A peaceful and calm forest, filled with the numerous sounds of creatures and the gentle wind blowing through. A group of four-legged creatures were quenching their thirst from a glowing stream of water.
The innocent creatures didn't know that, hidden among the leaves of a nearby tree, an arrow was being aimed at them.
The figure holding the arrow was concealed in the treetops, pulling the bowstring after carefully taking aim.
Woo!
Suddenly, there was a strange sound just before the arrow was released. The four-legged creatures were quickly alarmed and looked up—and so did the figure with the bow and arrow. In the sky, a beaming light was rapidly falling down.
Boom!
The beam of light landed like a stone falling into water, and as it faded, five figures appeared where it struck.
"Hmm… it's still confusing to me, but I choose to believe that we escaped…" muttered Octo, looking at the nature surrounding them.
The four-legged, unknown creatures fled in fear, birds flew from the trees, and the wind blew violently at the moment of their landing. After a minute, the abnormality in the surroundings gradually faded, and the creatures that had run away peeked curiously at the newly arrived strangers.
"The blue sky with one sun… a peaceful forest filled with animals, instead of a land covered in Malv Flowers—this really is another world, and it's… it's…"
Blurghh!
Nimuk suddenly vomited at the end of his sentence, causing a frown to appear on Marian's face.
"You little fish! Did you just puke on the beauty of my words?" she said. But then, she too held her stomach and began to groan.
Even Henry showed weakness as he dropped to his knees.
Blurghh!
"This… this should be the aftereffect of taking the teleportation portal for the first time," said Henry as he also vomited.
"Are you sure? Because this is definitely not my first time," said Marian.
"Vomiting?" Henry looked at her with a question in his eyes.
"No, I mean using teleportation," exclaimed Marian.
"Oh… indeed. Auran, do you have any clues?" Knowing his own limitations, Henry turned to Auran, who was also on the floor.
"Well… seeing this happened right after we took the teleportation portal, we can consider it a side effect. But since Marian is also affected despite using teleportation before, we can guess that although this is a side effect, there must be a condition for it to occur.
So all we have to do is figure out what's different between the teleportation portal Marian used before and the one she took with us," said Auran without pause.
After puking a little more, he looked back—because of the sudden silence—and saw all of them staring at him.
"Sooo..." said Marian.
"The difference is that we didn't end the teleportation on a proper circle and instead arrived at a random place. The last time you used teleportation, did you and the others end it on a similar circle like the one in the Malv Flower field?"
"Well, yes… and right after that, they started robbing the place while telling me to guard it. Those bastards—I'll swear I'll find them," said Marian.
"Anyway, from that, I think the teleportation circle has some sort of healing effect—like a stabilizing function for our bodies once teleportation ends. But here, we landed in a random place where there's no teleportation circle to heal or stabilize us, so we're directly experiencing the side effects of teleportation," Auran finished his explanation before puking a little more.
"Ohh..." Henry laid on the floor, feeling weak all over.
"How long do you think this weakness will last? If it takes too long, isn't there anything we can do to ease the pain?" he asked, looking at Auran.
He saw that Auran was rummaging through the bag he had with him and pulling out a bottle.
"Is that a medicine bottle? Give me a bit too!" With sparkling eyes, Henry moved toward Auran—and watching him, the others also dragged their weak bodies closer.
"What is it? Is it an internal healing potion?" asked Octo on his way.
"Internal healing potion? Do you even hear yourself? Those are used by wealthy people. Although Auran and Henry are from noble families and could technically afford them, I don't think either of them could have hidden a potion bottle from the officers in that prison," said Marian.
Just as she finished, they all suddenly saw Auran pull out the potion and lift it up toward the sky.
"What the hell are you all talking about?" said Auran, holding a Brain Deceleration Potion in his hand.
Agh!
Ughh!
The expression on everyone's face turned bitter, and Henry instantly turned back around—because the moment he saw the Brain Deceleration Potion, he felt the urge to puke again.
"I don't know about you, but this is more valuable to me than a healing potion," said Auran, seeing the bitter expressions on the others' faces.
"Let me get a quick drink, my sweet savior..."
Knowing his pain tolerance was nearing its limit, Auran quickly tried to open the Brain Deceleration Potion.
Swish!
Through the air, an arrow arrived fast—heading straight toward Auran and the others.
Slam!
It pierced through the potion bottle, shattering the glass and spilling all the liquid inside.
Hearing the sound of the shattering potion, the others quickly became alarmed and forced themselves up, despite their bodies still feeling weak.
"Shit, who is it now? I'm not in any condition to fight right now," muttered Octo. Along with him, the others looked around cautiously.
"Ah..."
Auran stared at the scattered shards and the dripping liquid left on his hand, wearing a dumbfounded expression.
Walking up to the arrow that had landed on the ground, Marian picked it up and examined it.