickly shook off that thought.

Even I could tell that was stupid.

How could donation viewers give away our location when we're constantly moving? There's no reason or way for them to do so.

Besides, her current stream was being filmed to minimize showing the surroundings.

Her face took up most of the frame when viewing her stream.

Almost uncomfortably so.

Of course, she completely covered the screen when leaving the cave.

So running into viewers was mostly coincidence.

Sure, they could have searched based on the tiny glimpses of forest visible in the stream... but surely no one would be that obsessed.

...At least I hoped not.

Anyway, for those reasons, there was only one conclusion about how we encountered these guys.

'Pure coincidence.'

Talk about shit luck. Especially when I'm already exhausted.

Finally the leisurely approaching figures notice us. Short exclamations escape their lips.

"...Ooh?"

"Wow."

Their eyes were fixed on me. By now I'm pretty used to this reaction.

"Well well, what do we have here? Finding something this precious in this forest."

"Right? Holy shit look at that face and body. Way better than those whores at the brothel."

I raised my guard. Just from how they talked, these didn't seem like quality people.

I stopped Chae-rin who was about to approach thinking they were viewers, and asked them:

"...Who are you?"

"Damn, even his voice is nice?"

There were two of them total.

A red-haired woman wielding a greatsword, and an orange-haired woman with a short sword and round shield.

The orange-haired one answered.

"Well you don't need to know much. We're just looking for someone. Have you seen a man with brown hair and blue eyes? Not just here, but anywhere?"

From that, I knew exactly who they were searching for.

'Fuck.'

It's me.

So are these Lemegeton?

Most likely. They're desperately searching for me right now after all.

I heard they'd only been searching cities near the Empire these past two months, but they've finally expanded their search radius to include the 'Forbidden Forest'.

Good grief, what makes them think anyone could live here to search it?

Their superior must be a real blockhead.

I tried maintaining my composure as I answered.

"Sorry. I've seen so many like that I'm not sure who you mean. Aren't men with those features extremely common in the city anyway?"

It wasn't wrong. Brown hair and blue eyes were typical commoner features.

It's what I specifically requested when getting the 'Illusion' spell.

The other party nodded at my words.

"Hmm... that's true I guess."

"Then can we pass through now? We need to head back soon for a quest."

I briefly pretended to be an adventurer. Right now I'm not a forest resident, just a day-laboring adventurer.

So please just let us pass. I really don't want to fight right now.

"No, that won't work?"

But their response was truly frustrating.

'Damn it.'

I cursed internally and whispered to Chae-rin.

She seemed to have realized they weren't users either. A slight tension showed on her face.

"Chae-rin. Turn off the stream."

"Huh? But the atmosphere is weird right now... maybe we should ask those viewers from earlier for help..."

"Don't need it, just hurry."

I'm more scared of attention being drawn here than dealing with these two.

And right now my instincts were screaming danger.

A powerful premonition that we'd clash with these figures.

And judging by their relaxed demeanor, they must be quite strong.

If I end up going into Rage Mode while fighting them? And that gets broadcast?

...It could turn into a major disaster.

"Okay... just a moment."

Thankfully she listened to me.

[What no way you're leaving like this?]

[Don't go fuck]

[So anxious about this please keep streaming pleeeease~]

[Zero awareness wwww]

Pop-

The chat messages I'd been seeing vanished instantly like a power outage.

While I haven't watched streams since 23 years ago, I'm sure such an abrupt ending must be quite impactful.

Viewers must have been flooding in with all the drama building up.

Yet she turned off the camera just on my word, abandoning all of that.

While I felt grateful and sorry, it couldn't be helped.

"Oh my, an Otherworlder companion. How nice of her to turn off the stream."

"Why won't you let us pass? We clearly said we don't know anything. Wouldn't it be better if we all went our separate ways?"

"Hehe, you might want that. But we're pretty stressed right now."

The redhead says while raising her greatsword.

"Higher-ups keep screaming at us to find this guy quickly. We're busy as hell. And I've been pretty sexually frustrated lately, need to relieve some stress you know?"

In other words, she was saying she'd rape me.

"Haah..."

I sighed and drew out my spear.

It had been quite a while since I'd met this type of person.

With no laws in this forest, sometimes those who come here get ruled by their lower halves. Not exactly the type I missed meeting.

"There's an Otherworlder here too. What if she dies and spreads the news? Aren't you afraid of the law?"

"Hehe, sorry but we're already criminals."

Just bragging about it.

They start drawing their weapons and pointing them at us.

While Chae-rin beside me drew her weapon too, honestly I didn't expect much.

They move so casually in the Middle Layer where you only have one life.

The level gap between her and them must be significant.

'Can we run...?'

I briefly considered it but quickly discarded the idea. Not really because of Yoo Chae-rin.

While it feels a bit mean... honestly she'll revive even if she dies.

The problem was what comes after running.

It's not like they'll leave the forest just because I run away right?

Living in the forest with would-be rapists for a while? Better to clean up quickly.

So while being careful...

I chose to throw my dagger.

It's safe from range, plus has the element of surprise.

The first strike should always be surprising and powerful.

That's how you start with the upper hand.

While pretending to back away, I quickly grab the dagger from my back pocket.

The familiar grip wraps around my hand. I throw it at the target without hesitation.

I was curious how they'd react.

Would they dodge quickly, or block with their weapons?

The answer was neither.

"Don't worry. If you stay still we'll make it not hurt..."

Shunk-!

The dagger embeds itself in the redhead's throat.

The one approaching with a smirk couldn't even react.

The price of daring to let your guard down in this forest.

She died without being able to do anything.

"Huh, what?"

A dumbfounded voice escapes from orange-hair beside her.

I internally breathed a sigh of relief.

Phew, what was I so nervous about.

I said to her.

"Next, come at me."