#13. The Sewer Calamity
#13. The Sewer Calamity
Where the hell am I supposed to go after leaving Jirisan? The question had been nagging at me for a while.
The first thing I needed was the year. Without that, I couldn't make any real plans. Once I got eyesight, I'd been able to roughly track the passing days, but I had no idea how much time had slipped by when I was still a Lesser Slime. Before I could form a strategy, I had to pin down the current situation.
———The immediate objective: survive. And then steer the novel's The World toward a correct ending, so I could return to the original World.
I read that novel all the way to the end. Yeah, the dogshit ending made me leave a 5,700-character rant in the comments, but the fact I bothered at all proves how attached I was. Of course I remember the plot. Knowing the story's contents, I can thwart the plans of the ones who originally succeeded. I can save the characters who died in the incidents and catastrophes the novel described. The advantage of knowing the future is enormous. To survive this dying The World — a runaway locomotive hurtling toward its end — I have to squeeze every drop out of that advantage.
'Save the ones who should be saved. Kill the ones who deserve to die beforehand.'
And the kill list had already been set long ago. ———Busan.
***
"...The Plague did not stop."
A hand with overgrown nails tapped rhythmically on the table. Tik. Tik. Tik.
"I see. Did He say anything further?"
"Nothing beyond what I have already reported."
"You were subdued without even being able to put up a fight... He remains unchanged, I take it."
"......."
"There is no cause for shame, Square Master. Especially considering it was Him you faced."
"...I apologize."
"Enough. More importantly, what of Alpha (Jirisan Warg)?"
"I intend to entrust it to Team 2."
"I heard it has transcended its species. Do you anticipate difficulty?"
The Team Leader shook his head calmly.
"No. We can win. However..."
"Is that so. I understand your meaning."
Would such an opportunity even arise? Alpha (Jirisan Warg) had cunningly slipped through every encirclement so far. It was believed highly likely to possess skills beyond its revealed Stealth and Predation.
Perhaps they should never have underestimated it in the first place. They ought to have requested aid even at the cost of losing face. Of course, that was belated regret — at the time, it had been the right call in terms of not wasting unnecessary manpower.
"Have you considered the possibility it has moved beyond Jirisan?"
"We cannot discount it."
"Countermeasures?"
"We cannot stop it. Alpha (Jirisan Warg)'s feet are swift, and Jirisan is vast. Even if we lay an ambush, the probability of success is low."
Tik. Tik-tik. Tik.
The tapping on the table quickened. The Team Leader knew this was a habit of the Clan Leader.
"Contact Team 3's Vice-Team Leader. Tell her to return as quickly as possible."
"At present, the Vice-Team Leader is in Busan..."
"I am aware. But can you even imagine the catastrophe that will occur if Alpha (Jirisan Warg) leaves this mountain?"
"......."
"The priorities have changed. Locating Alpha (Jirisan Warg) is now more urgent than finding those bastards."
It was not an incorrect statement. What if Alpha (Jirisan Warg) got out of Jirisan? The very thought was horrific. Current estimates placed Alpha (Jirisan Warg) at the level of at least a B-class Hunter or higher.
That was the absolute minimum. The howl the Team Leader had personally heard contained a power that, perhaps, might even reach A-class levels. By all common sense, a mere Warg evolving could never approach A-class, but... Alpha (Jirisan Warg) had already defied expectations time and again.
"...Understood. And, Clan Leader."
"......?"
As the silver lenses turned up toward him, the Team Leader inhaled sharply. That unwavering force of gaze was still palpable even through the glass. The one thing he could never grow accustomed to.
"May Team 3 also participate?"
"Why?"
"Because we have no currently assigned mission. I will call up an elite force only and merge them into Team 2. Myself included."
"Fine. Permission granted."
"Thank you."
After stepping out of the Clan Leader's room, the Team Leader sighed. Recently, the Clan Leader's mood — which had seemed good — was particularly foul.
'With good reason, too. Go-won's lost its payout.'
If anything, it had turned into a situation where Go-won might come out and say, "If you were going to handle it this way, you shouldn't have accepted the job," precisely because they had failed to handle the task Go-won had foisted on them. Of course, since the job had been anonymously pushed their way, it probably wouldn't come to that... but until Alpha (Jirisan Warg) was captured, the Clan Leader's mood would remain sour.
It seemed he'd be spending a lot of time tramping around the mountain for a while.
Yet, the fact that Alpha (Jirisan Warg) was already gone from Jirisan was something no one — the Team Leader included — knew.
***
What kind of messed-up The World was this, with monsters just sitting around in the middle of a city? A fair number of the dragon-bugs I'd seen on Jirisan had gathered here. Some were even quite large specimens.
What were the Hunters even doing? Sure, they weren't dangerous monsters as long as you left them alone, but the correct course of action was to exterminate them, right? They were still monsters.
......Then again, I wasn't in any position to worry about them. I had more to watch out for than the dragon-bugs did. It wasn't as if I'd been discovered. Seeing a large dog might scare people, but they didn't seem to think "monster." If I were exposed to an Appraisal skill or something like Observation, I'd be found out — but how many people actually had skills like that?
Right. It was safe to say I had practically nothing to worry about in terms of exposure. And yet...
"Who the hell abandoned a big dog like that?"
"Mommy! Look, look! A woof-woof!"
"Tch! Don't, you'll get hurt!"
...everywhere I went, I was treated as a stray.
Even with Stealth active, I couldn't completely hide — a giant black dog in the middle of a city tends to catch the eye.
Avoiding people was impossible given the population density crammed into this tiny sliver of land called Korea. A stray dog... Fine. Wolves do belong to the canine family. Genetically, dogs and wolves are supposedly 99.8% identical, right? I get it. I can see how people might make that mistake, but...
"Puppy! Do woof-woof! Woof-woof!"
Still, pulling my tail was a bit much, wasn't it? Even if I made every concession and assumed I'm just a dog — were they that fearless?
When I was little, I was scared of even the tiniest little dogs... Still, when I let out a "grrrrrr," the brat tugging my tail got spooked, burst into tears, and ran off.
What a sorry sight. My pitiful self...
A monster that conquered Jirisan, reduced to a stray dog in the middle of a city... The title Tyrant of the Mountain was weeping. Maybe I should shrink my build a bit with Change. Or evolve Stealth to D-rank.
No, forget it. So what if people treat me like a dog? Wasting Skill Points would be more regrettable.
I'd wandered around a bit at first because I got the direction wrong, but it seemed I'd finally arrived.
Korea's territory was small and densely populated, so security was tight. When a monster appeared, it was reported immediately, and Hunters responded fast. And since things were well-maintained, signs and guideposts still remained. That made it easy to find my way again even after a wrong turn.
2071— The world in the novel was the future. Just a future that had become utter chaos because of the emergence of monsters, a World where scientific and technological advancement had nearly ground to a halt. It wasn't all that different from the modern era I used to live in. If anything, it had regressed rather than advanced.
The problem was, it wasn't 2071 — it was 2069. I definitely knew the novel's plot, but only as much as the novel itself covered.
The original story started in 2071, when the protagonist graduated from the Academy. This was a full two years before what I knew. Eventually, time would pass, 2071 would come, and the novel's plot would begin — but not yet. In a way, I'd bought myself two years; on the other hand, losing my landmarks left me at a loss.
So: start with what's definite. I came all the way to Busan to prevent the calamity that can be stopped now.
A calamity that worsens as time goes on. If I didn't stop it now, what could be managed with a trowel later would require a shovel — and eventually become unstoppable. Any sane person would think so, just considering the breeding rate of the creatures down below.
Without hesitation, I pried open a manhole cover. The moment a nauseating stench surged up, I deactivated my Olfactory Sense and leaped straight in.
***
Back when I was human, I wouldn't have been able to see an inch in front of me, but my Weak Eyesight let me pierce the darkness, barely. Still, it wasn't good vision, and as I groped my way forward, my paw slipped and skidded over something on the ground.
A squelching texture and a long tail. A rat carcass, half-eaten, with nothing left but a patch of hide discarded carelessly.
My eyes couldn't spot them. They lurked in the deep darkness my bare sight couldn't penetrate. But when I used Detection, I could feel the presences teeming all around me. A flash of red eyes from deeper in the sewer; I immediately activated Spying.
[Greed Rat]
[Length 26cm] [Height 4cm] [Weight 250g]
[STR 11] [AGI 21] [VIT 14]
[Curse Rat]
[Length 27cm] [Height 3.8cm] [Weight 246g]
[STR 6] [AGI 15] [VIT 9] [MP 6]
Greed Rats and Curse Rats.
Individually, they weren't the least bit threatening. They were so weak that even an ordinary person could beat them dead. The problem was their numbers.
"Squeak-squeak! Squeak!"
"Squeak? Squee-squeak!"
Dozens? Or hundreds? When they surged forward all at once, they looked like a black wave. I knew they'd be here, but they were already piled up this thick?
These two kinds of rats. These very bastards were the main cause of the calamity, the biggest headache. Later, once their numbers grew enough, they would flood out of the sewers and rampage across all of Busan. The Greed Rats in particular were so vicious they'd cannibalize their own kind, and the Curse Rats possessed Magical Power — an absolute disaster for anyone who wasn't a Hunter.
I bared my teeth and issued a threat. The rats parted to either side like the Red Sea. But I had no intention of meekly walking down the path they opened.
Because all of this was Experience Points.
They were monsters. Meaning they weren't just ordinary small animals. Regular rats wouldn't give Experience Points, but with these guys, it was a different story. I lunged at the terrified vermin and gulped them down in an instant.
[Greed Rat consumed. Satiety and Experience Points increase.]
[Curse Rat consumed. Satiety and Experience Points increase.]
An overwhelming disparity in length, height, weight — every physical dimension. I wasn't killing them; I was just swallowing them, and within moments they were either digested in my Food Vacuole or dissolved by Devouring. No matter how much they struggled, they couldn't break through Hardening and Weak Regeneration.
The Greed Rats, belligerent and avaricious, were easy to deal with. The annoying ones were the Curse Rats. Those didn't die clean. They still got swallowed, digested, and turned into Experience Points, but each one's 5 or 6 points of Magical Power transformed into poison upon death.
If it were a simple neurotoxin, I'd be immune as an Amorphous — but their poison was Magical Power converted into poison. Even I took damage from that.
Not that it was dangerous. It was just annoying.
[Faint Poison Resistance (F) Lv.1 proficiency has reached maximum. Faint Poison Resistance (F) Lv.1 → Faint Poison Resistance (F) Lv.2]
Midway through devouring them, a skill I'd acquired before and never once seen in action leveled up. The rats' already-weak poison stopped affecting me. Honestly, I'd even hoped a few might still get through — but ultimately, Poison Resistance didn't rise again even after I annihilated every last rat.
[EXP 10,245 / 19,124]
I'd swallowed hundreds, and yet — far from a level-up — the Experience Points had barely passed the halfway mark. Each individual was just so weak; it couldn't be helped... Still, many grains of sand pile up into a mountain.
Of course, no matter how many I ate, the Sewer Calamity wouldn't end until the root cause was eliminated.
But when I fought that root cause, things would be a little easier.
These rats were practically its familiars. Cutting down their numbers in advance meant the later fight would be that much smoother.
"Grrrrr..."
Growling low, I quickened my pace. I had no idea how vast the sewer system under Busan was, but with Detection, it wasn't likely to take long.
As I walked, a thought struck me — a way to raise my skill level without even eating the rats.
The sewer was awash in every kind of filth. Just submerging my body in the water was disgusting. I wanted nothing more than to pull myself out right then, but simply staying submerged would probably boost my Poison Resistance. Heavy metal poisoning or whatever... that was still poison, in the end.
Anyway, no matter how many I ate, their numbers never seemed to end. They overwhelmed with sheer headcount, but they posed no real threat to me. They were nothing but Experience Point shuttles. I ate them all.
[Devouring (E) Lv.9 proficiency has reached maximum. Devouring (E) Lv.9 → Devouring (E) Lv.10]
[Devouring (E) Lv.10 has reached maximum level. Devouring (E) Lv.10 → Evil Devouring (D) Lv.1]
'Evil Devouring?'
I'd felt Level 10 wasn't far off after eating the Monster Wolf, but I never expected to rank up from eating rats. Devouring's next stage was Evil Devouring. Predation, Devouring, Evil Devouring... None of the names sounded particularly pleasant.
[Evil Devouring: Enables consumption without discrimination.]
It almost sounded like a reminder not to be a picky eater...
Since becoming a slime, the concept of picky eating and I had never been acquainted. Honestly, I'd half-expected the skill to shift to Binge Eating upon reaching D-rank. It would fit the cliché.
Binge Eating (爆喰). One of the seven deadly sins, a staple ability for either the villain or the protagonist in fantasy works — usually a cheat among cheats, absorbing what you consume as your own power.
So I'd gotten my hopes up, and the result was Evil Devouring. An ability that just means "eat without discriminating"... Disappointment was inevitable. Still, Devouring hadn't disappeared, so I accepted it for what it was.
Devouring's ability alone was arguably broken enough. If I really felt the lack, I could look forward to the C-rank. Soothing my disappointment, I continued to devour these Experience Point lumps —
—all while searching for the Rat Man, the king of the rats and the root of the calamity.