Some time later, Oliver had begun to regain consciousness. It returned gradually.
At first, his thoughts were slow to align as a dull pain spread from the side of his head. The source became clear as he felt blood trailing past his temple and along his jaw before dripping to the ground, while at the same time the earlier gash on his shoulder remained fresh.
The torn flesh stung with each movement as his body was dragged across the rough surface.
'Shit… what is this?'
His arms shifted slightly by instinct, but the moment he tried to move them, he felt the restraint immediately.
Thick vines were tightly bound around his wrists, pressing firmly enough that even a slight attempt to pull them apart yielded nothing.
It took only a moment longer for him to understand that he was being dragged. His body moved without his control as the ground scraped against his back and legs.
Oliver's vision cleared enough for him to make out the figures ahead.
Five individuals were bound in the same manner, all connected by the same thick vine that extended forward. They were moving slowly, and their condition was visibly worse, as their bodies lacked the strength to resist, though a few of them still turned slightly to glance back at him with clear irritation.
"…Tch. Another one."
"He's slowing us down."
Their voices were low, but clear enough for him to hear.
And notably, all of them seemed to be at the Age of Maturity and were newly transported into the Garden of Death just like him, but he could already see the little time they had spent here alone in the Garden of Death had brought them close to death.
Surely, they must be happy to have been captured.
Oliver ignored them. His gaze shifted forward as he focused on the front of the group, where a man rode atop a large beast that moved with steady steps.
The beast was built like a heavy draft animal, large enough for ten people to ride on its back with room left for their bags and supplies. Its fur was dark and matted.
Strapped to its side was a large, rough wooden box that held the confiscated items taken from those it had helped capture.
'A Demonic Jaguar? Uh. It looks just like a regular Jaguar, though ridiculously bigger and far more menacing.'
The name surfaced from memory, though only as a reference rather than understanding, as it had barely been mentioned in the novel or the forums beyond its existence, but he was able to recognise it due to its obvious resemblance to a Jaguar.
The man held the end of the vine that bound all of them, the line secured to the creature's neck as it continued forward without slowing.
Beside him walked a woman wearing a dark cloak that obscured everything below her head. The material concealed her body in complete darkness.
With the darkness in the twilight sky already starting to take greater dominance, the lower half of her body beneath her head seemed to have become almost entirely invisible.
The cloak was a Keepsake.
That much was obvious.
'It should probably be a Tier Five… or close.'
The estimate formed quickly as he observed her, recalling that Keepsakes were ranked from one to ten. Their capabilities varied based on their tier.
Naturally, the Garden altered anything brought into it. Objects from the outside did not remain the same, but were changed to fit its rules, gaining properties they did not originally possess, as if suddenly evolving a hidden Blessing.
Although, Swords were realistically the only things ever brought into the Garden of Death and then evolved to fit its rules.
In the real world, it would not have been able to damage even a Rank One Puppet, yet inside the Garden it had become effective enough to do so, recognised as a Keepsake upon entry in the same way the system granted them if it deemed so. The process itself had never been explained.
Neither had the origin of the Swords, which were specially ranked differently from other Keepsakes.
That detail had remained unresolved throughout the novel, and it had enraged readers because everyone expected the mysteries to be solved after the conclusion of the novel, but the author never did so, and there was no way to get in contact with whoever wrote the book.
Their identity was anonymous.
Simultaneously, everyone expected a sequel, but nothing came. It was among the most frustrating moments during the prime era of the novel.
At first, Oliver always had a hard time reading the book when he first started, but after joining the online forum, he understood a lot and got more in sync with the story.
His thoughts shifted as he returned to the present, focusing on his situation.
Escape was not realistic.
Even without considering the consequences of changing the sequence of events, his current condition alone made it impractical.
The vines binding his hands were too thick, his sword had been taken, and Rook was no longer with him.
It had slipped out when he was captured and now he had no idea where it had gone or whether it had been taken, as he could not see it anywhere around.
But surely, it was not lost forever.
'And her…'
His gaze moved slightly toward the woman again.
'That speed she has, it would be a serious issue for me…'
He had not seen her before he was struck, and only rather sensed something at the last moment, along with the rapid tapping sound.
If that was related to her Hue, then she was faster than him by a clear margin, and combined with the cloak, tracking her would be difficult.
Not to mention, he worried about the possibility that she might have evolved from an Unranked to a Rookie.
There was no way he could face a Ranked individual as he was currently Unranked. This was the trouble Oliver was facing.
He was starting to wonder how he became the most overpowered character despite having more hurdles than even the main character.
Nonetheless, he had to avoid a confrontation with either of them. He knew nothing about the man riding the Demonic Jaguar, and the beast itself had already evolved to a Form.
Beasts had three forms: Initial Form, Intermediate Form, and Final Form. If it was yet to reach its Final Form, then it was surely Intermediate, which was also trouble.
'Even if Oliver managed to free himself in the original plot, he won't get far before being captured again.'
Another thought followed almost instantly.
'But then again, how did they find me there?'
The tunnel was not an obvious location or one where people in the Garden of Death would freely lurk. It led to the Tomb of Stones, from which he had managed to escape.
If he had stayed there just thirty minutes longer, he would have been devoured by numerous Puppets, and with the wind continuing to render him incapable as he moved further, it would not have been pleasant.
He was lucky to have escaped.
However, these two seemed to have been waiting, as if expecting a door-dash delivery. That alone was a mystery.
Just what were they doing hanging around the tunnel that led to the Tomb of Stones?
Remarkably, for the past ten minutes, the caravan had been moving through a rather open field.
Mountains of stone rose around the desert-like expanse, but instead of sand, the ground was patched with vines, and the areas without vines were scorched, hardened ground, broken and cracked.
In such an open field, there was not even a single sight of a Puppet. This was impossible.
The only area Puppets avoided was the Red Sea.
They were supposed to be everywhere, yet these two seemed to be moving along a strangely safe path with complete confidence.
Even he, a reader, knew nothing about this area. One thing was they were from the settlement, that much was known to him, and secondly, capturing people and using them as hunting dogs was one of the many notorious acts the Settlement had committed in the novel.
He knew their ending…
His gaze lowered slightly as the thought settled.
Soon, once they got to the Settlement, in a day's time Teresa and Kaden would have found themselves set out in search of food, get discovered by the Settlement after almost dying of starvation due to the lack of food and water, later discover the Flesh Fruit Tree, and then something particular would happen which would make those two become the enemy of the Settlement…
Out of the blue, the woman at the front stopped and turned around.
She looked at Oliver with a straight face, noticing that he seemed to be dragging the others down as he was moving slightly slower and settling himself into the captive position.
She groaned.
"Hey, rich boy. I saw you had an Imperial Sword. That's cute, especially when paired with your handsome face, though you should know your status doesn't matter here. Everyone is like you, so…"
The man riding the Demonic Jaguar did not even glance back, keeping his focus ahead as his partner walked toward Oliver.
When she got closer, she looked him in the eye and smiled.
"…please don't slow everyone down. They're already irritated by that. This is all for your benefit. Don't mind the shackles on you; it's to keep you from running into your own death. Far ahead, with the darkness gaining dominance, your worst nightmares will start to manifest more, the Puppets I mean."
Oliver looked at her with a disinterested expression and said nothing aloud.
'Our benefit? I see… that's a way to manipulate the ignorant ones here.'