Sean was mortified and looked around in terror. The sound was vague, but Sean was certain that it had come from the other side of the odd tree. He took a few steps backward and hid behind another tree, not far from the onyx one. He didn't dare take a peek this time, still trying to calm himself.
Just as Sean was contemplating who had made the terrifying sound, he heard a rustle. Gathering his courage, he took a peek, and to his surprise, the rude girl, Ela, was gathering berries.
Sean immediately understood where the sound of the growl had come from. He held back his laughter and decided not to interfere.
In reality, he was just scared of what the girl might do if she found out about his presence.
After finishing her meal, Ela left, and Sean approached the tree again.
Sean was confused as to why Ela seemed hungry even though she appeared familiar with the strange tree. After thinking for a while, he started eating the berries himself. Although the berries were a delight on the tongue, even after eating a ton of them, he did not feel his hunger disappear in the slightest.
Sean finally understood why the tree was so strange and why the berries did not satisfy his hunger. Although rare, some plant species in this dimension were magical. It would not be surprising if a tree with such weird qualities existed.
Disappointed, Sean headed back to where Ela had set up her campfire. On his way back, he thought about how ironic it was for him to die of hunger after everything that had happened. But he was sure the monster he had seen before would find him and take his life. If not, he would venture into the forest himself to find the monster and seal his fate for good.
Sean arrived at the camp and saw Ela skewering some meat. Ela noticed Sean and, after a brief glance, went back to skewering. Sean greeted her and sat nearby. He appeared calm, but his mind was in turmoil.
'She is a monster..'
The reason for such thoughts was that not far from the camp, the same monster Sean had seen a few hours ago was sliced in half from neck to toe. Sean gulped and noticed a trail of scattered blood leading from the forest. The monster must have been dragged after being killed mercilessly. Only half of its body remained.
After a brief moment of silence, Ela looked at Sean again and asked in a flat, arrogant tone.
"Where were you?"
Sean was momentarily surprised by the question, then answered after thinking for a moment.
"I was just looking around. I was curious about the surroundings."
Ela looked at the meat again, which seemed ready, and started eating it. Her eyes lit up as she took a bite. After eating a handful, she looked at Sean again and said.
"You really are one of the stupidest people I have ever seen. This place has unclassified monsters. That one over there is around third rank, and it could have easily killed you without batting an eye."
'The only unclassified monster here is you, lady. How can a teenager defeat a third-class monster? Not that I don't know of any.'
After that rude thought, Sean chose not to comment and simply looked up at the purple sky.
The sky was extremely clear, and Sean could easily see the stars—something difficult to do on Earth due to the streetlights. Sean had liked the stars for as long as he could remember. He liked them because they were unreachable. Perhaps even Sean wanted to be unreachable, but the reasons for both the stars and himself were fundamentally different. The stars were simply unreachable because no one was worthy enough to approach them, while he wanted to be unreachable so he could escape.
After not receiving a reply, Ela decided to change locations since the corpse of the monster was bound to attract more of them.
Ela stood up. She was roughly the same height as Sean and about three years older. Sean was sixteen, and she was nineteen.
Ela picked up her belongings, and just as she did, Sean looked at her and asked.
"Are you leaving?"
Ela looked at Sean but did not answer right away, as if thinking of something.
After a while, she replied with a smirk.
"Yes, I have my work to do. You can have the rest of the meat. No need to thank me."
'This woman is really dumb. Does she think I don't realize she's leaving me to die by monsters that will inevitably be attracted to that corpse? But then again, I am dumb in her perspective, and she has made that very clear.'
Sean thought and then answered with a smile of his own. Yet, his smile was so polite that it almost seemed creepy.
"Well, I'll take you up on that generous offer."
Ela looked dumbfounded. She cleared her throat and left while saying her goodbyes.
"Well then, farewell..."
Sean just kept looking at her until she disappeared into the colorless, dense forest.
After all traces of her were gone, Sean looked down and sighed.
"She must have been surprised that I didn't beg her to take me with her."
He muttered.
That was the last time Sean saw Ela in the colorless forest.