08

- a few minutes later -

'Found it'

The chariot was still there, but it was completely wrecked, and the horses, as expected, were missing, probably taken away by the birds. But there were a few useful things there.

Planks of wood, a barrel of rations for the travel, another barrel full of drinkable water, and a few bottles of alcohol.

'Jackpot! SOoo what should I do now…''

For some reason, I remember what Ms. Patinson always used to say in the practical lessons:

'When dealing with a problem, always start from the prioritization.'

' Ha, to think I would remember this now of all times… Alright, this never failed me during a test, so I don't think it's bad advice to use now… My biggest priority now is survival; the second is to understand what is going on.'

'Let's tackle survival since it's the biggest problem for now. To survive, I'll need food, water, and a place to hide at night, and from tomorrow onward, I need to head to the ancient god's tomb to get my hands on Keravnos's Spear.'

'Food and water is not a problem for now… NOooo, it's a problem! A HUGE one at that! The animals and beasts roaming at night will definitely come for it.'

'I can use the alcohol to start a fire, but I don't think that they will be intimidated by it.'

Lost in thought, looking at the wreckage, a sudden idea came to mind.

''!!!''

'That's it! I can use the bodies to hide the food! The beasts attracted to the bodies will be primarily predators, so most likely, they will ignore the rations. On the other side, the beast that would go for the rations will be intimidated by the competition between the predators and back off.'

'Now, where would be a good hiding spot? … Maybe one of the trees would do, as long as I don't climb too high or don't stay too close to the ground; it should be fine.'

*deep breath

'Time to execute the pl-'

''arrrgh-''

'Shit, the priorities are wrong… I should first find a way to minimize the pain in my left leg since healing is completely out of reach for now.'

'Using one of the planks to immobilize the leg should be enough. But how can I do this? … Oh, yeah, the bandit's clothes. '

…

…

After securing the plank around my leg with the bandit's clothes, I can focus on finding a safe hiding spot.

'Let's see... The spot needs to be close enough to the bodies and high enough to not be detected… Or better yet, even if I end up being detected, they won't be able to get me.'

Looking around, I found the perfect tree; the only problem was climbing it.

'I can use the clothes on the other bodies to do it, improvising a rope with a lace and throwing it into one of these minor yet thick branches...'

- A few hours went by. -

*Huff, puff

'Moving the barrels is so tough… Even using the planks as leverage, it still took a lot of time. What's even worse is I still need to prepare the stuff to climb the tree.'

*sigh

'Time to move the bodies.'

'Men up, men up, one, two …ffffff- It's so damn heavy!'

Moving the bodies close to the barrels, I took most of their clothes, leaving only the underwear, and then proceeded to tie the rope and do the lace.

-Tik, tick,tik, tick-

'!'

'Isn't that the poisonous bug?'

A few inches from me, an ultra-fluorescent green bug that looked like a weird mixture of a beetle and a shrimp passed by.

'That's the good stuff I need right now.'

Picking the bug up, I opened one of the bottles of alcohol and threw the contents away, and with utmost care, I put the bug inside it and locked the bottle again.

'If something tries to eat me, I'll make sure they're eating you first.'

- A few minutes later. -

'The rope is finished. Now I should pick up the ration and water.'

Picking up some sack one of the bandits used to keep food, I filled up with the rations, and then I proceeded to use one of the bottles of alcohol to clean myself, especially my hand, which had been in contact with the bug.

'The bug's skin isn't poisonous, but it's better to be safe.'

Next, I used the now-empty bottle to fill it with water.

'Now I should start climbing.'

Even with the help of the improvised rope, the climb was excruciating; every moment of my legs made me want to scream in pain, but I pushed through; the sheer will to survive kept pushing me through it.

*Huff, puff, huff, huff...

'I've made it.'

Looking down, I could see the rations and the bodies close together as well as the remains of the carriage a few feet in the distance.

'That's a good spot.'

I then proceed to take out the bottle with the water and drink a little of it.

'Damn... I'm so tired… The sun is almost down; I should sleep a little now so that I can be more alert deep at night.'

Contrary to my expectations, I couldn't sleep, be it fear, adrenaline, or just my mind drifting while trying to make sense of the situation I was in… I've entered a vicious cycle of disrupted sleep-wake cycles. It was then …

- grrrrrrr -

I felt a chill run through my body as I heard the faint sound below.

'A Black Razor'

I couldn't see the creature in the deep darkness below, but the faint sound was more than enough for me to recognize it.

'If I'm remembering correctly, the bare minimum level they can be is seven. The normal human adult should be level 2-3 and a soldier level 5.'

'The overall physical status should be around 0.3 … Even if I can somehow manage to make the black razor eat the bug, it will still not die…'

- HUUU, HU, HU, HU-

' Spirits!!! Alright, calm down. If I'm hearing it, I'm not the target; I'm probably safe for now.'

- Crick, crick, crick... -

-Toc, toc-toc, toc...-

-...-

The surroundings started to get more and more noisy as more and more beasts started to appear.

'The corpses really brought a lot of them, but none have yet to go it… Shit! This is fucked; I can't see the situation down there, and if I start a fire, I'll get spotted.'

-GRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN-

'Seems like someone went for the bo-'

-Kryyyyyyyyyyaaaaaaaaaa-

''argh-.''

'FffffffffffffffffUCK, the spirit is a banshee! If it sees me, I'll be cursed for everything I did to the bodies!'

'Damn it!'

Trying to calm down and control my breathing, I couldn't help myself and grabbed the bug bottle in fear. My eyes were fixed on the dark abyss below.

'If the banshee is above 10, it can create undead from the corpses … Black Razor and whoever is down there will stand no chance. If it's below level 10, the fight will be fierce, but the razor can still pull it off.'

Grotesque sounds kept coming from below; it was grueling and nerve-racking, and unfortunately for me, this went on for a few hours.

- Silence-

'Is it finally over?'

*tremble

'Oh, no, something is coming up!'

As I focused my eyes on the tree trunk, I managed to see a glimpse of what looked like a bunch of moving moss, but this was enough.

'A troll.'

I opened the bottle and picked up the bug, then took my aim and threw it out of panic where the moth should be.

And of course, I missed it.