Chapter 54
Chapter 54
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 54
Chapter Title: Floor 9: An Offer They Can't Refuse
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9th Floor.
Lizard. Or Lizardman in English.
The general vibe in the gallery was to translate most things into Korean, but even so, they couldn't quite go with "Lizard Warrior" or "Lizard Shaman," so Lizard became the compromise mainstream opinion.
Same went for orcs and alraune.
This Lizard pointing a sharp spear tip at me was part of the Lizard faction guard that split the tropical rainforest area with the orcs on the 8th floor.
If it had been a Lizard follower gone mad like those orcs, it probably would've just stabbed first without any threats.
"Whoa— I surrender, I surrender!"
I raised my hands toward it, showing with my whole body that I had no intention of resisting.
Please spare me!
I'm defenseless without weapons or armor—easy prey!
The shady merchant saw me surrendering and raised his hands too, shouting his own surrender.
"I surrender too."
"Hmm... Suspicious humans, what business do you have here?"
The Lizard guard seemed deeply impressed by my enthusiastic surrender, eyeing me suspiciously for a moment before pulling back the spear tip.
Only once the stabbing threat was gone did I finally let out a deep sigh of relief. I explained to the Lizard guard about the alraune attack, how it happened when I was completely defenseless and lost everything I had, and how I'd run into the shady merchant who kidnapped me here.
"No, I mean, it's not kidnapping, right?"
"That's what people usually call it, sir."
The merchant had tacked that last bit on himself.
I felt utterly wronged, but since I knew I'd get crushed in three seconds flat if we fought, I held my tongue.
"The Flower King moved! Human, what the hell did you do?!"
"It attacked me while I was sleeping! You bastard...! How dare you accuse me falsely!"
"The usually docile Flower King wouldn't move without reason! Tell the truth right now!"
Suddenly revving up, the Lizard guard slammed down the spear shaft.
Thwack—
"Guh—"
Without any warning, that heavy spear shaft smashed right into my head, and my vision went black.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "Never thought I'd end up locked in a cage like some animal in my life."
I rubbed my still-throbbing head from the blow and peered through the wooden bars at the creatures outside.
Lizards, every one of them—walking upright on two legs as naturally as could be.
While I was out cold, the Lizard guard had tied me and the merchant up tight with ropes and dragged us to their Lizard village, tossing us into what looked like a makeshift prison cage.
I was still butt-naked without a stitch on, and the merchant—stripped of his backpack, apparently—huddled quietly in the corner.
"The guest treatment here's pretty poor. If you're gonna leave me naked like this, at least give me something to wear..."
"Sir, you're not a guest right now."
"I get what you're saying, but I don't get what you're saying."
Lizards passing by on the path outside the bars paused to gawk at us, flicking their tongues before hurrying off. I just flopped down flat on the floor.
It was a tough spot, but better than being chased naked by the alraune—and I'd have to enter the Lizard village eventually anyway.
Just took a slightly different route, that's all.
'If I can cooperate with these lizards and recover my onaholes, it'll be perfect...'
The worrying part was that the Lizard village was originally neutral toward players. But judging by the guard's reaction, it sure wasn't friendly anymore.
Like the orc search party on the 7th floor, meeting the Lizard guards on the 9th was supposed to lead to a somewhat amicable conversation—instead of the sharp exchange we just had—and they'd give you a sub-quest to take out the village-threatening alraune. Clearing that let you enter and use objects in the village freely.
But this guard shoving a weapon in my face right away? Something had changed.
Honestly, it was pretty disorienting.
"Let me out~ There's no human as harmless as me in the world—why do this? I wasn't even in a state to resist."
The Lizard guard who'd clocked me was standing watch in front of our cage.
"Quiet, human. The great warrior is coming."
I flipped him the bird while he growled threateningly and glared at me.
"They even took the kids I had left, so I'm out of energy, sir."
"Doesn't that sound kinda weird?"
The shady merchant was whining, anxious without his backpack confiscated. Item dependency? Separation anxiety? As a merchant, he probably had something like that.
I got it—being without items, gear, or onaholes made me uneasy too. Like being thrown naked into the wild.
As we waited like that, a huge Lizard finally approached from afar—shouldering a massive spear, covered in blood, thudding along with heavy footsteps. It was head and shoulders taller than the others, with red scales.
At the Lizard great warrior's arrival, our guard snapped to attention, saluting rigidly like a soldier on high alert.
Never thought I'd live to see bipedal lizards saluting. As that thought crossed my mind, the great warrior's gaze locked onto me.
Sharp, emotionless reptilian eyes.
Like it was sizing me up as an easy swallow. My body shuddered under that stare.
"Sir, even if you're into exotic tastes, getting hard in a situation like this is a bit much."
"Uh, no—this is just my survival instincts kicking in from the mortal peril. Definitely not some fetish for scaly hides."
I ignored the merchant's meaningful glance and gathered some nearby twigs to cover my lower half. Much better.
People really need something to cover up with.
"We Lizards don't have a culture of draping things on our bodies like humans, so we have no clothes to give. Sorry about that, human."
The great warrior spoke in a rumbling growl. Surprisingly, no hostility—just amicable words.
"Ah, whatever... It's cool and refreshing."
Please care! Give me something to cover with! I tried telepathing to the great warrior, but apparently I lacked that power. It just nodded and jerked its snout at the guard, telling it to scram.
The guard saluted vigorously with an apologetic air and left. The great warrior plopped down cross-legged in front of us.
"I apologize for the heavy-handedness lately—things have been chaotic."
"...Why so gentlemanly?"
It looked like a tyrannosaur that had evolved into something even deadlier, yet its manners put uneducated 21st-century humans to shame.
"Then just let us go? We didn't do anything wrong."
All we'd done was flee desperately from the alraune!
But the great warrior shook its head in refusal.
"The villagers are on edge. Recently, some one-armed human went on a rampage and caused a huge uproar."
"Oh, that."
"You know him?"
"Nope. No idea."
Albert, who'd scrapped with the orcs on the 8th floor, must've gone berserk on the Lizards here too.
What kind of person was he? An old guy like that, so aggressively hot-headed. From the stories I'd heard, it sounded like he fought to die.
Causing this kind of treatment—no doubt a massive nuisance.
"Hear me out first. Once you hear my tragic tale, those eyes of yours won't stay dry."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "Hmm..."
Conquered by my perfect tongue work, the Lizard great warrior rested its chin in thought, murmuring.
"The Flower King, huh. Must've only now noticed its guardian was gone."
"Guardian?"
I furrowed my brow at the unfamiliar term. What was with this world and all the things I didn't know? So damn unhelpful.
Damn that User ㅇㅇ—should've packed in a ton of info if he was sending me here.
At my puzzled reaction, the Lizard smacked its jaws open and shut a few times in deliberation before explaining.
"The guardian originally coexisted with our tribe as the lord of the lower levels. An amorphous creature with a body that gleamed like gold."
The great warrior blinked nostalgically a few times, gazing up at the leaf-thatched ceiling.
"To be precise, it was a magical creature some human mage created based on a slime blob for an experiment. Used a few catalysts to build some ritual that transcended species limits or whatever—he was thrilled about it. But I'm no mage, so I don't know the details."
A gold slime based on a slime blob?
It conjured up images of those palette-swapped giant event bosses from MMORPGs.
"Maybe wanting to leave behind a 'daughter' or something, the form it mimicked was that mage—a human female—but its power was immense. Strong enough to suppress the alraune that threatened the village for ages. So we shared food with the guardian and kept the alraune dormant."
That lasted until a few years ago when the guardian's catalysts got stolen. But hearing that, I fell deep into thought.
A being powerful enough to hold back the alraune had existed and vanished, yet Dive Dungeon never mentioned it.
Sure, the genre didn't spill much info, but did they have to copy that too?
"Catalysts got stolen?"
"Yeah. There was this freakishly small green-skinned runt among them—nimble as hell. Snatched one right in front of us. The guardian shriveled up and vanished in an instant."
Obvious Phantom Thief Goblin story.
Suddenly curious about the stolen catalyst. I'd looted everything from his hidden stash—might be something I had.
"What were the guardian's catalysts?"
"Hm... It's supposed to be secret, but doesn't matter now. A withered heart, a blue gem melted into a tiny vial like an elixir, and finally a golden statue mimicking the mage. The one stolen was the golden statue."
"Uh."
The golden statue from the Phantom Thief Goblin's silver box.
I recalled shoving it into my backpack to sell back in reality—the one depicting a woman.
"I-I have that statue."
"What?"
Hard to read reptilian expressions, but the great warrior's body language screamed shock. I inwardly cheered.
This was my ticket to the great warrior's help.
"I beat down that thief upstairs. The golden statue was among the spoils. It's in my backpack that I left behind, but if we retrieve it, couldn't you remake the guardian?"
I dangled the bait.
For a great warrior duty-bound to protect the village, reviving the powerful guardian was irresistible.
But contrary to my expectations, the reaction was lukewarm.
"Hm... I did hear that with just the catalysts, you could resummon it endlessly, but actually, the elixir's gone too—so even with the statue, we can't remake the guardian."
"Elixir? You mean..."
I described the potion from the Giant Slime Blob's box in detail, and the great warrior blinked in astonishment with each word.
Confirming it matched perfectly, I wanted to jump up and dance—but sadly, I was tied up.
"Let's do a job together."
"A job?"
"I'll take down the alraune for you."
An offer they can't refuse.