Isekai Lizardman Survival Log

Bloop―

The flat, wide snout emerged on the water’s surface and started devouring the island of fish corpses.

Its appetite was so voracious that not only the fish-men but even the fish corpses floating on the surface were almost gone. Unlike two days ago when it was cautiously nibbling, it now boldly showed its snout and swallowed everything.

It swung its long whiskers like whips to break apart the island, tearing off chunks of flesh and throwing them into its mouth.

Crunch―

It devoured the flesh greedily with its shark-like pointed teeth, scattering bits of meat.

Its gluttony was so strong that it used its whiskers like tentacles to pick up fallen pieces of flesh and push them into its mouth.
Only after shattering the corpse island that had occupied a third of the lake did it finally submerge its body.

It’s not just my imagination that its body seems to have grown even larger as it swims leisurely as if in its own living room.

I turned away after staring blankly at the surface, which was hard to tell whether it was dirty or clean.

There are almost no corpses left on the surface. Considering its voracious appetite, it will likely start suffering from hunger from tomorrow.

-Listen carefully.

The day I reported the anomaly in the lake.

-Fishing is war.

The dejected dwarf was gone, and in his place stood a warrior crying out for war, holding a harpoon in his hand.

-Spread the bait. Make it believe it’s safe. Train it with hunger. And the moment it bites the bait in desperation…

The warrior, whose eyes were filled with madness covering the underlying sadness, threw the harpoon and stuck it into a rock.

-Cut off its breath.

He smiled until the corners of his mouth tore.

When I threw the Tarasque meat into the lake, it wasn’t long before a huge snout emerged and swallowed it.

It chewed and swallowed the meat as if savoring it, then looked this way with unfocused eyes. The emotion swirling in those eyes was endless gluttony.

If those whiskers, moving freely like tentacles, had reached me, it surely would have tried to eat me.

It’s been three days since I started throwing chunks of meat as big as my upper body three times a day.

Considering its size, this amount was far from enough, and it swung its long whiskers like whips as if frustrated.

Splash

The water surface burst where its whiskers struck, spraying a sunshower.

As I turned away from the creature thrashing about, getting my scales wet with the water spray, I saw a furball struggling to escape and a dwarf trying to catch it in the forest away from the lake.

“Boss! Save me!”
“Oi! Mordo! Come here!”

Chik-chik quickly ran over as if it had found a savior, climbed on top of my head, and stuck out its tiny tongue teasingly.

The uncle, who had been running over, looked up at me with bewildered eyes like a dog that had lost its chicken.

“Boss! Punish that bad dwarf!”
“Rex! Just listen to me for a moment!”
“Yes, yes. Let’s calm down for a bit.”

Looking at his eyes gleaming with madness, I could guess the situation without hearing the full story.

It seems Chik-chik, being small and dexterous, had been overworked by the uncle for days and was caught trying to escape, causing this commotion.

“How far along are the preparations?”
“Hssss…. We’ve made just over ninety harpoons for now. We’ve also made over a hundred ropes by twisting Tarasque tendons and vines.”
“So the preparations are mostly complete.”

Just over ninety harpoons and over a hundred ropes to tie them with. Even considering that most will miss, this amount of ammunition should be sufficient.

“Do we have enough poison?”
“Jamel and a few orcs went to make plenty of poison, they should be working hard on it.”

If Jamel made it, the effectiveness should be certain.

Given its large size, it will take a while for the poison to spread and its resistance will be strong, but since the fight with the creature is likely to take quite some time, it’s right to add as many variables as possible.

“It seems the preparations are mostly complete, so how about you stop tormenting Chik-chik?”
“The Boss is the only one I can rely on!”

As I stroked Chik-chik, who was rubbing its cheek against my crown as if it trusted me, disappointment dripped from the uncle’s eyes.

“But…”
“No buts. Uncle, you should get some rest too.”

With dark circles reaching down to his cheeks under his eyes gleaming with madness, he looked like he might collapse at any moment, which seemed dangerous.

What is it about fishing that makes a person fall apart like this? At this rate, the uncle might collapse first.

“Go to sleep now, before I have to force you. It’ll be troublesome if you collapse during the operation tomorrow.”

At the mention of the operation, the madness in his eyes intensified, and he lay down on the ground, using wood debris as a pillow.

“…Snore―.”
“…”

And he fell asleep as soon as he closed his eyes. I wonder if this is because he’s exhausted or a product of his fishing madness.

After staring in disbelief along with Chik-chik, I moved away quietly.

“…Boss―. It was really tough.”

As we passed the piles of harpoons and ropes and left the forest, Chik-chik spoke up.

It seemed to have a lot built up over the past few days, as it chattered on and on, badmouthing the uncle.

“―I mean, the uncle treated me like some kind of tool!”
“Yes, yes. It must have been hard.”

As I stroked Chik-chik’s head to soothe it while it flailed its arms and legs, unable to contain its anger, it slumped as if hit by fatigue.

“…So you see∼. The uncle…”

Snore

I carefully moved my steps so as not to wake Chik-chik, who had soon fallen asleep, seemingly exhausted.

Passing by the orcs who had collapsed as if dead, I waved to Jamel, who was making poison with a dark face, made eye contact with the old man directing the furry creatures to move rocks, and headed towards the village.

I tied ropes to the thicker harpoons. After tying them tightly so the ropes wouldn’t come off, I drove stakes tied to the other end of the ropes into the ground.

Thud

Then I brought my foot down like a hammer, driving the stakes deep into the ground.

Heave―ho Heave―ho

The men boasting about their strength came to the lakeshore carrying harpoons and rocks, put down their loads, and used rocks instead of hammers to fix the stakes to the ground before tying ropes to the harpoons.

“Ah―. Perfect weather for fishing.”
“What does the weather matter? We’re going to forcibly pull it out anyway.”
“Tch―. You have no romance, no romance at all.”

Ignoring the uncle, who was constantly striking poses as if in a good mood, and the old man, who was nitpicking as if displeased, I checked the equipment.

We had tied ropes to just under a hundred harpoons and dipped the tips of the harpoons one by one into the paralytic poison Jamel had made all night.

I would have liked to make ballistas to shoot them, but we had to give up due to the lack of materials that could provide sufficient tension.

If the Tarasque’s tendons had good elasticity, we could have made even single-use ballistas, but since they were simply tough, we had to settle for using them along with vines to make ropes.
It’s disappointing, but we’ll have to be satisfied with being able to make ropes that won’t break.

“…Will this work?”
“It has to.”

I stroked Chik-chik’s head as it looked at the lake with a face full of anxiety and concern.

We can’t continue this uncomfortable coexistence forever, can we?

We can’t avoid the nearby lake for the rest of our lives, so we must subjugate this creature.

I lowered Chik-chik from my head and took out the meat that had been marinating in the yellow paralytic poison since last night.

I held the slightly yellow-tinged meat along with other meat that still had a bright red color and approached the lakeshore.

The creature seemed to smell the meat and tried to poke its head above the water surface, but sensing something strange, it shrank back.

I waited quietly until it revealed itself, and unable to overcome its appetite, it showed its snout.

When I threw chunks of meat into the lake, it grabbed them with its whiskers and sniffed them at the tip of its nose.

After sniffing for a while, it seemed to judge there was no problem and opened its mouth to chew and swallow the meat, then.

Splash

It swung its whiskers like whips, spraying another sunshower.

Those eyes gleaming with gluttony had now spotted the other chunks of meat in my hands, so I willingly put down all the meat I was holding on the lakeshore and stepped back.

The creature hesitated for a moment at this unusual reaction, then cautiously approached the lakeshore, swung its whiskers, and.

It picked up a chunk of meat, sniffed it again, and then chewed and swallowed it with its snout.

Thinking there was no problem, it picked up chunks of meat and pushed them into its mouth, swallowing even the slightly yellow-tinged meat without suspicion. Seeing this, I moved quickly.

“Now―!”

I quickly stepped back, kicked up an especially thick harpoon into my hand, and.

Extending my leg, I took large strides forward and stamped my left foot on the ground.

My left foot sank deep into the soft, moisture-laden ground, and my body naturally leaned forward with inertia.

Letting the inertia pushing my back carry me, I used my left foot as a pivot and thrust my right upper body forward―

And thrust the harpoon held in reverse grip.

The harpoon, empowered by the impact rising from my left foot and the inertia pushing my back, moved forward with a strong, long rope attached.

The startled creature tried to deflect it by swinging its whiskers like whips, but.

It only managed to slightly alter the trajectory of the harpoon thrown with strength comparable to a ballista.

As a result.

Thud

“Kieeek―!”

The harpoon, with its direction slightly twisted, missed its original target of the mouth and pierced the creature’s gills.

“Fire―!”

-Woah―!

As the creature started thrashing about in pain, screaming, the uncle threw his harpoon, and.

The orcs and furry creatures confident in their strength started throwing harpoons one after another.

Although many harpoons missed except for the uncle’s, and even those that hit couldn’t penetrate the scales.

The harpoon thrown by the uncle tore through the creature’s fin and dug into its side.

“Hold― tight―!”

As the ropes started thrashing wildly due to the creature’s writhing in pain, the uncle and I grabbed the ropes and planted our legs firmly in the ground.

“Urgh―.”

We pulled on the ropes to stop the creature from escaping deep into the lake, but it was so strong that we were gradually being dragged.

Beside me, the uncle held onto the rope with his metal prosthetic hands, sparks flying, desperately holding on as his prosthetic legs were dragged while stuck in the ground.

While we were desperately holding onto the creature, knowing our struggle, others succeeded in sticking in more harpoons one by one.

As those who had thrown harpoons joined the tug-of-war one by one, the tide slowly began to turn.

Whoosh

“Aagh―!”

Judging that it would be dragged out of the water at this rate, the creature resisted by swinging its long whiskers, and as people were knocked away by the whip-like whiskers, the balance of power began to collapse.

“Agh―!”

This time, people on the opposite side were sent flying.

Fortunately, the paralytic poison seemed to have taken effect, weakening the creature’s strength.

A precariously balanced power struggle.

Perhaps thinking it was truly in danger, the creature swung its whiskers at me like a whip―

Whoosh!

“Ugh!”

I blocked the creature’s whiskers using my right arm as a shield.

A pain like being cut by a knife wrapped around my arm, but I gritted my teeth and grabbed the whiskers wrapped around my arm.

Grip

“…!”

I didn’t know a fish’s expression could be so varied. It made a shocked expression and swung its whiskers on the other side, but.

“…!”

I blocked it with my left arm, gritting my teeth.

Letting go of the rope entirely, I grabbed the whiskers tightly with both hands and used them as ropes to pull, slowly dragging it towards us.

Its resistance seemed to have weakened considerably, so I lifted my legs and twisted my body.

Enduring the pain striking my back like a final resistance, I gritted my teeth and.

“Urgh!”

I planted my raised leg back on the ground, twisted my waist, and flipped it over along with its whiskers.

Every muscle in my body screamed at the resistance defying gravity and―

Splash

The monster that had been acting like the lord of the lake flew through the air.