Escape From a Deserted Island With Enemy Female Soldiers - Chapter 106



105 – How to Save an Enemy (5)

Fire is impartial to all life. Given only a bit of oxygen, it devours any being.

“Keeeeaaak!”

All this time, I’d been saving my magic stones.

For this very moment.

Warm energy was driving out the cold of the magic realm.

“Y-you insolent…!”

“I’m picky about how well my mushrooms are cooked. This side wasn’t cooked evenly.”

“Kyaaak!”

Even Adora Sosang gasped, watching the relentless flames.

“What the hell did that fox… even make for you?”

“My kid’s pretty good.”

“……My kid?”

“I taught her myself.”

Riyo had said something like that to me once.

That if we got into a heavier relationship, she’d make me a rifle, not just a crossbow.

Though it wasn’t a gun, she made me something even better. It was a sign of how the Fox Sisters thought of me. After she’d gone this far for me, I had to come back alive.

“Major.”

Major Adora nodded.

“Stand behind me, Lieutenant.”

The Major drew her Jin-do.

“We have to be sure to blow her head off while she’s distracted by burning. Can you keep up?”

“Of course.”

To handle this without incident, I needed to use that magic. It’d take time to prepare, but if the Major could hold out, victory would be certain.

I calmly took a deep breath.

I hadn’t coordinated with the Major many times, but even so, I felt confident that I could do it. I pulled out a mana stone and poured as much magic into it as I could.

But then.

Rumble.

Suddenly, dark clouds began to gather in the sky. And.

Swish!

[‘Uh, uh?’]

[‘Goddess, is this right?’]

The flames clinging to the old woman’s body were being extinguished at a rapid pace. At the same time, a biting wind lashed at Kalon and Olivia, making them stagger. The two drones lost their balance and crashed.

The Captain clicked his tongue and moved forward.

KaaaNG!

The old woman parried the Captain’s blade.

[“…Foolish, truly foolish. You seem to have no idea why this old woman is called the ‘Calamity Witch’.”]

Cluck, cluck, cluck.

An ominous laughter crawled up his spine.

[“’Witch’ has long been a title given to bizarre beings. Manipulating the weather, bewitching people, surviving even death… That is what I am.”]

A very subtle surge of mana could be felt.

[‘Could she be condensing the steam with spores?’]

[‘What kind of messed up magic is that?’]

The old woman, charred black, revealed her rotten teeth. She tapped her foot like a dancer.

CHAENG!

The Captain’s sword was knocked away. The old woman followed up by swinging her hand. Wrinkled and gnarled fingernails, like black wood ear mushrooms, twitched and bent this way and that.

[“With such sluggish movements, you can’t hope to hit m–”]

[“That’s just a phantom.”]

THWACK!

A sharp needle embedded itself in the Captain’s left leg.

“aaargh!”

[“The upward strike was a feint. I pierced your leg first, so the prey cannot escape. Hmm?”]

[“Impale.”]

The old crone tilted her head, dodging my magic.

The Captain staggered back precariously, nearly toppling over.

But.

*Thwack!*

He slammed his lance into the ground and hauled himself forward.

[“…Well, alright.”]

Twitching shoulders, trembling legs.

I couldn’t see his face, but he was definitely scowling.

For a moment, my heart lurched, but I calmly assessed the situation. And I concealed my magic, fully charging the mana stones that would finish off the crone.

The Captain spoke.

[“Lies and deception are a mage’s virtues, they say.”]

*

The Calamity Witch frowned.

Even though she had clearly pierced his leg, the Grand General of the Magic Kingdom stood there, grinning. He pulled the lance he’d plunged into the ground, muttering under his breath.

[“Speaking of which, why aren’t you using space magic? If you used it again like last time, you could definitely wipe us out. Just dawdling around like this… isn’t any fun.”]

The reason I couldn’t use the Maze was because my power hadn’t been replenished yet.

The totems were all destroyed too, and it would take some time to rebuild them. In the meantime, I had to win using purely hand-to-hand combat and simple magic.

I couldn’t reveal such a weakness, so I made something up.

[“This place is where all sorts of medicinal herbs needed for His resurrection grow. It’s practically a sacred ground. I cannot use such powerful magic in a place that must remain pure and noble.”]

[“Ah, so you’re just too chicken to use it?”]

“……This old man might not be what he used to be, but I can still take down the two of you without breaking a sweat.”

“Then, come on and try.”

*Swish, swish, swish!*

As I approached the female general, magic fired by the male officer flew towards me like gnats.

“You’re not getting anywhere near Major Lee Sang.”

“A wench who’s about to die anyway…”

This time, I fired spore magic at the male officer.

The female general blocked it with her own magic.

“If you want to kill the Major, you’ll have to step over me first. Don’t you know the order of things?”

I’m starting to get seriously annoyed.

The witch has already taken considerable damage from that burn earlier. If she moves even slightly wrong, her skin looks ready to crack and ooze. She’s been steadily making it rain to cool herself down, but it’s not enough.

“I didn’t want to use this because it wastes my lifespan…”

This isn’t going to work.

I need to finish this quickly and rest somehow.

“…Sacrifice.”

I speak to the demon.

And, I demand.

“In exchange for scraping away at my lifeline, grant me the power to defeat these villains before me.”

The sound of the heavens and earth shaking swirled in my ears. The sensation of floating alone in a hollow universe pierced my five senses, and after a moment, a demon wandering the higher dimensions answered the voice of this insignificant being.

“It shall be done.”

That’s when it started. The power, rising up.

*Krrrk*.

Felt like something internal was sloughing off. Probably my soul and lifespan. Didn’t matter. Had to expect this from the moment I offered myself as sacrifice.

A deal with a demon is like a narcotic painkiller. Didn’t feel any pain in that instant. The witch kicked off the earth.

*Kwa-d-d-d-deuk!*

The hand blade I lashed out with pierced through the female soldier’s arms, legs, and neck all at once. It happened in an instant. The woman couldn’t even scream. Ruined her vocal cords, and pushed her over like that.

“Krrk, *geuk*.”

Smashed her face in with my other hand, blackened and charred.

*Thwack!*

The General, her face shattered, slumped. The impact just now, delivered straight to the brain, would have killed her instantly. Hated that she still kept her beauty, even broken like that, but whatever.

I raised my head, shifted my gaze to where the male officer should be.

I don’t know where he got information about the Small White Herb, but he’s absolutely not getting the medicine to revive that hero’s descendant…

[“…Huh?”]

He was gone.

The next moment, a chilling presence pressed in from behind.

No way.

[“…!”]

Teleportation magic.

And, illusion magic.

He used both at the same time.

Just when, exactly?

Since when had I been standing here, not moving an inch?

In the first place, illusion magic is forbidden, isn’t it? What reason would a formal mage of the magic kingdom have to use a forbidden art?

Could it be, that siren?

The siren of the fish-man island was a considerable monster, wasn’t she? Did I really defeat her?

As question upon question chased its tail, the illusion lifted. Before my eyes, a magic kingdom general was already rushing toward me. He was gushing blood from his left leg, but he didn’t stop walking. He was getting faster, in fact.

[-Deceit and trickery are the virtues of a mage, aren’t they.]

Ah, right. It started then.

They wouldn’t have come just the two of them without a trump card prepared. That drone from earlier was the first, and this attack now is the second. Even if I endure this, there will be a third.

The female officer giving up her leg was actually on purpose. To induce carelessness. If it was intended to instill the impression that the two of us were still clumsy and out of sync like last time, then I took the bait properly.

Thorough b*stards.

[“Falling Flower.”]

[“Light the Way.”]

Schwik.

In the places where neck and torso were severed, flames of calamity bloomed.

*

The spores circling around slowly settled. The Calamity Witch had fallen.

“Ugh.”

Squad Leader Adora, having squeezed her stamina to its limit, collapsed. I immediately ran and supported her.

“Are you alright?”

“If this looks okay, hah, you’re blind as a bat….”

“Why’d you pull a stunt like that? This wasn’t part of the plan, was it?”

“I figured I had to take a hit like this to make that b*tch lower her guard. Worked like a charm.”

The Major chuckled, nudging the old woman’s corpse with the tip of his sword.

“Looks like you missed your mark a bit?”

“Maybe. Bleeding way too much.”

“Aren’t you feeling dizzy?”

“Nope.”

He said that, and then, the very next instant, the Major leaned his head against my body.

“Goddamn it, the world’s spinning.”

Knew it.

As the Witch of Calamity died, the dark clouds also scattered. The rain stopped. Calon and Olivia buzzed and soared into the air.

[‘Whew, finally can fly again.’]

[‘We’ll look around for the Sobae Herb. Ronstein, you just take care of patching that woman up.’]

I nodded. Thank god it wasn’t just me and the Major here.

The amount of blood he’s losing isn’t trivial. Maybe it went through a major blood vessel. He could die like this. Thinking that makes me dizzy.

The Major, dies?

The first thing that pops into my head is the face of Captain Tetman Gifford, my direct superior. Not quite like Admiral Abraham Dietz, but I’ve interacted with that man a lot while serving as an officer. A bit prickly, but a good guy at heart.

His daughter dies. Because of me. Trying to protect me.

Thinking about that makes every nerve in my body stand on end.

Absolutely, no matter what happens, I can’t let him die.

Based on what I learned from the officer training course and the Saintess, I started administering first aid. I pressed hard on his thigh to stop the bleeding, and ripped off the strap of my hip sack to use as a makeshift tourniquet. I even took out the hemostatic ointment from the medical kit the Saintess had made and applied it.

[‘Erich, I found some Sobek grass!’]

[‘There’s something glowing white over there!’]

While leaving the Major lying down, I gathered medicinal herbs and filled my backpack to the brim.

I’ve done all I can here.

Now I just need to get back and have Major Adora properly examined by the Saintess.