“Ugh… This won’t work anymore…”

  Yverantheia shook the ste bag several times, but nothing fell out.

  She examihe bag carefully and found that the magical ruched onto it had been corroded by the giaipede's stomach acid. While the bag still funed as a carrier, all the various tools inside had vanished.

  Though the magical items she had were not particurly powerful pared to those ented with are engineering from the human realm, they were useful in critical moments—potions for maoration or stitg sprays, for example. But now, no matter how useful they might have been, they were rendered useless.

  The only silver lining was that the small tentacle had remained in the bag’s ordinary ste space rather than the subspace. Thus, with the subspace gohe tentacle was still safe and sound, resting peacefully o Yverantheia.

  Another bit of good fortune was that after killing the giaipede, Yverantheia had absorbed a portion of its power, successfully breaking through to the fifth level. Her natural mana regeion had increased to a level that could temporarily repce the need for food.

  However, this was merely a temporary measure. Relying solely on mana for sustenance would deplete her bat reserves.

  “Let’s take it oep at a time… Hmm?”

  As Yverantheia stood up, she noticed an unusual small point in the distance, which she hadn’t seen immediately due to the ret battle.

  ging to the hope that this could be a breakthrough, she put the small tentacle bato the now ordinary ste bag and walked toward the stra.

  To serve mana, Yverantheia had to move slowly, oep at a time. Fortunately, the area was quiet due to the ret battle with the tipede, and no is rushed out. Otherwise, with her current dition, she would have been able to handle no more than a few dozen bees.

  As she closed the distahe small dot grew rger and clearer. Yet, an ominous feeling began to spread iheia’s heart. She quied her pace, moving in hurried steps.

  Wheheia finally saw the se clearly, she froze in pce.

  The ground was littered with corpses, their red blood having turned a deep crimson with time. The pu st of iron filled Yverantheia’s nostrils.

  If this were all there was to it, Yverantheia might have remaiill. The problem was that she could reize the shape of the corpses and their previous state.

  They were bees—the same bees she had entered before, and it was the same batch.

  Yverantheia was certain she had been traveling in the opposite dire. Even ating for the distaraveled during the battle with the giaipede, she shouldn’t have ended up here.

  No, she wasn’t sure anymore. She could sehat the coordinates she had set by the seaside were now ahead of her!

  “What oh is happening… When did this start… No, did I really set coordinates…?”

  Looking back, she felt a strange sensation siering the desert.

  Suddenly, Yverantheia’s vision flickered again, and she felt a liquid flowing down her body.

  She looked down to see a nce-like stinger pierg through her heart. Behind her was a bee, resembling those corpses but with some differences.

  “Ugh…!”

  Yverantheia eled her remaining mana tthen her body, pulling herself off the stinger and jumping away.

  “Zzz.”

  The neeared bee was signifitly rger than the previous ones. Its front legs had transformed into nce-like spikes, emitting a far stronger aura than before, probably equivalent to a hundred of the previous bees.

  Yverantheia covered the wound on her chest, but blood tio gush out. She could only use her remaining mana to heal herself.

  But this meant her mana would drop further. The amount she had left was barely suffit to handle a few dozen bees, let alohis one. With dwindling mana, esg from this bee might soon bee impossible.

  Before Yverantheia could decide, the bee lifted its blood-staiinger and charged at her with incredible speed.

  Yverantheia dodged immediately but was still grazed on the face. Thankfully, she hadn’t dispelled her body enha, or it might have struck her head, shattering it pletely.

  “What do I do neion… No, there’s no time.”

  As Yverantheia pondered while dodging, her current weakness made it impossible to avoid all attacks, and her wounds tio accumute.

  “Should I… No, there’s no choice!”

  Yverantheia made up her mind. She poured all her strength into enhang her body and charged straight at the bee, disregarding its attacks.

  “Zzz!!”

  The bee’s nce-like front legs and the poison stinger on its tail pierced into Yverantheia. In an instant, the poison spread throughout her body.

  “Zzz.”

  As the bee thought Yverantheia owerless, she g to its body.

  “Let’s see who dies first!”

  Yverantheia pressed her mana within her body. The bee, sensing the danger, began to fil wildly, trying to escape her grip.

  Boom!!

  The pressed mana exploded violently, sending the nearby bee corpses flying and causing even more devastation.

  “Ha… Pff!”

  As the dust settled, Yverantheia stood on the sand, covered in blood, even spitting blood from her mouth.

  The bee, after enduring Yverantheia’s self-destru, had been torn into three parts, but there was no doubt it was dead.

  “Pff!… No… The damage is too severe…”

  Yverantheia k on the ground, supp herself with her hands. Despite the redu in pain, the massive blood loss bined with the bee’s poiso her uo stand.

  Her blood tio drain, and in this state, it wouldn’t be long before she died from blood loss. Worse still, she didn’t have enough ma feion.

  “… Zzz…”

  A faint sound came from the distance. Yverantheia struggled to turn her head and saw a swarm of is approag.

  Bees, tipedes, worms, ants… various is slowly closed in from all dires.

  “… So in the end… I’m just prey…”

  Fag this vast swarm, even a single goblin could now be deadly to her.

  In this desert, it felt as though every step she took had been calcuted. Although this illusion could mask the reality of her heart being pierced, the is seemed to be enjoying the torment of their prey, never killing her ht.

  At this moment, a familiar emotion surged within her—one she hadn't felt since she fell into the abyss.

  It was called—despair.

  ShoujoDirector