Chapter 10 – Floor 2. An Angel in Death

The old chest contained a teleportation scroll and a wand of flames.

The scroll, which teleports you to a random location on the current floor when used, could be employed to escape dangerous situations like the one I just faced, but it wasn’t a perfect solution since there might be enemies or traps at the teleportation destination. The wand of flames, which shoots fireballs, wasn’t bad, but my Mental stat was too low to use it as a main weapon.

“I’ll just sell these to the Suspicious Merchant.”

The Suspicious Merchant is an NPC that appears every third floor and serves as one of the few places to spend and obtain the currency called GOLD.

Although they severely undervalue items, with backpack capacity being limited, merchants who allow you to sell items that are too valuable to just discard are quite attractive.

Moreover, since you can only buy from the Sad Ghost and not sell, the importance of the Suspicious Merchant, who purchases items unnecessary for clearing, becomes even higher.

The merchant was quite popular among players because they definitely appeared every third floor and had rich text variations.

Even if they were just a pixel character with a strange mask and robe.

‘How many trades with the Suspicious Merchant were allowed to see the true ending again?’

But the developers seemed to want to give a fresh shock to the ending, so they included a twist about the merchant’s identity.

‘Isn’t it right that someone called the Suspicious Merchant from the start isn’t really that suspicious?’

I fell into such thoughts, but what does it matter one way or another?

If I could wake up tomorrow morning, chug a refreshing bowl of tiger-energy cereal, and descend into the dungeon, wouldn’t that be great?

“Ah— today too I offer to the anonymous poster. May you be a premature ejaculator who cums with one stroke on your 3cm dick. Please wake up with about 500 strands of hair fallen out.”

After offering this prayer of gratitude to the anonymous poster who threw me into this garbage place, I began limping toward the stairs on my uncomfortable leg.

Now that it had become reality, the danger level of traps had dramatically increased compared to the game.

In the game, traps would just inflict a certain amount of damage and status effects for a fixed number of turns, but now wounds from traps didn’t heal quickly.

Of course, natural healing had increased abnormally, so the bleeding from the holes created by the spikes stopped after about 30 minutes.

But it seemed that healing the wounds themselves would take time.

“So health and wounds are separate things…”

Moving vigorously, like in the recent battle with the rats, would probably reopen the wounds.

This meant that when stepping on traps or taking attacks, I would need to consider wound treatment as well.

It felt like an additional burden on an already difficult journey.

This was one of several discrepancies that emerged when D.D. became reality.

Similarly, until now I had been counting turns assuming 1 turn for every 2 meters moved, attack made, or item used, but it seemed that this concept was a bit different here.

“The slime ran out of fuel after fighting for about a minute, so it’s 1 turn per 6 seconds during combat. And since the bleeding stopped after about 30 minutes, it’s probably 1 turn per minute when not in combat.”

Intense movement probably consumes more magical power, making it less efficient.

If so, the slime’s available time would increase to 10 minutes if not in combat.

‘It’s good that the usable time has increased, but what can I do with 10 minutes? Take it for a walk?’

I never kept pets to begin with, and I can’t possibly take a blob of water for a walk.

I decided to shake my head and dismiss such frightening thoughts.

“Haah, hack… fuck… is it this hard just because one leg is uncomfortable…”

Limp, limp.

Walking through the long, water-filled sewers with an uncomfortable leg was nothing short of torture.

Hunger was consumed twice as fast as usual, and even after changing the cloth I had temporarily tied, blood was seeping through, which seemed like a sign that the wound would soon reopen.

“How nice would it be if each floor had a healing spring… these bastards have no mercy. F-fuck.”

The healing springs that can occasionally be found while exploring the dungeon.

They completely restore health and normal status effects, and even heal gore hit status where body parts have been severed, so they would probably easily heal this wound as well.

Unfortunately, despite thoroughly exploring Floor 2, it seemed there wasn’t one.

“I’ll have to rest for a day until the wound heals… there’s no choice. If I go down like this, it’s obvious I’ll die without being able to do anything.”

Although I somehow managed to defeat the rat pack, that battle was only possible because rats strongly respond to bait, and if I encountered spiders or criminals, I would inevitably die or be critically wounded.

I decided to think of it as a fortunate turn of events.

Since it was almost bedtime, if I had gone straight to Floor 3 and couldn’t find a place to sleep, I might have had to wander around for a long time without being able to sleep.

The right decision would be to rest on Floor 2, where threats had been eliminated.

“The room where the Sad Ghost was would be good. It’s also nearby.”

There were several other safe points, but they were too far to walk to in this condition.

There are quite a few Sans [skeletons] lying in the sarcophagi, but they didn’t curse me for not controlling them, so they probably wouldn’t pettily place a curse on me.

They wouldn’t, right?

***

After gently closing the half-open, abandoned sarcophagi to let the dead sleep peacefully, it became somewhat comfortable.

I decided to think of it as comfortable.

In reality, sleeping on a stone floor left me sore all over, but that couldn’t be helped.

I did wish I had at least a blanket, though.

“Whew… this is tough.”

Throwing down the heavy bag I’d been carrying all day, I finally felt like I could survive.

The onaholes, which were already bulky, were also quite heavy.

I’d have to punish them for their insolence soon, but for now, preparing for camping was the priority.

Though camping preparations merely consisted of lighting a fire and finding something flat to lay on the floor.

After finally lighting a fire and rummaging around the room, all I could find was a blanket covered in dust.

Even that was in tatters from age, but if laid on the floor along with the criminal’s clothes, it would probably be better than the bare stone floor.

“I miss my 3.15 million won mattress where I could lie down and sleep sweetly for 23 hours straight…”

I could adapt to killing enemies somehow, but an uncomfortable bed was a difficult thing to endure.

The heat from the campfire, making irregular crackling sounds, drove away the dampness and coldness of the sewer air, making the surroundings considerably more comfortable.

I tore up clothes and spread them near the warm campfire, then laid the blanket I found on top, creating a somewhat thick and soft bed.

“Phew— my leg hurts.”

My legs were tired from walking all day, but sitting down made it a bit better.

“I wonder if this wound will heal.”

I couldn’t help but look at the wound with quite anxious eyes. Even if the bleeding stopped quickly and health replenished automatically, the wound closing might be another matter.

Still, worrying wouldn’t solve anything, so I decided to try not to think about it too much.

After eating the grilled tasty meat with sizzling fat and satisfying my hunger and thirst, I rested for a while and felt my strength returning.

『Grilled Tasty Meat』
【When used, recovers 60 Hunger】
【This grilled meat looks very delicious. Its proper fat content and thick flesh give satisfaction.】

‘I’m sleepy, but I think I can stay awake for another 1-2 hours.’

If I tried to hold out longer, I’d probably collapse and pass out on the spot.

Most areas of these sewers, naturally, receive no sunlight.

Because of this, maintaining a life cycle depended solely on the body’s internal clock and fatigue.

If I closed my eyes and lay down like this, I would surely fall into a sweet sleep, but I thought that if I could still move, I should use the time frugally.

Suddenly, my gaze turned to the angel statue overlooking the Sad Ghost’s sarcophagus.

It seemed to depict an angel covering its body with thick wings and looking down at a lamb with compassionate eyes, but with one wing broken and half its face blown off, it was now nothing short of an eyesore.

But somehow, its appearance felt strange.

‘If the wing fell off, shouldn’t it have fallen directly onto the Sad Ghost’s sarcophagus below?’

The pile of stones that appeared to be the remains of the wing was quite far from the Sad Ghost’s sarcophagus.

It also looked as if someone had intentionally cleared it away.

“Did the ghost move it?”

I got up from my seat to examine the angel statue that I hadn’t looked at carefully before, dragging my limping leg over.

Of course, I made sure to take out the Slime and Wraith Onaholes that were still sleeping in my bag.

The angel statue, seen up close, was made of an extremely solid material, though I couldn’t identify it precisely, but it was definitely not soft stone.

You would probably have to hit it all day with a hammer that could be picked up at the beginning to barely break it.

And the hammer would probably break a few times in the process.

“Hmm…”

As I slowly examined the angel statue, I discovered something inscribed in the part where the wing had collapsed.

It would have been invisible if the wing had been attached normally, like on the opposite side.

“End of the journey, though despaired at witnessing evil created from infinite malice and madness, the most brave and noble magician, and my eternal friend Severa. Rests here.”

“May you become a radiant celestial angel and bless the future hero who will defeat that absolute evil.”

“Forever and ever adoring you, Maria.”

“Ah-ha. I wondered why there were only 9 coffins when they said there were 10 people…”

So this angel statue was the tenth expedition member.

It was the Specter’s grave.