Escape From a Deserted Island With Enemy Female Soldiers - Chapter 102



101 – How to Save Your Enemy (1)

Valkyrie’s condition was indescribably serious.

After struggling for a long while, the Saintess sighed.

“I’ve cured the curse. But there’s a strange substance remaining all over her body. I don’t know how to break these down.”

“Let me take a look.”

Upon confirmation, something seed-like and round was spreading through Valkyrie’s stomach. No magic felt. Injected physically.

“It’s difficult to heal with divine power. We need more precise surgical instruments.”

“So, you’re saying she needs surgical intervention.”

Adora Commander muttered.

“It’s similar to the curse I was afflicted with, but a little different. This is just as awful. What is this magic even trying to do…?”

At this point where the Saintess couldn’t touch it, there was nothing we could do. In the first place, the Saintess wasn’t a professional surgeon. If anything, she was closer to a priest and apothecary.

I bit my lip.

Really, is there no way?

“Erich, let’s at least eat and think. We’re all starving.”

“I have no appetite right now.”

“I know you’re worried about Major Rachel. But you have to eat to live.”

I ignited a fire with a magic stone, and the engineer fetched water from the stream. While the Commander prepared the ingredients, the Saintess boiled a stew.

“Time-wise, it’s almost been half a year since we were stranded. The rainy season will be back soon.”

For the next few months, rain would be falling at every opportunity. We had to put effort into maintaining the ceiling in preparation for that. And if we had the leeway, we should try to make raincoats too.

Of course, we couldn’t do that right now.

I deployed mana to examine every corner of Valkyrie’s body. I could see that the seeds in her stomach had sprouted.

Upon reporting this fact to the Saintess, her complexion turned rapidly dark.

“Don’t tell me, is it an encroaching magic?”

Encroaching magic.

In other words, parasitic magic.

Just the name of it is immoral. Thanks to that, it’s been designated a forbidden technique in the Mage Kingdom. Forbidden means it’s that dangerous and difficult to use.

“I’ll try to stop the germination from progressing with mana.”

I spent hours investing, but it’s not working. It’s stealing nutrients from the Valkyrie to grow. It’s only resulting in my mana being taken instead.

“Hah.”

It’s not working.

I can’t lose you like this.

“Major, it’s already night. Stop for tonight and sleep.”

“Just a little more…”

“That’s an order.”

The Commander said it in a resolute tone.

“If you keep clinging to something impossible and end up ruining your own body, then it’s really over. You need to know when to compromise.”

“Shouldn’t we at least try as much as we can?”

“I’m telling you this because you seem to have reached your limit.”

“I’m still fine.”

“Haa, really… Senior!”

At the Commander’s sudden change in address, I doubted my ears.

“Right now, I’m speaking to you privately as a fellow alumnus from the Larion Academy. Do you know what your face looks like, Senior? You’ve become as haggard as a patient with a serious illness! To my eyes, you look like you’re going to die before this woman!”

“Commander?”

“You spoke well just now. I *am* the Commander. A Star. As a General, I’ll do everything I can for you, Senior. If you don’t sleep, I’ll crush you with rank if I have to. So just lie down!”

The Commander, who had fired off a rapid volley of words, took a breath and sighed. The Saintess and Fox Sisters, who hadn’t yet fallen asleep, were staring at us with blank expressions.

A moment of silence passed.

“…I won’t say it three times. Lights out.”

The Commander finished speaking, his tone returning to normal.

I reflexively lay down.

Even so, unable to leave Valkyrie, as if under a strange parasitic spell, I stayed by her side, pretending to sleep.

Tired.

But I can’t sleep.

A brutal bout of insomnia seems to have hit.

How much time passed like that?

Scrape, scrape.

A dissonant sound reached my ears.

“…Haa.”

The sound of Commander Adora drawing her sword, *sreung*, made every hair on my body stand on end.

Probably a night raid.

The Commander didn’t wake anyone else, myself included. Even though she’s been awake since broad daylight and must be exhausted, she’s going to fight.

Her concern for others is admirable, but her condition probably isn’t great, it could be dangerous for her to fight alone.

I secretly placed my hand on the hip sack next to my head. Just as I was about to pull out a mana stone, the bonfire went *poof*, plunging us into complete darkness.

Whooosh.

A rustling wind blew.

At the same time, I felt overwhelmingly evil mana. Several levels stronger than that old woman monster. A true monster had entered our base.

The Commander could lose.

That thought reached me and I clenched my teeth, pushing myself upright. Beside me, the Saintess and Liyo, who had been sleeping soundly, stirred and woke up.

“What, what is it?”

“A bad feeling….”

Being believers in the Holy Spirit Church, the two of them were even more sensitive to this powerful mana.

I pulled out a portable glowstone and illuminated the area.

And then, I met it.

A monster whose upper body was human, and lower body was that of a spider.

By the time I realized what it was, my mouth and limbs were already restrained. Pure white silk bound my body. The Saintess and Liyo were in the same state.

“Mmph!”

The red eyes of the spider monster, illuminated by the glowstone, gleamed. She flicked her hand, manipulating the silk. Commander Adora, likewise bound in the mouth and arms, was pulled forward helplessly.

“Mmph, mph!”

[“Shh.”]

The spider woman put a finger to her lips and whispered softly.

[“Keep your voices down. Don’t even think about resisting.”]

Only me.

Of all the bound people, only I stopped moving when I heard those words. I was meeting the spider woman’s eyes head-on. I couldn’t feel even a hint of hostility in her eyes.

[“You know you don’t have the strength to fight right now, don’t you?”]

I nodded. It was humiliating, but true.

[“Mage, I’ll untie you first, so put out the light immediately. If you want to leave this island alive, you better listen to me.”]

A lot of thoughts swirled.

After a quick mental calculation, I concluded I couldn’t fight this monster right now and that it wasn’t immediately dangerous.

Smoothly, as soon as my hands were free, I hid the magic stone’s light as it had told me to.

[“Good.”]

Following that, the thread in my mouth slowly came loose. I could finally breathe.

I didn’t say anything.

Keeping silent, I heard a satisfied chuckle.

[“You seem like you’re able to communicate. I’ll observe the others a bit longer and then release them, so wait patiently.”]

Even after my eyes adjusted, it was still dark all around. Of all times, it was a new moon, so even the moon wasn’t out. I couldn’t see the spider woman, but the spider woman was watching me.

[“You must have been startled, being attacked while just standing there. You can talk now.”]

[“Who are you?”]

[“…Honorifics?”]

The monster, surprised by my question, asked back.

[“Why are you using honorifics?”]

[“It’s our first meeting.”]

[“Or is it because your lives depend on me right now, so you’ve become servile?”]

[“Since you are being formal, I’m just trying to show corresponding courtesy.”]

[“Ahaha, you’ve got spirit. A human using honorifics to a monster who attacked them on sight. In all my long years, I’ve only seen that once before.”]

The woman thrust her face forward. Pale skin, black hair, crimson vertical pupils. In the darkness, only a head seemed to be floating.

I get goosebumps.

Barely managing to keep my composure, I introduced myself.

[“I’m Erich Ronstein.”]

[“Ronstein… I’ve heard that somewhere. It has a nice ring.”]

[“It’s a common surname. What is your name?”]

[“Salvira.”]

The demon, who introduced herself as Salvira, tapped my forehead with her finger.

[“You’re an interesting human. The humans who see me instinctively feel hostility or disgust, but I don’t see any sign of that from you.”]

[“Even so, how could I judge someone just by their appearance?”]

[“Am I hideous?”]

[“That’s not it.”]

[“Then?”]

[“I was startled at first, but that’s because I’m not used to it. I’m much better now than I was before. You have a different kind of charm than humans.”]

[“Judging by the way you talk, you’re the type to make a lot of women cry.”]

Heh heh heh, Salvira let out a chilling laugh.

[“How about it, are you feeling a little less tense?”]

[“Yes.”]

[“Then let’s end the small talk here…”]

This is where the real conversation begins.

[“Judging from your expression, it seems like you’ve already figured a lot out, but since we don’t have much time, I’ll get straight to the point. The reason I attacked you in the middle of the night is to avoid the eyes of other demons.”]

[“Are you saying you’re going to help us?”]

“That depends on what you all do from now on.”

The next moment, something was in my hand. A rough, scratchy feeling. Paper, it felt like.

“There are too many eyes here, so I can’t talk long. I’ve given you a map. If you trust me, come to the marked place four days from now. That’s our legion’s territory, so just fight your way through my little darlings.”

The spider woman pulled her head back after saying that much.

Scritch, scritch.

The sound of footsteps faded away, then vanished like a mirage.

I waited a bit, then lit the glowstone. The Lieutenant, the Saintess, and the fox sisters were still tied up.

I understood what this meant.

The spider monster was testing us for some reason. And, I was the only one who passed.

If I had upset the spider even a little, we might all be dead here.

I cut my companions’ threads one by one with my knife. They all looked like they had a lot to say. I made them take a deep breath first, then lit the bonfire and had them sit around it.

“What the hell was that monster?”

“Like I’d know.”

“She didn’t seem like she wanted to fight… It was so scary. Hng.”

We couldn’t calm down easily. Not only had we been ambushed, or almost ambushed, by a powerful monster, but another variable had emerged.

Riyo, who was breathing heavily, said with a start.

“Major Rachel is gone!”

That spider woman took the Valkyrie.