“Etttuuuh!”
Rena, who had been chewing on the lizard meat, suddenly gagged and spat it out.
Phew, the smell.
She had tried it because she heard snake meat was good for vitality, but not only was it tough, the smell was unbearable.
Rena, who prided herself on having a strong stomach, felt nausea rise as soon as she took a bite.
This was definitely going in the trash.
In that short moment, the foul odor had completely filled her mouth.
It was her first time eating snake meat, and it was not to her liking at all.
「The Lizardman’s snake venom is invading the bloodstream!」
「Maximum Level Poison Resistance is neutralizing the toxin!」
As it turned out, it wasn’t the smell of the snake meat, but the venom.
Tearing into raw flesh without cooking it was a foolish move in the first place.
Unaware of her mistake, Rena concluded that snake meat simply wasn’t her thing.
As much as she heard it was good for vitality, she couldn’t force herself to eat something so unpalatable.
But vitality—vitality was genuinely appealing.
The thought kept lingering in her mind.
The better something was for your health, it seemed, the more it usually came with some taste downside.
Chinese medicine, vegetables, rice with bean paste—it was all the same.
Why not just endure and eat it?
She pondered it briefly and then let it go.
Obsessing over vitality was pointless when she didn’t even have legs.
If the smell was the issue, why not try a different method?
Snake wine—wouldn’t fermenting it in alcohol eliminate the fishy odor?
She had never seen anyone eating snake meat in the countryside, but she often saw people making snake wine.
It must have been made because it tasted good.
As she got used to the stench, it seemed to have a strangely addictive quality.
Rena tried swallowing again, as if to clear her palate.
Hmm, it wasn’t so bad. Once she got used to it, it would be fine.
Alright, decision made. Time for snake wine.
Rena’s eyes gleamed with a dangerous light.
Ssssiiiiii!
The Lizardman Tribe Chief roared, snapping the stunned tribe members back to reality.
Even so, it was meaningless since most of them had already lost their fighting spirit.
The Tribe Chief firmly gripped his spear.
“Guess whining is over, huh? So, do you think it’s useful to have a chief who just pushes his subordinates to fight?”
It seemed he had finally realized that his subordinates were no match for the enemy.
It was a belated understanding, befitting a beast.
If he had been any dumber, he would have lost all his subordinates.
Still, there’s no way one hand can stop ten.
Pouring all the manpower would have led to some results.
But then there would have been no strength left to face the incoming Orcs.
The Lizardman Tribe Chief had no other options.
He had to step forward himself.
The Tribe Chief thundered forward.
The subordinates blocking the way were sent flying high into the sky like they were hit by a truck.
Rena was shocked.
Is he a wild boar? He’s running blindly!
Still, thanks to that, the Tribe Chief successfully approached Rena.
The Tribe Chief thrust his spear forward.
The trajectory of that thrust had none of the refined precision that comes from disciplined martial arts.
The brute strength of a monster compensated for that deficiency.
With a tremendous force, the spear staff tore through the air, creating a loud roar and a gale that swirled violently.
It seemed his rage, with his tail torn and his subordinates lost, had amplified both his speed and strength beyond expectations.
Even though it didn’t directly hit anything, the plants caught in the trajectory were uprooted, and trees were broken.
This wasn’t a simple attack—it was close to a storm.
It was the Tribe Chief’s all-out assault.
He displayed terrifying destructive power, proving that his role as a commanding figure in the domain of monsters was not without merit.
“Ieeen, uhgueeerrr!”
Acknowledgment, it’s not just muscle.
Roughly translated, it meant as much.
The Tribe Chief’s helmet clinked from the impact.
The edge of the spear, which he had thrust with all his might, was stuck firmly between Rena’s teeth.
Avoiding this? And catching it with her teeth?
How absurd.
The sheer willpower of that action traveled through the spear shaft, and Rena smirked.
Crack!
Rena clenched down and shattered the spear shaft.
Then she swiftly turned her head and swung the spear tip she had in her mouth.
The spear point deftly found its way through the gaps in the helmet and sliced through both the Tribe Chief’s eyes.
…!
The Tribe Chief screamed.
Instinctively, he raised his hands to grope at his eyelids.
Naturally, his chest was left wide open.
Did he actually believe that iron armor would provide any kind of defense?
It was laughable.
In the world of fantasy, the higher the exposure, the better the defense usually is.
Though, how could a beast know that?
Rena’s hand darted out.
Crunch!
The iron armor crumpled like paper.
In an instant, she retrieved her hand, and in it was a pulsating heart.
Fountains of blood spurted and splattered.
And there, catching all of it, Rena stuck out her tongue.
A mouthful of blood pooled on the floor and disappeared down her throat.
“Hmm, salty and good.”
Though it might not be up to beverage standards, it could serve as a water substitute.
Simultaneously, the massive body of the Lizardman Tribe Chief fell with a thud.
The sight of the Tribe Chief’s giant form shielding Rena disappeared from the Lizardmen tribe members’ view, revealing Rena’s menacing figure.
She was laughing softly, bouncing the Tribe Chief’s heart like a ball, catching it, and repeating the motion.
An eerie sense of horror spread like a fog, enveloping them in terror.
The incident of Rena single-handedly wiping out the Lizardmen and rewriting the Great Forest’s legend didn’t happen.
After confirming the arrival of the main Orc force, Rena left the battlefield, carrying the female knight on her back.
By defeating the Lizardman Tribe Chief, Rena had done her part.
She had even left Ba-du-ki behind, leaving the banquet fully prepared.
Anyone who criticized her departure for saving lives was just a robber looking for a free meal.
And anyone among the Orcs who could look at the scene of brutal carnage and speak would indeed be someone special.
“Hrmph.”
Rena dusted off a bed covered in dust and laid the knight down.
It was an old home she once moved out of, so there were many insufficient aspects for treating a patient.
Still, it was much better than bringing her to her own residence now.
A patient requires absolute rest.
The current place was so noisy that it could make the sick sicker, making it the perfect place to leave someone behind.
“Hmm, surprisingly heavy… huff!”
Rena quickly covered her mouth to catch the nearly inappropriate remark she was about to make.
How disrespectful! It would have been justifiable to sue her if she had heard herself say that.
Fortunately, the other party hadn’t heard it.
Whether the person’s hearing was intact in the first place was another matter altogether.
She was in such a miraculous condition to be alive.
“Really, a human. A genuine human.”
Rena gently touched the knight’s cheek.
There was no feel of scales or the roughness of fur-laden bodies.
It was soft and silky.
“……Hng!”
“Huh!”
Rena, dazedly rubbing the knight’s face as if under a spell, snapped back to reality at the moan.
As her excitement subsided, the knight’s battered appearance came into focus—a grim sight.
“Ugh, cruel bastards. How dare they do this to a person.”
Her arms were fractured, and when she took off the armor—it made sense why she felt so heavy—she saw deep bruises all over her body. Was this a corpse or a human being?
Those Lizardmen were truly nasty creatures.
When she saw how they never tired of eating and made such a racket, she already knew they had no sense of moderation.
Thankfully she arrived in time. Otherwise, she might have had to deal with one more corpse.
“Hmm.”
Rena felt the knight’s wrist to check the pulse.
“Not quite sure yet.”
She was merely mimicking the motions.
The only thing Rena could confirm was that the knight still had a pulse.
The way traditional Chinese doctors could pinpoint exact issues just by feeling the pulse was impressive.
What kind of secret technique made that possible?
She tried various ways but couldn’t quite grasp the nuances.
“Ah, I give up.”
Rena abandoned her imitation of a doctor.
A quack could end up killing people.
What did a literature student know about medicine?
Pretending to know more than you do is a grave mistake, especially when lives are at stake.
This was the first human she’d met after several years.
If she missed this chance, who knew how long it would take to meet another human?
“For now, I’ll take the measures I can, and the rest I’ll leave to heaven.”
If after giving her best effort the knight didn’t wake up, what could she do?
It was fate.
In the wild, life and death are determined by heaven’s will.
Though because this was a human, at least there was something she could try.
Rolling up her sleeves, Rena began treating the knight.
First, cleaning.
It was common knowledge that an unclean environment could negatively affect a patient’s health.
Rena swept, polished, and ventilated the decrepit house she once lived in.
Next, she cleaned the patient’s body.
The sight of blood, bodily fluids, sweat, and so on made her feel uneasy.
In the process, ethical issues arose as she viewed and touched the exposed body of an adult woman, but Rena proceeded anyway.
This was an explicit medical action.
A doctor does not indulge in base desires.
Finally, she moved on to the serious treatment of the knight’s wounds.
Rena generously applied ointment all over the knight’s body.
If one were to mistakenly think this was akin to a child’s play, it would be hurtful.
Rena’s actions were not merely superficial. They were deeply rooted in the tenets of Eastern medicine, which not only treated symptoms but also delved into root causes.
It was similar to how the military medical office prescribes red ointment for everything: scrapes, headaches, stomachaches.
In civilian terms, one might call it tiger balm.
But it was much more effective.
Rena had personally tested and confirmed that applying this ointment invigorated the body and eliminated mild bruises by the next day.
One might think applying Madecassol to the head of someone with a cold would be useless, but in the land of Great Forest where mana was abundant, it had its merits.
Herbal remedies grew everywhere.
Made using such herbs as ingredients and leveraging the knowledge infused by the wild’s will, it was an exceptionally effective treatment method far surpassing what a qualified doctor could provide.
Even if Rena didn’t fully understand how it worked, she silently prayed: “Please get better!”
“Alright, done!”
Wiping the sweat from her forehead, Rena murmured in relief.
Despite the knight’s body being covered in ointment that looked like green clay or a liquid monster, appearances didn’t matter.
She had saved a human life, and that was all that mattered.
Just as Rena was congratulating herself, a familiar barking grew louder as it approached.
It was Baduki.
“What is it? Did you finish everything already?”
Baduki grabbed the edge of Rena’s clothes with his mouth and shook it.
Was the excitement of the hunt still too much for him?
But biting his master was crossing a line.
As Rena went to scold him and reiterate the bond of master and pet, a tremendous roar shook the Great Forest.
The dilapidated cabin creaked and swayed as planks of wood fell from the ceiling.
“…What’s going on?”
Rena used her body to shield the patient from falling debris, trembling slightly as she shook off dust and splinters.
Thanks to a wall collapsing, she didn’t even need to go outside to see the view.
A massive storm rising high enough to touch the clouds in the distance.
It was an anomaly occurring at the battlefield where the Orcs and Lizardmen were fighting.
「A Dominant-level monster has appeared!」
Rena wasn’t interested.
But this was a development her status window had warned her about earlier.
