Hidden in the fog-N

"This tastes sweet."

The first thing I did once the sun rose and the fog cleared was search for food. While Haruto stayed next to the water stream to collect some more water and clean the insides of the rabbit, I decided to get some fruits and berries.

Most of them I didn't recognize, but I know enough about wild flora to guess which ones were poisonous and which weren't. I succeeded for the most part, except for some yellow berries that paralyzed me from the neck down for about twenty minutes. It was a weird sensation but I didn't exactly hate it, actually I liked it quite a bit.

Of course I brought those berries with me. Along with the cigars these things are another thing that I kind of enjoy...is this how drug addicts feel, ingesting dangerous substances to get pleasure?

"Well this is poison, not drugs so I guess it's not the same"

Other than those berries I also found sweet berries that looked like blueberries and different kinds of weird looking fruits. Weirdly enough I didn't see any kind of animal during my time in the woods, not even insects were on sight. Contrary to the night before which felt dangerous yet full of life, now this place was silent and empty, with the only sound being the wind blowing the leaves and my own steps.

Even though it was calm, it was also eerily different from the forests I know. The wind blows differently, the air is cold and the sun lacks brightness. Even the ground beneath my feet feels weird, like stepping on hard meat. I even took a handful of dirt into my mouth, half expecting it to taste like beef given how it felt when touched, but it just tasted like wet soil. I still ate it though.

Generally, everything was odd. Even the air I breathe feels somewhat different. If I had to describe it, I would say that it feels heavy, as if every breath fills my lungs way much more than it should but in a bad way. Instead of being a good sensation it feels burdensome and uncomfortable.

"This place is really throwing me off"

As I kept on walking I eventually stepped into a part of the forest that was still covered in fog. For some reason I could hear animals inside the fog, as if they only lived in the fog. Weirdly enough unlike yesterday when it avoided me when I was holding the torch, now it was surrounding me as if it was trying to pull me in. The humid sensation felt oddly satisfying and the smell was sweet like fruit.

Had I been like Sophia, I would have unconsciously stepped deeper into the forest, but I'm not like her. The pleasant feeling passed very quickly as I got bored of it. Moreover, the whole situation was suspicious and the fog gave me a really bad feeling.

I focused my sight on the deepest part of the forest that I could see, and I vaguely saw a pair of eyes looking back at me. Those were not like what Touji told me he saw the night before. No, these were human or at least, humanoid. Hidden by fog I could not see anything else other than those eyes. I lit up a match and threw it in its direction. The fog quickly avoided the fire as if it was hurting it and the pleasant feeling was immediately replaced by aggressive pressure. The entity staring at me vanished the moment the match touched the ground, disappearing in the fog as if it was never there.

I stepped out of the fog once I saw that thing disappear. My body felt sore, as if I had done some kind of exhausting training. I shouldn't come into contact with that fog again, actually I shouldn't get close to it at all. I don't want to encounter whatever was watching me. I have a bad feeling about it.

"It's a little creepy, I can't let them close to whatever that is"

I turned around and started walking back only to hear the sound of flapping wings. I wasn't surprised when I looked up and saw a bunch of those flying eyes that always seem to follow me. They would be even creepier than the thing that was watching me from afar if it wasn't because of their odd way of flying. They look as if they're trying really hard to keep in the air which makes it somewhat cute. I know I'm weird for thinking that but I can't help it.

"It's not like that cuteness is gonna stop me from killing them though"

The red crystals that some of them have inside their bodies are useful, so naturally I can't just let them live. Plus, their red coloration is really pretty and it really makes me want them for myself.

Most of them are too high up for me to shoot down with a rock. After all my aim is not nearly as good as Haruto who used to play baseball, however a couple of them were flying just low enough. Although I failed to get them the first three times they didn't fly higher up, but remained at the same altitude. They're not particularly smart.

I failed a few more times before finally striking one down. It died a gruesome death as its bulging blood vessels exploded from the pressure of the impact...there is a certain beauty in such a violent way to go isn't it? At least for me, death is pretty.

The corpse fell to the ground and I plunged my hand into it. I was lucky that this one had a gem inside it. From my experience hunting them before most of them didn't have one inside their bodies.

"Now that I think about it...could I use this to attract animals out of the fog?"

I'm not sure if I can, but there's the possibility that I end up luring the monster that was hiding there and I wish to avoid that. Well even if that's the case I believe I could just scare it away with fire.

"I will deal with it if it gets dangerous. I think it is better to try now that I'm alone. After all that way only I would die if things went wrong and that's the cheapest price to pay."

I threw the gem at a nearby tree and it broke loudly, spreading red gas around it. It smelled sweet and I liked it. Animals are usually attracted to these kinds of smells so hopefully this will work.

Thanks to the enhanced physical capabilities that I developed in this hellish place I was able to easily jump to the top of a tree, successfully gaining a hiding spot to wait for prey that may or may not appear.

Since I expected this to take quite a while I made myself comfortable by lying down on a thick branch and taking a fruit out of my bag to eat while I waited. I wanted to try the paralyzing berries once again but it would be bad if I was incapable of moving when a prey appeared. The fruit in question was similar to an apple but slightly darker and longer. The more notorious difference from an apple was the fact that it had small portrusions similar to veins.

Upon biting it I realized just how weird its texture was. It felt like munching on rubber. It was slightly hard to eat but the taste wasn't bad, at least for me. Instead of tasting like fruit, it tasted like charred meat, but it still had the same fragrance and sweetness of an apple which made it really weird to eat.

I licked my fingers once I finished eating the fruit. The core and seed were really bitter and had a taste slightly similar to iron but I still ate it all. I threw the stem away and took out another fruit from my bag but i couldnt take a bite of it as i was interrupted by a foreing sound.

The sound of rustling leaves was the first thing that reached my ears, followed by the sound of hoves and something breaking. There was something about it that I found really creepy.

As the sound got closer, I was able to see the monstrousity that was producing it. At a glance it looked like a normal deer, but that impression was quickly replaced by the horror it really was.

Its elongated and twisted legs emitted cracking sounds in a certain pattern with every step, making a simple and yet unnerving melody of broken bones. Its skin was hugging the muscles so tightly that it looked as if it could tear at anymoment. It looked just like when someone uses a shirt that's too small for their body.

From the back of the creature a pair of skinless apendages protruded. The shape was like a mix between a spider's leg and a scythe, made of muscles and bones. One of them seemed broken, flaccidly dragging on the floor, but the other one was not, instead it was fully soaked in blood.

The creature belly was bloated, full of bumps and sharp edges. Given their shapes i could guess that inside its stomach, multiple animals were being digested and the bones were protruding from the inside.

The most horrifying aspect of that monster was its face. The eyes weren't located at the sides of the head like a normal deer, but at the front like a predator. Their location wasn't the only weird thing about them. They were bulging out of the eye sockets, like balloons about to explode. The right antler was cut in half, the left one wasn't, but it looked damaged and covered in blood and pieces of skin and flesh.

Finally its mouth was fused with its neck. The lower jaw was all the way down at the base of its neck, making an unnaturally big gaping mouth that cut open the creature's neck. There was no tongue visible inside, but there were multiple rows of teeth all around the entirety of the mouth, not only the jaws.

That thing was about four meters tall, this being thanks to its legs. It could easily snatch me out of the tree if it stretched a little. Thankfully it didn't notice me as it was too focused on the smell that emanated from the broken crystal.

This aberration isn't nearly as scary as the beast I encountered in the zombie infested town, but it still sent a chill down my spine. Judging by its looks it is greatly dangerous too, it is skinny yet each step it took left noticeable marks on the ground because of its weight, those weird scythe appendages look damn sharp too.

"I don't think I can escape without being noticed...should I take the risk and fight it?"

I was thinking about what to do, but as i tried moving back a little the branch i was on made a creaking noise.

I didnt had time to process the sound as i immediatly heard another one, this one being tha of hooves kicking off the ground, the next i saw was a gaping mouth flying closing on me.