Chapter 317: Surplus Man (6)
[G-Gigikigeek!]
Daylily's hunger had reached its limit.
It was rampaging with its mouth so wide open that the flower's head looked like it had been snapped in half.
In a mouth as deep as the abyss of hell, misshapen teeth were protruding and eating up rebar and asphalt.
kwakwang! pusyuug-
The attacks grew more furious and diverse.
The focus on cutting and smashing vines of stems and roots has now changed.
Tsutsutsutsutsu... Paaksak
The rocks where the roots touched shriveled and dried up, then turned to sand and crumbled.
'It sucks the moisture from where it touches, a troublesome ability.'
Of course, it's not a particularly moist environment, so it's more like it's twisting and squeezing water than sucking it up.
It's an inefficient strategy because the amount of energy it expends is greater than the amount of water it gains.
However.
swilililig! kwang! pasasag...
The Daylily continued to extend its roots toward Vikir.
Snap!
No blood flowed from the wound where the tip of its root sliced through.
That's because a huge amount of blood was taken away in that short moment.
Also.
peoeong! pusyug-
Every time the Daylily's leaves hit the ground, it made a sound like a giant balloon popping, and a poisonous gas spewed out.
The shriveled and spread out leaves would burst open upon impact, and the cloud of poisonous gas inside would rise up in the shape of a skull.
On contact with this gas, the flesh would boil into bubbles and eventually melt away.
As such, Daylily was the worst biological weapon, armed with a variety of lethal functions.
...But.
"No matter how powerful an attack is, if it doesn't hit."
Vikir was retreating backwards, avoiding all the flying whips, dry energy, and poison gas clouds.
A clearly different movement. This was not a matter of agility or stamina.
hwiing- kwang! pasasag!
Dodging sweeping roots with minimal effort, and sweeping away flying debris with a few shakes of the head.
No need to move much, no need to move fast.
Time seems to slow down.
A realm where the time it takes for a small dot approaching from a distance to change into a large dot in front of you feels boring!
<Vikir>
-LV: 1 (%)
-Titles: 'Gutter Rat Hunter', 'Hell's Dog'
-Stats.
Strength: 260
?Agility: 229
?Stamina: 269
?Physical Resistance: 1
??: (Locked)
?Reflexes: 0 (+1) = 1
Reflexes, the most difficult of the "Big Three" stats to obtain outside of the base stats, has blossomed.
It is a realm of innate talent that is impossible to obtain outside of the Tower.
Vikir had acquired it.
'With this, I have collected five of the six major stats. This is already a feat in the third level of the underground. It can only be said that I was lucky....'
Even those with heroic potential and luck had already obtained two Hidden Pieces, which were obtained much later in the tower, deep, deep down.
Vikir's steps were getting stronger and stronger.
Thud.
Beelzebub, carrying a sticky liquid aura, cut off the dried leaves of the Daylily.
'It's an air sac.'
What looked like a dried, shriveled leaf was actually a gas sac.
It was similar to the structure of a water plant, a species of daylily.
The only difference is that the Daylily of Blood Tree contains a lot of toxic gas in its air sacs.
pusyug-
The amount of poisonous gas emitted was not very large because it was originally a shriveled air sac.
The roots and stems that were swung like a whip were also tough enough to not even cut with an aura-coated sword, but since they were dried up and twisted, the range was narrow.
'It's a good thing it's a degraded version, because if I'd encountered one that lived in the blood swamp where it originated....'
Who knows, but it would have been just as grueling a fight as the one against Madame Eight-Legged in the past.
What's more, the Daylily of Bloodswamp tends to live in colonies, and each individual is capable of exterminating the human race.
A lake of blood located deep in the abyss of polar hell.
Vikir had no idea how big the unknown darkness would be, where things like Daylilies of Blood Tree lived together.
Then.
[Human. Think about other things later!]
Decarabia's voice warned.
Vikir snapped to attention and quickly reached out his left hand.
...Flick!
The madame cub's web clung to the top of the collapsed tower.
Vikir soared high on it, avoiding the Daylily's roots.
[Gigig- Kkeugigigig!]
The Daylily was growing increasingly hungry and could barely hold its head up.
However, Vikir was also unable to land any effective blows due to the Daylily's dried and hardened skin.
Just then.
[Gigig!?]
Daylily began to react strangely.
A delicious smell wafted in from somewhere.
It smelled of blood and musty flesh.
It wasn't a hellhound scent, but a soft, tender, savory scent.
Yes, this is the smell of human blood and flesh!
[Gya gya gya gya!]
Daylily began to move hurriedly.
The prey that had been annoying earlier also heads towards the place where the scent is emitting.
Soon, Daylily is standing in front of a large pit.
The odor was coming from below.
A freshly slaughtered piece of meat lay beneath Daylily.
Daylily quickly stretched out a vine and probed at the bottom of the pit.
...pungdeong! kkeunjeog-
Something warm and thick is wrapped around the tip of the vine.
Daylily thought it was right and quickly sucked them up.
Moment.
[...giig?]
Daylily's head tilted greatly.
The taste is somehow strange.
Daylily had been expecting tender, flavorful blood and flesh, and the smell was similar, but the taste was bland.
Daylily lifted the vine and examined its contents.
It was a large leather sack.
Expecting to find a human corpse inside, Daylily stopped dead in its tracks.
The smell was unmistakable: human blood and flesh.
The weight, too, was just about right, though slightly lighter.
But.
The leather sack contained something other than a human corpse.
chwaaag- hududug- hududug-
Human blood, flesh, and bones spilled onto the floor.
But there was no human body in it.
What was spread on the floor was a considerable amount of blood, as well as saliva, snot, tears, and urine.
Also, there was hair that had been shaved off, nails from the hands and feet, calluses and dead skin cells removed from the elbows and heels, dirt removed from the entire body, and a significant number of teeth.
"Is it good?"
Vikir appeared like a ghost behind Daylily.
"Quite a bit, when all the byproducts of the human body are collected."
Vikir opened his mouth to show the teeth he'd pulled from it.
Of course, it was growing quickly due to the Basilisk's regenerative ability.
"Whenever you eat something, your skin becomes softer."
With that, Vikir swung his sword at the Daylily as it sucked the blood from the floor.
Quack.
This time it struck.
The sword pierced the surface of the tentacle and went right through.
[Gyaaaaagh!]
As Daylily lifted its heavy flower head and roared, a single bloodshot eyeball could be seen deep in its throat.
It was blinded by extreme impatience, hunger, and anger.
"It's finally been revealed. A vital point."
Vikir dove into the Daylily's gaping mouth.
At the same time, the aura swelled by the increased stats stretched out to the end of Beelzebub.
In order to inflict a fatal wound in one go, especially at the exact point, stabbing is more effective than cutting.
And because the magic sword Beelzebub had the shape of an awl, it was optimized to perform this role.
Narrow but deep. Vikir intended to end the battle with a single fatal blow.
And then the Daylily chewed him up and swallowed him whole.
Quaduk-
Just before the upper and lower jaws forcefully engage, which cannot be the case in a plant.
Phuuk-
With all his might, Vikir drove his magic sword, Beelzebub, deep into the Daylily's throat, right into the center of its eyeball.
Pizizii!
The sound of the membrane of the eyeball being torn away and the pupil inside being punctured.
The long aura penetrated Daylily's throat and eyeballs and extended out of the back of her head.
Udeudeug! udeug!
Plant dietary fibers, which are much stronger than animal muscle fibers, try to crush his entire body.
Teeth harder than polymer alloys were somehow trying to squeeze the blood from Vikir's body.
"If you want blood, I'm willing."
At the same time, Vikir's aura thinned and his entire body spewed Madame's poison.
The venomous blood trickled down the inside of Daylily's throat, through its scarred eyeballs.
[geugig!? geu- gi- gi- gig!]
Only then did Daylily realize something was wrong.
But it was too late.
The awl and aura that pierced the core of life, and Madame's poison spreading to the veins of the entire body through the wound, had already decided victory or defeat.
...Thud!
The pressure on his body seemed to weaken, and his vision tilted drastically.
With a slight earthquake, the Blood Tree Daylily laid its massive body on the ground.
-Diing!
['Level 1 Warrior' Vikir has successfully hunted the first 'S-ranked Monster Blood Tree Daylily'!]
['Impossible' achievements are rewarded!]
A loud notification ringing in his ears.
A mere Level 1 Newbie had defeated an S-ranked monster.
An achievement that even the tower's system recognized as 'impossible'.
One by one, the students who had been watching Vikir's fight from afar appeared.
"Wow, that's amazing..."
"I can't believe this strategy actually works."
"Damn, my teeth are starting to hurt."
"I don't have nails... Sheesh, I'm glad I'm still alive."
They were talking about 60 kilograms worth of hair, eyebrows, beards, body hair of all kinds, blood, saliva, dead skin, grime, feces, nails, and teeth.
Some of the senior students had even cut off their own flesh.
"Good job."
Vikir recognized their hard work.
It couldn't have been easy to give up 500 grams of flesh each.
In the end, it was a combined effort.
A grotesque, fleshy creature appeared in front of Vikir.
The creature twitched its swollen lips and made a fuss.
[ oh my god ? oh my god ? A new bie fr om the 3rd under ground flo or is tak ing do wn the Blood Tree's Daylily? Is th is my fir st ti me see ing a sce ne li ke th is ? ]
The fairy rolled the eyeball that protruded from the center of its lip and looked at Vikir.
[ Wo uld you li ke a rew ard to celeb rate? Wou ldn't th at be gr eat? Wo uld you lo ok for ward to it? Wo uld it be a re ally gr eat rew ard ? ]
With that, the fairy closed its eyes, mumbled something, and brought its hand forward from behind its back.
In its hand was a large sack.
Whoosh.
The fairy flipped the sack over and spilled its contents onto the ground.
It was a colorful array of glowing candies.
300 red candies.
150 blue candies.
75 green candies.
That's a whopping 525 candies.
There were also other colored candies among them.
-<Strange Candy> / Levels / Golden
A candy that increases your level by 1.
Tastes sweet.
-Level +1
A brilliant shine that has never been seen before, and a sweet taste that can be perceived through the nose even without putting it in the mouth.
There was a golden candy that could be exchanged for 300 regular red, blue, and green candies.
There were 10 of them!
525 regular candies and 10 level candies. This was a reward so splendid that any survivor who had endured hardships so far would turn a blind eye.
In fact, Vikir had a similar reaction.
"... I can't believe I can get this here!"
The joy, the exultation, the exhilaration, the exhilaration that would make even the most veteran of veterans tremble at the end of his voice!
Vikir's face was even brighter than it had been when he'd gotten the silver candy, and it was clear what a tremendous sense of accomplishment he now felt.
The fairy, too, responded to Vikir's emotion, spreading its arms wide.
[ Co me on ? Hurry ? Do you wa nt to ke ep all of th is ? It's all for you ? ]
With that, the fairy slowly stepped back, allowing Vikir to devour the pile of candy.
As soon as Vikir had the candy in his hands, it looked like it would vanish.
However.
...Kwasik!
Vikir lunges forward and stomps on the pile of candy right in front of him.
hududug- hudug- deguldeguldegul...
Red candies, green candies, blue candies, and golden candies scattered in all directions.
Vikir walked over to the panicked fairy and grabbed onto its body as it tried to run away.
[ Ke heulg ! ? ]
The fairy struggled to escape, but to no avail.
Vikir grabbed the pitifully shitty-looking creature by the hair and jerked it to the side.
"Where are you going? You have to give compensation."
What caught Vikir's gaze sharply was the worn-out sack that was in the fairy's hand.
It was the candy bag that had spilled out a large amount of candy just moments ago.
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