Chapter 50
[Escape (Insignia)
Effect: User meets the conditions to exit the dungeon one time.
Class: F]
The Escape insignia had been embedded into the same place that the previous Revival Insignia had been. I moved to the entrance room door and wedged an empty food can to keep the door open. I hadn’t recovered enough to break the door yet. Now I could escape when the mutts poured in from the two doors in the entrance room.
As long as I settled here, I could maintain my life. My smile became bitter. The System had toyed with us with that tiny insignia, and it always had been like this. The contents of the boxes were random as it could be either a blessing or a curse. Good out of evil? That was bullshit. The phrase ‘the irony of fate’ was more suitable to describe the boxes, as blessings could easily become misfortune and vice versa.
I had stayed away from the Eight Virtues after realizing that. Even after returning, acquiring the trait ‘The Man Who Overcomes Adversity,’ and giving my father a Revival Insignia, I was still skeptical regarding the so-called 'goodwill of the System' that the Eight Virtues had advocated in the past.
Since I had obtained an Escape Insignia, I decided to stay near the entrance room while continuing quests rather than going forward and attacking the dungeon. That way, I could escape in case of an emergency.
I noticed from the past few days that I couldn’t even try the One on One Battle quest until I completed the Declan Extermination quest. And that was only if I was lucky. I had brought materials that were not only available in this period but also usable in the dungeon.
After installing traps in the exit and the entrance room doors, I laid down firmly on the floor. If I had just wasted time before, now I had an exit behind my back. I was able to check my condition and wait for my body to recover so that I could fight again.
Another day had gone by in the dark, and bandages caked with dried blood littered the floor. The codeine’s pain relieving properties had finally started to work for my left shoulder. Of course, the wound would reopen if I made any large movements, but I could fight in this state. I opened the closed door in the entrance room. Just as I thought there was nothing there, a mutt came out of the dark corridor.
“Are you alone?” I asked.
If I had chosen this path at first, it would’ve been a perfect way to get used to battle. Anyway, these mutts had some brains, but their rationality never won against instincts. Whenever their fellows were bleeding on the ground, they chose to rush into me.
Whoosh.
I used my sword like a throwing knife and threw it into the mutt’s forehead. I had not prepared a javelin and a bow as I knew I wouldn’t be able to see far. The mutt pulled out the sword, and its blood flowed out like a low pressure faucet instead of gushing out.
Crack!
A notification popped up as I kicked its head.
[Declan Extermination: Defeat Declan scout 30/60]
I had completed fifty percent of the hunting quest. Alright, I just have to do what I’ve been doing so far.
***
I stopped walking when I saw a door at the end of the corridor. There were twenty-seven mutts huddling in the second room on the opposite side. There would be more in the room after that, but I couldn’t use ‘The Man Who Overcomes Adversity’ trait as it was on cooldown. Furthermore, I couldn’t bring them out one by one since I had to fight against all of them if I opened the door.
“Sigh.”
Going into a dungeon alone was taboo in my past life, unless someone wanted to commit suicide. A minimum of five were required, and ten or more was better if possible. Although the ideal ratio of tankers, dealers and healers was different based on the dungeon’s design, we had to train for changes in roles, since even a single death spelled a decreased chance of survival for the team.
When the military had placed us here, there had been only four of us in the E-class: one tanker and three dealers. The result was obvious. I had been different back then—just a psycho like any other, who had randomly been thrown into the world. I did anything to survive, and the situation got worse. The dungeon boxes turned into our only hope. Despite the low probability of receiving an insignia, we started fighting among each other to death just for that chance. Since I was still here, the winner was obvious.
“Shit.”
The bloody darkness was nibbling again at my brain. I swept my hair back forcefully with my fingers, then moved up to the door. There was no trap, and I just had to push the door. However, my body refused my commands with all its might. A frontal attack was not my style, but I had to get used to it since I was alone.
I opened the door, and the screams of dozens of mutts gave me chills. The room was filled with savage murdering instincts, and many heads quickly jumped towards me. There were more here than in the previous room. I threw a sword at the mutt in the lead, then pulled out a dagger.
[You have activated Odin’s Wrath.]
[Target: Weapon, Dagger]
It was that moment.
[You have defeated the Declan scout.]
Another jumped in, scattering the notification message with its arms stretched out instead of shoving its head. I deflected its arms with my empty hand and thrust the dagger in between its eyes. I stabbed three times, and blue sparks from the dagger scorched its blood.
[You have defeated the Declan scout.]
This was the same situation as before, and I was enduring with my back to the door. The difference was that my last resort had changed to the Escape Insignia. I quickly looked over the mutts that had increased in number. The sorcerer with red eyes was not there, probably because I was still at the beginning of the dungeon. That was the only reason that I was still standing behind the door.
“Come on in. Yes, you. I’m talking to you.”
I gave the finger to the one in front of me. When it didn’t react, I bit the back of my hand as mutts also became frenzy at the smell of blood. They were dying to jump at me, but no one was rushing in. I gulped and widened my eyes.
"Ahhh…"
There was one coming out of the darkness. It was bigger than the rest of them, so I could clearly see it coming toward me as it squeezed in between the ordinary mutts. It had two heads, and they were swaying close together as if they were having a creepy and obscene dance party. The moment this beast entered the battle, their heads would turn into warriors. For the One on One Battle quest, the Double-Headed Declan usually came out from the deeper parts of the dungeon, so this was the dungeon cheating!
I was planning to find it after completing the initial hunting quest. Of course, this was not the first time my plans had changed due to the dungeon’s fickleness. I had to gauge the risk I was encountering for now. I turned my back immediately and ran as fast as I could, ignoring the unspoken rules.
Thud. Thud.
I heard the Double-Headed mutt chasing after me while howling loudly in hunger and excitement. Its scream filled up the entire corridor, and one of the head’s snarls was louder than the other.
As soon as I saw the entrance, it struck me with its full weight and speed. When I came to my senses, I was already tumbling with the mutt. It must have bit and scratched me quite deeply as I was close to losing consciousness. I thought of only one thing at that moment, the trap installed on the door was activated!
I shut my eyes tight and crawled by looking only straight ahead. I couldn’t think about my nails being broken like the day I had crawled over the corpses of my colleagues to escape from the boss monster.
I felt the stairs caught in my fingertips, and it was time to sprint out to the world. The speed that the howls reached my ears was faster than before, which meant the mutt was right behind me. I thought I had been caught right at the end, so I had been preparing for my last fight. But then, I saw a new message when there were no more stairs to go up.
[The Insignia ‘Escape’ has been removed.]
Oh my gosh! Yes! I survived! I got out of the dungeon!
The screams that shook the world had disappeared, and it was then I saw a blade stuck in my arm. Instead of pulling it out, I grabbed the flashlight at the entrance of the dungeon first. Then, I turned it on towards the boundary between reality and fantasy.
I first saw its face, and the Double-Headed mutt was staring at me from beyond the boundary. Their ferocious expressions and growls were promising that they would kill me the next time.
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