Chapter 5

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Day: 970

Days Left: 4510

Lives Saved: 5

The next day, two missions were enacted; one was collecting water from the Raining Marshes and the other to locate the Land of the Lost. Though no one could die in the Eternal Abyss, it was still unwise to drink rainwater, and thus they needed supplies from the Land of the Lost to filter the water and ensure that it was safe to drink. They didn't want to spread the group too thin or leave all of the non-combatants by themselves; they ensured that all three groups were equal in strength and the members' abilities and skillsets were appropriate for the task.

Lili was leading the scouting mission for the sector's Land of the Lost, accompanied by Rin, Kai, and Sumit. Meanwhile, the team tasked with collecting water from the Raining Marshes consisted of Corinna, Dex, Calanthe, and two of the seven imps; the rest remained at the camp alongside Ivette, Calixte, Oscar, and Princess Alfreda.

This was the first time Corinna had ventured on a mission in over three quarters of a year. Due to her lack of hands, Corinna had felt that she was being a liability to everyone else, unable to do the one thing that she was valued for in the group; her ability to build and fix things, but now she had to entrust the others in her construction projects through crude scribblings on her whiteboard. The delegation always caused a pang of guilt in Corinna's stomach. She had hoped that her new mask would grant her hands to build, but unfortunately, the form she changed into could not carry anything, nor was it particularly stealthy. It was the opposite of useful unless, of course, it was in a combat situation.

Corinna had only decided to join this mission in particular as she wanted to scope out the Raining Marshes herself and work out where she could safely leave any rain collectors out. However, carrying the water back to camp was perhaps outside of her current abilities. That was until she thought of crafting something to help her carry the buckets without the aid of hands. She had found a decent sized and sturdy stick and hung two buckets on either end with the rope she had sacrificed from her tent, which she would put back at the end of the night. This way, even without hands, Corinna could be helpful to the rest of the group. And when they located this sector's Land of the Lost, Corinna could make more of these carrying devices.

"Are you sure you want to do all of the carrying, Corinna?" Calanthe asked as they trudged through the winding labyrinth of trees, her voice high-pitched in politeness and caution to not offend.

Corinna nodded, then pointed her stubbed hand at herself and the buckets. She afterwards motioned to Calanthe and Dex and pretended to shadow box.

Calanthe laughed softly. "You carry the water, and we'll protect you from any monsters. Hopefully, it won't come to that, though."

The two imps flexed their non-existent muscles and growled their teeth.

Corinna giggled; no sound escaped, but there was still a broad smile on her lips and the uncontrollable jerking of her shoulders.

As they all continued to trek further, the trees grew more sparse and shorter, no longer towering giants of radioactive green but dulled and almost the average human height.

Eventually, they reached the divide between the forest and the Raining Marshes, a distinct line where there were trees and bushes on one side and on the other muddy marshlands where it perpetually rained. Though the group were kitted out in their waterproofs and umbrellas, there was still much hesitation in breaching the rain. Finally, one of the imps cautiously reached a hand out, letting the rain fall on its palm.

"I don't think we need to go to the other side," said Calanthe. "We can just stay here and put the buckets down. There's no need for us to get drenched-"

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