Chapter 10
The sky above was dyed red.
My left eye stung so badly that it was difficult to keep it open.
I couldn't quite rember what I had been doing.
So...
"Aargh! You monstrous bastard! Die!"
Ah, I rembered.
In this red-tinged world, I saw a White Soldier charging with a face a mix of fear and fury, and I could barely recall fragnts of my mory.
The mory of being in combat with White Soldiers.
The soldier's uplifted sword flashed, reflecting the sunlight.
I could block that with my shield... but do I really need a shield?
Couldn't I just cut down the enemy faster in that ti?
I dashed forward and swung my sword.
The soldier's sword lightly grazed my left shoulder.
However, my strike was far superior in power, speed, and every other aspect.
My sword sliced through the soldier's neck.
My judgnt wasn't wrong.
"...It hurts."
Pain was added to my left shoulder.
But it wasn't particularly botherso.
There was already no part of my body that didn't hurt, so one more wouldn't make much difference.
I dropped the sword I was holding and grabbed the soldier's sword.
My previous sword was too slippery and dull from too much blood.
"One, two..."
I counted the number of fallen soldiers.
Five in total.
So, the rest are... Ah, I don't quite rember how many enemies there were initially.
I suppose it will end when I kill until I can't see anyone standing.
"......?"
I looked around, but there was no one standing.
I don't think it was originally five, so perhaps the remaining ones ran away.
In that case, I should chase them and finish them off.
Fortunately, I have the knowledge of a hunter, so I can track them by their scent...
How does one do that again?
"...Ugh!"
Suddenly, my stomach churned, and I vomited.
After regurgitating what I had eaten, my vision slowly began to clear, and my mind, which had felt so blocked, started to sharpen.
Only after spitting out even the stomach acid-stained tree fruit could I finally collect myself.
"This is scarier than I thought."
Even when I was completely drunk, I had never lost myself to this extent.
It was an experience I never wanted to repeat.
Aside from becoming foolish, I had even forgotten my primary goal of survival, rolling around like that.
I might just end up killing the enemy, then dying myself, chuckling at my success.
"Ugh... I'm going to die from the pain..."
As soon as I ca to my senses, the pain I had temporarily forgotten crashed over like a tsunami.
It hurt so much that I couldn't even cry.
I truly felt like I was going to die.
I needed to get to the rally point quickly, but my body wouldn't move as I wished.
"Ryan!"
"......?"
For so reason, I heard Liliasa's voice.
I was terrified, wondering if I was hearing hallucinations because I was about to die.
But a gentle touch embraced from behind.
I looked up and saw Liliasa's tear-streaked face.
Rather than being glad, I wondered why she, who should have been at the rally point, was here.
"How did you get here..."
"Ryan didn't co back, so... Teo and I were looking around when we saw White Soldiers running away in a hurry, as if being chased by sothing. So, just in case, we ca in the opposite direction."
"...Thank you. I almost died."
"Why are you thanking , Ryan? I'm the one who should be thanking you."
"That's..."
"For now, let's go back to the airship quickly."
Perhaps judging that I couldn't walk easily, Liliasa carried on her back.
She looked a little strained, but with the benefits of the growth system, there shouldn't be a big problem getting to the rally point.
Her small back felt dependable.
As my mind eased, the tension dissipated, and sleepiness washed over .
"Liliasa! Ryan!"
I instinctively jerked my head up at the outburst.
It seed I had dozed off on Liliasa's back without realizing it.
The owner of the shout was Teo.
Perhaps because the enemies' attention had been focused on , both Liliasa and Teo seed safe.
While I was asleep, Liliasa had reached the destination, and I could see the 707th Unit's small airship, landed on the ground in the distance, proudly showing off its engine roar.
Teo jumped out of the airship and was running towards us.
At first, I thought he couldn't control his emotions, happy that we had returned safely.
But Teo's expression was sohow strange.
It wasn't the joyful face of soone reunited with a worried person; it was as if he had seen sothing he shouldn't have.
"Run faster!"
"This is my maximum!"
Liliasa was the sa.
The side of her face, glimpsed briefly, showed an undeniable urgency.
What had happened while I was asleep? Or rather...
"Could it be..."
I turned my head, which struggled to move due to the pain, to check behind .
For so reason, my uneasy premonition never seed to miss.
A burly man with short-cut hair was running down the forest path from a distance at an incredible speed.
The terrifying montum, incomparable to an ordinary soldier, the strength and stamina to lightly carry a greatsword as massive as his own body, and the rage burning in his eyes.
Even without the aid of foresight, I knew his identity.
A Level 2 Hero. The Player Character.
Until now, they had been hiding, afraid of a ga over, and not showing themselves.
But it was clear that their rage had surpassed reason after their cherished Lucid and all their soldiers were cut down and fell in battle.
The calculation results.
At this speed, Liliasa would be caught before she could reach the airship.
'Here, it would be really cool to say "leave behind" and hand over the bag... like a protagonist.'
But I wasn't the type to be a protagonist.
My selfish desire to live was greater.
I hesitated and parted my lips several tis, but it was as if I had sustained a serious injury to my vocal cords during the battle; no sound ca out.
While I hesitated like that, Teo made his decision.
Running at full speed, Teo passed and Liliasa and charged straight at the Player.
The clanging sound of Teo's axe and the Player's greatsword colliding echoed loudly.
"Liliasa! Run faster!"
"Yes, yes!"
Teo urged Liliasa, and she gritted her teeth and ran, even as sweat poured like rain.
The airship grew closer.
As did the damned plush toy standing in front of the boarding ramp.
[What are you doing! Throw away that luggage! Just take the bag and run!]
I knew it, but... Baron Lemming.
He was a son of a bitch who deserved to be torn to pieces.
Liliasa didn't give up on until the very end.
We successfully reached the airship's boarding ramp.
But Liliasa didn't get on the airship.
She knew it too.
The tree fruits that Baron Lemming wanted were in my bag.
Therefore, the mont I boarded the airship, Baron Lemming would not hesitate to take off, and Teo, who was engaging the Player, would be abandoned.
Understanding that fact, Liliasa stopped.
Baron Lemming pounded his chest impatiently.
[What are you doing! Board the airship imdiately, we need to take off!]
"But..."
[It's an order! Disobey, and you'll be severely punished!]
"......"
Despite Baron Lemming's threats, Liliasa closed her eyes tightly and didn't move.
Instead, she put down and nocked an arrow to her bowstring.
And then drew the string.
"Teo!"
Liliasa's shout.
It was just calling his na, but Teo understood what Liliasa was trying to do, what she wanted.
He swung his axe widely.
The Player, as if amused, swung their sword to parry the axe and continued their attack.
Teo dropped his axe and ran.
Whoosh!
The swung sword cut off Teo's left arm.
The arm, detached from his body, flew through the air, spraying blood from its "section" Teo, his face pale, ran towards the airship without a single scream.
Liliasa released the bowstring.
The arrow, barely grazing Teo's cheek, struck the Player.
The arrow embedded itself in the Player's left shoulder, and the Player, thrown backward by the strong impact, let out a scream mixed with pain and fury.
Teo couldn't board the airship and collapsed.
Liliasa and I grabbed Teo's shoulders and forcibly pulled him onto the airship.
Whoosh!
As the entrance door closed, the airship ignited its rear and took off.
Liliasa cried as she clumsily tried to staunch the bleeding from my and Teo's wounds.
Teo had lost consciousness, and I was barely clinging to my fading awareness.
The 707th Unit's first sortie.
One fallen.
And two severely wounded.
What they gained were three fruits.
It was the worst.
***
It had been a week since the operation at Outpost 28.
That day.
After a fierce battle between life and death, I barely managed to survive at the cost of Teo's arm, and now I was dying in a cold, narrow room.
"That damned rabbit bastard...!"
Here's what happened.
The damned rabbit, approaching the weeping Liliasa, neither comforted her nor honored the soldiers who made noble sacrifices, nor did it mourn.
It simply reached out its hand as if retrieving sothing it had entrusted.
Of course.
To him, we soldiers were nothing more than consumables, so what was there to expect?
I suppressed the urge to tear the plush toy to shreds and handed over the bag, and he checked its contents.
After confirming the contents, he beca furious like fire, asking why there were only three fruits when there should have been four, so I explained the situation.
It was unavoidable.
If I hadn't done that, all the fruits, let alone my life, would have fallen to the Whites.
I explained carefully so even a fool could understand, but he, whose rage ca first, had no intention of listening.
And so, under the charge of disobeying orders, I was confined to the furthest corner of the airship.
Without even minimal treatnt.
I managed to stop the bleeding with bandages made from torn clothes, but the after-effects of the rampage caused by eating the tree fruit were not sothing a re bandage could fix.
More professional treatnt was needed.
However, Baron Lemming didn't call for a healer, and thanks to that, my lifespan was being continuously consud in real-ti.
"Well, the dream of living a healthy life until 100 is over... Now, it'll be a relief if I don't die young."
As I kept sighing, the door opened.
The door to this room only opened at alti.
But it wasn't alti now.
Wondering what was going on, I looked up to see a crew mber, looking pitiful, peeking his head through the crack in the door.
Crew mbers feared soldiers authorized to handle weapons.
But the news that I had fallen out of favor with Baron Lemming had spread quickly through the cramped airship, and since then, even the crew mbers had begun to ignore —a heartbreaking situation.
"What's the matter? I already ate lunch."
"It's Baron Lemming's order to gather on deck."
"......? Understood, for now."
Although I disliked Baron Lemming, as a soldier, I had to obey orders.
So I stood up.
My body was still screaming in every corner, but it wasn't unbearable.
I left the room where I had been confined and went to the deck.
It was warm.
Enjoying the warm sunlight after a long ti, I felt like tears would pour out of gratitude.
On the deck, there were familiar faces.
The mont our eyes t, Liliasa's face lit up with a smile.
Around Liliasa, excluding Teo, there were two unfamiliar faces.
"Ah... so that's what happened."
There was no explanation, but I imdiately understood roughly what had transpired.
New recruits.
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