Lizardmen

“Monsters!”

“Ew, gross!”

“They’re lizards, guys, lizards!”

Shouts ensued from the units at the front.

One after another, the lizardmen climbed out of the river onto the shore.

I’d completely let my guard down due to not encountering any creatures since we left the church.

Part of me had assumed we’d be safe for a while. I was wrong.

The lizard humanoids were as big as human beings.

Monsters that I’d only ever seen in video games seemed to exist on this planet in multitudes.

What is going on with the ecosystem on this planet?

It’s hard to imagine that these creatures evolved naturally.

It’s almost as if this planet brought Earth’s video game monsters to life. It was a chilling thought.

“Ryo! Saburo! Get away from the river!”

At Shizuka’s warning, I quickly took a few steps back.

Two lizardmen were approaching Saburo and me.

“Saburo?!”

“I wanna drink some more water. Go on, I’ll catch up with you in a bit.”

“No, you’re coming with us NOW!”

Despite being dangerously close to the lizardmen, Saburo nonchalantly continued to drink water and had to be dragged away by Shizuka.

The commotion drew one of the lizardmen’s attention, and it fixed its blank, reptilian gaze on us.

The lizardman waded out of the river and headed towards us, slap-slapping its tail on the ground.

It’s moving faster than I thought.

As hard as we tried to escape, Saburo slowed us down. 

It’s gonna catch up to us...!

“Ryo!”

By the time I heard Shizuka’s shriek, the lizardman was inches from ripping me apart with its sharp claws.

Strangely, however, its claws didn’t seem to be getting any closer.

The lizardman’s arm was moving extremely slowly, as though in slow motion.

“Chillax. No need to panic.”

Saburo said, without a care in the world.

“Is this your skill, Saburo?”

“Yeah, I’m able to slow down my target. The only downside is it slows me down at the same time.”

Although that’s kind of useful, it’s utterly pointless to use it on its own.

“I’ll carry you, so keep using your skill!”

“Aye aye, captain.”

Saburo replied lazily as I carried him on my back and ran.

Shizuka, Futoshi, and Chika beckoned me over from their hiding place behind some rocks.

Unlike the other units engaged in combat, no one in our group dared join the fight.

I realized how much of a burden we were to our class.

All we could do was run. That was the only option we had.

“Yoohoo, everyone! Don’t forget, I’ll explode if I die!”

The other burden, Charlotte, laughed carefreely as lizardmen surrounded her.