Welcome to the Jungle - Part 3

----[Elise's perspective]

The title of these chapters reminds me of a certain song I heard before with that same name... but I'll disregard that.

Anyway... this woman... Olivia, asked me to help her with something she's doing.

I see she's been working quite a bit while I've been out of the game, there's a lot of monster animals here, probably to gather a very good amount of food so we don't have to hunt for a while.

I know she is very strong because she managed to survive with me in the fall to this floor with only a fracture. So I imagine that golden bow is not just a decoration for her?

-What do you need? -. I ask her, since she didn't specify what she wanted.

-You have an immunity to fire, don't you? Grab those fangs over there and use your strength to shape them, please. Make them all straight and look like an arrowhead.

I see.

I crawl over to the fire, and see what's on top of it. A shield with a piece of meat on it that smells pleasantly...

-Can I handle the food? -. I ask her, as I don't know if she could use it for anything else.

Olivia looks at me with a slightly friendly expression and says:

-Sure. No problem.

After I get her consent, I activate [Flaming Reinforcement] to set my hands on fire so I can fan the flame of the campfire. Then I start manipulating the temperature of the fire internally, and with that, I manage to make the meat cook at a faster rate.

I learned this from all the times I've cooked to improve the taste of my meals, it's quite handy for a situation like this. It's like using [Fire Magic] but without doing it at the same time.

While holding the flame with one hand, I turn the meat with the other so that it cooks on both sides. And making use of [Steel Claws], I make straight cuts in this meat so that it cooks properly on the inside as well.

This is going to be the first time I don't eat something other than monster meat since I've been in this world, I'm kind of excited about it.

-How long have you been in this dungeon to know how to do that? That's a very creative way to use [Flaming Reinforcement], I'm surprised....

-I think it's been about two and a half weeks. The more I increase my [Stamina], the more food I have to consume, so I've been improvising by seeing how monsters use their abilities for things like that.

-Mmm... I get it.

Olivia doesn't say another word and carries on.

Well, anyway, I can let the food cook itself for the time being. So I move on to the first of the boar tusks that were red from burning in the fire and moderately begin to shape it as Olivia requested.

For my first attempt... it came out pretty lopsided.

I have some [MP] after taking what Olivia gave me, so I can use [Recreation] no problem on it. I then recreate a simple hammer, so I can give the horn light blows to straighten it out.

I heat it up once more to make the material mouldable again for a moment, and finish the finishing touches then.

It came out excellent now.

I repeat the same process with the other six boar tusks and now for sure I have seven perfect spearheads.

Also, by this time, the meat has finished cooking so I recreate a plate, a fork and a small knife, and so I serve her perfectly roasted piece of meat to Olivia.

-Eat this in the meantime, I'll put the back of a wild boar to cook, it won't take long, so have it as an appetizer. -I just tell her that, putting the plate down.

"Thank you" says Olivia, and I just wave my left hand to tell her it's no problem.

I go and tear off a good chunk of the back of one of the boars with my claws, which are already skinned by the way. Just to throw it on the shield, and start managing the flames so that the meat cooks as fast as possible.

-Hey, I know you're eating, but could you take the fat off the animal?

-Mm? What for?

-To use it as a substitute for oil. It will give it a strong flavour and moisturise the meat well, so it will be more delicious to eat.

-... you're a child, how do you know that?

-...

That's where I kept quiet.

I forgot, she wanted to know who "Nishimiya Saeko" is in all this. I know she used a skill like [Valuation] to do so, but not exactly the same, since even with my [Valuation] maxed out, I'm unable to see my real name.

There's no escape, I guess...

I close my eyes tightly, praying from the bottom of my heart that nothing like with Natsuki Subaru when he talks about being able to return from the dead...

-The truth is... I'm from another world! -. I grimaced as if to avoid the sudden pain that's going to come to me after doing this.

...

But.

Absolutely nothing happened...

I think I'm now making one of those faces that Goto Hitori used to make...

-Are you from... from another world, you say? -. Olivia sounds confused, I'm sure because of the way I chose to say it.

And since absolutely nothing happened... it's okay, isn't it?

It's time for me to blurt out a bunch of words while wearing an expression of wanting to die.

-My name in that other world is Nishimiya Saeko and I was human back then, I turned 18 there and in all that time I spent all that time accumulating useless knowledge that now doesn't seem so stupid because it's helped me a lot, too, I died in a strange way at the very moment I was going to kill the last person who hurt me after having killed two of my classmates who abused me, when I woke up in this world I was suddenly a vampire and since then I have been surviving as best I can thanks to [Vampirism], and answering your doubts from before, I don't have a reason to be in this dungeon, the truth is that I didn't find a way out of here, it seems that my parents of this world abandoned me and I'm a vampire orphan, I didn't eat those adventurers either, I still have some humanity in me and if I had to tell you about the things that surround me, being honest, it's just simple misfortune caused by having acquired an evolution titled [Heiress of Calamity] and the rest so far you already know. I killed the [Hydra of Water] and then we met, I used [Chaotic Magic] and now we're here where I'm telling you about everything that's happened in my recent new life so far.

-Whoa, whoa, whoa, calm down, you let out so much stuff that I didn't even understand half of it!

Olivia got nervous hearing me say so much. But I don't pay attention to those details.

I just kept quiet, hugging my legs while I sank into my own world...

Which didn't last long as Olivia asked her next question right away.

-So... I want to know, how much do you really know about "Elise Redhart"?

Who's that?

-I'm sorry, who is that?

-Ah, I mean [The Calamity], how much do you know about this entity?

This "Elise Redhart" is [The Calamity]?

Now I'm afraid to have her name... uh, wait....

I feel like I'm overlooking a very important detail that is probably the key to unraveling the plot of this story.

Come on, brain! Think about what it could be! Then we could get 100 chapters out of the way!

Well, it's time to answer Olivia.

-I don't know much apart from what my [Valuation] told me with a conscience of my own...

-Wait, your [Valuation] has a consciousness of her own?! How is that even possible?!

-Ah, wasn't that normal? I thought it only developed this way after the ability was brought to its maximum level.

Now I feel like I'm pretty broken as a character... don't let your ego get a boost, Saeko.

-That's amazing... in less than a month you did what it would take a normal human decades to do... ah, excuse my manners, I interrupted you while you were talking. So, what do you know about [The Calamity]?

Olivia seems to be the type of person who interrupts others all the time, but I don't really mind this. It's comfortable talking to someone other than myself.

- - -

[Hey, I heard that!]

- - -

You're basically me, so there's no point in considering you to be a separate entity from me.

So I just talk to myself. So this is quite de-stressing.

-I just know that it was a powerful vampire woman who defeated the [Dragon Queen] on her own and caused a fear now engraved in the survival instincts of you humans.

-... you know you have the same name as her, right?

Ahh, I knew I'd end up mentioning that...

-Yes... but the truth is that this name was given to me by the [System]... I was someone without a name not so long ago.

-Huh? The [System] did? That's... that's really strange, you really weren't born with any name? Your parents didn't give you one? I mean, the ones in this world.

-I don't think so. I went by "Nameless Vampire" for a very long time. Even I was surprised I got a name... Do you know anything about that? I mean the [System] giving a name.

Once again I feel like I'm close to that detail that will solve a controversy that may go on for several chapters until I find out.

Come on, don't lose the spark now.

-I heard once that when the [System] names you as someone who already existed... it means it wants to make you the reincarnation of that person... but this is the strangest case I've ever seen of that, it seems that the [System] controlled all the forces of nature to bring you to this place. You are an outsider to this world, and yet, somehow you came to the place where one of the [Forbidden Artefacts of The Calamity] resides on the last of all floors.

-A what?

Just when I thought I was going to get the answer to everything, it turns out there are a lot more questions to answer now.

What is that thing Olivia mentioned? Why did I of all possibilities end up in this place? And how does the [System] actually control things?

I don't understand any of that stuff...

-It's known as the [Vampire Sword] and is linked to the [Vampire] race through its connection to the progenitor of them all, Elise Redhart... there's no doubt in my mind now, Elise, you...

I swallow as suddenly Olivia is looking at me in a way she's never done before.

A look like she's going to kill me any second and I have no choice but to save my skin.

-Elise, your destiny... really is to become the second Elise Redhart. As you transition, there will be no one able to stop you... not even me, who is categorised as the strongest human being.

Olivia drops her shoulders. She is convinced of what she said, and I have no way of doubting her words.

My destiny... uh.

But I...

-Olivia, I don't want to become like her.

-Hmm?

It seems my words confused Olivia, because she looks up and looks at me like I'm a stranger.

It's better if I continue.

-I said I don't want to be like Elise Redhart... I'm only a vampire because I have no choice in the matter, but so far I still think like a human. I may end up killing people for mere survival, but I'm not going to consume any of them, not their body, not their blood.

I say all this confident in my decision. There's no way I'm going to lie about something like this.

One thing I have learned is that fate is not written in stone. I've defied death so many times and come out victorious that I'm surprised there isn't some kind of [God of Death] coming to claim my soul yet, haha.

...

There won't be, will there?

Hey, writer, tell me that won't happen!

Now I'm afraid of what might happen in the future! What the hell will I do if a deity comes to kill me at any cost! How will I deal with it?!

(Creak)

(Thud!)

From inside my ear, I clearly hear something break and after a few seconds it falls to the ground with great force.

It must surely be some monster... but, uh... wasn't there a barrier or something? Wasn't there a barrier or something? Didn't Olivia take care of that?

I start to tremble as deep in my heart I find myself cursing my bad luck with everything I can think of.

-Hey, Olivia... -. I start... I'm actually too afraid to ask the following question.

-What's going on?

-Did you put up a barrier or something like that? Something to scare the monsters away from us or hide us?

I hear a multitude of footsteps approaching us. But I resign myself to simply do nothing since I don't know what the hell it's about.

-Uh, yes... Why...?

Before Olivia could finish her question, I was lifted into the air after a gun was jabbed into my back.

Blood spurts out of my mouth, but I don't worry about it...

-Because it looks like they just got rid of that thing! -. I scream at the top of my lungs, knowing that I'm completely immobilised.

-Red Orcs?! They're supposed to be extinct! Wait... there's too many of them!

Yeah, they outnumber us quite a bit.

There's like... fifty?

Several of them rush at Olivia, she tries to kill them but by the time she realizes that the arrows are too fragile for the skin of these orcs, it's already too late.

They have captured her between them all. It looks like the [Heroine] still can't do much being one against all....

Well, we're already dead.