Chapter 173 - Scent of the Wasteland but Holding Hope ※Nanami's POV

At the same time as the countdown ended, I was covered in bright light, and I closed my eyes, unable to bear it.

The next instant I felt as if the ground disappeared and I was floating…

I was standing in a wasteland with a number of rocky mountains protruding from the ground.

Dry air blew. A wasteland that has rocky mountains and a few plants.

I don’t see anyone else aside from myself.

I understood my situation and gulped.

“…I missed.” (Nanami)

The dart didn’t fly into that bad of a place.

It almost hit exactly at the place I aimed, so I would say I am in a pretty high spot in terms of the people that chose Dart Teleport…probably.

Anyways, it is certain that I am in the Ringpill Continent.

It is certain, but…

“I have a certain degree of geographic knowledge, but there was a place like this in Ringpill too…” (Nanami)

I don’t feel the presence of people closeby.

I won’t know until I confirm in a map, but I will at least need some survival skills here.

[Pin Pon Pan! Welcome to the isekai, Chosen Number 1,001, Souma Nanami. I will give a simple explanation of the Status Board! First, please bring out the Status. You can voice it out, or call it in your mind.]

A voice suddenly resonated in my mind.

I see, this is the ‘Voice of the Angel’, huh.

“Status.” (Nanami)

A half-transparent screen appeared in midair.

[You will be able to obtain all sorts of information; get items, skills, and gifts; check the popularity ranking and viewership; remaining points and crystals; from that Status Board.]

This is pretty overdue information, but the Status Board is the source of the Chosen’s cheats.

‘The Remaining Points are your Remaining Lives’ was a popular phrase spoken around in the net, but it is exactly that. The Chosen who keep points on them have a high survivability rate.

I have also left 11 points… Well, I will soon be using a few of them though.

After the explanation was done, I bought a High Efficiency World Map with 3 points.

I had decided to take that once I didn’t manage to transfer close to a city. I would need it anyway.

I switched tabs in the Status Board and confirmed my current location.

Judging from the location the dart landed, it should be northwest of Meltia…

“Oh…this is going to be rough.” (Nanami)

When the tutorial ends, the viewers will be able to watch our state.

Celica-chan and Karen-chan will surely scream…

The place I am in is the Ringpill Continent’s Hellskull Wasteland.

The population density is 0 out of 10 levels.

Danger level is 5 out of 6 levels.

The closest place with people is Rikotason, and it is a distance of 85km in a straight line.

I had been transferred to the very center of a dangerous wasteland all alone without a single person around.

◇◆◆◆◇

Now then, what do we do from now on.

Remaining Points: 8.

For now, I buy a Barrier Stone, and 7 Points remain.

I currently don’t need the special item that is the Scapegoat Ring. Even if my remaining lives were to increase in a place of danger level 5, it will be my end the moment I get checkmated. There’s no point.

It would be more certain if I just utilize Barrier Stones well.

There’s several blue points on the map. These points are all Chosen.

And the red point that is showing my current location is far southeast. One of the points in Meltia must be Hi-chan. I must reunite with this point no matter what.

By the way, the closest settlement has no blue points. It is impossible to grab and cooperate with a Chosen, huh.

Right now it is still the tutorial. It would be better to finish buying the items I need here. Once it begins, I will dash at once.

That it is 85 km to the village means that the danger zone isn’t that vast. Thinking of it in the most positive way, if I run around 60 km, I should be able to reach a decently safe place…I think.

I used 15 Crystals to exchange for sneakers.

It isn’t a forest, so it is better to prioritize equipment for running. It is a desert, so it would be best if I could buy a mountain bike though. Unfortunately, there’s no bikes.

I am not good at running, but I have no choice but to run here.

My remaining points are 6. I have 15 crystals.

“Next is…I have to listen to the hint.” (Nanami)

I use 1 Crystal and push the ‘Survival Hint’ button.

It has already been proven that this Survival Hint is really effective, and it is thought as God rigging the dice, or it is something that’s advised to you after seeing the future.

In the information that was disclosed for the 2nd group, it was even written in red letters: ‘If you are troubled, listen to the hint’.

<<Head west>>

“Eh…? West?” (Nanami)

That answer was an unexpected one.

That’s because the current location of the closest village is east.

The location of Meltia where Hi-chan is is also southeast.

Of course, I intended to head east.

But the importance of this Survival Hint has been proven.

I don’t know what’s east, but I have no choice but to head west for now.

For the last thing, I take out my brought item from the Status Board.

A shotgun loaded with 35 bullets.

A specialized weapon that has had its parts made as light as possible.

The first shot is already charged, and if I were to take out the safety, I would be able to shoot it at once.

The power is pretty high, and if I were to shoot from close range, it is apparently capable of killing any creature on Earth. I was hammered continuously that the recoil is also as strong, and if you don’t shoot with proper posture, your bones could break.

“Alright…let’s go.” (Nanami)

I inspected my equipment and resolved myself.

I don’t know what’s awaiting me west of here, but I have no choice but to go.

[Are you finished buying your items?]

The voice of the angel asks to confirm.

“Yes, I am okay now.” (Nanami)

[Then, the explanation of the Status Board ends here. And for the last thing, as a newcomer special gift, you will be conferred a power from the Physical Ability enhancement or the Resistance.]

“Ah, there was that!” (Nanami)

I completely forgot about that, but there was that special gift.

I open the Status Board and confirm it at once.

“Yay…!” (Nanami)

The special gift was Endurance Up Level 1.

This one is 5 points, so this is a big jackpot. Moreover, the second thing I wanted the most.

My chances of getting out of here alive have increased greatly.

By the way, the thing I wanted the most was Physical Strength Up, but in a situation like this where my mental health is being shaved away, Endurance is probably the most useful one… No, this one is the better one.

[You are free to live how you want in this world. The viewers are always together with you. If you get their cooperation, I am sure you will be able to live an even more fulfilling life in this world. Good luck.]

After informing me this, the voice of the angel disappeared.

At the same time, the resolution of the world increased.

Strong wind passed by the openings of the rocky mountains, making creepy whistling sounds.

With the fact that this is a high danger level location added to all of this, I felt like my legs would give out here.

(I am scared… But I have to go.) (Nanami)

It is as if my soul was shouting that this is not a place where humans can live.

My heart was feeling so helpless here that I felt like crying just from standing here, but I will be living a new life here.

He is waiting for me; with that as the sole support of my heart, I run.

I will cry my grievances after I have survived.

◇◆◆◆◇

It has been 2 hours since I began running.

I am still alive.

“Kuh! Again?! There’s no point in eating someone like me. I am not tasty!” (Nanami)

I must really look like a weak and easy prey.

A super big eagle that wasn't in my original world was aiming at me from the sky.

—Prey, prey.

I can hear the voice of their mind with Communication. I have been saved countless times by that already.

My way of using it here might be a bit different from what I originally thought, but the hunting voices of the carnivores that normally perform their hunting silently were all being heard by me clearly.

There’s a direction to the voices of their minds, so I could even tell in what direction they were coming from. That’s creating a quasi-presence detection.

Of course, it most likely doesn’t work on the ones who are not speaking in their mind.

On top of that, I have a shotgun.

Bullets can defeat big monsters, and we are not talking about buckshots that send small bullets flying, but big slug bullets.

I don’t want to kill a splendid specimen like that, but I won’t be able to survive if I don’t kill it.

(Sorry.) (Nanami)

I take posture with my gun pointing at the sky and pull the trigger.

A low firing sound was made on the gun that had a suppressor equipped, and the bullet hit the giant eagle. A big hole was opened on the bird, and it fell to the ground with an echoing cry.

I could feel the Spirit Energy entering my body with its death. It is hard to describe the feeling, but I have gotten used to it. According to what others say, outdoors where the body doesn’t disappear like in the dungeon, the Spirit Energy obtained is a few notches lower.

“This is the 6th one. Would it be better to take off the suppressor?” (Nanami)

I don’t know if a big sound will attract monsters or scare them away, but it currently has the suppressor on. I think loud sounds are decently effective against animals, but I am in a danger level 5 wasteland. There’s a high chance that it will show the reverse effect.

If I were to fight a giant eagle in a normal way, it would be quite the problematic opponent.

It wouldn’t die unless you hit it a good amount with a bow, and if you were to fight with a sword, you would need quite the big one…something like what that woman had, or you wouldn’t even be able to deal any significant damage to it.

Its big and sharp beak seems like it has enough strength to easily rip off the head of a person. Even the beaks of Earth’s birds are quite the thing too.

If it is an eagle this big, it should have several tens of times more strength than a human.

“Celica-chan, thanks. The gun is saving me here.” (Nanami)

I have used 8 shots until now. 27 shots remaining.

At this rate, I will be running out of bullets before I get out of the wasteland, but I am not in a situation where I can spare any shots.

Most of all, it is also because ‘it is birds, so I should be able to manage somehow’.

A gun is an effective weapon against them.

If it had been a small and swift monster that I had to align the shot, I would have instantly been done for.

I drank my 3rd stamina potion and ran.

I don’t take out the Spirit Stone of the birds. I don’t have the time to do that.

I am in a wasteland like this. I will stand out running.

It seems like this is the territory of the giant eagles. There’s currently no other carnivore in sight, and that could be considered lucky.

Also, killing a living being…moreover, a giant living being, was an action that was shaving away at my heart. This is not simply because I like living things or something half-baked like that. No one would be able to stay fine after doing something like this.

I am glad what I got was Endurance Up. If not, I would have been crying a long time ago.

This is a barren wasteland that only has a few plants growing.

Small reptiles like lizards and snakes; small mammals like rats; insects; I managed to get a glance at them while I was running, but that’s all there was.

However, I saw some big one-eyed skulls lying around every now and then.

Is that what the Hellskull name comes from? Are there cyclops here?

A giant with a cranium of that size would be around 4 meters in height, I think. I don’t want to be grabbed and chomped just like that.

But there’s the chance that I can communicate with a giant. The birds are completely ignoring my words, or can’t understand me, but if it is an intelligent being, it might be possible to establish communication.

Even if it is a giant, if things get hairy, I can defeat it in one hit by shooting it down…I think.

If it is a creature that is big and not fast, it shouldn’t be that bad of an opponent. This is just me being optimistic here.

I slipped through the crevice of the rocky mountains while I was thinking that, and saw a whole lot of animals gathered a little further ahead.

I could hear the ‘gukya gukya’ cries of several eagles.