Isekai For Hire Chapter 53: A Desperate Escape

Read chapter 53 of Isekai For Hire by wk_rust on NovelPedia.

A Desperate Escape “How do you know that?” An exact countdown, down to the minute until her death was too brazen to be true. The voice sighed, the sensation sending chills all over Lorena’s body. Your debuffs. Lorena scanned her interface, her heart sinking. Broken Hand (physical) - Your hand is broken, reducing your health by 5 points until healed. Gaping Chest Wound (physical) - Your chest drips with blood, draining one health per minute until dispelled and healed to full. Gouged Calf (physical) - Your calf was gouged by the fangs of a spider, reducing movement speed by 5% until dispelled and healed to full. Her mind focused on one word, healed. “Where is a healer? Is there one—” Get to Silvershire. That’s the closest healer out here. Though I’m not sure how you’re going to get there in time. It’s a six hour walk, and that was before you went and ruined my calf. Her inventory. She had to have something that would help. Lorena scanned the list, one item jumping out at her. Ripe Apple (15): Heal 18% of your maximum health by consuming the apple. Her heart pounded in her chest. She had a chance, if– 18% of her max health… That was 25 health per apple? That seemed right. Her head swam, the world spinning around her. She closed her eyes. Just a minute of rest. Her legs twitched, her body begging her to move, to get away from this spider infested forest. But if she didn’t plan, she’d die in eighteen minutes. The wind picked up, sending a sharp stinging sensation through the gaping hole in her chest. She clenched her jaw and focused. 28 minutes. No, 27, just to be safe. She needed to eat an apple every 27 minutes. Relief washed over her with the realization that she wasn’t going to die, yet. Lorena took the apple out of her inventory and hesitated. Hunger and fear overrode any sense of concern she may have had as she bit into the apple. Her jaw ached with the flavor, light and crisp but overwhelming. Warmth radiated through her, lessening the tension in her back and dulling the pain of her wounds to a mild ache. She pushed herself to her feet and her vision narrowed to a pinprick. She braced against the log, pain blooming in her vision as her ruined hand took the brunt of her weight. She’d lost too much blood. Her vision faded to black. She bit the inside of her cheek, a new source of pain dragging her body back from the brink of collapse. The voice groaned with the pain. Lorena spat, more blood than spit. She could do this. She took an uneasy step. It was painful, but she’d been in pain before. The last three months in her old body had been nothing but pain every waking moment. Another shaky step brought a smile—her ankle didn’t hurt. She rolled her shoulder, her chest whining at the minimal stretch from the movement, but her shoulder didn’t hurt. The glowing debuffs hung in her interface. The broken hand. The gaping chest wound. The gouged calf. All temporary. All of it fixable . She glanced at the clock in her interface. 25 minutes until her next apple. Then another 27 after that. The pitchfork helped steady her. One step, then another. Silvershire waited at the end of this road, and she’d crawl there if she had to. * * * After about three and a half hours into her journey, Lorena realized her mistake. Her health was draining faster than the apples could regenerate. She redid the math and adjusted the timer to every 24 minutes. That was two and a half hours ago, and now she was staring at her last apple, apple number 15. The thought of eating another apple made her feel sick, her stomach uncomfortably full. She hoped it was enough. She checked the map again; Silvershire still wasn’t visible, but it looked so close on the map. The apple brought her to 36 health. She staggered into town several minutes later, feet dragging her toward the sounds of people and the smell of grilled meat. Her health ticked down to 6. Her vision dimmed as she turned a corner. Health: 5/140 Rough outlines, blurry shapes. Was this a market? The muffled s