The next day, after waking up and having a nice rest, Mrit prepared his breakfast, usually with the same fruits he got from the jungle before.

“It’s getting boring eating the same thing again and again. With no city in reach, for now, it is best to have some meat. But the question is how.”

“Since coming here, I have seen no animal or anything besides Totopa. Is this a deserted forest or something? Was I dumped here so that the goddess can psychologically break me?”

Never encountering a single enemy here, Mrit got suspicious. It might be acceptable if he didn’t encounter anyone when he first got transported here, but after many days, he never saw even a bird or anything except Totopa.

“Is this because of him?”

Changing his suspect, he looked at Totopa, thinking that this little fluff ball might be the reason, but in the end, he decides to eliminate the reason. He can’t suspect someone who is with him till now when he first arrived here.

“Sure, he can use magic, but that can be applied to another species here, too. And for a creature this small to be afraid by others seems pretty ridiculous.”

But for the sake of his curiosity, he tried to do something different today.

“Totopa, I am going further in the jungle. Stay here and guard the items. I will return till the afternoon.”

Hearing him, Totopa, who was lying with a big belly bump, jumped up and came near Mrit.

“Topa? Topaa!!”

Not knowing the plans of his owner with a cute saluting pose, Totopa walked to the luggage and sat there, like a lion protecting its fresh hunt.

Looking at Totopa, Mrit sighed as he then left the camp and walked towards the jungle, alone, to find some meat for dinner.

***

Inside the jungle, Mrit swung the great sword and cleared the plants on his way.

Walking for half an hour, he is now very far from his camp. While he walked, he thoroughly tried to find some creatures in the forest by expanding his senses. Despite that, he couldn’t find anyone except some worms.

“Am I wrong in suspecting Totopa? Are there no animals in this forest?”

Searching on trees, inside borrows, and even in the bushes, he found nothing. All he found were fruits and some plants that felt like they can be used to make some medicines.

“Let’s search for some more.”

He went further into the forest but couldn’t find anything. After a long, useless trolling, he decided to stop and return to the camp just when, at a distance, he found a huge nest above a tree.

“A nest? And that huge?”

The nest on the tree was not normal at all. From below, the radius of the nest seems to be around 5 meters. Walking near the tree, Mrit searched the area.

“These red feathers… The mother must be nearby. It’s my chance to finally find someone here. I have to get up there.”

Excited, he started to climb the tree. Although he had difficulty climbing because of this new, weak body, he somehow pulled himself up and finally reached up into the nest, but what he found was nothing.

“What the…? The nest is empty??”

Although big, the nest can be seen empty with naked eyes without even lifting a finger. The nest was empty, totally empty.

“Is this an abandoned nest? Where the hell the chicks or eggs are?”

There was neither a feather nor any pieces of the eggshell. There was not even a trace of bird poop here. After finally searching and founding nothing, he truly gave up on searching for any life here.

“The goddess sent me here to break me mentally. That damned bitch!! Just you wait.”

Before he could speak any further, the nest glowed, with a magic circle underneath Mrit, glowing blue.

“Another magic circle? Is it the goddess again?”

The magic circle this time glowed blue, not like the bright white when he was thrown here.

“There must be someone at the endpoint of this circle. Maybe they are the reason no one is here.”

Having hope in his heart ignited again, Mrit stood there as his body slowly got covered in bright blue light, transporting him to an unknown place.

***

“Damn this nausea!! Ughh.”

Standing upon the magic circle, now lightless, Mrit tried to stand up while holding his head. The nauseating feeling caused by traveling through the magic circle gave him serious nausea.

“… Now, where am I?”

Looking in front of him after recovering from nausea, he found a bunch of people looking at him. Some looked at him with a ridiculous gaze, some with shock, and some with confusion.

“What do we have here, a human?”

Among them spoke the one who is sitting in a chair among the men. Resting his hand on the pommel of a huge sword, he looked at Mrit with a curious gaze. Wearing a huge grin with a huge scar on his face and a huge build, the man looked like a typical gangster villain.

“So, our new HUMAN friend here, how did you get stuck in the nest? Did the mama bird catch you for her missing egg? HAHAHA!!!”

Along with him, all others laughed loudly as they slowly took out their weapons from their back, looking at Mrit menacingly. Their boss, giggling, got up and rested his huge sword on his shoulders. Then he slowly walked toward Mrit and stood in front of him. Approximately 7 feet tall, our Mrit looked like a child in front of him.

“Where and what is this place?”

But Mrit remained unfazed as he looked around the room

Looking around and not minding the creepy gazes, he found himself in a room of walls made of soil. The temperature also was pretty colder than the forest where he was standing moments ago.

Taking everything into account, he concluded where he was, but before he could spell it out, the big gangster guy answered for him.

“The underground. We are now under the surface from where you came from.”

***