Chapter 61 - Water

Riku and Emma rolled to the dried surface several times as Riku lost his consciousness because of exhaustion and mana depletion.

Under the tall trees, flowers, and wild bushes surrounding them. Yet, the woman here was looked worried about his condition. "Riku, what happened to you? Why do you suddenly become unconscious?" Even though she had known the reason, still, she was asking him just to hear if this man would respond to her words.

Meanwhile, his condition continued and Emma decided to stay in this place for the time being. "At this point, we can't do anything just to stay in this place." She paused for a second, then looked around, observing the place if there's a monster near to their area. "Hmm... I can't sense anything, but I know I shouldn't lower my guard since they showed up in an unexpected time and place." She murmured to herself while slowly tugging him under the tree, wide enough to block the strong sunlight above them.

After a few were moments. Emma wasn't looked bothered after she saw Riku's condition was starting to get better. Moreover, her expression was looked clueless, at the same time, asking herself, where Riku did get these injuries? Or to be exact, where was the bad burn come from?

Since Riku used his [Fly] ability, of course, the clothes he was wearing surely get ripped. Also, it was the spot where he received severe burns.

In her mind, having scratches in his entire was acceptable. Why? Since he used his body to protect Emma while they were falling to the ground. "This is confusing? Is this because of his firing claws?" She said in a weak tone and eventually shook her head as it was impossible for the fire to reach on her back. Aside from that, his left arm wasn't that burned, just the dark mark left by the fire.

She took a deep breath, then seriously took a glance at the man sleeping on her lap. "Even I have an idea what kind of power possessed you. Still, why do I feel that you're hiding something?"

She let it out the air softly, knowing no matter what she has said here no one ever would answer all the questions pierced to her mind. She stopped thinking, she just focuses herself watching the surrounding so she could anticipate if there's a monster would approach in their area.

Emma didn't know how long Riku could recover from these injuries, yet, she had no intention to leave him in this lively forest. As it was the same thing Riku did when she was the one in this position.

Brr... Brr... Brr...

Her stomach was groaning in starvation but she shook her head as she wanted to eat with Riku. "No, I can endure this hungry, also, once he woke up and regain his consciousness, we can easily come back to the Arzotoc village without having a hard time." She said with a smile as she was really excited that moment happen.

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They were stayed in the amid of the Assima forest for several hours, or to be more simple, exactly three hours. Alas, Riku already his consciousness and saw the blurry face of the woman while the touch of the yellow-green leaves.

To begin with, he slowly opened his eyes with a hazy vision. At the same time, he had no idea what was really happening to him and wondered why in this place.

It appeared the mana pool depletion transpired to him, literally affecting his mental state. Luckily, Emma was there to explain everything and help him to calm down.

"Yui..."

And all of a sudden, he called the name of his fiance as he thought that the woman next to him was her. Hence, that hallucination easily faded away as soon as his vision went back to its original state.

"Yui? Who's that, Riku?" She was blinking her eyes in confusion as that kind of name was unusual for her.

He slowly pushed himself into a seated position, even though he felt severe pain pinching his entire body. After that, he shook his head since even he was wondered why he called Yui's name. "Don't mind it, Emma, I just have a small dream." Riku explained and you could notice that he was enduring the pain.

"Hey, Riku! Don't force yourself! If you can't still move you can stay in that position." She said in a high tone, knowing Riku was having a hard time.

If this happened in the nighttime, he was optimistic all these injuries would surely get healed because of the passive skill of the [Dark crow's gene]. But what he could do? He hasn't had the ability to turn back the time and fix everything that he has missed out on.

"Don't worry about me, Emma, I just need to rest for a bit and we will head back to the Arzotoc village." Riku slowly said while also knitting his face. He was not just getting weakened by these injuries, it was also because of the heat given by the sunlight.

Yes! Riku was still affected by the sunlight even though he was not receiving a direct hit. He felt that he was extremely exhausted and thirsty, not being exaggerated, he thought he can drink two gallons of water.

"Emma, do you still have water in your bag? My throat is really dried." Riku said in a weak tone, doesn't care about the floating screen that appeared right in front of his eyes. Not he because he didn't notice it as it was wide enough that no one could spot it, it just because all the context of the screen was blurred to him.

Emma nodded her head at him come along with a bothered expression, then she immediately bestowed the wooden bottle inside her bag. "Take it, Riku, I hope this water would help you to recover your strength." She said as helped him to lean his back against the thick tree.

Gulp... Gulp... Gulp...

Without making any second thought, he drank the water and aggressively gulped as the refreshment given by the water helped him to feel at ease.

Phew!

It was expression after he left the wooden battle empty and tried to drink even the single drop. "That's freshwater, Emma. Where did you get that?" He asked her in a transparent tone and looked like he recovered some of his strength by just simple water.

"Inside the cave. Why? Do you want some more? I have plenty of it inside this bag." Emma responded with a clueless tone as she was wondering why the man next to her was having a malicious smile on his face. At first, she thought Riku's head was whacked on the hard surface since earlier you could see the severe pain inside him, and now he was acting that everything was fine.

He slowly shook his head and said. "I'm good, Emma, but can keep the remaining bottle for me if that's possible?" He asked her permission while analyzing the effect of this water.

She nodded her head at him without hesitation, while still having a clueless expression on her face. In her opinion, why did Riku suddenly was eager to take this ordinary water? Also, it was just water so she can give all the remaining bottles that she had.

On the other side, the taste of water for Riku was like the mana potion he was drinking back on the earth. So if his intuition was right, this water could help him to enlarge his mana pool, at the same time, to fix his mana pool. As he noticed the mana he was consuming right now was not exactly on what he saw on the gaming system.

To clarify if he was right, he checked his character's status. After scrolling for a couple of seconds, his eyelids were widened as his mana pool was increased by seven by just simply drinking the water.

"That's true! The water in that cave had mana, also, it looks it came from the magical crystal you could see beneath." He said with a delightful smile and could not control himself to would not to give Emma a tight hug as she was the main reason why they have magical water right now. "Thank you, Emma! You're the best! When I first saw you, I know that you're a reliable person."

Emma didn't know how she would react to this occurrence as she had no idea why Riku was saying these words. Yet, she was looked glad after hearing Riku was happy to be with her. "I didn't know why are you acting like this, but I'm also happy that I come with you." She said, then her face was started to redden.

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Back on the track, as soon as both of them already that they were happy to be together. Riku was ready to read all the notifications that appeared on his screen.

"Now, I'll start with you."

[You have completed the Death March! You would like to receive the rewards? Yes/No?]

"Yes!"