The child looked down at his own body. Through repeated drownings, he had come to a new realization: recovering from drowning was far more difficult than recovering from burning. When consumed by flames, parts of the body were simply destroyed. Regrowth, though painful, was straightforward—he only had to wait for the missing parts to return. However, with drowning, the internal organs and flesh swelled with water, requiring a meticulous and slow restoration.
This is going to take a while… First, let’s try changing the lower half back to human form.
As the child began to crack his own bones, the children’s singing abruptly ceased.
“Huh? What’s that sound?”
He froze, realizing his mistake too late, but the damage was already done. The children’s faces grew tense, and fear quickly spread among them as they exchanged anxious glances.
“Maybe it was a wild animal passing.”
“It could be a predator. Let’s hurry back.”
