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 remember what I had been doing.

So...

"Aargh! You monstrous bastard! Die!"

Ah, I remembered.

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 fragments of my memory.

The memory 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 time?

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 judgment wasn't wrong.

"...It hurts."

Pain was added to my left shoulder.

But it wasn't particularly bothersome.

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 remember 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 came to my senses, the pain I had temporarily forgotten crashed over me 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 some 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 me 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 come back, so... Teo and I were looking around when we saw White Soldiers running away in a hurry, as if being chased by something. So, just in case, we came in the opposite direction."

"...Thank you. I almost died."

"Why are you thanking me, 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 me 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 me.

"Liliasa! Ryan!"

I instinctively jerked my head up at the outburst.

It seemed 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 me, both Liliasa and Teo seemed 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 somehow strange.

It wasn't the joyful face of someone reunited with a worried person; it was as if he had seen something he shouldn't have.

"Run faster!"

"This is my maximum!"

Liliasa was the same.

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 me.

For some reason, my uneasy premonition never seemed to miss.

A burly man with short-cut hair was running down the forest path from a distance at an incredible speed.

The terrifying momentum, 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 game 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 me 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 times, but it was as if I had sustained a serious injury to my vocal cords during the battle; no sound came out.

While I hesitated like that, Teo made his decision.

Running at full speed, Teo passed me 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 me 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 moment 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 immediately, 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 me down and nocked an arrow to her bowstring.

And then drew the string.

"Teo!"

Liliasa's shout.

It was just calling his name, 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 something 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 became 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 came 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 treatment.

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 something a mere bandage could fix.

More professional treatment was needed.

However, Baron Lemming didn't call for a healer, and thanks to that, my lifespan was being continuously consumed in real-time.

"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 mealtime.

But it wasn't mealtime now.

Wondering what was going on, I looked up to see a crew member, looking pitiful, peeking his head through the crack in the door.

Crew members 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 members had begun to ignore me—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 time, I felt like tears would pour out of gratitude.

On the deck, there were familiar faces.

The moment our eyes met, 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 immediately understood roughly what had transpired.

New recruits.