WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Alyo

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◈ Surviving as a Warrior in a TRPG World ◈

Chapter 54: Adrift (1)

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If he stayed still, he would die for certain anyway. With nothing left to lose, Gerik tried to use Charge toward the cliff.

'...!!'

Amazingly, power began to gather in his legs, starting from his thighs. Once enough force had built up, Gerik unleashed it toward the cliff.

Boom!!

The condensed force exploded, striking the air with a powerful shock. To his surprise, Gerik's body shot toward the cliff as though he had stepped on something.

Clang...!!

As the cliff rushed close, Gerik swung the longsword in his hand hard against it and used Slash.

Normally, it would have done little more than scratch the hard rock. But the powerful force granted by the skill cracked the cliff face.

Scrrrape...!!

The longsword dug into the cliff wall with a sharp metallic sound. The sickening screech of rock grinding against metal rang in Gerik's ears. His falling speed clearly slowed.

Crack!!

"Argh...!!"

A tremendous impact struck Gerik's right arm.

Then his bone broke.

The terrible injury, one he had never experienced before, made Gerik's vision flash white.

'Damn it...!'

His broken arm eventually lost all feeling, causing him to let go of the sword.

Gerik began falling again.

As the ground drew closer, intense fear and a sense of crisis overwhelmed him.

Then, at that moment.

His mind became cold and clear. Gerik realized that One Who Crossed the Line of Death, the blessing granted by the unknown goddess, had activated.

'Doesn't it only activate during combat...?'

Perhaps because this situation had occurred in the middle of a battle, the goddess considered him to still be in combat.

Whatever the reason, it benefited him. Pushing aside his doubts, Gerik opened his left hand and drew the spare longsword strapped to his back.

Clang...!!

A silver flash burst through the air again as he struck the cliff.

An ordinary longsword would have broken immediately, but the longsword Grimdal had specially forged from Red Iron only let out a sharp metallic cry as it firmly endured the impact.

"Ugh...!!"

A horrific shock traveled through Gerik's left hand.

But letting go meant death. Gerik desperately held on.

Normally, he would never have been able to endure the pain crashing over him. But the passive One Who Crossed the Line of Death had made his mind exceptionally clear, allowing him to withstand the terrible situation.

Before long, the ground finally came close.

Thud!!

The moment both feet touched the ground, the remaining force of the fall surged up through his legs and swept across his entire body. Gerik's knees buckled under the brutal impact, and he let out a pained breath.

"Kugh!"

He had avoided instant death by driving his sword into the cliff and slowing himself down.

But that was all.

The taste of blood filled his mouth.

'Internal injuries...'

Based on his experience dying of cancer in his previous life, Gerik realized that he had suffered fatal injuries and was dying.

This would not do.

Fortunately, the passive had left his mind exceptionally clear. Rather than panic, he could still think rationally.

'...A healing potion.'

Gerik remembered the healing potion Ilvern had given him to use during the battle.

He fumbled through his belt with his half-ruined left hand. Thankfully, he found a small glass bottle that had not broken.

Gulp...!!

Gerik struggled to pull out the stopper with his damaged hand, then barely managed to swallow its contents.

A strange energy filled his body and began to ease some of his discomfort.

'...One bottle isn't enough.'

Gerik realized that his condition had merely improved. He had not fully recovered.

At best, it had delayed the death that was about to come for him.

Just as he tried to inspect his body and accurately assess his condition, Gerik felt the passive One Who Crossed the Line of Death end.

"Kugh...!!"

The pain he had forgotten came crashing into his mind all at once.

The pain from his broken right arm. The impact driven into his legs. The internal injuries that had improved greatly but still remained. Even the terror he had felt while falling from the cliff.

Not long after all of it struck his mind, Gerik's vision went dark.

* * *

Gerik opened his eyes.

Terrible pain greeted him as if it had been waiting.

It felt as though every bone and joint in his body had been crushed by a blunt weapon. The agony rushed over him all at once.

Even breathing made it feel as though something deep inside his ribs were splitting apart, while his mouth was full of a bitter, metallic taste.

"...Ugh."

Suppressing a groan, Gerik laboriously moved his relatively intact left hand toward the emergency supplies pouch at his waist.

His fingertips would not move properly. Only after fumbling several times did he manage to open the pouch. He swallowed whatever painkillers and anti-inflammatory medicine he could grab.

Even then, the pain did not fade.

'I didn't want to use this... Do I have a choice?'

After agonizing over it for a long time, Gerik took out a small vial he had kept separately at the very bottom of the pouch.

It was a highly addictive painkiller he had prepared to use only as a last resort.

After hesitating for a moment, he let out a sigh and poured the painkiller into his mouth.

"Fuu..."

Its side effects and addictive nature were severe, but its effect was certain. As the agonizing pain consuming his body gradually subsided, Gerik let out a sigh of relief.

However, he used only about half the allowable dose before putting the rest back into the pouch.

If he used it recklessly just because the terrible pain had eased, he could become an addict, someone worse off than dead.

So Gerik intended to use only the bare minimum, just enough to endure.

'My condition...'

Once the pain had faded somewhat, Gerik lowered his head and began examining his body.

He checked his right arm first, the part that had hurt the most during the fall. It had the least sensation of any part of his body.

At a glance, the bone was shattered and the muscles seemed torn and damaged. The only fortunate thing was that it did not seem to be a compound fracture. The bone had apparently not torn through the muscles.

'No... I'm sure the bone tore through the muscle... Was it the healing potion?'

Gerik guessed that drinking a healing potion beforehand during the battle against the Grizzly Owl, just before his fall, had prevented his right arm from being completely ruined.

Otherwise, he could not explain his current condition.

'Well... As long as I won't be disabled, that's good enough...'

Why the aftereffects were less severe did not matter much to him. Gerik quickly put the question aside and checked his left arm.

"Ugh...!!"

His left arm seemed somewhat better. When he moved it to check its condition, a faint pain spread through it and made him groan. His left arm also seemed to have a small fracture.

'It would be stranger if it were fine.'

After finishing with his left arm, Gerik carefully felt his abdomen, which worried him the most.

Fortunately, perhaps thanks to the healing potion, the internal injuries that had been severe enough to make him cough up blood seemed to have closed up somewhat.

But only somewhat.

The dull pain deep in his chest seemed to warn Gerik that his internal injuries still remained.

'First, emergency treatment...'

Following what Lugos had taught him, Gerik removed the scabbard of the greatsword on his back.

To immobilize his ruined right arm, he laboriously positioned the scabbard against it and wrapped it in cloth, using his mouth, left hand, and the cave wall.

"Ugh...!!"

Intense pain broke through the painkiller from time to time. Gerik repeatedly froze with tears in his eyes.

But if the painkiller wore off while he left it like this, terrible pain would flood through his unsecured arm. Gritting his teeth, he endured the pain and tied the knot.

"Haa... Haa..."

Once he had secured the splint on his right arm, Gerik remained on his knees, pale-faced and covered in cold sweat as he repeatedly gasped for breath.

After a long time, when the pain had eased, he gritted his teeth and placed the scabbard of his shortsword against his left wrist.

The injured area was smaller, so Gerik somehow managed to secure his left wrist using his mouth and feet.

It was far from perfect first aid, but it should at least keep the bone from shifting further while he moved.

Gulp... Gulp...

Having done the minimum to tend to his injuries, Gerik took out his waterskin and wet his throat. Then he pulled out one of the makeshift torches strapped to his thigh and lit it.

Once the small light illuminated his surroundings, Gerik could finally examine the place where he was.

It was the interior of a dark cave. The ceiling was impossibly high, and rough rock walls surrounded him on all sides.

Beyond the torchlight stretched endless darkness. He could not even tell where the entrance was, much less the exit.

'Haa... This is driving me crazy... What am I supposed to do...?'

After grasping the situation, Gerik sat there for a while and began to think.

Should he wait for his companions to possibly rescue him, or move on his own and search for a possible way out?

No matter how much he thought, he could not find an answer. To face reality, Gerik began checking his belongings one by one.

'If I ration my food and water, I have about two days... The small torches coated in Oilwood sap... If I conserve them as much as possible, they should last three or four days...'

Once he checked his supplies, Gerik's thoughts quickly came together.

'I have to give up on waiting for rescue.'

Looking at it coldly, Minos was critically injured while Gerik was separated from the group.

If at least one healthy Grizzly Owl remained, it was unlikely that the others would risk coming to rescue him.

If he waited around indecisively, hoping for a slim chance, and his food and water ran out while his injuries worsened, all that would remain for him was a slow death.

'I refuse to leave my life at someone else's mercy any longer.'

Gerik decided that if he wanted to survive, he needed to make use of every second from this moment on.

Having decided, Gerik slowly stood up with the torch in hand.

"Ugh...!!"

Even while under the effects of a powerful painkiller, Gerik broke into a cold sweat the moment he put strength into his legs to move.

"Haa... Haa..."

Gerik barely made his way to the cliff and painfully pulled the spare longsword from the rock. Using the sword as a cane, he bent over and repeatedly gasped for breath.

After sitting down to rest and steady his breathing, he sheathed the longsword in its spare scabbard and slowly began walking forward.

'I don't know how long this will take...'

Though he walked for quite a while, Gerik could only move a short distance due to the pain and dizziness. Growing frustrated, he briefly considered using Charge to travel quickly.

'That's insane.'

But Gerik soon shook his head, realizing how absurd the idea was.

If he used the skill in his current state, the internal injuries barely closed by the healing potion would likely rupture again.

'Then I really will die.'

Reprimanding himself, Gerik painfully took one step after another and moved forward.

How long had he been walking?

He walked, rested, then walked again. The cave was a single passage, but it was like a bottomless abyss. No matter how far he went, he could not find a path leading outside.

'Water...!!'

The one fortunate thing was that groundwater flowed throughout the cave. It was even clean, perhaps filtered somehow, so he could at least solve the problem of drinking water.

But food was another matter.

Despite rationing desperately, Gerik eventually saw that his remaining food was nearly gone.

And he felt death drawing closer.

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