Isekai Lizardman Survival Log

Hah―

I took a deep breath and thrust the spear. I twisted my wrist of the extended right arm to add rotation.

Crack―

It deeply penetrated the log that was set up as a substitute for a training dummy.

Following the twisted wrist in the opposite direction of the thrust, the spear came out like a screw, and broken fragments fell.

Phew―

As I exhaled, I alternately looked at the pierced log and the spear in my hand.

The wooden spear, made by uprooting a tree and whittling it down to match my size, didn’t have a single scratch despite being the same material as the log. In contrast, the log had a fist-sized hole in it. No one would believe they were the same material.

“…Wow.”

Derek, who had been swinging his sword nearby, looked at the hole in the log and his jaw dropped.

Curious, he approached the log and slightly inserted his head into the hole about the size of his head.

“Ack! Boss! Please help me out!”

But then he got stuck and started flailing about, clinging to the log trying to pull his head out.

What is that guy doing now? I sighed at the pathetic sight.

Without Chik-chik around, he was acting on his curiosity like an unbridled colt, just like Chik-chik would. But while it might be understandable for a palm-sized animal, seeing a tall man act like this was utterly pathetic.

I grabbed his shoulder and pulled, and despite all his struggling earlier, he came out easily.

“Ow ow ow….”

Thrown to the ground, Derek rubbed his head, which had turned red and swollen as if scraped.

“Why did you stick your head in there?”
“Well, the hole was about the size of my head, so I was curious and….”

I gave a light flick to his forehead as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, then gently lifted his head as he sat down.

“Aaah―!”

Ignoring his whining about pain, I thrust the spear into the log again, creating another identical hole.

Hmm―

Examining the hole, I extended my finger and pressed hard against the log, feeling strong resistance.

As my finger gradually dug in, I wondered if I could kill an orc with just my finger.

“…I’m not sure.”

When I clenched and unclenched my hand, I felt a strength incomparable to when I was human.

But fundamentally, I didn’t feel like my strength had increased.

It’s paradoxical that I don’t feel stronger despite performing feats that were impossible before. What is this contradictory sensation?

Certainly, I couldn’t pierce the log so deeply with a spear before, nor could I make holes with my fingers.

Looking down at my palm, I saw fingers and wrists that were clearly thicker than before.

-I thought it was my imagination, but you’ve gotten bulkier, Rex.
-Now that you mention it, he has definitely thickened up!

While it’s not very noticeable in the arms or legs, parts where bones are clearly visible, like wrists, ankles, and fingers, have definitely thickened.

‘The bones have definitely thickened.’

The first time I climbed the stairs, it was blood. The second time, overall muscles changed. So this time it’s bones?

If my bones were too weak compared to my muscles before, preventing me from exerting my full strength, then this sudden increase in strength makes sense.

But does it make sense to suddenly become stronger just because bones have thickened?

If I hadn’t been able to use my full strength until now, I would have broken bones from overexertion.

There’s too little evidence to make a definitive conclusion. I only realized that my muscles had changed long after it happened, didn’t I?

The bones might have thickened during the healing process, or it could be an ability related to recovery since I healed in just one day.

Without a way to confirm it, I can’t make any definitive statements.

‘I can’t just cut myself to check.’

If I were to cut myself to check my ability, the old man and the villagers would go ballistic, so that’s out of the question.

I remembered the time I stuck my hand in fire to check my heat resistance and got beaten up for it.

Thanks to the beating, which was close to torture, I was bedridden for a week.

The memory of my scales losing their luster and turning charcoal-like from the old man’s furious breath of fire is one I’d rather not recall.

I shook my head to clear away the unpleasant memories and stood up. Derek, seemingly recovered from the pain, approached.

“Derek. How did my thrust look to you?”
“Uh… well. Honestly, from my limited perspective, it looked quite skilled.”

I nodded with a subtle expression at his ambiguous answer.

Unfortunately, I wanted to improve my self-taught spear technique, but there was no one to teach me. Somehow, the only person in the village who knew how to use a spear was this half-wit Derek, so what could I do?

Moreover, even this guy only knew the basics of spear techniques, with his main weapon being a sword. It seems I’m destined to learn spear techniques through self-study to the end.

“Boss. But why do you insist on using a spear? Honestly, it’s just a hindrance in the forest, isn’t it?”

I made a sour face at Derek’s question. Indeed, a spear is nothing but a hindrance in the forest.

In a forest dense with trees, even a short spear gets in the way, let alone a long spear taller than me.

It’s not for nothing that villagers mainly use swords or axes as their primary weapons.

The spear often gets caught on branches, requiring constant attention to its trajectory. How much more attention would be needed to wield a long spear?

Despite this, I insisted on using a spear. Partly because I’m so large that I can’t use weapons in the forest anyway, so I’ve excluded forest combat altogether, and partly because I think a spear is most suitable for taking advantage of the long reach in open areas, but….

“Well, because it’s cool.”
“…Pardon?”

The fact that spears are cool is probably the biggest reason.

Others might say swords are cool, and some unique individuals might prefer axes, but I found spears cool.

Above all, the spear is worthy of the title “king of all weapons,” so why wouldn’t I choose it?

Of course, progress is slow because I don’t know much about spear techniques and there’s no one to teach me, but I don’t regret it.

“Um… that’s just like you, Boss.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Derek scratched his head awkwardly and smiled bitterly.

“No, just… I think it’s like you to stick to your own convictions. If I were in your situation, I probably would have given up.”
“Indeed, you do seem like the type to take the easy way out.”

My words seemed to shock him, and as he looked up at me with a hurt expression, I gave him a light tap on the head.

“That’s why you should hurry up and pick up a sword. You should at least be able to catch a rabbit.”

Derek, who had been looking at me with an utterly wronged expression, hurriedly grabbed a wooden sword.

His form holding the sword with both hands looked somewhat proficient, but in the end, he was just a half-wit who couldn’t even catch a single rabbit.

I never imagined he really couldn’t catch a rabbit, so the sight of him not even being able to graze a rabbit with an attack is still unforgettable.

“Ha―ah!”

While I was briefly lost in thought, Derek honestly shouted a battle cry and swung his sword diagonally downward.

His posture was somewhat proficient, but it was so slow it made me yawn, so I easily dodged by taking a step back.

Not giving up, he raised his sword to slash again, and then, having learned from somewhere, he threw dirt to obscure my vision before thrusting at my chest, but…

“Agh―!”

I lightly pushed his shin, and he fell over, the sight so pathetic it made me sigh involuntarily.

“Get up.”
“Yes sir!”

His stamina was good at least, as Derek stood up again and swung his sword once more.

The sparring session for Derek’s skill improvement continued until he collapsed from exhaustion.

“Ugh―.”

I grabbed Derek, who didn’t even have the strength to walk, by the scruff of his neck and dragged him like a sack.

“Here we are.”

I opened the door and threw him into his house like a sack, where he rolled on the floor and immediately fell asleep.

“Boss! I’m hungry!”

As I closed the door and walked through the village, Chik-chik, who had climbed up at some point, took its usual seat on my neck.

“Why are you awake at this hour?”
“I woke up because I’m hungry! Let’s go eat quickly!”
“Alright, alright.”

Stroking Chik-chik’s white head, I went out the west gate where people were lined up in a row, and as I joined the end of the line, I saw the uncle distributing meat while waving his prosthetic arms.

“Rex! Here for meat?”
“I’m here too!”
“Oh, Mordo was here too!”

Not having noticed Chik-chik due to the height difference, the uncle cheerfully shouted as if he had just realized.

“Wait a moment!”

Unlike his dejected appearance yesterday, the uncle looked energetic as he cut and handed out meat.

“Give me the old man’s share too.”
“No need. I’ll take it to that old geezer myself, so there’s no need for that.”

When I mentioned the old man, the uncle’s face soured.

It seems he still hasn’t forgotten his grudge about fishing, as there was a glint of malice in his eyes. Looks like our old man is in for some trouble.

I waved goodbye to the uncle, who was already preparing to badmouth the old man, and turned away.

“Nom nom.”

Chik-chik was munching on the tiny piece of meat the uncle had cut for it, holding it with both hands. Given its strong stomach, eating raw meat shouldn’t be a problem.

“Is it tasty?”
“This is quite delicious!”

Judging by Chik-chik’s happy exclamation, the taste doesn’t seem bad.

Trusting Chik-chik’s reaction, I took a big bite of the meat, and a rich, savory flavor filled my mouth.

Come to think of it, didn’t they say the Tarasque was a turtle?

It’s my first time eating turtle, including my previous life, but perhaps because this one was a lesser dragon, the flavor was intense.

If I, with my dull sense of taste, can feel this much, I wonder how it tastes to Chik-chik.

And the uncle said the quality had deteriorated; I wonder what it would have been like if it was in perfect condition.

Feeling as if my mouth was watering, I finished the remaining meat.

‘I should try grilling it tomorrow.’

What would it taste like grilled? How would it differ from eating it raw?

“Boss! We can eat this tomorrow too, right?”
“We should be able to eat it for at least a week, I think.”

Given the Tarasque’s huge size, there should be a lot of meat.

Even after removing all the internal organs and bones, there should be enough for the villagers to eat for about a week.

Chik-chik swayed its body, drooling at the mere thought, seemingly happy.

Soon, Chik-chik started humming contentedly, and with it perched on my head, I headed towards the lakeshore.

Yesterday, we poured all of the Tarasque’s blood into the lake.

Honestly, since the fishing industry was ruined anyway, we did it boldly, but I’m not sure if it will actually be effective.

No matter how toxic dragon blood is, the lake is so vast that it might not have any effect.

It would be great if the fish-heads were floating on the surface of the lake, but I wonder how it will turn out.

Listening to Chik-chik’s humming, I soon reached the lakeshore, where dead fish were still floating on the lake.

We had salvaged as much as we could, yet there was still so much piled up.

As I turned my gaze, I saw the corpses of fish-men, clean and uninjured, among the charred lumps of coal.

Fortunately, it seems to be working properly. The scattered clean corpses of fish-men were proof of its effectiveness.

Splash―!

“…?”

At the sudden sound, I turned towards its source, and a huge shadow revealed itself.

In the area where the shadow appeared, there was a strange absence of fish-men corpses.

“Boss? What’s that?”
“I’m not sure…?”

I’ve been in the lake many times, but I’ve never seen such a huge creature.

It seems something strange has occurred….

My brow furrowed at this unexpected problem.