Val looked at Sera and Marc, who were still asleep.
Neither of them showed any signs of waking up, which made Val slightly worried.
‘They’re still not awake.
Don’t tell me they’re sick or something.’ Val wanted to check their condition, but he soon noticed something strange.
Marc and Sera didn’t seem bothered by the insects flying around their heads.
Some of them even landed on and crawled across their faces.
Normally, someone would be disturbed by that and wake up immediately.
Yet they remained asleep.
At least they were still breathing.
“What is going on?” They looked like sleeping princesses, completely immersed in deep sleep and undisturbed by their surroundings.
Remembering that this was a fantasy world, Val immediately became alert and looked around.
Something must have happened to them.
Val considered the possibility that they had been poisoned, but they hadn’t eaten anything since yesterday, and neither of them had suffered any injuries during the journey.
That possibility could be ruled out.
He thought through various possibilities.
Then one answer came to mind.
“Fantasy creature.” Since Val was in a fantasy world, that seemed like the most reasonable explanation.
Perhaps some creature had caused Sera and Marc to fall asleep, intending to devour them after they became completely trapped within their dreams.
Val took out the flintlock.
He loaded it with gunpowder and a bullet, then cocked the mechanism.
All he needed to do was pull the trigger to fire the small iron ball.
But before that, he needed to find whatever was responsible for putting Sera and Marc to sleep.
Just in case, he also took a sword and strapped it to his left waist.
He then began searching the area around their campsite, carefully watching every corner.
After walking around for quite some time, he found nothing unusual.
‘Nothing strange.’ Val rested for a moment against a large tree.
Suddenly, something fell from above.
It sounded like a broken branch.
Val looked upward.
His eyes widened slightly.
Something was there.
It resembled a humanoid creature, but its body was unnaturally thin and dark.
Its head was triangular, with a sharp chin.
It had no eyes or nose.
Only a diagonally shaped mouth filled with countless irregular, razor-sharp teeth.
Its body faintly reflected the light, almost as though crystals were embedded beneath its skin.
A nearly invisible gas seeped from its mouth.
The creature was crawling across the tree.
Its posture resembled that of a monkey climbing downward.
Its face was only a few inches away from Val’s.
Val froze.
His expression remained completely blank.
The creature froze as well.
Neither of them attacked.
For several seconds, they simply stared at each other.
‘WHAT THE HELL IS THIS THING?!’ Val screamed internally.
His expression didn’t change at all.
Slowly, he raised the flintlock and pointed it directly at the creature’s face.
Then he pulled the trigger.
BANG!
The creature collapsed to the ground.
Not long afterward, its body shattered like broken crystal before dispersing into dust carried away by the wind.
Tiny sparkling fragments of light floated through the air as its body disappeared.
“Was that the Blight they were talking about?” Sera slowly opened her eyes.
Then she realized that her face was covered in insects.
“Waaah!” She immediately panicked.
Marc also woke up.
He looked up and realized that the sun had already risen.
“Wait, I slept through the entire night!” Marc looked toward Sera, who had only just woken up.
He immediately realized his mistake.
He had left Val alone without anyone watching him.
Marc quickly searched for Val.
He soon found him walking toward them.
But Marc immediately became cautious when he noticed the flintlock in Val’s hand.
“You don’t need to worry.
I just got rid of some insects.” Val was referring to the Blight, which had been crawling around the tree like an insect.
He deliberately described it that way so Sera and Marc wouldn’t become alarmed.
“Insects?” Marc didn’t understand what Val meant.
Then he noticed something.
Dark dust was drifting through the air from behind the tree, accompanied by tiny sparkling lights.
Marc had worked in security for years.
He immediately recognized what it was.
It was the remains of a dead Blight.
Blight creatures did not leave behind physical corpses when they died.
Their bodies cracked like crystal before disintegrating into dust carried away by the wind, accompanied by sparkling fragments of light from the crystals within their bodies.
Blight sometimes possessed strange abilities that could weaken or attack other creatures.
Their forms also varied greatly.
Marc finally realized what had happened.
He and Sera had fallen asleep because of the Blight’s ability, which had trapped them inside their dreams.
“Didn’t you sleep?” Marc asked Val.
“If I slept, who would watch over you two?” ‘Watch over us?
Wasn’t I supposed to be watching him?
Yet somehow, he was the one watching us?’ Marc maintained a calm expression, but he remained cautious around Val.
The questions about Val returned once again.
Why wasn’t he affected?
Why did he look completely fine?
An ordinary person would lose a considerable amount of energy after going without sleep.
Yet Val looked perfectly fine.
And an ordinary person would surely feel at least some fear when confronted by a Blight.
But Val?
He had simply shot it in the face.
Sera also found both Marc and Val strange.
She noticed that Marc was wary of Val and understood why.
But she didn’t understand Val herself.
Val was handsome, with an attractive build and appearance.
Yet there was something strange about his expression.
His face always looked so lifeless.
It made Sera feel uneasy.
Even so, Sera decided not to care too much about Val.
Everyone had their own peculiarities.
As long as Val didn’t pose a threat to her, she had no reason to worry about him.
The three of them continued their journey after eating breakfast from the supplies they had taken from the mansion.
They traveled through the forest for several hours until they finally found a road frequently used by horse-drawn carriages.
“Finally.
We found a road after traveling through the forest for so long.” Sera looked relieved.
“If we follow this road, we’ll reach a village.” Marc seemed familiar with the route and explained it to Val.
“Hmm.” Val gave a short response.
“The village where I grew up.” Sera spoke with a hint of nostalgia in her voice.
“I hope nothing dangerous happens.” Val didn’t want to deal with another Blight.
“Roads frequently used by merchants and travelers are relatively safe.
Whoever built them would have taken the safety of travelers into consideration.” Sera gave Val another piece of information.
‘When you think about it, she’s right.
Whoever builds a road would obviously consider whether it would be safe for others to travel through.’ The three continued walking for several hours.
Just as Sera had said, they encountered nothing dangerous.
But the entire road felt strangely quiet.
Far too quiet.
Not even a single bird flew overhead.
At one point, they heard birds chirping somewhere far ahead.
But as they approached the source of the sound, the chirping suddenly stopped.
Silence.
There weren’t even any animals crossing the road.
Nothing.
It was unnaturally quiet.
Sera moved closer to Marc, who was walking beside her, while Val remained somewhat farther behind.
Val felt uncomfortable and awkward around the two of them, so he deliberately kept his distance.
“Marc, don’t you think it’s too quiet?” Sera whispered.
“I’d normally see deer or rabbits passing by.” “You noticed it too.” “This silence has been following us since we left the mansion.
We haven’t encountered a single animal since then.” “You’re right.” “It feels like the animals are avoiding us.” Marc glanced behind him toward Val.
Sera noticed the movement.
“Do you think this has something to do with Val?” “It might be a little rude, but yes.
I’ve been thinking the same thing.” Sera also glanced toward Val.
He walked behind them with a completely expressionless face.
“…..
You’re thinking too much.” “I hope it’s just my imagination.”