My eyes shot open as I fell off the carriage seat, landing on the ground with a thud.
I heaved shallow, panicked breaths as I stared at my clothes, which were all covered in sweat.
Something happened just now...
'I... Who was that figure?'
It said something about the contract, and then—
I winced in pain.
I couldn't recall what happened fully, but I was 100% sure the mention of the contract wasn't the end.
The figure and I had a conversation. I could still vaguely see it moving around as it talked about something.
But I couldn't remember.
It took me a few minutes to calm down, and when I did, I realized the carriage had stopped.
As I glanced through the window, I realized it was nighttime, and I was in a forest. Furthermore, it was completely dark with no campfire in sight.
"You can't be fucking serious..."
Did the coach driver really just ditch me?
No...
I knew Amon's reputation was terrible, but this person was hired by Evelyn.
Unless... was she trying to get rid of me?
Many thoughts flooded my mind, but I knew I had to act fast.
I opened the door of the carriage, and after making sure there was no trap below me, I stepped out.
As I thought, the coach driver was gone.
It was way too dark and way too quiet for him to have gone somewhere to take a piss.
'Let's see here. If I was asleep for around eight hours, then the nearest forest would be...'
The Dark Forest.
A forest rumored to be where demons gather and perform rituals.
But it was way off course. It wasn't even in my path.
"Ah..."
How ironic.
The coach driver left a demon child in a forest filled with demons.
Someone really wanted me dead.
I steadied my breaths and looked all around the carriage for any traces.
To my genuine surprise, there was a drop of blood right where the coach driver sat.
It was fresh, very, very fresh.
It made me think that maybe the conversation I had with the figure just now was the reason why I was here.
But for now, I didn't jump to conclusions and instead looked for any more drops of blood.
I spotted a couple more by the grass behind the carriage, and a bit further ahead... a severed finger.
"..."
I had seen one too many horror movies to know how shit like this goes, so while putting up a calm exterior, I was trying not to scream like a girl.
Recalling the Dark Forest in my memories, I knew that the only way out was to get to the center.
SCREEEEEECH!
And one could only do that by following the loudest noise that came every so often.
Had I known my trip would've gone this way, I would've just not gone. There were other artifacts that were much easier to get, though they weren't as good.
Shaking those thoughts away, I decided to man up.
I clenched my fist, and after bidding farewell to the carriage, I walked toward that horrifying screech from earlier.
Even though it was a forest, the sound was very easy to follow.
Though it didn't help that this entire forest was dark, and I could hear heavy breathing all around me.
This was the second time I was put so on edge, and the energy in my chest was swirling rapidly as I prepared to use Telekinesis at a moment's notice.
But just then, another screech resounded.
SCREECH!
It was quieter than before.
It was also closer.
So close, in fact, that when I slightly turned my head to the left, I spotted a disfigured black figure wriggling on the ground. It had a mouth on its back, and it let out those strange noises.
It was a crawler. A Mid-Grade 0 demon.
I didn't even need to fight it since it was just a scout demon. There were probably thousands of them in this forest, so killing one would be like a drop in the ocean.
Gulping, I composed myself and did what I had to do.
As it crawled away, I activated my Telekinesis, stopping it in place.
Its already disfigured limbs twisted at odd angles.
Its bones cracked, yet it didn't let out a sound. I moved up to its head, and after a slight moment of hesitation, I increased the pressure of my Telekinesis.
Its head burst like a balloon, sending brain matter all over the nearby grass.
As a final hail mary, the demon opened its mouth and tried to call out to the other scouts.
But I promptly stopped it by folding its body once, then twice. After the third time, it stopped resisting.
Silence once again hung in the air as I stared at what I had just done.
My heartbeat increased, but I was strangely calm.
A demon was a demon, and if all my hours sunk into that game told me anything, all demons must be killed.
They were a corrupt race that caused nothing but harm to everyone but themselves.
Parasites.
I gave the demon one last look and then made my way through the forest once again.
Every minute or so, I ran into another one of those crawlers. They were good practice since I could test out my Telekinesis without a care in the world.
And when using it against a living being, I realized just how overpowered Telekinesis was.
In the blink of an eye, I could crush someone's brain.
It wasn't even difficult either.
I was sure I could do it fifty more times before getting tired.
But after the twentieth kill, I stopped and instead saved my strength.
I had been to the Dark Forest several times.
It was pretty plain. It was just a scary forest with weak demons scattered around. The only reason I was even wary now was because the demons shouldn't have been able to kill a coach driver that easily.
Which meant there might be a powerful demon here.
Right as I had that thought, my hairs stood on end as a sense of danger washed over me.
Someone was here.