Chapter 41 Wrong Hostage

‘Screw the test and the evaluation. Albo is in danger and his rescuer is nowhere in sight.’ Josiah thought to himself. He couldn’t stand watching his friend be pestered in that manner.
‘Ok. Think. If I try to draw its attention it’s going to turn against me. But can I win…? No. My best chance is to climb on the block and help Albo kick it down. I’m going to silently climb on the other side.’
Josiah rushed to the other side of the block and started.
‘Hang in there, Albo.’
As an equipped human who trained in the army for eight months, the task was way easier for him, so he got up pretty quickly.
“Albo!”
“Dude! Help!”
Luckily the scene was still the same. Albo was kicking the things’ front while his hands were tied up, and the creature hadn’t managed climbing up yet.
“Leave it to me!”
“Don’t you dare! He’s MY hostage!”
Josiah heard.
Right next to the block where they were standing, there was an even taller block. Josiah saw the owner of the voice above it, he was sitting down, watching the creature attempt to get its prey:
“Reeve…? What are you doing out there!? Shouldn’t you be saving your hostage?”
“I…”
The talpig seemed to be succeeding in climbing up.
“Screw that!” Josiah ignored Reeve and ran to the animal, swinging the sword at its face so that it would fall again.
“I said leave it alone! How come you have to be everywhere I go!?” Reeve shouted.
“How come YOU have to be everywhere I go? Why aren’t you defending your hostage? You were just leaving him for the beast while… Standing there!”
“Dude… He got hurt badly earlier.” Albo commented on a low voice.
Josiah realized Reeve was bleeding awfully. That’s why he was sat down. He spotted a trail of blood from the floor up until to the top of the block where he was.
‘With a wound like this, it’s not surprising he can’t even run. Let alone fight. I guess them both are stuck here…’
“Hey! I’m going to climb where you are.” Josiah shouted.
“What about me?”
“Stay there. Take this.” Josiah cut the ropes around Albo’s wrist and extended the sword to him.
“You kidding? I can’t fight that thing like you!”
“It’s just for making it slide down. Come on, Albo? Eight months in the army and you still can’t swing a sword!?”
“…”
He took the weapon out of Josiah’s hand.
Although the block where Reeve sat on was the closest one to where he was, there was still quite a gap between them. Josiah had to think twice before attempting the huge leap he resorted to; trying to catch with both hands on the edge of the upper face serving as the floor.
“I told you. I still don’t want your damn help.” Reeve said in a cranky voice.
“And you were planning to do what? Leave him to the thing?”
“Each one to their hostage. If I’m not able to save mine it’s my problem. I don’t want anyone else getting credit for this.”
“And what do you think that hostage is? He’s a living person, you know!?”
Josiah managed to climb up from the edge and approached Reeve.
“Lemme see your wounds.”
“I told you. I’m not going to get help from me you…”
“Shut up. I saved your ass in the first phase and kept shut about it. Which means you ‘owe’ me this.”
Reeve didn’t find a proper answer.
“Look. We are probably going to be the last ones anyway. There’s nobody around anymore.” Josiah said. ‘And I still don’t know who ‘my’ hostage is…’ He completed it in his head.
Reeve could barely stand up. The injury was cast on his belly. It ripped the armor and the uniform off around it. The belly was on display; the large pierce cut bleeding from the center of the belly to the waist.
Josiah caught his arm around him.
“What are you trying to do, punk?”
“We are gonna get out of here. But we need some kind of plan.”
The talpig was still trying to get on the lower block. Albo was visibly tiring his arms hopelessly swinging Josiah’s sword at its face.
“Reeve… Let’s kill that bastard.”
“What…? How?”
“Didn’t your knife work on it? Or does it only work on humans?”
“It works on things with blood property.”
Josiah still didn’t know for sure whether the talpig indeed was a beast with blood property, but he had a hunch.
“Let’s do this. Smear your knife on that messy blood pool coming from yourself and then stay ready. I am going to try and draw its attention for a sec and you swing right at it.”
“What? You want me to throw it to the thing? I’m gonna lose my knife, dumbass.”
“No. Just swing it from here. It’s not for causing damage, just to try to bring it here with the scent of your blood.”
Reeve was reluctant but he accepted.
Josiah used his ax to break a small piece of the floor, then threw it to the back of the creature’s head. The damage was insignificant, but it did the thing turn its head to his direction for a second.
“Now!” Josiah shouted.
Reeve swung the knife bathed on blood causing the scent to be perceptible by the creature, who then turned its attention to the two above the other block instead.
“Great, dumbass. Now it’s going to aim for us.” Reeve said.
“Still better than aiming at the hostage. Don’t you know that? And plus… That’s what we wanted. Now… Let’s wait for it to climb the block and kill it. I have an idea.”
The talpig used its horn to build a path on the wall as quickly as he did with the other block. Soon it was trying to lean on its paws, trying to push its massive round body outside the edge.
“It’s going to climb!” Reeve said, worried.
“We’re gonna let him. It’s after your blood. When it charges to you abandon your knife in the air and roll to the side. I’m going to swing my rapier at its back.”
“You sure it’s gonna work!?”
“Trust me.”
‘I’m not sure of anything.’ Josiah thought to himself.
Without anyone kicking its body down the edge, it could climb without problems and, as expected, it charged to Reeve right away. Reeve tried to abandon his knife on the air and roll to the side as Josiah recommended, but he was too slow. The thing ended up hitting with its horn on his right arm.
But unlike happened to his chest before Josiah arrived, this time the knife actually did manifest its effect. The one who felt the pain was the beast and Reeve left intact.
The talpíg stumbled on its feet and, leaving a shriek of pain, fell above its paws on the floor.
Josiah then struck with the rapier on its back. The rapier attacks were his most powerful ones when the target wasn’t moving.
“There! You son of a…”
Reeve looked pale.
“Wa.. What happened? I couldn't dodge in time, but my knife did something.”
“Lucky you. Otherwise, you’d be history. Good job. Look. The body is dissolving.”
Josiah didn’t tell Reeve but he included that on his plan.
‘Since the vurdum uses a bloodbound bracelet it’s no surprise other loot dropping creatures also can use the blood power. And judging by its size, it wouldn’t make sense that the talpig was that much strong. It had to be using blood power, which means Reeve’s knife should react. He must have tried using it earlier, but since the talpig was too strong it didn’t show the pain it felt and Reeve must have assumed it didn’t work. But with the knife full of Reeve’s blood the power should be enhanced. This bloodbound power thing is really something… I should have gone studying it when I had the chance after all.’
The body of the creature shrunk and shrunk, just like the other creatures Josiah had slain.
‘Now, is it going to drop a weapon? If so Reeve is going to start a fight for it...’