Chapter 20
Chapter 20
Fuck, I had a feeling this would happen.
I just didn't think they'd come in this fast.
"Block—!!"
Hera's voice.
The pain in my left hand was terrible.
It hit me dead on, so hard that even the surging adrenaline couldn't block it. It had pierced right through my palm.
But now wasn't the time to suffer from pain.
"Kyaaaak!!!"
The first one to rush in was the cat beastman.
I delivered an 'eat-this' kick to the face of that stray cat rushing at me.
Even while deflecting the direct hit, the stray cat dove into my chest.
A few slashes came in an instant, and I felt a burning pain in my side.
"Fucking hell...!"
The beastman's lower back was exposed as he clung to me.
I split his spine with an axe strike, and the stray cat went limp.
There was no time to pull out the embedded blade, so I just swung my left hand wildly with the knife still stuck in it.
The blade sticking out long from the back of my hand was a weapon in itself.
But it wasn't all that effective.
"Valte— Ugh!"
A weapon crushed its way through the gap before I could use my skill.
My arm was slashed, a burning new pain struck, and my left arm went limp.
Did he cut the tendon?
The worst part was that the enemies kept rushing in even in that state.
"Kill him! Now's the time!"
"You fucking bastards...!"
"Grrr!"
"Hmph, get back!"
While swinging my axe, my body was yanked back by the waist.
It was the night watchman who pulled me out, and the Guide swapped places with me, clashing blades with the guys clinging to us.
I threw my throwing axes blindly at the guys trying to follow.
Because of the violent movements, I could feel blood gushing from my side and left arm.
My vision is narrowing.
My ears are going numb, too.
Damn, should I have blocked the side first?
"Forward! Build a wall! Block them!!"
Hera's shrill shout.
Through my blurred vision, I saw the party members running forward.
Arrows flew with a whistling sound, soon sprouting complex thorn bushes to obstruct the enemies' approach.
I felt someone approaching my side.
I figured it was the elf healer.
"Go forward! That place is more urgent!!"
Erion's voice.
Good judgment.
If we can't block that, it's all over...
I felt him gripping and compressing my wound with his hands. He wasn't going to use a potion? That was also a good judgment...
At that moment, I felt heat.
From very close by.
"Grit your teeth."
"... What? ——Agh!!"
The pain made my narrowing eyes snap open.
Erion was cauterizing my side with a heated knife.
He poked around my stomach like that stray cat earlier, then quickly pulled out a needle and started stabbing away.
"You, —ugh! Are you trying to kill me—!!"
"What? No, I'm not!"
His hands were moving fast, separate from his mouth.
Erion stitched up my skin like he was a sewing machine, then pulled the knife embedded in my left hand without a single warning.
It hurt like hell.
"... Ughhh!"
A potion was poured over my pierced palm.
This was yet another pain.
Without even a moment to endure the pain, Erion used both his hands to dig into the wound on my left hand and massage it vigorously.
Extreme pain came, but the potion went properly into the wound, and thanks to that, my left hand healed quickly.
The potion was poured onto the wound on my left arm as well, and Erion's massage went in hard.
As one bottle of potion disappeared, I felt strength returning to my left arm.
Fuck, my 3 Gold Coins.
"We have to finish this before we can catch our breath."
"Hoo, I know."
I stood up, clutching my side.
In front, the party members, even those who had been severely injured, took out their weapons, formed a formation, and kept the enemies in check.
A bolt of lightning flew through them.
Puh-ung——!
An arrow shot in a straight line like a cannon.
A few of them flew into the air as if they were playing bowling.
Someone's limbs were dismembered, and blood and flesh scattered everywhere.
The opposing party stopped for a moment after seeing that, then rushed at our party rapidly.
A sword flashed, and one human on our side fell.
"Get— lost—!!"
With Erion's help, I drew my sword and charged.
The enemies felt intimidated and froze at the use of 「Warcry」.
While I blew one guy's head off, the intimidation wore off, and another clash occurred, with blood, both big and small, splattering.
The situation wasn't good.
Even though I had killed a few beforehand, it was still like that.
"I, I...!"
While the night watchman beastman was falling, the dwarf who was fighting on the right suddenly raised his hand and pulled back.
He seemed to be trying to say something after stopping the fight, but an axe was immediately embedded in his face.
He was a crazy bastard. In this situation?
I scattered my sword to create distance, then turned to the left and shouted.
"Valtern!!"
"Stick to them!"
The voice of the guy I saw first earlier.
Fucking bastard. Should've killed him then.
I twisted my wrist to reverse the sword I was about to swing and thrust it out; the force extended in a straight line like a train colliding.
However, since all the enemies were stuck to our side, the effect was minimal.
Only one guy who got hit by the thrust was turned into mush.
Meanwhile, the remaining two who were injured.
One beastman and one gnome collapsed.
"Keuheureuak!"
"Ugh!"
The one beastman who collapsed became a corpse, and Erion somehow dragged the gnome back.
Two people stuck to that side, and Hera put down her bow and drew her sword.
The last arrow she fired pierced one enemy's eye accurately and came out the back of his head.
Six people left in front of me.
Eight people, including the two on Hera's side.
In contrast, there are three of us.
"Stick to them quickly! If you fall behind, you die!"
Knowing they shouldn't give us distance, the guys clung to us desperately.
Three people kept me in check as much as possible, maintaining a subtle distance, while the other three dealt with the elf and the Guide.
"Die, you beast bastard!"
"Keuheung!"
The Guide's arm flew into the air.
At the same time, the other foot was embedded in the abdomen of the opposing party leader, Yerkel. Yerkel fell to the ground and was thrown aside.
"Move-!"
The elf blocked the front of the beastman while scattering his sword.
Meanwhile, the healer picked up the arm, but couldn't rashly go to treat it.
The three in front of me clung persistently, as if they only wanted to fulfill the purpose of tying me down.
"Got you! You fucking asshole!!"
A guy who looked like a thug shouted while stabbing the elf healer wildly.
Taking advantage of the moment the three on this side were distracted by the shout, I threw an axe at that guy's head.
The thug's head was split exactly in two.
"Keuk!"
Was it because I looked away?
My leg was deeply slashed.
The healer collapsed, vomiting blood.
Erion stuck to his side.
The Guide clung to Yerkel even with one arm cut off, and the Paladin drove one guy into a corner in the meantime.
Now it was just an equal number.
"Dieeeee!!"
Did they notice the numbers had decreased a lot?
Were they anxious about their companions dying beside them?
One of the guys who had been keeping me in check the whole time suddenly charged. Even though I swung my sword and slashed his body, he didn't stop.
"Got you!! Quic, keureuk."
Instead, the guy clung to me even with his abdomen slashed and shouted to attack quickly.
I hit his head hard with my elbow and raised my guard.
But the attack didn't come.
The other two stopped for a moment, then suddenly turned their backs and ran away.
The guy who had been clinging persistently even after his abdomen was slashed looked back at that sight, then died with his eyes blank.
Blood and entrails fell to the floor with a pathetic splat.
I turned my head and saw one person running away from Hera's side too.
Hera was shallowly slashed all over her body.
"Wait! Wait! I'll give you anything! I'll give—!"
Yerkel's voice.
He seemed to be kneeling and begging for something, but the Paladin immediately cut his throat.
There was already one more corpse nearby.
I guess the elf killed him.
I tried to go and stop the bleeding for the Guide immediately, but my knees wouldn't listen.
"Ugh, hoo."
Hera cut a bandage and wrapped the beastman's arm.
The Paladin sat down as if exhausted.
The healer who had been vomiting blood seemed to have at least held onto his life, his breathing a bit more comfortable, and Erion, who had been pouring everything into him, approached me.
"I think you have internal bleeding..."
"I'm fine."
I wrapped my hands around my abdomen and focused my mind.
Little by little, the wound healed, to the point where it was hard to see with the naked eye. Both inside and out.
"Did you learn magic..."
"No."
「Self-Healing」. It's a healing ability for non-combat situations.
It's the privilege of a jack-of-all-trades... what kind of fucking privilege.
I was pissed off when I picked it because it was non-combat and I wondered where I'd use this shit, but it's helpful like this.
Good thing I haven't reset it yet.
... No, if I had reset it, it would have ended much more easily.
Just boom-bang and everyone dies, end of story.
"Keuheok."
Blood vomited from my mouth.
I think it would have been dangerous if I had finished it even a little later.
Hera approached while stitching her own wounds with an exhausted look, then looked at Erion.
When Erion tried to use magic, Hera reached out.
"How does this guy really save everyone."
Gnome, healer.
I thought both of them had taken the Sanzu River Express, but it seems both of them lived somehow.
Of course, they weren't in that great of a condition.
"I'll keep watch."
"Yeah."
Hera left the spot.
While the Paladin was dragging our party's corpses with his exhausted body, the Guide stood up unsteadily.
That fur-ball looked around, then started searching the enemy corpses to harvest loot.
It was truly beastman-like behavior.
"Don't worry about the loot."
"I wasn't worried."
"I don't think there's any need to go in aiming for the flowers anymore. We already have a lot of harvest."
"I know that too."
Fucking cold-hearted bastard.
As expected of a furry.
I'm telling you, those bastards just don't have emotions.
The only thing that could be called emotion involved is, well, maybe their own lives.
Anyway, I let my guard down.
I thought that might happen, which is why I made them arm themselves.
But I didn't know they would really stab us in the back without hesitation.
If it were the Deep Layer, I would have naturally expected that much.
But that low-floor explorers would move like that right away...
Honestly, no one would have imagined it.
I thought they would ambush us during the night watch at the earliest.
Because they stabbed us in the back without hesitation, the damage was actually greater.
And they were also stronger than I thought.
The fact that there was a guy who knew us also had some influence.
If it weren't for that, it would have ended much faster...
"In the Deep Layer... does this kind of thing happen often?"
The owner of the question was the elf.
I calmly brushed off his exhausted gaze.
"It doesn't happen often, but it happens occasionally."
"..."
"When it comes to the Deep Layer, there are times when it's easier to make money by killing explorers than by killing enemies."
Like right now.
Wouldn't it be quite profitable if we gathered all the harvest from the dead guys?
Of course, selling these items is another story.
It will probably require a complicated process.
I might have to go to the western district.
The fortunate thing was that the number of people had decreased.
At this level, even if it has become a Deep Layer, night ambush defense is possible. Of course, I'll have to stay awake for quite a long time...
"I don't know what to do. Rael died, and this kind of thing happened..."
The elf's voice fell like tears.
It was a sad content, but it was also a bit absurd.
"Why are you asking me that."
"..."
"Just think about it after we get out. Survival is the priority above all else. And your friend survived, right? The rest are all dead."
I lift my hand and point to one side.
There was the Guide, who was still moving actively even though one of his arms was cut off.
Even though both of his beastman companions died, the Guide was still the same as usual.
Compared to him, it's much better. Isn't it?
Only one person died.
Of course, our party is the best off.
In the meantime, the elf healer who had been collapsed twitched.
The Paladin approached him urgently.
"Ugh..."
"Luenen, are you okay?"
"Ugh... ugh. Di, did I live?"
"It's okay. You lived. We couldn't save everyone, but..."
The elf healer got up, clutching his stomach.
He, who had a face terrified by the tragedy around him, soon called the Guide.
The Guide growled while he unwrapped the bandage and attached the arm.
"Thank you."
"No, it's something I naturally have to do..."
"It's not natural."
Certainly, if I think about the number of times magic was used, that's probably the last healing slot.
Because he's using it on the beastman with the cut-off arm instead of on himself. The other side must know what that means too.
While the gnome was walking unsteadily, I wiped my face with both hands and said.
"For now, let's camp here today and move from tomorrow."
Everyone nods.
"Take only valuables for loot, and definitely secure the explorer badges. Take only the bare minimum of food. Leave most of the rest."
"Why?"
"That way, the guys who ran away won't follow us."
Just by looking, they're guys who were blinded by our equipment, especially mine or Hera's.
They must have thought they had a good chance of winning if they killed or neutralized me first and then came in.
Since they are that kind of guys, if there's something worth salvaging left on the corpses, there's a high probability they won't chase us rashly.
Because just that alone is worth money.
"You're saying we have to just hand it over for free."
The gnome's dejected voice.
"They say even a cornered mouse will bite a cat."
It's shitty, but we have to open an escape route to some extent.
And that's not really an escape route either.
"Anyway, all entry records remain. They won't be able to get out faster than us. Even if this kind of thing doesn't happen often on the lower floors, it's frequent in the Deep Layer. Countermeasures are all prepared."
Arrested immediately upon exit, executed immediately upon exit.
The security of the Labyrinth City is maintained in that way.
It's not for nothing that backstabbing in the Deep Layer is 'occasional' rather than 'frequent'.
If you leave a witness alive, it's just total annihilation.
The reason they ran away is because they didn't know that.
If explorers fight each other in the Deep Layer, they never run away.
They'd rather surrender.
"If that's the case..."
"Yeah. Don't worry about that part, and focus on surviving. Because we don't even know if we can get out alive right now."