The group had made their way towards the east due to the swarm chasing them. Their original destination was south west.
Currently, there was a river that was flowing towards the north right next to them. Somehow, the river was not even cold. When Levi sunk his hand into it, he had noticed that it was lukewarm, completely unaffected by the blizzard that was happening just above it.
Mattie was sleeping while having her back against the trunk of a tree. Saranda was sitting next to her, both sharing heat to keep each other warm. Mattie's advancement towards ladder two had taken a toll on her due to the immense heat a person experienced during it.
It was disheartening to see that mana was not a virtuous, but a sinful force in this world. However to survive, one had to do use whatever they had in hand.
"What are we going to do?" Saranda asked, looking at Levi who stood still. He had bandaged his shoulder with the equipment they had gotten out from traveler's basement.
"Lets wait for her to wake up. We will continue moving south west, Traveler mentioned that if nothing has happened, there should be a big enough civilization there."
"How long will it take?"
"I am not a seer, Saranda. That careless god never mentioned anything truly helpful."
The silence enveloped them once again. The only sound being the sound of the howling wind and the creaking of the nearby trees as they defended themselves against the strong wind.
"Hey, I'm curious." Saranda said, after noticing she had gained Levi's attention, she continued. "Do you not have any reason to return to earth? I have never seen you worried about making it back home."
Levi lingered for a while, looking at her with a distant gaze. Looking away into the distance, he finally answered her.
"No. Instead, I have reasons to remain here."
His answer surprised Saranda, but she did not show it.
"I do not know what you have been through, but maybe you will have much worse experiences while being here than back in earth. So saying that is a bit early to say, no?"
"My decision has already been made. Even if I experience worse or better."
"I see."
They did not converse after that, and waited for Mattie to wake up.
And once she was up, they were in the move once again.
Unlike back at earth, days were 32 hours long instead of 24. Fortunately their bodies had long adapted to that cycle.
The blizzard had gotten weaker too as the forest around them was getting darker.
Their first night in this frozen hell was approaching.
Unfortunately there were no places for them to hide from the blizzard, so they settled between a dense area of trees. It was quite dangerous for everyone to sleep, so they would take turns on keeping an eye out.
First one to keep an eye out was Mattie, while she stood still and kept an eye out, the other two slept. Nothing interesting happened during her shift.
Second was Saranda, the girl had sworn she had heard some footsteps approaching their way. However the source of the sounds were never sighted by her inhuman vision.
Perhaps it was her mind playing tricks on her.
But it was not.
Because during Levi's turn to watch over the girls, he finally saw the source of the footsteps and as soon as he did, he launched his spear towards it. The spear crashed towards the snow, exploding particles to the air and making a slight sound as it buried itself into the dirt below.
However once the snow dust cleared, Levi saw that the spear had not hit anything. He warily walked forward to it, his senses sharp and his body ready to react the moment he sensed danger.
It was all for nothing though, the only thing Levi saw next to the spear was a white bunny, staring at him with its crimson eyes.
'Huh... Should I actually kill it? I mean... its food isn't it?'
They needed food too. They had taken some dark-fishes, but they had not eaten them yet. Instead of eating a mystical creature they had no knowledge of, they could cook up a bunny, no?
Levi frowned as he looked at the tiny creature, which was still standing still and looking at him. He had never actually eaten bunny meat, he did not even know if people cooked it up.
Additionally, he did not have the heart to kill a cutie, the girls would bury him six feet underground if they knew of this. So he retrieved his spear and walked back to the sleeping girls, the bunny surprisingly followed him.
Levi sighed. 'Man... I should have gone outside more. Are there bunnies in the streets? I have never seen one. Are they social animals?'
The bunny blended in with the snow too, it was quite hard to keep an eye on it. If its eyes did not glow in a red color, Levi would have had a hard time locating it.
When he looked back, the white bunny had nestled itself between the sleeping girls, quiet, harmless…
***
The blizzard had died down. The three youths were walking towards the south west, the two suns above covered by a blanket of thick gray clouds.
"She is such a cutie! We should execute Levi for even thinking about killing such a lifeform that transcends the word 'cute'!"
Saranda sighed as Mattie continued yapping about how the bunny was cute and Levi should be punished, and Levi simply massaged his temples. His head hurting from hearing Mattie call that thing cute in many languages and stupid sentences.
It was quite strange for her to be so carefree, especially considering their situation.
As for their situation...
The trio was currently being accompanied by four wolves.
The same specie as yesterday. They had trouble dealing with one of them, and now they were surrounded by four.
But... they were not attacking. They walked around them a distance away, if they tried to attack the trio would be able to outrun them.
Hopefully.
The reason they were not attacking them was still unknown.
However Mattie had noticed that the wolves had their gazes on her. Not exactly on her, but on the rabbit in her arms.
"We haven't even encountered a ladder one infected, yet we are surrounded by four of them. What are we going to encounter next, a fifth ladder?"
"Saranda don't jinx it!" Mattie warned her with an amused expression, however the amusement faded away once she focused on the wolves once again. "Can't I just kill them..?"
Levi looked over at Mattie. "You overestimate yourself. We still do not know the extent of your fighting abilities after climbing to second ladder."
He did not exactly know whether a second ladder could take on four infected of the same rank. Perhaps a skilled one could do it, but Mattie was highly inexperienced in real brawls.
The thing that worried him the most though, was that she was now speaking of killing so casually. While he understood that it was natural to defend yourself, Mattie was not someone who would suggest such things boldly. Instead she would have used lighter words.
"I think we should stop to eat, we have been neglecting it for a while now." Saranda suggested.
"Agreed." the group stopped, and when they did, the pack of wolves seemed to stop too. However they still kept their distance and showed no signs of hostility.
As they set up a fire to cook the fish they had killed, Levi observed the wolves in the corner of his eye.
There was not a high chance of a second ladder being intelligent, if they did, it would be limited. However Levi did not want to fall into a false sense of security, so if the wolves ambushed them while they were eating, Mattie would blind them momentarily with her light magic and then they would take their chances to run away.
Levi had brought the [Profile] book with him. It seemed to work beyond the Traveler's house, although now it needed to be charged with mana.
The fish was called a 'Fishord'. It seemed that the people of this planet did not want to waste time to name an unnecessary creature. Fishords did contain some mana inside their bodies, however it was not vast so they were not considered as infected.
And it was tasty.
Saranda has great cooking skills, no matter where she cooked her meal it would always turn out delicious. Three youths ate like hungry wolves and soon gathered up to continue their way.
They walked forward for a while, it was not long before a change appeared.
The wolves were no longer following them.
"Those creatures have stopped following us, makes me wonder why... Our situation is getting weirder and weirder." Saranda clenched her fist as she walked ahead.
Levi could tell she was getting agitated, Saranda preferred it when she had a good grasp on the situation. He would have wanted to offer words of comfort, however he was never good with them.
He changed his gaze towards Mattie. He thought that Mattie would notice Saranda's agitation and would offer her comfort, but she seemed unusually focused on her surroundings, pressing the white rabbit closer to her chest.
The sun had set when they decided to stop their journey forward. The night did not offer any dangers.
Once it was morning, three youngsters continued moving towards south west.
Along their way, they finally encountered weaker infected. Unfortunately for them, weaker infected seemed to be moving in groups of two or three. They were also wolves, although they were much weaker than their other kin.
Their movements were slower, and their bodies looked thinner, almost starved. Their eyes glowed faintly, but without the same bloodlust that the previous ones had. Perhaps it was because of the lack of mana in their bodies, or perhaps they were simply dying out.
The group needed to get stronger too, so they eventually decided to ambush the wolves, the plan went well with no one suffering any injuries.
Same thing repeated for the next day, and the one after that, and the one after that.
They would sleep, then wake up, they would find a group of wolves and hunt them down. It was the same strategy, the same reaction from the wolves and the same outcome.
Saranda and Levi had eventually advanced towards the second ladder. Their mana flow was smoother, their bodies stronger, and their attacks sharper. Yet despite that, the world around them remained exactly the same.
The trees all looked identical, the skies were always gray, and the air always carried the same frozen stillness. Even the wolves they fought seemed to act in the same way every time.
As they walked through the vast expanse of tall trees, Mattie suddenly stopped.
The other two slowed down, their footsteps crunching softly on the snow as they looked at her. They did not need to ask why she had stopped, Mattie could tell from their eyes that they were wondering the same thing.
"This day has been repeating over and over again. How come you both have not said something about it?"