The Bitter Price of Survival
I slowly looked down. A creature with sharp pincer jaws had seized my ankle from beneath the ground. It looked like an antlion. A monster known as a burrow worm. A living trap that hid underground and dragged its prey down into its lair. When it lay in ambush, those sharp pincers would protrude slightly above the surface—that was how you were supposed to spot them. I should have seen it.
I missed this?
When I thought about what had gone wrong, the answer was simple. I had been watching the ground carefully, advancing with caution. I’d confirmed there was nothing wrong before stepping forward, but the creature’s form had been cleverly camouflaged among the pebbles. Bad luck. From my angle, its pincers had been completely invisible. No, that wasn’t an excuse. If I had paid even a little more attention, I could have avoided it. In the end, I had walked straight into its maw with my eyes wide open. Like an idiot.
Scraaape—!
The left foot caught in its pincers was being dragged underground. If I got pulled all the way into its nest, I was dead. It had been an instant-death trap in the game, too. So I braced with every ounce of strength I had, fighting to hold my ground.
Tremble, tremble—
Fuck. I could beat myself up later. Right now I had to solve the immediate problem. This thing had the hardest shell of any monster I’d encountered so far. But it had a weakness. The eyes. I gripped the dagger in a reverse hold and stabbed straight down toward its eye.
Whoosh—!
Clang—!
…Huh?
The blade bounced off cleanly. Shit, that wasn’t how it was supposed to go. I tried again.
Clang—! Clang—!
I hadn’t misjudged. I had aimed precisely at the eye, yet the attack was deflected. This was complete bullshit.
Scraaape—!
Its strength surged, and now it was dragging me in up to the calf. “You son of a bitch!”
I slammed the small shield down onto its head. Thud—! Thud—! Thud—! I was the one hitting it, yet the edge of the shield was the first to show cracks. Insane. At this rate the shield would break before the monster did.
Scraaape—!
My left leg was sinking deeper into the earth. Ah. I was fucked.
I struck at its eye with everything I held in my hands. Desperately. Thud—! Thud—! Clang—!
Please. Please just die.
But the creature didn’t budge. The more I resisted, the harder it pulled, dragging me with even greater force.
Scraaaape—!
My head went cold. A catastrophe caused by a single mistake. Who could I blame? It was entirely my own carelessness. I should have focused more. I should have been more thorough. If I had, I wouldn’t be in this mess.
Fuck…
Still, I had survived a long time, hadn’t I? In this insane world crawling with monsters, reaching this point was already a miracle. I had fought those beasts head-on and won several times. Yeah. I lost, but I fought well. That should be enough.
……
……
……
Like hell it is.
You pathetic idiot. What do you mean, “I fought well even though I lost”? How the hell have I survived until now? I’m supposed to just die here? Don’t give me that crap.
I lowered my head and stared at the creature’s face. Scraaaape—! Its shell wouldn’t break? Then I’d cut what could break. I picked up the dagger and raised it as high as I could. Hoo. The blade was too dull for a clean cut in one strike, but I poured every bit of strength I had into the swing.
Slice—!
I brought the dagger down on my own leg where it was caught in the creature’s maw.
“Aaaaaaaaagh!!!!”
The sudden explosion of agony nearly knocked me unconscious. “Ugh… uuuuugh.”
The blade had caught in the middle of the leg bone. Hoo… I could do this. No—I had to do this.
Slice— Slice—
Goddamn it. They gave me a piece-of-shit dagger. Striking wasn’t helping much with the bone. I had no choice but to saw through it. That was the fastest way.
“Ugh… kuh… blegh…”
The pain I had never experienced before turned my brain white. My vision flooded red, veins bulging. Saliva poured from my mouth. And finally—
Thud—
Scraaaape—!!
The moment my calf separated and fell free, the creature snatched it and vanished underground.
“Keuk… kheuk… kk.”
The pain was beyond description; I couldn’t even scream. But I didn’t have time to freeze. I had to move. If it came back for a second attack, it would really be over.
Pushing against the ground with my remaining right foot, I dragged myself away from the burrow worm’s nest.
“Ugh… fuuuuuck…”
After crawling several meters past what I judged was a safe distance, I cut off the bottom of my pants. It wasn’t a clean tourniquet, but it was better than bleeding out. I wrapped the fabric tightly around the severed stump and collapsed, enduring the pain.
At first it hurt so badly I couldn’t even control my body, but that agony gradually faded. Or maybe it simply went numb? Blood was still seeping past the makeshift bandage. Whatever.
“Hoo… hoooo…”
I wanted to lie here and rest. Just five minutes. But this forest wasn’t kind enough to wait for me. I had lost a lot of blood. And the Shady Forest was home to monsters that reacted to the scent of it. If I stayed still, I would draw their aggro.
Yeah… I need to get out of here.
Supporting myself on my right foot, I struggled to stand. Wow. The condition was worse than I thought. Even slight movement left me gasping.
“Sss… hoo…”
Hold on. Why the hell did I saw off my own leg while still sane? If I gave up now, everything I had gone through would become meaningless. So I had to keep moving. To survive.
Step. Step.
Ah, but first—there was something I had to do.
Ptooey—
I spat toward the burrow worm’s nest. My own petty little revenge. You filthy bastard. Let’s never meet again.
*******
“Ugh… kk…”
I was crawling through the forest. I had no idea how much time had passed. I wasn’t in any mental state to care. Fresh pain surged from the severed leg. At first I had been able to hop on one foot, but now crawling on the ground was all I could manage. I had no complaints. If it meant surviving, I could crawl all day. My military crawling training made it manageable. The problem was that at this rate I might simply die of exhaustion.
I need to do something…
Clinging to my fading consciousness, I repeated my plan. First: head in a single direction until I reached the center where the Meeting Stele stood. Each environment’s map was twisted and complicated, but traveling straight in one direction would eventually lead somewhere. Whether that somewhere connected to another part of Stage 1 or to the Meeting Stele itself was pure luck. In the end, I had to leave it to chance. I wasn’t a guide, after all. Still, it was far better than changing directions haphazardly.
Second: obtain help from the adventurers at the Meeting Stele. Hmm… but would they actually help me? Even if I offered every Rune Stone I possessed, it seemed unlikely. Having played the game, I knew the truth. Adventurers were not righteous philanthropists. They weighed the benefits even when helping decent, clean adventurers. If the one asking was a Prisoner… they might kill me on the spot instead of offering aid. That was what a prisoner meant in this world.
Hoo. Let’s think about it after I actually meet someone.
Honestly, I was worried, but there was no other way. I had to follow the plan.
Flutter— Flutter—
The moment I finished my judgment and tried to move, the sound of light wingbeats drifted from beyond the dense trees. They were here. I’d been wondering when they would show up.
A winged creature emerged between the trunks. A monster called a vampire butterfly. It looked exactly like an ordinary butterfly, except it was the size of a grown person. The peculiarity was its straw-like proboscis—it sucked blood from living creatures instead of nectar. Just like a mosquito.
I had expected its appearance. Bleeding this much was bound to draw aggro. Flutter— Flutter— What I hadn’t expected was for three of them to appear at once.
“Klup… kruhuhuhuhu.”
They say people laugh when pushed to extreme stress. “Kruh… hahahahaha!!”
It was true. I couldn’t hold it back. “You bastards! Come on! Come at me! Let’s all die together!”
I drew the dagger and swung it wildly through the air. My mind recognized that I was no longer normal. So what? If I didn’t do this, my sanity wouldn’t last.
Flutter— Flutter— The creatures shifted positions, surrounding me. Then—
Swoosh—!
One charged with its straw-like proboscis extended.
Stay calm. Vampire butterflies were agile but fragile. If I targeted their weakness at the right moment, I could win.
The proboscis flew toward my nape. It was exactly like the game. It didn’t even glance at my blood-soaked leg. Fine by me.
I blocked with the small shield and immediately swung the dagger. My target was its wing.
Slash!
I had moved quickly, but the creature that had dumped everything into agility dodged with ease. Still, it wasn’t meaningless. I had managed to nick the edge of its wing.
Flutter, flutter— It staggered backward. Bastard. Getting scared already?
I banged the dagger against the shield’s edge, threatening them. “Come on, you bastards.”
This time two attacked at once. Slash—! Slice—!
The saving grace was that I lay with my back against the ground. If they had been heavy monsters, I would have been crushed and shredded. Fortunately, vampire butterflies weren’t that kind. Thanks to that, I could focus entirely on what was in front of me.
Slash—! Slice—!
Several exchanges passed. I nearly met my ancestors when one proboscis nearly pierced me, but I blocked it with perfect timing using the shield.
It was strange. Right before death, my concentration suddenly sharpened to a razor’s edge.
Bang—! Bang—! Slice—!
Then my dagger finally pierced clean through one butterfly’s wing. Slash—! A fist-sized hole flapping in its wing, it retreated, then dropped to the ground.
The remaining two seemed startled. They stopped attacking and backed away to gain distance.
“Next.”
They say fights between wild beasts are decided by momentum. Even though I was on the verge of collapse from exhaustion, I didn’t show a trace of weakness. The moment I did, they would swarm me.
Flutter— Flutter— Fortunately, I won the contest of wills. The two abandoned their fallen comrade and fled.
Hoo… damn. I actually won. I had been only half-sure.
Setting the joy of victory aside, I looked at the vampire butterfly still wriggling on the ground. It was crawling slowly toward me.
Wow. So when a butterfly can’t use its wings, it crawls like that. I had never seen that in the game. It was incredibly grotesque, but this wasn’t the time to care.
“Now we’re even, huh?”
I was a leg-cripple. You’re a wing-cripple. The only difference was that I was far more desperate than that monster.
Slice—!
“Hoo…”
Once the situation calmed, fatigue crashed over me like a wave. Well, it was only natural after fighting desperately with a body already in ruins. I could feel my strength draining away in real time. If I pushed any further, I might really die.
Now I truly need someone’s help…
I turned my head, scanning the surroundings. Only pitch-black darkness flowing between the trees greeted me. Not a single trace of human presence.
…Could I really survive this?
The anxiety was finally beginning to set in.