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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“Dodge!”
Renny and I sprinted through the forest with all our might to escape the range of the breath attack.
But how could mere humans escape the wave of toxic fumes? We had no choice but to hide behind a huge rock to avoid the wave of breath that made the back of our necks tingle.
My heart was pounding like crazy. The pungent smell entered my nostrils. And the rock that kept getting smaller. Although it was a house-sized rock, so it held out for a relatively long time, even if only a minute passed, the future of melting away along with this rock was drawn. I didn’t wish for such a future. I just wanted to crush that hydra bastard and see the bottom of the dungeon.
If possible, I wanted to escape too!
Go to land, settle down, and live an ordinary life, get married… Anyway!
“Hey! Don’t you have any good ideas? At this rate, we’ll both end up as a purple-flavored juice!”
Ah, right. Now wasn’t the time for such idle thoughts.
I placed my hand on the rock. This was all I could do right now.
“Crafting.”
The melting rock transformed into a well-crafted stone wall, starting to block a wider area. We could last a bit longer than before. Without waiting for each other, we ran at full speed before the stone wall melted away. The sloshing poison pools were annoying, but it wasn’t the time to mind them.
Anyway, whether we drowned in the poison pool or got hit by the breath, it was the same.
“Don’t you have any ideas?! We can’t go back like this!”
“I’m thinking!”
The breath that had been stinging my back was gradually decreasing. In the first place, there was no way a living creature, not a machine, could use such a toxic breath for a long time.
But…
“Hey! That bastard is following us! Don’t you have any ideas?!”
The ground shook. The sight of it dragging its huge body and moving, sending out tremendous vibrations, sent chills down my spine.
We absolutely couldn’t outrun it in terms of speed. Once I was certain of that conclusion, I immediately said to Renny, who was running beside me,
“You go back like this and bring Karina! I’ll lure that bastard!”
“What? How are you going to do it?! With what means against such a thing?!”
“There are ways, so don’t worry!”
I pointed in one direction with a gesture. It was the direction of my territory. My eyes met Renny’s. Renny nodded with a serious expression.
Renny ran in the direction I pointed. It was the opposite of where I was headed.
“Over here! You snake bastard!”
I deliberately ran along an open path, shouting to prevent it from following Renny. Renny, who had entered the forest, was no longer visible. Around the time I was certain Renny had completely escaped, I ran into a densely wooded area. No matter how massive its body was compared to an elephant, it couldn’t completely ignore the trees. It would slow down its speed a bit and give me some distance.
I knew the geography of this area to some extent.
For now, let’s run to the point that came to my mind.
I ran towards the place I had aimed for, retracing the faint map in my head. The ground shook, the poison in the pools splashed as if rocks had fallen, and the unpleasant screams and occasional breaths that flew my way threatened my life, but I was confident I wouldn’t die.
This level of crisis used to knock on our door every once in a while.
“You fucking bastard. Just die quietly.”
I finally arrived. The largest rock in the snakes’ territory. I swiftly climbed to the top and glared at the snake charging at me. Naturally, the 9 pairs of eyes also met my gaze.
Run away. Run away. Run away. Run away. Run away…
The fear of snakes, etched into human DNA, whispered terror into my ears.
It was a truly sweet and alluring suggestion.
Run at full speed like a scared rabbit.
At that moment, I was a rabbit. One that could only run away.
…But I’m human.
I can’t just run away like a rabbit.
“…Let’s give it a try.”
Just like when I first faced the hydra a few years ago.
I stabbed the rock. The tip of the shovel dug into the rock, scattering rock dust. I activated the skill in a low voice.
“Crafting.”
As soon as I finished speaking, my field of vision soared. What I had created was a stone pillar. It was a pillar about 15 meters tall, with a narrow base and a sharp horn pointing towards the hydra. From a distance, it would look like a giant pickaxe-shaped pillar without a back of the head. I stood on top of the stone pillar and glared at the hydra. The hydra also looked up at me on the suddenly risen pillar.
It was really high. If I took one wrong step, I felt like I would die from falling, not from the snake.
“…Should I consider it fortunate that it became a zombie hydra?”
It might sound like nonsense, but it could be true. A sane hydra was an incredibly cunning creature.
I clearly remember it dropping a bear cub it had bitten to death in front of me 7 years ago.
Thanks to that, I had a war with the bears for nearly a year.
It had also attempted sabotage not long ago.
That hydra bastard was a creature that knew how to gain benefits without incurring losses.
“Looking at it this way, zombification isn’t so bad.”
The hydra approached. Its charging figure, with its huge body at the forefront, was like a dump truck rushing towards me. But this was just one of the countless things I had experienced on this island. I stepped on the back of the pillar that was starting to tilt like the Leaning Tower of Pisa and looked down at the hydra that was getting closer.
The 9 pairs of eyes glared at me on the collapsing pillar. It didn’t seem to care about the pillar at all. Like a zombie, as if all it needed to do was kill me, the 9 heads charged at me with aggressive hatred.
As the hydra’s heads noticeably got closer, I kicked off the rapidly tilting pillar and jumped.
A rough wind passed just above my head.
Did the head pass by?
In my tilted vision, I saw the heavy stone pillar crush one of the hydra’s heads. The horn created at the head part pierced through the neck right behind the head.
The gamble had paid off. With its neck pierced, no matter how monstrous it was, it wouldn’t be able to move right away.
I landed on the hydra’s back and slid down its smooth back like surfing. Thanks to its reptilian slippery skin, I was able to safely touch the ground. Although that didn’t mean it was safe.
As soon as I landed on the ground, I immediately rolled my body like an action game character at the sound of the air being torn above my head. The ground shook. The poison pooled in the swamps exploded and stuck to my armor. I reflexively covered my face. The armor was already half-melted at a glance. At this rate, my body would melt away, hydra or not.
I ran to a nearby tree, peeled off the bark, and immediately used a skill.
“Repair.”
The tree bark I grabbed stuck to my body. The appearance became quite rough, but there was no time to care about that. The tree, stripped of its protective layer, quickly melted and collapsed in the poison. I turned my gaze away from the fallen tree and looked at the hydra again.
Through my slightly jagged vision, I saw the hydra turning its head towards me while trying to turn its body. But it couldn’t turn its body due to the stone pillar. However, it couldn’t drag on for too long.
I raised my gaze to look above. I could see the pillar piercing through the neck bone of the head that had been in the middle. With that much, wouldn’t the head be completely torn off if it struggled?
In the end, I had only bought a very short amount of time.
Should I run away?
If Karina came, since it was a zombie, she could easily finish it off. There was no need to fight.
I turned my body and ran out of the forest. I heard the snake’s roar behind my back. Could it be that even in a zombified state, a small amount of intelligence remained? Come to think of it, snakes had such a slow blood circulation that perhaps the zombification process was relatively less advanced. Still, it seemed incapable of proper thinking.
“For now, it seems I’ve shaken off the pursuit, but when will those two come…”
Having returned to the green-filled territory, I looked in the direction of my house. Of course, there was no way the house would be visible, but after escaping from danger, I couldn’t help but think of home.
As expected, it’s dangerous outside the house.
Once this matter is over, I should stay holed up at home for a few days. Although life on a deserted island is busy, sometimes you need time for healing.
…Anyway, once we take down that snake, only the dungeon will be left.
“…Even as a zombie, its voice is still loud.”
I covered my ears at the hydra’s antics, causing creepy noise pollution as if to prove it was a zombie. With this, I couldn’t even hide somewhere comfortably.
…But the sound seems a bit close?
It sounded like it came from right behind me-
At that moment, my survival instincts, forcibly honed over 10 years, sounded the alarm.
I immediately turned around and looked at the path I had run from.
“This is crazy.”
A purple water gun flew towards me.
I rolled my body to the side to avoid the breath pouring down on me. A hot wind swept over my body and passed by.
I got up and clicked my tongue at the trace left by the purple water gun that had grazed past me.
The place where the poison had passed was completely melted.
If I had been hit, I would have died on the spot.
“Wow, I’ve never experienced such bullshit in my life…”
A pair of eyes glared at me.
Yes. A pair.
Fuck, the head that was torn off by the pillar came alone to catch me. What kind of crazy situation is this?
No matter how much snakes have all their organs concentrated in their heads, this crossed the line. It crossed the line!
How the hell is it even moving?
If the head was cut off, it should have died quietly! I roughly named it hydra, and it really had a disgusting regenerative ability.
This is too much, isn’t it?
…Phew, it’s not the time to get excited.
I took a deep breath. One, two. One, two…
I calmed my mind and glared at the snake that had become noticeably slower compared to before. There was still some distance. About 30 meters.
Glancing beyond, the main body seemed to have lost sight of me.
I gritted my teeth and muttered as always.
“…Even if it’s just one head, it’s manageable.”
What can you do with just a severed head, you bastard!
“You’re only scary because you have 9 heads. With one, you’re just a fucking meal!”
I readjusted my grip on the shovel.
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