Stagnant Water of Apocalypse

It really took a lot of patience to turn the ignition stones into powder. I couldn’t just hit it into pieces with a hammer because doing so would turn the powder into sparks, so I had to manually grind it slowly and gently using a chisel. Though, it would be far easier and a lot faster if my Dexterity stat was a bit higher.

“Finally, it’s over!!”

A pile of ignition stone powder was in front of me. At first, I thought half of the current amount should be enough to kill the orc. However, when I finished making that portion, I changed my mind and grinded some more. Afterall, I don’t want to imagine what kind of scary situation I would find myself in, if the orc still survived after I used that amount.

“This guy is pretty useful, too.” I smiled and looked at the pile of glowstone powder. While the ignition stone could be used as a Molotov cocktail, the glowstone could be used as a flashbang.

Since orcs were monsters with good eyesight, The flashbang would certainly come handy to damage the orc’s sight and buy me some time to prepare my next move.

“I did a lot of crazy things with this guy…” I reminisced to the times when I used it to harass a lot of monsters. From time to time, I also used it to troll a troll.

“I remember the last time.” My thoughts went back to the time when me and the other stagnant waters ran around like crazy hunting numerous monsters on the server just before the termination of service. Now that I think about it, it was some kind of farewell party. They all burned their remaining passion to the game by doing that, and then completely returned to reality. I was the only one left to wait for the new update.

Speaking of which, why did the update come at the last minute?

It was an update where alien monsters which were completely different from the zombie and fantasy monsters appear. And when I saw the Brutra for the first time, I remembered wondering if it was a monster meant to be caught.

Anyway, let’s stop reminiscing and just focus on the work on hand. And no, I won’t make a bomb, since it would make me look like a terrorist. What I would make is just a simple Molotov cocktail.

“The trace will be washed away by the rain.” When I looked at the weather forecast earlier, their prediction had changed slightly. Now they said it was supposed to rain heavily tomorrow. And with that kind of weather, I doubt anyone with a sane mind would go to Mt. Jiri that day.

I carefully put gasoline, organic solvent, and sugar into the empty can. Then, I mixed the ignition stone powder, resin, and hardener before putting it on and let it harden.

“Once I stick a wick here…” the flame can will be complete.

Because I only have one flame can, I couldn’t test its power. But, I really want to test its power! So with the leftover materials, I made another flame can, albeit smaller than the other one.

Once it was finished, I placed the smaller flame can in the open space outside the cave and lit the wick before running to seek for a shelter.

With an expectant heart, I was waiting for its explosion. And without any warning whatsoever, the flame suddenly burst out.

“…”

As expected, the flames soared high to the sky before slowly subsided as sparks splattering to the surroundings. And because I put a lot of sugar in the mixture, the fire was kind of sticky. The orc would certainly get tortured by it until it dies.

“That much power should be enough.” Even if there’s a fire left after the orc dies, I believe in the power of tomorrow’s heavy rain. And in case it was still not enough, a fire extinguisher should be enough.

With that in mind, I returned to my house for a little bit and brought several pieces of equipment delivered by the courier into the cave before sitting down in the cave and watched the orc raid video several times. Though, I felt a little bit frustrated since back in my heyday in Survival Life, I could easily hunt an orc with a fruit knife.

“Hmm…” My eyes were staring intently at the orc in the video.

That’s right. it moved like that… Its attack radius was wide thanks to its long arms. But it rarely attempts any attack with its lower body.

After finishing dozens of videos of orc raids, I finally felt confident to catch it.

Checking my arms by moving it, the pain from yesterday had considerably reduced; only a little bit of it was left.

“The healing ointment definitely works.”

I loaded the things I had prepared into the rental SUV and set off. The reason I didn’t use Tamas was because I felt it would break down and stop on the way. Driving that shit car to Mt. Jiri at night was the last thing I wanted to do.

A few hours later, I finally reached the campsite. As expected, I couldn’t see any cars around because of the heavy rain which was predicted to fall tomorrow.

“Flare…check, flame can…check, flashbang…check.” I had prepared all the things that I needed. The only thing left now was to find it and kill it.

I folded the rear seats of the SUV and lay down on a mat I spread.

Starlight and sleep fell at the same time.

.

.

.

I woke up early in the morning and quickly walked around the forest. Because of the rain cloud hanging in the sky, it was so dark. However, there’s nothing for me to be afraid of since ghosts are afraid of smartphone cameras anyway.

I circled around the campsite and repeated it over and over again before I returned to the SUV and rested.

“Just where the hell is that bastard?”

Even when I know an orc would appear here today, I don’t know the exact details. The only thing I knew was that it was killed near the campsite, nothing more. In case anything went wrong, I might miss it.

And then, the rain started to pour in earnest.

Whoooshhh-

A thick mist of water rose from the ground. With this much noise, I was certain I wouldn’t be able to hear the orc’s roar once it appeared.

“Shit.” With a curse, I put all the necessary items on my backpack and slung it to my shoulder before I put on my raincoat and started walking around the campsite again. It was something I should do because I don’t want to miss the orc.

This is really, really hard!

Walking around the forest was hard enough! But with all this rain and the fog which blurred my view, it was even more so!

And then suddenly, I could hear the roar of something nearby.

Kuooohhhh-!!

How can I forget this sound?

I quickly put my backpack down and pulled out the flare. After removing the cap, light and smoke rose amidst the heavy rain, dyeing the dark surroundings in red.

“Hey! Look at this!” orcs are very aggressive monsters, if you call them out like this, It will definitely come, unlike goblins who sometimes would run away if they think their strength wasn’t enough.

And as I had expected, the green-skinned monster was attracted to the red light and smoke.

“It’s been a long time, hasn’t it?”

The huge, muscular gorilla-like monster which was staring straight at me while drooling was towering in height, standing at around 220 cm. I was certain if I fought it in a 1:1 hand-to-hand battle, I would be decapitated in less than 5 seconds.

By the way, where’s the item? I quickly glanced at the weapons and the primitive trinkets-made-into-necklace clinging on the orc’s neck.

It looks like it hasn’t been itemized yet.

I hope I won’t get that stone axe.

“For now, take this.”

I flicked the flare to the clearing nearby. And as expected, the orc was chasing after it. Realizing it wasn’t a big deal, it crushed the flare with the stone axe.

“Good job, you orc!”

By that time, I was already wearing my sunglasses and getting ready to throw a glowstone flashbang.

Kuooooohhh-!!

The bastard suddenly roared loudly.

Without flinching, I took a step back and threw the flashbang with all my might.

After bouncing several times in front of the orc, the flashbang explodes; engulfing all spaces around them in a very bright strong light.

Even with my eyes closed and my sunglasses on, my eyes were still throbbing. I don’t dare to imagine how painful it must be for the orc.

After I barely opened my eyes, I saw the orc gripping on its own face while writhing in agony.

Kuooohhhh-!

The effect of the flashbang was awesome!

Then, I immediately lit the wick of the flame can and ran towards the orc. I could just throw it from where I stand, but I wanted to put it down at its feet if possible.

When I came closer to the orc, it swung its humongous arms as if it could feel my presence. However, as it was a wild swing, it wasn’t difficult to avoid it.

“Let’s have an orc meat barbecue!” Of course, it’s a joke, there’s no way I really want to eat orc meat.

I tossed the flame can and it landed splendidly on a wet ground between the orc’s legs. When I ran away as fast as I could, a huge flame soared. As if a small volcano had exploded, sparks splattered all over the place and lit the whole area. On top of it, a tremendous amount of heat rose and evaporated the rainwater around it.

KEUUUUUUKKK-!!

The orc screams like a madman as flame engulfed its body. It frantically swung its arms around before eventually falling to its knees.

Meanwhile, I nocked an arrow into the bow. I couldn’t just simply believe it had died. Afterall, because they had a strong vitality, orcs were infamous for waking up once again when its hunter thought it had died.

So, before the point notification comes out, I need to stay vigilant.

“Goodbye.”

I let loose the bow string and the arrow tore through the air and dug deep right in the orc’s face. The bastard slowly fell to the ground, still engulfed in flames.

「Level has risen to 3」

「You have earned 10 Points 」

「You have acquired ‘Survival Instinct’ skill」

“Whew…” I finally sighed in relief. Though, I still need to use the fire extinguisher because the fire did not go out even under the pouring rain.

After spraying the fire extinguisher, all that was left was the burnt orc’s corpse.

By the way, how about the item?

Survival Life didn’t follow the classic MMORPG system where an item was dropped from the corpse of the killed monsters. Instead, they had their own unique system which turns an object in the surrounding of the corpse into an item. And naturally, an object that was already an item or the monster’s corpse won’t turn into the item loot.

Currently, at the vicinity of the orc, there were only my item and the item the orc possessed, so maybe one of my items will be an item. “Please, anything but the stone axe… Please!”

If I get any other item, I could instantly use it. But if I get the stone axe… It would be too hard to use. Moreover, it was too eye-catching.

After waiting for a while, a faint light suddenly gathered and swirled around my watch. That’s right, my watch had become an item.

「Watch: Perception +2」

I clenched my fists and threw it to the air. This is it! The Perception stat item that I had been longing for!

However, there were still a few things I had to take care of before going through my newly acquired skills and items.

I opened the dimensional portal and tied the rope I had prepared to the orc’s ankle. After that, I crossed over to the forest beyond the portal and began to pull the orc in.

“Seriously! This is so damn heavy!”

It was extremely difficult to pull something muscly with a height of around 220cm. It was even more so when one of my arms still hadn’t recovered properly.

The tug of war continued for around 10 minutes. When I saw the orc body had safely crossed to my end of the forest, I let out a long breath. “It’s finally over…”

Of course, this place is not around my cave. It was around 1km from my cave. But, since monsters like kobolds like to dig up and eat rotten corpses, I would just bury it here. Also, I don’t think I would be able to handle the smell and the bugs if it was buried close to the cave.

“Whew…” After I finished shoveling, I almost instantly lay down without dragging the orc corpse into the pit because of how tired I was. With a steel will, I fought my fatigue and dragged the orc body into the pit. And now… I had to put the dirt inside again.

“Huh, huh…” After panting for a while, a notification suddenly appeared in my vision.

「The ‘Survival Instinct’ skill has been activated due to exhaustion」

「Survival Instinct: Dramatically increase Vitality regeneration, Stamina regeneration, and Perception」

Damn it!

The adrenaline rushed through my head, and strength was suddenly surging through my body even though I was exhausted to death just a couple seconds ago. With this renewed vigor, my shoveling became faster.

Fortunately, there seemed to be no monsters around me. Therefore, I could finally bury the orc’s corpse completely. Then, I put a bunch of bushes and stones to cover the freshly dug ground. After looking at it and making sure nothing was amiss, I returned to Mt. Jiri.

“I think this much should be fine.” I nodded my head as I scan through the burnt ground. Because of the heavy rain, all the ashes had been washed clean. Even if the campsite manager or a hiker found it, it was not bad enough to report it to the police.

I packed my backpack and returned to the SUV; I was so exhausted. Driving in this state was completely unreasonable, but it must be done. When I arrived at the nearby village’s parking lot, the Survival Instinct was finally worn out.

“Uhhhhhhhh…” My body was sagging like tofu.

I still haven’t fully recovered from the ambush the other day just yet, but today, I was already working so hard. Wandering through the cold mountain with muddy ground while being rained by countless droplets of water…

“I’m really worried about tomorrow…”

Let’s leave it to my tomorrow self.

Then I fell into a long sleep with the sound of rain as a lullaby.