Once again, they were walking in the arid desert.
Though this time, the group seemed more distant than ever.
Karma was carrying Rita on his back. A piece of clothing was covering a black eye on his beautiful face.
Ren, on the other hand, did not try to cover the bruise on his cheek.
They took one step after the other in complete silence, with the occasional 'Are you okay..?' That karma asked Rita when she was awake or groaned in pain.
Rita broke the silence:
"We shouldn't be very far now.. right..?" She asked in a weak voice.
"No, just one or two more days and we'll be there. Just hold on a bit longer okay..?" Karma said trying to reassure her.
Ren was in front. Listening to their conversation in silence.
He couldn't help but think about everything that had happened so far.
Their sudden arrival at this place, their first few days, the few heartfelt conversations he had shared with Eric, or the moments where he had to trust his life in their hands.
Why did it make him feel so heavy?
'This is pointless..' Ren quickly took his mind off those thoughts.
————
They were much slower than before now because of Rita's state.
They had to take more breaks and avoid conflict whenever possible.
But this couldn't always be the case..
As the group kept walking forward, Karma stepped on something hard.
Just as he did, the sand beneath his feet rose, and both he and Rita fell into the ground as a worm, just like the last one they encountered, revealed itself.
"Crap!"
Ren shouted as he dashed towards Karma and Rita to push them out of the worm's range.
Ren barely managed to push them out of the way before the worm crushed them with its full weight.
Karma immediately stood back up and grabbed Rita before running away from the beast.
"DAMN IT..!" Karma cried as he fled.
"What the hell?!" Ren shouted as karma left him alone with the defiled.
A horrible scream rang in his eardrums.
The beast was now lunging towards Ren.
He managed to dodge its attack decently enough as it was quite direct.
"Goddamnit..! This piece of shit really just left me here?!" Ren complained out loud.
The worm's skin was in its weakened state, and the weak point was visible thanks to the sunlight.
Ren had to make a choice. He could try running, but he still had no idea of how long he had to go before reaching the safe base.
Though if he passed next Karma and Rita, there was a chance the beast would change targets…
Or he could choose to fight it.
He had seen its moves before, they weren't too complicated to predict..
He didn't have much time to think it over though. Because just as he asked himself this question the worm attacked once again.
"Damn it!"
Ren quickly moved out of the way and even managed to stab it in its weak spot before pulling away.
The worm let out a pained scream, it was probably not very happy about its new wound.
And just like that Ren began the fight.
The worm used its tail and swung it with all its might towards Ren who jumped back just in time to avoid the hit once again.
Right after this he ran towards the worm and immediately located the weak spot as he pushed his screwdriver into the injury he had made earlier.
'Come on..!'
As he pushed it in deeper the worm flailed to try to push Ren away.
"Just die already- crap..!"
Ren was hit and was sent back flying. His screwdriver was still inside the worm.
He landed on the sand as his whole body was in pain.
Thanks to his skill [Gotta Move! (weak) Lv1], he immediately ran back towards the defiled.
"Give that back you pest..!"
He grabbed his screwdriver and started twisting it, and pushing it deeper inside, until he felt like he touched something hard.
And then a pop.
The previously vigorous beast now froze in place before collapsing on the ground once again.
Ren sighed in relief:
"Crap… that screwdriver sure is sturdy.."
Just as he took his screwdriver back, his stone Tablet appeared in front of him:
{Congratulations! You have slain a Defiled by yourself before completing the first sorting. You have fulfilled the conditions of a hidden achievement. You will be rewarded after completing the first sorting.}
"… well.. that's cool."
Ren briefly read what his tablet said before frowning as he remembered what karma did.
He quickly stood back up and ran ahead to catch up with the other two…
…Which didn't take very long since they hadn't gotten very far.
"What the hell was that?!" Ren said as he pushed Karma to the ground before he even noticed him.
"What the- Ren?!" Karma said surprised. "I thought you'd die!"
Ren turned red.
"You wish huh?! What the fuck was that?! Trying to get rid of me or something?"
Karma quickly jumped back up.
"What? No! It's just that I wanted to get Rita away from there!" He tried to explain.
"Yeah, sure! More like you didn't wanna help!" Ren shot back.
Karma also started shouting:
"That's not it! And even if I did help what the hell would you want me to do?! I don't even have a proper weapon!"
"You could have just taken Rita's-" Ren quickly stopped himself. "You know what, just shut up. I don't even know why I'm arguing with you."
He quickly passed by him and kept moving forward, as Karma hurriedly picked Rita up and followed.
————
The night arrived. Ren started feeling tired and decided to stop. He sat down and started taking out some of the rations he had.
Karma quickly followed as he gently put Rita down and took his own ration to share with her.
The group ate in silence.
Ren quickly finished his meal and put the rest of his food away for later.
Karma finished almost all the rations he had left and then decided it was time to sleep.
Ren had to stay awake to look out for any danger because Karma didn't even try to ask who should sleep first.
'This guy..'
Then a weak voice reached his ears.
"…Ren..?"
Rita was still awake.
Ren was caught off guard, he looked at her for a few seconds before answering.
"What is it..?" He carefully said.
"Did you and Karma… fight over something..?"
Ren froze. He hesitated to answer her.
"Yes, we did. Just earlier when he left me with that beast."
Ren said, while trying to avoid the question.
"I wasn't talking about that. I meant before."
"… Why do you think that?"
Rita looked at him with a slightly annoyed expression.
"I don't know, maybe the giant black eye on his face. Or the bruise on yours."
Ren sighed, as he caressed his cheek.
"Yeah.. we did fight." Ren reluctantly revealed. "I wanted to leave you behind. I said you were going to be a burden and he didn't take it very well, which is fair."
Ren waited for her reaction. He expected sadness, anger, maybe even fear.
Rita looked at him in silence for a while, before finally breaking the silence.
"You know, back then, when we were fighting that serpent. When it was about to crush you..?" Rita said.
Ren quietly nodded.
"I.. I didn't want to help you at first. I wanted to let you die. I thought that.. if I did let you die, I could save strength for later. In case I was in danger." She took a deep breath before continuing. "And, for a while now. I have been regretting my decision to help you. I kept thinking that maybe.. If I didn't save you.. I would have had enough strength to save Eric and myself. Mostly myself. So.. I don't really blame you, for wanting to leave me behind."
Ren froze. At this exact moment, he saw Rita under a completely different light.
He used to think of her as some sort of great leader that would never hurt any of their allies, but now, to him, she just looked human. All the doubts he had towards her seemed to vanish.
"Then… I also don't blame you for.. wanting to let me die."
Rita smiled.
"So.. are we square..?"
Ren smiled back.
"Yeah. We're square."
The night passed without any problems.