Chapter 197 197: The Diary (2)



I decided to take my chance and went to the forest, as the High Priestess of the moon had told me it was the only way to survive its pursuit.

Then, for the first time in many months, I experienced peace.

As soon as I entered the forest, the voices that had been continuously ringing in my ears for the past seven months stopped. At the same time, I couldn't feel its gaze on me either. The uncomfortable feeling of continuously being watched as if something invisible was standing next to you disappeared.

It filled me with relief. A sigh escaped my lips.

As a scientist, my interest was piqued.n0VelUsB.C0M

Just what was so special about this forest that kept the Unknown away?

But just as I had begun to ponder, I was attacked.

The battle ended as soon as it started.

I feared the Unknown, but I wasn't a scaredy cat. Beasts and devils were creatures that I understood and could deal with. I will never let them get the upper hand against me.

The sixty-seventh page of the diary ended there.

Val flipped to the next one.

There were a bunch of drawings. Alaric seemed to have drawn them out of boredom. Well, how exciting could living in a forest be?

The drawings filled almost both pages. At the page of page 69, a square was drawn, inside of which, a small paragraph was written.

[If you're wondering who the unknown is, the Unknown is the name I gave to the monster I encountered when I was teleported after being swallowed by the black hole. But I bet that was tellable.]

The diary writer seemed to have noted this for the potential reader in the future.

Val smirked, thinking to himself, "This guy sucks at writing a story. That really broke my immersion."

Shaking his head, he focused back on the diary.

On the next page, the challenges faced by Alaric were detailed.

Mostly, it was just him complaining about how shit food without spice tasted and how he had to get everything himself from the forest as he couldn't trade for items, and that he survived by consuming the raw meat of the beasts he hunted during the day because starting a fire to cook them would attract too much-unwanted trouble.

He really hated adapting to the diets of beasts, eating raw meat, but it was better than getting caught by the Unknown.

When in Rome, do as the Romans do. When in a ridiculously large forest, you have to follow the rule of the jungle. Here, it's kill or be killed. Eat or grow weak and be eaten.

Every day, I would face ten to twenty beasts and a few devils. They seem to have a knack for seeking me out. Are humans that delicious in their eyes? But I survived each encounter.

They underestimated the power of an elemental wizard too much.

I didn't dare eat the devils. Who knows what that would do to me? Devils carry all sorts of diseases and parasites. They are a danger to humans when they are alive and useless to them when they are dead.

Fuck these devils! May they rot in hell!

As for the beasts... I relished the taste of their smelly flesh. When you're driven mad by hunger, even vegetables that once disgusted you look appealing. Perhaps that's why raw, bloody meat became the next thing I looked forward to every day, besides searching for a way to return home.

'In dire situations, people resort to eating anything to survive, even bugs and spiders, but such actions still elicit a deep-seated revulsion. They just don't start looking forward to it like Alaric. There is something about it that doesn't sound right,' Val felt that he was onto something.

From what was written on the second last page of the diary, Alaric seemed to be desperately normalizing his disturbing behavior.

Maybe he was never the same after he began hearing those voices, but wanted to be assured that he was fine.

Only the last page of the diary was left. Val began reading it.

I was walking through the forest when I suddenly heard a cry. It sounded like a woman's.

But I didn't immediately move to help.

What could a woman be doing in this perilous forest so late at night? How could I be sure it wasn't a devil mimicking the voice of a woman to lure unsuspecting passersby into a trap?

However, as the cries grew more desperate, my instinct to protect got the better of me. It had been so long since I'd last seen another human. Not to mention, it was a mention. Oh, how I long to hold one in my embrace.

I felt that I would regret it if I passed up this opportunity. If only I knew, I would later regret letting my desires cloud my judgment, I would have made a different choice.

But what's done can't be undone. I sealed my fate with my own hands.

Are you wondering what happened?

Then, keep reading.

That night, as I ran through the forest, drawing closer to the source of the crying, I saw a woman.

She was dressed only in what nature gave her, her smooth and glowy skin. She was sitting next to a tree with her back turned toward me.

Though I couldn't see her face, I could tell she was a beauty because of her long and silky black hair, well-shaped figure, delicate feet, and pristine toes.

However, there was something odd about her. Despite the fact she was barefoot in a forest, her feet were clean.

Despite being in the forest, her feet were immaculate.

This should have been a red flag that she wasn't what I believed her to be, but driven by longing and curiosity, I cast aside my suspicions and approached her.

I called out to her, and she turned towards me.

And then I got the worst scare of my life.