When Aleen was about to raise his hand and suggest carrying the girl, D’vina frosty glare stopped him. “I forbid you from doing it. You are my assistant, and I will not allow you to carry a death weigh that only will make it impossible for you to fight.”

“B-But–”

“What I told you just a moment ago!?”

Aleen shut his mouth when he noticed D’vina expression. Aleen felt guilty betraying D’vina expectations again, but he could not help it. They were like him, from the same planet and in the same situation he was a few days before. How can he ignore them? D'vina was there to help him, but they did not have someone like her.

Noticing his thoughts, D’vina spoke again forcefully. “I told you before, boy. Your only responsibility is to help me and protect your life. Them, besides being from your world, are nothing more than strangers that you just met today. It’s enough help explaining the situation and allowing them to come with us; but if you put your life and my interests in risk for a stranger, then it’s not kindness, it’s folly.”

Aleen lowered his head ashamedly when he heard it. Though he did not agree with D’vina’s words, he could understand the truth in her words. He hardly could protect himself; how can he protect anyone else then?

Seeing the situation, the girl raised her hand.

“I will do it!”

D’vina stared to the girl for a moment, then turned around and began to walk.

“Do it then, but I will leave you behind if you are unable to keep the pace.” Pausing slightly, she continued speaking, this time with a slightly melancholy tone. “You will soon understand. In this world, you can only do your best to protect the people around you. If you tried to protect too many people, the weigh of such responsibility ends crushing you.”

Unfortunately, nobody noticed the desolate expression on her face.

“Thanks for before.” The girl said while carrying the injured girl in her back. “And sorry if I caused you trouble.”

Aleen smiled wryly. “Don’t worry, it’s not your fault. Besides, I did what I thought was right.”

The girl smiled thinly hearing it. Then, with a cheerful tone that made you doubt that she was about to die just a moment ago, she signaled to herself.

“My name is Ana, by the way, I am a college student. Well, I was. I don’t know if I can continue being one now.”

“Aleen.” He answered softly. “I’m also a college student, so I can assure that you can continue being one after it ends. You only need to concentrate on surviving.” Aleen then looked to the girl she was carrying in her back. “Are you fine carrying her by yourself? Why don’t you ask someone to help you for a time?”

Ana shook her head. “She is a bit heavy but fortunately I can carry her. For some reason, I feel that my body is stronger than before.”

“That is because your body was enhanced before entering the game. It happened when you were in the white room.”

“I see.” She smiled wryly. “It explains it, I guess.”

Looking to the back of D’vina that was running ahead of them, Ana hesitated slightly before deciding to ask something. She spoke very softly to prevent D'vina from hearing.

“Why is she like this? It’s too cruel of her to kill someone simply because she is injured! Besides, if she would have helped us when the monster attacked us, then nobody would have died!”

Aleen frowned immediately and looked towards the place where D’vina was. Then, with a slightly stern tone, he spoke. “Please, don’t speak badly of her before me. Though I don’t think that what she said is right either, I know that she is someone with a righteous personality. She saved my life, and even if I don’t agree with her point of view, I will not speak badly of her.”

“Sorry.” Ana made a surprised expression hearing Aleen’s words before apologizing softly. When she looked towards Aleen again, her gaze had a bit more of respect than before.

“Can I ask you another thing? How can you move so fast? And why there was, you know, electricity in your body?”

Aleen smiled at her words before telling her about skills and some other things he learned about ‘Dimensional Paradise’. Like before, he made sure of raising his voice enough so the other people could hear him too. He expected that it increases their chances of survival.

D’vina, walking ahead of him, had a complicated expression while hearing Aleen. Aleen didn’t know, but she was able to hear his conversation with Ana clearly. It was impossible for a conversation to escape her ears in a certain distance despite how low it’s made. Because of it, though she did not have any intention of spying their conversation, she heard it inadvertently.

Five minutes later, Aleen finished explaining everything he knew to the group. Many of them have expressions of incredulity mixed with astonishment, but most were still terrified. No matter how alluring the thought of acquiring superpowers or earning a price after the game was, it was not enough to eliminate the terror of finding yourself in a situation where you could die anytime.

D’vina ignored the commotion in the surroundings and focused on searching for the monsters’ nest; but after the last two monsters, she did not find more traces of monsters.

D’vina continued searching and finally found something strange about the situation.

Without her noticing, the forest had become completely silent.

D’vina furrowed her brows and focused on her senses to find anything abnormal, but she detected nothing. But when she was about to retract her senses, her face changed.

Someone or something was definitively spying on her.

And it was definitively more than one individual.

Though she already had felt it before, D’vina felt surprised before the level of stealth that the monsters were able.

A monster able to hide its presence to such level is at least level four. And I can feel more than one… Though the others are slightly weaker.

With a serious expression, D’vina signaled for the group to stop and unsheathed her sword. Aleen immediately understood the situation and also took his sword out. The rest of the group, on the other hand, did not react immediately.

While they were confused about the situation, D’vina’s freezing voice entered their ears.

“We have trouble.”

Then, while the group processed the meaning of her sentence, she directed her sight towards the deeps of the forest.

There, the breaths of a group of monsters filled the place with a bloody smell.

Jke

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