“Yes, Master!”
The familiar voice reached Subaru’s ears, and he suddenly came back to his senses.
He had returned again.
Returned to the point in time when he was about to part ways with Shaula.
(TL:oh thank god Satella set a convenient reset point)
“Mm?
Master, why does your face look like someone shoved you into a toilet?
Is that thing really that important to you?”
Shaula tilted her head in confusion.
Subaru’s expression right now was twisted to the extreme.
His face contorted, his eyes fixed firmly on the ground.
Both hands covered his mouth at the same time, stopping himself from letting out a scream.
Pain.
Intense pain.
Normally, from the moment a person’s neck was twisted until death, there would only be an instant.
That extreme agony would not last long.
But Subaru, who could return after death, was different.
Even after Return by Death, he still tasted that sharp, tearing pain.
“No… It’s nothing… Go and come back quickly…”
Subaru slowly calmed his expression and swallowed the pain back down his throat.
“Looks like it really is important.
Don’t worry, Master!
Shaula will definitely find it!”
“Yeah.
I’m counting on you.”
Shaula hummed as she turned to leave, following Subaru’s instructions to search for something that did not actually exist.
“Ah, Shaula.”
“Mm?
Is there something else, Master?”
“Are there any really huge scorpion mabeasts in these sand dunes?”
Subaru asked with fear in his voice.
He had just been killed by that terrifying monster.
“Scorpions?”
Shaula stopped walking and thought carefully for a while.
Then she smiled and said, “There are.
It’s normal for scorpions to be in the desert, right?
But huge ones… I haven’t seen any.”
“I see.
Sorry to trouble you, but help me look for one.”
Subaru waved weakly, signaling goodbye.
“Got it.
Master has to make a delicious dinner to reward hardworking little me, okay?”
“I definitely will…”
Subaru felt truly disgusting right now.
Especially when he saw the girl’s smile and heard her concern.
He just wanted to throw up.
Speaking in a way that betrayed his own conscience like this—wasn’t he really just satisfying his own selfish desires?
He kept saying it was for the sake of saving her, but from the result alone, wasn’t he simply abandoning her and running away like a spineless coward?
“That scorpion… I have to avoid that thing.
I can’t let it catch me again.
There’s no possibility of defeating it.”
Subaru frowned deeply and thought about his strategy.
There was a saying that once someone entered a dead end, it was hard for them to turn back unless their neck was broken. Follow the newest chapters on g.com.
But for Subaru, who could revive, even having his neck broken just now did not count as a deep enough lesson.
He believed that the entire problem had simply been bad luck.
He had just happened to run into that mabeast.
Subaru skillfully prepared his supplies again.
Once more, he set out.
Compared to the first time, Subaru did not hesitate much when stepping through the gate into the outside world.
He had already made up his mind.
Just like the words he kept repeating in his heart to deceive himself.
“If I keep going forward, the ground will split open, and then there’ll be that giant scorpion… I have to go around that area.
I have to reach the perfect ending!”
Subaru clenched his teeth.
This was the strongest point of his special ability, Return by Death.
As long as he started over, he could gain information in advance, avoid the ending where he died, and reach the shore where he survived.
“I’m not breaking my promise… I’m leaving for her sake… This isn’t abandonment.
When I come back, I’ll definitely make everything up to you!”
He continued injecting comfort into his own heart.
Then, he set off.
The sand dunes were vast.
Subaru did not even have a map.
He could only walk through them in a reckless way.
The sandstorm was strong.
At night, the wind blew sharply.
Countless grains of sand struck his body.
Subaru, who did not have any proper breathable desert clothing to block the sand, was blown into a miserable state.
Inside his pant legs, inside his shirt, in his hair, all over his body—sand had forced its way everywhere.
Walking in this state made his whole body uncomfortable.
But it was not enough to stop Subaru’s longing for freedom.
“I have to leave… I have to get out… I have to escape this hell!”
What Subaru did not know, however, was that with his deaths and returns, his body had accumulated an odor that he himself could not smell.
Miasma.
Of course, in this world, people also called it—
The Witch’s Scent.
The deadliest part of this smell was its attraction to mabeasts.
Subaru knew absolutely nothing about these sand dunes, the Augria Sand Dunes.
Originally, because of the dense miasma of the Witch, countless mabeasts had gathered here.
That was also why Shaula could always return with such a plentiful harvest.
But now?
He had walked out of the shelter on his own and stepped outside.
Covered in such a thick scent, Subaru was like a walking delicacy.
“————!!!”
The roars of mabeasts echoed one after another through the night.
Subaru swallowed a trace of fear and forced himself to keep walking.
As long as my luck is a little good, normal mabeasts shouldn’t be able to outrun me after all this training, right?
He tried to steady his mind and emotions with that thought.
Make his steps lighter.
Do not make too much sound.
Hide his body properly.
It was not as if he had made no preparations.
He had worn clothes with a color similar to the yellow sand, and it was nighttime too.
That was what he thought.
But he had no idea just how thick the scent on him was.
The ground shook.
Subaru noticed it, and because he was prepared, he immediately jumped to the side.
A gigantic worm—no, a Sand Worm—burst out from beneath the ground.
“That was close.
I almost got eaten… What a huge bug… Hurry, run!”
Still shaken, Subaru looked at the enormous Sand Worm.
He had no time to think about anything else and immediately ran.
After putting distance between himself and the worm, Subaru continued forward.
The sand crunched beneath his feet.
Ahead of him, under the moonlight, many dark shadows appeared.
Beneath the starless night sky, he arrived at a flower field.
Literally, a flower field growing in a sea of sand.
He had never seen anything like it.
But he had heard Shaula talk about it before.
This was…
The territory of the Courtesan Bear (Flower Headed Bears).
The mabeasts called Flower Headed Bears were exactly as their name suggested.
Their appearance resembled bears.
However, compared to the bears Subaru knew, they were decisively different.
Far too different.
When standing upright, a Flower Headed Bear was roughly between two and three meters tall.
Its legs were short, but its arms were unusually long, long enough to almost scrape the ground.
Its arms, covered in black fur, were thick, and dense hooked claws grew from the ends.
From its back to its armpits, bright flower petals swayed, leaving a deep impression.
Subaru had processed Flower Headed Bear meat many times before.
He could be considered somewhat familiar with this mabeast.
But every one he had touched before had been dead.
These were living Flower Headed Bears.
Dozens of them.
“Hold my breath…”
With the flower field as cover, as long as he was careful…
As long as he was not discovered, he should be able to pass through safely.
Subaru carefully walked through the flower field.
He did not dare use too much strength, and he watched his feet and surroundings carefully, afraid of alarming the Flower Headed Bears.
But as mentioned before, right now, he was a walking delicacy.
How could he possibly go unnoticed?
How could that scent be covered?
“———!!!”
Subaru did not know which Flower Headed Bear roared first.
Then the rest of them followed.
Dozens of Flower Headed Bears stood up one after another.
Their dried, withered cheeks stared at Subaru, madness twisting in their eyes.
“No…”
Subaru swallowed.
“No, don’t…”
“AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!”
Subaru threw away all hesitation.
These huge creatures were so enormous, while his own body was so small and thin.
And he had confidence in his parkour.
He would break through this group of giant bears!