Leave The Monster Alone

The party moved ahead without delay. Even with the added danger, their mission remained the same as ever. However, the deeper they went inside this new area, the thinner the tree density got till there was nothing left for them to step on.

"This is as far as Suzy could have led you. Suzy would not advise anyone who is not Suzy or like Suzy to go ahead from here" the girl was not looking at them when she issued this warning. Her glazed over eyes were likely seeing something different from them.

"Great. A dead-end" Alan complained as soon as he stopped and looked ahead. They had covered a significant portion of the forest with relative ease but he had no idea how they would be able to proceed from here onwards.

The teen had already noticed how peculiar Suzy and her condition was so he had no idea she held some special circumstances. Her warning only solidified that hypothesis Alan had.

"Is there no other way forward?" Mark asked the question but in his mind, he was calculating other things. If there really was no other way forward then they needed an alternative. Would any vehicle be able to drive on such a dense hair-covered floor?

"As far as Suzy knows there is no other way" the girl's information was the final nail in the coffin. So Mark knew that there was no other alternative for them than to somehow look for a way to the centre.

"Can we use a helicopter or something similar to land in the centre? Do we need to go to the central part?" Alan's solution sounded good at first but there were too many holes in the problem.

The most important of all - "Where are we gonna get a helicopter in such a remote place? Also, do you think anyone here knows how to drive it?" 

The boat was one thing since it was not that complicated in instructions but a helicopter was a technical flying machine one was only handed over after months of practice and stimulations.

Even if they could find one, chances were that they would not be able to operate it on their own. It was just more practical to find different solutions altogether in these circumstances.

Mark felt a light tug at his pants and he watched as Kuro jumped down and transformed into her bigger form. Mark gave it a few seconds but the toxins mentioned in the hair did not seem to be affecting Kuro at all.

Right, divine beast and all. She and Suzy were likely similar enough for it to not affect Kuro. Her giant Size also made a decent travel option. The hairs that covered the forest floor came up to Kuro's knee joints which left ample space on her back.

"Right, Kuro can still work. I'll get a rope for us to descend down to her" Mark's words attracted the attention of the other two who finally noticed the giant feline down there. Suzy gave them a nod of acceptance before she jumped down as well.

Unlike Kuro, the dense hair around her came up just shy of her hips and she looked even smaller standing there in the field.

"Alan, would you like to go down first?" Mark asked the kid who nodded and started descending down. They did this slowly so that Alan would not miss Kuro's back. 

The landing was soft but once Alan was safe, Mark also made it down. It was a little crowded on that back, mainly because Alan was far too big for his size but Kuro did not seem to be struggling to carry them so it was alright.

"Kuro, go slow so that we can adapt" the feline gave off an excited and playful aura to him and Mark instantly knew she wanted to dash off at full speed. Mark would rather have her tread these parts slowly so that they would not fall.

The feline almost pouted before she slowly took a step. While it was more tedious for her to go slow, the feline did not seem to be complaining and Mark was so proud of her. Kuro always came through difficult times for him.

"Suzy, can you feel the location now?" they had to be close enough for the other to get a clear read by now but the aura coming off of her told Mark she did not know anything yet.

"The hair around Suzy is making it difficult for Suzy to be able to find Suzy" great, their best source of guidance was out now. Now, what should they do? 

"Look there" Alan pointed out to the front where the lump seemed to be almost concentrated. The pile of hair easily towered far above them and it was covered by the same hair all over.

The pile of hair seemed to not be moving but it still gave off a very familiar aura. Mark was willing to bet that it was the real body of Suzy that they had been looking for.

"We will not be able to drag it back with us. What should we do now?" This would prove to be a problem. Originally, their plan had been to drag this body back to the base but it had obviously failed even before starting.

"Suzy can get the core here?" The female looked almost confused and her expression was lost. Mark had forgotten that it had been her idea to bring the body back in the first place. Had she forgotten how big her actual body had been?

"Will you be able to do it?" Mark asked the female. He had confidence in her abilities but it never hurt to have a verbal confirmation just to be aware.

"Suzy is the only one who had access to it. Suzy would be alright" Mark almost wanted to send Alan back with her to help her out but the present situation would not actually allow it. It was not like Mark could just allow Alan to walk back on his own either.

"Alright, we'll trust you for now. Will you be back soon?" Mark needed a frame of reference to plan the next order of operations. 

"Suzy should be back in half an hour. If Suzy will not be able to come back then Suzy will send Suzy to help you out" the woman left before Mark could make sense of her words. Her multiple copies did make things really difficult to handle.

"She's really weird and can you tell me why she was able to walk here when the hair is poisonous to us all?" Alan snapped finally. Honestly, Mark had expected him to snap a lot sooner but the kid had held it in greatly.

"Do you think you are ready for those answers? You are still young and too much knowledge becomes burdensome" Mark warned the other just for the sake of warning. He knew the kid had made up his mind and there was nothing that could change it at all.

"I've made my decision already so it's better if you tell me" the kid would not relent at all and Mark had been thinking about letting him in on the secret.

"Alright, I think we have enough time to cover the basics and hopefully you will take it better than your brother" the kid did not say anything and Mark spilt the beans on things.

Now, he did not tell the kid everything because that would be foolish and he would probably die but he did tell him as much as he could. About divine beasts and the hints that this was a game and all.

He left his system and his own involvement out of things because every time he got close to that line his system started warning him about 'unauthorised access' and other things. But if Alan reached the conclusion himself then there was really no problem there was it?

"So this world is a game and Suzy is a divine beast? What had our life turned into" the kid was still in disbelief but he was not as shocked as Luna had been at first. The kid really took it far better than his brother, who was saying something.

"I cannot confirm or deny your claims but you can ask your brother once we get back. I would also appreciate it if you kept it a secret from others, even Rika" the kid gave him a look that said that Mark was stupid for even asking.

"Of course we have to keep it a secret. It won't go over well if more people knew. It does make me understand a lot of your and Liam's decisions though but I still don't like many of them" well, that was fair.

"You are entitled to your own thoughts. Despite this setting, we all have our own thoughts and emotions which are as real as you and I are. We are humans too" Mark did not say it out clearly because of restrictions but it came off the right way.

They were humans and they were fighting a war for survival.