The first sign that Rita was approaching the camp was the wind.
When the crisp autumn breeze swept across the wilderness, carrying that nauseatingly sour stench Rita had smelled before, her brows knit before she even realized it. She knew then that her destination was close.
After experiencing the city’s turmoil, watching her kin die before her eyes, and enduring a sleepless night at the camp, Rita felt as though she’d gained a new understanding of death. But she couldn’t quite put it into words.
What she did know was that she might never grow to like the coldness of death.
“We’re almost there.” Promi’s words were brief and to the point. Her pace began to slow, but her vigilance only grew stronger.
Within a few minutes, a devastated wasteland once again spread out before Rita.
The once gray-yellow earth was now soaked with huge, dark brown patches of blood, the midday sun making it gleam with a sticky texture that brought night to mind.
When Rita stepped on it, it felt as if she could still sense the dying warmth of life gradually turning cold on this ground.
That night had been pitch black. Even with night vision, she hadn’t seen it this clearly.
How disgusting.
Rita swallowed hard, fighting the surge in her stomach, silently thankful for Promi’s earlier invitation to eat.
Even though she didn’t need to eat, seeing all this made Rita lose any appetite she might have had.
As she thought this, she glanced at Promi’s face. The girl’s brows were also tightly furrowed, head down as if searching for something on the ground.
The ground was a mess—traces of bonfires, remnants of tents, marks of acid, signs of swarming bugs burrowing, and congealed patches of blood covering the earth…
Scattered, unrecognizable fragments were strewn across the ground like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle flung in a fit. Perhaps only time itself could ever piece them together again.
Fortunately, there were no human corpses.
Most had already been taken away by the army, while the rest were simply beyond retrieval.
On the day the fighting ended, a soldier was sent back to Solus City with the bodies.
Maybe they’d serve as a warning of the looming war, perhaps as solace for grieving families, or maybe they were returned just to deliver some intelligence.
How disgusting.
“Rita.”
Promi called out, signaling with her eyes for Rita to look further ahead.
The lines between Rita’s brows deepened.
There were indeed no human corpses here, but countless Night Sovereign Scarab corpses littered the ground.
Four hundred seventy-eight of them. That number might not sound impressive, but when piled up, they looked like a small hill.
Now, however, the hill had collapsed.
What had once been a mound of corpses was now scattered like a pile of toys dug through by children. The once obsidian-gloss shells were now battered, dim, and rolled about everywhere.
Rita stepped forward, picked up a piece of shell with her gloved hand. It was heavy and hard, feeling like she’d picked up a rock.
This was probably part of the back shell, but it was only the size of Rita’s forearm. It was covered in jagged, saw-like marks and countless scratches, as if it were a discarded car panel.
“Gnawed on by something,” Promi said, flipping over a mostly intact beetle. Under its thick back shell, the body was empty. The tissue clinging to the carapace gave off a rotten stench that nearly made Rita gag.
Just what kind of creature would eat these disgusting bugs? As she pondered, Rita noticed the sword wound on the overturned beetle’s head.
She’d killed that one herself. Only she had the habit of driving her sword straight into their brains.
Next to the sword wound were its sharp mandibles, jagged and scissor-like, glaring up at her.
Rita looked at the mandibles, then at the broken shell in her hand, and tossed it to the ground with distaste.
So disgusting.
All afternoon, Rita and Promi investigated around the camp. The area wasn’t large, but it still took them quite a while. They didn’t stop until dusk was falling.
Their findings, however, were clear.
First was the scarred, gaping pit—the hole the beetles had emerged from that night.
Rita tried crawling into the tunnel dug by the beetles. As soon as she entered, that same rotten beetle stench filled her nose. The tunnel walls were narrow and crumbly, making Rita too uneasy to go deeper.
Not that she could have gone much further anyway—most of the tunnels had collapsed as the beetles emerged. The earth had been churned up as if plowed, and what remained could barely fit a Cecilia.
Seeing Rita preparing to go deeper, Promi stepped in to stop her.
“Night Sovereign Scarabs use their forelimbs to break through the soil and move underground. That’s a trait nearly all insectoids share. The workload to track them this way is enormous—there’s no way the two of us can manage it. Don’t waste your energy.”
But through analyzing, Rita could at least determine the general direction the beetles had come from, and thus, her ultimate destination—the same direction as that outpost. Worst case, the area near the outpost had already become the beetles’ nest.
Along the way, they found some bones. At first, Rita thought they were fallen warriors, but the shape was clearly wrong.
They were too small, about the size of teenagers. Just as Rita began to worry something even more disturbing had occurred, Promi immediately identified the owner.
“These are goblin bones. No wonder we haven’t been harassed by goblins along the way—they must’ve been hunted by these beetles.”
“Even demons eat each other?”
“Night Sovereign Scarabs are a nearly mindless branch of the insectoids. They hunt entirely on instinct. There’s a lot of demonology involved, so I can’t explain it all at once.”
So it wasn’t the mysterious silver-haired, heart-tailed lady who twisted goblin heads and caused their extinction?
But only half a month ago, goblins had been everywhere. Now, they’d vanished entirely. That didn’t fit the usual patterns, so Rita was sure these beetles were a newly arrived invasive species.
Whether it was migration or an invasion, only further investigation would tell.
Speaking of which, Rita didn’t even know how far her investigation needed to go to be considered complete.
Find the outpost? Locate the enemy’s base? Uncover the secret of the beetle invasion? Or was it enough to simply report their findings to Cecilia and Maggie?
Whatever. As long as she stuck with this gray-haired Promi, there shouldn’t be any problems.
But Promi was really a closed book. Apart from necessary conversation and intelligence sharing, she was mostly silent, giving off an intense, oppressive air that made Rita feel suffocated just standing nearby.
It was like she was shouldering everything on her own.
Rita didn’t feel useless though. Intelligence gathering wasn’t her strong suit—of course, that was normal. She was a Player who hadn’t even read the game’s setting, how could she compare with a native?
It just felt like walking together was hardly better than acting alone.
Then again, by traveling with Promi, Rita had learned a lot she never would have figured out on her own.
For example, earlier, as the sun was setting, Promi ended the investigation and made her suggestion.
“Let’s camp here for the night.”
“This place… the environment is a bit too hostile, isn’t it? There’s still some time before sunset. Surely we can find somewhere better if we hurry,” Rita protested, only for Promi to launch into a full explanation.
“It’s precisely because it’s so nasty around here, with corpses and rot everywhere, that it’ll help mask our scent.”
“Night Sovereign Scarabs may have almost no intelligence, but they aren’t complete idiots. Since they’ve already hunted here, the chance they’ll return is very low.”
“In short, this is the safest spot for us. If you have a better argument, try to convince me. I’ll reconsider.”
With Promi having said all that, what else could Rita say?
So, Rita was now sitting by a small fire, preparing for her watch, while Promi sat beside her, jotting something down.
Rita didn’t feel embarrassed at being overruled. In fact, Promi had even volunteered to take the harder second shift and left the relatively easier first watch for Rita—proof she wasn’t a bad person, nor ill-intentioned.
Sigh, if only they could communicate better. Rita knew Promi excelled in everything, but she still didn’t understand why Cecilia insisted on pairing them together.
Wait a minute, isn’t being outstanding in every way enough?
Wasn’t this just like when the teacher paired her with the top student during seat assignments?
She barely understood anything about this world. Now someone was explaining things to her—Rita couldn’t be happier.
She didn’t feel any attachment to her succubus identity either. If anything, it was a ticking time bomb. If she didn’t gain enough strength before it exploded, she’d be doomed.
The more survival knowledge she gained now, the more secure her future would be.
To think she’d once wandered so far on her own, knowing nothing—now that she reflected on it, it was like dancing on a tightrope. The fact she’d made it this far was nothing short of a miracle.
Whenever she thought of Cecilia’s good intentions, Rita was moved to the verge of tears.
Lady Cecilia, oh Lady Cecilia, you really are so good to me!
Alright! I absolutely have to get along well with Promi!
“Promi.” Rita called her name.
Promi didn’t respond immediately, but paused her writing and turned, showing a faintly puzzled look.
“You’ve been writing nonstop. What exactly are you recording?” Rita asked.
Promi held up the sheet of paper in her hand for Rita to see.
“Testament.”