Chapter 15

I was reminded of a game I used to enjoy, one where you hunted colossal monsters.

The monsters would roar loudly upon spotting the player, then begin their hunt.

And another thing.

Even in a novel whose name I couldn't recall, monsters would let out a mighty "Kuaaa!" to announce their presence upon seeing the protagonist before charging.

But real predators were different.

They never made a sound from the moment they spotted their prey until they tore at its throat.

I moved almost purely by instinct.

I roughly grabbed Adam by the scruff of his neck and pulled him backward.

"Ugh!"

With a scream from the sudden impact, Edham fell, and a new lizard, which had approached silently, thrust its snout over his head.

Crunch!

The sharp sound of its upper and lower teeth clashing resonated clearly in my ears.

I swung my left arm wide.

The lizard, realizing its attack had failed and attempting to bite Adam's head again, had its head turned to the side.

As a result, I too lost my balance and stumbled.

"Theo!"

As always.

In a moment of crisis, the most reliable person that came to mind was Theo.

"I know! Uryaaaaa!"

Theo's axe, swung in a wide arc like a rampaging tank, came down.

It would have been best if it had shattered its head in one blow, but the axe merely sliced the lizard's left eye before embedding itself in the ground.

In that gap, I tried to help Adam up.

But then.

"I'm sorry. My leg..."

Perhaps I pulled him too hard.

Adam's ankle was twisted in an abnormal direction, possibly from stumbling when he fell.

They say a person with bad luck breaks their nose even when falling backward, and that was exactly Adam's situation.

"Running away is out of the question, then."

Unless we abandoned Adam, it seemed difficult to shake off the lizards.

Perhaps it was because I had experienced similar levels of crisis several times already.

My head actually felt clearer.

'Adam's commands... I can't expect much.'

Although he was the field commander, the selection criteria were an impulsive choice born from Viscount Lemming's stubbornness and pettiness, and this was Adam's first deployment.

Moreover, I didn't expect Adam, who was suffering severe pain from his twisted ankle, to make the optimal choices.

"First, let's quickly deal with this one."

No sooner had I finished speaking than Selina drew her sword.

I, too, charged forward with my shield raised.

There was no room to conserve stamina.

I poured maximum strength into every step I took, and into my fingertips gripping the sword and shield.

"Kyaaaak!"

The lizard, which had suffered a large wound from Theo's earlier blow, recoiled and roared.

I swung my sword with the resolve to finish it in one strike.

However, the lizard was more cunning than I had thought.

Whether its recoiling was a ruse, or if it changed its offensive to a desperate all-out attack as danger approached, it suddenly charged at me.

The distance closed in the blink of an eye, leaving no opportunity to swing my sword.

Ultimately, blocking the attack with my shield was the best option.

Thwack!

"Kuhk...!"

A heavier impact than expected slammed into me.

The power of its physical assault, coming from its massive size and solid muscles, was considerable.

Gnawing!

The lizard's wide-open mouth bit into my shield.

The cheap shield shrieked horrifyingly as if it would fold in half at any moment.

Of course, my comrades didn't just stand by and watch my only shield get destroyed.

Selina, who had circled around to the blind spot of the lizard's injured eye, attempted a powerful thrust aiming for its brain.

The attempt was good, but her strength was insufficient, so her sword failed to penetrate the skull.

Theo, on the other hand, had enough strength but, perhaps because he only had one arm, his accuracy was significantly lower.

His axe was swung with enough force to split the lizard's head in half but only managed to cleave a quarter of its neck.

Even if left alone, it would die from excessive bleeding, but time was not on our side.

I plunged the hand gripping my sword deep into the creature's gaping maw.

"Kehek! Kek!"

The creature dropped the shield it was biting and recoiled, trying to close its mouth, so I had to pull my hand out quickly.

There was no time to retrieve the sword.

The hastily thrust sword seemed to have properly penetrated its brain, as the lizard collapsed weakly and stopped moving.

Although we dealt with it quite quickly, it wasn't enough.

The other two lizards had already detected the sounds of battle and reached within close proximity.

If Lilisa hadn't shot arrows to threaten them, we would have been attacked from behind before we could even deal with the first one.

"Adam. Give me your spear."

Having lost my weapon, I borrowed Adam's spear, which made him unable to fight.

I had never wielded a spear before, but it would be better than nothing.

"H-here it is!"

"...?"

Adam respectfully handed over his spear with both hands, bowing his head.

Perhaps he felt anxiety or guilt about his situation, having become a burden instead of help.

In any case, I didn't have the luxury of paying attention to Adam right now.

I gave additional instructions to the rest of the group, who were panting heavily.

"I'll hold one of them off, so the three of you deal with the other one first."

"That's..."

Selina seemed to have something to say, but there was no time for further discussion.

I immediately charged forward, and Selina, too, closed her mouth and moved to fulfill her assigned role.

Those three, given some time, could certainly handle one lizard.

The question was whether I could hold out alone until then.

Especially with a weapon I was completely unfamiliar with, a spear.

Nevertheless, at this point, my stats were the highest, having haphazardly consumed the Cave Rose and fruit.

Objectively speaking, it was the right decision for me to be the decoy.

"Kuaaaah!"

"This one, it's even a head taller than the other ones."

It was enough to make me wonder why such a formidable creature had been pushed into the outer regions of the valley due to territorial disputes.

First, as always, I started by protecting my body with the shield.

The lizard, perhaps thinking the shield was part of my body, desperately tried to bite it.

If the shield continued to function effectively like this, buying time wouldn't be difficult.

However, the accumulated damage to the shield from previous battles had reached its limit.

Creak...

A chilling sound came from the shield.

"Of all times...!"

I hastily tried to pull the shield away, but the lizard wouldn't let go.

Ultimately, I disengaged the arm connection to the shield, pulling only my arm out.

Crunch!

Simultaneously with pulling my arm out, the shield broke, and the lizard's upper and lower teeth met.

If my judgment or action had been even a moment slower, a tragedy of my arm being severed would have occurred.

Wiping cold sweat from my sleeve, I gripped the spear with both hands.

Now, all I could rely on was the single spear transferred from Adam.

"...Maybe I should have tried stabbing it with the spear while it was biting the shield."

After having a big fight with a friend in school and going home, then lying in bed, haven't you ever had the experience of kicking off the covers and thinking, 'Ah, if I had done this then, I could have won!'

Regrets for what was already past flooded me, but what was past would not return.

The lizard spat out the fragments of the shield.

After a very brief standoff.

Like a beast, the lizard, unable to contain itself, charged first.

I poured maximum strength into the hand gripping the spear, the leg planted on the ground, and my waist.

My target was its glabella.

My intention was to finish it in one strike.

I exhaled slowly, waiting for the right moment.

The distance closed rapidly.

'Now!'

The moment I judged the timing to be optimal, I thrust the spear forward.

Swish!

I felt something at my fingertips.

But it was light.

The spear failed to pierce the lizard's head, only inflicting a large wound and glancing off to the side.

It wasn't a lack of strength, but probably an issue with my stance or proficiency in handling the spear.

"Damn it!"

I hastily tried to retrieve the spear, but the lizard was faster.

Enraged by the blood and pain flowing from its glabella, the lizard charged at me with even more ferocity, and I quickly jumped backward, pulling my head sharply.

Its hideous front teeth clashed right in front of my face.

Not stopping there, the lizard pushed me down with its front paws, then crushed me with its enormous bulk.

An overwhelming weight, never before experienced, choked the air from my lungs.

In that state, it opened its maw wide towards me.

Evasion was impossible.

All the resistance I could muster was to shove the spear shaft, gripped at both ends, deep into its mouth and hold it there with all my might.

Clack! Clack!

The lizard's teeth snapped shut repeatedly right in front of my face.

Thinking that if I lost even a little strength, my head would be torn off by those teeth, my breath quickened, and the world seemed to spin.

Perhaps frustrated that my head wouldn't move forward, the lizard thrashed even more violently.

Its legs and tail continuously struck my body, and with each blow, strength drained from me due to the pain.

I wanted to scream, but I desperately endured, fearing that making a sound would exhaust all my remaining stamina.

"You bastard! Get off Ryan!"

Theo's shout, approaching at high speed.

It was as welcome as rain in a drought, almost bringing tears to my eyes.

I could fully understand how the heroine felt receiving help from the male lead in a moment of crisis.

Having sold off his menacing axe, which made my legs tremble just to look at, Theo climbed onto the lizard's back bare-handed and wrapped his single arm around its neck.

"Kehek! Kek!"

The lizard groaned, so it wasn't entirely ineffective.

Sticky saliva dripped onto my head.

I jerked my head back so fast that an odd sound came from my neck, narrowly avoiding the falling spittle.

An unpleasant and foul stench assaulted my nostrils.

"Theo! Don't move!"

Selina, leaping into the air, plunged her sword down with her full weight.

Her sword narrowly grazed Theo, stabbing into the center of the lizard's chest.

Aiming for the head was obstructed by Theo and me, so even at the cost of the heart, she intended to sever its breath.

Selina tried to retrieve her sword for the next attack, but the sword snapped in half, with half of it still embedded in the lizard's body.

"...Lilisa! Lend me your dagger!"

Selina, stunned by the broken sword's jagged edge, requested help from Lilisa.

Lilisa, groaning and clutching her left arm, possibly injured during the fight, threw her secondary weapon, a dagger, still in its sheath.

Selina, successfully securing the dagger by reaching out, discarded the sheath, then gripped the dagger in reverse and plunged it into the center of the lizard's head.

However, once again, she lacked the strength.

"Uwaaaaaah!"

And Theo was a real man.

The moment he judged the dagger hadn't penetrated deep enough, he let out a mighty yell and slammed the dagger's hilt with his head with all his might.

"...Wow."

Lilisa, watching, widened her eyes and clucked her tongue.

Naturally, blood poured from Theo's forehead.

But his manly action was rewarded.

The dagger dug a little deeper into the lizard's head, finally succeeding in reaching its brain.

The lizard's limp body pressed down on me.

"...I'm going to die."

"But you're alive."

Theo grinned as he pushed the lizard's corpse off me.

He was right.

We had overcome another crisis and survived.

"You worked hard, Ryan."

Theo reached out his hand to help me up.

I grabbed his hand and tried to stand.

Then, I saw something that I shouldn't have seen.

"Theo. This is..."

A chill ran down my spine.