Chapter 21
Chapter 21
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 021
Chapter Title: Explorers' Resting Place
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Thud!!
"……Huff. Huff."
Sunlight poured down.
The dark space from moments ago was gone without a trace, replaced by a bright forest stretching out in every direction.
Only then did the two of them catch their breath, collapsing right there on the spot.
"I'm alive! We're alive!"
After recovering some strength, Manannan stared blankly around before shouting.
It had been exhausting, like they were on the verge of death.
But the joy of survival wrapped around their entire bodies even more intensely.
"……We're alive! We escaped from the lycanthrope!"
"Yeah. Could you keep it down a bit? My head's pounding."
"……Oh."
As Leggin took a breath amid the pain, Manannan's eyes naturally drifted to his arm.
"……Your arm. Is it okay?"
"It's a mess. Not sure. Might need to buy a high-grade recovery potion and drink it."
"……."
Leggin's right arm, sacrificed to save Manannan, came into view.
"Mess" didn't even begin to cover it.
It barely clung to his body... a truly gruesome sight.
Manannan looked at Leggin with a complicated expression.
"……Hey. Why'd you do that?"
"Huh?"
"You could've just left me and run. Then your arm wouldn't be like this."
"You think you'd have survived if I'd just run?"
"Yeah…… like that guy in front of us…… You could've escaped while it was eating me."
Leggin thought for a moment and shook his head.
"Maybe. But……."
It might not have worked.
Lycanthropes were highly intelligent.
They only seemed unintelligent because they were driven by hunger.
'If it had noticed I was using the teleport stone to escape, it might've ignored you and come after me first.'
Of course, that was just one possibility.
No one could know for sure who it would've targeted.
'But abandoning Manannan…….'
That was a dead end.
No guarantee of success, and way too much to lose.
"If I'd left you behind…… What happens after you're eaten? You think I'd definitely survive after that?"
"……Huh?"
"It would've come straight for me. I'd have lost you and still died."
"So you chose to save me and get us both out……? Ha, that's still insane no matter how many times I hear it."
"It was a way for both of us to survive. 'If the timing's right, don't hesitate to try'…… That's what my master said. And thanks to that, we both made it out alive."
Manannan stared at him for a long while before speaking in disbelief.
"You're crazy."
Crazy, huh. Leggin let out an involuntary laugh.
Come to think of it, people in the community always asked if he was insane after watching his playthroughs.
Even though this had been the highest-probability plan in his eyes.
'If I could bring her along…… That was the biggest gain for me.'
The 10th floor. The 15th floor too—Manannan was a necessary ally.
It was worth the investment for those stages.
Plus, a friendly face in DAT was rarer and more valuable than any item or artifact.
'So calculating, yet everyone calls it crazy.'
There might've been other ways, but Leggin thought this one was solid.
They'd both survived, after all.
And that's how he'd been the only one to clear DAT, through calculations like this.
"By the way."
"Yeah?"
"The price for this right arm? I'm gonna collect on it properly, so remember that. Jot it down in that diary of yours."
Leggin smirked, pointing at his mangled right arm.
He could even get a life-debt out of Manannan.
One arm for that kind of profit? Not bad.
'Arm will heal fine anyway.'
A famous comic came to mind. A pirate who gave up his arm to save the protagonist.
Compared to that, Leggin just needed good healing—he'd lose almost nothing.
"……Hah. You're crazy, I tell you. Crazy. Fine. Like this? 'I owe Leggin my life.'"
"Nah, that's not enough. Too vague."
"Huh?"
"I used three extra scrolls to save you……."
Pain throbbed in his arm nonstop. Still, business was business.
Grinning through it, Leggin listed out every claim in detail. Manannan let out a hollow laugh.
With the accounting done.
Leggin slowly stood, gazing off into the distance.
"Anyway, the important thing is……."
They'd made it here alive.
A massive fortress loomed at the edge of the dense forest.
Leggin took a deep breath, staring at the endless walls.
"This is the 5th floor."
"……From now on, let's not linger on the lower floors. Straight up."
Tension melted away.
This was where most explorers gathered, with at least some semblance of order.
A place Leggin and Manannan might grow sick of hearing about in the days ahead.
The moment they'd arrived at the 5th floor, outskirts of the Ancient Castle.
* * *
The 5th floor of the First Tower: Ancient Castle.
The two headed toward where people would likely be gathered, seeking treatment.
"This place feels…… different from the forests we've seen so far. Like we've stepped into another world."
"Could be. The tower's divided into floors, each with its own time and place."
It wouldn't be wrong to call each floor a different world.
It was a stark contrast to floors 1 through 4—a stunning landscape.
A dreamlike atmosphere where fairies or spirits could appear without seeming out of place.
Fresh off the extreme tension of clearing the 4th floor, it hit them hard.
Adrenaline faded, and the pain they'd pushed aside began creeping back.
"Urgh……."
His arm felt like it could rip off any second.
Pain like nothing he'd ever experienced.
He'd calculated the damage before letting it bite, but the agony far exceeded that.
"No wonder…… Why'd you do something so stupid…… Ugh. Never mind, it's all my fault, so I can't say shit."
Manannan quickened her pace anxiously.
Worried treatment might come too late, leaving Leggin's arm beyond saving.
"Uh……?! I hear voices."
"……We're almost there."
At the forest's edge stood massive outer walls.
In front of them sprawled dozens of tent-like outposts.
'A kingdom-managed campsite.'
Familiar territory.
The tower's one true safe haven.
He'd come and gone endlessly as a newbie.
Kingdom flags dotted the area, the same emblem on every outpost.
Guards stood watch at the entrance, explorers bustling inside.
"I'll need to check your identities."
A kingdom guard looked them over.
"Mages, huh. That wound looks bad…… Just show your passes and get to treatment. Best not delay."
"Yes. Thank you."
"Still…… Were you hunting nearby? How'd your arm end up like that?"
"……We just came up from the 4th floor."
"……The 4th?"
The guard eyed Leggin and Manannan in surprise.
"Damn. Tough break. How'd you make it through the 4th at this point……."
Leggin gave a wry smile.
Everyone here knew: the longer you stalled, the harder it got to push through.
'Damn. I was the only one clueless.'
No, he had known.
Just not that the 1st-floor exit portal would vanish.
Recalling his mistake, Leggin mentally noted fixes for next time.
Unless he needed to hunt lycanthropes, no more wasting time on lower floors.
'Got everything I needed anyway.'
At the end of his mangled arm dangled a bracelet: Infinite Inventory.
He thought of the Rafflesia inside it.
Tough return, but he'd secured all the lower-floor loot.
Never again would he suffer like this.
* * *
Entering the campsite, they searched the outposts for a clinic.
"Hello. Oh……? Explorer, your arm……!"
Even to these battle-hardened folks, Leggin's arm looked dire.
A woman rushed them to a bed inside the clinic.
"This won't heal with a high-grade potion……."
The first attendant frowned, calling to another woman for help.
"Ernia! Any chance you can do healing magic right now?"
"Pardon?"
"The arm wound's too severe. Could you take a look?"
"Oh my! How did this……!"
Ernia……?
Leggin eyed the woman who hurried over at the call.
A very familiar face.
Impossible to forget. He'd seen her plenty while looping the lower floors.
'Just like in the computer footage.'
One of the NPCs who helped early-game DAT players survive.
Some called her "Emoney," blending "Ernia" with "mommy."
Seeing her brought instant relief.
'They were all freaking out more than I expected, so I worried the arm was worse than I thought. Might've had to amputate. But…….'
No need to lose it now.
Ernia's healing was top-tier on the 5th floor.
"Have a seat here, and I'll help treat it……!"
Leggin relaxed and sat, extending his arm toward Ernia.
She sat beside him, raising her hands to channel holy power into his arm.
'……Wait.'
Then it hit him: Ernia's flaw.
She was a skilled priestess on the lower floors, sure.
"Please bear with it, even if it hurts."
"……Urgh!!"
……But her heals weren't painless.
Priest healing magic hurt less than forceful potions.
Yet Ernia's always packed serious pain.
'……Characters always grimaced during her heals in the videos.'
Back then, it was just pixels hurting—not him. Who cared?
Now that it was his arm, tears and snot streamed out.
"Sniff……."
"……It's really bad."
Should've led with illusion magic. Ernia muttered.
Might've been better.
'……Endure.'
Didn't want to be the explorer bawling during a heal.
Gritting his teeth through the pain.
Ernia stared gravely at his arm.
"……But something's off."
"……Pardon?"
"No idea what monster on the 4th did this, but for damage like that, it'd have to be a werewolf at least. Or worse."
"……."
"The bite marks don't match werewolf. Bigger, sharper wounds. This is……."
Ernia examined the wound closely, then spoke in a trembling voice.
"A lycanthrope…… Was it a lycanthrope?"
"……."
"They're several times bigger than regular werewolves…… Ferocious too. Once they pick a target, they hunt to the death."
Leggin gathered his thoughts before answering.
"Yeah. Lycanthrope."
"……Gods. A real lycanthrope appeared?"
Her eyes shook. Leggin realized instantly.
She'd faced one before.
Fear lingered in her gaze.
"……Not sure what to say. You two making it back alive is a miracle. The goddess must've watched over you."
Not a miracle—just heaps of experience and judgment.
But a priestess would see it that way.
Fitting for a miracle-worthy survival.
"……Anyway."
"Yes."
"We should report to the commander once treatment's done."
"Report?"
"Yes."
Leggin sensed things turning serious.
"You might not know since it's your first time, but Chimihi manages this 5th floor."
Chimihi.
He knew the name.
'One of the kingdom's Five Great Swordsmen.'
A man who'd once soloed to the 14th floor.
Pure skill? He could've gone beyond 15.
Stuck here for various reasons now, but he'd climb again someday.
Leggin stared at Ernia, pain forgotten.
'Already tangled with Chimihi?'
In his knowledge, one of the NPCs who tossed the most random events your way.