24
My Villains Chapter 24
7. The Sewer (2)
Enraged to the tips of my hair by the exquisite hit that miraculously avoided my helmet, breastplate, and sturdy leather boots, I shouted at the top of my lungs.
"You crazy bitch!"
"S-Sorry...!"
Before her apology could finish, the carrion worm made a chilling sound and leaped. Right before my eyes, its mouth full of sharp teeth gaped open.
"Urgh."
Even as I was forced to one knee from the bolt hit, I thrust my falchion using just arm strength. My posture was unstable, but the thrust was filled with my surging anger.
Squelch!
"Ugh!"
A heavy feeling in my hand and bodily fluids splashing on my face.
The thrust had pierced right through the creature's mouth.
Screech, screeeech!
The tip of the blade protruded into the air after penetrating its neck at an angle, but the carrion worm was still full of vitality. It writhed its entire body madly like an earthworm with its tail on fire.
Ugh, its strength was so powerful that my upper body was shaken violently along with the carrion worm's movements.
Aaargh, it's creeping me out!
I gritted my teeth and swung my falchion.
As it fell to the ground spewing bodily fluids, I quickly stood up, squeezed my eyes shut, and stomped on its head.
Crunch.
"Ugh, sh-shit."
A creepy sound was heard, and a vivid sensation traveled up my foot.
Ugh, my body's trembling on its own.
But there was an even bigger problem. The carrion worm wasn't alone.
In the hub we discovered, besides the person we first saw, there were various large and small corpses of ratmen and cats strewn about. And as many carrion worms as there were corpses were enjoying their feast, and when I killed one of their kind, they all rushed at me at once.
However, I had already overcome the immense wall of disgust, so they were no match for me.
I regained my composure and dealt with them one by one-
"Aargh- Disgusting!"
...So much for composure. I just went berserk for a moment, losing my reason. I don't know if it was youthful vigor or battle frenzy.
"Aaargh! You bastards!"
I cut them in half with the edge of my shield, stomped on them, slashed them with my sword, kicked them against the wall until they burst...
After sweeping away more than a dozen carrion worms like that, I hurriedly took out my water canteen from my waist and washed off the bodily fluids they had splattered on me.
As the carrion worm's fluids washed away, I involuntarily gritted my teeth again.
"Ugh..."
Ah, I'm still weak. I was fine after cutting down dozens of people at the dock, but to be shaken like this by mere worms!
"Ugh- gross. Oh, right. And you, you."
I shook off my shoulders and turned around slightly...
"W-What?"
Ellen was standing there motionless with her large bag on her back, her mouth tightly shut. Large droplets were hanging from the corners of her eyes...
Huh, that expression. It's the same one Ji-won used to make right before getting scolded by my sister.
"...I haven't said anything yet."
Ah, is this the secret technique of 'preemptive tears for certain victory' that I've only heard about?
But anyway, my anger had already been overshadowed by the creepy disgust.
I gently felt the back of my knee and it seemed bruised, but fortunately, it didn't feel like the bone was damaged.
...Wait. Did this girl aim precisely between the bones? In that chaotic and dark situation?
"Hey, that's a talent in itself. How did you hit so accurately? Did you aim for that?"
"...Cold. I said I'm sorry."
"Come on, when apologizing for the first time, why say 'I'm sorry' like that? You should say 'I apologize'!"
She rubbed her eyes and frowned before speaking.
"I already said it earlier? That I'm sorry?"
"When?"
"Right after you got hit."
"...Did you?"
I guess she might have.
Ellen bit her lower lip for a moment and then said quietly.
"Anyway, I'm sorry. I made a mistake because I was a bit nervous."
Hmm. It's not like her to apologize so readily.
Well, I should accept it with adult generosity.
"Alright. That's enough. But in return, don't try to hit targets close to me. We were lucky this time, but if the situation had been more urgent, it could have been a truly fatal mistake."
"...Okay, I got it. I'll shoot carefully now."
After receiving Ellen's assurance, we searched the hub again.
Water gathered from various sectors flowed into the hub and then out towards the south. There were ankle-high iron gratings installed in the channels extending in four directions, where all sorts of corpses and miscellaneous debris were stuck, blocking the flow of water.
At a quick glance, there didn't seem to be anything particularly valuable.
It was just a pile of rotting corpses and useless trash that couldn't serve its function anymore.
Well, you can't expect to hit the jackpot right away.
I unfolded the map I had taken out from my breastplate. It was a map of the second floor of the sewer that I had bought from Mr. Oreg.
Anyway, today's goal wasn't to go down to the lower floors, but to thoroughly search the second floor.
In the game, I might have charged ahead recklessly, but in reality, I judged it would be better to clearly understand each area before proceeding.
After checking the map, as we were moving on to the next hub, we encountered walking corpses.
"Groooan-"
"They're zombies."
Just as Ellen muttered while aiming her stonebow, they were zombies, the lowest-grade undead monsters.
Zombies, born from abandoned corpses imbued with unfortunate fate and evil energy, weren't particularly strong opponents. Due to their decaying bodies, they couldn't display very threatening physical abilities.
Of course, their tongues hanging down to their solar plexus, eyeballs dangling with optic nerves attached, bellies bloated with gas from rotting flesh, and skin hideously peeled off were utterly disgusting.
Still, I found zombies easier to deal with than maggots. Probably due to the influence of my successful debut as a murderer.
Ha, I feel like I've gotten used to corpses even though it's only been ten days since I came to this world. What a terrible thing.
As I put down the lantern and drew my falchion, Ellen spoke as if making a declaration.
"Wait. I'll shoot first."
Saying that, she carefully aimed her stonebow at them.
...I briefly thought that something like a stock might make it easier to aim.
Twang!
The bolt shot from the stonebow lodged into the neck of the zombie at the front. With a horrific crunching sound, the zombie collapsed with its neck broken.
"Oh."
"Phew."
Ellen let out a small sigh, then quickly reloaded. Thanks to her gloves made of hemp cloth, she could pull the string with full force, and she managed to reload in no time.
The bolt fired again lodged precisely into the forehead of another zombie.
"Groooan-"
"..."
During the two shots from the stonebow, they had approached within 2-3 meters.
The creatures that had been dragging their legs as they approached now began to lunge forward as if falling.
It's my turn.
"Hey, don't shoot the stonebow."
"I got it."
After confirming that Ellen had lowered her stonebow, I charged at them, kicking off the damp floor.
The zombies' skin felt a bit tougher, but they were practically naked and their movements were slow, so dealing with them wasn't difficult. It was just a matter of deflecting or dodging their hands with my shield and then cutting their necks.
After I had severed the necks of the remaining four and returned, Ellen was wearing a triumphant smile.
Ha. A beautiful girl smiling with joy after smashing walking corpses.
It was a scene fitting for a B-grade zombie movie, and I inwardly chuckled.
She wasn't saying anything, but her sapphire-like eyes were sparkling as if lit up.
She looks like she's waiting for me to say something... I should ignore it.
The exploration that followed was quite smooth as well.
The monsters roaming the second floor of the sewer were just zombies and maggots, and no matter how many there were, they were incapable of injuring me.
Ellen would shoot her stonebow to reduce their numbers, and I would finish them off. We dealt with the zombies and maggots as we encountered them.
By the time we started to feel hungry, we had succeeded in exploring all the hubs, passages, and even the stairs on the second floor.
As I was sitting on my backpack, eating my second biscuit, Ellen asked with a disgusted look, "...Is it tasty?"
"Huh? Well, it's edible."
As I said, the biscuit... Or should I call it hardtack or dried bread?
Anyway, the rations I bought from the Drunken Pony were just barely edible.
They had no seasoning and were just hardened lumps of grain flour, but if you kept some water in your mouth to moisten them, they weren't inedible.
Preserved food is all like this, isn't it?
I was chewing when I glanced at the biscuit Ellen was holding.
She had barely touched it.
"Why? Can't eat it?"
"Of course not. How can you have an appetite in a place like this?"
The remains of zombies scattered not far away, the constantly flowing sewage, the deep darkness... Yeah. It's not exactly a great environment for dining.
"Hey, do you eat for taste? You eat to keep your strength up."
"Ugh, I can't eat it. My jaw hurts and I feel like I'll throw it back up."
Saying that, she wrapped up the rations and stuffed them back into her backpack.
...This girl doesn't even know basic table manners.
I was about to scold her but held back, not wanting to seem like a nag. There's no point in forcing her to eat if she doesn't want to.
Besides, there wasn't really a concept of lunch here to begin with. People just ate breakfast and dinner, and maybe nibbled on an onion if they got hungry in between.
Ha, I was shocked when I saw the innkeeper biting into a raw onion like an apple. Isn't it spicy?
Anyway, we've been wandering around this dark sewer with heavy backpacks, so we're probably burning more calories than usual...
Well, she's a young girl in her prime, right? Skipping one meal should be fine.
But not for me.
I chewed the rations thoroughly to the last bite and rinsed my mouth with water. Regardless of the taste, at least my stomach was full.
Phoenix's body seemed to require about three or four times more food than Kim Seung-soo's. Of course, considering the physical abilities were dozens of times different, it was incredibly efficient.
"Alright then. Let's think about this."
Ellen measured the time with her oddly-shaped hourglass - six hours had passed since we entered the sewer.
Although there were quite a lot of maggots and zombies, they were such easy opponents that we cleared the area much faster than expected.
"First... How's your condition? Are you tired?"
"What do you take me for? I'm not going to get tired from just this."
...I take you for a stonebow stand, you brat. You were groaning in bed just yesterday.
And if you're not tired, just say so. Why add unnecessary comments?
Suppressing the urge to punch her philtrum hard, I asked with a calm face.
"That's good then. Should we head back now? What do you think?"
"Well, we've achieved our original goal, so going back would make sense, but..."
Ellen trailed off with a thoughtful expression as she refilled the oil in the bull's horn lantern.
Well, it wasn't hard to guess why she was reacting this way. Our current problem was... We hadn't made any profit at all.
"Ha, we just ended up cleaning the sewer for free."
I sighed as I put my gloves back on, when suddenly the rings on my hand caught my eye.
The ring on my left hand looked like a band made of blue jade. It was a magic item I had picked up in Chapter 1, and its options were...
...I can't remember. I think it was magic resistance or elemental resistance or something like that.
Ah, never mind. It was just a random item anyway. The options were probably so insignificant it wouldn't make a difference whether I wore it or not.
Come to think of it, how do I get magic items or rare items now?
In the game, when you killed maggots or zombies, money and various items would pop out everywhere.
But this damn reality wasn't like that.
When monsters died, they just left corpses. They weren't those kind entities that randomly spat out items.
So in reality, ‘loot’ meant picking up equipment dropped by dead enemies or obtaining byproducts from corpses.
But all we killed on the second floor were disgusting maggots and naked zombies. In other words, there was no equipment or byproducts to speak of.
As I was thinking about equipment, my gaze naturally shifted to my right hand.
A thick ring made of a strange material with a reddish aura. Actually, it looked so crude that ‘finger guard’ might be a more fitting name than ‘ring’.
Regardless of its appearance, this ring was on a completely different level from the blue jade ring on my left hand.
It was something I inherited from 'PiqueApplicationNote'...
Should I call it a legacy or something?
The ring's name was 'Seal of Dragon Slaughter', or 'Dragon Slayer's Seal' in translation.
It was a unique item I had obtained by chance after killing a black dragon while playing Expedition (a dimension travel content enjoyed with characters who had cleared the campaign).
It's an excellent ring that increases resistance to fire and poison by 30%, accuracy by 15%, and agility and strength by 3 each.
For reference, the strength and agility increase of 3 is a fixed increase. It's truly a cheating option.
If you're wondering what's so great about just a 3-point increase... You'll understand if you look at Dark World's stat system again.
To explain simply, as stats get higher, they require more stat points to increase further.
For example, PiqueApplicationNote's strength and agility were 50 and 52 respectively.
Since both stats are in the 50s, it takes 6 stat points to increase them. In other words, even if you invest all 5 points gained from leveling up, you can't even increase it by 1.
But what if you wear the Dragon Slayer's Seal ring here?
Strength and agility become 53 and 55 respectively!
In other words, just these two options alone have the same effect as investing a whopping 36 stat points.
36 stat points. That's an amount you can't get even if you level up 7 times.
For this reason, options that increase stats by a fixed amount shine brighter the higher the stats of the character wearing them.
Of course, despite these cheating options, the last option was too poor for my main character to use, so I only used it as a swap item (not worn constantly, but as a reserve item to be worn depending on the situation).
But it's precisely because of that last option that this ring has now become an overpowered item.
The sixth option of this ring was none other than 'Relaxed Equip Restrictions'.
And it's such an enormous relaxation of restrictions that even 'NukeKid', a low-level Blood Knight, could wear it.
Ha, they say human affairs are like the old man who lost his horse. That saying fits perfectly. When playing the game, I was on the verge of tears just looking at this option.
Saying how if only the relaxed equipment restrictions had been life draining or increased critical hits, it would have been an undoubtedly top-tier ring without question.
...Wait a minute.
After the PvP ended, Trickster returned all the equipment items, didn't he?
The breastplate, shoes, belt. And six accessories, no, five - since I'm wearing the Dragon Slayer's Seal ring now.
I definitely put them away safely in the 'NukeKid' character's storage...
Where did they all go?