The Lower Floor Serial Killer (3)

He checked my face and shouted.

"You weakling—what the hell are you ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠doing here?!"

Kwaang!—

The clash of steel rang out once more. My knees buckled under the weight of their own accord.

So this was what a warrior felt like.

But it was different from when I'd met him at the restaurant. Back then, I hadn't been able to do a thing.

"I know you've been killing the Tower's adventurers!!"

At those words, the boss grinned, and his cavity-eaten lower canine came into view.

"So what? Today I'll send you to join them!"

The heavy mass of steel came at me again. I crossed my small daggers and barely managed to block, but my body was being shoved steadily backward.

The raw power itself was on a different level.

If this keeps up, I'm really finished. I have to hold out as long as I can.

I was losing in strength, but I had the edge in speed. What if I got just a little faster here?

Moving faster, I parried his blade, glancing it aside, and slipped quickly to the boss's flank.

Swoosh—

And left a shallow cut along his side. The boss's expression twisted.

"You're good at scurrying around, I'll give you that. But you're nowhere near enough. Iron Skin!"

The boss's body darkened a shade further—a body of gray light.

That's the skill Aiham uses!

Aiham had used that same skill to cut down several bandits. I chained Acceleration to slash at the boss even faster.

With a bit more acceleration behind it, my blade reached his body—but with a sound like scraping metal, his skin was only lightly scratched. Incredibly hard.

He made up for his lack of agility with sheer defense, waiting for a single decisive blow. It was the textbook skill of a warrior, pure and simple.

I tried several more times, but the results were much the same. I eased back a step. My breathing was growing steadily heavier. I'd raised my stamina a lot—good thing, too. Without that, I wouldn't have stood a chance.

"Hah... hah..."

But I wasn't the only one getting winded. Looks like Iron Skin chewed through stamina pretty hard as well.

"I'll finish this now!"

The boss launched into a flurry of strikes.

Clang—

With every block, my body was shoved further back. My elbows and knees kept buckling, and on the third attack his sword came right up to my nose.

Outmatched in strength, my attacks useless—right at that moment of crisis, a system alarm rang out.

What? Digestion???

In that instant, memories flashed through my mind. Poison Coating, which had shown no reaction no matter how many hundreds of stones I'd fed it. And digestion and enhancement...

The culprit behind the system alarm was...

Feed.

So it needed time to digest!!

I quickly used Poison Coating.

A skill I'd never even felt the need to use. Green poison formed on my dagger of its own accord.

Seeing it, the boss sneered.

"So you finally resort to a poison skill. But a low-level poison skill like that just wastes mana and makes you itch, nothing more!"

And the boss brought his sword down again. I caught the blade and thought.

Just once. I just need to create an opening once!

I drew in one last breath and used Acceleration. Surging forward, I slipped to his side in an instant—and slashed his forearm lengthwise with my dagger.

But with a kang! of metal, I only left a scratch. I hadn't cut into his flesh.

Seeing that, the boss's mouth curled up.

"You can't cut me. You can't pierce this Iron Skin—that's what I'm saying!! Come here. I'll send you to the next world now."

The boss slowly approached me.

"No. It's enough."

"What's enough? Enough that I'm the one who takes your life?! Then die!"

And the boss swung his sword at me. But when he tried to bring it down, the sword was no longer in his hand.

Thud—

The boss dropped his sword behind him. He looked thoroughly bewildered.

"Wh-what? Suddenly my arm...?"

I showed him a faint smile. The boss flexed his right hand open and closed, checking it, then tried to pick the sword up again. But he couldn't.

"You little shit... d-don't tell me? Paralysis poison?"

"Bingo."

I tossed that single word and grinned as I charged him. He frantically grabbed the sword with his other hand and blocked my blade.

What a bastard... even in this moment...

"I don't know what trick you used to evolve your skill, but..."

Holding my blade at bay, he fumbled through his pocket with his right hand, still numb with paralysis poison, and barely managed to pull out a hard candy. Then, rubbing the candy with one hand to peel the wrapper, he flicked it upward with just his fingers.

Crunch!

He thrust his face forward and chewed the candy in one go. Black smoke-like mana billowed out from inside it, and his muscles began to move on their own.

"No more holding back."

His single line. Dangerous! I quickly fell back.

"Wait right there. I'll show you my true power."

His muscles swelled as if he'd taken some kind of doping agent. My inner reaction to that was: run. It looked shady as hell—no reason to play along any further. And besides, time was...

"Sorry! I'm out of here!!!!"

I shouted and bolted for the stairs.

"You son of a bitch! Stop!"

Seeing me flee, he chased after me with bloodshot eyes. But it was already too late. I was already opening the door and heading outside.

"You bastards!!! Catch him!!!!"

I heard him calling for his underlings. But looking outside, I felt relief. It was bright out there.

I discarded my weapons, raised my hands, and walked slowly toward them. The boss followed me out.

"What the hell are you all doing!! Grab him already!!!"

But what appeared before the boss's eyes was... torchlight. That light didn't belong to the underlings who'd come to rescue him through the back door.

Fully armored—

"Why are soldiers here..."

The boss's eyes went wide, his pupils shrinking. Faced with more than ten soldiers, the boss stood frozen.

Four hours earlier.

Ki-seok had confirmed that the thugs headed for their hideout late in the evening. Then he returned to his lodgings, made his decision, and set out.

"Hyung, what's going on?"

It was Henry. Ki-seok had gone straight to Henry's room nearby. To the bewildered Henry, Ki-seok said,

"There's something I need you to do. Can you handle it? I'm asking as a favor."

Henry looked steadily into Ki-seok's eyes. Then his lips moved.

"Of course! If it's hyung-nim's request, I'll do anything."

Henry said it with a bright smile.

What an idiot.

That was the thought that crossed my mind—but that was exactly why he was someone you could trust. I carefully explained the situation to him: the blood on the thugs' swords, the blood on the boots in their packs, the recent murders, the boss's gang chasing me the moment they saw me, their confession of crimes at the tavern, and so on...

Even Henry's innocent face twisted at those words. Then he spoke.

"What do I need to do?"

I carefully laid out the plan.

"First, I'll infiltrate their hideout late at night."

"Hyung-nim, isn't that way too dangerous? And you said their levels are pretty high, right?"

Henry's concerns weren't wrong. Even the underlings hanging around with him were all higher level than me.

"Henry, I'll be fine. With the cover of a dark night and a surprise attack, I can take them."

"It's dangerous! Can't we just report them to the guards?"

Henry cried out.

"They're from another country, so without evidence the guards can't even detain them. They call it discrimination."

"Right... the Tower isn't monopolized by any one kingdom anymore... This is a real headache."

"On top of that, they're leaving this country tomorrow."

"Then if we don't catch them today, we never will? Those bastards..."

Henry clenched his fists.

"So today, I'm wiping them all out."

"But it looks far too dangerous, hyung-nim..."

"That's why your role is important, Henry."

At those words, Henry's eyes lit up. His benefactor saying he needed his help—that got a reaction.

"I need you to watch the situation from the rooftop."

"And then?"

"If I go into the building and don't come out within forty seconds, go straight to the guards and report it."

"Will the guards follow me based on my explanation?"

"If you say a murder has occurred, they'll come."

That was how it had gone.

I approached the soldiers with my hands raised. Then I looked back at the boss standing there dumbfounded after coming outside. The red-haired boss's face twisted.

"You son of a bitch..."

Clang—

His longsword hit the ground. The boss took off running. Come to think of it, there was a back gate too.

"You're being a pain."

I kicked off hard and sprinted after him.

"Stop right there!"

I heard a guard shout, but I ran first and asked questions later. I had to catch that bastard.

I ran him down, grabbed him by the waist, and tackled him to the ground. The guards came running.

"You son of a bitch, let go?! If you don't let go, you're dead!"

The boss twisted around and started slamming his elbow into my head.

Thud! Thud!

Just hold on a little longer... just a little!

The guards who'd arrived pressed their spears to the boss's face.

"Stop! Final warning!"

The guards surrounded the boss on all sides. Only then did he lower his bloodied elbow and look up at the sky with a hollow expression.

"It's over..."

And so the boss and I were dragged off by the guards.

I wasn't released until the morning glow was visible.

"Mr. Kim Ki-seok, please visit the Adventurer's Guild during the day."

The jailer said as he opened the door. Henry had been waiting outside for a long time. Good kid.

"Hyung-nim, are you all right?"

"Yeah... ow... hey, hey, don't grab my shoulder."

"I'm sorry, hyung-nim."

"It's fine... thanks, Henry. I survived because of you."

"Hyung-nim..."

On the walk back to the lodgings, I got the full details from Henry. He had told them that after the two of us were caught, the victim adventurers' equipment would be inside the thugs' hideout.

With the murder report already filed and the guards having witnessed the two of us fighting while covered in blood, they could no longer exclude the foreign adventurers from the investigation. The guards thoroughly searched the hideout, and there they found large quantities of the victim adventurers' equipment and coin purses—items already reported by the bereaved families.

After that, Henry began advocating on my behalf, and the investigation team also heard detailed accounts from the nearby tavern owner and the original owner of the lodgings.

The number of victim adventurers was a full seventeen. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠They'd killed seventeen people in less than two weeks. Ki-seok had caught those bastards before they could escape.

But what Ki-seok had done was also murder. However, given that they were heinous serial killers, that they'd attempted to flee, and with the Tower guards' statements added in, it ended with just a record on file.

Supported by Henry, I made it into the lodgings.

"Hyung-nim, drink this all down."

It was a potion. Potions boost natural healing and restore a small amount of HP. But they're more expensive than you'd think.

"Thanks."

"Not at all. Hyung-nim, something like this is only natural. Let's stop by a healer tomorrow."

"It's not that bad! You little..."

"Hehe, then I'll be going. See you tomorrow."

Creak—

Henry left the room after saying goodbye.

Tired...

I fell asleep right there.

The next day, midday.

I woke up. A lively racket was coming from outside. This was the sound of people living. I opened the door and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠went downstairs.

The landlady greeted me warmly when she saw me.

"I heard the young man caught the serial killer?"

Huh? Word's already out?

I put a hand to the top of my head and said,

"Yes... it just kind of turned out that way."

"Well done, well done! If you're heading out, take this before you go!"

The landlady fetched a pouch of jerky from the cupboard behind her and handed it over.

"Thanks to you, we'll have guests again. Lately the grim rumors had adventurers heading for the Tower thinning out, so fewer people were renting rooms. Thank you."

"Not at all. Then I'll gratefully accept it."

I pulled a piece of jerky from the pouch, stuck it in my mouth, and headed out. Outside, people were strolling the streets in peace. These people had no idea what I'd gone through yesterday. If I'd helped the city's peace even a little, that was enough.

I checked my condition under the sunlight. Not bad. The potion's effect really wasn't half bad. Honestly, the hit to the head at the end yesterday had hurt the most, and everywhere else wasn't in bad shape.

Time to get started.

I began my daily run. If I skip even one day, the next day I want to run even less. With my body in this condition, running is the right call.

As I ran, the fish shop I often stopped by came into view.

"Hey! Young man! Running again today?"

"Huff, huff. Yes, I'm planning two extra laps today."

I answered while jogging in place.

"Today's anglerfish is really something special—you should take one home!"

"I think I really will need one! I'll stop by around evening."

"Then I'll set aside the best one for you—make sure you come!"

I nodded and ran on.

After finishing my run, I remembered what the jailer had said.

Right. He told me to come to the Adventurer's Guild.

I pulled a water pouch from my inventory and gulped it down.

Ahh—

"That's the stuff!"

I stopped by the lodgings, put on my gear, and headed for the Adventurer's Guild.

It's been a really long time. Back then, I'd been the butt of every mockery and joke because of my Poison attribute. After that, I'd just stopped going for no good reason...

I stepped into the Adventurer's Guild building. When I opened the door, every adventurer inside looked at me at once.

Sigh, are they going to mock me again?

I sighed, lowered my head, and walked forward. At that moment, someone blocked my path.

Another fight?

What I saw before my eyes was a shoe glowing with white light. And I slowly raised my head. Looking up, what came into view was—

A knight?

A blonde female knight in armor was looking at me.