Chapter 41
Chapter 41
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 41
Chapter Title: 6th Floor. Forward
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Severa's FUEL gauge was at 0. Until I recharged it properly by following the exact usage instructions, she was utterly useless now.
That said, I could unequip the Flame Wand and hold it myself. Things were back to square one.
I'd returned to the deadliest trap that had forced me to use the Teleport Scroll—the summoning trap. This time, I was here to hack those damn animal-hating plants in half without dying.
'Still hanging around, huh.'
I pressed myself flat against the passage wall, peeking into the room just enough not to get spotted. The carnivorous plants inside hadn't been cleared out; they'd frozen in place, masquerading as normal flora while waiting for prey to wander in.
They'd probably switched to energy-saving mode after I vanished via Teleport Scroll, losing their target. Venus Flytraps—the water cannons of the carnivorous plant world—burned so much energy per snap that a couple of misses would kill them, or so I'd heard.
'They moved pretty damn well for something like that.'
Just who the hell had created these nightmare creatures anyway?
That... Osa... whatever his name was. Useless bastard dies and all he leaves behind are these monstrosities. No wonder the world's gone to shit.
Luckily, I'd gotten cornered in a passage branching off from one of the 6th floor's dead ends.
And thanks to the Teleport Scroll shooting me to the opposite side, I could now hit these plants from behind. Not that it mattered much—they had no eyes or joints anyway.
Still, there were about seven of them.
The Wanderer had thinned their numbers plenty, but they were still too many.
Even with the Lion Knight Armor minimizing damage, my stamina would be hanging by a thread.
'Can I sneak in, grab the chest, and bail? If I just pass through this room and hit that passage, I'll have mapped the entire 6th floor.'
Three passages led off from the clearing.
The one I'd first entered from. The one I'd taken to return here. And the unexplored one in between.
According to the map, confirming that last one would loop around the clearing and complete the floor.
Axe in my left hand, Flame Wand in my right, I crept into the room as quietly as possible.
Clank—
"Shit."
The joints and ornaments clashed, the metallic rattle echoing out. The carnivorous plants—frozen mid-act as innocent greenery—snapped toward me in unison.
No eyes on them, yet I swear I felt their scorching glares.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Vmmm—
I batted the incoming whip with my axe and aimed the Flame Wand at them. Good thing I'd had Severa teach me how to use magic wands when I had the time.
The red gem at the wand's tip glimmered as mana slowly gathered.
Multicolored mana, like sunlight through a prism, flickered through the spectrum before condensing into tiny flames.
The swirling red fire coalesced into a sphere, writhing as I pointed it at the charging plant.
"Burn! Tonight's dinner is Plant BBQ!"
I had no intention of eating the charred remains, but better someone chow down on them than letting them just burn for nothing, right? Good for the greens.
Whoosh—!
The fireball, fueled by my bare-minimum mental focus, ballooned to basketball size in seconds. It rocketed out with the sizzle of a kitchen grease fire.
It didn't fly far before slamming dead-on into the oncoming plant.
BOOM!
The plant's stem and leaves shredded on impact, sparks flying as the flames took hold and began devouring it.
Yet it didn't die. It writhed, burning alive.
But with crackles and pops of bursting moisture, thick smoke billowed as the carnivore grilled. Soon, it slumped to the floor, motionless.
The direct hit wasn't devastating, but the spreading flames? A different story.
Fixed damage over time, and these things had a fire weakness to boot.
Fwoosh—crackle—
The blaze gnawed at the corpse, creeping toward nearby foliage.
It engulfed everything it touched, leaping to the next carnivorous plant. That one thrashed in agony, passing the fire to another.
Like the Black Death sweeping Europe, flames danced with death, and my heart warmed.
Well, my face was warm from the heat, anyway.
"Haha! Burn, you bastards! Mosquito shits too!"
Mid-blaze, I smacked a married mosquito slurping my cheek, then flicked its corpse into the inferno.
Send up the ashes, bring the rain, grow more plants and bugs. Cycle of life.
No one's as passionate an environmentalist as me.
I'd saved the ecosystem! I'd stopped global warming!
Ignoring the plants crumbling to ash, I headed for the unopened chest. The fire was spreading fast—no time to dawdle.
A weathered crate, no silver sheen like the miniboss rewards.
No big expectations, but fingers crossed for something good. I popped it open with a rusty creak and shoved it into my backpack without checking.
Might be cursed, but no time for that. My back was toasting; the flames were claiming the whole room.
"Ugh. Stinks."
The vine-and-leaf ceiling burned through, smoke venting upward, but the excess haze and toxins sank low.
If the stairs to 7F weren't right ahead, I never would've pulled this stunt.
Cloth over mouth and nose, I plunged through the thickening smoke toward the unchecked passage.
Clank-clank—
Metal clangs mixed with crackling plants shedding ash.
Pop-pop— Tiny bugs burst, their fluids vaporizing in the heat.
The sounds of my nightly tormentors vanishing brought sweet peace.
Thus, fleeing the floor-consuming blaze, I dashed down the passage to the 6th floor's final clearing.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ You have learned the structure of the current floor. You have grown. Waiting there was a hulking mass: pus-oozing skin yellowed like jaundice, a body so massive I had to crane my neck to take it all in, and no head where a creature's should be.
A headless ogre greeted me.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "Eek! Fucking gross!"
It was already a corpse.
No matter how fantasy tales hype ogres as monsters, get decapitated and you're done—common sense.
This guy was the boss of the jungle zone on 10F.
"Looks like it'll wreck my heart and mind just staring at it... Gotta fight this?"
A preview event, showing the boss I'd face in this zone.
Morale plummeted at the thought. One swing from those tree-trunk arms thicker than logs, and even full plate would turn me to mincemeat.
Ugly brute uses magic, hits like a truck, tough as nails. Total pain in the ass.
Future unchanged, I skipped the whining and approached the stone slab by the ogre. Read the inscription left behind, hoping it wouldn't vanish.
"My comrade, strongest and bravest yet afraid of loneliness, rests here. Friend of the wandering world-traveler and great ogre, Gabadi—Jeff."
Jeff again.
I'd read it in D.D already, so no shock.
Rumble...!
Reading it triggered a floor-wide quake. The ground holding the ogre massive shrank and collapsed.
Slowly—then faster.
Like its job was done.
The crumbling earth swallowed the ogre like a sinkhole devouring a truck in those videos.
KrummbleCRASH!!!!
Deafening roars below as layers collapsed in chain reaction. Explosive dirt and plant chunks erupted from the hole.
Thud-thud!
I squeezed my eyes shut against the raining debris. After a minute or so, nothing more pelted my helmet.
"Insane..."
Eyes open, a perfect circular pit stared back, revealing the clearing hidden by the bulk.
A natural slide to 7F: woven vines and branches mimicking stairs.
Right in front: a small metal hunk. A crossguard, sans hilt or blade.
Black metal etched with wind-or-water-flow symbols.
I picked it up...
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ You have inherited a memory. 『Memory』 【This is a memory tinged with regret. Yet since it has ended, we call it a memory.】 Like the memory from offering the alligator statue at the Sewer King's corpse.
I slotted the crossguard onto my hilt. Perfect fit, like they'd never been parted.
Back into the pack it went. I turned away.
Flames chasing me, devouring the passage like it wanted to swallow me too.
'No way it'll follow to 7F, right?'
Just in case, I whipped out the Frost Wand and hosed the tunnel. Flames halted; I sighed in relief.
Gaze drifted to the ogre-spawned pit.
Peering through thick soil layers, I spotted something odd at the base: green stuff holding up the floor.
7F probably had trees propping the ceiling, but this? Like sliced aloe vera.
Green rind sandwiching thick slime layers.
"No way that's a leaf too?"
A monstrously huge one. D.D didn't mention it—another maze secret I didn't know?
If 7F offered a chance, I'd ask. Meanwhile, I wrapped the ogre's ugly severed head in cloth and pocketed it.
Jungle zone preview done.
Ignoring the creepy contours even through fabric, I plunged into the plant slide to 7F—a throat of vines.