A Red Bead Emerges from the Werewolf's Corpse
A red bead popped out from the werewolf's corpse. About the size of an apple, the bead floated lightly into the air without Han Ji-woo even wanting it to, and absorbed straight into his body.
Life Bead absorbed. Fleshly survival time extended by 5 minutes.
Along with the message, the countdown timer ticking down added five minutes.
- Time until death: 81:34:18
- Time until death: 81:39:18
'Could it be that I get a Life Bead every time I kill a monster?'
From his experience fighting the werewolf, it hadn't been much of a threat. It was definitely stronger than the mad cow he'd battled recently, but against Han Ji-woo with his overwhelming stat difference, it was all the same in the end.
'In that case...!'
No need to tense up. He'd just catch all the incoming ones in one sweep, grab the Life Beads, and extend his lifespan first!
Slash! Whoosh! Slash! Stab!
The sword in Han Ji-woo's hand whipped around like lightning. With fluid, basic attacks flowing like water, each strike severed a werewolf's neck or pierced its heart.
Of course, Han Ji-woo had no prior experience with this kind of combat either, so he couldn't block every werewolf attack.
Crunch! Crack! Stab!
"Kuh!"
A werewolf's sharp fangs dug into the nape of his neck, and steel-like claws raked his side. The attacks he allowed hurt like hell, snapping him alert, but none were fatal. His HP only dropped from 5 to 7. However, back on Earth, Han Ji-woo had never needed to endure such pain, so he had no tolerance for it.
"That hurts!"
So the path he chose was to kill the werewolves even faster.
The blade of his single-horned steel sword carved through the werewolves more fiercely than before. It was straightforward attacks with no fancy techniques, but the power and speed packed into them made evasion impossible even when they saw the blade coming.
Grrr! Keeeek!
Werewolves struck with fatal blows spat blood and collapsed one after another.
Finally, the steel sword pierced the last one's throat.
Stab! Thud.
"Huuu."
Having hunted all the werewolves, Han Ji-woo checked his remaining time. He'd expected at least an hour's extension, but the result was completely different.
- Time until death: 71:52:37
"...What the hell?"
It had decreased by 10 hours instead?
At that moment, a bead floated up from the body of the final fallen werewolf and absorbed into Han Ji-woo's body. But this one wasn't red—it was black.
Then a message appeared.
Death Bead absorbed. Fleshly survival time shortened by 20 minutes.
"...!"
Han Ji-woo staggered. The black bead was a Death Bead, and it shortened survival time.
"So not every corpse drops just red beads?"
And the reduction was a whopping 20 minutes. In the heat of battle with the werewolves, he'd been too focused to notice. He hadn't even paid attention to the messages popping up.
How many black beads had he absorbed to lose so much time?
As Han Ji-woo wondered, text unfolded before his eyes.
Past message logs can be checked at any time as desired.
"There was a function like this?"
Han Ji-woo immediately checked the message logs related to the beads.
Death Bead absorbed. Fleshly survival time shortened by 30 minutes.
Life Bead absorbed. Fleshly survival time extended by 5 minutes.
Death Bead absorbed. Fleshly survival time shortened by 40 minutes.
...
"This is insane."
Among the beads acquired from the monsters, there were far more Death Beads than Life Beads. Plus, while Life Beads uniformly extended time by 5 minutes, Death Beads shortened it by at least 20 minutes each. There were 23 bead-related message logs—matching the number of dead werewolves.
In other words, killing one monster guaranteed acquiring either a Life Bead or a Death Bead.
"...This is basically telling me not to hunt monsters."
The more monsters he killed, the worse the situation got—who'd want to hunt like that? It was no different from saying to run whenever monsters appeared.
"What the hell is this bullshit."
Was this prison designed to make the imprisoned criminal feel endless despair as they slowly died?
Setting it up so that killing monsters dropped not just Death Beads but also Life Beads was clearly meant to give false hope. Just to make them cling to it before plunging them into even greater despair.
"Haa."
He couldn't help but sigh. He was trying to steel himself and push through the crisis, but honestly, the future looked pitch black.
That's when a sound like boiling a steam locomotive hit Han Ji-woo's ears.
"Uhahaha! So there's another human trapped in this prison besides me!"
"...!"
Startled by the voice from behind, he whipped around. What entered Han Ji-woo's eyes was a stocky, burly, hairy man of short stature. He vaguely remembered seeing that look in a fantasy movie.
"...A dwarf?"
"As expected, anyone can sense the valiant spirit of a dwarf emanating from me."
He wasn't sure about spirit, but the appearance was unmistakably a dwarf.
"You're really a dwarf?"
"Dost thou keep repeating the obvious twice! I am the great dwarf Osgeelro Haiban!"
Osgeelro thumped his chest with a grin, flashing neat, pearly white teeth.
"I'm Han Ji-woo."
"Han Ji-woo? A peculiar name."
"What should I call you?"
"Call me Osgeelro."
"Got it, Osgeelro. Mind if I ask something? Are you trapped in this prison too?"
"Of course! Think I'd have been living here from the start?"
That answer confused Han Ji-woo in multiple ways. But pondering alone wouldn't yield answers, so he kept asking.
"Were you suddenly kidnapped into a dungeon too?"
"Aye! Not just me—humans and elves from the Adrigur Continent were snatched in droves! Damn unlucky, I was the only dwarf among 200 souls."
"200 people? Not 100?"
"100? That damned demon bastard always said he kidnaps 200 at a time into the dungeon!"
"The demon you just mentioned—what do you mean by that?"
"What meaning? We call demons demons—what else? That imp runt who'd be a one-punch kill outside."
"So the one who kidnapped you into the dungeon wasn't a cat, but an imp demon?"
As the conversation progressed, Osgeelro seemed to sense something off too.
"Thou art not from the Adrigur Continent?"
"I was kidnapped from a place called Earth. And in my dimension, people were taken 100 at a time. The culprit was a cat named Ferrofero, not an imp."
"What? Does that mean there's more than one dungeon?"
"Seems like it. We must've been in different dungeons and met here in prison."
From Han Ji-woo's perspective, it was an unimaginable truth. More dungeons existed beyond his own.
'That means... there could be three, four, or even more.'
He wondered what the purpose of all these dungeons was. But Osgeelro didn't let him dwell deeply on the topic.
"Damn. Not the truth I wanted to hear. Nice to meet a human after ten days, but thy words are giving me a headache!"
"...Pardon? Ten days? Did you just say ten days?"
Guessing what startled Han Ji-woo, Osgeelro grinned and smacked his thick lips.
"Why? Can't believe I've survived over three days?"
"How is that possible?"
Osgeelro raised a finger, pointing at something.
"Thou hast only 71 hours left."
There, Han Ji-woo's remaining time was displayed.
"See? No death timer on me like thine."
"How'd you manage that?"
"I summoned my fleshly body from the dungeon here. So this skin is my real body. Not like thee, wearing an avatar."
"That's possible?"
"Achieve an accomplishment, and it is! Uhahaha!"
Han Ji-woo grabbed Osgeelro's hand tightly.
"Could you tell me how?"
"Hey! This accomplishment I earned at the brink of death was hard-won! And thou wants it spilled just like that? Nonsense!"
Sensing Han Ji-woo's sly intent, Osgeelro suddenly flared up. At almost the same moment, thunder rumbled from his gut.
Grrrrumble!
"Hungry?"
At Han Ji-woo's question, Osgeelro coughed awkwardly.
"Ahem! I'm no good at cooking, ye see. Looks lush with greenery, but there's naught to eat. Not even a single fruit tree."
Han Ji-woo slowly scanned the surroundings. As Osgeelro said, it was a dense forest, but no fruit in sight—just flowers, grass, and nameless trees.
"So what've you been eating to hold out? Can you survive without food here?"
"With my real body? Think I could? Grilled monster meat was all. But as I said, I'm ace at everything but cooking. Throw it on a fire, and it burns every time—frustrating as hell. Barely had a proper meal."
Spotting an unexpected opportunity, Han Ji-woo smirked. He pulled a whole watermelon and grilled fish from his inventory.
"Bet it'd taste amazing, huh?"
"Wa-watermelon! And perfectly grilled fish!"
"Sure is."
"C-couldst thou spare some for me?"
Han Ji-woo barked back.
"Hey! These are food I earned at the brink of death! And thou wants it for free? Nonsense!"
"Gasp!"
Perfectly mirrored, Osgeelro gasped. Watching the dwarf take the hit, Han Ji-woo felt like a tai chi master. To drive the nail in, he pulled a mad cow corpse from his inventory.
Thud!
"Shall we make a deal now?"
"B-beef!"
Seeing Osgeelro drool, Han Ji-woo was certain. The initiative had shifted to him.
Munch. Munch. Gulp!
Osgeelro devoured the food in front of him like a glutton. Han Ji-woo asked,
"Tasty?"
"No need for words! Haven't had grub like this in ages! Mad cow beef's fine since I can hunt 'em, but grilled fish and watermelon? Thy dungeon must've been nicer than mine!"
"Not really, just some long stories. What've you been up to these ten days here?"
"What can a prison rat do? Searching for an escape."
"Same goal as me. Mind sharing how you ended up here?"
"That imp playing dungeon manager showed up on floor 10, mouthing off, so I socked him. Then it cried 'rule violation' and tossed me in prison. Petty bastard."
Han Ji-woo was relieved Osgeelro hadn't died. And he gleaned one key info from it.
'Managers really can't kill directly.'
Osgeelro's dungeon and his own seemed to share basic rules. With some ice-breaking done, he asked what he was most curious about: how to bring one's real body from the dungeon.
But hearing Osgeelro's answer, Han Ji-woo could only blink.
"...Pardon?"
He was utterly stunned.