Dry Drowning - Chapter 38

Chapter 38

 

 

He didn’t know how much he ran.

 

The trees that passed through his sight were all the same color, so he felt like passing the road that he had passed before again. Ian was out of breath, but he didn’t stop. As he ran with a tighter grip on the sword in his hand, he soon heard the sound of running water.

 

However, Ian, who arrived at the stream after a while, faced the empty surroundings.

 

He couldn’t see any beast that could have made Dayden like that, let alone Shyu.

 

If running straight in this direction, you would only end up in this place, so he didn’t come to the wrong place. Then Ian quickly scanned the floor, wondering if it had gone somewhere else in the meantime. At the end, he found a broken piece of wooden bucket.

 

He was sure that a fight had taken place here.

 

Ian, who was looking around not knowing where Shyu had gone, went a little further inside after passing the stream. From here on, it was a place he had never been to before. It was frustrating at times like this that he couldn’t call out his name.

 

After going in for a long time, he stopped for a while on the two-pronged road to regain his breath. Before he could think about where to go, he heard a thud sound.

 

“…….”

 

It wasn’t a person. It’s hard to sound like that with normal weight. Slowly he turned his head to the sound. Crisp, the sound of stepping on the dry leaves resounded. He had heard of it a few days ago. It was Shyu back then, but….

 

It was different now.

 

Krrg.

 

It was not a spade dragging sound, but the sound was similar to scraping metal. Ian took a step back, slowly taking the sword out of its scabbard. The sound was coming from the front. As if it knew that Ian was here, it quickly narrowed the distance without hesitation.

 

Rustle.

 

When he thought the sound was getting louder and louder, what finally appeared in front of Ian was a giant beast about the same height as him.

 

Kreuk, khg….

 

Ian realized the moment his eyes met it. This is what everyone’s been looking for for days. At first glance, it looked similar to a wild boar, but it was too big for that.

 

“……..”

 

The animal here was bulking up.

 

As Ian took a step back, the beast’s gaze turned to him. The white flesh would be as red as rabies. The moment the bloodshot eyes moved slowly, the beast rushed at him with a tearing sound.

 

Because it was too big, it seemed that it could break someone’s bones if it just firmly stood on someone. Ian, who quickly turned to the side, aimed at the right leg of the running beast.

 

Fortunately, it cut off exactly where it looked like a well-managed joint.

 

Kaaaagh!

 

The beast, who could not balance and leaned sideways, screamed. Thinking that it would be better to attack the lower body as it weighs so much, Ian once again aimed at the bottom of the running beast.

 

This time it was a hind leg.

 

“Khugh…”

 

However, before the sword could reach, the beast’s tail sharply struck Ian’s stomach in an instant. Ian, who suddenly flew into the air for a moment as if he was beaten by a huge whip, got slammed on his back in a tree nearby.

 

It felt like his ribs were broken.

 

Having never been thrown in this ignorant way, Ian quickly moved to another side and took a quick breath.

 

Khwajik!

 

The jaws of the beast that rushed to the place where Ian was nailed to a tree. It was exactly where his head was. Ian, who almost had his head crushed, quickly picked up the sword that had fallen near him. He then cut off his right hind leg before pulling out his studded jaw out of the tree.

 

Khaaagh!

 

Thud!

 

The beast, who couldn’t balance, fell to the side, due to his legs being cut off in the same direction, back and forth. With the ground shaking, the beast struggled to get up again due to its weight.

 

Tuk!

 

Ian straightened the sword, after spitting out the blood accumulated in his mouth. It couldn’t move right away, but he thought he should hold his breath just in case. It was when Ian, who once again confirmed that he could not move properly, slowly approached with the sword.

 

Crrrrg!

 

The mouth of the beast, which was dripping saliva, opened wide. The moment he thought something was wriggling in its mouth, the beast that stopped moving as if it had been turned off, suddenly drooped down.

 

“……?”

 

What?

 

It was a very awkward move.

 

Ian, who frowned, stopped, but the beast no longer responded. Even when he approached slowly and inserted his sword into its neck, it only flinched reflexively and did not breathe as if he was already dead. There was something more he wanted to check, but it was more important to find Shyu.

 

There couldn’t be only one like that.

 

Recalling the scar on Schwartz’s face, Ian ran down the left path that the beast had walked on.

 

He felt like he was going around the same place for a while.

 

It was like that as the forest was full of black old trees on all sides, but it felt strangely vain.

 

Isn’t it here? 

 

He swept back his flowing hair and looked up and still he could only see half of the sky.

 

Maybe he’s already back.

 

Dayden was the only one attacked, and Shyu, who was hiding nearby, could have escaped safely and returned to the camp.

 

He was slow, but he was small, so it might have been hiding well in some corner. He ran all the way here without realizing it, but when his mind was numb, a rational judgment sounded like a warning. Somehow he felt like he shouldn’t go in anymore.

 

If Shyu hadn’t returned, there was a possibility that Logan would form a search party and find Shyu together.

 

Of course, Logan wouldn’t do it only because of one small child, but it was unknowable if Ian was deceived by Logan to some extent.

 

He thought it would be much better to go back, so he turned his back slowly.

 

“Hey, is anyone there?”

 

And that was the moment.

 

Ian turned back at the voice that echoed through the trees.

 

He thought he had heard it somewhere and moved to the sound, and soon saw someone from afar.

 

“Hey! Here!”

 

The other person was also waving his hand as if he recognized Ian. He was wondering where he heard it, and it was when the expedition started. Turk, who kicked Shyu as hard as he could, was sitting under the tree and waving his arms.

 

“Ha. I thought I was going to die…”

 

The man who took a long sighed shouted at Ian.

 

“Hurry up and help me! I can’t walk, my legs are like this.”

 

He wondered why he was doing that, and he seemed to have hurt his leg. He didn’t know how he got here, but since it was that man who took Shyu with him in the morning, he thought he could ask where he was. If he talks nonsense, he can just leave him here.

 

It was when he approached where the man was sitting.

 

Ian stopped at a distance where the face was barely recognisable.

 

“What?”

 

Seeing the sudden stop, Turk opened his mouth.

 

However, Ian, who no longer moved forward, took a step back and looked around.

 

“What’s wrong? Scared?”

 

Something was strange. He couldn’t feel any presence, but somehow it felt like someone else was with him. And as if he had read Ian’s thoughts, suddenly the branch of the tree where Turk was leaning on his back began to shake frantically.

 

“Argh!”

 

The sound of shaking branches spread like a seizure into the quiet forest. The terrified Turk screamed, but at one point the noise stopped. Ian took a step back and held his breath. His fingertips trembled with the feeling of his blood getting cold.

 

Something creeps out slowly out of the tree.

 

The things that had appeared before Ian so far were things that ordinary people could barely understand with common sense. A country he had never seen, a sword-wielding environment, and even an undeveloped civilization were awkward, but not abnormal.

 

But ‘this’ is different.

 

The dark skin cracked and the eyes were exposed beneath the red flesh. Countless eyes rolled as if searching for something. Pupils moving rapidly up and down were all different. The size of the eye was about the size of his face, so every time it rolled its eyeballs, a moist sound like mucus resounded.

 

Khguk…

 

There was something stuck in like a blade, he didn’t know if it was a hand or a foot. Turk’s chest was already opened. Ian raised his hand to cover his mouth at the sound of scratching the armour of the dead knight. He slowly hid himself, leaning his back against the back of the tree.

 

Crack…

 

He seemed to know what it was eating. For a moment, he almost made a noise with flaring up nausea, but he quickly held his breath and closed his eyes. The sound of munching and chewing meat was heard nearby.

 

Killing and eating were different.

 

As he felt the stark difference throughout his whole body, at some point he couldn’t hear any crackling sound. His surroundings became silent as if nothing had happened.

 

….Are you done eating?

 

The moment he thought so.

 

“Fo… und… you!”

 

[T/N: Not sure who is saying this. What do you guys think? Is it that beast? (・∀・)]

 

He heard a ‘sound’ right next to him.

 

ㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ

T/N: Ian did act like he didn’t care about Shyu at all, but see, he was the first one to go and run to save Shyu ◉‿◉…. And the creepy scenes at the end… umm…◉‿◉