Page 167

(Walson)

Right now, I'm in a world of darkness, emptiness filling everything.

In this space, that feeling of having my blood suspended in mid-air made me aware that I was falling, endlessly plummeting downward.

Then, two flashes of white light, shining on me... Wait a second, were those eyes?

{Ahhhh... Old friend, long time no see, stay still, I will find you soon}

"Ahhh!!!" I suddenly opened my eyes, sitting up, my clothes already soaked with cold sweat.

I found myself in a sand cave... Not a dirt cave, but a sand cave, and strangely, the sand was constantly flowing, just like...

"You're awake," a voice spoke quietly, a voice clear and melodious, a woman's voice.

I turned my head and was almost scared to death.

It was the same little girl in the cloak, petite with a graceful figure, sitting on a large stone in the sand cave, twirling a twig in her hand among the embers of a fire.

[Lori Aivett_LV196_HP:18313/18313_Status: [Primeval Wither Curse]_Title: Demon King of Ruin]

Stats like a bugged out game appeared in the [Status Detection], this... this must be a true reincarnated player with cheats, right!? What's with that health, that level? And what in the world is that "Demon King of Ruin" title!?

Comparatively, I and Grace were nothing, wait, if she's so powerful, why have I never heard of her before?

Looking at the humongous red health bar above her that is floating in my field of vision, I felt a bit depressed.

"This is a cave created using my sand control ability," Said the girl, seemingly to lighten the mood.

Sand control ability...? Can a Wither have this kind of ability?

Wait a minute, in Minecraft, Wither bosses use [Soul Sand], the main material I use to produce [Nether Wart]...

Because the body is made of [Soul Sand], can she control sand?

...Wait, no, I remember we lost...

I remembered the final scene before losing consciousness, Grace using [Ender Dragon Breath] for a killing blow against that huge bone dragon, and now this woman is still sitting here, completely unharmed.

My body tensed up. How powerful is she to be able to withstand that kind of attack? And if she's fine, then Grace...

"Your companions are resting over there, they haven't woken up yet," seemingly seeing through my thoughts, she pointed to the side.

Only then did I take in the entire situation in the sand cave.

Grace, Melon, Risa, Barrel, Alice, Tanya, they were all lying neatly in the corners of the sand cave, while Lai Fu and Xiao Hei were cuddling together, with a few minor injuries on their bodies, but their eyes were sharp and focused on this place.

The morning sunlight shone through the cave entrance and bathed us in its warmth.

"I've treated their wounds with potions I found in your belongings," she said, tossing the last two dry twigs into the fire, pausing, and then continued, "Your final attack was quite reckless. Did you not consider it might harm your comrades?"

I looked at the scattered bag on the ground, likely taken from the others, and she had a bottle of [MPOH (β)] on her waist.

"Why... didn't you kill us? And why did you save us?" I gave up the idea of resisting and asked her this question instead, If she really wanted to harm us, she could have done so already. In the face of absolute power, we had no chance to fight back.

On the [Mini-Map], her marker was green, which meant she was a neutral target, not posing a threat unless provoked.

The current situation was truly bizarre. A monster that had just fought us to the death was now tending to a campfire and talking to me.

"I've said it from the beginning, I want the potions, not your lives," she replied. "As for this sand cave, the battle you just had awakened powerful monsters lurking in the nearby wasteland. I couldn't leave you alone, so I took you and your friend here."

"...Do you really want the potions to heal your mother?"

"Yes, she's my foster mother, the one who raised me despite how I am, who bore unerasable scars protecting me," she said, her expression tinged with sadness, illuminated by the firelight.

Her words made me pause.

Yes... now that I think about it, when she first appeared, she did ask for potions, and due to the recent attack by the Church, we were very hostile towards her for making such a request. The health bar that appeared above her, combined with our hostility, led to the battle.

Her words reminded me of Grace from back then.

Because of her condition, she was bullied by the other children... and since the girl before me is the reincarnation of the Wither itself, she must be born with one of the characteristics of the Wither, most likely it's aura.

With a strong Wither aura, just looking at her alone made me feel uncomfortable... I could imagine the hardships she had gone through in her growth.

This girl didn't choose to be born as a Wither.

"I understand your reasons now. Although we did receive information from the Church, I assure you, I'm not with them. They don't even know of my existence," she explained.

"No need to say more. Take the potions if you need them," I said, not mentioning that the entire medicine chest on the [Dog House] had been smashed, leaving us with only a few bottles, a substantial loss.

I already had a rough idea of the difficulties she had faced, although I couldn't know the whole story.

After hearing what I said, she stood up.

"...Apart from thanking you, I also have to apologize to you. Since our conversation was ineffective, and I don't have much time left, I had to resort to such aggressive means in the end. I'll find a way to make amends in the future," she continued and then bowed.

"Eh? No, there's no need. Anyway, those potions aren't that difficult for me to obtain."

"No, courtesy must be reciprocated. It's something Angel taught me."

Seeing her insistence, I didn't say anything more.

"My time is really running out, so I have to leave now," she turned away, about to leave the sand cave.

"Wait..." I called out to her.

"?" She stopped in her tracks, turned around to look at me.

"A few more questions before you go. You are a Wither, right?"

"...I don't even know what I am. The [Stone Tablet of Identification] doesn't work on someone like me, but, Wither huh? . . . Sound's appropriate."

"Is that so... Then, do you know anything about the contamination that is happening in this world?"

With these words, I had come to understand that the person in front of me might not be the culprit of the Wither event, but... who left those Wither skulls there?

"Wither contamination... Are you talking about the corruption of death's impurity?" she asked.

"The Labyrinth of Water in the capital and the Nakula Forest, these two places are guarded by the gods of water and wood. One of them has been contaminated by something from Minecraft, do you know anything about this?"

"I don't know about these two places... I'm not clear on that. As for the other question, I don't know what Minecraft is, but it might be related to someone else who has that kind of ability," she said something that left me puzzled.

"Someone else?"

"...I really don't have much time now. I have to go," she turned and started walking toward the cave entrance. Suddenly, she remembered something and stopped in her tracks again. "By the way."

"?

"Next time you see me, be cautious. If my eyes are white, remember, you need to flee right away." After saying that, her figure disappeared at the cave entrance.