"Snake Foot, indeed. But he's turning into a living corpse—and even attacking us directly."
Facing Charlotte's confusion, Ess frowned as she summed up the bizarre scene before them, unable to understand what had caused it.
"Was he corrupted? I didn't notice when it happened at all."
Scrooge speculated about the cause.
As they realized something, the three of them turned to look at Left Hand.
"Left Hand, do you know what happened to Snake Foot?"
"He fell behind."
"...None of us noticed. How did you know he'd fallen behind?"
Charlotte clearly wasn't going to let him brush the question aside so easily.
"My hearing has grown sharper. Also, you should be glad he chose to run instead of attacking us right away."
That was true.
At Left Hand's warning, Charlotte felt a chill of belated fear.
The teammate who should have been watching their backs had suddenly turned into a monster.
If he had chosen to attack directly, even with Ess there, the consequences would have been grim.
But that was only part of it. Charlotte absolutely didn't believe Left Hand's explanation about his hearing.
This expedition seemed to be growing stranger by the moment, beyond anyone's control.
"Sage?"
Charlotte looked at Sage, who hadn't said a word, hoping he could explain.
"Snake Foot's remains are quite different from those of a living corpse. For now, we can't say for certain that he was corrupted."
If he wasn't corrupted... then why had he ended up like that and gone mad?
For a moment, the others exchanged bewildered looks.
Then, the ever-motionless Left Hand seemed to notice something amiss. He turned to "look" at Sage, his brow furrowing slightly.
Scrooge caught the movement and stepped forward.
"If that's the case, it seems we have even less chance of continuing."
"That may