Chapter 34
Chapter 34
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 34
Chapter Title: The Deficient Sacrifice
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"Would something like... hair count as a body part?"
Magic stones were tempting, but surviving came first.
Killing him wasn't an option if she didn't want to leave someone behind or mutilate herself. At a glance, he was no more than an illusion, not the real body.
Plus, anyone capable of projecting an illusion like that was someone to fear.
Even without that, as the apparent Dungeon Master, if he sealed this dungeon, who could escape alive?
The woman called Ruby—Feyan inwardly cursed up a storm while flashing a bright smile. But whether due to it being an illusion or the vast gap in their levels, her Charm had no effect.
In the end, only one option remained.
―You must provide the minimum weight. About 10kg should do.
Tension rippled through the air at the Dungeon Master's words.
Who would be sacrificed?
As the murderous intent thickened, Dungeon Master Aishy spoke again in a languid tone, as if granting mercy.
―Taking that much from one person would be too great a sacrifice, endangering their life. If each cuts off a little, all can survive and leave.
One complete sacrifice. Or many smaller losses combined into one.
"Become cripples, you mean?"
Kal sneered, and Hals grimaced as well.
"Even cutting from fleshy areas like thighs or buttocks and pouring in potions would only be a stopgap."
It might keep them alive for now, but side effects were inevitable.
Without money for regeneration at a temple, they'd live with a permanent hole in their body.
That would effectively end their life as adventurers.
Balance ruined from thighs or buttocks, plus nerve damage from such cuts—movement would never be the same.
"And the reward is just 1kg of magic stone? Split four ways..."
They couldn't live luxuriously as cripples forever.
A commoner might accept it, but these were high-earning, high-spending adventurers. Such a sum was pocket change to them—mere spending money for fleeting happiness, not something to plan around.
So the conclusion was.
"Ruby... you weigh about 50kg, right?"
"What? Are you insane?"
Kal and Hals, the original duo who dungeoned together, now faced off against the late joiners Feyan (Ruby) and Jovi, widening the distance.
Feyan took a deep breath, and pale fingertips under Jovi's hood twitched inside his robe.
Kal gripped a dagger tightly in one hand, while Hals clashed his gauntlet-clad fists with a ferocious glare.
"Two of you should exceed 100kg, right?"
"Who knows. Jovi's so skinny, probably lighter than Ruby, so don't get your hopes up."
Ruby bit her lip watching the two snicker.
'Where did it all go wrong?'
Charm was near-omnipotent when used right.
If someone was inexplicably hated, there were always those inexplicably drawn to help. Charm amplified that feeling to the extreme.
It didn't work well on other women, but Feyan had dismissed that as no real flaw.
Everyone liked her, praised her. A glance anywhere got her free meals; even the same clothes came with extra service.
People willingly overlooked minor inconveniences or losses with a smile from her.
At A-rank, on the cusp of S, she could entrance others to help—even with matters tied to their lives or cherished values—as long as it wasn't directly threatening.
Feyan was quite clever. Born a half-demonkin, she faced innate limits and prejudice, yet lived without want. Charm was that powerful a Trait.
But "near-omnipotent" meant not quite omnipotent.
"Kal, how could you? Don't you feel sorry for me? Hals, you said I was precious!"
When her own life was on the line, of course.
"Sorry, Ruby. I gotta survive too."
"We'll commemorate you yearly, so no worries."
"You fucking bastards..."
In a situation like this, Charm was useless.
Feyan finally raised her pleading eyes, loosening the chain whip coiled at her waist with a clink and gripping it tight.
"Kal, take out Jovi first!"
Hals advanced first, using his elbow-length gauntlets like shields to check Feyan. She backpedaled, aiming her whip's razor-sharp tip at Hals's body beyond the gauntlets, slicing the air.
A whip was deadly—ripping flesh and rupturing organs on a solid hit—but sturdy gauntlets could deflect it or wrap it up, reducing its threat.
Silver wire, requiring precise control, was just a slender weakness if anticipated.
Jovi supported Ruby's whip checks on Hals—targeting ankles or twisting wrists mid-swing—by hurling fire and ice potions in resistance.
"Annoying."
Kal growled, lunging to intercept Jovi's potions but getting shrouded in bursts of smoke bombs.
"Take out Jovi first!"
Even as Kal named Jovi, he spun toward Feyan. Throwing knives scattered her way like seeds; she shrieked like a small bird.
"Come here!"
Feyan twisted her body to avoid falling, flicking her fingers. Jovi dashed forward, taking knives to the head and chest with dull thuds.
The impact knocked off his hood, revealing Jovi's whitened eyes and bluish skin.
"What the hell is that?"
"Z-zombie?"
Kal and Hals's eyes widened at Jovi pulling a dagger from his cheek, black blood dripping as he moved.
"Why... didn't we know?"
"Because you're idiots."
Feyan wiped cold sweat from her brow with the back of her hand, twisting her lips into a smirk.
Temple-issued Trait orbs only listed the highest-rank Trait anyway.
Who had only the talents listed there?
So Feyan had planned ahead. Against someone spotting her Traits at a temple or when she let her guard down to reveal them, she'd hone her third-highest talent.
'Puppetry!'
The bloodline magic awakened in her as a demonkin half-breed.
She'd lured victims with Charm, processed them chemically, and kept Jovi as her constant puppet. His slightly unnatural movements and silence passed as typical mage stubbornness; any suspicions were covered by her Charm.
If they'd been a little less greedy, suggested cutting bits from each other to all survive—Feyan might have reluctantly offered her puppet Jovi as sacrifice.
What she, who always drew people with Charm, needed most was a true comrade.
'But trash only meets trash, after all.'
She should've expected it.
"Let's all die together then."
Think I'd die alone as the offering?
Feyan cackled, and Jovi charged Kal and Hals with a bomb potion in hand.
* * *
The Deficient Dungeon appeared not just in the game, but the original novel too.
Kane never entered it himself; one of his later rivals had cleared it.
That man was crippled, with prosthetic arms, drowned in booze and drugs, seething with rage as he entered and offered one crude, heavy metal fake arm on a whim. He recalled gaining everything afterward.
Gold coins, rare reagents and metals, magic stones, attribute stones.
And the homunculus.
―This is...
I watched Luna tear her clothes to bind my leg, wincing in feigned pain as I spoke.
"It won't have to be flesh, right?"
It said "body part."
The living metal prosthetic I offered flowed like water in Aishy's hand, forming a sphere.
He gazed at it curiously before speaking.
―So, you're one of my kind.
His illusion shimmered, fading faintly as if about to vanish, then sharpening as he approached. Passing through wary Kane and Luna's bodies, he grinned right before my eyes.
―The incomplete one.
It felt strange.
Not just physical deficiency—something else.
My eyebrow arched as I glared; Aishy ignored Luna's kicks through him and Kane's sword at his neck, pulling back.
―The deficient one. What more to take from a kindred soul?
The liquid metal melted into Aishy's illusion like ink. He pressed prosthetic and real fingers together, then spread his hands, parting space.
A box floated through the rift, drifting forward; Kane stepped in front, catching it.
That instant, Aishy's illusion dissolved like dye in water.
I gasped, finally exhaling, then collapsed into Luna's arms from blood loss and exhaustion.
"The door should be open now."
"Don't speak... take more potions... I want to heal the wound and staunch the bleeding with potion, but..."
"Nerves might tangle unpredictably. Even if the temple fixes it, Adelian, your family would notice."
I nodded at Kane's words.
That's why I endured without pouring potion on my leg.
Unlike a simple runaway, that would provoke my family—who knows what they'd do.
Even as the disowned Adelian, leaving with the family seal and losing a leg? Instant summons.
Boom!
Then, an explosion echoed from deeper inside.
Trap? Monster? Either way, time to leave. Luna and Kane moved swiftly.
This time, Kane carried me like luggage.
Luna had held me like a lady before. Now I'm luggage?
Damn, she's hopeless. Lucky I'm a guy; if I were a female party member, it'd shatter any budding romance. Bro's got tips for you.
"Ow..."
"Hm."
I exaggerated my groans, flailing my limp limbs. Kane noticed, grunting as he adjusted his hold more comfortably.
"Ugh, sorry. I should be the one carrying you..."
"No... it's fine..."
The box resisted subspace storage—magically sealed.
Too urgent to unpack and store contents; abandoning it after coming for it? No way—I insisted on taking it.
So Luna carrying me and Kane the box left us vulnerable. Better: Luna with box, Kane carrying me one-handed like luggage, other hand free for sword and checks.
'I just hate how it feels.'
This foul mood? Passing it to Ruby's party.
I waved a hand, pulling out my codex. Once out of the Deficient Dungeon, I poured magic into the labyrinth-linked passage.
Rumble—the tunnel collapsed.
"Young master?"
"What was that?"
Luna and Kane protested; I closed the codex with blood-drained pale hands, smiling.
"If they backstab us, we return the favor."
No matter Kane's scum personality and distrust of people, he couldn't stain his hands with non-monster human blood here—not forced, but willful.
I have affluenza—no qualms burying someone alive.
It keeps even cute girls like Luna or seductresses like Ruby from stirring my heart, making it all feel like a dream about to shatter.
Who knows how Luna or Kane would react knowing that. Not a god—how should I?
So no mental breakdown for me over "I killed someone!" Makes this possible.
Luna too. Even as a final party member to grow strong, why make her when I can finish it?
I shrugged with a light laugh.
"Payment for my leg."
"Then that's cheap."
Luna forced a smile, playing along.
Kane said nothing more, aura-wrapped blade cleaving leaping monsters in half as he ran.
'Trouble. Vision's fading.'
Potion effects waning—stabbing pain spreading, body chilling.
Like huddling in a winter classroom with broken heat, staring at a textbook.
Or alone in an office, reviewing papers.
'Cold... sleepy...'
Each time my eyes closed, Kane jostled me awake. So drowsy.
Must keep thinking.
'Oh, right—the box.'
Side-glancing the box Luna carried as she ran, blurry in my submerged vision.
That's where it was.
In the original, the homunculus that became the Siren comms base.
'In game, it unlocked mail.'
The only way to interact with other players in solo Innocent Saga.
Patched item enabling item trades and messages via mail.
'With this, I can exploit Halon more effectively.'
Hiding my pleased smirk, I passed out cold.