3
Chapter 3
Past the long tunnel was a staircase leading underground.
"At least it doesn't seem to be a first-class Dungeon."
A first-class Dungeon? Are Dungeons divided by classes?
It seemed I wasn't the only one wondering, as Baldic tilted his head and asked.
"A first-class Dungeon? How do you know?"
"You can usually gauge it by the size of the Dungeon."
"Size? We've only seen the stairs, so how-"
"There are exceptions, but most first-class Dungeons consist of a single floor. But since there's an underground level here, that means it's at least second-class."
"Umm... By any chance, how dangerous is a second-class Dungeon?"
Cowin asked with an anxious expression.
"I'm not an Adventurer either, so I don't know the details, but... it would probably take about two teams of third-class Adventurers."
At those words, Cowin's expression darkened rapidly.
Two teams of third-class Adventurers. I didn't know the details, but it felt like a clear difference from the four of us.
"But we have a Magician!"
"Right. Usually, there's no Magician in an Adventurer party."
Looking at me, the group's expressions brightened again.
I really wished they wouldn't look at me with those eyes.
I didn't know how to use magic.
While I was lamenting inwardly, Drek spoke to me.
"Can you use the Detection Stone?"
"Ah."
Right, the Detection Stone.
I only just remembered the rock I was holding in my hand.
A Detection Stone that showed no reaction no matter what I did.
How could I get out of this situation?
It was obvious their attitudes would change if they found out I couldn't use magic.
They were all Criminals, so I'd be lucky if only their attitudes changed.
After contemplating for a long time, I tossed out a single comment.
"It's not the right time yet."
"Yet? What do you mean?"
"Do I really have to explain all of that?"
From what I heard, a Magician had the status of a Semi-noble.
If so, it wouldn't be strange to act a little tough.
Of course, we were moving as a team right now. I wanted to avoid unnecessary conflict.
"...Well, a Magician must have their own thoughts. Let's go down for now."
'Phew....'
I successfully managed to gloss over it.
Of course, they were all slightly suspicious, but they didn't seem to doubt me too much.
Just what kind of existence was a Magician?
I got past it for now, but the future was the problem.
I couldn't keep deceiving them forever... My head was spinning.
Thud, thud, thud, thud.
Only the sound of footsteps going down the stairs echoed in the quiet space.
After descending the rather deep stairs, we finally stepped onto a flat floor.
The underground floor we arrived at was like a maze.
It was a simple structure with rectangular stone passages stretching forward, backward, left, and right.
The passage was just wide enough to be fully packed if three people stood in a row.
Stone dust rustled down from the ceiling, perhaps as an aftermath of the tremor earlier.
If I stayed in a place like this for long, I'd probably die of lung disease first.
"...So it's a maze type."
"At least there won't be any large Monsters."
The word I had been inwardly worrying about finally appeared.
Monster.
They were an essential element that always appeared in games where Dungeons existed in reality.
I was a modern person far removed from fighting.
I'd probably struggle even if I fought the neighbor's dog, Ppobbi, but now I had to fight monsters out of nowhere.
My stomach churned from a vague sense of fear.
"If it's a maze type, we'll need a Detection Stone...."
"Well, the Magician says he doesn't want to use it."
"Then, where should we explore first."
There were stairs behind us, and one passage each to the front, left, and right.
The passages all looked exactly the same, leaving no distinguishing features other than direction.
"Well, since no one seems to have any other opinions, let's go forward."
When everyone hesitated and couldn't offer an opinion, Drek stepped up and spoke.
"Before we set off, does anyone have any specialties to note?"
"...."
After deciding on the direction, Drek asked everyone.
True, with a battle right around the corner, we needed to know what each other could do.
It was a moment that really showed off Drek's experience as a Mercenary.
"Then I'll speak first. I'm quite confident in my Shield Art and Swordsmanship, but...."
He looked down at the Dagger in his hand and sighed.
"Unfortunately I only have something like this, but I'm still fairly confident when it comes to combat."
Drek seemed somewhat confident in his own skills.
Was he a fairly successful Mercenary? How did he end up as a Prisoner?
I was actually quite curious about it, but since everyone was implicitly avoiding the topic, I didn't bring it up.
While everyone was hesitating, Drek looked at Cowin as if telling him to speak.
"I, um...."
"Speak confidently."
"Well, I'm only confident in things like Lockpicking...."
Considering Cowin's profession, it was a very fitting skill.
Did he not have a skill like Stealth?
"Lockpicking will be helpful."
"Huh?"
"Since there are cases where locked chests or doors appear in a Dungeon. It will be useful when that time comes."
Startled by the unexpected praise, Cowin couldn't lift his head out of embarrassment.
"So, what can the self-proclaimed Priest do?"
"...I can manage Hemostasis."
"What?"
Drek's expression stiffened, seemingly surprised by Baldic's words.
"Even so, my limit is three or four times a day."
"If that's true, it will be a huge help."
It seemed everyone was quite surprised, as Hemostasis wasn't just typical bandage pressure.
So I should consider Baldic a healer, then.
The last turn was always mine.
"I...."
What could I do?
As an ordinary office worker, combat was naturally impossible for me.
I didn't have skills like Lockpicking, nor did I have any medical knowledge.
If I had to say, filling out paperwork was about all I could do, right?
But I couldn't exactly say that.
"I can use magic."
"We all know that, but what color Magic Tower are you from?"
"Hey, don't pry too much."
"I can at least ask about the color."
Color... That was mentioned in the diary.
Definitely.
"Uh, Blue."
It had said Blue Magic Tower.
"Blue?"
"I thought it was yellow because of your hair color."
"That's probably...."
Hair color?
Did something change depending on hair color?
"By any chance, what kind of magic-."
"Stop, that's enough. "
"Tch. An unwritten rule shouldn't be the issue right now."
"There's no need to offend him. We'll find out eventually anyway."
Did Magicians have a strong preference for privacy? At least this situation was working in my favor.
"Anyway, if it's Blue, we won't have to worry about 'drinking water'."
"Ah, right. That's a huge relief."
Just as I had roughly guessed, the Blue Magic Tower seemed to be related to water.
Of course, I was in no position to use it, but it was true that the idea of magic made me excited.
Warrior, Thief, Priest, Magician.
Looking at it like this, it was a classic party right out of an RPG game's intro.
***
At Drek's suggestion, we decided to form a basic formation.
Drek Cowin
Baldic
Me
With Drek in the lead, Baldic and Cowin guarded the left and right flanks, and I took up the rear in an inverted triangle formation.
I wondered, shouldn't Baldic, the Priest, be safely in the back? But apparently, it was a formation that kept rear ambushes in mind....
What if I get ambushed? A healer is definitely royalty even here.
With our formation set, we set off immediately with Drek taking the lead.
We advanced through the dark passage, illuminated by Drek's Torch, and I, standing alone at the back, kept glancing over my shoulder while holding a Torch.
My other hand gripping the Dagger had already turned pale.
We walked down the passage for a long time, my body tense, but nothing happened, making my nervousness feel pointless.
Just as the heavy tension began to exhaust me, Drek stopped his footsteps.
"Is it another fork in the road."
Instead of a Monster, what appeared was another fork.
"Left this time?"
Everyone silently moved their feet toward the left passage.
I walked, hoping nothing would happen this time either, but sadly, that wish did not come true.
It wasn't a fork in the road this time.
What emerged was a spacious rectangular room.
Unfortunately, the large room, at least ten pyeong in size, was not empty.
What was visible inside the room, half-lit by the torches, were them.
Gaunt bodies with small, child-like statures.
Shaggy fur growing all over their bodies.
Heads resembling those of animals.
They were Monsters.
Creatures that anyone would recognize as Monsters were occupying the room.
"Are they Kobolds."
"Those are Kobolds?"
They looked slightly different from what I knew.
The Kobolds I knew felt like relatives of Beastmen, but reality seemed slightly different.
Just as we discovered them, it seemed they had discovered us as well.
"Kereuk?"
"-Kereureuk!"
I could hear cries that sounded like beasts.
Once I was sure they weren't human, I somehow felt a sense of relief.
"...."
"Kereuk...."
A tense staring contest began between the two groups.
We were forced into this situation, but they didn't seem to want to initiate a fight either.
A strange silence flowed as we maintained our distance, as if probing each other.
There were eight Kobolds.
Looking purely at numbers we were at a disadvantage, but we had the upper hand in physique, and most importantly, we were armed with weapons.
Even so, I wanted to turn my back and just leave.
It's better to avoid fights if possible.
Reality wasn't a game. Winning wouldn't make my level go up.
I might gain experience, but an injured body would be that much harder to heal.
That was what I thought, but Drek's expression was different from mine.
"We have to go out that way."
Our destination was beyond the group of Kobolds.
Behind them, a single passage was vaguely revealing itself in the darkness.
We stealthily emerged from the passage, turned right, and approached with our backs against the wall.
"...Kereuk!"
"Kereureuk, kereuk!!"
As we approached, they seemed provoked, their cries growing louder.
Gulp- Saliva leaked from my mouth due to the tension.
When we had crossed about half the room.
"Kereureuk!!!"
"Kee-ak!"
Clatter, clatter, clatter-
The Kobolds reacted first.
Feeling threatened, the creatures let out sharp cries and charged at us in a pack.
At that moment.
"Heup-"
Drek hunched his shoulders and instantly picked up speed.
The heavy and rapid sound of hooves kicking the ground followed.
Thump, thump, thump-!
He didn't hesitate.
Charging straight ahead, he collided head-on with the front group of Kobolds.
Slam-!
A heavy sound of impact erupted, and the Kobolds in the front row were sent flying and tangled up.
"Kiek-!"
"Ku-eok!"
Perhaps due to the overwhelming difference in weight class, the Kobolds flew away like pins knocked down by a bowling ball.
Thanks to Drek's charge, their formation completely collapsed.
About four Kobolds fell, and two of them were crushed beneath Drek and couldn't get up.
The remaining Kobolds approached to strike Drek's back, but.
"These damn bastards!"
Stab!
"Kebeub-"
They failed due to Baldic, who had joined the fray before they knew it.
"Dammit! Why won't this come out!!"
Baldic struggled, trying to pull the sword stuck in a Kobold's neck.
A Kobold leapt at that Baldic.
In the end, Baldic gave up on his Dagger and shielded his face with his arms to take the leaping Kobold's attack.
Crash-
A physical struggle ensued between Drek and the Kobolds.
But Baldic was different. Perhaps because of his small stature, he lacked the strength to push back.
"Dammit, help me!"
His shout was directed at the two of us.
Cowin and me.
But we couldn't move.
The blood-splattering close combat unfolding before our eyes.
I was a modern person, so it made sense for me, but was Cowin also unaccustomed to this sort of thing?
Even so, the first one to move was Cowin.
"H-Hiyah!"
With a strange shout, Cowin threw his body forward.
He charged head-on at the Kobold trying to pounce on Baldic.
A clumsy charge, as if mimicking Drek.
But his skinny body had no way of enduring it.
The Kobold instead lunged at Cowin with great momentum.
When the enemy didn't falter contrary to his expectations, Cowin wildly swung his Dagger in the air in a panic.
It was a ridiculous sight, but it was effective.
The Kobold let out a sharp cry and couldn't approach any further.
Four for Drek, two for Baldic, one for Cowin.
Then...
What about the last one?
"Kieek!!"
Throb-
At that moment, I heard a presence beside me.
I hastily turned my body, but was I already too late?
A sharp pain washed over me along with a hot laceration spreading across my side.
"Ugh!"
When? Did it use the Torch's blind spot?
Before I knew it, a Kobold had sneaked around to my side, glaring at me with an outstretched hand.
Given the situation, it seemed those sharp claws had slashed my side.
'That fucking hurts.'
Clutching my side, I swung my Dagger with my remaining hand and backed away.
A warm liquid felt on my hand.
Ugh. It's not a deep cut, right?
Swoosh swoosh
The Kobold didn't approach, as if wary of the Dagger.
Soon, seeing the blood beginning to stain my side, it lunged as if excited.
Clang-
"Kiek!!"
The Dagger I swung randomly clashed with its claws and flew away into the darkness.
However, because it blocked with its bare hands, the Kobold whose fingers were severed let out a scream and stumbled back.
I didn't miss that opening and tackled the Kobold with my body, pinning it down.
The Kobold struggled frantically.
I struck down with my left elbow to suppress its thrashing, but the creature swung both of its arms freely, indifferent to its injuries.
As it blocked my attacks with those arms, it became difficult to land a proper hit.
Eventually, I gave up on stopping the bleeding and leaned down, pinning the Kobold's arms with both of my hands.
The creature shrieked and writhed, but its arms were now bound.
I had to finish it in this opening.
Biting my lip, I gathered my strength, lifted my head, and looked the creature square in the face.
And I headbutted it with all my might.
—Slam!
The Kobold's head snapped back, and with a gruesome sound, its resistance momentarily stopped.
Gasping for breath, I shoved the creature away.
...I won.
Thud-
...The first killing in my life.
Was it because it wasn't human, or was my brain paralyzed from the headbutt.
I was sure I would at least throw up.
However, the emotion filling my chest was,
Just the exhilaration of having survived.
It felt as though the adrenaline pumping from my brain had blown away even my guilt.
I pressed a hand against my pounding heart.
'......Did I just, kill something?'
An unfamiliar sensation.
Yet my fingertips didn't tremble.
"...Ugh."
I lay sprawled out and caught my breath for a long time.
The stench of blood brushing the tip of my nose slowly brought my paralyzed mind back.
Only then did I realize that my entire body ached.
It seemed I wasn't the only one whose battle had ended, as the area was quiet.
"...Anyone alive."
Just then. Drek, who was sitting slumped in the center, asked in a drained voice.
"......Me."
"...Me too."
"......."
We survived.
***
"...May blessings be with you."
Whoosh-
A white light lingered on the wound for a moment, and soon the bleeding stopped.
"It actually works."
Surprisingly, Baldic was a real Priest.
Once the battle ended, he approached the group and began treatment.
Due to this battle, everyone in the group suffered injuries big and small.
Drek, who faced four of them alone, surprisingly only had a shallow cut on his chest.
It seemed his reputation as a former Mercenary wasn't just for show.
Cowin had distinct, deep tooth marks as if he had been bitten on the bicep.
Baldic shouted that getting injured by such bastards was for idiots, but judging by his limp, he had clearly injured his leg.
Lastly, me... my head, my side, and my back.
I alone was injured in three places.
I only noticed the wound on my back when I was being treated.
The Kobold probably scratched me with its claws while it was thrashing around.
I couldn't feel it amidst the excitement of the battle.
Of course, once I noticed it, the pain was excruciating.
The wound on my side in particular was so bad that Baldic had to struggle for a long time before he could stop the bleeding.
I felt a level of pain I had never experienced in my life. I hoped I wouldn't catch some weird disease from this.
"You should be thankful to that Kobold bastard. If it had grown its claws just a little bit longer, your guts would have turned to mush."
According to Baldic, I was lucky.
I had felt my life threatened less than a day after arriving here... Was I really lucky?
"Let's regroup nearby for now."
At Drek's order to regroup, everyone took out a Blanket from their Backpack and looked for a suitable spot.
Before we knew it, Drek was being treated like a Captain among the group.
"Terrible. Are they the ones who came before us."
"...Damn it."
The first thing we found wasn't a place to stay, but gruesome corpses.
The most secluded corner on the left side of the room.
The corpses we found there were in a horrific state with several body parts missing.
I decided not to imagine where the missing body parts went.
Oddly enough, several Kobolds were also lying dead next to the corpses.
"No wonder there were so few for Kobolds."
I figured we should be thankful to them. Presumably, they seemed to be the ones killed by the party that arrived first. Judging by the number of Kobold corpses, there must have been more than ten originally. If we had been just a little faster, would we have had to face them? Just imagining it was terrifying.
"It seems sleeping here is out of the question."
"Let's just head out to the passage."
And so, the group decided to lay out our blankets and sleep in the passage we had come from.
We set up night watches in case anything happened, and then went to sleep.
The dream I had that night was very bizarre.
___________________________
[You have reached the checkpoint. Please select a perk.]
[Maximum Mana Increase]
[Maximum Health Increase]
[Blue Magic : Condensation]
___________________________
"What is this...?"