Hide and Seek

"Zenith, come back for a second," Kurogane called out.

Zenith walked back into the house and asked, "Yeah?"

"Take the katana for safety. The forest isn't that safe," Kurogane advised as he passed him a katana.

"Okay," Zenith said, took the katana, and left.

"What did he call you back for?" Alexa asked.

Zenith replied, "Nothing important."

"Okay," Alexa said, and they both headed to the Emperium Forest. The forest was the same as before, a sprawling landscape draped in majestic spruce trees, but it felt like something was missing—or in other words, the forest felt emptier.

"Do you have anything specific you want to do?" Zenith asked.

Alexia said, "I would like to play hide and seek."

"Hide and seek?" Zenith questioned.

Alexia asked, "Why do you not want to play?" She said with pleading eyes that anyone couldn't say no to.

"No, it's not like that. I was just saying the playing area is quite big," Zenith explained.

"It's fine. If anything, it's quite small," Alexia assured.

'Small? How is the entire forest small? This would take me a millennium to search through,' Zenith thought but couldn't reject, so he said, "Okay, but if I don't find you in 3 hours, we will meet back here."

Alexia said, "Okay, I will hide."

Zenith closed his eyes and counted to a hundred, then opened his eyes and began his search for Alexia. His strategy was to cut the forest into eight parts and search each one thoroughly. The first part he checked was quite empty, except for a few Slivins which he killed with no issue using his katana. The second part was different; he found a ton of dead Slivins on the ground, their body parts spread all around. "What kind of monster did this?" he said, shocked by the gruesome scene.

Deciding to leave the section on the thesis, Zenith knew Alexia would not hide in a place completely filled with bodies. In the next few sections, he didn't find anything remarkable. However, in the sixth section, he came across a small waterfall. Though there was nothing particularly special about it, it was the first waterfall Zenith had seen in his life, or lives. "So this is what a waterfall is," he marveled, taking in the moment. 'If only I could capture this moment, at least it's better than not seeing it in my life,' Zenith thought. After savoring a few more moments, he continued his search.

Zenith didn't find anything in the seventh section and said, "She has to be here," proceeding to the last and final section he had designated. Midway through his search, he heard a scream, "Help me." Zenith quickly headed towards the direction of the scream.

"That sounded like Alexia. I hope she is fine," Zenith said as he looked for where the scream came from. Zenith couldn't find anything but a cave. "She wouldn't have gone in a cave, would she?" he said. "Ah, guess I got no choice but to check it."

He entered the cave. There was no light except the sunlight shining at the entrance, but that dissipated as he deepened into the cave. He didn't yell for Alexia because he didn't want to give his location to whatever might be inside.

Zenith stopped for a second when he heard footsteps. Right then, a liquid fell on his face. Zenith touched it and said, "Is this saliva? Ah, this is disgusting."

Just then, Alexia came to him and yelled, "Save me, Zenith."

"You're here! Do you know how worried I was?" Zenith scolded her.

Alexia ignored his comments and said, "Look up."

Zenith looked up to see a red eye staring directly at him. "Give me a break," Zenith muttered after seeing it and quickly took out his katana. However, before he could assume a fighting posture, the creature flew straight at him, causing him to crash onto the stone floor.

He swiftly got back on his feet and attempted to predict the creature's next move in the darkness. 'If you stay in this cave any longer, you will die. Get out first, then think about fighting,' Abyss advised, breaking the silence after a long time.

Zenith heeded Abyss's advice and waited until the creature made a move. Dodging its attack, he started making his way out, hearing the creature following closely behind. Without a second thought about conserving stamina, he increased his speed.

Finally, he saw the sunlight and ran behind a tree, waiting to see the monster emerge. A gigantic bat, about 20 times larger than a normal bat that was found on Earth, emerged from the cave.

"I'm supposed to beat that," Zenith said in fear. He moved into the open since he couldn't leave Alexia alone and assumed his fighting posture. The bat saw him and dived down to strike, but it seemed that the bat's eyesight had worsened in the light, making it a bit of a target. Zenith used this to his advantage, getting on the back of the bat and stabbing it.

The bat let out a piercing scream as it soared back into the sky, with Zenith still gripping its back. Sensing his precarious position, Zenith felt his hold on the bat's skin slipping. Reacting quickly, he plunged the katana into the creature once more, both to anchor himself and to ensure the bat couldn't regain its flight. The result, however, was the bat spiraling downward and crashing violently onto the forest floor.

Zenith deftly extracted his katana from the bat's now-wounded hide and landed on the ground. The creature, undeterred by its injuries, swiftly rose and charged towards Zenith. However, with the vast difference in size, the bat found it challenging to catch the agile warrior. Seizing the opportunity, Zenith skillfully maneuvered around the bat, and slashed at its thin legs. As the creature fell to the ground, Zenith capitalized on the moment, swiftly severing its head from its body, putting an end to the menacing threat.

"Woah, you are so amazing," Alexia exclaimed, suddenly appearing behind him.

Zenith responded, "I would say thank you, but isn't there something you're not telling me?"

"What do you mean?" Alexia asked innocently.

"The bat only attacked me and didn't even take a glance at you, like you were non-existent," Zenith pointed out.

"And what am I supposed to do about that?" Alexia replied with a playful smile.

Zenith observed, "You cut the cute act and show your real self."

"Guess there is no point in hiding it from you since you won't make it out alive," Alexia admitted. With a sudden transformation, she shed her humanoid form and revealed her true nature as a giant snake—a sight that Zenith had only seen in books.