Otome Game no Heroine de Saikyou Survival-Chapter 93

Grave Assassination Battle (4) – Man and Beast

*Pakin.

The feeling of water droplets on my cheeks awakened my consciousness.

The area was so dark that I could not even see my own fingers. I calmed my confused state for a moment and used night vision, only to realize that I was at the bottom of a deep hole.

“…”

Well… I fought Coeurl and fell into this hole.

Using the dry forest as a battlefield, I was able to force my enemy to fall into the hole, weathered roots dug quite deep into the ground, and it was peeking out on the walls of the hole, and when I looked up directly above me, all I could see was a slight glow from the opening a few dozen meters overhead.

How much time had passed since then? It could have been hours, but it could also have been a few minutes.

“….”

Standing up in the water pooling under my feet, I felt some slight pain, but I didn’t seem to have broken any bones or injured any tendons. The fact that I fell this deep and only suffered minor bruises was probably due to this pool of water under my feet and the fact that I was able to use the Coeurl as a buffer as I fell.

I had no idea that there was water underground, even though the surface of the land was so dry that it was called a dry forest.

But if one would think about it, there was no water available unless one dug down to this depth, so there was at least no water near the surface at least.

As I relaxed my body and stretched my muscles, I checked my physical condition.

I could see and hear perfectly fine. I had some bruises, but no broken bones. My physical and magical strength values had decreased considerably, but perhaps because I overloaded my muscles, I was unable to move until I got used to the pain.

I had a good idea of how much I would have suffered from the reckless move while fighting in the dry forest, but maybe the fact that I still managed to survive with this level of fatigue and damage was all thanks to the growth of my skills.

I had been training for some time, but I felt that I had accumulated a certain amount of skill experience through the use of Shadow Walk, a Level 4 dark magic, and the berserk body enhancement.

However, the current fatigue and depletion of magical power was probably due to the use of the berserk body enhancement.

I wanted to be able to use this technique as a back-up if possible, but it was impractical if the repercussions were so severe after only a few seconds of use.

More importantly…where did the Coeurl go?

I didn’t think a fall of this magnitude would have killed that thing.

…Maybe Coeurl had already escaped?

If so, Viro and Samantha were probably in danger. I had to get back to that place to join the fight against Grave.

I tried to use the little bit of magic power I had recovered to detect my surroundings while trying to calm my nerves, and at the bottom of the darkness, my eyes met a pair of bright red eyes staring at me.

[…]

“…Coeurl.”

I forced my body, which was still not strong enough to move, to use body reinforcement, pull out a Heavy Type pendulum from Shadow Storage and a black dagger from my waist, to point it at Coeurl.

With my current body unable to move properly, it was difficult for me to even avoid Coeurl’s attacks.

We had a difference in combat power of nearly three times in the first place, so I would be at an overwhelming disadvantage if we fought normally, but since I had come this far, I had no intention of backing down.

I was going to kill it here.

[Grou…]

“…”

I tried to land a killing blow, but Coeurl countered with a powerful Intimidate.

Even if the Coeurl remained motionless, using an Intimidate with that much power would kill the people with a weak heart, and I, too, held my weapon and backed off a short-distance away, and stared at it for several tens of seconds before I realized that the Coeurl was not exactly motionless, but was immobile. I was also knee-deep in a puddle of water.

Coeurl was lying in a knee-deep pool of water with a huge, pierced by a tree, lodged deep into its back and going through its abdomen like a stake.

I was quite lucky that Coeurl did not use Intimidate when it was fighting me. If it did at that time, I would not have reached this point, and Coeurl must be in a terrible situation now.

Its powerful claws and fangs could not reach me from that position. The two tentacles extending from its ears could reach the tree trunk that pierced it, but I assumed that it was not strong enough to pull it out or crush it.

“…”

I approached it slowly and silently, stopping at the point where the tentacles were unable to reach, and then I swung the Heavy Type pendulum down with force.

[Guaooh!!!]

*Pashan!!!

The pendulum weight crossed just past the Coeurl’s head and hit the puddle below it hard, sending the water bouncing up.

“…stop.”

I muttered briefly, reeled up the pendulum’s thread, turned away from the Coeurl, and sat down on a nearby rock that was just slightly above the water.

There was no great significance to this action.

Coeurl was still a danger, even if it couldn’t move. It had a high tolerance for physical attacks, so I figured it would take a while to kill it.

And no matter how much strength the Coeurl had, it would always die one day if it was penetrated in the gut.

My goal was not to kill, but to win. Conversely, if killing led to victory, I would not care whatever method I use to kill my target.

However, I had no taste for torturing and killing beings who didn’t resist, and there was no point in wasting time on such useless things.

(But you’ll die here as you are right now.)

[…]

I sat down on the rock. Coeurl and I stared at each other in silence.

I would not let my guard down until it was dead. I felt Coeurl’s eyes shake slightly, as if it had read it from my staring at it.

I needed to recover my strength to escape from this place. Feeling that the potion had restored some of my magic, I used Heal to restore my strength and Cure to repair bruises and wounds.

Coeurl was staring at me like that. I couldn’t guess what it was thinking, but there was no way a human could understand the thoughts of a phantom beast anyway.

I was able to recover to some extent with Heal, but I learned from the Orc battle that the reason my strength did not recover beyond a certain level was because I was still fatigued.

I thought that I needed a decent meal, not just pills, to speed up the recovery of my magical power, so I took out a large amount of lamb meat that was still left over in Shadow Storage and took a bite as if I had been starved.

After an hour or so, when some Cure was done, and I could move around a lot, I should get going.

I tried to pick a relatively stable wall to climb while assessing the fragile rock surface, but again, the higher up I went, the more weathered the rock surface became and the more it started to crumble at the touch.

Wrapping the pendulum around the jutting rocks and weathered tree roots yielded the same result. Worst-case scenario, I could just wait until it’s night completely and climb up a little by Shadow Walk, but that would take too long.

[…]

As I sat down on a rock to recover my strength and magic again, I glanced at Coeurl. I noticed that it was looking a little different.

It was still staring at me, but the Intimidate that it was emitting disappeared before I knew it, and a strange tint appeared in Coeurl’s eyes as it stared back at me.

Were these the eyes of the original phantom beast… Until now, it seemed to have lost itself in hatred and anger, but it seemed to have finally regained its composure in the face of death.

Coeurl still had some strength left, but the blood flowing from its wounds was surely draining Coeurl’s life.

*Batchin…

At that moment, a small spark of electricity suddenly flew from Coeurl’s tentacles.

Even if the bottom was filled with water, the electricity emitted by the Coeurl was not something that could be used to attack. I think it could take out a small fish or so, but not powerful enough to take me down.

But it seemed that the electricity emitted from the Coeurl’s tentacles was not originally intended for attack.

–Man–

“…?”

For a moment, I thought I heard a voice. No, not a voice?

–Woman–

Every time the light flashed, a signal conveyed a meaning, like a word. Was it trying to tell me some message?

“…Coeurl.”

I responded, and the Coeurl’s tentacles sent a series of signals.

–I–

–Save–

“Save… you… from… that… thing?”

–This…

“What are you thinking? You’re asking the enemy you just fought to save you?”

–I–

–Enemy–

–You–

–I–

–Enemy–

–Man–

“You think your enemy is not me, but the man who is Human?”

–I–

–Invite–

–Man–

–Kill–

“…to kill the man who lured you out here, I should save you?”

–That’s–

“That’s convenient. Then what are you going to do with me?”

–You–

–Darkness–

–I–

–Save–

“You’re offering to help me get out of here if I save you? Surely, with your physical abilities, there’s a chance we can get out of here. I’m supposed to trust you?”

–This–

–I–

–Proud–

–Swear–

“…okay.”

I looked at Coeurl squarely in the eyes and decided that if it would swear on its pride, I would take my chances.

I knew it was foolish to believe the words of a beast that had tried to kill me, but for some reason, perhaps because of the same reason we tried to kill each other head-on, I was more inclined to believe it than the words of someone who just looked sincere.

[…]

I approached it silently, and while both of us were wary of each other, I climbed up on Coeurl’s back, wrapped several layers of thread around the log that had penetrated its back, and then I using all my strength, I pulled the thread over my shoulder like I was doing a back throw.

[Guaaaaah!!!!]

“Haaaah!!!!”

Coeurl roared in along with my loud shout filled with fighting spirit which echoed in the walls of the hole.

Coeurl’s and my muscles shuddered as the shards were gradually pulled out, and when the shards were completely pulled out, Coeurl stood up to shake me off.

[Gua…]

Coeurl’s tentacles wrapped around me and pulled me up out of the water as I had unintentionally fallen onto my buttocks.

–Thanks–.

“…Don’t thank me. Put me down.”

I simply fulfilled my end of the deal, as I swore on my pride to help, and the Coeurl who understood my intention silently lowered me to the ground.

The wound on its back was closed and already stopped bleeding. It would not heal immediately, but in its current condition, it would probably heal within a few days.

But I was still concerned about the drop in our strength. I did not care if the Coeurl died during the clash, but it had to be strong enough to bring me back and had enough power to join the fight with Grave, or I would be in trouble.

“Eat.”

[…]

I offered it all the meat I had with me, and Coeurl, who had been watching me eat, stared at me for a moment, then devoured the 5 kg of meat in a few bites.

“Go on first. I’ll be able to escape on my own.”

[Guaaah!!!]

Coeurl bellowed at my words and leaped out at once, flexing every muscle in its body.

At that moment, without me needing to request it, Coeurl’s tentacles tangled around me and put me on its back, and then, like a zigzagging lightning bolt, it climbed several dozen meters before the rock face collapsed from the strength of its leaps, and then it flew straight out of the hole.

“Let’s go. Let’s go to our enemy.”

[Guaoooh!]

[Aria (Alicia)] [Race: Human female] [Rank 4] 1Up

[Magic: 152/270] 20Up [Strength: 138/210] 10Up

[Strength: 9 (12)] [Endurance: 9 (12)] [Agility: 14 (20)] 1Up [Dexterity: 8]

[Dagger Arts Lv.3] [Taijutsu Lv.4] [Throwing Lv.3] [Archery Lv.1]

[Defense Lv.3] [Manipulation Lv.4]

[Light Magic Lv.3] [Dark Magic Lv.4] 1Up [Non-Attribute Magic Lv.4]

[Life Magic x6] [Magic Control Lv.4] [Intimidate Lv.3]

[Concealment Lv.4] [Night Vision Lv.2] [Detection Lv.4] [Poison Resistance Lv.3]

[Simple Appraisal] [Total Combat Power: 916]

New novel 𝓬hapters are published on freёwebnoѵel.com.

[Total Combat Power: 916 (With Physical Enhancements: 1123)] 304Up