Chapter 35
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Chapter 35 I lifted the box's lid with determination, but the hinges and latch clattered down to the ground all at once. Thanks to that, I opened the box without difficulty and discovered a pile of bombs inside.
"Good heavens..."
This is insane. Do these things actually work? The small, round bombs looked like hand grenades at first glance, but upon closer inspection, they were not. A safety pin was inserted into the bomb casing, but unlike typical grenades, there was no safety handle. ※WARNING※ Remove pin and throw at target Explodes upon impact Throw and take cover Those words were written on the bomb's surface in the Langrid Empire's script. Like the flare I had picked up earlier, this too showed signs of artificial modification.
"Is this Alea's work?"
Tilting my head in confusion, I closed the box for now and picked up what I assumed were incendiary bombs. I needed to return to the Cabin. The sun seemed to be setting, probably because I had wandered farther than expected. I held the large box with both hands and carefully made my way back to the Cabin. Or rather... I was trying to return carefully. I stopped in my tracks, startled to find the area around the Cabin had become a war zone. CRASH! A deafening roar echoed across the sky as a massive Anaconda slammed against the Cliff and collapsed. I stood frozen, still holding the wooden box, staring at the crumbling Cliff. What on earth is happening? I've never heard of an episode like this in the novel. In front of the Cabin, there were roughly three giant Anaconda-type Monsters.
"Move!"
ROAR! Enoch and Kaiden were wielding weapons and fighting the Monsters as if flying through the air, while Rujeep was frantically moving supplies. I looked up at the sky again. It was the same as when I first encountered the wolf-type Monsters. The sun was setting. However, the River Bank where the Anaconda Monsters were located remained bright with no obstacles blocking the sky. 'Damn it, I thought Monsters only appeared in the dark!' The Monster's head was large enough to swallow Kaiden in a single bite. Kaiden climbed onto the Monster's body and drove a harpoon into its silver scales. Meanwhile, another Monster opened its massive jaws wide behind him. Enoch, who was fighting another Monster in the distance, noticed this and rushed over. He immediately drove the harpoon he was holding upward from beneath the Monster's snout. Not even a sword—just wooden harpoons. They were pathetically inadequate weapons to face Monsters, yet Kaiden and Enoch made it possible. It was truly an unbelievable sight. Indeed, the main male leads of an adult fantasy novel are different in every way. After bringing down two Anaconda Monsters, only one remained, but I could see more Anacondas emerging from the River Bank with their heads raised. This is insane. Why are so many Monsters suddenly swarming in like this? What went wrong? What was I missing? Enoch and Kaiden were already covered in blood. Judging by the amount of blood they had lost, Enoch had probably already begun convulsing, which made things even worse. I set down the box I had been holding. Then I opened the lid and counted the bombs. There were thirteen in total. I'm not a trained soldier—I'm a civilian. Could I even use a bomb properly? I've watched plenty of broadcast programs featuring military training exercises, so I know how to use grenades. Whenever celebrities received new training, I'd search up the details of what they were learning. But seeing something with your eyes and actually doing it are naturally two different things. After all, grenades were weapons that could make even veteran soldiers nervous. The real problem, though, was that this wasn't an ordinary grenade—it was a modified weapon like the flare rounds I possessed. I pulled out the flare round from my pocket and examined the ammunition again. I had four flare rounds remaining. The pouch with spare ammunition was back at the Cabin, so these were the only rounds I could use right now. Next, I assessed a suitable position to throw the bomb. The Monsters, Kaiden, Enoch, and Rujeep were all positioned on the wide Gravel Beach directly in front of the River Bank. I was standing on a slightly higher Hill. From my vantage point, there was a risk that Enoch and Kaiden could get hurt. I doubted they'd even hear me if I shouted at them to move aside. Then I spotted Rujeep, who had drawn closer while moving supplies. I loaded the flare round first, pulled back the hammer, and then called out to Rujeep while gripping the bomb in my other hand.
"Bishop!"
He spotted me and came rushing over with a deathly pale face.
"Flone Young Lady! This place is dangerous! Please flee far from here!"
"Listen carefully! I'm going to give you a signal, and you tell Kaiden and Enoch to get as far away from the Monsters as possible!"
At my shout, Rujeep furrowed his brow in confusion and hesitated, so I finally lost my temper.
"Why aren't you going? Move!"
Startled by my sharp command, Rujeep hurried toward Kaiden and Enoch. As he ran, he kept glancing back at me with an expression of disbelief. I raised the hand holding the flare round toward the sky, regardless of what he did. From a distance, I could see Rujeep relaying my words to Enoch and Kaiden. They both spotted me simultaneously and looked alarmed. The two men came running toward me along with Rujeep. They seemed to be rushing toward me to save me rather than to follow the instructions Rujeep had conveyed. What was truly remarkable was that Enoch still appeared to be controlling his seizure. Regardless, they were moving away from the Monsters, which was fortunate. I immediately pulled the trigger of the flare round toward the sky. Red smoke shot from the flare round and hung suspended in the air for a moment. Boom! Crash! A massive firework explosion decorated the sky. At that tremendous noise, all the Anaconda Monsters simultaneously turned their heads toward where I was standing. It looked like there were at least five of them.... The Monsters spotted me and opened their enormous mouths wide, licking their lips eagerly. Inside their mouths were three layers of densely packed teeth. Their three-forked tongues stretched out long and extended toward the direction where Kaiden and Enoch were running toward me. I frantically pulled the safety pin from the bomb with my teeth and braced myself. Then I threw the bomb in a wide arc before throwing myself to the ground. With a standard grenade, the time between releasing the handle and detonation is seven seconds. The bomb I'd thrown among the crawling Anaconda Monsters exploded with a deafening roar. True to its name as a flame bomb, a massive pillar of fire shot up into the sky. One of the Monsters that was hurled away crashed into the Cliff, triggering another landslide, while another was consumed by the flames. The three men running toward me stopped in shock and looked back at the Monsters. Without hesitation, I threw two more bombs in rapid succession.
"Margaret!"
Enoch came running to me and pulled me into his embrace. At that moment, I could see three Monsters that hadn't yet died crawling toward us.
"Damn it, hold on a second."
I shoved Enoch and Kaiden aside and rushed down the hillside, loading the flare round into the chamber and cocking the hammer.
"Margaret!"
The shouts of the men behind me faded as I pulled the trigger. Red smoke pierced through the space between the three Anacondas. Seconds later, a massive explosion erupted, tearing the Anacondas to shreds that rained down from the sky like chunks of meat. Watching that horrific scene, I covered my nose. The thick toxic gas emanating from the Anaconda monster's corpse spread in all directions, and as I caught a whiff of it from up close, I suddenly felt dizzy and my legs gave out beneath me. Kaiden rushed up from behind, hoisted me onto his shoulder, and together with Enoch and Rujeep, fled as far as possible to escape the toxic gas.
"Margaret, what on earth are you doing?! That was reckless!"
"Margaret, are you alright?! Snap out of it!"
"What exactly was that?! I thought magic couldn't be used on this Island? Flone Young Lady, you can use magic? What is your true identity?!"
Enoch, Kaiden, and Rujeep raised their voices frantically in that order.
"I'm fine, so could you please stop calling my name? Save the compliments and thanks for later. Right now, my stomach is turning."
I clamped my mouth shut while dangling from Kaiden's shoulder like a sack of cargo. I felt as though my insides were about to flip. Only then did the three men seem to relax, exhaling in relief. This wasn't a romance novel. It was just a survival story. And yet in "What Matters More Than Survival," the heroine Yuanna didn't seem particularly worried about monsters and spent relatively peaceful days sharing love with the male leads. What the hell is this? Why is this happening to me? It's becoming increasingly hardcore survival fiction!
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