Chapter 40: Boing!
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 40: Boing!
“You lecher! You shameless… pervert!!!!”
“No, I’m telling you, it’s not like that.”
It was understandable, but currently, Raya Delbaheim was beyond mortified.
According to the doctor she had personally requested for his recovery, the boy’s name was Aven. Raya had first discovered him while she was returning to the surface after a long dive that had taken her as deep as the 65th Floor.
What on earth is that…?
In the depths of the midnight forest, a black-haired boy drenched in blood was fighting alone against hundreds of Orcs without a single light source. Before her return, a messenger from the lower floors had informed her that an Irregular Elite Boss had appeared on the 10th Floor.
Orcs typically lived in colonies ranging from thirty to a hundred at most, but according to what the Scarlet Lotus party had heard from the messenger on the 25th Floor, the number of Orcs currently stationed on the 10th Floor reached a staggering six hundred.
The party quickly realized this was due to an Irregular entity known as an Orc Great Chieftain. Raya Delbaheim, the swiftest among them, had stepped forward to resolve the anomaly on the 10th Floor as quickly as possible.
“I’ll go.”
She possessed a shameful curse skill called Orc Estrus, which made her somewhat ill-suited for dealing with Orcs, but being part of a Great Clan meant more than just having a famous name. Naturally, she carried curse-suppressing potions.
Duration: 24 hours… I should be able to finish off about eight hundred within two hours.
After consuming the potion, she had rushed through the Labyrinth and reached the 10th Floor, hurrying to find the Orcs before any damage could befall the base.
But the sight she encountered was exactly as described.
To take down this many alone…
Though a half-elf, the blood of the long-lived race flowed through Raya Delbaheim’s veins. Having accumulated knowledge over her long life, it was only natural that she was well-acquainted with the information of almost every powerhouse in this Labyrinth City.
Yet, this was a man she had never seen before. Since she was watching from a distance, his features weren't clear, but she could tell he was a male with black hair.
Black hair…? A peculiar man.
When he emerged from the forest strewn with corpses, covered in blood, the Orc Great Chieftain had already arrived at the forest entrance and was waiting for him.
As he violently tore off his blood-stained shirt to reveal his upper body, a faintly glowing red skill circuit could be glimpsed on his left chest.
That’s…!
The sight that followed—the spear he threw tearing through the air with a catastrophic roar, splitting the Orc Great Chieftain’s brow and shattering its skull as it propelled forward—was deeply impressive, even to Raya.
The subsequent bizarre act of crushing the Orc Great Chieftain’s ribs, flipping open its chest cavity, sitting atop it, and devouring its entrails was quite chilling, even for Raya, who had seen many unique skills.
Still, influenced by her father, who was a warrior, she couldn't help but feel an attraction toward strong and courageous men. Even putting that aside, the performance he displayed during combat certainly made her look forward to his future footsteps.
He looks severely exhausted. He needs help.
And so, that led to the current situation.
* * *
“No, just come a bit closer. I’m really fine.”
“Kyah!”
Contrary to her initial impression of him being brave and strong, his skin was pale and his appearance was almost like that of a young nobleman. She always told her subordinates that she hated authority and to treat her comfortably, but…
H-How! How can he just sprawl out on the sofa like that and tell a strange woman to come closer…!!
She wasn't the type of person who wanted her authority to drop so low that a man would lie comfortably on a sofa and tell her to come closer during their first meeting.
Of course, Yoo Eon wasn't trying to tarnish the reputation of the famous Raya Delbaheim; he simply wanted to prove himself so they could talk.
Seriously, do I have to be the one to move when my whole body hurts this much?
Reluctantly, he dragged his aching, muscle-sore body off the sofa and hobbled toward Raya.
“Ow. Ow, that hurts. Seriously.”
Wrapped tightly in a snow-white blanket and trembling, she looked like a Grain Cube stuffed inside a pouch. Weren't those also wrapped in white cotton cloth?
“Phew, there. See? No problem, right?”
“Huk…! How can this be…?”
“I told you. I’m fine now.”
As I approached and reached out to her, Raya showed none of the physical reactions she had before. Only then did she grab her bright red ears with both hands, tucking them under her hair. She tilted her head up as if nothing had happened and spoke.
“A-Ahem! Please, take a seat, Aven. There is something I must discuss with you in private.”
“Yes, of course.”
I suppose it couldn't be helped that the moment I pulled my hand away, her beet-red ears went boing and popped right back out through her hair.
Anyway, since I’d dragged my aching body out to prove my point, shouldn't we have that conversation now? I went back to the sofa and lay down again, and Delbaheim, after glancing at me tentatively, came over and sat in front of me.
I wasn't sure what her initial reason was, but I thought I understood why she was keeping me here.
After showing such a pathetic display, she probably worried about what would happen if she kicked me out into the city immediately. It would harm her dignity and reputation, so she was likely trying to keep me quiet.
Even so, doing me harm would leave a crack in the name of an ultra-large clan. And I don't mean the kind of 'leak' she had, but a literal hairline crack.
“Don’t worry. About the fact that Delbaheim, well, had an accident in front of me—”
“Y-You!! Are you really going to keep this up until the very end?!”
“Ah, yes… well, what I mean is, let’s just act like it never happened.”
“Uuuugh…!!”
The long ears unique to elves were flapping busily. Did those things move whenever she was embarrassed?
—Gurgle.
During a brief silence in the conversation, a stomach growled. Delbaheim quickly clutched her lower abdomen, but that sound had come from my stomach.
“Ugh, I’m so hungry. I feel like my stomach is going to cave in.”
“Kuh… Is this the price for my silence?!”
“No. I was just talking to myself. It’s not like I’m asking for food because of that… but actually, please give me some food. I’m hungry.”
Come to think of it, wasn't it fine to get a meal out of this? It was a successful clan; it wasn't like they didn't have the money to treat a guest to one meal.
Raya gave me a sharp glare before rising from the sofa and walking to the edge of the long desk typical of a drawing room. There was a small golden bell there. When she flicked it with her finger, a servant entered the room shortly after, even though it hadn't made a sound.
“Raya De—Del—Delbaheim-nim. Did you call?”
“Prepare a meal. Something simple.”
“Understood.”
The servant in the maid uniform was looking around busily. She seemed to glance back and forth between Yoo Eon and Delbaheim a couple of times before quickly exiting the drawing room.
The reason was, of course, the posture of the two and the strange atmosphere in the room. There was a man who was supposedly a guest, lying comfortably on the sofa and scratching his belly. In front of him sat Raya, a superior far above the maid’s station, sitting in an uncomfortable posture while watching the man’s every move. Her cheeks were flushed as red as carrots.
Has Lord Delbaheim taken a lover…? A shiftless man like that?!
Of course, as a professional maid, she handled it well without a single change in her expression, but she couldn't help but be curious.
“A-Ahem! I did not call you here to silence you. As I said, I brought you here because I have something private to discuss.”
“Right… I see.”
“Please respond properly!”
“No, I’m in pain right now. Is it okay to yell at a patient like this?”
“T-That’s…!”
Raya, momentarily flustered, cleared her throat again. After composing herself so as not to get swept up in his pace, she spoke.
“I heard your name is Aven.”
“Yes. It’s a pseudonym, but I’m requesting to be called Aven.”
“A pseudonym? May I ask why you are hiding your real name?”
“Because my real name doesn't sound like a real name. It’s Yoo Eon. Surname Yoo, given name Eon. Together, it’s Yoo Eon.”
“Then is it not Eon Yoo?”
“Where I lived, the surname comes first.”
“I-I see…. You aren't lying, are you…?”
“Of course not.”
Raya commented that it was unique before continuing the conversation.
“It seemed like you acquired a new skill. Do you have any idea what it might be?”
“Yes, my strength suddenly became incredibly powerful… Do you know what kind of skill it is?”
“Incredibly powerful, you say? It might be a bit different from the skill I have in mind.”
“Well, what skill were you expecting?”
Raya stroked her chin as if contemplating my words for a moment, then raised her right hand and brushed her upper left chest.
“During the battle on the 10th Floor, a red circuit manifested in this area on you. Were you aware of it?”
“I didn't know. I wasn't in my right mind.”
“I see. I have previously identified a skill circuit engraved in that exact same location.”
“What is it?”
“The name of the skill is ‘Bleeding Berserk.’ It is a passive-type skill where physical strength increases according to the amount of blood loss.”
“Bleeding Berserk….”
A skill where strength increases the more you bleed. So there was something like that. Raya added an explanation.
“Can that really make a person’s strength three or four times stronger?”
“The increase in strength does not occur on such a massive scale. I heard it takes the body’s original state as a baseline and increases proportionally according to a percentage.”
“So if I lose 10 percent of my total blood volume, my strength increases by about 10 percent?”
“That is correct.”
“Hmm… wait a second.”
The amount of blood naturally flowing in my body would be the absolute standard. If I lose 10 percent, my strength goes up by 10 percent.
Generally, 10 percent is considered the start of excessive bleeding, and once it exceeds 30 percent, you’re at death’s door. For a normal person, the maximum strength increase they could get from Bleeding Berserk would be 20 percent at most. Beyond that, the anemia would be so severe that even someone with strong mental fortitude wouldn't be able to fight.
The problem was, I wasn't a normal person.
“Then… what happens if I bleed much more than my original blood volume?”
“What do you mean by that?”
Raya Delbaheim tilted her head and asked back.
“If blood leaves an animal’s body, survival is impossible. You should know at least that much.”
“What if… there was a skill where blood kept being generated inside the body? What if it kept being replenished no matter how much leaked out?”
“If we assume that… the increase in strength would also grow significantly.”
“Haha.”
This was it.
“That is a peculiar question. You must possess a skill related to blood volume.”
“Not exactly, but it’s similar.”
“…That is surprising. Then, the power you showed on the 10th Floor—at what level of strength increase were you?”
When I was dealing with the Orcs on the 10th Floor? I wasn't exactly sure. But it was certain that I had bled a lot. In the middle of it, most of the Direwolf blood had been lost through bleeding, and I had fought while drinking the blood of the fallen Orcs.
“At least five times…”
“That much…! That is incredible!”
“Yeah, I’m surprised too.”
This was a huge harvest. Five times the strength? Isn't that insane? And as long as I had plenty of blood, even more than that was possible.
“Wow, then when I’m running out of steam, I can just cut myself with a knife—”
“It won't activate through self-harm. That’s just how the skill is.”
“Ah.”
That was a bit disappointing, but it was still good. From now on, I’d have to drink plenty of blood in advance.
“For now, I understand the situation regarding that. Next… is the main point.”
“Yes.”
“Join the Mayerbridge Union.”
Boing!