Editing/Standardisation: kubor04
Formatting/Extras: APM
Original Translation: Blastron
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I survived. I am grateful beyond belief. I’m alive. What an amazing thing to be.
As I think that, though, I can’t stop faint feelings of despair from creeping in. What on earth am I going to do now?
My nest is gone. Completely, utterly, gone. I caught a fleeting glimpse on my way out of the destruction wreaked by that breath-like weapon.
There’s an enormous crater in the wall where it once stood.
Ha ha. A crater in the wall, that’s kinda weird! How did that even happen? Isn’t a crater supposed to be something that happens when a meteorite or whatever crashes into the ground? What on earth could put a crater on a vertical surface? On top of that, didn’t it have to blow through that huge rock too? Yeah, kinda weird.
Even when I was dazed and defenseless, the wasps didn’t attack. Those guys are probably just as terrified of the Earth Dragon as I am. It’s just that powerful of a being. Anyone would be terrified. Even I’m terrified.
Seriously, what do I do now? Breaking through the wasps and returning to my original tunnels is… possible. That’s only if I disregard the Earth Dragon, though. This time, I survived through pure luck. Next time, though, I don’t think I’ll be anywhere near as lucky. Based on that thing’s actions, it’s clear that it recognized my nest as a particularly troublesome thing to deal with. Otherwise, there’s no way it would let loose such a ridiculous attack. From here on out, whenever I build a nest, I need to acknowledge the high chance that the Earth Dragon is going to take offense.
So, I can’t make a nest. Or, rather, I’m terrified, so I’m not going to. My spirit has been broken. I absolutely do not want to anger my superior, the Earth Dragon.
Maybe I’m wrong, maybe the Earth Dragon destroyed my nest on a whim, but I can’t say that a creature that powerful would attack like it did without some level of thought behind it. It really doesn’t matter either way, though, since I’m too weak to do anything about it. If I meet it, I will die. That’s it.
Twice so far, I’ve been able to escape. Both of those times have been extremely lucky. I don’t think it was entirely luck though. Even though that thing is monstrously powerful, it wasn’t able to see me while I was hiding… right?
Yeah, I think so. I really want to think so. If I don’t, I’ll lose that last thin thread of hope I’ve been hanging on.
My single way to survive. If I keep myself absolutely hidden, I’ll somehow be able to make it out of the Earth Dragon’s territory. I’ve got no other options.
I’ll need to rely on my [Stealth] skill. When I first got it, I didn’t think it would help me all that much, but now it’s my only lifeline. Its level is five, which is, quite honestly, not great, but I’ve got no other choice.
I focus on my thoughts. First off, I have to figure out which direction the Earth Dragon went. I survey the ground around me, and notice that it’s left splendidly clear footprints. They lead off away from me… in that direction, it looks like there’s just one big tunnel. Back there, it seems, is where the Earth Dragon lurks. Just realizing that makes me nervous.
I should go down the path that points as far away from the Earth Dragon as possible. That much is obvious. Who’d be so stupid as to aimlessly meander towards it? To be honest, though, I have no idea where this path may lead. Putting my fears aside, the best way to get out of here would be to try climbing again. Putting my feelings aside, I think it would really be my best chance for survival. Seriously, though, that’s still impossible. I don’t need to think about this one, I can feel it in my gut.
If I proceed slowly and keep myself hidden, I’ll be able to move forward. Staying hidden will be hard… where’s a cardboard box when you need one? Heh… Looks like my mood’s recovering a little bit, huh?
Speaking of recovering, it looks like that huge pile of damage I took when I fell has already been healed, thanks to [HP Auto-recovery]! Man, I really should have spent all of those skill points on this, instead of that worthless [Detection] skill. It’s fantastic that I was able to acquire it on my own, though. I wonder how quickly I regenerate? I didn’t really have the luxury of being able to watch my meters fill back up back then. It’s still low-level, so I can’t rely on it for rapid recovery, but I shouldn’t need to be overly concerned about a few scrapes every now and then.
Ahhhh, I didn’t really think about it much back then, but I did notice that my red Stamina bar wasn’t going down at all! I wonder why that is? I’ve never noticed anything like this before… Maybe there’s some sort of condition that stops it from decreasing, but I really have no idea what it could possibly be. …I don’t think this is the case, but… is this a bug? Is my stamina going down without the meter being updated? Ah, that would suuuck! I couldn’t do anything if I suddenly ran out of stamina. Hey, Ms. [Appraisal], I can believe in you, right? You’re a can-do kinda girl, right? I trust you, but… with things like this… can I really believe in you?
I think [Appraisal] might level up soon. It’s been a while since it last leveled, and I’ve been using it constantly since then. Since getting it up to level six made it a billion times more useful, I have really high hopes for level seven. I will be grateful beyond belief if it gives me a skill readout or anything like that. Having all of these skills I know nothing about is seriously inconvenient, you know! I might even have some skill hidden away that will turn this entire situation around! Even if I’m expecting too much of it, maybe there’s something that will make things even just a little bit better.
Even the tiniest little advantage I can scrape together in order to get out of here would be amazing. What about a skill that gives me the location of all of the nearby enemies? If I had that, I could constantly be checking to make sure the Earth Dragon wasn’t anywhere near me as I move forward. It would be great if I could use [Detection] like that, huh… I’ve given up hope on that by now, though.
I could really use a map, too! I don’t know if this tunnel is going to lead me to a safe place or not. There’s actually a pretty decent chance that this links directly up with another danger zone! If that happens, I’ll probably die… right?
Well, for now, all I can really rely on is my own terrible luck. Please, if I may be so bold, let this passage bring me to somewhere safe!
APM - Translation 