I walked back out of the town, taking no chances. Though, if I did get arrested, a prison break sounds like fun...

But now isn't the time for that. Maybe someday in the future.

Weirdly, I didn't feel tired at all even when I was up and running all day.

Does dying reset my mental and physical stress?

Maybe I'll experiment and kill myself to find out.

"Hey..."

A soft whisper sounded in my ear.

I pulled out the pistol that I had stolen from the trio. Looking around, there was nobody nearby.

Did I hear that right?

"Hey..."

The whisper came again, this time closer.

Now I was sure I wasn't hearing things. The evening wind passed by, tickling my face.

I glanced around, still seeing no one.

"Do you have nothing better to do? Come out already."

I called out, waiting for someone to make their appearance.

"Hey..."

The soft voice came again.

...

Did they not know how to say anything else?

However, this time the owner of the voice revealed themselves.

A nude woman as pale as snow stepped out from behind a tree. Her white hair blended perfectly with her pale skin.  She smiled at me softly and beckoned with her hand for me to come closer.

Her green eyes shone like emeralds and she opened her mouth.

"Come closer..."

She stood still, watching me with her twinkling eyes.

Hell no.

I ran off, feeling the woman's eyes still staring a hole into my back.

She's not following me, right?

Looking behind me, the woman had suddenly appeared on the road.

She didn't make any movements, staring at me.

Still running forward, I checked behind me every few seconds. Each time, the woman seemed to appear closer and closer to my position.

Finally, I looked back and she was no longer there.

Did she give up?

I turned around and she was in front of me.

She continued to smile softly at me.

"Embrace me..."

She held out her arms.

"Okay."

The woman was met with a barrage of bullets from my rifle. The loud gunfire resounded through the night, the shells clinking on the floor. The bursts of fire painted the trees with an eerie shade of yellow.

I emptied the magazine, the gun barrel still smoking.

Fuck.

The bullets had melted into the woman's skin, her body seemingly consuming all the ammo.

She continued smiling at me, her eyes locking with mine.

"Embrace me..."

I pulled out the pistol and walked closer to the woman. She didn't make any movements, uncaring of what I was going to do. I raised the gun to her eye and pulled the trigger.

The same result happened. She didn't even flinch from the gunshot.

The bullet melted into her eye, her pupil not moving even an inch.

I pulled the trigger several more times, emptying all the bullets into her eye.

Screw this.

I turned around and tried to run again, but this time I felt a cold embrace from behind. The woman's arms wrapped around my neck and shoulders. She had an unusual amount of strength for her frail body.

I could feel her entire body pressing onto mine. Her arms began tightening over my neck, making it hard for me to breathe. Our bodies began melting into each other.

She was eating me.

I quickly activated the spell that Henry taught me and smashed it behind me. There was a shrill scream and her arms tensed around my neck even harder.

The rate at which I was getting absorbed into her quickened.

I quickly threw another spell behind me. The scream sounded out again.

I felt my ribs crack and puncture my lungs. My spine also snapped causing my arms to fall limply to my sides.

In the last moments before my death, I managed to catch a glimpse of the woman.

Her face had transformed from her peaceful smile to a horrible grimace. Her expression was as if it was caught in an eternal scream. There were newly created holes in her body.

The wounds were wriggling and contorting to attempt to combine themselves to their original shape. Her twisted eyes stared at me in hatred.

I laughed.

Then, everything went black.

[Calculating lifespan and actions...]

The familiar screen appeared in front of me.

[Calculated.]

It looks like the spell was effective against that thing.

[Congratulations!]

The shower of confetti came raining down again.

[You have been awarded: +5 Combat, +5 Physique, +5 Mana, +1 Talent]

I was going to put a hole right where that stupid fucking smile of hers was. I slammed my fist down on the respawn button.

You're fucked.