Chapter 20: Moving Target
[You have obtained the Small Area: Sea!]
Sung-Woon unconsciously let out a burst of laughter.
‘Ah, is that so?’
Though the Two-Headed Fiend had a low level, and Sung-Woon had used a disease to weaken it, it was still a god that had a Small Area. And despite it being level one, it was still an area that could be created or controlled; therefore, divine power could be used.
‘I guess it’s the consequence of a random creation.’
However, the Two-Headed Fiend was at a lake, not an ocean.
‘Well, serpents can respawn anywhere as long as there's water. Even though this is the real world, I wonder if they get created the same way they do in The Lost World. Did this fiend live in the ocean in the past and somehow get all the way here? …Or maybe it was just set up like that?’
Overall, it was a good thing that the Two-Headed Fiend was easy to deal with.
‘The only issue is I don’t really need Small Area: Sea at the moment.’
Being able to control water was a very valuable ability to have. Therefore, during the stages of the Small Areas rather than the Large Areas, bodies of water were divided into several categories, and the most valuable out of them were the seas and rivers.
‘But the rivers would have been better because size matters. Even if the sea is okay for the Lizardmen, who seem to have become nomads, things would be better balanced if my next tribe were a species that lives around a river.’
On the other hand, various conditions had to be met in order to make the best use of Small Area: Sea.
‘They need to go out to the ocean to use this Small Area…? They’re completely in the inland area right now, so going out to the ocean wouldn’t be the best strategy.’
And so, while it was good to have obtained the Small Area, it was hardly something to be happy about.
‘It’s okay. It’s not completely useless. It’ll be useful someday.’
Sung-Woon, who had been considering future strategies for a while, realized that Sratis was still at the Frogmen village. Unlike with Divine Control, where Sung-Woon would actually enter an individual’s body and control them, less Faith points were used to maintain Sratis. Additionally, it was possible for Sung-Woon to summon Sratis whenever he needed, as well as calling it back and keeping it in a frozen state whenever he wished to. So it was more likely for Sung-Woon to summon Sratis rather than use Divine Control in the future whenever he wished to use physical force.
‘Though Divine Control would be stronger considering my Divinity level would be applied, it is possible to use both if needed.’
Since Sung-Woon made Sratis in order to gain advantages on the battlefield, he felt that Sratis was a bit too fanatical and imposing. But there was no need to feel burdened about it. If the system of The Lost World was modeled after the real world, Sratis would be an everlasting friend to Sung-Woon that wouldn’t ever betray him.
‘The Lizardmen will be like that all night if I leave Sratis there.’
Sung-Woon smiled wryly at the Lizardmen across the lake and approached Sratis.
Sung-Woon was unrecognizable to all beings on the planet, but Sratis could recognize Sung-Woon as he was its creator. Once Sung-Woon walked through the air and approached Sratis, Sratis spoke to Sung-Woon—not literally, but its his mind.
‘O Creator, I have done as you wished.’
Sung-Woon thought the way it spoke to him was a little too respectful, but he let it be since it suited it.
‘You did good. You can rest until next time.’
‘I will honor the will of my Creator again once the time comes.’
As Sung-Woon summoned it back, Sratis disappeared into the shadows.
Creature: Sratis was added to Sung-Woon’s list of possessions.
‘The Lizardmen have calmed down now… Lakrak, you're not the type of Lizardman who does nothing in moments like this.’
Sung-Woon looked beyond the lake.
***
Lakrak encouraged his warriors after he saw Sratis disappear.
“Today, we will achieve a perfect victory. I’ve checked that the island is empty, so we'll swim there. We need someone to guide us to the Frogmen’s upper village. Are there any volunteers?”
At those words, a bunch of grayish-brown scaled Lizardmen came before Lakrak.
Then Owen, with his face covered in blood and body covered in black ashes, raised his head and said, “I’ll do it.”
“I think you should rest.”
“I need to get to the island to find my son anyways. I’m not tired yet.”
Lakrak looked down at Owen for a moment and nodded.
“Then you shall lead the way.”
At Lakrak’s words, a grayish-brown scaled Lizardman came up to him.
“Please forgive my rudeness, black-scaled Lizardman.”
“You can call me Lakrak.”
“Excuse me, tribal chief Lakrak.”
“What is it?”
“Please allow us to help you as well. Please.”
Lakrak looked down at the Lizardman talking to him. It was an old and injured Lizardman.
“You’re not a warrior, and you can’t fight properly with that body.”
“I used to be a warrior. I’m not one now, but warriors aren’t the only ones who can kill Frogmen.”
“You would kill the Frogmen who aren’t warriors?”
“...I’ve already done so.”
Lakrak looked at the wooden club the old, injured Lizardman had in his hand. Blood was dripping from it, and by the looks of the viscosity of the blood, it didn’t seem to belong to Lizardmen.
The grayish-brown Lizardman then said, “I know it’s not honorable. You can say it’s cowardly for us to only do this now because there is a chance. You may also think going after someone who isn’t a warrior is crossing the line…but seeing you guys fight made me feel my heart burn. However, this burn didn’t start today. It has been there for a long time… My heart’s been burning since the day I became a slave to these Frogmen.”
“Seems like resentment,” replied Lakrak.
“...Resentment.”
“A feeling of anger.”
“You’re right. It is resentment, and I need to let it out.”
“A fire that comes from the heart, not from someone else’s orders.”
“That is right. I want to burn the Frogmen with this fire.”
The Lizardman began to cry and continued to say, “This anger from losing my companion, my child, and my grandchild. I need to pay it back anyway I can.”
Lakrak looked around at the other grayish-brown Lizardmen. In his perspective, there weren’t many who were holding a proper weapon, and they were all unhealthy, not to mention hurt. They were all scrawny because they hadn’t been allowed to eat properly, and they were covered in many wounds from getting beaten that hadn’t healed.
‘It’ll be hard for them to fight properly. The Frogmen still have troops, and they also have bows and arrows. I don’t wish for these hurt and exhausted Lizardmen to keep getting hurt, or even die. If they fight, at least one of them will definitely get hurt or die. It might even be a safer battle for us if there are only our warriors, but…’
“You are right. You have a right to fight and I have no authority to stop you,” said Lakrak.
“...Right?”
“I’m talking about revenge.” Lakrak then said to all the grayish-brown Lizardmen, “Everyone who wants to take revenge, follow me. Never give up on your right.”
At Lakrak’s words, they all raised their weapons and cheered.
Then Lakrak said to Zaol, “Zaol, the remaining Lizardmen need to be protected.”
“Don’t worry. What are you gonna do about the children on the island?”
“Once we swim there, some Lizardmen will have run out of energy. We’ll send the children back with them on boats.”
“Sounds good.”
The warriors submerged into the water first, and fifty more avengers followed. Eighty Lizardmen swam across the lake with their snouts above the water. After they made it to the island, there were about ten Lizardmen who were exhausted from the trip just as Lakrak predicted, so they took the children on boats and returned to the lower village. Zaol directed the healthy Lizardmen to examine the injured and make them rest.
Lakrak put the Lizardmen who couldn’t swim well onto the remaining boats and had Yur direct them to go far around the upper village.
“Are you saying we’ll attack them from both sides?” asked Yur.
“Yes. The Frogmen will be keeping an extra eye out on the lake, and now that we aren’t short on numbers, we can divide into two groups.”
“So it’s a trick. The forty men I am taking can’t fight well, but the Frogmen will be disoriented if we show up in the dark.”
“That’s right. Once they’re distracted, I’ll take our warriors and attack them by the lake.”
“Will you be alright?”
“There are fewer than ten of them that can properly fight anyways. And I discovered another Blessing God has given us while we were swimming to this island.”
Surprised, Yur asked, “What is it?”
“Our scales are black. They will glimmer under the moonlight the way water glimmers.”
Lakrak’s predictions were correct, and all the fighting that happened at the upper village went as Lakrak had planned.
***
Shunen bolted as soon as he witnessed his father Auloi getting stabbed several times with a spear to his death.
“H-How did this happen! T-Two-Headed Fiend! H-How…!”
Shunen cried out to his dead god, and his dead god, now cut into many pieces, didn’t answer.
The healthy Frogmen had already run away from the village, and the only Frogmen getting caught by the Lizardmen were those afflicted with the itching disease and thus had trouble breathing.
“Those stupid Lizardmen!”
Shunen couldn’t risk shouting and instead murmured, “Even if they have more warriors, we have way more people. There are some men that have the disease but can still fight, and there are also lots of men that are old but still have the energy to shoot arrows. If we could just buy some time to get ourselves together, we would have a chance to fight back…”
But Shunen soon realized there wasn’t really anyone to do that. His father, Auloi, was a brave warrior back in his heyday, but from some point on…no, to be exact, from the day the Two-Headed Fiend awoke from the lake, Auloi had become enchanted by the Two-Headed Fiend’s prowess.
As long as sacrifices were offered, the Two-Headed Fiend granted anything that Auloi wished to do, and through that, Auloi was able to eliminate his competitors, drive out hostile tribes, and defeat Cockatrices. This seemed like a good deal at first, but once Auloi stopped doing things on his own and instead had his god do everything for him, he became less and less like a warrior.
Since everyone had learned the qualities of a warrior from Auloi, the Frogmen who should have become courageous actually learned how to deceive others and act weak.
“...They’ve all become cowards,” Shenen muttered. Then he realized, “...I became one too.”
However, it was too late of a realization. Shunen wanted to run out and tell the Frogmen to not be scared, and that they still had a chance. He could picture himself shooting arrows into the heads of the Lizardmen and leading the Frogmen to turn the tides, but it was all nothing but fantasy.
“Damn it…damn it…”
Shunen hid in a hut as he saw the Lizardmen warriors running nearby. The black-scaled Lizardmen were faster and more agile than he was, so he wouldn’t be able to run away.
He listened quietly to the last of the screams that the Frogmen were letting out before taking a look outside, making sure no one was there.
“...Are they gone?”
“Here you are.”
Startled, Shunen whirled around. He unconsciously reached toward his quiver to grab an arrow, but he had already wasted them all. He had successfully shot a few into some Lizardmen, but none of the wounds he inflicted were fatal, and the poisonous frogs were useless. This was the consequence of relying on poison; it became a habit to aim at body parts that weren’t vital.
The shadow revealed its face.
“...La…Lakrak.”
“Shunen, are you not a warrior? Get up and draw your sword. I will allow you to at least keep your honor.”
“P-Please spare me.”
“Are you not going to fight?”
“Please just spare me. W-We’ve built our friendship over the last few times we met, haven’t we? I have no ill feelings towards you Lizardmen.”
“Had no ill feelings, huh.”
“Yes! We Frogmen were threatened by the Two-Headed Fiend!”
“Hm.”
Shunen racked his brain for words when it seemed that Lakrak wasn’t convinced.
.
“Y-Yeah. I’ll let you in on a secret. How about that?”
“What kind of secret?”
“The way to make a bow. You wondered about the material of the bowstring. If I tell you…”
“Let’s hear it. What is it made of?”
Shunen then realized he wasn’t in the position to bargain.
“...They’re made out of the tendons in men’s backs.”
“Ah.”
Lakrak was immediately convinced. He knew it would be the tendons of some kind of animal, but something always seemed off. If the tendons belonged to those who walked on two feet, it made sense they would be suitable materials to make a bow long enough for the Frogmen.
“And from which species were the back tendons used to make your bows?”
Shunen belatedly mumbled with a frustrated expression, “...L-Lizardmen.”
“I see. Even this bow?”
Lakrak pointed to the bow he had around his chest, which he received from Owen.
Shunen nodded.
“I see.”
Lakrak tilted his head, causing his face to be hidden in the shadows again. Only Lakrak’s eyes were shining, and Shunen had no clue what Lakrak was thinking.
Shunen prepared for death.
However, the words that came out of Larkak’s mouth were unexpected.
“Alright. Well, it’s hard to say that there's any grace or resentment between us. I’ve already achieved a perfect victory. You also offered a deal. I’ll take it. Go, Shunen.”
“A-Are you serious?”
“Yes.”
Lakrak stepped aside from the entrance of the hut. Shunen hurriedly ran away, afraid that Lakrak might change his mind, so he didn’t even realize there was a familiar Lizardman next to Lakrak.
Owen then asked Lakrak, “A-Are you letting him go?”
“Yes.”
Lakrak picked up the bow he had around him and notched an arrow.
“I need a moving target.”
Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om