Chapter 49
I couldn’t run. If I could, I would’ve made a break for it. I deliberately slowed down in front of the mutts, then pretended to stagger. It was easy to act naturally as my balance collapsed with my injured leg.
I deceived two idiots, and they threw themselves at me with a roar. They jumped so high and fast that I had to tilt my head to see them.
Slice!
[You have defeated the Declan scout.]
Their intestines and blood poured down like heavy rain and continued to spill out after their corpses fell to the floor. One of them crawled towards me as my hit had not been fatal. I stepped on its head with all my might and crushed its skull with my upgraded Strength. I only had a few more steps left to the entrance room.
I counted the mutts, and they were down to only ten. However, going against them in a frontal attack was still a suicide. I opened the door, then closed it quickly.
Thud!
The wooden door shook as if it would break, but it became quiet for a moment. I pressed my back against the door and waited for the first unwelcome guest with my sword in my hand.
[The Man Who Overcomes Adversity time remaining 0 hours 2 minutes 59 seconds]
Since the remaining time was?less than three minutes, my disadvantages would only increase as time passed. The mutts didn’t know about this as they ripped the door into pieces with one of them sticking their head in. I could only see its ears and cheek, but I slashed down my sword at it instantly.
Aaarggghhhh!
I heard a shriek as the effect of Odin’s Wrath coupled with my E-class Strength sliced the mutt’s head in half. The moment the hideous corpse was about to fall into the entrance room, I kicked it away.
At the same time, I moved to the spot where the door was torn off and stabbed my sword into the mutt that had been stupidly standing within my reach. I consecutively beheaded one, kicked the body away, and thrust into another’s throat. Two messages popped up one after another right away.
[You have defeated the Declan scout.]
[You have defeated the Declan scout.]
This time, I jumped into the remaining mutts instead of hiding behind the wall. For the first time since entering the dungeon, I attacked them first as I should be able to deal with eight of them at my current stats with Odin’s Wrath.
***
“Ughhh…”
[Declan Extermination: Defeat Declan scout 29/60]
I threw off my burdensome backpack, and the message in the air seemed to be laughing at me as I laid down on the ground. I couldn’t believe the F-class hunting quest that the System provided as a present was this dangerous.
Going through the first room alone was as risky as a boss battle. My limbs were heavy, but there were things I had to do before ‘The Man Who Overcomes Adversity’ wore off. When I shook my backpack, the survival items dropped into the pool of mutts’ blood. The zipper bag I picked up was dripping with blood. I took out a bandage from it and wrapped it around my neck, legs, shoulders and abdomen. I had a lot to cover.
[The Man Who Overcomes Adversity time remaining 0 hours 0 minutes 01 seconds]
I was thirsty, but if the?effect wore off…
[The Man Who Overcomes Adversity time remaining 0 hours 0 minutes 00 seconds]
[The Man Who Overcomes Adversity effect will now disappear.]
“Ah… ahh… ahhhh!”
***
I woke up in pain, hunger and thirst. I felt a mutt’s head as I was searching for a water bottle. Oh, right. I was still in the dungeon. I tried to sit up, but all my muscles ached. My body was so messed up that I had to support myself with my hands to remain upright.
Then, I drank some water and found a codeine pill from the blood pool. It was sticky with clotted blood, and I swallowed it dry. The problem was standing up, and after three attempts using the sword as a cane, I was able to put my feet on the ground.
When I came to my senses, I realized that the exit was in front of me. I crawled up the damn stairs, desperate to flee this place.
The world outside the blue barrier was also dark. People claimed that reality and fantasy cannot coexist, as they cannot be mixed together. But that was bullshit: both existed here. The dungeon was fantasy and the world outside was reality. I was stuck in this fantasy, and I could only think of escaping from it. I reached out to the blue barrier.
[Warning. You haven’t met the conditions to exit.]
I felt my fingers tingle and remembered what happened to those who ignored the System’s warning while terrible memories flashed through my mind. I flung myself back on the stairs and fainted.
I opened my eyes. How long have I been passed out?
“...Traits…list.”
[The Man Who Overcomes Adversity (Trait)
Effect: All stats and skill classes increase by one when you are incapable of fighting. Also, there is a minor healing effect, and you will become immune to pain until the duration ends.
Class: F (0)
Duration: 5 minutes
Cooldown: 7 days (time remaining 6 days 1 hour)]
I had been unconscious for twenty-three hours, and the rest now allowed me to move a bit. I took off the bandage on the leg, and the wound from the savage teeth that cut me to the bone had healed quite nicely. However, my shoulder was still severely injured, as a chunk of flesh had been torn off. Even the narcotic analgesics didn’t help much with the pain.
I returned to the entrance and began organizing my survival items. I checked my hygiene and calmed my hunger down with canned food. I had a lot of free time, even though I was prepared to risk my life. I felt the darkness had deepened and my field of view had narrowed, although I knew it was impossible.
***
These occasions usually evolved in one of two ways for a dungeon party. They could be valuable recovery time, or they could signal the beginning of a new battle. If the party was gathered carelessly, in a rush, teammates could turn into enemies at the drop of a hat. They could be suffering from PTSD, or from a dungeon curse, or maybe they would just lead others to believe that they were affected by a curse when they weren't.
Indeed, even if nobody suffered from a mental affliction, problems could still occur. Maybe someone's purpose was to kill everyone else in the party and enjoy a good payday, maybe something went wrong with the contract, maybe someone coveted an enticing possession of another party member... Maybe someone simply became angry at someone else due to something that had happened in a battle.?Anything could be a reason to start trouble in a dungeon.
However, there were also positive things to being in a group. Reliable team members would actually help one's emotional stability, and a good healer would help their physical recovery. In addition, night watch could be done in turns, so that everyone got proper rest and was able to react immediately to any sneaky mutts.
I used the space next to the dungeon box in the first corridor as a campsite where I could spend the night. I didn't expect that to happen, but if mutts appeared, I would open the box. I would rather risk my life at the last chance than just die like the way I had done in my previous life. Now, the points I needed for a bronze box were…
[Total points: 150]
I needed a hundred fifty points to open a bronze box, so I had to kill seventy-five mutts in total. There was only one thing I was desperate for now, something that anyone with my wounds would want. It was an Escape Insignia, which would let me escape from the dungeon without meeting the exit conditions.
Fighting by risking my life upgraded my stats, but an Escape Insignia raised my survival rate. There was comfort in realizing that I could escape alone without considering anyone’s safety. In the past, runaways were severely punished, but it was better than dying in this bloody dungeon. One could always hide their identity and live among civilians.
I had all kinds of thoughts since I had faced the darkness, mostly about past memories. However, the darkness reminded me of pain and suffering—dead comrades, brutally maimed corpses, severed intestines, blood and traitors.
Then, I started thinking about the future while walking in the darkness, about sudden pitfalls, suspicious eyes of teammates, and monsters powerful beyond imagination.
However, the scariest thing about dungeons was the mental stress and loneliness. It not only strained our bodies, but also our minds, and we crumbled and attacked each other.
Romance? Friendship and love? The possibilities of them happening were lower than receiving high-rank box rewards.
***
It was time to move on. I was still holding my blade, but I had already changed my main weapon to the dagger, which suited me better at my current ability and class. The corpses I killed remained like milestones on the ground as I walked to the next room. I continued as I had finished up in that room.
I spotted one room. I had to open the door without hesitation, but instead of pushing in, I stared around. No traps were found in the aisle and previous rooms, so now was the time for one.
There was a string on the doorknob, and I thought it looked like an F-class trap. I stood aside and cut it.
Boom!
I still had to cover my face with my arms despite the fact I had moved sideways. When pieces of the shattered doors flew toward me, a huge log crashed through the door and spun away after demolishing it. That chunk of wood would have turned the unwary into meat paste and bone splinters. I could still feel the wind of its passage buffeting me. After a while, the echo dissipated into the walls.
[You have removed a trap.]
[You have obtained 2 points.]
Wait, there was another message popping up.
[Congratulations. You are the first one to have completed the hidden quest ‘Declan Trap Removal.’]
[You have obtained 4 points.]
What was his name? Woo Young-Jin? Woo Hyung-Jin? Yoo Young-Jin??It turned out that there was a reason why he had acted awkwardly after removing the trap in the dungeon: there had been a hidden quest. Well, he wouldn’t have been the first anyway, as there were teams before us, and one of them had probably completed it earlier.
Okay, it was time to see what the first reward was!
[You have obtained a ‘bronze box’ for being the first one to complete the quest.]
At this moment, it wasn’t just a box worth three hundred points. It was a box worth killing a hundred fifty mutts. The bronze box was opening. I desperately hoped for an Escape Insignia, but the possibility was quite low.
However…
[You have received the Escape Insignia.]
A beam of light from the box shone on my chest, and I now realized why the Eight Virtues had been crazy about the System. I just hit the jackpot!
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