The Underground Prison
The Underground Prison.
004
The Underground Prison.
Kurung—kururung—
Because it was a boss fight, the sounds were a little louder than before.
The direction was straight across from my room.
'A bit longer than usual?'
The noise soon stopped.
The boss must have spawned beyond that door.
I stared at the door and waited for the enemies.
A quiet tension hung in the air.
But no matter how long I waited, I felt no sign of anything trying to cross over.
'…What the hell?'
I approached the door and pressed my ear against it.
Silence.
From the way things were going, it looked like I would have to go over there this time.
'Wonder how impressive this one is going to be…'
I reached for the door without thinking, then hesitated.
Instead, I called the zombie.
"Zombie. Ladies first, right?"
"Kkegek."
The zombie opened the door.
No arrows came flying.
I poked my head out and looked beyond.
A long, dark corridor stretched ahead.
'A corridor?'
We walked down the corridor.
Feeling a little guilty for forcing "ladies first" on the small one, I took the lead this time.
Thud—thud—
Splash—splash—
The zombie had no shoes.
The only thing that could even be called clothing was the ragged scrap of cloth it had been wearing from the start.
'Hmm… No shoes. That’s kind of pitiful.'
Since everything here took the form of a game, there had to be a shop somewhere.
When the time came, I would get it some shoes.
Running around barefoot like that, it would step on something sharp and all the effort I put into raising it would go to waste.
The corridor had no windows or doors. It just kept going.
Lanterns hung from the high ceiling at intervals, so visibility wasn’t a problem, but something about it felt unpleasant.
Eventually, a staircase leading downward appeared.
'Ah… So that’s what this is.'
The question of what this space was for was finally starting to make sense.
Because below the stairs, I could see countless prison cells.
This was a prison.
That must have been the concept for the boss round.
Inside the cells sat dwarfs with dead eyes.
And far in the distance, I spotted a single jailer snoring loudly in his sleep.
A battle axe hung on the wall behind him.
A real weapon, nothing like the daggers.
'Whoa… I want that.'
I licked my lips.
With something like that, I wouldn’t envy even ten zombies.
Clang—
'What was that sound?'
I turned my head to see the zombie striking the cell bars with its claws.
It wanted to eat the dwarf inside.
"Hey, what are you doing?"
"Kkeruk…"
It had only hit the bars once, but when I scolded it, the zombie looked sulky.
I was about to scold it properly when I stopped.
"Huh…"
Even though the sound had been fairly loud, the jailer kept sleeping.
I thought the zombie’s sudden action would cause trouble, but instead I had gained useful information.
'Oh, so that’s how it is?'
I roughly understood the situation.
This round was about rescuing the dwarfs locked in the cells and fighting together with them.
As a test, I deliberately made noise while opening one of the cells.
Click—creeeak—
Just as I expected, the jailer showed no reaction and remained in deep sleep.
When we entered the cell, the prisoner dwarf slowly raised its head.
'What are you looking at?'
Crash!
I brought the chair down and smashed its skull.
"Zombie, time to eat."
"Keke!"
Chomp chomp—
It wasn’t even funny.
They wanted me to team up with the same dwarfs who had been swinging daggers at me moments ago?
I was sorry, but I wasn’t that careless.
There were ten cells in total.
The zombie devoured ten more dwarfs.
Crunch crunch.
"Aigoo, is our zombie tasty?"
"Kek kek kek."
"Yeah, yeah. Eat a lot and grow big and strong."
Maybe it was just my imagination, but the zombie seemed a little bigger.
Or maybe it had just put on some weight.
'Hmm… If it gained weight, it just needs to exercise more.'
The zombie suddenly shuddered.
Was it cold?
We left the last cell and headed for the jailer.
As expected, when we got close, it rubbed its eyes and tried to get up.
'First boss and it’s this sloppy.'
I immediately sprinted forward at full speed.
The jailer spotted me and swung its fist in a hurry, but I twisted my body and dodged.
My real target wasn’t the jailer anyway.
I ran straight past it and grabbed the battle axe hanging on the wall.
A heavy sensation.
For some reason, I felt like my strength had increased.
"Heh heh… This is it. This is what I’m talking about!"
The jailer tried to charge at me with an angry face, but my axe wasn’t about to let that happen.
I swung the threatening weapon in front of it.
Whoosh—
The jailer rolled across the floor to avoid the axe.
'Oh… It dodged? Definitely different from the regular dwarfs.'
It was true that the axe’s weight created a slight delay, but objectively speaking, this one was fast.
On a completely different level from any dwarf I had seen so far.
If it had been wielding the axe, the prisoner dwarfs wouldn’t have even made decent meat shields.
'But now it’s in my hands, isn’t it?'
Every time I swung the axe, the jailer dwarf flinched and backed away.
Its eyes were filled with confusion.
After several exchanges of attacks and dodges, it was gradually being pushed back.
"Huh? If you keep backing up like that—"
Thud—
The zombie’s claw, waiting behind it, pierced the jailer’s neck.
The jailer trembled for a moment before collapsing limply to the floor.
It had been struck in a vital spot and died instantly.
"Well… That wasn’t very fun."
As if to announce that the boss fight was truly over, messages appeared on my phone.
I clicked my tongue.
I had finally gotten a decent weapon, only to have to set it aside without really using it.
'Tsk… At least I got it.'
I let the zombie have its eleventh meal.
I briefly considered turning the jailer into a zombie, but decided against it.
The reason I had been able to win the boss fight so easily was purely because I had stolen its weapon.
If it had been bare-handed, could I have beaten an axe-wielding jailer dwarf without getting hurt?
Using a chair might have worked.
But bare-handed? I wasn’t sure.
This was a rule that applied to zombies as well.
The combat power difference between a bare-handed zombie and one with claws was enormous.
It was both a limitation and an advantage of the humanoid form.
If I wanted to increase the number of zombies, I needed to secure weapons first.
"Kkegek."
The zombie had pulled out the jailer’s brain again and brought it over.
I wondered when this thing would finally understand that "the summoner doesn’t eat brains."
I had already fed it quite a few, but I didn’t feel like its intelligence had improved at all.
"You eat it."
"Keke!"
'Eating brains should increase intelligence, right?'
While the zombie ate the brain, I did bodyweight exercises.
Since my body would recover upon leveling up anyway, tearing my muscles to shreds was the correct strategy.
Then a brilliant idea struck me.
'Whoa… Am I a genius or what?'
Taking the zombie, whose meal was finished, I climbed the stairs and returned to the corridor.
A long, dark, straight corridor.
That’s right.
I had been trapped in narrow rooms until now and couldn’t do it, but here I could finally do proper cardio.
"Run."
"Kkeruk…?"
"Run!"
At my shout, the zombie began running in a panic.
And right behind it, I followed.
Intelligence, I wasn’t sure about.
But I had found a way to definitely increase stamina.
'So that’s why the corridor existed. There was a reason after all!'
We kept running until we were on the verge of collapse.
"Hoo… hoo…"
With arms that felt like they weighed a thousand pounds, I pressed [Check Rewards].
Time for recovery.
Shuuu—
A bright light enveloped my body.
Knowing that this light made my body stronger somehow made me feel refreshed.
'Guess I’m going there again.'
The dark room I had grown used to.
But when I opened my eyes, I was in a completely different space.
Stage 1 Completed
Community Unlocked
I was in a forest, not a room.
And I let out a scream of despair.
"No… No! This can’t be happening!"
I was sitting on the stump of a felled tree.
That’s right.
The chair was gone.
Regret consumed me.
After receiving such a massive nerf, could I really clear Stage 2 safely?
The shock hit even harder because I had just realized how important weapons were.
While agonizing over it, clutching my head and shaking it, I noticed a small cabin nearby.
It was a very small house, built for one person.
I calmed myself down and headed toward it.
I didn’t think anyone would be there, but as a citizen of the land of courtesy, I gave the proper greeting.
"Is anyone home?"
Creak—
The wooden door scraped against the floor as it opened.
There was no one inside.
All that was there was a small bed, a table, and a chair.
'Yes!'
I immediately checked the condition of the chair.
The feel was acceptable.
It was a bit rougher than what I had been using, but the leather covering made it smooth.
Bounce—bounce—
The weight was just right. Durability seemed good too.
And finally, it was time to check the most important thing.
"Aah… This is it."
The comfort against my backside.
The sitting feel was truly excellent.
After finishing my exploration of the cabin, I stepped outside.
Looking around, I discovered an interesting fact.
If I moved a certain distance away from the cabin, the trees became so dense that I couldn’t pass through.
It seemed to function like the walls from Stage 1.
My evidence: when I summoned the zombie, the trees in that direction fell and created a "path."
'The map got bigger.'
This wasn’t good news.
I currently had no alternative for ranged weapons.
Indoors, I could just close the door to block arrows, but in this setup, even ten archers could be troublesome.
'Well, Stage 1 was too easy.'
It seemed the days of coasting were over.
'Might as well distribute the rewards.'
The rewards were 100 gold, a [Lowest-grade Zombie Enhancement Potion], and something called [Regenerative Cells].
There wasn’t really anything to distribute.
Everything except the gold belonged to the zombie in front of me.
'Huh? Ah, so that’s what this is.'
On the phone, next to the icon showing the zombie’s status, there were three empty slots.
I hadn’t known what they were, but now that I had [Regenerative Cells], a message appeared indicating I could assign it there.
Since the skill [Leap] wasn’t displayed separately, [Regenerative Cells] seemed to be a special ability with limitations.
Without hesitation, I assigned [Regenerative Cells].
Of course, I could have saved such an important resource, but I judged this was the right choice.
For a very important reason.
"Alright! Let’s check out those Regenerative Cells."
"Kkeruk?"
Muscles grow bigger by being repeatedly torn and healed.
Oh my, but your zombie regenerates quickly?
That’s right.
From now on, the zombie could exercise infinitely.
"Let’s start with a light ten sets."
"Kki… kek?"
The forest was an amazing place.
The room had nothing, so I could only do bodyweight exercises, but here there were plenty of trees and rocks.
This was the forest gym every fitness enthusiast dreamed of.
What? The community opened as a Stage 1 reward?
Tch. Forget that.
If you have time for that, do one more set of push-ups!
Thus began the happy fitness life with my zombie.
"Ke… kek…"