Chapter 3: Monster
Awesome! Found herbs!
In great spirits, I collect some of the green, dandelion-leaf like, jagged gra.s.s growing at my feet. They didn"t have flowers, and at a glance, seemed just like some ordinary weeds.
"Slight hemostatic effect huh... No, it"s certainly better than nothing."
Speaking of herbs, there"re ones you use raw, those you need to process and extract the essence from to get medical usage, and various other types.
Since I lack the knowledge, technique and equipment to compound and process medicine, I"m opting to collect the ones like these that can be used as is.
As for this herb... let"s call it Non-delionfake dandelion, to use it, you apparently need to grind it into paste. I really want a pestle and mortar right about now, but complaining isn"t going to help anyone. I just have to make do with the tools at hand.
Currently, the most promising item among my belongings is: the boxcutter. That common yellow one with the thicker black bottom part. To be honest, this thing inside my pencil case was a pain to carry, but now it"s become a, primarily herb collection, and in case of emergencies, weaponizable ace of stationary.
Furthermore, the replacement blades (x10) sleeping deep in my bag, make for a rea.s.suring extra supply.
However, the cutter"s blade dulls before I know it. I need to use it as sparingly as possible. So I need to cut just till I can tear it off by hand.
"Right, this much should do."
Taking the acc.u.mulated bundle of these leaves in my hand, I store them into my bag in a practiced motion. Inside, there"re only the red poisonous mushrooms, aka Red Shrooms, I"d first collected, so there"s lots of room.
"Hm, next I... yup, I should follow this animal trail."
Me being this sure about the path wasn"t something like my sense of direction being on par with that of migratory birds or something. In my hands I hold a magic compa.s.s. Technically speaking, it"s the compa.s.s feature.
The magic circle on the notebook wasn"t only good for texting, but had this feature to show the correct path via an arrow. From the inside of the circle, a large white arrow of light projects out.
This compa.s.s function, and above all, the place where this arrow is pointing towards, was explained just a while ago in an updated message.
According to that, we"re in this woodland located far from human habitat and are supposed to head for these ancient ruins, the so-called "dungeon".
According to the plan, the students were supposed to awaken at this dungeon. Unfortunately, I woke up here in the forest, most likely, because I"d gone and did some sky diving, which slightly misaligned the landing destination.
In retrospect, that man had said "On my signal, leap out" so, though it"s an accident, I"d ignored the signal, so I couldn"t help but be left in my present predicament.
More like, jumping out at the wrong timing in this warp-like phenomenon, there"s some stories where you have no idea where you"d end up, or maybe meet your end swallowed up by a spatio-temporal whirlpool or something, that it was only slightly misaligned must be some tremendous luck at work. On the other hand, I may have used up all my luck with that.
Anywho, so about this dungeon I"m headed to.
It is one that spreads deep underground like the inside of an ant hill. It seems that deep inside, there"re devices called "Transfer Gates" that instantly teleports you to a different place. Though the principle behind it wasn’t explained, I get what they"re trying to mean.[1
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Meaning, we need to use these "Transfer Gates" to escape.
The explanation states that the teleport destination is a country that"s working to aid us.
It is the "Astria Kingdom". More specifically, it explains that we"d arrive at a temple in the royal capital, but there wasn"t any more details. Only the phrase, "We are a human nation, and we are ready to accept and protect other worlders like yourselves." was sent to rea.s.sure us.
Right now, there"s no other choice than to believe in those words. Even if I do doubt it, it won"t change the reality that I was thrown into this forest, and I really don"t think there"s any help coming from j.a.pan.
So I need to bury down my anxiety and just keep moving.
"Huff... huff... T-this is tiring.."
Pathetic as it seems however, just keep moving wasn"t something my poor physical specs could hope to achieve.
How long has it been since I picked up those Non-delion, and started walking? I don"t think it"s been over an hour, but being this out of breath just shows how rough the terrain is.
The animal trail I"m walking on was more or less cleaned up of any twigs and vegetation. But not only is the ground very uneven, but the uprooted giant trees standing in the way like a wall cave to be climbed over too. It really drains stamina.
"I-I"ll take a break"
I had no choice but to make that decision. And as if on cue, my stomach started grumbling. Now that I notice, the sense of hunger pangs at me. It"s a bit early, but let"s have lunch.
I stowed the magic notebook into my bag, and in exchange, took out my lunchboxbentou.
But, just as I open the lid of the black plastic lunchbox which my mother had probably filled with way too much last night.
I happen upon the thought, is it really alright to chow down on every last bit like always?
The danger imposed from the possibility of monster attacks can be somewhat taken care of with the use of this other world"s mysterious power called the vocation. But next comes, without the necessary equipment, or expertise, can I, a normal student, really survive this harsh survival lifestyle?
Food, water, shelter, warmth etc. even an amateur like me can thing of many factors of anxiety. Even though it"s a forest, I don"t know if there"s anything human edible here. And even if there were, I probably wouldn"t be able to get a hold of them either.
Therefore, my last lifeline of food would be these helpings of rice and side-dishes distributed half-half inside this lunchbox. And the rest, would be this half finished 500ml plastic bottlePET bottle filled with an energy drink.
I"m worried about food, but water looks to be a problem too. Moving forward at this pace, it"ll be gone all too fast. I have to get a refill somewhere, or else it"s a one-way ticket to dehydration h.e.l.l.
"L-let"s hold off for now..."
I worried about the future, and made to close the lid on the lunchbox on my lap-
The bushes in front of me moved with a rustle. And just as I noticed it,
"...eh?"
A steel-like dull gray bear appeared.
Stout and heavy log-like arms, the ends of which are garnered in long, sharp nails akin to knives. With these arms, which are practically weapons incarnate, on the ground, the beast walking on four legs, could certainly be called a bear at first glance.
However, though it"s silhouette may resemble a bear, it"s large frame was covered in a sh.e.l.l like that of a crab, which jutted out like thorns in places and shone with a metallic l.u.s.ter.
I imagine it"d reach 3 meters if it stood up tall. The great bear looked like it was armored in some steel sh.e.l.l. It"s fearsome appearance was far from what"d be considered a wild animal, even humans would instinctively end up thinking, I can"t beat this.
It finally hit me. This beast in front of me has to be one of the ent.i.ties known as "Monsters".
"Hii...Aa..."
My small body was completely shaking with fear. The result: the lunchbox on my lap fell over.
The pre-cooked foods, deep fried sausage, chopped burdock, and lightly seasoned white rice. The precious food, slammed itself into the ground.
At that moment, the bear raised its snout and made a move.
Those s.h.i.+ning red eyes were focused not on me, but on the contents of the lunchbox.
Right there is rich tasting food that would never exist in nature. The fragrance from which must have greatly provoked the monster"s appet.i.te. The bear was enthralled and thrust its snout into the fascinating food.
Now... I have to run right now!
I haven’t completely become its target yet. Firmly believing which, I slowly move my trembling legs. Still facing forward, one step at a time, but certainly, I was moving farther from the monster indulging itself in sausages.
It"s alright, the bear wants my lunch. I can get away now, I"ll be able to get away now, please let get away!
Having started strongly praying to G.o.d, as if I"ve become unnaturally devout in the moment of crisis, I withdraw from the bear"s luncheoning in baby steps.
My heart was pounding so hard it hurt, and though my body was supposed to be hot, my muscles felt like they were frozen over. Fear causing my head to boil over, I had no idea about anything anymore. In that manner, as if reality was somewhere far away, I continued my retreat in light footsteps.
Now that I think of it, I did well not to fall down walking backwards in that state. After getting 10 odd meters away, I finally turned and continued swiftly on the animal trail I"ve been on till now.
And pretty soon, the bear became hidden behind a giant tree and disappeared from sight.
"Huff...huf, huff... made it th- rough!?"
I breathed a hot sigh of relief when. I sensed very strongly from the Intuition Pharmacy- no, not that, from my own instinct. A gaze. With a monstrous presence, something"s, gaze.
Fearfully, I look back.
From the great tree"s shadow, that monster, it was watching me.
"A... Aa... Uaa..."
It"s coming for me.
I, having only just arrived at this other world, have no clue about the behaviour of monster, but I still understand. That bear, it"s set me as the next prey.
I don"t know if it"s being warry, trying to intimidate, or just playing with me but, fortunately it"s not making straight dash towards me. But in return, it"s keeping its distance, from me who"s slowly trying to get away, not getting closer or farther, just following.
If I"m remembering this right, I"ve heard real bears follow mountaineers just like this. It"s all fine now, but not long from now, it"s gonna realize that I"m easy prey, and attack.
I can"t imagine out-running it. That monster looks like it"s got a stiff, thick sh.e.l.l, but I doubt it"s slower than humans.
Even if, it had the vitesse of an Earth bear, it"s still impossible to get away on human legs. I heard that bears can go upto 50 kilometers31 miles / hour. They can cross 100 meters109 yards in around 7 seconds. The human limit being 9 seconds. There"s no compet.i.tion.
Escape impossible. Rescue- Ah, oh yeah, my cla.s.smates all started at the dungeon. Meaning, even if they searched, there"s not a chance they"d look in the forest.
Only one choice left. This monster- let"s call it the Armor Bear, I need to defeat it.[2]
"No, impossible... like, no way, in any way..."
In my hands is a single, tiny little boxcutter. Even if I was equipped with a shotgun, I couldn"t take on that thing.
Considering my vocation, Shaman"s powers - "Pain Return" can definitely kill the Armor Bear, but that"ll be the end of me too. Yeah, that one’s out.
Even with the much hopeful Intuition Pharmacy...there"s only so much you can do, even with the Red Shroom. This"ll only be effective when ingested orally. Should I go for an all-or-nothing bet and throw them at the Armor Bear"s large mouth? The chance of success is abhorrently low.
"f.u.c.k, f.u.c.kking h.e.l.l... why"s it gotta be this impossible..."
The more I think about, the more the chances seem to diminish.
And, mercilessly, time does not wait for me. How long will it take till the time limit to hits and the Armor Bear makes at me.
"No, Don"t... I don"t wanna... don"t wanna die"
The idea I came up with after using up every bit of my grey matter, was only a way to buy some time.
Still walking, I unzip my bag and take out the jersey from inside. This one first.
"C"mon...please work!!"
Betting on this one hope, I gently release the jersey over the ground. And after advancing for a dozen or so meters, I peek behind.
"N-nice..."
There I see, putting its snout into my jersey and sniffing at it, the Armor Bear"s figure.
When being chased by a wild bear, I"ve heard it"s favourable to discard your belongings one at a time to distract the animal. Though it"s merely a stop gap measure, and not an actual solution to the problem.
My rejoice was but short-lived. As if determining the item as not-food, the Armor Bear used it"s sharp claws to tear apart my dark-blue school issued jersey, and resumed the pursuit.[3]
I bought about 1 minute of time... ah, yup it"s done, that was a complete fail.
"-Uwa!?"
Right then, I tripped on something and performed a grand fall. I fell head first into a bush almost my size, and made an annoyingly loud rustling noise. That being said, the thicket did break my fall, so there wasn"t much impact.
"U, kuu..."
With a pathetic groan, I unsteadily stand back up.
Despairing from the fear from the Armor Bear, I foolishly neglected to watch my step. I wonder if it"s some tree root- as I was about to make sure, my breath caught.
"No w,ay... dead..."
Right there, in a familiar uniformgakuran lay a cla.s.smate of mine.
My path had just now strayed a bit from the animal trail, and I tripped and fell because of this. Besides that point, the problem was that he doesn"t look anything but dead.
He"d fallen face up and by his side was his bag and... as if he was just about to use the magic, a notebook with the magic circle page laid there open.
He"s Takas.h.i.+ma... Ah, I don"t know the first name. I used to know all my cla.s.smates" names up till my middle school days, but since high school, I couldn"t be bothered. I knew his face and surname, and never really had a conversation.
Still, he was in the same cla.s.s 2-7 as me.
With the fallen Takas.h.i.+ma-kun in front of me, forget first-aid and CPR, I didn"t even do a pulse check.
I mean after all, his face is completely stuck dead stiff in an anguished expression. Eyes gaping open with traces of blood flowing out. In addition, mouth, nose and ears also had similar traces of blood.
It"s not hard to tell he"d bled out from every known orifice on his head. And now the blood was in the process of hardening and becoming dark clumps.
Takas.h.i.+ma-kun is dead, no doubt about that.
"W-hy..."
Why did he die, how did he die- I had no clue which one I wanted to know.
But in front of this corpse that suddenly appeared before me, I couldn"t help but imagine it. That soon, I"d be like that too.
"C-calm down... relax... think, a way to not die... I can still survive!"
If I panic here, it"s all over. Crying and begging won"t do a thing, the Armor Bear will just follow its instincts and devour me.
Just, just a little more, there"s still a little more time. I"ll struggle and find a way to survive till the very bitter end.
I"m not hot-headed, nor am I a sore loser. And though I"ve lived with my fair share of compromises, I won"t just give up on my own life!
"- Oh yeah, the lunch."
With a jump, I moved my body, and reached for Takas.h.i.+ma-kun"s bag.
Please G.o.d, it"s the plan I thought up really hard. Please, I beg you-
"Found it!"
Transparent tupperware in a plastic bag. That was Takas.h.i.+ma-kun"s lunchbox.
He was a big guy, I recall, a member of the baseball club and an athletic young man. His was not a normal lunchbox, but this large sized tupperware with food stuffed in, matching his build.
Half white rice with dried plums, and another half Salisbury steakhambaagu sauced with demi-glace and rolled omelettetamagoyaki. Finally, a bit of red leaf lettucesunny lettuce and baby tomatoes placed as if an afterthought.
"It"ll work, this can work!"
I made a silent thanks to Takas.h.i.+ma-kun, or rather, his mom who made this lunch, and opened the lid.
In the same motion, I unzipped my bag at top speed, and evacuating everything inside, took up the desired item.
Of course, that is, the Red Shroom. Presently, it is the only thing that can deal damage to the Armor Bear, this poison item.
"Three in all... No, with this size, one could be the limit..."
The Red Shroom is around 10-ish centimeters~4 inches similar to the boxcutter. I thought about it for a couple seconds, and decided to use one and half of them.
Like when making stewnabe I cut them length-wise. For now, I put the julienned Red Shrooms, on the steak.
Next, I grab the rice. Yup, there"s quite a bit. I can"t hold it all in my hand, some of it falls on the ground. Well, it"s fine, I don"t have to be elegant here.
That"s right, I"m about to make riceb.a.l.l.s.onigiri Seasoned in Red Shrooms, poison riceb.a.l.l.s.
Since the Red Shroom should work on the Armor Bear, it wouldn"t attempt to eat it. It"ll probably use smell or something to avoid it.
Thus, the plan is to mix them with the richly flagrant sauce and steak, and furthermore, use a white rice coating to give it an inconspicuous visual camouflage.
No idea if it"ll work. But, at this point, I have nothing else but to bet on this plan.
It"s probably been less than three minutes. Just then, the bushes behind me shook with a rustle.
"-!?"
It was no illusion, the large ma.s.s of gray had once again, slowly appeared before me. With great force, my body once again goes into a s.h.i.+ver.
Similar to when I dropped my lunch box a little while ago, this time, the riceball in my hand fell on the ground.
But that"s fine. This poison mushroom riceball is already complete. I"d suddenly dropped it, but the plan was to run anyway. In fact, doing it naturally like this would likely invite less suspicion too.
Now, the game begins.
"C"mon..."
With a small mutter, I tightly shoulder my bag and move my legs. Facing the Armor Bear, I slowly retreat. Like before, so as not to aggravate it, and certainly not showing my back and das.h.i.+ng off.
The Armor Bear, just like with my own lunch, started sniffing out the riceball and the overturned tupperware beside it.
Its long red tongue licks the sauce sticking to the tupperware. Dumba.s.s, not that, can"t see the better looking main dish other there?
"Eat it... eat iiit..."
And, GoaAAA! the Armor Bear raised a grizzly roar. Large fangs the size of human fingers are revealed inside the mouth.
"Uwa, I"m sorry!"
I"d loudly apologized by reflex but, just then, the Armor Bear"d eaten it in a single bite.
The riceball. Mixed with Red Shrooms, the poisonous riceball!
As I rejoiced, the Armor Bear made a gulping noise and swallowed.
And, as if not having had enough, it turned its sharp eyes at me, and slowly started closing in.
"Eh, huh, did it not...work...?"
There"s no change in the Armor Bear. With it"s usual snort, it again took a step with its four thick, stout legs.
Y-you mean, the Red Shroom isn"t immediate effect!?
It"s not really impossible if I think about it. In thrillers, you often find scenes where they die in pain right as the poison touches their mouth, but there"s no guarantee all poisons will work like that. Delayed effect, as in, taking effect after a few days, or a few weeks, that pattern is entirely possible.
Rather than weeks, if that Red Shroom doesn"t work in the next few minutes, I won"t be working either, because of that still unsatisfied bear.
Ah, d.a.m.n it all, my head so full of just getting it to eat the thing, I hadn"t considered the acuteness of the poison at all. Even the Intuition Pharmacy is just a "Somehow known" thing, it doesn"t provide that much info.
"I,I"m done for..."
I was about to give up. But then, the Armor Bear"s legs stopped abruptly.
GAA! it raises a sharp roar, and stood up on 2 legs and- then fell over right there.
It also started struggling with ragged breath.
"I-it worked! It f.u.c.king worked!"
The poison taking a toll on its body was obvious from the sight.
The Armor Bear"s writhing became increasingly fierce. Every time that mouth bears its fangs in pained groans, endless amounts of drool is scattered. The recklessly flailing arms dig into the muddy ground, and leave claw marks on the tree trunks.
However, its instinct for desiring prey yet remained, and it brought its eyes towards me. As if by its animalistic tenacity, the staggering Armor Bear used its four legs, and took a step.
Right now, I could turn around and get the h.e.l.l out of here, but no, in the second step, it"ll catch me. I can still feel at least that much vigor from the Armor Bear.
"s.h.i.+t, not enough damage! I don"t have-"
No, I do. If the Armor Bear"s feeling the scorching poison of the Red Shroom, and suffering from a rapidly rising fever, a way to worsen that condition is something I possess!
"Plunge into permanent swelter, and curse the body - "Red Fever"!"
The spell I shout out is the first Curse "Red Fever".
This curse that instigates slight fever probably doesn"t have much effect on those with large bodies. But casting it on this guy who"ll go beyond the limit in a couple more degrees, may just push it over the deadlinethreshold.
Yet, the Armor Bear moves. A step. Distance to me: 3 meters.
"Plunge into permanent swelter, and curse the body - "Red Fever"!"
Die.
Another step. Distance: 2 meters.
"Plunge into, permanent swelter, and curse the body - "Red Fever"!"
Please die.
Yet another step. 1 meter.
Plunge, into permanent, swelter! and curse the body?!"
Just die please.
The Armor Bear"s steel arms, rise.
"RED FEVEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeer!"
As a great impact forcefully brings down my body, I shout the Curse. The paw with s.h.i.+ning nails was brought down.
-Gaha!?
Before I noticed, my eyes were seeing brown earth. I perhaps fell, or maybe tripped. No, more importantly- it"s hot.
"A-ahh..."
Belly, feels hot. Like burning... But it felt wet when I touched.
My right hand is dyed in blood. Ah, this is, my blood.
The Armor Bears blow had struck. It"s knife-like sharp nails had torn at my abdomen.
That implied, it must"ve activated. The second Curse, "Pain Return".
"Ha, haha... I did it..."
Raising my line of sight a bit, there, lay on its back, was the Armor Bear, not moving an inch.
On the smooth abdomen of its dull gray sh.e.l.l, were 4 rough lines etched on, from the insides of which poured out copious amounts of blood.
Under unbearable temperatures, and having its belly shredded, finally, the armored monster died.
I finally did it. I beat it- Just as I realized that fact, as if break time was over, reality struck.
"A, AaAA...UAaAAAAA!"
Scorching pain running through the abdomen. And the image of life itself materializing and flowing out as blood. Right now, the reality of death was coming for me.
"L-like h.e.l.l, I"ll die... here... No way, I"m dying..."
One more. Just one more time, work with me. Move, c"mon, MOVE, body!
With my all it moved, my b.l.o.o.d.y right hand. I reach desperately.
It"s destination, my bag fallen right beside me. Fully opening it, I see the Red Shroom and- the bunch of Non-delions.
Non-delions, these have the hemostatic effect. I need to use them, here, now. I have to bet on that effect!
Grabbing a hold of the jagged leaves with my blood soaked hand, I somehow... some miraculous way, willed myself into lying face up.
As I properly look at the wound... Aa, I shouldn"t have looked. It"s so red everywhere, I have no idea what I"m seeing.
But I mustn’t look away. With a shaky left hand, I undo the golden b.u.t.ton of my uniform. Then, unb.u.t.toning only the belly part of the dress s.h.i.+rt underneath, I forcefully raise the t-s.h.i.+rt under that.
Uwa, this is terrible... No, well, it"s not like my guts are falling out, so it might be not too deep a wound. But still, if I leave this profuse bleeding alone, I"ll definitely die.
"C"mon work... please just work..."
No wait, will just putting the leaves on there really work? f.u.c.k, should"ve mashed it earlier- No, I can still make it.
"U, uu... Uu Eehh, so bitter..."
The Non-delion leaves I"d put in my mouth, tasted just like the dandelion leaves I once put in my mouth as a stupid kid. Bitter. Not edible at all, in fact, it"s not even food.
Even so, wanting to raise the effect even a little bit, I bore the s.h.i.+tty leaf flavor and mashed them in my mouth, making it into a paste I can apply directly.
I had doubts whether this would really be more effective, but Intuition Pharmacy a.s.sured me that "This is fine". Didn"t think much of it when I discovered it, but this could"ve been a giftservice from Curse G.o.d Ruinhilde-sama.
"I-if I die now... I"ll curse...even G.o.d..."
And with the bitterness in my mouth, and the pain in my stomach, I got really sleepy... Ah, so tired... can"t last, any...