6 Chapter 6: Eat and Grow Strong (1/2)

I had no idea what to do next. It was a pity that I wasn't a synergist, or I could start crafting weapons. On the other hand, it was good that I was a zombie, because it seemed that I was regenerating my lost arm.

No need to replace it with a cybernetic prosthetic or something. Same went for my eye. Admittedly, being a zombie wasn't exactly a commonplace job (arifureta shokugyou) but I might just be able to become the strongest with it.

Unfortunately, I had to escape the cave first.

”Where the hell is the exit?”

I had been walking around for what seemed like hours, but I saw no sign of any exit. Hell, there was no sign of any living things, not even bugs. It seemed that the whole cave had fossilized into limestone or something. Stalactites hung from above while stalagmites loomed from below. I navigated through the jagged terrain, wincing as water splashed down on me from above.

Come to think of it, I hadn't been drinking a whole lot of water. Probably a side effect of being a zombie? Well, it was good that I didn't have to worry about dehydration.

But I didn't want to be stuck in a cave for eternity. I would begin to cave in to insanity!

Should I wait for the cockatrice to leave before I attempt my escape?

I chewed my lip as I considered that option. Even if the cockatrice grew impatient and left the entrance open, there was no guarantee that I wouldn't be able to escape it if I ventured into the forest. The damned chicken would be waiting for me in the open. And this time, I would have no place to escape to.

No, I needed to kill the cockatrice. It was eat or be eaten, kill or be killed.

But how?

I wasn't a synergist, and I knew I wouldn't be lucky enough to run into some wuxia technique scroll or a legendary weapon in this cave. It would be great if reality worked like light novels and I get happy coincidences, but in the end I had to rely on my wits to survive.

”Okay. So what exactly am I capable of?”

I reviewed my special abilities again. Adamantium Will. Regeneration. There wasn't anything that was combat-orientated. Sure, my Regeneration was going to help me survive, but it wouldn't help me win. I needed something that would actually help me win.

As for tools, I only had the box of matchsticks. I wondered if I should have taken the farming tools after all. No, they wouldn't have helped me. Kureha would have sliced them apart when she attacked, and I would have dropped them. As much as I regretted and fretted over not taking at least a shovel with me, hindsight was always twenty-twenty.

”I need to get out of here, though.”

Even if I could see in the dark, that didn't help ease the claustrophobia that threatened to overwhelm me. The walls and ceiling seemed to close in on me, suffocating me. I found it weird that an undead like me needed to breathe, but I guess the undead in Restia was a completely different kind of undead that I was used to in fictional stories back on Earth. Now that I thought about it, I should stop applying common sense of my world to this world.

That said, I was sure some things still applied somewhat. Navigating through the cave, I stumbled over the stalagmites and threw out a hand to stop myself from falling. When I did so, my hand brushed against the wall and I felt a rough, powdery sensation.

”What the hell is this?”

I raised my hand to study it. A flimsy film of black powder was smeared across my hand. Frowning, I turned my hand over, trying to make sense of what I was seeing, and was suddenly reminded of the black stuff my grandparents used to cook food back in the rural areas of Japan, when I visited them during the summer.

”This is coal?”

Scratching my head with my other hand, which had freshly regenerated when I stumbled my way around, I stared at the powder coal on my hand. Hmm, if I wasn't mistaken, then this was a coal mine. Abandoned, perhaps, given how it was deserted.

Wow, I was really lucky. I breathed a sigh of relief when I realized how close I was to blowing myself up with my matches. Having read somewhere back on Earth that coal mines were filled with methane gas, lighting a match in this environment would have proven catastrophic. I didn't know whether to be amused at the fact that I was relieved that I was a zombie.

”Yeah, well…not that it's going to help me…wait!”

I blinked when I suddenly realized something. If this was a coal mine, then there had to be an exit somewhere. Or at the very least, something I could use. A pickaxe, mining tools, anything. I remembered how the legendary Isaac Clarke fought his way through a ghostly spaceship with nothing but mining tools to dismember deadly space zombies known as necromorphs. I was no engineer, but if I could somehow fashion some sort of weapon from the tools I could find here, I might improve my chances of victory ever so slightly.

To my disappointment, there was nothing. The mine seemed abandoned a long time ago, with deposits of coal dug out of the walls and left to rot on the ground. There were a few metal shrapnel here and there, probably from broken pickaxes or power tools, but otherwise it was empty save for the coal deposits.

What should I do?

Frustrated, I kicked the wall, causing a bunch of coal to rain down onto my face. Coughing and gagging, I staggered away while muttering curses under my breath.

”Why the fuck am I so unlucky?!” I demanded to nobody in particular. First I was almost murdered by my classmates, then I was killed by a monster, then reanimated as a zombie, then attacked by my classmates who didn't seem the least guilty about their attempted murder. And now I was being chased by a fucking cockatrice that bit off and swallowed my arm. It was just one thing after another, and I was almost reaching my limit.

Why me? Why did it have to be me? And why visit upon me such an unending series of unfortunate events?

”UGH!”

Yelling in rage, I kicked the wall again as I vented my frustration. More coal rained down on me, but I ignored it this time. Swearing, I turned away and trudged deeper into the coal mine. Maybe I would find something deeper down. Maybe…

Crack…

I froze at the sound. Not daring to turn around, I waited, only to hear a louder and longer craaack this time.

”You've got to be kidding me…”

I couldn't believe my terrible luck. Turning around, my shoulders slumping down from resignation, I waited to see what new horrifying monster awaited me this time. I watched as the walls burst apart, revealing a huge monster that tore its way free.

”Oh, it's you again.”

I recognized the familiar crowned chicken head of my old friend, the cockatrice. While I was searching for an alternative exit, the damned beast had found an entrance of its own. Well, given how easily the cockatrice broke through the cave entrance, the wall was probably hollow anyway. Did the cockatrice come in from the other side of the cliff?

I didn't know. And now wasn't the time to be leisurely contemplating. I had to go. Swallowing, I started running away. The cockatrice smashed its way through the crumbling wall, clouds of coal dust settling over it, and shrieked.

Then it charged at me.

”Whoa!”

Shards of rock sprayed at me, the cockatrice pulverizing whatever stalactites and stalagmites that barred its way. Despite its immense size hindering it in the narrow, enclosed space, the cockatrice was slowly gaining on me.

”Bloody chicken! You want to get cooked by me?”

Snapping, I dove right as the cockatrice slashed at me. Triple gouges appeared on the wall right next to me, coal dusting me as they fell free. Rolling to my feet, I barely dodged getting stabbed by the cockatrice's hooked beak.

”Damn, but you're really persistent! Don't get cocky, you cockatrice!”

I jumped to my feet and dashed toward the narrow corridor that led back toward the entrance. From my position I could almost see the light. I just had to make it there…