11. Survival Rule #1: Don't Eat Anything You Pick Up (5)
11. Survival Rule #1: Don't Eat Anything You Pick Up (5)
I wasn't big on head-on fights.
Obvious, really. Going toe-to-toe with monsters was no different from marching up and begging them to kill you. Bears that could shred a person with a single swipe of a paw. Snakes that could swallow a grown man whole without any trouble.
Taking those things on face-to-face was a job for superhumans.
Not some desperate castaway like me, just scraping by.
But that didn't mean I'd survived all this time using nothing but traps and poison. There was no way those alone could keep me alive on an island devoid of dreams or hope. On a deserted island rife with schemes and dirty tricks, I needed at least some means of defending myself.
So this time, I would have to get physical.
"...Not coming?"
She might have been out of her mind from hallucinogenic mushrooms, but a warrior was still a warrior. Reni stopped about ten paces away as naturally as if she had measured the distance, leaned slightly forward, and raised both fists. She looked ready to collapse at any moment, yet her presence was that of a seasoned fighter.
A tedious, deadly standoff dragged on under the hot sun.
I had no intention of losing this war of attrition. Ultimately, time was on my side. A poison dart coated in a potent anesthetic was lodged in her neck. Sooner or later, she'd drop on her own.
Maintaining the standoff wasn't a bad option for me either.
Which meant I wasn't the one who'd be striking first.
The ground shook. Beast or human, I couldn't tell. Dust swallowed my view. I swung the shovel with everything I had, as though aiming for a home run. It whistled through the air and slammed into the shadow inside the dust.
A heavy impact jolted my palm. Metal clashing against metal. The dust cleared, revealing Reni.
My shovel had been stopped by the back of her hand. No matter how much force I applied, it wouldn't budge. I pulled it back and retreated two steps.
Fortunately, Reni didn't seem to have the strength to close in immediately. She stood still, gasping for air.
"...Karina... where..."
Goosebumps broke out on my skin under her glare. She looked like she should've collapsed ages ago. How was she still standing with her body that wrecked and anesthetic pumping through her veins?
Was this really the strength of someone whose body felt heavy, whose mind was spinning, and whose vision was blurred?
I adjusted my grip on the weapon. Sweat slicked my palms. Having confirmed once again that this would not be an easy fight, I angled the shovel blade.
Stab, smash, or slash?
My choice—
I thrust the shovel toward Reni's chest. She reflexively brought both hands together to catch it, but I turned the blade slightly so that its sharpened edge, not its flat back, met her palms. An ordinary shovel would have crumpled under her monstrous strength.
But mine was no ordinary shovel.
After countless shovels had broken, I'd stumbled upon this one, made from bone harder than steel. It hadn't bent even when the Alpha Bear crushed it beneath several tons of weight. No matter how strong Reni was, this shovel wouldn't bend.
The blood staining Reni's palms proved it. She'd effectively thrust her hands onto a blade, so the result was inevitable. I shattered part of her breastplate and struck her chest. Even then, the monstrously strong swordswoman twisted her body to minimize the damage.
"...If you were in good shape, I'd be dead for sure."
Even a glimpse of the final boss while she was at death's door sent chills through me. Had she been healthy, forget landing a blow—I would have been cut in half before I could blink. Suppressing the fear of death beginning to raise its head, I reset my grip on the recovered shovel.
"Lady... Karina..."
Even with both palms torn open and blood dripping from them, Reni paid no attention and clenched her fists. Was the anesthetic keeping her from feeling pain? Or maybe she was the kind of tough bastard you'd only see in a Hollywood blockbuster and simply didn't care about pain.
Still, this was enough to lay the groundwork for a conversation. She'd at least know now that I wasn't a pushover.
After a moment's consideration, I spoke up.
"Karina's with me. If you want to meet her, calm down and—"
"You son of a bitch...!"
Her furious voice lashed out at me. Why? Had I done something wrong? Before I could answer my own question, Reni charged. She leaped like a tiger.
She swept toward me in an arc. The movement was simple, but if I met it head-on, I'd be the one reduced to pulp. Instinctively, I rolled aside, dodged her charge, reversed my grip on the shovel, and struck her ankle with the handle.
A solid impact ran up the handle when it hit her ankle. Had I broken it?
With no reaction from her, I couldn't tell. She wobbled a bit, but that wasn't enough proof of a fracture.
So I took advantage of her hesitation and struck a few more times. Before Reni could attack again, I hit the same ankle once more. The drug seemed to be taking effect, and her reactions were growing slower.
"Give back... Karina..."
Even so, Reni's counterattacks were fierce. She repeatedly swung an arm to crack my skull and drove fists toward my face. But she'd already slowed to a crawl, attacking with less than ten percent of her usual strength, and I could block her without much trouble.
I blocked with the shovel, then struck back.
When she tried to seize the shovel, I held on and turned it, twisting her wrist. That alone made her resistance collapse with almost pathetic ease.
In the end, it turned into a one-sided beatdown, but my opponent wasn't normal.
I could not let my guard down when the predator might spring back up and bare its fangs at any moment. One lapse, and I would die.
It might have been excessive, but once Reni had lost even the strength to resist, I ended the grueling fight by striking her head with the shovel and knocking her unconscious.
Knocked out, not dead.
This wasn't revenge for the outrageous difficulty that had forced me through seventy-two attempts in the game.
"...I'll say you were injured fighting the Alpha Bear and that I brought you back."
...I just didn't have the heart to tell Karina the truth.
--------------------------------
And just like that, my island life had gained another patient.
It was a shame neither of them was healthy. Karina and Reni would both pull their weight once they recovered, but until then I'd have to keep this miserable island life going by myself.
...Maybe I should strip off all her armor before carrying her. The armor made her damn heavy.
The dented armor digging into my back stung. At this rate, I might have wounds of my own by the time I reached home. Admitting that I'd been scratched while carrying her would be strangely embarrassing.
"Karina..."
Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable. She was hovering at death's door and still searching for Karina. Come to think of it, Reni's backstory said Karina had saved her life, after which Reni swore loyalty to her. I remembered hearing that in a lore-summary video someone had uploaded to XTube.
For better or worse, Reni had been a popular character.
She was also one of the few female bosses in Survival Academy, and infamous for her vicious difficulty.
My thoughts wandered idly as I trudged along, feeling a bit lighter at heart, and soon the house came into view.
My plan was to lay her down on one of the beds and then go back for Karina. The house would be better for nursing than the hideout, which didn't even have a place to lie down.
"Looks like I'll be gathering caterpillars again for a while... Huh?"
A strange, blurry shape flickered at the edge of my vision as I looked forward. I snapped my gaze toward it.
A snake.
It was a snake.
And it had two heads.
It was only about the size of a rattlesnake, but its mixture of brown and yellow stood out. When the Two-Headed Snake and I made eye contact, it turned and fled at once.
Scouting, maybe.
Was it trying to assess the situation because the island's power balance was shifting so fast? What was that cunning bastard plotting now? I needed to buy at least about two weeks.
Even with Karina's healing magic, Reni's condition was not likely to improve quickly.
This was all the bears' fault. That was my story, anyway. They should've recognized someone stronger than themselves and offered Reni food without being asked. What kind of wild animals couldn't tell when they were outmatched? No wonder they were wiped out.
Ugh, pathetic things.
I'd better just get home.
I quickened my pace and reached the house. I opened the door and laid Reni on the bed.
Looking at her again, a bit of guilt crept in.
Still, it had been the best option available, so I could justify myself. What mattered was that she was alive.
I immediately turned around and headed for the hideout. I opened the entrance and looked down. A wave of heat greeted me. The warmth from the firewood washed over my body pleasantly. It almost felt like coming home.
"Karina! Come on out!"
"Yes! One moment!"
Karina scrambled right up, arms loaded with a few things. She gave me a happy look, then her gaze swept across the wounds here and there on my body, and her eyes filled with worry as she peered up at me.
"You're not badly hurt, are you...?"
"I'm fine. And there's a patient."
"A patient?"
I nodded and pointed toward the distant house. Karina followed my finger with her gaze, then looked back at me. Concern for the patient was plain in her professionally focused expression.
"Let's hurry."
We headed straight for the house. The moment Karina saw Reni lying on the bed, she cried out in shock.
"Reni!"
Well. A touching reunion.
Watching Karina choke back tears from behind, I thought to myself.