The moment Kazuichi took his first step, his balance suddenly dwindled and he fell to the ground on all fours. An intense headache throbbed in his head as he felt extreme nausea.

It was the virus, it was finally kicking in.

Kazuichi felt like he was on drugs as his vision started spinning. Not like he took drugs before, but he could’ve sworn it would feel the same one way or the other.

Something seemed to come up his throat and he gagged, but all he vomited was saliva. His vision continued to spin as he tried to stand up.

A plethora of sounds filled his ears as he clenched his head in agony. Squirming, he grabbed both his temples and squeezed on his head as much as he could.

He tried to ease the pain, but he ended up hurting himself more in the process.

The sounds continued to fill his brain... but that wasn’t the worst part of it.

His smell also became ten times more sensitive— or so that’s what he felt when he started taking a whiff of weird scents all around him. Even the emotions and feelings of people were easily detected, and he was able to establish that fact when he figured out what Amaya and Tris were feeling right now.

"What’s going on? I thought my senses were already enhanced a moment ago?" Kazuichi asked himself as he rolled on the ground.

This was the worst headache he ever felt in his life, and it was so unbearable that he wanted to crack his skull open and take out his brain or something, just to ease the pain.

From a distance, Amaya and Tris heard Kazuichi’s grunts. "Is big bro all right?" Amaya asked while they continued heating up their poor man’s meal. of canned goods.

"Yes, let’s wait for his return." Tris couldn’t help but feel a little bit of concern at Kazuichi. Although she knew that he could handle the absorption, she was still worried that something might go horribly wrong.

Despite her indifferent comment, Tris stood up and dusted her pants, telling Amaya to remain where she was seated before she sneaked up on Kazuichi.

Before she glanced behind the thriving bushes, she turned towards her younger sister, gently gesturing her to be quiet so Kazuichi won’t be disturbed.

As far as she knows, Kazuichi was still trying to absorb the meteorite ore. The grunts were more audible by now, and Tris couldn’t help but nervously gulp at her own saliva before she slowly peeked behind the bushes right at the tree where Kazuichi supposedly was.

Urgh~!

Compared to the first grunts, this one sounded more painful than usual. In turn, Tris hurriedly looked over to see if Kazuichi was doing all right.

"Kazuichi, are you o— gasp!" Tris let out a resounding gasp when she realized that something really did go wrong with the meteorite ore absorption.

There were no signs of the meteorite ore, and Kazuichi was sprawled on the ground, clutching his head as if it was going to crack open.

At first, Tris assumed that Kazuichi was attacked and the meteorite ore was taken away from him. Just then, she felt something weirdly different within Kazuichi, and she understood that such was not the case.

The meteorite ore absorption was successful... it’s just that, Kazuichi was suffering from the drawbacks of absorbing an insane amount of it.

"Oi, are you all right, Kazuichi?" Even though there was the risk of Kazuichi going berserk and biting her on the neck, she still didn’t hesitate to come to his aid. Without thinking twice, she grabbed Kazuichi’s arm and tried to sit him up.

But Kazuichi was experiencing a different breed of excruciating pain, and he curled up even more when Tris grabbed him by the arm.

The pain which was shooting in his head slowly crawled down his nervous system. A few seconds later, his entire body ached to the point where even the wind caused him to clench his teeth. The tiniest sensation felt like a prick of a needle, and a touch felt like a jackhammer blow.

"G-get away... I’m fine... I just need to focus..." Kazuichi cut his words short so Tris wouldn’t hear his grunts. When he realized that Tris was right there, he felt conscious enough to suppress the grunts coming from his mouth.

"What happened? Where’s the meteorite ore?" Tris asked, slightly panicking.

Forcing a smile on his face, Kazuichi managed to gesture a thumbs up at Tris before he curled up once again. "Absorbed... just give me... ti— AAAAAAAAAAAAGHHH!" Kazuichi screamed an ear-piercing scream.

Kazuichi’s voice echoed all throughout the forest, causing a couple of birds to fly away. Aside from that, Tris could’ve sworn that every creature in the vicinity just heard the announcement. Some Hybrids might even be looking for them already.

"Kazuichi!" Tris had no idea what to do anymore. She knew that if she were to touch Kazuichi again, he might scream a second time.

Somehow, Tris felt defeated, and she decided to stand up and leave Kazuichi on his own. "Right, Kazuichi... I trust you. We’ll be waiting for you by the campfire. Don’t go dying on us now." She firmly voiced out before she turned around.

Fwooosh~!

Just then, a mysterious figure passed right behind Tris like a cloaked shadow. She moved so fast that Tris froze in place when she finally appeared.

In a split second, Tris turned around to see a woman kneeling in front of Kazuichi, checking his temperature and putting her face closer to see if he was breathing properly.

A sigh of relief left the woman’s mouth. "He’s fine, he just needs some time. Do you have a wet towel? We need to lower his temperature down." The woman commented as she conversed with Tris without introducing herself.

Before Tris could reply, the woman picked Kazuichi up on a princess carry, intending to bring him by the campfire.

"I’m sorry... who are you?" Tris trailed off as the woman got ahead of her while the two of them walked to the campfire.