WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Alyo

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◈ Surviving as a Warrior in a TRPG World ◈

Chapter 21: Sewer (2)

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Unlike Gerik, whose position required him to closely watch the Goblins for openings, Olin, who silently provoked the monsters and took their attacks at the front, didn't seem to have noticed anything unusual.

"Come on, what now? We've been taking extermination jobs back-to-back lately, so you're probably just on edge! Let's finish up today, then take a good week off. You'll feel better after that!"

"...You think so?"

Neither Wilber nor Olin, who was sharing the frontliner role, had noticed anything out of the ordinary. In the end, Gerik set aside his concerns, though the uneasy feeling remained.

By the time they had finished roughly half the Goblin extermination, they finally reached the deepest part of the Sewer, an area they hadn't visited before.

"There! The Sewer plaza! There should be a whole bunch of Goblins in there! Time to start getting serious!"

With the climax of today's extermination right ahead of them, tension crept into Wilber's voice for the first time. The Gnome had been relaxed the whole way through.

The change in the cheerful Gnome's attitude naturally spread to the other two, and they also readied themselves for battle with serious expressions.

"...Huh?"

Holding up his torch and carefully examining the area near the Sewer plaza's entrance, Gerik spotted something strange.

"This... is a Goblin, right?"

At Gerik's words, the party looked where he was pointing. There, they found a Goblin corpse that had been torn to pieces.

"...It doesn't look like it was just ripped apart. It looks like something ate it."

A cold silence fell over the group at Wilber's words. Without anyone taking the lead, they exchanged glances and began backing away.

"...Whatever this is, it's definitely more dangerous than a Goblin."

"Yeah. Whatever killed the Goblins, if we don't know what it is, the best thing to do is get out. Run!"

The experienced veterans decided without hesitation that they needed to leave the Sewer at once.

Gerik didn't want to recklessly risk his life either, so he agreed with them.

Screeeech...!!

"...!!"

As the party backed away in silence, the cry of a rat echoed from the Sewer plaza.

It was far louder and sharper than the sound of an ordinary rat, enough to make their skin crawl.

"Over there... That...!!"

At Wilber's words, the others looked in the direction Wilber was pointing. There, they saw two eyes gleaming like blood-red rubies.

Screech!! Screeeech!!

Before long, the monster's form emerged at the edge of the torchlight.

A human with a rat's head, its blood-red eyes and enormous incisors especially horrifying.

Its limbs were thinner and longer than a normal human's, but its torso was unusually thick. It even had a tail, making the sight all the more grotesque.

"Fuck... It's a Rat Man...!!"

At Wilber's cry, Gerik came to his senses and swallowed hard as he recognized the creature before him. It was a Rat Man, a monster created when a human was mutated by the beastification curse.

The appearance of an enemy that couldn't be compared to a mere Goblin filled the party with tension.

Screech...!! Squeak!!

As if the sudden appearance of a powerful enemy wasn't enough, more ominous sounds began reaching the already tense trio.

Soon, several eerie pairs of eyes appeared behind the Rat Man confronting them at the edge of the torchlight.

"Goddammit..."

As the party slowly backed away, no fewer than seven Rat Men revealed themselves.

They couldn't even be sure of taking down one without getting hurt. Facing more than twice their own number put immense pressure on Gerik's party.

'Please, just go away...!'

Through the games he had played with Seoljeongchung, Gerik knew how dangerous those rat-headed beastmen were.

Those rat monsters could turn humanoid races into their own kind through bites. The curse they spread granted its victims powerful physical abilities, but in exchange, it degraded their reason and forcibly implanted cursed instincts in them.

'There's no guarantee we'd win, but even if we do, if we get hurt...'

A priest could lift the beastification curse, but the gods of this world were not purely benevolent.

The gods often imposed all kinds of conditions on mortals for their own benefit. Money was among the lightest demands they could make.

For a Wood Plate adventurer only a hairsbreadth away from being a penniless beggar, the beastification curse was practically a death sentence.

"Squeak! Screeeech!!!"

Only a few more steps back and they would reach the narrow passageway. Unfortunately, the Rat Men had no intention of giving them a chance to flee. Unlike before, when they had cautiously observed the party, they now began openly closing in.

"Goddammit...!! Gerik! Formation! If we run, we die!"

Realizing there was no escape, Olin gritted their teeth and shouted for them to form up.

At the frontliner's shout, the party naturally formed a triangular formation based on their recent experience.

"Squeak...!! Screech!!"

When Gerik's party formed a battle formation instead of running, a sharp cry burst from the Rat Man standing furthest back.

As though they had received an order, the Rat Men scattered and charged fiercely toward the party.

'Fast...!!'

Their charge was terrifyingly fast, nothing like those pathetic Goblins. One of the Rat Men, racing forward on all fours, leaped from directly in front of Olin and hurled its entire body forward like a battering ram.

Crash...!!

"You filthy rat bastard...!!"

Olin spat out a curse, raised their shield to block the Rat Man as if striking it away, then thrust their heavy sword into the staggering creature.

Stab!!

Olin's heavy sword pierced the arm of the Rat Man, which had been thrown off balance by the force of its charge.

Yet unlike a Goblin, whose flesh sliced apart like rotten meat with even a little force, the Rat Man's arm and torso were packed with tough, hard muscle that didn't cut easily.

Even after taking a critical hit, the cursed beastman let out a crazed cry and lunged at Olin with its terrifying incisors, trying to bite them.

"Olin!!"

While Olin wrestled with the first Rat Man, two more split off to the left and right, charging at Olin.

Gerik shouted Olin's name, then rushed toward the Rat Man charging in from the right and unleashed Slash.

Slaaash...!!

Gerik's effort and real combat experience hadn't betrayed him. Though he was using Slash against an enemy he had never faced before, his sword shot forward sharply and split open the flank of the Rat Man trying to attack Olin from the side.

Slaaash!!

The unexpected attack from its blind spot struck the Rat Man, and disgusting entrails began spilling from its side.

Gerik had barely disabled one of them and had just started to feel relieved when a terrible scream rang out from Olin's direction.

"Aaah!! Aaah!! Aaaah!!"

Because they were fighting in a wide plaza, there was no wall to Olin's left to protect them, unlike when they fought Goblins in the narrow Sewer passageways.

While Olin stabbed and grappled with the Rat Man in front, the Rat Man that had charged from the left seized the opening, grabbed Olin's torso, and tore into their side with its massive incisors.

"Gaaah!!"

The flimsy leather armor of a Wood Plate adventurer couldn't withstand the Rat Man's vicious bite. Blood began pouring from Olin's side.

"You goddamn rat bastard!!!"

They hadn't known each other long, but after fighting intense battles together for several days, Gerik had formed a fairly deep bond with Olin. Seeing Olin in such a miserable state filled Gerik with a feeling so intense it made him see red, and he charged at the Rat Man biting them.

"Gerik!! In front of you!! Watch where you're going, fuck!! In front!!"

Wilber's rough shout rang out behind Gerik. Snapping back to his senses, Gerik turned his head and saw a huge Rat Man leaping toward him.

Whiing...!!

As the Rat Man's vicious incisors neared Gerik's face, a sharp sound split the air from behind him. At the same time, a quarrel embedded itself in the left eye of the Rat Man targeting him.

"Screech!! Screeech!!"

The Rat Man's skin was thick and tough, but its eyes were still vulnerable. A scream full of pain burst from the monster's mouth as the quarrel struck home.

"You goddamn rat bastard...!!"

Gerik had almost lost his life. Cold sweat ran down his back from fear, but he didn't hesitate to unleash Slash at the Rat Man's neck as it screamed in agony before him.

Not long after the sharp silver sword light flew forward at incredible speed, a hideous rat head shot into the air.

'Slash...!!'

Using Slash with all his strength caused Gerik's posture to collapse.

But to stop another Rat Man charging from a different direction, he forced himself to use Slash again from his unbalanced position, trying to halt its advance.

'I'm screwed... Huh?!'

He had swung his sword desperately, but for some reason, this forced Slash felt much lighter than before.

There was no time to figure out why. Thankful for his luck, Gerik unleashed Slash fiercely at the Rat Man, which had hesitated as it tried to avoid his attack.

"Just die already...!!"

From above to below. From below to the right. From the right down toward the left.

Silver sword light poured down on the Rat Man at a speed beyond imagination.

"Squeak... Screech?!"

The Rat Man had managed to dodge Gerik's sword with its explosive leg strength, but damage began piling up across its body under the continuous strikes. Unable to endure any longer, its neck was severed by Gerik's sword.

"Gerik...!! Gerik...!!"

"!!"

An urgent shout rang out behind Gerik, who had been swinging his sword like a madman in a trance. Startled, he turned his head and saw that two Rat Men had already circled around and were launching a fierce assault on Wilber.

"Aaah!! Aaah!! Aaaah!!"

Wilber supported the party with ranged attacks from the rear, so their close-range equipment was the weakest. Against the Rat Men's attacks at close quarters, Wilber could do nothing but wildly swing two daggers.

Naturally, such feeble attacks couldn't properly harm Rat Men clad in thick skin. In the end, Wilber suffered severe wounds to the shoulder and side.

"Wilber!!!!!"

Wilber had tried to swindle Gerik a little when they first met, but that was all. Once they had started taking missions together, Wilber had always been a cheerful, dependable companion, like a friend.

Seeing Wilber bleeding horribly and dying made a different kind of grief erupt from deep within Gerik's heart.

"Screech!! Screech!!"

The two Rat Men rose upright on two legs and began screeching proudly as they looked at Gerik.

Their manner seemed to say, 'Your companions are all dead. Now it's your turn.'

It made Gerik's blood boil.

"Screech!! Squeak!"

A Rat Man slightly larger than the others, likely the leader who had given the first order, let out a loud cry. The nearby Rat Men began charging fiercely as if following its command.

As always, Gerik held his sword in a middle guard stance and used Slash on the nearest Rat Man charging at him.

'It's definitely... gotten faster...!!'

Gerik clearly realized that his Slash had become faster than before.

Filled with confidence, he ignored the drain on his stamina and used Slash more aggressively than before as he tried to counter the charging Rat Men.

Footnotes:

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