Three days later, in the southern part of the Lucia Continent.
In the midst of a forest, Origami Tobiichi was sitting on a rock, grilling a rabbit she had just caught.
Although this world had been plunged into chaos due to the war of the gods and interspecies conflict—with vast swaths of fertile land rendered barren by spiritual residue, and countless lifeforms driven to extinction—there were still traces of life in areas with unique terrain that were relatively untouched by spiritual pollution.
This gave Origami, who still needed to eat, drink, and relieve herself, a place to rest.
"This rabbit with two pairs of ears and three eyes... should be edible, right?"
Tearing off a piece of the rabbit meat and putting it into her mouth, Origami chewed on the rather tasteless food and let out a tired sigh.
Wilderness survival was never her strong suit.
In her previous world, one of the reasons the Yamai Sisters joined the Japanese Public Safety Bureau was because life in the wild was too hard.
Even so, at least that world still had green mountains and clear waters. Hunting or foraging wasn't all that difficult.
But here, the land was scorched red, the oceans were lifeless. Finding anything to eat was hard enough, and even then, she had to consider whether it was poisonous.
Fortunately, she had used an enhancement voucher, which greatly improved her physical abilities—including her resistance to hunger and toxins. Otherwise, she really wouldn't know how to cope.
"Where are Riku and the others hiding?"
Ever since leaving Avant Heim, she had begun searching for traces of humans across the Lucia Continent, just as planned.
And considering where she'd ended up now, the answer was clear:
She had found nothing.
This world was vast, and the Lucia Continent was no smaller than Asia or the Americas on Earth.
Without any detection abilities, Origami could only use the most tedious method: searching one step at a time across the continent.
Although she had the teleportation ability of her Angel form, Metatron, which allowed her to search with high speed and efficiency, she had already scoured the northeast and west directions over the past three days—still with no results.
Even so, Origami hadn't given up.
She understood the situation humans faced in this world. To survive, they had to carefully hide their tracks. If discovered by certain species, it would spell disaster.
Spending more time was inevitable. Eventually, she would find them.
And if not, she could always invoke her status as a candidate for the Eighteen-Wing Council and mobilize the entire Flugel race to help with the search.
"Hm?"
As she continued to eat and recover her spirit energy, Origami suddenly sensed several presences approaching.
They had silently surrounded her and were now slowly tightening the encirclement.
Without a doubt—someone had set their sights on her.
But Origami didn't panic. She calmly continued eating her grilled rabbit by the fire as if nothing had happened.
"Heh, you're quite bold, aren't you?"
From the bushes, a tall man wrapped in beast hides and cloth stepped out.
Origami glanced at him and felt a flicker of hope.
But as the man removed his headscarf, revealing a pair of gray-and-white beast ears atop his head, her interest instantly vanished.
She had thought she might have stumbled upon a group of humans by accident—but it turned out to be a beastman instead.
"Eh? You're not scared at all upon seeing me?"
Seeing the girl remain unfazed despite his appearance, the wolfman grew intrigued.
Origami hadn't summoned her Angel equipment.
Given the possibility of encountering wandering humans here, she had deliberately disguised her angelic, Flugel-like gear into a shabby scavenger outfit, hoping to appear more approachable.
And now, instead of finding humans, she'd run into a hunting party from the beastman species.
Naturally, they mistook her for one of those hairless monkeys—that is, a human.
Oh, right. At this point in time, "humans" weren't even considered a proper species yet.
To the other fifteen races, humans were just talking, hairless monkeys.
"Don't you know we Werebeast have an excellent sense of smell?" the wolfman said, pointing to his nose. "We can detect scents from a hundred miles away. You grilling meat here is basically an invitation."
"So?" Origami replied coldly. "What do you want?"
The wolfman, clearly intrigued by this curious human girl, didn't attack right away.
He was a member of a hunting party from a nearby beastman tribe. Their goal today, as usual, was to bring back enough meat for the tribe.
And for Werebeast, one of their favorite prey was humans.
They weren't strong, weren't fast, lacked vigilance, and when caught, would either wet their pants in fear or beg for mercy. Not the least bit threatening. Even a beastman child could capture one.
Catching a single human was enough to feed an entire extended family in the tribe.
"Obviously, I came to bring food back to the tribe," the wolfman replied. "You here alone? Where are your companions?"
"I have no companions."
"Hmph... a wanderer from another region?"
"Something like that."
"That's too bad."
Hearing she had no companions, the wolfman shook his head with a hint of regret.
"I was hoping to catch a whole group of hairless monkeys. Looks like my luck's run out for the day."
Origami, who had been preparing to summon her angel, paused in surprise when she heard the wolfman say that.
"Again?"
Had they already captured a group of humans before this?
Talk about the universe delivering what you need.
She had been struggling to find humans—and now they might've just been handed to her.
"Are they still alive?"
Just to be sure, she asked before getting her hopes up.
"For now, yes," the wolfman replied indifferently. "We prefer our food fresh."
"Thanks."
"Uh... you're welcome?"
The wolfman now looked at Origami as if she were crazy.
He was starting to suspect that this girl might've been abandoned by her own kind because she had a screw loose.
"Eating a lunatic doesn't make you go crazy too, right?"
The wolfman mumbled to himself, then called out to his hidden comrades: "Tie her up and bring her back. Time to return to the tribe."
Four more Werebeast—two males and two females—emerged from the bushes.
But just as they stepped out, holes simultaneously appeared in the middle of their foreheads.
In the blink of an eye, all four dropped dead.
The wolfman's pupils shrank, every muscle in his body tensed, and he instinctively tried to dodge—
But he stopped himself.
He froze, not daring to move a single inch.
The overwhelming sense of death enveloped him.
His beastman instincts screamed at him: if he moved now—he would die.
"I only need one guide."
Wiping the grease from her hands, Origami withdrew most of Metatron's floating cannons, leaving just one aimed at the sole survivor.
"I'm done eating. Let's go."