part1 · 033-ep33

Episode 33: After Victory

The monster lay on the ground. For a while, Ren couldn't move from the spot.

"...I won."

However many times he murmured it, it still didn't feel real. Until just a few weeks ago, running from that monster was all he could do.

And now—

he'd brought it down with his own spear.

Ren approached slowly. Just in case, he checked that it wasn't moving.

"...It's not moving anymore."

At last, Ren let the tension out of his shoulders.

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Ren began examining the monster's body. The first things to catch his eye were the sharp fangs. And the thick pelt.

"These... might be useful."

Clearly different from the monsters he'd killed so far. The pelt was tough, with few wounds on it. There might be parts he could eat, too.

But—

"...Not today, though."

The Ren of right now had no strength left to butcher it. Memorizing where the monster was, Ren decided to leave the spot.

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On the way back, Ren kept checking his own body, over and over.

He was tired. He had wounds, too.

Even so—

before, he couldn't have kept moving this long.

"...I've changed again."

《Survival Adaptation》 had worked during the fight. And he had won.

Ren thought as he walked.

"Every time I'm in danger... my body changes."

It wasn't certainty yet. But little by little, he was figuring it out.

What he needed to survive was being added to his body.

"...Then."

Ren stopped walking. What if he went somewhere more dangerous? What if he fought stronger monsters?

"Could I get even stronger?"

For a moment, he hoped so. But he shook his head at once.

"...If I overdo it and die, it means nothing."

More than getting stronger, surviving came first. That was what mattered most to the Ren of right now.

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Back at his bed, Ren lit a fire. He laid the spear down beside him. And staring into the flames, he went back over the fight.

At first, he'd been terrified. He was terrified now, too.

Even so—

"...Next time, I'll fight better."

He could believe that.

He was different from the him of a few weeks ago. He'd fought monsters again and again, been wounded again and again, and survived every time.

All of that, stacked up, was what had made him who he was now.

　　　　　◇

Ren turned his eyes to the rock wall near his bed. On it was the map he'd carved out over all his exploring.

The places he'd walked. The places he'd met monsters. The places that had been dangerous.

Ren traced with his finger the lines that had grown, little by little.

"...Been here."

He confirmed the places he'd walked so far, one by one. Then turned his gaze to where no lines were carved yet.

"...There might be stairs beyond this point."

He'd explored this floor quite a lot. Even so, he still hadn't found them.

In that case—

all he could do was search the places that were left.

"...Let's go see."

Ren took up his spear.

Now that his rematch was won, his next goal was set. Find this floor's stairs. And go down.

Checking the map carved into the rock wall one last time, Ren started walking toward the places he had never seen.