{ Please do not do that. }
The immediate response almost made Ingrid smile because Lorna sounded genuinely horrified by the idea. Ingrid had somehow realized that threatening to drown herself had somehow become an effective negotiation strategy. It was ridiculous, but she had already accepted that nothing about her current situation was normal anymore. She clicked on the two pills before she could change her mind and watched as their glowing icons appeared in front of her.
Without waiting for another explanation, she watched as the pill dropped into her hands from thin air, pulled open the pill container, took out the pills and swallowed both.
The effect was almost immediate, and Ingrid’s entire body stiffened as a cold sensation spread outward from her stomach. It travelled through her chest, down her arms, and into her legs, pushing back against the feverish heat that had been making her head spin since she regained consciousness. The pain in her injured arm dulled from unbearable to merely awful, which was hardly an impressive description of healing but still felt like a blessing under the circumstances. Ingrid closed her eyes for a moment and breathed slowly as the strange sensation continued moving through her body. When she finally opened her eyes again, the system interface had already updated.
{ HEALTH: 11% → 27%. }
{ INFECTION: 41% → 9%. }
Ingrid stared at the new numbers before releasing a breath she hadn’t realized she had been holding. The infection had dropped dramatically, and although her health was still dangerously low, at least the terrifying transformation warning was no longer hanging over her quite so heavily. She carefully flexed her injured arm and found that the pain was still there, but it was manageable enough that she could move without feeling as though the limb was about to fall apart.
"Much better," Ingrid murmured, looking at the health percentage again with cautious relief. Ingrid’s gaze shifted toward the countdown, and her brief relief vanished when she realized how little time remained. The glowing numbers continued ticking down in the corner of the interface.
{ 03:17:41. }
Ingrid’s eyes widened as she watched another second disappear from the display. "That thing is actually moving," she said, sounding genuinely offended by the discovery as though the timer had personally betrayed her.
"Lorna, I really don’t appreciate how casually you’re displaying my remaining lifespan."
{ Yes, Ingrid, that is generally what a countdown does. }
Ingrid slowly turned her head toward the interface, her eyes narrowing into an unimpressed glare. "I hate you."
{ The feeling is not mutual. }
"Good." Ingrid shook her head before dismissing the argument and summoning the map again. The glowing route appeared immediately, stretching through the forest and toward the herbs she needed to complete the mission. To her surprise, the destination wasn’t nearly as far away as she had expected, and the red path seemed to lead almost directly toward it. Ingrid studied the route carefully before glancing around the clearing again, half expecting a certain black-haired Beastman to emerge from between the trees. The silence that greeted her was enough to confirm what she had already suspected.
Lysander was still nowhere to be seen, and Ingrid couldn’t stop the strange ache that settled in her chest when she realized he hadn’t returned. She had spent the last several minutes telling herself that he had probably abandoned her, and yet some stubborn part of her had still been hoping he would suddenly appear.
Ingrid immediately pushed the feeling aside because she didn’t have time to stand around worrying about someone who had apparently decided to disappear when she needed him most. Her injured arm was still sore, but the bleeding had stopped, and she tightened her grip around it before looking toward the path. She took a steadying breath and forced herself to focus on the mission.
"Fine." Ingrid adjusted her stance and looked toward the direction of the herbs with renewed determination. "If he isn’t here, I’ll do it myself. I’ve already survived this much and I’m not going to die before collecting three stupid herbs." She started forward, and almost immediately noticed the difference created by her new physical attributes.
Her feet moved more naturally, her balance felt steadier, and she no longer felt as though every step required her to drag an invisible weight behind her. She was still nowhere near fast, but the improvement was obvious enough to make the journey considerably less miserable.
Ingrid followed the glowing route through the trees, pushing herself faster whenever the terrain allowed it. The forest gradually grew darker as she travelled deeper into the ravine, and the trees eventually began thinning out ahead of her. Then the ground abruptly disappeared into a vast stretch of dark, stagnant water.
Ingrid stopped so suddenly that she nearly stumbled. The swamp stretched across the entire path, occupying the space between her and the glowing herbs visible far beyond it.
Dark green sludge covered the surface, while strange bubbles rose from beneath the murky water and burst with wet pops that echoed through the otherwise quiet forest. Thick roots twisted through the mud like enormous fingers, and patches of black mist hovered just above the surface, making the entire place look less like a natural swamp and more like something specifically designed to kill anyone foolish enough to enter.
Right in the center, however, sat a tiny patch of raised earth where three glowing herbs grew together, their light shining brightly enough to be visible through the surrounding darkness.
Ingrid stared at the herbs, then at the swamp, and then back at the herbs again as though she were waiting for the landscape to suddenly rearrange itself. They were exactly what she needed, sitting close enough to see but separated from her by what appeared to be an extremely unpleasant death trap. She slowly exhaled through her nose as realization settled over her.
Of course the herbs had to be in the middle of a swamp, because apparently the universe couldn’t simply allow her to complete one mission without making her fight for it. Ingrid placed her hands on her hips and glared at the swamp.
"Lorna, how deep is that?" Ingrid asked, keeping her eyes fixed on the dark water. She already suspected the answer wasn’t going to make her happy, but she wanted to hear it anyway. "And before you answer, ’very deep’ is not an acceptable measurement, because I need an actual answer." She pointed toward the herbs in the distance and added, "And if there’s any useful information you have about this swamp, now would be an excellent time to share it." Her expression hardened as she waited.
{ The depth of the swamp is unknown but if host wants to go in to check, I’ll advice not to, it’s not going to be a good decision. } Lorna replied in her mechanical voice.