Ch.8Falling (8)

I ran across the stone floor, breaking it as I went. Even though I couldn’t hear anyone pursuing me, I needed to hurry.

My opponent was a mage. And not just any mage—an incredibly experienced one.

Even in the game, he was a boss that had to be sent off rather anticlimactically for an early sub-quest. Fighting him directly was certain defeat.

Even if I used cheats or devised an innovative plan or exploited the game system to the fullest to defeat him, the rewards would only change—I could never truly defeat Beort.

Because when Beort felt overwhelmed, he would cleanly give up and choose to flee upon seeing reinforcements that conveniently appeared.

Grim Darker was a game with a level cap of 20.

In such a game, meeting a mage over level 10 in the early stages left me with no choice.

If he were just an ordinary mage, I might have had a chance to defeat him when closing the distance, but Beort was even an Imperial War School mage.

He was perfect in physical training and close combat preparation. It was only natural that he couldn’t be defeated through conventional means.

It’s the same now. There were methods, but I lacked the proper ability to implement them.

No matter how much I possessed a monster’s body and a Mourner’s abilities, I simply couldn’t defeat him head-on.

That’s why I was running away.

It wasn’t just a purposeless escape. I understood the dungeon’s structure perfectly.

“Wait… if we defend at that one-way corridor…”

“No, we’ll all die when ‘Imperial Fields’ comes.”

And this body’s performance was definitely good. Even without Mourning, my naturally high health granted me seemingly limitless stamina.

Additionally, my strength gave me powerful legs to quickly navigate corridors, and my superhuman agility provided reflexes and senses to avoid or subdue cannibals that might appear anywhere at any time.

So escape wasn’t a problem. It was perfect. I just had to keep running without rest.

Because my opponent was a mage. You should never play by your opponent’s rules. I continued running to shake off the incredibly experienced War School mage.

Around the time Isla, who had been swaying back and forth on my shoulder, finally wrapped her tail around my waist and groaned in discomfort with gritted teeth…

I finally discerned the structure I was aiming for.

A long corridor with pipes, a straight passageway with stairs, neatly arranged rather than tangled.

As soon as I stepped on the first stair, I leaped and kicked down the closed gate, breaking it.

With the sound of shattering, two brass doors tumbled across the floor, randomly smashing the stacked equipment.

I slid across the floor with my damaged boots and carefully set Isla down when the impact had mostly subsided.

Good, perfect.

“What on earth are you trying to do?”

Isla landed on her bottom and stared at me with subtle displeasure beneath her expressionless face. I nodded to her and picked up one of the sliding door pieces.

“First, duck down.”

Truthfully, I wasn’t confident in explaining.

How could I convince her that I was a dungeon expert despite being a monster?

Especially in a New World dungeon that had been abandoned and never properly explored?

So I gave up on explanations and took action.

[Mourning]

[Time remaining: 2 seconds]

A translucent window flickered at the edge of my vision, and I heard ominous sounds from far away. The sounds of Beort and his daughter approaching.

With gritted teeth, I twisted my waist greatly and roughly returned the door, as tall as two grown men, to its original position.

KWAAAANG!

The door left my hands and flew spinning. For a moment, its brass trajectory perfectly aligned with where the door had been.

But that was only for an instant.

As one brass door piece lodged horizontally, like an axe splitting wood, cracks spread from the door.

“Get back!”

It’s collapsing. Without a doubt. The part where the door piece was embedded was crumbling as if neatly carved out.

I felt relieved that the dungeon exploration text I had once seen was playing out exactly as expected, and I grabbed Isla and ran again.

In that moment when one thunderous sound overlapped another…

KWRRRRRK!

The place where the door had been was neatly blocked by collapsed stones.

Along with the magic that had just been aimed at us.

In the swirling dust and darkness, I caught my breath.

*

Usually in situations like this, you’d be cornered.

That’s what people who don’t know dungeons would think.

Isla, who was now ineffectively trying to pull at my cheek, thought the same.

“What are we going to do now that you’ve broken the door?”

Her tone sounded strange, as if she was angry. Though she didn’t raise her voice, I had never seen Isla shout before, so I just accepted it.

Vocal nodules, perhaps?

I had never seen or heard someone with vocal nodules, so I didn’t know exactly, but I assumed that was it.

Beyond my thoughts, Isla pointed at the debris with her tail.

“If they just post guards in front of that rubble and wait, I’ll starve to death. We lost all our backpacks and supplies.”

“They might not wait.”

“Even if they don’t, it’s still a problem. If they start digging first, how long do you think it will take?”

I wasn’t a miner. There were quests in the game where miners dug mines, but I couldn’t know exactly how different the scale or equipment would be.

So… I suppose I should say I don’t know.

Isla finally gave up trying to grab my cheek and poked my face with her tail in irritation.

So beastkin use their tails to jab.

“You should have at least asked me.”

“Asked you what?”

“About the escape route.”

My nose was getting itchy, so I pushed her tail away. Isla stood with her hands on her waist, looking at me.

Her expression was almost blank, but clearly leaning toward the displeased side.

“Do you know? Have you been here before?”

“No. But I know.”

She didn’t ask why or how I knew.

Given enough time, I could have found an escape route too. A homunculus’s senses were among the best of all races.

Isla, being a snow leopard beastkin, was a formidable hunter in her own right, so she probably had some skills.

But I kept those thoughts to myself.

I didn’t think I would have left anyway, even if I knew about an escape route.

This was a dungeon.

A place with definite rewards, and one of the few places where information about the world setting or the Three Tribes could be uncovered.

The laboratory of the Three Tribes.

That’s why I had considered this plan as soon as I realized this place was a dungeon.

As long as I was a homunculus, a blood bag, research material, and food for the Three Tribes…

There had to be items here specifically for homunculi like me.

That was information almost no one in this world would know except for me.

At most, perhaps the main story’s protagonist and their companions, if they even existed.

So this unexplored New World must contain countless rewards. I got to my feet.

“Where are you going? I’m not finished talking.”

“I did all this with a plan. I’m just not good at explaining.”

“You’re just making excuses.”

Despite saying that, Isla stood up. Her footsteps made no sound as she followed me.

Together, we headed deeper into the dungeon.

Whether it had already been cleared or was just that kind of dungeon, the long corridor led to a reward room without any decent traps.

It was once part of a laboratory. A room with emergency evacuation elevators and empty boxes scattered around.

Amidst thoroughly destroyed and scattered experimental equipment I couldn’t identify, I crossed through the space.

This was definitely my first visit to this dungeon. Normally, I shouldn’t know where anything was, but… I had experience.

While calculating how long it would take the mage to clear the debris at full power, I looked around.

Debris and empty boxes, and between them, a large table-like platform.

That was exactly what I was looking for.

“I don’t think anything’s left here. Not even weapons…”

Isla said as she looked around. She seemed to have no idea what to look for.

That made sense. I didn’t actually know it would be exactly like this either.

I looked at the mechanical device that the medieval dark fantasy inhabitants of Grim Darker would normally overlook.

A device made of buttons and levers. No way to know how to operate it.

Mages and cannibals who had seen this device would have felt the same. They couldn’t operate the device to open the reward.

Like how a monkey with infinite time and a typewriter might eventually write all the books in a library, it wasn’t impossible, but…

Still, the reward remained unopened. I knew.

That’s why I pulled the lever and pressed the buttons without hesitation.

Click, kigigigigik!

A sound followed. Isla, who had been looking around, jumped in surprise before landing. The beastkin looked at me with wide eyes. I looked not at her but at the platform.

The platform had opened.

And beyond the opened platform was something like a strange glass bottle.

Something in a fuse-like bottle I had once seen in the game. A sloshing black liquid.

As I approached and reached out, a translucent window overlapped my vision.

[Sacred Blood]

[“Why did you abandon us?”

-???

A counterfeit created by the Three Tribes, a failed attempt to recreate the ‘Father’ who was once most sacred but is now gone.

Yet it too is deeply cherished.]

[Automatically applied to equipped weapons and treated as a magical item.

Adds 1 point to attack rolls and damage rolls, and postpones weapon damage or destruction judgments.

If the coating is interrupted, all effects disappear and it returns to its original form.]

It was an unfamiliar name. A type I had never seen in the game.

But the entity mentioned was vaguely familiar.

Father. A being often mentioned when items related to the Three Tribes appeared.

I didn’t know his identity or details, but one thing was certain.

Homunculi and the dungeons they created were all related to him.

All that madness and evil was committed for the being called ‘Father.’

This too seemed to be one of those things.

I frowned, then looked behind the platform while holding the glass bottle of Sacred Blood.

There was a space there where one could place a hand.

I approached without hesitation, and Isla, who had been frozen by the sudden situation, moved cautiously.

“…Is that it?”

I shook my head and placed my hand on the space.

Then a sharp needle pierced my palm.

Simultaneously, I felt a burning pain and something rushing in. It was a sensation I couldn’t simply ignore.

This was why homunculi were special.

Homunculi were multipurpose artificial humans.

Simply put, they were blood bags for vampires who made up most of the Three Tribes, and food for shapeshifters who needed high calories.

They were also research materials for necromancers who occupied one of the Three Tribes’ thrones.

Because of this, homunculi lost many things.

General social reputation, magical power, charm that would attract transcendents, and even the inspiration to sense them.

But there were also a few advantages given in exchange.

Superior physical abilities, regenerative powers, and tenacious life that wouldn’t end unless decapitated.

And this.

[Injectable Sacred Blood]

[A prototype created by the Three Tribes to reach ‘Father.’

A trace of their attempt to recreate ‘Father’s’ body. Can only be injected into the most excellent artificial humans.

However, could it really have substituted for ‘Father’?]

[When injected, it links with the item ‘Sacred Blood.’ It can be applied to larger weapons, and the ‘homunculus’ can apply Sacred Blood to their body.

The coated body immediately gains resistance to all types of damage and is treated as a magical item for unarmed attacks.

Additionally, it adds 2 points to attack rolls and damage rolls for unarmed attacks.]

Homunculi could receive exclusive parts and modifications to enhance their bodies as additional rewards in dungeons.

I had gained a trump card to overcome this situation.

And with that, black metal began covering my fist.