Chapter 142 – Survival (4)

The next morning. I let out a deep sigh at the unchanging reality. The cold bonfire and the sunlight coming through the cracks in the cave clearly revealed the situation I was in. I got out of my hide and got up. The full bed was softer than I thought and the leather was warm, so I seemed to sleep well.

“What, are you awake already?”

When I got out of the hide, Hunter Seong Ha-yeon also stretched and stood up. I said.

“Please lift up your top. I need to check the wounds.”

“Okay.”

She seemed a bit hesitant, but she still followed my words and lifted her top. The white shirt was dirty from a few busy moves, stained like an artist’s smock.

The side part was particularly messy, with herbs and bloodstains intertwined. I thought I would have to get some new clothes, but there were no suitable clothes to wear here.

“Where…”

The grass that had been applied to the wound was dry. The wound that absorbed all the energy of the medicine had healed a little more than yesterday, but it seemed that it still needed steady treatment. I touched the wound once with my hand.

“Oh… !”

Seong Ha-yeon Hunter frowned at her and trembled her body.

“Are you sick?”

“Of course you’re stupid.”

Seong Ha-yeon Hunter probably thought I was making fun of her, and she said, frowning her eyes. I laughed awkwardly at her words and packed her gear again. Yesterday, I brought only the grass I needed to use as needed, and treated it roughly, so I had to go out to dig grass again today. I had to get something to eat, and I liked finding more things like leather or grass.

Seong Ha-yeon Hunter’s complexion was always slightly pale, so it was impossible to know what was wrong with her health. She took one careful sweep of her medicine-filled wound, then unbuttoned her dress again. He felt sorry for the scars left on her smooth stomach.

“Excuse me…”

Before I left the cave, Seong Ha-yeon Hunter suddenly said. She wondered what she had to say, so when I looked back at her, she hesitantly stretched out her arms to me. Bend her fingers, which stretched out just barely to grasp the hem of her dress, she said.

“No. Just be careful and go.”

“Of course.”

I reassured her and came out of her cave.

As soon as I came out of the cave, I had to lower my stance when I saw the monsters roaming nearby. There were too many big, unskilled guys around here. I moved as slowly and stealthily as possible, using the bushes and trees. He looked at the ground like a hound chasing prey, looking for rake grass.

“Cheer up!”

Then, it was bound to come face to face with monsters. I could see a bulging belly above the cracked, skinny feet like those of a bird. It had horns on its head and a terrifying hooked nose. It was a monster that was shunned because it was bigger than most people and had a very ferocious personality.

The goblin stretched out its long arms toward me and tried to catch me, but I easily dodged the goblin’s attack. Beyond the goblin, I could see several rake grass gathered. And after that, I saw the goblin’s offspring curled up and trembling. Is this goblin trying to fight me now to protect the child?

“Quaaaaa!”

Seeing how I kept wanting to fight even though I had distanced myself, it seemed like I was just going crazy with the stress of parenting. He didn’t even give a sign that he was going to attack, and he suddenly lunged at me, kicking the dirt.

I crouched down like a shovel in his hand and, in line with the powerful strike, I slammed my shield forward. The goblin’s hand collided with the shield and his claws broke off.

“Ehee eh!”

The monster took a step back, holding his hand, and I took a step forward and pierced the monster’s neck with my spear. Even with his hands clenched, the goblin shook his shoulders as if he was about to fight.

The cubs who were watching the goblin’s struggle from behind screamed and ran to me. They were young puppies, but they were also monsters with the fighting power of wild dogs.

They must have instinctively learned how to tear people apart, each spinning in a different direction, trying to distract me. In the midst of the confused running around, one of them jumped out like a grasshopper and screamed.

He punched and killed the one flying in front of him with his fist, and then threw the panic-stricken cubs to the ground one after another. Trapped upside down in the soft soil, they trembled with their legs and soon fell limp and died.

After making a field with goblins, I was able to mow the grass.

“Dogs. You’re making me sell my mind for no reason.”

I grumbled and pulled the grass out of the soil. Now, I had to take it back, crush it with an ice mortar, and make it into a ball, then put it back into Hunter Seong Ha-yeon’s wound. It is said that it removes rotten blood and circulates new blood, but judging by the slow recovery even though it was no different from pouring the undiluted solution of the potion, the original wound seemed to be terribly deep.

Thud

Thud

I was preoccupied with the idea of ​​going back and making potions. So I stopped thinking that I had to be vigilant about my surroundings.

Thud

Thud

So I made the mistake of not paying attention to the sound of footsteps close by. Feet stepping forward and a body dragging the floor. And the beaky eyes and ferocious teeth. Even though I remember all of that in one side of my heart, I was soaked in the sense of accomplishment of pulling the rake grass and was just looking at the soil.

Thud. Thud.

And it wasn’t until the sound of footsteps stopped a short distance away. I was able to face the shadow in front of my eyes. Empty eyes and a white body came in. It looked like a human arm, but a thicker and stronger arm caught my eye. I could see the bloated body dragging itself because it couldn’t handle its own weight.

Larva.

The c-class apex predator was right in front of my eyes.

“Sir… !”

At the same time as I was swearing, Lava’s fist flew towards me. I instinctively swung my shield to parry the attack, but my body bounced back and ran through the forest. I flew away while destroying a few trees, stabbing my spear into the ground and stabilizing myself.

“Uuuuu…!”

Gorvas, who was quietly resting in the woods, saw me invading his territory and opened his eyes and opened his mouth. And he was about to rush at me, but he hesitated, then waddled away in another direction. Then, ignoring Gorbas, Lava ran towards me with a ferocious expression.

I couldn’t help but believe in the spears deeply planted in the floor and the roots of the trees entwined roughly like skeins of thread. I closed my eyes tightly, held on to the spear pole, pushed my shield forward and lowered my stance.

Lava hit me with her whole body as if she was going to swallow my body with her shield. I shouted as I felt the shadow and roar of the attack.

“God Almighty!!”

As if he had waited, his entire body began to energize. I could feel the force strong enough to break a spear pole like a tree branch.

Cooong!

Lava’s heavy body began pushing against my shield. Its large mouth bit into the slanted shield and chewed as if it was trying to somehow break it. Little by little, the shield was cracked.

“This, this, you fucking bastard!”

It was an expensive shield that he had worn as a commemoration of his promotion to D-class, but to Lava, it seemed to be nothing more than a hard cracker. The monster glared at my arm, which was now halfway in my mouth. If he could open his mouth just a little wider, he was ready to eat my whole shoulder.

But I couldn’t. ‘Cause I couldn’t die here In an extreme situation, my survival instinct was emitting power beyond my limits. My muscles swelled up like they were going to explode, and heat rose up all over my body.

He gritted his teeth and started to struggle with Lava. Lava, who had been pushing forward, now lost his momentum and stood tall. I pushed his arm back into Lava’s mouth and took a big step forward.

Lava’s mouth opened wide, and his arms flapped in embarrassment. I pulled her spear from the floor and lifted it. The windows were shining white. Lava’s hand crawled forward to grab me. The shield had cracked and was turning into something like the stained glass of an old church.

I shouted.

“My shield fucker!”

Then, he sent a heavy light forward, piercing Lava’s neck. The white leather, which seemed impenetrable, went in like a blanket hit by a bowling ball, and finally began to tear roughly.

“Booooo!”

Lava’s face contorted in pain. But the agony of this monster was nothing compared to the agony of my shield being shattered.

“Turn it off…!”

The area around the spear, which was half embedded in the leather, swelled greatly. On the nape of his neck, which was swollen like a poison frog or toad, Lava was twitching his eyeballs. Her skin, so swollen that her veins could be seen through, finally burst open against the force.

Bang!

Lava’s body was thrown backwards. I, too, rolled on her floor with the rebound of the impact.

Rava, her scruff smashed, was rambling and running away into the woods. It looked like she could kill if the figure of her dripping blood pursued and beat her up. I chased Lava and tried to suffocate her to be sure.

[Calm down. Does she know what she will encounter if she goes deep into the forest?]

I was excited and tried to act as I pleased, but the Almighty sternly stopped me. Only then did I realize my condition. The shield in her hand was shattered, and her clothes were all bruised. There were people in the cave waiting for me to bring herbs.

“…Let’s go back. Hurry.”

I said that and turned around. I decided to take comfort in the fact that the herbs in my pocket were safe.

*******

Upon arriving at the cave, Seong Ha-yeon Hunter saw me in a state of disrepair and was startled and asked.

“What, what? Why are you like this?”

“It rolled.”

“What is he saying now. Is there anything strange out there?”

“Was there a goblin? It wasn’t even a fuss because the cubs were throwing mud.”

“Oh, there are those bastards too.”

When she responded to her goblin story, I quickly changed the subject by pulling out her herbs.

“By the way, why are those bastards called goblins? Just looking at what it looks like… Aren’t they Japanese oni?”

“When the Japanese kids come, they have already given the name to another monster. So, I couldn’t use the Oni name at all, and among the other name candidates, Goblin was chosen by the Korean Association.”

“… It’s complicated.”