Of everything I’ve encountered on this island, one thing was certain: nothing was bigger than me.
Some were quite long, but all the insects I’ve encountered so far were, at most, a meter and a half tall when standing upright, unlike this scorpion.
I don’t know exactly why it’s the only one that reached two meters, but that only makes my situation much worse. Even if it weren’t poisonous, just one sting from that stinger is enough to kill me.
I start running toward the woods, but it’s hard to walk in the rain. My flip-flop even comes off in the mud.
— Damn flip-flop…
Behind me, I hear the sound of trees being broken. The strength this monster possesses is much greater than I expected.
As I run, I almost fall and lean against a tree, looking back and seeing the scorpion approaching. My rain-soaked body tries to keep running, but soon I stumble and fall.
I slide through the mud, leaving me completely dirty and exhausted. I have no idea where my things ended up; I just look to the side and watch the enormous scorpion while I lie there.
— Hahaha… Is this the end for me?
For some reason, I start laughing, watching the creature prepare to attack me with its tail.
— Finally…
Just as I’m closing my eyes and bracing for the pain, something hits me from the side, sending me flying and crashing into a tree.
— Aaaahhh!! — I scream in pain, my voice tearing at my throat. The impact leaves me completely dazed, and the pain explodes in my arm. — Ha… Ha… Aahh!!
It takes a while for my mind to start returning to normal after the shock. I feel my blood trickling down, and my vision, previously blurred by the rain, is now tinged with red.
Strangely, the icy rainwater is what calms me, even with the agonizing pain I’m feeling.
— What… happened!?
I remain motionless because of the pain and try to look around for the scorpion. I soon find it, but the scene is something totally unexpected.
— The… flower?
The enormous scorpion is being attacked by several roots, which are trying to trap it and pierce it. I remember how the other insects died, so it’s a surprise to learn that this flower can attack too.
— Where is… it?
I look carefully around, trying to find it. If it really is that flower, then it’s probably nearby.
It wouldn’t need to infect the insects if its roots could travel all over the island.
— Tch… Haa… That hurts! — I murmur as I bite my lip.
I try to get up slowly, leaning on the tree beside me. Every little movement makes my whole arm ache, but that’s exactly the arm with the root in it.
— It just hurts… A little more… — I try to convince myself, closing my eyes because of the pain.
When I finally manage to stand up, I look at my left arm, which I can no longer move. I see it bent at an impossible angle, but I don’t dare even touch it.
If it weren’t for the rain, I’m sure there would be tears streaming down my face.
— Let’s… AH… Survive…
Still a bit dizzy and with my vision slightly blurred, I grab my shrimp knife, as it’s the only weapon I have left. Even my helmet seems to have come loose from the impact, but seeing that my head wasn’t hurt too badly, it served its purpose.
I start walking slowly toward where the fight is taking place while two thoughts cross my mind. First, the plant must be ignoring me because I’m already infected.
I don’t know how it senses the other plants, but seeing how the flowers on the insects’ bodies brought the magic stone into the ground, that means it only needs to retrieve the stone after the insect dies.
Now, if that’s really true, then this is my only chance to survive. If I manage to kill it, the flower on my arm might stop growing or, at least, not try to consume me for a while
— Where… are… you?
After living on this island for so long, I feel like my survival instinct is what’s driving me now, or all the adrenaline rushing through my brain.
In other words, if I don’t do this now, then only in the next life.
I keep searching the area, looking for that flower, but I can’t find it. It seems to be hidden somewhere deep in the woods.
Turning to the scorpion, I see that even though it’s fighting so hard, several roots have already pierced it, indicating that it won’t last much longer
— The direction… of those… roots…
Looking in the direction the attacks are coming from, I see a tree with a small flower sprouting from it.
— There…
As I approach slowly, the flower even seems to move briefly in my direction, but perhaps it’s an illusion caused by the rain and the pain.
Looking behind the tree, I see the enormous flower that was in the ant hole. I don’t know exactly how it got here, but its size is astonishing. Its roots spreading in every direction make it seem like I’ll be attacked the moment I step inside.
— Relax… It’s… ignoring me.
Maybe because I’m already infected, or simply because I look too weak, the flower doesn’t seem to react to my approach.
— …Is it… blind?
As I get closer, that thought crossed my mind. If the flower is blind, then it should be able to sense beings through vibrations or something similar.
But it’s raining right now, which prevents it from seeing that way.
— Almost there…
I walk slowly among the roots, trying not to step on any, but as soon as I get close enough, it turns toward me with its petals open, as if it wants to swallow me whole.
— …Does it think… I’m dead?
I don’t know exactly why it imagines this, but it must be because of my arm crushed along with its flower.
This also proves the connection they share, making the giant flower think I’m just like those ants.
— Need… Kill it.
Looking at it with as much attention as I can muster right now, I search for a weak spot.
— Its… stem.
Despite its enormous size, its stem seems to be about the size of an arm, indicating that it should be possible to cut.
With it basically standing right in front of me, I grab my shrimp knife and look at it.
— Di-
Just as I’m about to cut it, I feel a tremor in the ground that causes me to fall, making only a shallow cut in it.
Because of this, the plant seems to go berserk, destroying everything around it with its roots, but it doesn’t seem to have noticed that I was the one who did it.
— Aaah!! — I scream in pain from the impact, becoming even more disoriented. — … What… happ…
When I look back, even with my vision blurred, I can see the scorpion’s tail stuck in the ground, leaving a large hole. That was probably the reason for the tremor that brought me down.
The flower must have thought that was the reason it was cut, and because of that, it simply decided to attack the scorpion with everything it had.
— Come on… Just… A little… More…
I force myself to get up, even if only on my knees, to cut it again. I try to find the spot where I made the cut, to make sure I’ll cut it in two this time.
— Heee… Re!
And I finally manage to cut it.
The tremors caused by the flower’s roots stop, along with all the devastation it was causing.
Its upper part slowly topples to the side, almost falling on top of me.
— Haha… Coff… I won… — I murmur, my voice hoarse with exhaustion.
I look toward the enormous flower as I use it to pull myself up with great effort. At its center, I see a magic stone. It isn’t much different from the others I’ve found, only its glow seems to be stronger.
— Haa… So… There’s… A stone…
I put my knife in my belt and pull the stone from its center. The flower tries to close up, but the stone comes out easily, and I can see it clearly in my hand.
At that moment, the flower begins to wilt, but my focus is on the stone.
— …Yellow?
I notice its more yellowish hue, but I push that aside and turn my attention to the scorpion. Its body still seems to twitch slightly, but judging by its condition, it probably won’t survive.
— …
For a moment, I consider taking its stone, but in my current state, even a simple movement from it could kill me.
I walk slowly through the rain, toward the scorpion’s den, which must be the safest place right now. With my body all battered and wet, I lie down at the cave entrance.
— I will… survive… — I murmur, my eyes almost closing.
The adrenaline seems to have worn off, and all the exhaustion washes over me. I’m about to pass out, but there’s still something I need to do.
I throw my shrimp protectors into the rain, hoping they’ll be full of water by the time I wake up.
In addition, even while lying down, I smash the magic stone against the ground. The pieces are quite irregular in size, but I don’t have time to worry about that now.
I grab a small handful that doesn’t look like it will make me choke and throw it into my mouth. I force my body to swallow them, protecting my throat with the [Protective Membrane].
— Work…
After that, exhaustion overtakes me and I fall asleep.
[To be continued…]
[???]:
— …F.