Day One
Day One
Day one since entering the Deep Layer.
As if welcoming a fresh newcomer, countless monsters came charging in.
A giant anaconda that looked three times my size. A wolf that seemed like it hadn't eaten in days. Even a massive boar that had learned the taste of meat.
Reaching the Deep Layer didn't mean the mutant beasts from the Middle Layer stopped appearing.
They just got stronger and more ferocious.
Still, perhaps because I was only at the outskirts, dealing with them wasn't terribly difficult.
They didn't all charge in at once, and usually they showed up one at a time, so there was nothing especially dangerous.
But since every last one of them had a base level far above an Owlbear,
there was no avoiding the use of my abilities.
To the Deep Layer monsters—all strong predators in every direction—a human who wanders in now and then was nothing more than a pleasant piece of prey.
From their perspective, at least.
Any commotion made them spring out, and the scent of blood drew them in.
Because of that, I had no choice but to fight over and over quite a lot.
Contrary to my determination to push deeper, I spent most of my time going back and forth at the fringe of the Deep Layer.
In a way, you could call it a proper initiation.
That was how the first day passed. Caked in blood, I roughly hollowed out the earth beneath a tree stump and tried to sleep.
Maybe thanks to the smell of the soil around me, luckily no monsters came attacking yet.
And so came Day 2.
"Over there!"
Not long after I greeted the morning in a dream-hazed state, I encountered an Otherworlder.
A scout, so to speak.
The Knight Order, who had only one life each, couldn't approach recklessly, but an Otherworlder could revive even after dying. They were perfectly suited to be sent into danger as a reconnaissance troop.
As soon as the guy spotted me, he tried to take a picture.
Leaving him to it, I subdued him and gave him a brief interrogation.
He probably expected to die the moment he came in, but he surely never imagined he'd be captured and interrogated like this.
Anyway, from what I heard, it seemed the Knight Order was slowly closing in.
Very slowly, eliminating every surrounding threat as much as possible.
I'd expected as much, so I felt nothing in particular. It only gave me one more reason to head deeper inside.
In any case, now that my location had been blown, I had to move.
So I sent the Otherworlder back by logout and started heading inward once again.
That day too, the monsters that rushed at me were plentiful. The initiation, it appeared, was still in progress.
Day 3.
Sure enough, by day three, the number of enemies charging in blindly had noticeably dropped.
The initiation was over. The locals in the Deep Layer were starting to realize I wasn't an easy opponent either.
All the same, I hadn't expected it to conclude this quickly.
Truth was, I fleetingly wondered: do the monster bastards out here also have a large-scale network like the Otherworlders?
Thanks to that, I managed to cover a lot more ground than I expected. The one saving grace was that I didn't run into a Mountain Lord or any other high-level monster.
If only this kind of luck could continue.
And that wish was shattered the moment Day 4 arrived.
Because not long after I started walking, an enormous monster appeared before my eyes.
It was a creature called a Twin Head Ogre.
A monster with two heads and a body that looked twice the size of an ordinary ogre.
Since I already had experience hunting ogres, I launched myself at it without a second thought.
KWAAANG!!!!!
"Wow, the hell."
And after witnessing one swing of its club firsthand, I turned tail and bolted right away.
I'd known that double the size naturally meant it would be much stronger, but I hadn't expected it to possess such senseless, staggering strength.
Judging purely by destructive power alone, even our great Mountain Lord would have to raise his hands in surrender.
A direct hit meant death at minimum, and even a glancing blow felt like it would take off a limb, so I just ran off cleanly.
Luckily its speed itself was quite slow, so I could flee without much trouble.
This was probably one of the few monsters in the Deep Layer that held its own territory.
Anyway, that put a halt to my forward path.
For a moment I considered turning back, but I dropped the idea.
Deeper inside, there could very well be monsters far worse than this one.
I couldn't just run blindly every time.
In any case, I ended up retreating that day. Once again I found a suitable tree, dug out beneath it, and fell asleep.
And so the morning of Day 5 dawned.
That day, a rather unusual guest arrived.
An Otherworlder had come into the Deep Layer once more.
I was mulling over whether to deal with her straight away, but I had no choice but to hesitate for a moment.
"Huh, hell. You look a wreck. Have you washed at all lately?"
Because it was Shin Han-byeol. She and I had quite a peculiar relationship.
For one, she was on friendly terms with the Knight Order, and the very first time we met we'd instantly gone into combat.
I'd sort of made her into a kind of pet(?) and shared a mental bond with her, but that was all.
If you set aside the Holy Water trading, you could fairly call things awkward between us.
"...What are you staring at like that? Without even saying anything."
"I'm thinking."
"Huh?"
"Whether I should kill you right here and now. Or whether to hear you out first."
"What the—... You're joking, right?"
"Who knows. So what's your reason for coming all the way here, anyway?"
If I were honest, I'd assumed she was a scout, too.
She had connections with the Knight Order, her personality wasn't exactly pleasant, and the situation was what it was.
But what came out of her mouth was unexpectedly out of place.
"Well..."
She spoke in a voice that seemed to be shrinking away.
"It's been almost a month since the last time we traded, right...?"
"Huh?"
"So, I mean... I came to give you more Holy Water..."
Hearing that, I wondered for a moment what the hell kind of nonsense this was.
It completely didn't fit the situation. With the Knight Order encircling this area on all sides, and even the users divided into sides for and against me?
She came all the way to this dangerous Deep Layer just to trade Holy Water?
'What's your angle, seriously.'
It sounded like an excuse no matter how you heard it, so I decided to just make use of Dantalion's Ear.
I'd been conserving it as much as possible because it was a limited-use item, but I really wanted to know this woman's true feelings.
Because I couldn't gauge whether this was an elaborate trap or genuine.
- Ah man, did I just look like a total idiot? Ugh, but what do I do, I don't have any other excuse to meet him...
The innermost thoughts I picked up that way gave me a somewhat complicated feeling.
- Ugh, why'd this guy have to get tangled up with a subjugation squad, of all things... Honestly, it feels kinda wrong to just let him die like this... And it'd be a pity, too.
- Argh, but that doesn't mean I can pick a fight with the Knight Order. I've built up goodwill there... Should I just toss him the Holy Water and leave? That much should help, at least. No idea what he plans to do with it, though.
- Whatever, I'll just tell the knights I couldn't find him, I guess.
Because it was obvious just from looking that she was completely torn, caught between me and the knights.
The thoughts were somewhat rambling and pathetic, but that only made me trust them far more.
Finding the whole thing funny, I let out a small laugh.
"Pfft."
"Hey, why are you laughing."
"Nothing, forget it. So you're saying you came to exchange Holy Water?"
She nodded. And at the same moment, a tiny cheer sounded from within.
- It worked!
Around then, I stopped using the Ear, as its consumption rate was beginning to accelerate.
So I accepted the two Holy Waters she handed over, and conveyed my thanks.
Lately I'd been using so much blood that I'd started to worry about the side effects, too.
For now, since I had nothing particular to give in return, I put the cost on credit.
"Thanks. I'll pay you back double later."
After that I tried to send her back. Because this place was dangerous.
But as though she hadn't finished saying everything yet, she showed a brief air of hesitation.
"Um, there's one thing I got curious about. Can I ask a question?"
"What?"
The question she soon produced was more than startling enough to throw me off for a moment.
"You use blood as a weapon, and you can use Sword Aura as well, right?"
"Yeah. That's right."
"Then why don't you ever wrap your blood in Sword Aura?"
"Huh?"
I tilted my head. But that was only for a moment; the answer came out quickly.
Maybe it was because a little trust had built up, but there was nothing to particularly hold back.
"Because I can't use it that way, obviously."
"Hm, really? Why?"
"Why, you say..."
At that, I briefly had no choice but to find myself at a loss for words.
Because the fact that I couldn't use Blood Enchant and Sword Aura at the same time had always been a given to me.
So I had never really thought about the reason for it.
I'd always just thought, 'Oh, it just doesn't work.'
For now, I did have one plausible explanation that came to mind. The thought that maybe it was because the impure Demonic Energy nature within my blood was in conflict with mana...
But that thought was short-lived; soon a counterexample surfaced in my memory.
'But Seere used Sword Aura just fine, didn't he?'
When I thought about it, that demon walked around practically wreathed in Demonic Energy over his whole body.
Yet he still used it skilfully enough to manifest Sword Aura along the blade of his own hand.
"...No clue."
In the end, all I could offer was that reply. Yeah, as if I'd ever formally learned anything.
Even my Sword Aura right now was just something I'd picked up by accident—wasn't it sloppy beyond belief?
While I was thinking along those lines, Han-byeol in front of me opened her mouth again.
"Well, from what I've heard from the knights..."
And so I listened to her explanation, and we talked for a while.
The conversation we had that day made me turn a great many things over in my mind...
And that was how Day 7 dawned.
I hunted the Twin Head Ogre. Once I kept out of its reach and kept flinging daggers and projectiles of blood, as expected, the brute had no answer.
Once I'd crippled one of its legs and one of its arms and fought it that way, victory was fairly assured.
A defeat for a creature that can't fight dirty the way a person can.
"I'm so fucked when the Berserk comes now."
One point of concern was that I had used quite a lot of blood.
Well, I wasn't greatly worried. It only meant what would've taken three Holy Waters would now take five or six. That's all.
And so I moved onward.
Day 8.
Found a lake!
My drinking water had been on the verge of running out, so it was perfect timing.
And so I bathed for the first time in a long while. Maybe largely because I'd killed that ogre, no creature came charging in recklessly.
"These mosquito-like little bastards..."
But the problem erupted at night. That very night after I'd washed, the monsters began to attack in swarms.
Whether it was because an unfamiliar scent had spread in place of the familiar Blood Scent, or because they judged evening a better time to ambush than daytime,
with those uncommunicable beast bastards I had no way of getting an answer. Either way, from this point on my sleep was severely disrupted.
Every time I fell asleep, somehow a monster would be drawing near, lying in wait for an opening to strike.
Even as I slept, I couldn't sleep deeply.
For the time being, the only answer was to raise the hearing Amdusias had given me to its maximum and stay as on guard as possible.
Day 9 was similar.
Day 10.
The situation hadn't changed. If anything you could call it the worst yet.
After two nights of restless wakefulness, I had to endure the Deep Layer in a dazed, half-dreaming state even in the morning.
And these creatures weren't the gentle sort who would look the other way and leave me alone.
Whether I was trying to catch a brief nap or searching for a place to rest a moment, monsters would attack regardless. I had to drag my heavy body along and fight the ones that charged me.
Because my condition was so poor, dealing with them honestly felt more overwhelming than even the ogre had.
Because of that I was forced to retreat once again.
Day 11.
I picked up a pursuer.
Not one that came from the Knight Order's side—a pursuer that came from the side of the beasts.
It was a creature like a black jaguar, nearly twice my size.
What on earth does this forest not have?
Twice my body size wasn't all that large for Deep Layer standards.
But as if to make up for that, the creature was exceedingly swift and cunning.
Meaning it knew how to get under my skin.
I always heard its footsteps somewhere near; sometimes when I'd wake from a catnap it would already be close enough to enter my sightline.
Every time I got annoyed and tried to chase it down, it promptly took off at high speed. I'd really gotten stuck with an irritating one.
For now, the only thing I could do was crank Amdusias's gifted hearing as high as possible and hold out.
Day 12.
I was sleepy. I wanted to rest. I just wanted to sleep comfortably.
Day 13.
The hearing ability Amdusias gave me was certainly a massive help, but.
If I had to point out one drawback, it was that it ate away ferociously at my mental stamina.
Because every piece of information the ears combined all streamed into my head.
I felt the exhaustion building itself up double, yet I couldn't simply turn it off. The night-raid event was still unfolding on and off even now.
To make matters worse, three days later I still couldn't shake off that jaguar bastard. It never directly attacked, only ever prowling the area around me, and I could see all too clearly it was waiting for me to become exhausted.
Even though it was obvious the thing couldn't be getting proper rest itself. A beast with tremendous patience.
There was no way around it. Either the creature would wear itself out first, or I would become exhausted first and turn into a meal.
It was only ever going to be one or the other.
Day 14 dawned.
My physical condition was at an all-time worst.
My vision swam hazily, and my body felt unbearably heavy, as if a boulder had been set upon it. My head wouldn't work properly either, as if fogged over. My stamina was reaching its limit.
"..."
But at the same time, I also underwent a strange experience.
The racket of monsters prowling the area, the presence the jaguar gave off, even the movements of my own body—I felt everything with terrifying clarity.
It felt like watching myself from a third-person perspective. My senses and my body were moving separately.
Was it because I'd been living with my nerves strained to the utmost? Or did it mean my time was almost up?
Whatever it was, one thing was certain: the day of the decisive battle was approaching.
The jaguar's presence was gradually drawing closer, as if it had judged it was about time to fight.
At the latest, it seemed things would be settled by tomorrow or thereabouts.
Day 15.
I survived. That was the only way to put it.
Victory was mine. Unlike our long, dogged standoff, the fight itself wasn't long or flashy.
It was only that I was a little keener than it, and also bolder.
After I pretended to sleep for about two hours, the beast crept up stealthily, and I didn't miss that opening. Even with my eyes closed, my nerves had sharpened so much that I could clearly gauge the distance between us.
When it had come right before my nose, I put all my strength behind the spear clenched in my hand and drove it into the beast.
It must have had its guard up too, because it swung a forepaw at me... but ignoring that was enough.
Shaaaak—!
My chest was ripped open and a searing, stinging pain flared up. Blood poured out in streams.
But at that same moment, my single strike was driven into the creature's throat, too.
That beast probably never imagined I would ignore the wound and charge in like that either.
And so I took the creature's meat, found the safest possible spot, and managed at last to fall asleep.
The severe injury I'd sustained was agonising, and I was still worried about the monsters that might be nearby... but
all the same, out of the recent stretch, it was the day I got the deepest sleep.
Day 16.
"...Maybe because it was so hard to hunt down. It tastes good."
If I had to name another characteristic of the Deep Layer besides the fact that life here was a complete shitshow,
it was that the beasts dwelling here were exceptionally nourishing. Maybe because they were creatures whose entire bodies were thickly suffused with mana—every time I ate, I felt strength well up throughout me.
It was a fact that, when I'd given Noho's meat to Shin Han-byeol, a stat increase had been listed on the description, too.
So it probably wasn't just my imagination. Perhaps thanks to that, the sizable chest injury I'd taken had already healed up quite a lot before I knew it.
But I still had one lingering curiosity.
'But why aren't there any Spirit Herbs?'
With the mana this dense, we should have turned up at least one or two by now.
Not a single trace showed itself. If anything, it seemed like there were more medicinal herbs back in the Middle Layer.
Yet what was even more curious was that the deeper I went inward, the denser the Demonic Energy itself became. It was oddly, intensely concentrated.
I suddenly recalled the time when Dantalion had come to visit this forest.
The bone shard in their hand had definitely been pointing toward the inner region back then.
At the time I couldn't tell whether it meant me, deeper into the cave, or beyond the cave... but now I felt I knew for certain.
There was something deep inside the Deep Layer. The very thing Lemegeton had been searching for.
What on earth could it be... curiosity bubbled up.
"Well, I'll find out if I go there."
But that thought lasted only a moment; soon I let out a scoff and moved my feet forward.
My steps were heading inward anyway.
Day 17, Day 18, Day 19.
And so time passed.
At times I advanced a few steps; at other times, unable to rest properly, I retreated.
A pointlessly hard-shelled turtle appeared and tested the limits of my offense; a snake carrying extreme venom appeared and tested my agility instead.
Every day brought me close to death, which made the experience all the more valuable.
And so Day 20 arrived.
A somewhat nostalgic figure appeared.
Grrrrr...
Uttering a fierce growl, and on its flank a single wound that had almost fully healed over.
The Mountain Lord had finally revealed itself. Considering how ludicrously wide the beast's range of activity was, this was a later entrance than I'd expected.
Was it because of that wound on its side?
If so, then that was a fortunate thing.
Even now, the moment I met this thing, my senses still rang alarm bells. I could feel the fine hairs all over my skin standing on end.
But this time, I didn't bother to flee, nor was I daunted.
"Hey there, we're old acquaintances, aren't we?"
It was about time to put a period on my long history with this beast.