How to Survive a Lizardman
Philanthropist (5)
Lizardman.
A giant with the appearance of a lizard.
It had the scaly skin of a reptile, and its vertically slit pupils gave off a primal revulsion.
But such outward appearances weren't the real problem.
At this moment, what they needed to worry about was only one thing.
How could they survive?
“M-My, the monster’s a lizardman?!”
One glance at the iron blade and his face drained of all color, sweat pouring down his forehead.
It really was a lizardman.
A monster dangerous enough to take on an entire Bronze-rank party—its threat level was serious.
Trained Bronze adventurers with well-balanced front and rear lines plus support would have stood a chance.
Anytime the guild received word of a lizardman sighting, they sent out Bronze parties to handle it.
Which meant this.
“J-Just me and you… can’t even fight it?!”
Cal turned around first.
Grinding his stone blade to dust, he waved his coat like a flag and bolted.
“Ain, we have to run too!”
Er made the same call.
Though she had less experience than Cal, she knew lizardmen were no pushover.
In a narrow tunnel with barely enough people for a fight, they weren’t about to play nice.
Helping out some random guy like Ahin in that kind of mess was pure Er.
Or else he’d just be meat.
No time to overthink it.
As soon as they turned their backs, it roared.
—KIIIEEEEEEEEEK!!!
Crunch.
A chilling sound rang out.
The moment he realized the rusty spear in the lizardman’s hand had skewered the fallen kobold, a chill raced down Ahin’s spine.
The goblins already riddled with wounds and the dead kobold.
Er, who had seemed to guess the reason, still opened her mouth even while sprinting.
“They were… just toys…!”
“Toys?”
“Lizardmen love to hunt, even monsters weaker than them…”
—KIIIIIEEEEEEEEEE!!!!
A horrifying shriek echoed through the tunnel.
Er spat out the words, voice tight.
“Humans…!”
Whoosh.
A cold wind brushed Ahin’s back.
Er’s reaction was clean.
She didn’t even draw her sword, instead gripping her shield with both hands and swinging it hard.
Clang-clang-clang-clang!!!!
“Ugh…!”
The sound of metal tearing rang out as Er’s body rose into the air.
The object that slammed into her shield was the lizardman’s rusty spear.
The spear bounced off and slammed into the wall with a rough clang, and the force knocked Er off balance.
Just before she tumbled, Ahin stepped in behind her, catching the falling body.
Ahin let out a startled breath.
“Cough…!”
“T-Thank you.”
“Save the thanks for later and run…!”
Before she could finish, he was already turning and leading the way.
The exit was closer than he’d expected.
Er called out with bright relief, having spotted sunlight at the end of the tunnel because he’d gone slow to watch for ambushes.
“Over there—the exit!”
—KIIIIIEEEEEEEEEK!!!
At the exact same time the lizardman’s roar echoed, so terrifying that Ahin didn’t hesitate for a second.
They were already lunging toward the outside.
Right before they burst through, Er’s running eyes caught something strange.
Small pouches lining the tunnel entrance, and others stuck into the wall.
They seemed to be planted closely along the spot where some man had jabbed his sword into the rock.
“Die right there, you bastard!!”
Someone’s vicious voice rang out right beside their ears.
Explosion.
The last thing Er saw was a black mound of dirt rushing toward her and the strong pressure of arms wrapping around her body.
●
The dungeon entrance collapsed.
A man a short distance away watched, grinding his fingers, muttering.
“He’s… dead, right?”
Perfect timing.
He had only struck after confirming the man’s face.
Cal didn’t use a sword.
If goblin or goblin-like monsters left behind wounds from a blade, the other adventurers would suspect him.
Buried accidents were common in dungeons.
Newbies who wandered in blindly and died trapped underground was far more normal than people thought.
“Hah, damn… I didn’t even want to bury Er in the dirt…”
A delicate, soft woman—too precious to let be buried or fed to monsters.
He had always wanted to toy with that smooth skin—
If that bastard hadn’t led the way, none of this would have happened.
It was all that rude guy’s fault.
They would have been so much better off just fighting goblins.
While that idiot was busy with the monsters, he could have grabbed Er and blocked the entrance.
The price for ignoring his own kind mercy of sending her without pain.
“Shit, loss.”
The request had failed, and all their gear was buried underground.
The only things they had left were the equipment on their bodies and a little leftover explosive.
Even if he thought about it, it was a loss.
“Ugh, damn…”
Cal cursed while turning his back.
There was still a lot to do.
He had to report the unlucky accident that took out the Bronze and Scrap Iron adventurers.
He also had to claim compensation from the guild that hadn’t properly investigated before the quest.
“Loss, loss…”
He began dragging one leg as he spoke.
It was the only way to prove he hadn’t been the one responsible.
The dragging sound echoed through the forest path.
●
His whole body ached.
When he realized that, he was already buried under the dirt.
“Here… ouch!”
A sharp pain from his wrist where he had instinctively touched it.
Thinking about it, he must have blocked the spear the lizardman threw.
At the time he’d thought it was fine, but maybe it was just temporary shock from the tension.
The constant throbbing refused to stop, so the injury was serious.
Er couldn’t bring herself to touch her own wrist directly, so she pressed and prodded around it, scanning the surroundings.
In Er’s view were the pitch-black surroundings and…
Thunk.
Only a heavy weight at the tip of her shoe.
She opened her eyes wide in surprise, and familiar faces appeared.
“…Ain?”
His pupils, now adjusted to the darkness, widened.
He recognized the hazy figure a little distance away.
Er’s heart raced with worry.
She approached on shaky legs, half his good hand trembling because she was afraid he was dead.
When she confirmed he was still breathing, she let out a sigh of relief.
“Haa…”
He was alive.
His whole body was covered in dirt, but there didn’t seem to be any serious injuries.
Good.
If he had been trapped here alone…
“Ugh…”
“Ain! Are you okay?!”
Her thoughts snapped when he let out a small groan.
Despite not being used to the dark, he blinked a few times before speaking in a cracked voice.
“Here…”
“We must have been trapped underground.”
He pushed himself up and looked around.
Not a single beam of light reached them.
The only way out was blocked, leaving just the tunnel downward.
Just before he passed out, Ahin recalled the words and gritted his teeth.
—Die right there, you bastard!!
“That damned bastard…”
The voice had definitely been Cal’s.
He had jumped out first and then sealed the entrance.
“…He must have stabbed a stake when he said he’d mark the wall.”
Thinking about it, there was no need to drive the stake so deep.
If he just wanted to mark the path, a quick scratch would have sufficed.
A wave of self-loathing hit him for not noticing the suspicious movement.
“…It would have been hard to catch that from the dark.
It’s not your fault.”
Ahin pushed himself up and spoke to the dejected Er.
Er noticed how much dirt was clinging to Ahin’s body and asked carefully.
“Ain, you were closer to the blast point, right?
Did you get hurt anywhere…”
“Nowhere serious.”
“But the dirt is all over you…”
And then she noticed.
His clothes looked relatively intact.
Except where he had touched the ground.
His body was strangely clean—especially the front of his face, as if someone had shielded it.
“Speaking of which, right before the explosion—”
“It’s not important now.
First we need to figure out how to survive here.”
Ahin cut her off and started fiddling with something.
“Ain? What are you doing…”
“…Damn it, I guess I have to live.”
At that moment, a faint light seeped from his hand.
Far weaker than the stone lantern Cal had used just moments ago.
Like a tiny candle, a small light bloomed in his palm.
“Ain, what is this…?”
“…Just a little trick.”
“Are you… a mage?”
Mage.
Even a terrible mage was considered a talent everywhere, and in the adventurer guild, even a single small flame could earn you a Bronze plate.
Er had always thought creating light from empty air was nothing but magic.
Er’s face showed surprise, and Ahin furrowed his brow, clearly annoyed.
“It’s not that.
I already told you, it’s just a little trick…”
“But you can make light in thin air…”
“So what now, party leader?
Are we just going to die like this?”
Ahin said it as if he wasn’t happy to be the topic.
He waved the light he had created around.
“We survived too, so the lizardman probably didn’t die.”
“…There was a lizardman.”
Their problems weren’t just the blocked exit.
Maybe the explosion had scared the lizardman away, but it was still inside the cave.
A lizard monster so dangerous that a Bronze party had to pour all their effort into hunting it.
They had to find a way to escape to the surface and live.
“I don’t want to die like this.
I still have things I want to do… and I want revenge on that bastard.”
“…I feel the same.”
Er felt the same.
No matter how upright she tried to be, she wouldn’t leave a man who stabbed her in the back alone.
“…The exit is completely sealed?”
“As you can see.”
They had probably tumbled quite a way down, so digging out the dirt was impossible.
“…Then we have no choice.
Let’s go inside.”
“Inside?”
“Yes.
The only footprints we saw were goblin ones.
So there must be a separate entrance for the kobolds… or the lizardman.”
It wasn’t certain, but they could only hope.
Ahin noticed Er’s face growing stern under the small light and brushed the dirt off his sleeves.
“There is.”
“…Really?”
“I don’t know about luck, but I’ve always been pretty lucky.”
“Lucky people like you end up in this kind of mess?”
Er laughed lightly at his absurd situation.
Ahin, whose mouth had been shut for a moment, answered.
“You can even say you had good luck in the worst situations.”
“That’s just bad luck…”
“Ah, just say it like that!”
Er burst into laughter again at his loud shout.
Even in this hopeless situation, watching the man speak made her smile.
Whether because of his mysterious ability to create light with his bare hands or the beautiful eyes reflected in the weak light, she didn’t know.
But.
“Alright, let’s try it.”
“Yeah, just trust me.”
Right now, the only person she could rely on was this man.