Chapter 16

A small wound had appeared on Theo's arm.

Not only that, but an above-average heat emanated from Theo's hand as I held it.

Even assuming his body temperature had risen from the intense battle, it was abnormally high.

"Theo.You weren't bitten, were you?"

"Oh, this?"

Theo checked the wound on his arm and laughed as if it was nothing.

"Just a little.It's fine.It'll just be a few days of feeling ill, right?

We just took down three, so the mission was successful.

I'll just think of it as a few days of good rest."

"…"

Theo's nonchalant attitude left me speechless.

He was right.

While Labias Lizards do carry venom, it's not a highly lethal one.

Nine out of ten people recover in a few days as if nothing happened, kicking off their blankets.

However, conversely, that means one out of ten dies.

A 1/10 chance.

It wasn't a high probability, but thinking that a life hung in the balance made the weight of it different.

Selina sighed softly, perhaps having the same thought as me.

"We shouldn't take this lightly.Lilisa was also bitten earlier, right?"

"Yeah."

Lilisa nodded in a small voice, gripping her arm even tighter.

Unlike Theo, she was utterly terrified at the thought of possibly dying.

Selina, looking at Lilisa with a worried gaze, extended her hand to Adam.

"Thank you, Anya."

Adam smiled simply, thinking she was offering to help him up, and grabbed Selina's hand, expressing his gratitude.

Selina, flustered, hesitated.

"No, that's not it...I was asking for the antidote."

"Antidote?"

"Yes.Antidote."

"Why me...?"

"Well, because Adam is the field commander, of course?It's a mission to hunt Labias Lizards with deadly venom.Naturally, among the supplies given to Adam, the field commander, there should be an antidote..."

As time passed, Selina's voice grew quieter.

Her gaze was fixed on the crumpled leather bag tied to Adam's waist, which anyone could see was empty.

Selina's calm expression quickly twisted into one of horror.

"You didn't leave the supplies you were given behind, did you?"

"Th-that can't be!I wasn't given any supplies in the first place!"

"…!"

At Adam's indignant protest, Selina looked as if she had been struck by lightning.

Come to think of it, D&K also gave supplies before starting Stage 1-2.

A box with five cheap recovery potions and five antidotes.

Judging by her reaction, the Alliance seemed to issue similar levels of supplies.

Viscount Lemming, as a matter of course, had siphoned off the supplies that should have been given to the soldiers.

Selina, probably quite flustered, even stammered, which was unlike her.

"Th-then, we should at least call for the airship.We've achieved the mission objective, and our equipment is a mess, so we can't sustain combat.I don't think they'll object to an emergency call."

"...How?"

"Well, using the flares or communicators we were given...Ah.Son of a bitch."

Selina, with a look of despair, finally uttered an expletive.

It was clear who that heartfelt word was directed at.

***

In the end, all we could do was pray.

We quickly recovered the hearts of the fallen lizards and sprinted towards the rendezvous point, carrying the immobile Adam on our backs.

There was no conversation.

Only harsh breaths continued through the heavy silence we chose to conserve energy and avoid encountering lizards as much as possible.

Thud.

Someone slumped to the ground.

It was Theo.

"Theo!"

I almost screamed when I placed my hand on Theo's back.

His body was burning hot, making me wonder how he could have walked until now.

Compared to Lilisa, who was also bitten but seemed perfectly fine, Theo's condition was clearly not normal.

He had fallen victim to the 1/10 chance.

Perhaps his severed arm and the extreme exhaustion from the intense battle, which had pushed him to his limits, contributed to the deterioration of his immunity.

"I'll help you up, so stand.It's just a little further to the airship.No, get on my back.That'll be faster."

I tried desperately to get Theo on his feet.

But both I and Theo knew.

It would take a good four hours to reach the airship.

It didn't seem likely that Theo would last that long.

"Damn it...Of all times...I really have bad luck."

"Don't speak.Conserve your energy, even a little."

"Hey.Ryan...my bag.My bag..."

Theo, who leaned on me, unable to stand on his own, mumbled.

Wondering if there was something in it, I checked his bag.

However, all that was in his bag was a single crumpled, stained white envelope.

Something was written on the outside of the envelope, but unfortunately, I didn't know the language of this world, so I couldn't understand the meaning of the characters at all.

Instead of Selina, who was busy supporting Adam, I handed the envelope to Lilisa.

The moment she saw the envelope, tears welled up in Lilisa's already gloomy eyes.

"It says...'Will'."

"This damn human...!When did he even write this?!"

That will was probably written during the few days I was confined in solitary.

Hadn't he experienced losing an arm and nearly dying in the first battle?

Having gone through the same experience, there was no way I wouldn't know what Theo must have felt when writing those words.

Theo didn't react to my harsh expletives.

I carried Theo on my back.

His single arm hung limp.

I started moving my legs, but it was obvious to anyone that Theo wouldn't last until we reached the airship.

It was akin to clinging to an impossible hope.

Logically, this was just a waste of energy and a foolish act that would reduce our chances of survival.

But even knowing it was a meaningless struggle, I couldn't put Theo down.

I have to find another way.

If only there was a White Hero nearby, I could deal with them and loot an antidote...

Unfortunately, the probability of there being White Hero forces operating in this vicinity was practically nil.

However, grasping at straws, I used the Dragon's Eye to eavesdrop on the player's chat channel.

As expected, there was no useful information.

Most of it was idle chatter.

But amidst the chatter, there was one conversation that caught my attention.

Oh dear…

They said the difficulty increased significantly recently.

It seems that applied to Stage 1-1 as well.

So, you lost everything except your player character?

Yes…

I lost my cherished heroes, and I don't know how to recover.

I'd like to help you, but the distance is far, and I have things to do, so it'll be hard to meet in person…

For now, do you want to go to Stage 1-2?

I once shot down an Alliance airship, but due to circumstances, I couldn't recover the spoils.

If you recover that, you'll have enough money to hire about one unit and one hero.

I'll give you the coordinates.

Thank you so much!

This was clearly a conversation between the player who had fought in Stage 1-1 and taken Theo's arm, and a veteran player wanting to help him.

I immediately took out my map and checked the coordinates.

About an hour away from here.

Closer than I expected.

At least much closer than the rendezvous point where Unit 707's airship was.

The airship that the veteran player claimed to have shot down would have been on a mission in Labias Valley, so it would surely have a large amount of supplies, including antidotes.

Having made my decision, I hastily changed direction.

The others, perplexed by my sudden action, couldn't hide their confusion.

Lilisa, who was relatively unconstrained in movement, ran to catch up with me.

"Ryan!

Where are you going?"

"..."

I couldn't immediately answer her question.

Until now, whenever I used information obtained through D&K and the Dragon's Eye, I always tried to think of a plausible excuse first so as not to arouse suspicion from others before acting.

But this time, my body moved before I could think.

There was no way I had a plausible excuse to persuade Lilisa.

I kept thinking while not stopping my legs.

"...Airship."

"Yes?"

"Yesterday, when I was flying over the operation area in Unit 707's airship, I remember seeing what looked like the wreckage of a crashed airship.

We should be able to reach it in about an hour.

If we investigate the wreckage, we might find an antidote."

The excuse I had barely managed to come up with had many flaws.

There was always a possibility of it being treated as unreliable information and drawing opposition.

But I wasn't the only one clinging to even a glimmer of hope to overcome Theo's crisis.

At the mention that Theo might live, everyone's faces filled with hope, not a single suspicious glance directed at me.

I increased my speed.

Carrying Theo on my back, I covered an hour's distance in just 40 minutes.

And in the distance.

Between the dense trees, I saw a half-destroyed small airship covered in grass and vines.

"Lilisa.I'll leave Theo to you."

"Yes!"

I handed Theo over to Lilisa and ran at full speed.

I forced open the damaged airship's door and headed straight for the storage room.

Along the way, the skeletal remains of the airship's crew greeted me, but I didn't have the leisure to leisurely face them and scream.

In the storage room, various unused supplies lay scattered with dust.

Opening a supply crate, I found everything from rusty weapons to spoiled, unidentifiable food items and various consumables.

And in a box in the corner, I succeeded in obtaining what I wanted.

Acquired: Cure – Labias Lizard.

Information: Cure – Labias Lizard.

A cure to detoxify the venom of the Labias Lizard.

Effects can be observed within 5 minutes of injection.

Caution: Due to insufficient storage conditions, the effect has been reduced by 21 percent.

Upon checking with the Dragon's Eye, the antidote's condition was not as pristine as I had thought.

But there were many of them.

Five oral types and five injectable types.

If one didn't work, then two vials, and if that still didn't work, up to three vials should solve the problem.

I ran back the way I came with all my might.

In the distance.

I saw Theo lying on the ground and Lilisa kneeling in front of him.

Selina too.

And Adam.

For some reason, they were all bowing their heads next to Theo.

Even from a considerable distance, I could hear Lilisa's weeping.

"..."

I forcefully pushed my legs, which were trying to slow down.

I desperately denied what I saw.

Ignoring the sobbing Lilisa, I injected Theo with the antidote.

Five minutes passed.

No reaction.

By now, Theo should have sprung up, ruffled Lilisa's hair, and smiled brightly, saying she worked hard.

It seemed the antidote was defective, or its poor condition prevented it from spreading effectively.

I prepared a second injection.

"Ryan.Theo is..."

Selina grabbed my hand.

I forcefully shook it off.

There was no more interference from her.

The second antidote also entered Theo's body, not a single drop remaining.

Five minutes passed.

This one also seemed to be defective.

I prepared a third antidote.

My hands trembled violently.

As is often the case with medicine, overuse can lead to serious side effects.

The same applied to the antidote.

If this antidote was also defective, further injections would be impossible, even for Theo's body.

I prayed that this time, at least, the medicine would work, and wiped my eyes with my sleeve.

My vision had been blurry for a while, making it hard to see, but thanks to that, my vision cleared.

My vision quickly blurred again, so I tried to inject quickly.

"Ah..."

I missed the injection.

To think I would fumble so badly over something so important, and eventually cause an accident.

I needed to pick up the fallen syringe, but my hand wouldn't move.

"Ryan...!"

Lilisa hugged me tightly from behind.

The warmth spread across my back, and the shoulder where she buried her face became very wet.

"..."

I wish it would rain.

The sky I looked up at was disgustingly clear.