Strongest Survival by Otome Game’s Heroine (LN)-Vol 3 Chapter 17: Human and Beast

Human and Beast

──*Picha-*

The sensation of water drop hitting my cheek woke me up.

The surrounding was so dark that I couldn’t see anything. My mind fell into confusion for a moment before I calmed myself and used Night Vision next. I found that I was at the bottom of a deep hole.

「…………」

I see……I fell into this hole in my battle against the Coeurl.

I had also planned to drop my enemy into a hole when choosing this place as battlefield, but the tree seemed to be even bigger than I thought. Its roots that had withered into dust left a hole that was very deep. When I looked up I could see a faint light dozens of meters above.

How much time had passed since then……. Was it several hours, or only several minutes had passed? I don’t know.

「……tsu」

I stood up on a water puddle under my feet. My face grimaced from the pain in my limbs. As expected that “origin Battle Technique” was too much huh……. Even so perhaps because I used it more for sending the rampaging mana to the Coeurl rather than in my own body, I could feel the sharp pain was gradually receding.

I got away with only light bruise after falling into a hole this deep. It might be thanks to this water puddle below me and the Coeurl acting as my cushion.

Even though the surface was a withered wasteland that it even got called as a desiccated forest, there was this much water underground. It was unthinkable.

But that conversely meant that you wouldn’t be able to find any water unless you dug this deep. That was no different than this area not having any water. Either way this was still a place that was unsuitable for living thing to live in.

I stretched my body to loosen up my muscles while checking my body’s condition.

My eyes could see. My ears could hear. I got some bruises but none of my bones were broken. My stamina and magic power had decreased a lot, and perhaps I had put too much burden on my muscles. It would be difficult for me to move until I got used to the pain.

The heat of magic power that was generated after using Battle Technique was continuing to accumulate in my body, so I should think of it as being unable to use Battle Technique any more in this battle. Even if I could use it, it would only be one time and I better resolved myself to be unable to move my arm anymore for several days after that.

I had calculated my chance of surviving but when I made a plan for fighting here, even so I thought that it was thanks to my growth in things related to sorcery that I was able to come out of it with only this much wound and fatigue.

I had been training in it for some time but, I became able to use level 4 dark magic Shadow Walker must be because I had been accumulating skill experience point to some degree from using “origin Battle Technique”──the body strengthening using rampaging magic power from my battle against the orc general.

But, my current fatigue and mana exhaustion was because of using “origin Battle Technique” as expected. I really wanted to us this technique as my actual “trump card” but, it wasn’t really practical if it reduced me to this kind of state just from the recoil of using it for several seconds.

More importantly……where did the Coeurl go to?

I couldn’t imagine it dying just because of falling from this height. I didn’t know how the situation had developed, but I lacked the mana to even circulate it through my whole body, so I took out a mana recovery potion from my pouch and emptied it in a single gulp.

……Perhaps, the Coeurl had already escaped from here?

Then Viro and Samantha were in danger. Even before that they were already fighting Grave, so I too had to return.

I calmed down my impatience while trying to use Night Vision to stimulate my mana that had only returned a little. There my eyes met crimson eyes staring at me from the bottom of the darkness.

『…………』

「……Coeurl.」

I forcefully circulated mana in my body that still couldn’t move like normal. I took out weight type pendulum from Storage and black dagger from my waist and faced the Coeurl.

It would be difficult to even dodge the Coeurl’s attack with my body that couldn’t move properly right now.

In the first place its combat strength was nearly thrice of mine, so I would be the one in overwhelming disadvantage if we fought normally, but after coming this far, I myself didn’t have the slightest intention of quitting.

……I’ll kill you here.

『Guruu……』

「…………」

When I let out a sharp killing intent, the Coeurl also responded by radiating its Pressure.

The Coeurl didn’t move at the slightest as it radiated Pressure that would make a timid person to faint. I also kept my weapons raised while we kept glaring at each other with a distance of several meters between us. Then I noticed that it wasn’t that the Coeurl didn’t move, it couldn’t move.

A large half-fossilized fragment of large tree was deeply piercing the Coeurl’s back until its abdomen like a stake as it lied in the water puddle that reached until the knee.

The Coeurl didn’t use Pressure when fighting me. It used it now because it was in a very bad condition right now.

Its powerful claws and fangs couldn’t reach the stake in that position. Its whiskers that grew from its ears could reach, but I could guess that those thin whiskers lacked the strength to destroy or pull out the fragment.

「…………」

I slowly approached it while staying silent. Then I stopped walking in a position that was outside the range of its whiskers and suddenly swung down my weight type pendulum.

『GUAOOO!』

*Splash!*

The pendulum passed just a hair’s breadth beside the Coeurl’s head and strongly hit the water puddle below it, causing the water to splash.

「……enough.」

I muttered that shortly and reeled back the pendulum’s string before turning my back on the Coeurl and sat down on a nearby rock that wasn’t submerged in water.

There wasn’t any special meaning in my action. Although it couldn’t move, the Coeurl was still dangerous. Its resistance against physical attack was also high, so it would take time to “kill” it.

Also no matter how high the stamina that a mythical beast like Coeurl possessed, it would definitely die sooner or later when its stomach was pierced through like that.

My objective wasn’t “killing” but “victory”. Conversely if I could obtain “victory” by killing then I wouldn’t be fussy with the method.

But, I didn’t have any interest in toying with someone who couldn’t resist, wasting time for such activity was meaningless.

However, you shall wither here and die.

「…………」

『…………』

I who was sitting on a rock and the Coeurl who was lying in the water puddle kept glaring at each other silently.

I wouldn’t let my guard down until you died. Perhaps the Coeurl could sense that from my cold gaze, it felt like its gaze was slightly wavering.

I had to regain my stamina in order to escape from here. I felt that my mana had recovered to some degree due to the potion and used Heal to return my stamina and Cure to treat my bruises and other wounds.

The Coeurl was staring at me with eyes of indiscernable emotion. I couldn’t sumise what it could possibly be thinking but, human couldn’t possibly understand what went in a mythical beast’s mind anyway.

I managed to recover to a certain degree but, my stamina couldn’t improve passed a certain line because my fatigue still remained. That was something that I learned from the battle against orcs. In order to quicken my mana’s recovery, I was thinking that I should have proper meal instead of just nutrition pills and took out the leftover lamb meats inside my Storage. There were still a lot of them. I sank my teeth into the meat to bite it off.

.

An hour passed. The Cure had finished working on me to some degree and I had become able to move a lot better. It was then I started taking action.

I observed the brittle rock surface while choosing a relatively stable wall and tried climbing, but as expected the rock surface became even more weathered the higher it was. The surface crumbled even just from a touch.

The result was the same even when I tried throwing pendulum to entwine it around rock or weathered tree root. In the worst case I’d have to wait until night came and climb bit by bit using Shadow Walker but, that would take too much time.

「……fuu」

『…………』

I sat down on the rock to recover my stamina and mana while getting into a glaring match with the Coeurl again. There I saw that the Coeurl’s state was a bit different.

It was still glaring at me. But, the Pressure that it radiated had vanished without me noticing. I noticed that there was a puzzled nuance in the Coeurl’s eyes as it stared at me.

So this was the normal look of a mythical beast……it seemed until now it had lost its senses due to anger and hatred, but it looked like it had finally regained its composure when being faced with its death.

It seemed the Coeurl still had stamina remaining but, the blood that was flowing out from its wound was shaving off its life force steadily.

*Bachi-……*

A small electricity spark suddenly crackled from the Coeurl’s whisker.

Even though the ground was covered with water, the electricity that the Coeurl generated wasn’t so strong that it could be used to attack on its own. I guessed it could use it to shock small fish but, it lacked strength to defeat me.

But, I finally noticed that the “electricity” generated from Coeurl’s whiskers originally wasn’t something for the purpose of attacking.

.

<──human──>

.

「……?」

It felt like I could hear a voice for an instant. No, ……it wasn’t “voice”?

<──woman──>

*Bachi-* Each time the electricity sparked, a signal transmitted “meaning” to me like a word. ……Was this your will?

「……Coeurl」

When I replied, the Coeurl’s whiskers continued sending “signal” to me.

<──I──>

<──save──>

「……Are you telling me, to save you from there?」

<──right──>

Correct huh……. To think it would ask me that. What was it thinking? To ask an enemy who had been fighting it just now to save it…….

<──I──>

<──foe──>

<──thou──>

<──not──>

<──foe──>

<──male──>

「……You’re saying that your enemy isn’t me, but a male human?」

<──I──>

<──lure──>

<──male──>

<──kill──>

「……You want to kill the man who lured you out? That’s why, I should save you from here?」

<──right──>

「That’s really convenient for you. Then what’re you going to do about me?」

<──I──>

<──dark──>

<──thou──>

<──save──>

Was it saying that it would help me escape from this darkness if I saved it? Certainly it was possible to escape from here with the Coeurl’s physical ability but…….

「……And I should believe you?」

<──right──>

<──I──>

<──pride──>

<──oath──>

「…………Got it.」

I stared right into the Coeurl’s eyes. If it swore on its pride, then I would gamble on it, I thought.

Even I myself thought that it was foolish to believe the words of a beast that had tried to kill me just now but, conversely perhaps it was because we had tried to kill each other head-on that for some reason I wanted to try believing it more rather than the words of human who was sincere only on the surface.

「Don’t move.」

『…………』

I muttered those words briefly and approached closer. Then I climbed on the Coeurl’s back even while both of us were still on guard.

This was horrible……I couldn’t believe that it was still alive. I entwined a string on the rock fragment that pierced the Coeurl’s back several times, then I began to pull out the fragment using Body Strengthening at full power by pulling the string in a posture that was like performing a shoulder throw.

『GUAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!』

「HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!」

The Coeurl roared with a voice that sounded like it was in its death throes from the intense pain. It was accompanied by my yell of fighting spirit. Our voices echoed on the bottom of the hole.

The fragment was gradually getting pulled out. Both the Coeurl and I were shaking. When the fragment was completely pulled out, the Coeurl stood up so abruptly that I fell down.

「……oi」

『Gua……』

When I complained from getting dropped on my butt, the Coeurl’s whiskers twined around me and pulled me out from the water.

<──guilt──>

「……No need for apology or thanks, put me down.」

There was no falsehood in the oath that it made over its pride. The Coeurl listened to me and quietly lowered me on the water puddle.

The wound on its back contracted and blood had already stopped flowing from it. As expected it wouldn’t heal right away, but from the look of it, it would recover in only several days. Even so the reduction of its stamina was concerning. I didn’t care whether it would die or live, but it would be troubling if it didn’t stay alive until we met Grave.

「Eat.」

『…………』

I gave it all the leftover meat. The Coeurl glared at me for a moment seeing that the meats were leftover from me, but then it devoured the armful of meats in a single bite.

「Go anytime however you like. I’ll also just grab on you however I like.」

『GUAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!』

The Coeurl roared after I told it that, and then it leaped up powerfully after tensing all its muscles.

At the same time, I didn’t even need to hold on, the Coeurl’s whisker twined around me and dropped me on its back. It then finished climbing the height of dozens of meters in zigzag movement like lightning. The rock surface didn’t even have time to crumble. Then without pause it dashed through the ground.

The sun was already starting to sink. Stars were glittering at the sky that was gradually being dyed in madder red.

I closed my eyes a little while feeling the smell of the air and the wind on my face. Then I glared at the direction of the battlefield that I would be heading to after this. The Coeurl also turned its face to the same direction.

「Let’s go……to where our “enemy” is.」

『GUAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!』

.

▼ Aria (Alicia) Race : Human ♀ – Rank 4 △ 1 UP

【Magic Power : 152/270】△ 20 UP【Stamina : 138/210】△ 10 UP

【Strength : 9 (12)】【Endurance : 9 (12)】【Agility : 14 (20)】△ 1 UP【Dexterity : 8】

《Short Sword Skill Level 3》《Martial Art Level 4》《Throwing Level 3》《Archery Level 1》

《Defense Level 3》《String Control Level 4》

《Light Magic Level 3》《Darkness Magic Level 4》△ 1 UP《Non-Elemental Magic Level 4》

《Daily Life Magic×６》《Magic Power Control Level 4》《Pressure Level 4》

《Stealth Level 4》《Night Vision Level 2》《Search Level 4》《Poison Resistance Level 3》

《Simple Appraisal》

【Overall Combat Strength : 916 (With Body Strengthening : 1123)】△ 304 UP