Trial 10 "Battle Royale" (4) - 22

I had now been walking in this dry, desolate, arid land for the past day and a half and I still hadn't seen any signs of life yet.

My mind was going dizzy from all the shades of red around me, and the constant trekking up and down the canyons in these badlands was just really tiring me out.

"Are there seriously no good biomes on this map!"

My shout of frustration unfortunately attracted a few giant badland's lizards, but I took care of them quickly, having found a shortsword in a chest a day ago.

It continued this way for the rest of the day, me dragging my feet forward while taking care of the monsters that leapt in my way.

At night, I found a small outcropping that I slept under, counting the tiny rocks that made up the "ceiling" before I went to sleep.

The same thing continued the next day. I had some lizard meat on me from all the monsters I killed yesterday, but my palate was honestly sick of it by now. I mean, having to force food down your throat was not in anyway the best way to get nutrients into your body.

It was only until midday of the 4th day that I finally saw some... blue.

"Are you fucking kidding me!"

In front of me was a wide open ocean, the waves glittering under the beating sun, gently caressing the sand as they crashed onshore, gently conducting a nice, light symphony that was music to one's ears.

Unfortunately, I was too occupied with my predicament to even notice these little things and instead, I was crying out due to my unluckiness.

"Fuck! Still no green anywhere."

I just wanted to eat something that was not meat, but it seemed like luck was not on my side.

Well, that was also because my palate had been groomed to be used to high class foods, and I was still not used to eating commoner food yet, even though I had already been eating it for the past year, for the time after my entire family died out due to the machinations of our competing business partners.

"The world surely is a cruel place."

I mean, I didn't even have a branch to fish with, even though the source of it all, called the ocean, was right in front of my eyes and the dried lizard meat that I had on me could only be called a mediocre bait at best.

'Wait, surely there are monsters in the ocean too. Yeah, I shouldn't try fishing for the time being.'

I just decided to follow the shoreline.

I walked on the soft sand, my feet feeling a slight relief after having to walk on hard, loose rock for the past 2 days.

The only good part about this was that I now had a steady source of water, as although it was salt water, I was still able to evaporate it with a contraption that I made that could be carried on my back.

I decided to take my shoes off and walked on the sand right where the waves would stop, feeling the water gently rolling between my toes, and the sand, sinking ever so slightly at my lightest steps.

I walked forward, closing my eyes and using the depth of the water on my feet to walk on the shoreline, peacefully listening to the sounds of the ocean.

When I finally opened my eyes, it was already night-time. It had come when I had been closing my eyes, and only the darkness remained.

The ocean now looked like an endless abyss in the moonlight, threatening to swallow me whole.

I now flinched at even the slightest sounds and was wary of all things that moved.

I was worried that the monsters in the ocean were nocturnal giving the reason that they hadn't attacked me during the daytime, and would now attack me when I least expected it.

And... it seems like my worries were not unfounded.

Right when the moon reached its highest peak, giant horseshoe crab-like monsters started crawling out of the ocean in droves, leaving millions of trails on the beach.

"Fuck me, I don't even have time to sleep."

Taking out my shortsword, I rushed into the midst of the monsters.

When I woke up, I found myself tied up with a knife pointed at my throat.

'Well, I guess the mana that I put on the mask to keep it from being pulled off worked.'

I was a little bit surprised due to this new development.

I mean, first off, where did she get that knife?

'Well she probably lied to me in the beginning. Ugh, I even fell for my own Rule of Survival of always keeping a trump card handy.

Secondly, we had gone through life and death together, to the point that we had to rely on each other, but for some reason, she decided to betray me?

"Now why are you doing this?"

"I just decided that you would be better dead than alive. Also, half of your stats must be amazing and all the TC's that I could loot off your body would be even better."

"Now what makes you think that I would just allow you to kill me?"

"I don't, that's why I..."

And before she even finished her sentence, she had already thrust her knife into my throat, but as it touched my skin, it shattered, my skin not even bending under the immense force centered at a single, sharp point.

Breaking the roots that bound my hands and feet together with a simple movement, I walked up to her.

She fearfully walked backwards, but then tripped on a root, falling onto the ground, defenseless.

"You still haven't noticed the overwhelming difference and strength between us yet? I'm honestly disappointed in your level of perception."

"Rule 5 of survival: You should never engage with an enemy that you don't have a chance of winning against." I said, waving whilst putting up 5 fingers into the air.

I shook my head in disappointment, and then turned around and walked away, feeling her fearful gaze on my back, never wavering, as I disappeared into the distance.

'H...h...h... how was he so much stronger than me?'

I was still down on the ground, still in shock of what just happened, the image of my knife shattering flashing before my eyes, replaying again and again in my mind.

"H...h... he's a monster!"

I had naively thought that successfully betraying him would let me grow so much stronger, to the point where I could actually protect my little sister, but I hadn't realized that me attacking him was like an ant trying to nip at a god.

'Shit, I've made an enemy out of a person I shouldn't have.'

Tearing at my hair I shouted in agony, "Just why the fuck did I do that!"

"My sister and I are now screwed. He could easily come back and kill me with just a flick to the head." I mumbled, seemingly insane, as millions of scenarios where we both died, flashed through my mind.

'But... just why did he spare me?'

It was only then that I realized that I could smell the aroma of some meat cooking.

"Grrrmmrmmrmrmrmmrmble."

'Fuck! My hunger will literally kill me!'

Following the smells and the sounds of fat dripping, crackling over a fire, I walked in a drunken daze towards the stimulation, like a moth towards a fire.

When I arrived, I greedily grabbed a skewered fish off of the fire and chomped down on it.

At this point, it seemed to me like it was only the food and me that existed in this entire world.

It was only until I filled my belly that I noticed that person that had set this up in the first place, who had not taken a bite of anything to eat until now.

My mouth hung open in shock, "W...What! Why is he still here?"