Pioneering the Apocalyptic World - Chapter 66
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Chapter 01: Let’s cross the great river
After a short period of rest and research, we embarked on another journey.
The next destination is north. It is a grassland that is said to be the realm of the wind god that’s beyond the river.
There might be a clue to where the god is sealed, or if we were lucky, we might find the seal itself, so we decided to investigate that area.
Uru being with me is like every time, but I can’t take a little child like Fin with us, so she is staying at Grosso Village. Also, because she haven’t gotten used to the village yet, Fricka is staying behind too. Leaving the two in the still unfamiliar base sounds tough too.
That’s why… I can’t say that, but this time the one who came with us is.
“Uooooh, it’s a river! It’s huge!”
It is Regulus.
It seemed like Lieze was also wanting to came, but this time she stayed behind to support Fricka and Fin. …… I have to thank her next later.
But those two, before I knew it, they’ve become friends, haven’t they?…… I wonder if they being both a serious type of person is the reason to them get along that fast with each other?
“Amazing, amazing! The river was so big that you could see the horizon!”
He’s innocently playing along the river bank, but on the day of his departure, Lieze and Ryza asked me to “watch over him so he doesn’t mess around.” ?This is probably just affection rather than distrust of him?so I feel like I want him to calm down a little more. No, well, Is not like I don’t understand the reason why he is with so high spirits.
After all, this great river was, as he said, a very large river. If he hadn’t made a fuss first, I might have made a fuss. It this a case of seeing someone who is more flustered than you in reverse makes you calm down?
“Hmm… It’s much bigger than I expected… I wonder if we can go by boat.”
I put my hand on my forehead and look closely, but… Yeah, I can’t see the opposite bank. Maybe it’s because of the misty-like stuff.
If I remember correctly, the horizon was about five kilometers ahead (if this world was the size of the earth), wasn’t it? It would be troublesome if this is the case that a ship is required instead of a boat. Because I can’t make a ship yet.
“Well, I guess we will just have to try one time first.”
“That’s right…”
Just idling around here won’t result in anything. And could be that the other side might be nearby.
“Then let’s tie a rope as a lifeline.”
“Umu.”
“Oh.”
It would be a disaster if the boat capsized in the middle of the great river, or it was destroyed by monsters and we get lost. A water breathing item? I can’t create it yet…
For the time being, Regulus is given the Return Stone / modified, but if he faints, he will not be able to use the item. So if we connect everyone with a rope like this, it will be possible to return with the return stone if either I or Regulus were conscious.
…… I chose to don’t think about things like the rope breaking or the two of us losing our consciousness. Because If I just imagine the worst, I won’t be able to do anything. In the first place, I’d like to think that it’s okay because we agreed to use the return stone immediately before that happened.
After confirming that the rope was tied tightly, Regulus and I boarded the boat.
“Uru, please.”
“Leave it to me.”
Uru pushes the boat, and when it floats completely on the river, she quickly boarded it. Then she immediately started to row.
As for how to row the boat, we have practiced it in Kuala Village, so there is no problem. With her power, we got offshore at a really fast pace.
At first, she said “It looks like I’m going to break the paddle…” and she was uneasy, an although she actually broke it once, I can recreate it right away, so she lost her hesitation, but maybe she stopped of putting extra strength, so far she haven’t broken it again.
“The sky is clear and there are no strange shadows.”
“I can’t see anything in the water either. Ordinary fish are swimming, though.”
While feeling the wind in my skin, I take out my bow and look overhead, while Regulus watches the surface of the water with a harpoon in his hand. It should be noted that the bow and the harpoon are made from the branch (the parts that hasn’t weakened) of the sacred tree of Alness village. So even if is just a little, they cause holy attribute bonus damage.
Originally, I thought I should let Uru, who has the highest search ability, be free, but… I don’t have the strength to keep rowing the paddle, and while Regulus is stronger than me, he’s really clumsy, so I can’t be helped that It ended up like this.
“If we weren’t in this kind of times, I would want to enjoy fishing as well.”
I mutter that as I stare at the fish swimming near the surface of the water. It’s not easy to raise the fishing skill level either.
Since it’s daytime, I don’t think the shadow of the enemy will appear soon, and the river is fairly transparent, so it’s easy to see inside, so I don’t think I’ll be attacked by surprise. But being careless is a great danger because we are leaving the starting point where the God of Creation’s protection is strong.
From now on, we have to consider the possibility that monsters will appear even during the daytime.
“I can harpoon them?”
“… We all will be in trouble if you fall in the water, so let’s be patient this time.”
Regulus suggested it, but if he accidentally slipped his foot, we might be all knocked out because we are connected by a rope… I practiced swimming with clothes on for a while in Kuala Village, but it’s really hard, so I don’t think I want to try it now.
I feel like I’m going to just be tired if I just maintain the alert state all the time, so while chatting moderately, the boat moves forward.
It was about an hour since the rowing started. Uru’s hands were still steady and unstoppable, when I was admiring and appreciating how much strength and physical strength she had.
“Rion, Uru-nee-san. Isn’t that the opposite shore?”
“Hm?”
Lured by Regulus’s happy voice, I started to look into the distance, and indeed I caught sight of something that looked like land.
I secretly breathe a sigh of relief. I tried not to show it, but in this state that is just floating alone in the middle of such a big river, was filling me with anxiety…
“Uru, can you go on a while more?”
“Don’t worry, I’m still fine.”
As expected of Uru-san, she is reliable.
Perhaps wondering about what is in the opposite shore was a bad move, because of our enthusiasm we shifted our attention from the surroundings to chatting.
With only a few hundred meters left to go, Uru who was rowing the boat with her back to the direction it was going?? In others words, who was looking the behind, finally noticed ‘it’.
“… Rion, Regulus, I’ll start rowing as fast as possible. Hold on tight so you don’t fall.”
“”Eh?””
Before I could reply, the boat’s speed suddenly became faster, and my body shook greatly, I hurriedly grabbed the edge of the boat.
“Hey, what the heck is—”
“Something big is coming from behind us! We have to land before it catches up!”
“”!?””
When Regulus and I were looked around… We could see the shadow of a large fish? On the surface of the water. When did it appeared!?
The boat is also moving at a tremendous speed, but it can’t match the speed of a fish? Swimming in the water. Little by little, the gap is narrowing.
Then with just a few meters behind—
“Hey! Both of you, jump!”
“Hieh!?”
“Woaah!”
Uru stopped rowing, held me and Regulus on her both sides without letting us protest, and jumped backwards toward the land.
At that moment, the fish? Whose face emerged from the surface of the water showed his true identity——An enormous alligator, opened its huge mouth, and with a loud ‘crunch!’ sound It chewed the boat. It was just in the nick of time…!
The jump barely reached the land, and we could step on the ground for the first time in a while.
“Regulus, hand over the harpoon!”
“Y-Yes.”
The alligator became enraged that he couldn’t eat his prey, and approaches us again, but he couldn’t become Uru’s opponent when she is out the boat.
“Hmph!”
——Doppan! !
A single throw of Uru’s harpoon opened a hole in his head and put an end to his life.
“Fubeh.”
“Ugyah.”
“…… Ah.”
…… And I and Regulus, who were still connected by a rope, were dragged in by the recoil.
Well, it’s much better than being bitten by a crocodile, right?…