Escape From a Deserted Island With Enemy Female Soldiers

54 – A Heavy Relationship (3)

Gongbyeong lending his body to Miyoh was only for 3 hours a day.

It wasn’t that the younger brother didn’t trust his older sister.

Survival was the priority.

Gongbyeong’s crafting skills were helpful in many ways.

On the other hand, the magic Miyoh was trying to learn was nothing more than building camaraderie between her and me.

That wasn’t to say Miyoh hadn’t made any progress. On the 20th day of practicing mana circulation, she accomplished the task I’d given her.

[“Magician, look at this?”]

Miyoh grinned, showing me the stone she had circulated mana through.

Considering the limited time, she picked it up faster than I expected.

[“How is it, isn’t it decent enough?”]

She has talent.

It’ll be fun to teach her. I hid my inner thoughts and said,

[“This is just the first step. Practice so you can do it faster.”]

[“Pff, boring.”]

She grumbled, but Miyoh’s tail wagged happily. Being a fox, she’s quick-witted. I had no intention of teaching her carelessly.

[“Now that you know how to circulate, practice accumulating it. You’re not at the stage to use magic yet. If you don’t know how to accumulate pure mana, you won’t be able to deal with mana depletion.”]

[“Okay. But hey, if I store a lot of mana in my body, can I pass it on to you when you need it?”]

[“Yes.”]

[“So, I can help you when you’re experiencing mana depletion?”]

I nodded, for now. Not expecting much. It takes the average mana-awakened rookie three more months to get used to Mirkill.

[“Alright, I’ll give it a shot.”]

[“Work hard.”]

Either way, the artificer just needs to focus on doing his job for now. Like building this crossbow.

“This thing’s pretty useful.”

The crossbow’s structure, made from wood and stone, was simple. The way it loaded was intuitive, and the power was strong for its size. The long reload time was a drawback, but it could be overcome with practice.

We did some test firing, then packed our gear and entered the forest.

We passed through the bamboo forest and arrived at the pale forest.

The chill was as biting as ever. Except for the Saintess, who was already bundled up thick, everyone was feeling the cold a little.

The Saintess, looking around, furrowed her brow.

“Doesn’t something feel off?”

“Where do you mean?”

“I don’t see any Dryads.”

Dryads were creatures originally inhabiting this island, spirits who managed the forest. They were corrupted by Alaune, but the Saintess purified them again.

But their figures, who should be looking after the forest, were nowhere to be seen.

“Something might have happened. Let’s go deeper.”

My gut wasn’t good. But we have to move forward. To leave this island, we have to find and kill the real boss.

I don’t know how strong the boss will be.

Still, we can handle it.

Because I have the magic stones I gained from defeating the monsters.

Especially the magic stones we get from the ghouls, those things are incredibly useful. If we can just sync up well with the female soldiers, quick victories aren’t impossible.

I was thinking about this as I explored the pale forest.

“Krrr-rrr.”

The sapper lowered his voice. We hid amongst the undergrowth, just as we had agreed beforehand.

Swish-swish.

Five or six plant monsters were heading our way.

About the size of large dogs, with heads shaped like strawberries, and legs bearing tuberous root vegetables like potatoes as tumors.

[‘Strawberries and potatoes, huh.’]

[‘So, it’s a strawtato, then.’]

The monsters were dragging something tied up with rope. A dead dryad. They were hunting the forest spirits.

[‘They have fruit. These are different beasts from the plant types we’ve seen so far.’]

[‘Yes, I can feel a potent magic. If you think about the growth stages of plants, it’s a natural progression.’]

Plants begin as sprouts and end in fruit. And until now, we’ve only encountered monsters with leaves or flowers.

These ones were clearly different.

They would be strong.

But with good teamwork, we could win.

I whispered to the Saint.

“If we follow those things, we might find their leader.”

The Saint nodded. She relayed my intention to the Valkyrie and the sapper.

We cautiously followed the monsters, making sure not to get spotted. Thankfully, they never noticed we were tailing them.

The prediction was spot-on.

On the stump of a sunless, ancient tree, a humanoid monster sat.

It looked three times the size of a grown man. Limbs long and spindly, and three heads.

Branches like antlers sprouted from its heads, laden with fruit.

[‘Those… don’t seem like ordinary fruit.’]

Now that I looked closer, they were stones.

[‘A wooden golem that bears rocks instead of fruit? Did such a monster even exist in this world?’]

[‘With things like that existing, why aren’t there horses with horns?’]

The monsters laid the dryad’s corpse before the wood golem. The golem extended root-like hands, grabbed the spirit’s leg, and crammed it straight into its mouth.

*Crunch.*

The Saintess and the engineer couldn’t bear to look. Only Valkyrie and I kept our gazes locked, trying to understand the monster’s actions.

The golem’s wood shuddered after devouring the dryad. Flower buds burst open, and fruit began to grow. The nascent flesh gleamed like jewels.

[‘That is…’]

[‘A magic stone.’]

A mumbling sound had been slowly growing louder since a while ago. I focused my hearing. The voice was getting clearer.

*Save me, save me.*

*I don’t want to be dragged away by the demons.*

*It’s so cold here. Someone, get me out.*

It was coming from the direction of the wood golem’s heads. The source of the sound was the magic stones.

[‘Our situation is similar.’]

[‘Aren’t we made the same way as them?’]

[‘Similar, yet different. Listen closely. They’re not using Hui-eon, are they?’]

Enemy female soldiers were also listening to their screams. They were shaken. The Saintess’s eyes were bloodshot with rage, the Engineer was trembling, and the Valkyrie was clenching her spear shaft, grinding her teeth.

We exchanged hand signals. Each of us loaded bolts into our crossbows. The arrowheads were made of mana stones, and they were designed to activate as soon as I chanted the spell.

Just when we were about to prepare for a volley of fire.

[“A rat has snuck in.”]

The Woodman unfolded itself from its crouched position.

[“Find it.”]

[“Where is it?”]

[“Over there, the flow of mana is strange.”]

At this rate, we’d be discovered soon. No, we should consider ourselves discovered, really.

We had to move before it was too late.

The Valkyrie, our most skilled fighter, flicked her hand. It was the signal to attack. I pulled up all the mana in my body.

[“Burst.”]

*Pababa-bak!*

The four arrows, shot simultaneously, struck the Woodman’s torso. Soon after, the arrows burst. The shockwave sent nearby monsters flying into nothingness.

First strike wins.

The Valkyrie charged ahead. I followed right after her.

Straight through to the leader.

The Valkyrie’s spear pierced through the monsters as she advanced. The holy power, pushed to its limit, wailed out. I, too, gathered as much mana as I could, beginning to prepare the most powerful fire magic I could muster.

Can do it.

The Reconciliation Stone I used when I took down an Alaune last time.

I succeeded in synthesizing that magic stone with the ones I got from capturing the Dryad and Alaune, boosting its stability and greatly increasing its firepower.

Fire born of trees, I decided to call it Pine Blossom Stone.

[“Light, race forth.”]

I concentrated all my mana and struck its crotch.

At the same time, Valkyrie, having finished her run-up, soared. She swung her spear at the wooden creature’s three heads.

A pincer attack coming from above and below.

[“Ugh…”]

[“You little rat!”]

[“How dare you!”]

They didn’t expect an attack out of nowhere, huh? Of course not. If they knew, it wouldn’t be a surprise attack. The wood creature’s defeat was inevitable, after suffering two critical hits out of nowhere like that. Just obediently cough up your magic stone.

[“What are you lot doing!”]

[“Get them out of here, quick!”]

[“Too late, too late! We have to do this ourselves!”]

The subordinate monsters around it had long since been dealt with by the Saintess and the Engineer. The wood creature swung its hand. Seemed like it was trying to swat Valkyrie out of the air.

Not gonna let that happen.

I pulled out a magic stone I got from taking down a Ghoul and recited the incantation.

[“Leap forth.”]

Valkyrie’s figure vanished. The monster’s hand only struck empty air. She was behind the wood creature in the blink of an eye.

[“Out of nowhere!”]

[“Ugh!”]

[“Ghk!”]

Valkyrie pulled out her hand axe and slammed it into the wooden puppet’s spine. The monster lurched forward.

Everything was going smoothly.

I steeled myself for mana exhaustion and smashed in another lump of Sulfur Stone.

The wooden puppet’s lower body was ripped off, incinerated, and reduced to ash.

Finally, the monster collapsed.

Even so, just in case, we had to finish it off. I left that to Valkyrie. She used her axe to chop off the monster’s three heads and both arms. The wooden puppet’s corpse was smoldering, burning away bit by bit.

“Magician!”

The sapper hopped over like a rabbit. The Saintess followed close behind.

“This time was easier than last time, wasn’t it?”

“So it seems.”

I never dreamed it would end so anticlimactically.

“Are you alright?”

“No.”

I said the word and collapsed on the spot. My legs gave out. No need to explain – mana exhaustion.

Fighting down the nausea, I pointed to the wooden puppet’s torso.

“Would you take a look at that?”

An emblem was etched into the monster’s back. The Saintess and Valkyrie both narrowed their eyes when they saw it.

The combat engineer started to retreat, trembling violently.

“T, this is…”

A silver ring.

And etched upon it, eight inverted crosses.

The mark of the pseudo-magician cult that had traumatized the combat engineer sisters.

The combat engineer recoiled in horror. It was the older sister who had told me the story, but the younger one obviously knew it too.

“Haa, haa.”

The combat engineer collapsed. She panted like a dog, then crawled and clung to my military uniform. Her pupils were narrowed to pinpricks, and she started drooling like she had rabies.

“Sister, I’m sorry, Sister, I’m sorry.”

Seeing the combat engineer like this, the Saintess and Valkyrie’s expressions darkened sharply. Mine probably did too.

Whether it’s war or anything else, everyone suffers psychological trauma when they experience something shocking. Valkyrie did, I did, the Saintess must have too.

The combat engineer was just hit harder than most. I knew her circumstances and understood her feelings well, so I stroked her head.

“Sister, don’t go. Yeah, I’m here. Sister, is it really you? So, you said I didn’t die.”

Was it the effect of learning the Holy Kingdom language from the Saintess? I could understand everything the combat engineer was saying.