Warning of graphic violent battle in this chapter.
Translated by iseuli
Part 4
The destruction caused by the recent earthquake was very severe. My territory had changed so much that it was unrecognizable in many areas.
The ground had split in various places and new canyons and cliffs had formed all around. Many monsters who had been hiding underground had awoken from slumber because their hide out had been dug open by the earthquake. I carefully inspected through all the chaos and after a short while, I finally managed to catch the tail of Perrin's tracks.
"Ah…."
The ground had split open just above an underground waterway. The sound of water flowing trickled from the darkness below. I continued to follow Perrin's tracks when suddenly his tracks stopped at the edge of this cliff
"Perrin?"
Did he fall off this cliff when the ground split? I anxiously called his name. I peeked over the edge and inspected the cliff side. There, I saw the child hanging for his life midway down the cliff. It seems mid drop he managed to grip a tree branch which was jutting out from the canyon.
"You did well."
He fell from such a dangerous height, but he didn't faint like he used to. So, I praised him. He didn't panic and managed to survive by finding a branch to hold onto. I just wanted to praise him at this moment. Then I noticed that one of his arms appeared injured. There was a gash on his arm as if a hard edge skimmed over it. Some time must have passed since he dropped because his arm appeared badly swollen. He hung on as his whole body trembled due to pain. The tree branch had thorns which had pierced through the palm of his hand, slowly blood trickled down his arm. His whole body was trembling, most likely due to the pain. Even so, he didn't let go of the branch, because it was the only thing keeping him alive.
"Perrin."
I called him once more, and he looked up. Perrin looked very surprised to see me.
"You… why are you here…?"
"Don't misunderstand. I didn't stalk you. I was in my lair all this time."
I remember I had urgently tried to explain myself back then so that he wouldn't get the wrong idea. It had not been the right time to be casually chatting like that, but I had panicked and had fervently tried to prove my innocence to him.
"I tracked you by your scent. The earthquake- the forest has frequently earthquakes. The trees migrate and so this happens. So…"
I had worried that something would happen to him during the earthquake. My voice for some reason became inaudible toward the end. I worried he would be furious that I followed him again. I had been an idiot who worried about such useless things while Perrin's life was on the line. That had been me. I had not thought to pull him up and instead had hesitated while watching him stupidly. That had been me. Perrin back then, had watched me for a short while and let out a small sigh.
"You are really… nevermind. It's fine. Just pull me up."
"Ah, your arm, you must be in pain."
I extended a portion of myself to pull him up. But suddenly, the earth shook once again. The sudden tremor caused the branch to snag and break off.The moment when he fell had played in slow motion. I had tried to catch him, but the ground from under me had crumbled, and my hand had only grabbed onto air.
"No."
I suddenly realized that Perrin would not be able to survive a fall from this height. As I fell, I stretched my body closer to him. I wrapped myself around Perrin's arm, and pulled him into my body.
I heard someone scream in shock, but I didn't have the time to explain anything. We were falling already and explaining anything was the last thing on my mind.
"Endure it. The fall impact will be great."
I wasn't sure whether he could hear me or not. Mid fall, I crashed into a giant pointed boulder which jutted out from the canyon walls. Then, boulders and rocks began raining down due to the consecutive earthquakes, inflicting all shorts of injuries all throughout my entire body. I fell head first down onto the shallow end of the waterway below, and the impact caused my body to burst.
I took on the full force of the fall. I was one of the strongest monsters in this forest. Still, that didn't mean my life in this forest was just sunshine and rainbows.
"It hurts… it's painful."
I took on the blunt force four consecutive times during the fall, and each time, different parts of my body had been destroyed. I could have manifested the seven meter long dog bones inside my body to protect myself, but if I were to have done that, Perrin would have experienced the full impact of the fall. So, I didn't set up any defense shells around my body. My consciousness was fuzzy for a short while, but I was able to collect myself again quickly.
"It's… not the time now."
Later, I could lose consciousness for as long as I needed. But right now, I must keep moving to survive. The most important thing in this forest was survival. I endured everything by repeating this to myself. As long as I could survive, having lost half my body was not a problem at all. It was a fair price to pay in exchange for my life. Everything in this forest struggled equally hard to survive and it wasn't an uncommon sight.
The underground waterway flowed with a powerful current because it was connected with the main river of this forest. I kept Perrin safe inside of me, while the currents continued to sweep me down the waterway. I barely managed to climb onto land after a long while. When I climbed onto land, I let Perrin free from inside me.
"Perrin?"
Perrin was crouched into a tiny ball. He didn't look like he broke any bones. It seems his arm that was originally not in the best condition, took a turn for the worse during the fall. Still, he didn't let out a single groan of pain. Crying in this forest, was the same as promoting to become fodder to all the monsters in this forest. Perrin seemed to have learned this lesson, and just gritting his teeth while enduring the pain.
"Where… is this?"
"I'm not sure. I think we traveled downstream quite a distance… we should climb the walls and get out of here."
Perrin surveyed the surrounding as he breathed erratically from pain. He checked to see the coast was clear before looking into my direction. When he relaxed and looked at me, his eyes suddenly grew wide.
"You…"
I followed his gaze to my own body. My body had exploded and was strewn about all over the place. Parts of my flesh could be seen flowing downstream, and what was left of me looked to be in horrible condition. I suffered massive injuries so it would be difficult for me to immediately restart regenerating my body.
"Do I look unsightly and gross?"
He didn't answer, but I wasn't stupid to know that I didn't look good. I did my best to suck in the portions of my body that exploded out. I crouched down to the best of my ability to hide away all the grossness of myself.
"You can hit me if I look disgusting."
Whenever I was unsightly, father would hit me. Afterwards, he would feel better, so I approached Perrin a bit and lowered my head so he could hit me.
"It's fine to hit me."
I thought Perrin would overlook my unsightliness if I did this. I waited for him to hit me, but he didn't kick me at all. He didn't even criticize me. When I looked at him, he had a very complicated expression.
"You are…."
Perrin was about to say something, but then shut his mouth. I waited patiently, but he didn't say anything. He remained silent and helped to recollect my fallen body parts. He neatly replaced them on top of me one by one.
"Recover. If I want to have a chance at survival, you must survive as well."
I was shocked. I was so shocked that he would place his hands on my disgusting body at all. I didn't know how to respond when he picked up my fallen body parts without a bit of hesitation.
"Isn't it disgusting?"
"Is there something that's not disgusting in this forest?"
I wondered if he was trying to say that I didn't look any different to how I usually appeared. I remained still, unable to understand Perrin. I felt a jolt every time he patted my head.
"Just stay still."
He was scolding me, but the inside of my heart tickled. I had not known how to explain that feeling. Happiness. It would probably have been happiness. However, at the time I had not known how to properly convey the feelings that I had felt. Still, I wanted to convey my feelings somehow.
"Perrin. I…."
I wanted to explain to him somehow.
"I am… I mean…."
Was it correct to say, 'thank you,' at times like this? I opened my mouth to speak, but I felt speechless. Perrin who was helping to pick up my body parts paused. He looked just over my head to something in the distance.
I looked back to see for myself, but I couldn't see anything. I could only see the darkness of the underground passage. The only thing moving here was the flowing water in this underground passage. I couldn't spot anything else out of the ordinary. However, I could immediately recognize Perrin's current expression.
"Perrin."
He made this expression only in very specific moments. I pushed Perrin back against the wall and looked across the underground passageway. I made a barrier between the area just ahead and Perrin with my own body.
"You sense something there, don't you?"
Perrin had good senses. There was something that I couldn't see which only Perrin could sense.
We've been swept downstream for a long while, and at this distance, it has become a deep underground river. The water gushed down with more power and volume.
Perrin looked upstream. More concisely, he was looking to the huge crack in the middle of the cliff side. It looked like a hole which formed naturally, and looked like a perfect place for a monster to claim as their resting place.
"I think…. We've been swept into another's lair."
We were on top of a large boulder with only water and walls surrounding us. There were signs of moss growing around the walls, however there was no sign of any sort of sunlight peeking into this place. I couldn't see well in this dark area, and even when I perked my ears, the sound the water muffled most of the sounds. However, I could smell something suspicious with my nose..
"The smell of scales."
I hyper focused my sense of smell and distinguished it to be the smell of reptiles. I could see signs of something passing to and fro from this place. The place Perrin and I stood looked very similar to the lairs belonging to a particular monster.
"Snake."
This was a snake's lair. If not, it would be a variant of one. I continued to look around and pulled Perrin closer behind me.
"We need to get out before the monster of this lair notices-."
"It's too late."
Perrin interjected in a low voice.
"It is already aware of us."
He appeared calm at first glance. However, his eyes shook and looked around anxiously. He didn't take his eyes away from the crack in the middle of the cliff side. It was dangerous to walk into another's lair like this.
No matter how strong one was, one didn't go around walking into another monster's lair. There were unavoidable geographic and topographic disadvantages when battling inside another's lair, so it did not happen often.
"This will be troublesome."
It was highly likely that we would end up dead if we fought due to my current condition. Perrin, who had been living in this forest all this time should also be aware of our situation. However, he didn't let himself panic. He had become accustomed to living under constant danger in this forest. By now, he learned not to let fear take control of his body. He could now truly be referred to a child monster that had completely adapted to this forest.
"Well done."
I felt very proud of him. This child would be able to survive a long time. I even felt admiration for him. However, I didn't have time to dwell on such soft feelings.
"What shall I do now?"
Perrin and I were on top of a large boulder. It was a flat surface, but there was nowhere else we could go other than this place. If we were attacked, we wouldn't be able to endure very long.
We had one of two choices. The first choice was to swim down the river, using the current to our advantage, and escape from this place. As long as we swam with the current, we would be able to swim very fast. However, it was very risky. A monster in a lair like this was bound to be a skillful swimmer. The monster would probably catch up and attack us before we could escape its territory.
The second choice was to climb the lair walls, or hide underwater. While I was trying to make a decision between the two, Perrin pulled me back. His expression was more rigid than before, and he looked across the area with chilling eyes.
"We can't go into the water."
He said decisively as if knowing what I was thinking.
"We can't escape into the water, we'll die."
He commanded us to climb up the wall of the lair. I quickly gathered my splattered body parts. Though very rough and rushed, I hurried to recover myself as best I could in what short time I had, and then pulled myself and Perrin up onto the wall.
Perrin had good senses. If he said so, then it must be so. It had always been that way, so I didn't need to hesitate a moment longer.
"Climb up as much as you can. It will be best to distance ourselves from the water as much as we can."
I climbed up all the way to the ceiling in absolute silence.
The moss made the walls slippery, but it didn't matter. Rather than the moss, I was worried about some of the slippery shiny remnants which trailed across the wall.
"A snake."
This was the track it left as the snake slithered throughout the lair walls. I couldn't see anything on the surface of the water, but I could sense something swimming in the depths by the way the water flowed.
"Perrin, strength isn't the only important aspect of survival in this forest."
I said as I climbed up the wall.
"Many times, weaker monsters will be the ones to survive longer in this forest. It's the case for those who are intelligent and good at setting traps."
Back then, I had not understood why I had felt a need to say something like that. If I think about it now, I probably wanted to say some comforting words to Perrin. If I had died at that place, Perrin would have needed to survive alone in this forest. I had probably wanted to console him somehow.
"So, if you're able to escape from this place…."
"Shut up. Get back."
However, Perrin didn't want to be consoled. He only knew how to face reality. Perrin commanded me urgently, and when I backed away I saw something appear from within the water, the snake opened its jaws and chomped down where I originally stood.
It was a gray snake's head. The snake glared at us with its eyes which bulged out like that of a fish. It maintained its focus on us as it fell back into the water. It attacked to confirm the two prey which walked into its lair.
"Snake."
It angrily hissed as it sunk back into the water. Its' head and upper body appeared to be at least a meter long. The snake didn't attack again after the initial attack, but I didn't welcome the silence at all. The first attack had just been to confirm its prey. The next attack would probably be made with the intention to kill.
The water below splashed as I continued to climb up the wall. The water didn't burst out with as much power like last time. The snake slithered out of the water and began climbing up the wall.
"It's coming."
I couldn't fight against the snake while holding Perrin like this. I tried to look around for a place where Perrin could safely camp, but I couldn't find any such location. I watched the snake crawling up the wall. It was mostly a snake. However, it was difficult to find any normal monster in this Forest. The snake seemed to be a hybrid of different monsters. The snake had insect antennas on its head, and a countless number of legs attached to its body.
The snake used its webbed feet to climb the walls at lightening speed.
It contracted its long body, then expanded itself to pounce on me. I reformed my whole body into the toughest defense form that instant.
I pushed Perrin back onto the wall, and then shielded him away from the monster snake. I pushed out all the giant dog bones to my outer shell, stuck myself onto the wall, and then endured all the attacks.
The snake snapped its jaws and clamped down, causing my shell to crack. The snake's poison fangs pierced through my tough outer shell.
"This doesn't look good."
I succeeded in defending against the first attack, however that was all. The snake freely slithered on the wall and circled us. Time to time, it attempted to strangle me, and when that didn't work it tried to pry me off the wall by biting down onto me and shaking vigorously.
Gradually, the stones from around me began to crumble off. Perrin couldn't see the situation outside. But he could deduce the general flow of battle from the sound, and tried to wiggle out.
"Stay there."
This would be a battle of endurance. Whoever endured the longest would be the victor of this battle.
Battles between monsters was fierce, but not all battles were bloody and flashy. Many times the battle consisted of enduring and waiting until the one side of the party tired and gave up. This was another method of survival in this forest.
The choice I had made at the time had been to simply endure. I didn't have any other choice at the time. If I were to attack the snake, then I wouldn't be able to stick well onto the wall and I'd end up falling. If I were to fall into the water, then there wasn't even a speck of hope for me. Perrin's warning of the water, should not be empty words.
One hour became two hours…. The one to tire as time passed was me. Ah. I realized that I could truly die like this after four hours passed. I was just that tired. I wasn't in a good condition to start, but it was very tiring maintaining the defense barrier.
The snake realized I wasn't in the best condition from the start of this battle, so it didn't dare give me a chance to recover my injuries. It continued to bite and strangle me to drain my strength. My strong outer shell gradually crumbled. Many cracks formed on my other surface.
"Perrin…."
If I died, then Perrin would die. Every time this thought passed my mind, I re-solidified my body. I felted tempted to throw Perrin as bait. My mind tried to rationalize with me. Throw Perrin into the water. The snake would chase Perrin. But something in my heart suppressed this instinct. This mysterious feeling made my mind chaotic.
"Open this."
Perrin knocked on my body from the inside."Open up."
When he asked me once again, I opened up the top portion of my defense wall.
"Perrin."
It was dangerous to come out. I didn't want to say it. He would die even if I didn't open it, then wouldn't it be better to try something before dying? That way we would have no regrets even if we were to lose this battle. I supported Perrin's feet so that he could come out.
"Perrin. I might die here…."
So if you want to try anything, go ahead. Perrin didn't answer and scanned his immediate surroundings. The snake lowered itself when it discovered Perrin. It was about to pounce. Perrin didn't seem worried even when the snake was about to attack. Rather, Perrin climbed on top of my head to lure the snake over. The snake should be able to see Perrin in full view now.
"You block his attack."
There was only one other route we could try. It would be to use Perrin as a lure like when we had battled against the deer monster. I wasn't exactly sure what he would do, but he seemed to be waiting for the moment when the snake would attack.
The child was hilariously holding onto a single sharp rock. It should be one of the rocks that had broken off during our fall. The rock appeared fairly strong and sharp, however there was no way it would deal any significant amount of damage against the monstrous snake.
"Perrin, what are you trying to do with that rock?"
He didn't answer. Was this child just being foolish? Still, I didn't try to stop him. I wasn't curious what he was trying to do at all.
"I just need to block the first attack, right?"
He didn't reply. He wasn't ignoring me on purpose, he was just very focused on the snake's movements that he couldn't hear me. I could hear his heart wildly race from nerves. Outwardly, he looked calm and unaffected.
Perrin was but a small and weak child. He was the lowest life form of this forest.
But, the snake hesitated to approach. It watched with suspicion when a young and weak child appeared with confidence. Perrin's boldness caused the snake to feel uneasy. Perrin appeared exactly like a monster like me who dominated the central territory of the Forest of Monsters.
Perrin had changed in order to survive. He had adapted to this forest. The forest had changed his spirit through the four years he's survived here, though, just a bluff.
"Your bluff is quite a sight."
We could only gamble our lives by trying to bluff our way through this. Perrin and the snake continued to glare at one another in silence.
The snake seemed to be taken by Perrin's bluff, and anxiously circled the two wondering what kind of hidden power the child wielded.
"Tsk, I can block the first attack, but I won't be able to endure for very long. My base foundation on this platform is very weak."
I wasn't sure whether Perrin was listening to me, but I warned him anyway. We were in a very disadvantageous position, and additionally I had to hold onto Perrin so my range of motion was greatly limited.
I had to block against the snake's continuous attacks, I could endure for a little, then I wouldn't be able to hold on and fall.
I should just discard Perrin. My last option suddenly came to mind. I understood this was the best path to ensure my own survival. Though the thought disturbed me greatly, I couldn't fully give up on this path.
Don't throw him away. You will regret it. I had not understood what exactly I would regret, but I still held firmly to these words. The snake looked confused whether it should attack or give way. The snake paused on the crosswalk for a moment, then firmly decided to attack to catch its new found prey. The battle has been dragging on for quite some time, so I predicted it would not easily give up.
It will attack soon. I could tell, but I didn't tell this to Perrin. Perrin had better senses than me. There was no way that a child like him would not notice. The snake stuck to the wall and then contracted its body together. It quickly sprung its body out. It happened all in a mere blink of an eye, but I didn't just idly take on the attack.
I stretched out a portion of my body into a pincer form. I calculated the distance between the snake and clawed the snake's neck then pinned it against the wall. I did this to limit its mobility, but it wasn't easy to hold it down. The snake twisted its lower body to free itself from my grasp. It opened and closed its jaw trying to bite me.
The power struggle between the two of us was fierce. I stuck strongly onto the snake, and kept it pinned down like a specimen in a laboratory. As I told Perrin, I couldn't endure like this for very long. Still, I was able to successfully block the first attack like he asked of me.
"I blocked it, but now what are you…."
I looked to the top of my head, then froze. I couldn't see Perrin anywhere. My mind blanked and I even forgot how to breathe. Did he drop when the snake was struggling? If he fell into the water, then his small body would be quickly swept down the water way. At that moment, I felt a strange sensation at the portion of my body which was connected to the snake.
"Ah…..ah….?"
Perrin was so small. But this child's bravery was like no other. Perrin had run across on top of my body and passed the snake. How did he balance himself during the battle just now to run across? He didn't hesitate and appeared comfortable balancing himself across.
That had not been bravery, but recklessness. But, this was his only hope of survival.
Perrin moved so quietly that even I failed to notice him while he moved. His fierce aura from before was gone, and whatever violent nature he bluffed seemed to have blown away together with the wind. This was the reason why the snake failed to notice Perrin.
Perrin's bluff had all been for this reason. We've succeeded taking the first step to approach the snake, but the process and cost of this didn't look good.
"Ah…"
That is dangerous. I couldn't speak. When Perrin climbed on top of the snake's head, it violently lashed its body around to shake him off. I had pinned down the snake's head so if he wanted to shake Perrin off, it had to free itself from my grasp.
I used the remainder of my body to grab onto the snake's tail. I stretched my body and then stuck myself to the wall. I locked the snake's movement completely so it would not be able to whip its body onto the child.
He rolled the small pointy rock in his hand. It seemed like he was pointing a blade of a knife, then he took his rock and stabbed it into the snake's eye.
He attacked without hesitation. He succeeded in stabbing the snake's eye, but he didn't stop there. At this level of attack, it was like throwing dust into its eyes.
Perrin understood this as well, so he used his other hand to grip the snake's eyelid. Perrin stretched it open, then deeply embedded the rock into the back of the snake's eye. His hand, wrist, arm all jammed into the snake's eye.
"NO."
The blood of reptilian monsters tended to have acidic blood. Perrin should already be aware of this by now. He understood, but sacrificed his arm for the sake of survival. The snake wildly flailed as its eyes were gouged out. Perrin was flung all the way to the opposite wall from the force. I had already foreseen this and had thrown the snake into the distance and darted over to Perrin's side.
Before Perrin hit the wall, I pulled him back into my embrace. When I stuck back onto the wall, the snake was twisting its body back and forth wildly. Its ability to see was greatly reduced and it couldn't properly make out where it was going, and simply ended up running in circles.
"The attack worked this time, but there won't be a next time."
We only bought a bit of time for ourselves. We had to think of another plan before the snake could get a hold of its senses.
I froze anticipating the snake's next move, but surprisingly it didn't attack again. The snake looked across to the both of us, then dove back into the water. Since it wasn't winter, perhaps it wasn't very desperate to catch food. The snake chose to give up so that it wouldn't need to risk more injuries. The snake warily watched me, then quickly slithered into a hole in the wall, and disappeared.
"We won."
No, we didn't win. No side won at all. The snake failed to catch its daily prey, and lost one eye. If it was a monster with strong regenerative abilities, then it would be able to heal itself once again. However, until it fully healed it would have to live on with impaired vision. If the snake could not adapt to it during the period of time, then it would most likely get killed by the other monsters in this forest. Whatever the case, it could be that the snake would never be able to regenerate its eye. However in Perrin's case-.
"You really did something stupid."
Would Perrin's arm ever heal? I held him, and then descended down the wall. I dunked his arm into the cold underground water way. The snake's blood which covered his arm slowly washed away.
"What you did, was truly stupid."
No. His choice was very sensible. He sacrificed an arm for his life. If one were to compare the two, the more important was all too clear. It was fair to trade just one arm for a life. We succeeded in our gamble, and lived to see another day in this forest. This was joyous news, but I couldn't muster up any happy emotions.
"Hurts…."
Perrin was not the one who said it. I mumbled out. Perrin's arm was black like it had just been burned by fire. There wasn't a single portion of his arm that seemed intact and okay. Perrin gripped his arm and lightly plapped his head onto the wall. He was biting down on his lips so hard that it bled as his body trembled.
Perrin endured the pain. He gritted his teeth and swallowed back the complaints and groans that dared to come out. The snake at this time should also be silently enduring the pain while coiled up around itself. It was common to suffer injuries in this forest. There was no reason to make a big fuss over every little thing. I understood this, but I couldn't calm down. I felt so distraught that I couldn't calm my heart at all.
"It hurts…. My inside hurts."
I was only looking at Perrin's arm, but it felt like my inside was being crushed. As I thought this, I had not understood why at all. I just thought that maybe my body parts which exploded was the reason I felt so painful.
I coiled around myself and cupped some water into it. I poured the water onto Perin's arm. Once, twice… ten times. Twenty times. When Perrin had first dipped his arm in the water all of the snake's blood had long been washed off.
Even so, I repeated this again and again. I continued to pour water down onto Perrin's burned arm.
No matter how much water I poured onto his arm, his arm didn't return to its original state.
"Let's go home…. Perrin. Let's go home."
I set Perrin on top of me. I securely held him so that he wouldn't fall, then I climbed the cliff walls.
"We're safe now. So it will be good to return home."
Yes. We must return home. We shouldn't remain in another monster's lair any longer. It was most important to escape this place as fast as possible, regardless of how injured we were.
"You will be fine after you sleep and rest."
The only safe place in this forest. The only place we could peacefully dwell.
"Everything will be fine when we return to our lair."
He didn't reply to my words. It made my chest hurt for some reason as I listened to Perrin struggling to breathe from pain.