Abyss Dungeon – 2

    The figures of the Knight Commanders grew smaller and smaller. The sky stretched endlessly far away, and my body began to fall uncontrollably towards the ground.

    The monsters on the bridge, seeing me fall, tried to prepare for battle, but before they could do anything, I was already much further down. Neither arrows nor spears held any meaning.

    This was the fastest way to clear the Abyss Dungeon, as I had said. Precisely aligning the angle and position, and then jumping straight down towards the bottom.

    At first glance, it seemed like an easy action, but in reality, it was anything but.

    The developers were people with thoughts, too, so they significantly increased the base health of the monsters on the bridge and adjusted the height to prevent any cheap tricks involving fall attacks.

    Negating damage with a fall attack was only possible if the target could die. If the monster survived, the player would inevitably die alone from fall damage.

    They even placed most monsters in blind spots and calculated distances so that jumps couldn’t reach them, thoroughly preventing players from accidentally falling onto monsters.

    So, from the moment one fell off the bridge, fall damage was inevitable. Everyone thought so.

    ‘Though, ironically, this method was discovered precisely because of such an accident.’

    It all started with some unlucky soul. They misused a roll, tumbled off the bridge, and then fell for a long time, dying at the very bottom of the dungeon.

    While that terribly unlucky situation turned into a laughingstock, someone blurted out, ‘If you fall all the way to the bottom and land a fall attack, can you skip the intermediate process?’

    And then, the ‘dead’ players, who had nothing better to do and were performing all sorts of bizarre stunts, eagerly bit the bait and began to try it. I was among them.

    There were only two conditions, but each one was incredibly tough.

    First, once you jumped, you had to be able to go straight to the bottom of the dungeon without getting caught on anything, and second, there had to be a monster at the spot where you landed so you could perform a fall attack.

    The second condition, in particular, was ridiculously malicious. Monsters usually just wandered around unless they detected a player, so success depended on timing it perfectly.

    But who were we? Weren’t we the kind of people who, when told to play a bonsai game, would beat each other with bonsai, and if there was a competitive element, would struggle to get even a little bit higher than others?

    After countless attempts, we finally succeeded. Everything, from calculating the distance a monster moves from the moment you enter this dungeon area, to where and how to jump.

    And this was the result.

    Countless bridges and tree roots brushed past me. It was such a precarious distance that even a slight miscalculation in positioning would have surely led to me crashing into one of them and dying.

    Occasionally, some shot arrows, but they had no chance of reaching me. The *pakpak* sound of arrows hitting the wall was heard only from far above.

    ‘Ah, that was fucking hard.’

    As soon as I saw the monster that had just brushed past me, easily three or four times the size of a human, a shiver ran down my spine. That was the mid-boss of this dungeon.

    It was already difficult enough fighting it on a cramped bridge, but true to Darklamode’s merciless nature, archers from nearby cliffs would shoot arrows, making it even harder.

    It was a relief that I didn’t have to fight that guy now. It was a monster that would have been at the level of a mere mob if not for the terrain and arrows, but it was acting damn cocky.

    I continued to fall for a long time even after passing the mid-boss. There was still no sign of reaching the bottom.

    Naturally. It was as if this dungeon was released instead of a new area in the DLC, so this one dungeon had to secure as much playtime as a typical new area.

    This was the process of traversing from one end of such a place to the other, skipping all the middle parts. A few minutes wouldn’t even be close.

    As time passed, the appearance of the monsters on the bridge gradually changed.

    If the monsters near the entrance held crude weapons and wooden shields or wooden bows, as I descended, more rugged-looking monsters appeared.

    Their shields turned into hard carapaces, their spears into sharp claws and teeth, and their bows into black liquid spewed from their mouths. Their size was also much larger than an average person.

    Of course, it was meaningless since I passed all of them anyway.

    ‘It’s about time I arrived.’

    Before I knew it, not only the dungeon walls but also the bridges crossing the center were all stained black. This meant I was almost at the center of the Rune Dungeon.

    Soon after, the bottom of the dungeon began to appear in the distance. The entire floor, which was no different from a mire, squirmed as if alive.

    I scanned for a landing spot. A monster was slowly shuffling towards that area.

    ‘Thank goodness.’

    I sighed in relief inwardly. Although I had jumped in confidently, it didn’t mean I wasn’t nervous at all. In a corner of my mind, I had wondered if perhaps…

    It was a relief that my ominous premonition was wrong.

    I raised my blood-stained sword. Attack power buffs were meaningless. The core of fall attack damage wasn’t the weapon’s inherent damage, but the additional damage that increased proportionally to the distance fallen.

    If I fell from such a height, even a boss would be finished in one hit.

    The distance between the monster and me rapidly decreased. I pulled my right shoulder back slightly, then landed directly on the monster’s head.

    -Kwajijijik!

    “Kuaaaah!”

    The monster, which had received the full impact of the fall that should have been mine, screamed in agony. I twisted its neck and spun my body around.

    The monster’s upper body snapped sideways and slammed into the ground. A gruesome *puk* sound was heard, as if its back had burst open.

    We rolled over and over on the ground, tangled together for several turns. The rolling stopped when it was below and I was on top. I then plunged the blood-stained sword into its head.

    The monster trembled violently, as if struck by lightning, then became still. Confirming that it wasn’t moving, I slowly pulled out the sword and stood up.

    Unlike the monster, which lay sprawled on the ground in a miserable state, I was perfectly fine without a single scratch.

    It was a success.

    I subtly looked up. It should have stretched in a straight line all the way to the entrance, but instead of seeing the sky, it was all dark. Tree roots and bridges were densely packed within it.

    The number of bridges in my sight alone easily exceeded a hundred. I was once again struck by the depth of this dungeon.

    I lowered my head. There were still things to take care of. Monsters that looked exactly like the one I had just used as a stepping stone for my fall attack. I had to deal with those too.

    Without hesitation, I plunged the blood-stained sword into its abdomen. This was, strictly speaking, a dungeon corresponding to the latter half area of the main story. Without attack power buffs, it would take ages to hit them down.

    Pulling the sword from its belly, I walked towards the detection range of the nearest monster. Its head creaked and turned, and its eyes, glowing with red light, stared at me.

    Thump, it took a step forward.

    The last monster collapsed onto the ground. With a *chulpeok* sound, black mire splattered everywhere.

    “Ugh, how dirty.”

    I wiped the black liquid from my face with the back of my hand. I hadn’t expected it to splash all the way to my face. It would probably be harmless to the human body, but it felt bad.

    The blood-stained sword had already returned to its original color. Although it took a little longer because the buff wore off while fighting the last one, it more or less aligned with the planned time.

    I diligently moved my feet through the sticky black mire. With every step, my calves sank deep into it.

    This is why I hated this place. Because it forced players to walk and even restricted rolling.

    Places classified as swamps also had similar effects, but this was even worse than that. In swamps, you could at least perform the heaviest roll, but on this black mire, rolling itself was sealed, so you could only walk.

    Grumbling that it was a section perfect for raising one’s blood pressure in many ways, I emerged, and saw a narrow alley stretching between the walls and something resembling a statue installed next to it.

    It was a statue that allowed players to quick save and quick travel, but it wasn’t particularly useful to me right now.

    I couldn’t use it because I hadn’t met the activation conditions yet, and even if I activated it, it didn’t seem like it would be much help.

    ‘What’s the point of using it alone when I’m leaving the Knight Commanders behind?’

    How often would I be moving alone in the future to use that? Besides, even if I activated it, I would probably never come back here again.

    In a game, I would have activated that statue, replenished potions, rested for a bit, and then challenged the boss, but not here. I ignored the statue and continued walking along the path.

    And not long after, I arrived in front of a giant door.

    Behind this door was the boss of the Abyss Dungeon. I temporarily put away my blood-stained sword, placed my hand on the door, and slowly pushed it forward with force.

    The door began to open slowly to both sides with a *kugugung* sound. The scenery inside gradually became visible. The boss room, at least, was no different from my memory.

    “Huk… huhuhuk… huk…”

    It seemed the sound of a woman crying was also the same from inside.

    It was a very sorrowful yet chilling sob that made the listener shiver. I fully opened the door and entered the boss room. The door closed automatically with a *kugung* sound.

    In the center of the room was a woman kneeling, hands clasped before her mouth, crying and praying. She was wearing the habit of the combat nuns of the Raphaella Holy Nation.

    Almost every part of it was frayed and rotted away, making her practically naked. In my estimation, the remaining fabric wouldn’t even reach 10% of the original habit.

    Since less than 10% of that extremely revealing nun’s habit remained, it was as good as not wearing clothes.

    “Huk… huk…”

    The nun did not stop crying even as I walked further inside. Black liquid streamed down from between her closed eyelids.

    -Chulbuk.

    -Dduk.

    And as soon as I stepped on the mire, her crying stopped.

    You can support the author on

    0 Comments

    Heads up! Your comment will be invisible to other guests and subscribers (except for replies), including you after a grace period.
    Note
    // Script to navigate with arrow keys