The Big Bang in Basement 1! (5)
The young man approached directly and took up the spade to dig.
However...
Squelch.
Suddenly the young man's foot slipped, he lost his balance, and fell into the pit.
And from below the pit came the tragic scream of the young man.
“Aaaah! My leg! Aah!”
It seemed the man who had picked up the spade had fallen into the pit and broken his leg.
The three tower scavengers who had been burned and sitting down then sensed a change in the situation.
“Hey, kid! Can you open your eyes?”
“Yes, hyung.”
“Then let's all go down! That bastard fell into the trap with his own two feet.”
“Hey, hyung! What if that bastard throws more dirt?”
“Hey, shit! Did you not see it? As long as it doesn't touch bare skin, it's fine, right? Everyone pull up the sleeves, put on the gloves, and wear the masks. We're going down to kill that bastard.”
The three of them took the utmost defensive stance to cover their bare skin, then shone a flashlight into the pit where the screams were still echoing.
“Aaaah! Aaaah!”
The lower body of one fallen man appeared in the pit.
His legs were twisted badly, and it was clear he had broken them.
Seeing that, the eldest immediately threw his body downward. The other two followed behind him.
When the eldest landed and swung the knife, the young man who had been screaming suddenly jumped up, limping deeper into the pit.
For a moment the three tower scavengers instinctively began to chase the fleeing prey like hunters who had spotted one.
“Don't stop there! You damn brat!”
But it was strange. The prey that had seemed about to be caught was getting farther away.
And only after they had gone deep into the pit did they discover that the pit was extremely deep and connected to a continuous descending passage.
“What the hell is this? Is it an air raid shelter?”
“Looks like the Japanese colonial government dug it during the colonial era.”
Shining the flashlight, the young man was sliding down the descending passage. The three tower scavengers felt a growing sense of unease.
They jumped into the passage without hesitation and slid down the steep descent happily.
Squelch.
Squelch.
“What? Why is it so long?”
“Is the hyung connected underground?”
At that moment the end of the passage appeared under the flashlight.
“Ah, the end is visible there. Just a little more. Everyone cover your eyes with your arms. He might be hiding and throwing dirt.”
“Yes, hyung.”
The tower scavengers slid toward the end of the passage while covering their eyes with their arms as much as possible.
However...
At the end of the passage waited something the tower scavengers had never expected.
Thud.
The eldest, who had been leading enthusiastically, tripped on something and came to a sudden stop.
The two younger brothers who followed then collided clumsily against the eldest's back.
“Aaaah!”
“Ah! Ouch! Hyung... if you suddenly stop like that, what do we do?”
“...”
However the eldest blocking the front remained silent with arms limp.
“Hyung? What's wrong? Uck!”
The two pushed through and shone the flashlight, revealing a pickaxe buried deep in the eldest's chest.
The young man had been waiting right at the end of the passage and swung the pickaxe sideways like a baseball bat when the eldest came out, piercing his chest.
For a moment the eldest's body turned into blue powder and disappeared, and almost simultaneously the two jumped up in a state of extreme tension and guarded forward.
“Back to back! And keep watching the front only.”
“Yes, hyung.”
At that moment something dropped from the ceiling and wrapped around the youngest tower scavenger's neck.
“Huaaaak! W-what is this?”
It was unsurprising that even a small thing startled him when a centipede over a meter long dropped on his neck.
“Uwaaaah!”
The tower scavenger swung his military knife toward his neck to stab the centipede, but too startled he stabbed his own shoulder instead.
Almost simultaneously the centipede left two of its legs deep in the man's neck.
“Ugh! Uuuuu!”
The tower scavenger stood there in a pathetic pose with his knife stuck in his own shoulder, blood flowing as he trembled, then finally collapsed backward with a thud.
And in front of the lone remaining tower scavenger, the young man approached holding the spade on his shoulder.
His walk seemed normal, so it looked like the broken leg had been fake.
The last remaining tower scavenger gripped his weapon, the spade, and thought,
‘I fell into an ambush, but if we fight fairly I won't lose. That guy's just level 2-3 at best? Besides, the floor here is flat and hard. On the other hand, my skill is Shovel Master...’
The tower scavenger began spinning the shovel in a windmill motion using his skill.
However, suddenly the young man's shovel made a sharp sound like a contactless rifle, pressed against the man's lower back, then shot in like lightning and pierced his chest.
Clang.
The tower scavenger swung the shovel to barely block the first thrust.
Then he backed away as fast as possible, getting out of the opponent's reach.
However the man's shovel came at him in an unimaginable speed, striking three, four, five times in succession.
The tower scavenger instinctively swung the shovel in an X shape to block the attacks.
Clang.
Clang.
Clang.
It was power that seemed to tear the flesh.
And it was too fast.
The tower scavenger already felt there was no chance of victory.
Crash.
Blue sparks flew brilliantly, and suddenly the tower scavenger felt his heavy shovel handle had become lighter.
His shovel blade had shattered and flown away.
Fwooowwok.
And...
“Kheheheuk.”
A feeling of disgust he had never experienced before kicked in from his stomach.
A cold flat metal was piercing his belly, so it was natural that this was the first time.
The young man stepped on the tower scavenger's thigh with his foot and pulled the spade out.
Squelch.
The tower scavenger, whose intestines were spilling through the gap where the spade had come out, staggered back once then collapsed forward again.
Thud.
The man holding the shovel walked away from the one who had begun to turn into blue powder and approached the youngest being eaten by the centipede.
“Why did you follow me?”
“Hup, hup, hup... H-hyung... the hyungs told me to get revenge on the eldest... hup, hup... Please... the hyungs said to do it so I had no choice... hup, hup... Please... just let me live...”
* * *
The guy was pleading for mercy.
But since he had learned about this secret entrance, he could not be allowed to live.
Moreover he was already poisoned by the centipede's toxin.
Even if I wanted to save him there was no way.
I lifted the spade high to end his suffering quickly.
“Kheuk.”
Then the guy suddenly pulled out a long rod from his waistband and slammed it into the floor.
Suddenly I thought, 'So I'm going to die like this.' I didn't know exactly what it was, but it seemed to be one of his hidden trump cards.
Boom.
Something exploded and I was pushed mercilessly several meters away.
When I barely regained my balance, surprisingly there was no wound on my body.
The centipede that had been pushed out like me looked only regretful for missing the prey and didn't seem injured at all.
Suddenly I saw a small green dome forming in front of me.
I hit the dome with the spade.
Ding.
Only the sound of the spade rebounding came back and the dome had not even a scratch.
It looked like some kind of energy shield.
Huh? What is this?
How cool is that?
But the guy had nowhere left to run.
I would just wait outside this shield no matter how long it took.
Moreover...
Waiting would not be boring at all.
Because the Rune Stones I was about to obtain were floating in the air waiting for me.
===
[Acquired Rune Stone is Shovel's Power.]
LT__Classification>: Normal
LT__Grade>: F-Class
LT__Description>: Grants additional strength to all actions involving holding a spade or pickaxe.
: While holding a spade or pickaxe, strength increases by 8.
===
Oh.
The Rune Stones of the tower scavenger who had been killed by the pickaxe had been two.
One was worthless trash without mentioning value, but the other Shovel's Power was a very substantial one. Especially good for a hunter with the same Shovel skill as me.
He probably lured and killed countless tower scavengers, then chose and kept only the best ones. It made sense.
However I did not absorb it immediately but pressed to store it.
===
[Your Rune Stone slot status is as follows.]
LT__Base Trait 0>: Shovel's Luck (non-replaceable)
LT__Base Slot 1>: Shovel's Passion
LT__Base Slot 2>: Even in Death, Tower Wall Climbing
LT__Base Slot 3>: Self-Development Shovel
LT__Additional Slot 4>: >
LT__Additional Slot 5>: >
[Stored Rune Stone status.]
LT__Bottom Life> (cursed)
LT__……>
LT__……>
LT__Shovel's Power>
LT__……>
===
This is my current Rune Stone slot status.
I opened two additional slots by achieving achievements, but today I was going to obtain three or more Rune Stones.
It would be proper to look in detail and decide what to insert.
The tower scavenger I killed with Stab Shovel! had a weak base trait, but the Rune Stone I had stolen and carried was quite usable.
===
[Acquired Rune Stone is Shovel Mastery.]
LT__Classification>: Rare / Active
LT__Grade>: F-Class
LT__Description>: Obtains skills for freely moving the shovel.
: You can use a skill equivalent to level 8.
===
Oh ho.
I ate my first active Rune Stone.
That kid had been spinning the shovel, swinging it in an X shape, and doing all kinds of showy things. That was possible thanks to this.
All the Rune Stones I had eaten so far had been passive ones that did not activate skills.
However this Shovel Mastery was an active Rune Stone, one that allowed you to use skills.
Of course this Rune Stone could not be considered very valuable from a tower scavenger's perspective.
Because tower scavengers only needed to dig well with a spade; there was no need for flashy skill movements.
But I was different.
Because I could now throw dirt to attack the opponent.
If used properly, this could be used very usefully.
I also carefully picked up the various items left by the other two tower scavengers. Most were trash, but some were things worth buying with money, yet not so good that they were a loss if I had none.
===
[Acquired item is Dawn Goggles.]
LT__Classification>: Rare
LT__Function>: Allows seeing like dawn in the dark. Can fire distance measurement laser.
LT__Magnification>: 10×21
===
===
[Acquired item is Low Dexterity Work Shoes.]
LT__Classification>: Normal
LT__Function>: Agility +2
===
No matter what I did, the energy shield that did not tear or break held for even longer, then finally retracted by itself.
Approaching with the spade pointed, I saw the youngest tower scavenger had already been converted and disappeared, leaving only his work clothes, military knife, and belt.
I recovered the Rune Stone of the floating guy, then pulled out the long rod stuck in the floor.
===
[Acquired item is Safety Work Tent.]
LT__Classification>: Rare
LT__Function>: Creates an elliptical safety work zone of 4m diameter and 2m height for 10 minutes.
LT__Cooldown>: 3 hours
===
Heh.
This useful thing came into my hands.
Perfect for conquering Basement 1.
However it was not just a matter of good luck.
These brothers were originally tower scavengers who dug the ground to eat and survive, even before they became murderers.
In other words, when they had to dig something from the tower, having such a defensive dome was very effective, so they had paid a high price to carry it.
Or they might have killed someone and taken it.
* * *
A few days later, morning.
I finished all preparations to conquer Basement 1 and headed toward the Centipede Cave.
For the experiments over the past few days I had been coming and going often, but the queen centipede still willingly opened the way against my live chicken and turkey offensive.
A silent peace treaty seemed to continue.
Squelch.
I descended again from Floor 0 to Basement 1.
“Kill me~”
“Kill~ Please kill~~”
Soon I arrived at the square full of Rotters. However my outfit had changed a little.
The first time, I was naked.
The second time, in a gas mask.
But this time I wore a special material protective suit that perfectly covered my entire body including my face.
A ridiculous look as if I had become Spider-Man.
However this protective suit not only perfectly blocked Rotter virus and infection bacteria but also had its own cooling function to cool the body during work.
“Huuu~ Huuu~”
Even though I wore such a protective suit, the psychological barrier against jumping into the dense cluster of Rotters had not lowered.
Damn.
Still had to do it.
“Huuu~ Huff~”
I took my last breath, then released the carabiner connected to the secured rope.
“Aaaaah!”
“Kill me~”
“Please kill~~”
I fell from about 2 meters high and plunged into the sea of Rotters whose bodies were already rotting.
The moment my feet touched the ground, I felt my diaphragm contract from the insane pressure of the pushing Rotters.
Fortunately, because I had seen a gap from above and pushed my legs in well, I fell, otherwise I might have been wiped out by the Rotters and not even touched the ground...
“Kill me~”
“Me too~~”
The Rotters with lowered intelligence saw me jump in with my strange outfit and thought something was wrong, then began pushing in from all sides.
I bought time and quickly lowered my upper body and squatted.
If I had taken this posture in an actual concert hall, I would have been trampled to death by the constant pushing people.
However I was different.
Because I had a Safety Work Tent.
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