Tutorial Rewrite 75 (Patreon)

Days go by. I can practically taste the paranoia in the air, surrounding the base camp like a thick cloud.

Once the defensive trench around the base camp was complete, they apparently felt confident enough to branch out into more, smaller bases in the hopes of pushing me to the point where I’m crushed between their bases and the invisible wall surrounding us. But this won’t happen, because it’s not like I’m just letting them put up these bases wherever they want. Anytime a red squad goes out into the forest, I just kill them. Easy as that.

Why not those dressed in blue? Well, see, that’s one of my plans.

And after about a week of this whole thing, after a week of them not being able to access the river because of how many traps I’ve got surrounding it by now, the whole situation has finally gotten to them. I don’t know exactly how these shades are made, but despite their knowledge as soldiers, they still have the bodies and minds of teenagers. With lacklustre food, poisoned water, traps, constant harassment from me, and not even being safe in their own beds, the stress has finally gotten to them.

After all, only one half is getting attacked at all.

From atop a tree, crouched in the fetal position, I watch with interest as Jirya and Het quarrel right in front of everyone, in the middle of camp, without a care in the world. Though, of course, it is pretty one-sided. And for good reason.

“—Have you sided with him?! Huh? Is that it?”

“Of course not!” Het shouts back at her. “Why in the world would we even want to do that? You should know better than anyone that we are as badly off as you are!”

“Oh, is that it? We’re as bad off as you are? Really? Okay, then. Explain to me, in simple terms, how it always is that whenever you send out troops, they return home without so much as a scratch on their pretty little heads, while mine always get ruthlessly torn apart?!” Saying so, she throws her hands in the air, and the people standing by begin to murmur amongst each other.

Het’s head starts shaking back and forth. “Without a single—I don’t know if you’ve noticed it, Miss I-am-always-the-victim, but my men die just as often to booby traps and disease as yours do! In fact, since you hardly send out anyone anymore, I’d say mine die more often to traps and disease than yours. Or are you trying to say that this sort of death is somehow preferable to being maimed? Is that what you’re saying?”

“No—no, now you’re twisting my words! What I’m trying to say is that…”

And back and forth it goes. This isn’t actually their first time arguing over this—I’ve been sneakily listening in on their strategic conversations—but I’ve got a feeling that this may very well be their last. And as I watch them from above, after a few minutes of back and forth…

“...Fine, then!” Jirya says. “If that’s how you want it to be, then I don’t suppose you’ll mind it even a little bit if we split up a little. How about that? We go on the left, you go on the right. If—according to your amazing and flawless logic—we still have the same amount of men left, then sure! We’re both equally screwed in this hell of a place. How does that sound, mister high-and-mighty?”

Het shrugs in return. “Sure. Do whatever you want. I’m not the boss of you.”

“Great, glad we agree, then!”

And so it happens. Both camps separate, splitting the meadow into two and making a wall between them. This is exactly what I wanted. Now, the people who had until now mingled as friends and coworkers are forced into separation. For some, this will cause profound isolation, and, for others, harsh conflict is sure to follow.

Food and other basics of living are starting to run dry. Without access to the river, they can’t do any washing, which means that any wound, no matter how small, has a relatively high chance of getting much worse. Afraid of my nightly raids, the shades have started sleeping together in tighter clusters. People are already significantly weakened both mentally and physically by the situation.

It’s the perfect condition for spreading a plague.

However, to spread a plague, I’ll need an actual plague. Despite how much I would love to be sick right now, I am not infected by any cholera or bronchitis or whatever else might be useful. Since the water poisoning isn’t going too fast and the diseases incurred by it aren’t transmittable in the right way, I’ll need to get my hands on a plague through some more… unconventional means.

Namely, Touch of Reverse Tolerance. I’ve been trying to use it as much as possible, but I’ve still only been able to get it to level 6. At this point, though, it’s finally starting to show a few effects. They’re very minimal, but I think, in the right conditions, I might be able to make something of it. And I have the perfect plan for how to do it. All I need to do is to capture a shade at random, infect him with TRT, and then send him back to base camp. There, he’ll infect the rest of the guys, and boom! Win.

It’s simple, but I’ve got good reason to think it’ll work. I just need to find a proper patient zero, that’s all.

Sniffsniffsniff. Oh, another squad entered the forest. Let’s see, it’s on the hypothetical west side, which probably means they’re from the red group. Alright, let’s set out!

Like a loosened arrow, I fly towards their location, leaping and climbing so deftly I couldn’t have moved faster even on even ground. After a few minutes, I reach their location. Let’s see here…

<Shade (Lv.19)>

<Shade (Lv.22)>

<Shade (Lv.23)>

<Shade (Lv.21)>

<Shade (Lv.20)>

Only five of them, huh?

As the total amount of soldiers has waned, the size of the probing squadrons and the scouts have quickly decreased. Just the other day, I saw a single soldier walking on his own. Poor guy. I tried to give him a quick death, but then my dagger tooth skill levelled up and I just had to test it out. It is what it is and all that.

“I—is it true what they say?” one of the shades asks one of the others. For some reason, I feel like I recognise his voice somewhat.

“About what?” the shade replies.

The first one looks down at his feet. Stopping in his place, he carefully pokes the pile of leaves in front of him with the shaft of his spear. I don’t think I put any trap there, and since nothing happens when he pokes it, that seems to be the case. The shade looks back up at the other one. “That the, um… That Ho-Jae only attacks reddies?”

The other shade shrugs. “Who knows? We’ll all be killed anyways, so it doesn’t matter whether he kills us first or them. It’s all the same.”

The first one seems to want to say something, but I’ve gotten bored of their conversation, so I just drop down from above onto the second one’s head, planting both feet on his shoulders and gripping hold of his head in both hands, snapping his neck with a single well-placed twist.

<Shade (Lv.23) Defeated.>

The body beneath me falls and I jump back, right at one of the other shades, first kicking their feet out from under them and then ripping out their throats.

<Shade (Lv.20) Defeated.>

<Shade (Lv.21) Defeated.>

That leaves me with two left.

A spear flies at me and I let it stab itself into the gap between my ribs, and then by twisting the spear, I get it stuck in me, meaning that the shade has effectively just given me his weapon. Jumping a step back, he loses his grip on the spear. In turn, I grab the spear myself, untwisting it before pulling it back out of my chest, then putting it in my inventory so he can’t get it anymore. The shade is too stunned by the whole exchange to do anything but scream as I leap at him and rip his throat out.

<Shade (Lv.22) Defeated.>

There. Perfect. Now, only one le—

…Pak So?

“H—Ho-Jae?...” He stutters at me. If I was speaking, I’d probably stutter right back. His eyes are wide and staring and still he takes a step towards me. I know I should fly at him, claws at the ready, jaw open to rip his throat out, but instead, like a damn coward, I instead step back, one step for each one he takes towards me. But this just makes his expression of horror suddenly lighten with a small, trembling smile. “D-, do you recognise me, Ho-Jae? You do, right?”

I don’t want to answer him. I don’t want to say anything. But the words come out of me on their own. “Pak So…?”

His smile erupts into an entire grin and he almost throws himself at me, but I step back, only barely dodging a hug, and he almost tries again, but now that we’re so close, he can see all of the blood on me. His smile falls a little and he takes a step back. I follow in the motion. “It’s, um… It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

I look down at my feet, awkwardly. “Y—yeah. I guess… I guess it has.”

When I look back up at him, he’s still smiling. Softly. I hate it. I hate that smile. I want to—

Sniffsniffsniff. Just a few dozen metres away, I can smell people approaching. More people. Over a dozen. Too many.

“Ho-Jae?”

My face snaps back to face Pak So.

“Is everything alri—”

I can’t afford him to give me away, but I can’t just leave him here, but I can’t just do away with him either, so with no other choice, I crouch down and leap at him, grabbing him by the chest and hoisting him up on my shoulder, and while still carrying him like that, without waiting for him to calm down, I jump up into a tree and away into the forest. I need to find a safe place. Somewhere I can put him down. Somewhere they won’t approach.

Somewhere… like the river.

After a minute or so of near-frantic running, I finally reach the river. And there, I put him down.