Chapter 115 – 17th Floor. Gaze

Several hours after a profound misunderstanding about my preferences arose…

Albert returned with a vial of luminously colored liquid that looked potentially lethal if consumed, then joined us. We easily found the stairs leading down to the 17th floor, but the awkward atmosphere showed no signs of improvement.

In reality, Blue Tongue no longer cared, but I alone remained uncomfortable.

‘Should I take a dementia test…’

Somehow she hadn’t been visible for a while.

That day, after having a good time with Severa while intoxicated by the scent emitted by the Meat Flower, I had a useful idea and placed the Meat Flower inside the mimic. It seems Cali had been burying her head in the Meat Flower ever since.

I’ve separated them now, but I’m still concerned about how to handle Cali when she regains her senses.

‘Should I offer a grand bow?’

The bow of bows, the ultimate showing of respect—surely if I perform “that,” Cali would be moved and forgive this tiny, adorable fanboy. At the very least, it might prevent the catastrophe of being sliced into aa/aa by her greatsword.

“Do you plan to wear that corpse-like expression all day? You look like a constipated administrator.”

“My anal health isn’t precarious enough to cause hemorrhoids, you know.”

I growled with irritation at such horrible words. Albert shrugged nonchalantly and dangled the Potion of Virility in front of me.

I could hear the liquid splashing against the glass walls, creating droplets that fell back into the potion lake inside with each sideways movement.

“Hehe… Do you even know what this is?”

“Ah… well…”

Of course I know.

It’s an artifact that existed in D.D., and Log has already informed me of its identity.

『Potion of Virility』

【Increases level by 10 when used】

【A masterpiece by the legendary alchemist Derminster. It instantly transforms the user’s body to its prime and forcibly imprints the experiences of the potion’s ingredients into the brain.】

An item that increases your level by 10 without question when used, it’s a performance guarantee certificate that ensures hitting level 30 for the final boss fight if it drops.

However, in the late game, equipment setup matters more than level, so its tier as an actual artifact isn’t low, but it’s not particularly high either.

As an exception, it was a decent choice for speed runs and other challenges, but even that became useless in bug-exploiting record attempts.

‘Still… does it suit this old man?’

Albert’s level wasn’t very high compared to his actual abilities, as he originally appeared as an enemy in the very early Sewer area.

Though he had grown beyond the level of ordinary criminals, at Level 14, he was still far behind Blue Tongue at Level 25 and me approaching Level 22 after scraping up every bit of experience.

“I suddenly find the old human rather unpleasant. What should we do, human?”

“Just let him be happy about potentially treating his arthritis.”

I silenced Blue Tongue, who was whispering quite daintily despite her size, with an explanation about the chronic ailment humans acquired in exchange for bipedal walking.

If I could relieve the morning aches and pains in my joints, I’d probably do three somersaults and bow before the potion too.

“Haha! They say it’s an elixir made by a legendary alchemist! I could sell this and easily buy a castle!”

“Aren’t you going to drink it?”

“Of course I’ll drink it, but it seems a waste to just gulp down something so precious.”

Despite his usual stern demeanor, his thick mustache kept lifting slightly, betraying his excitement.

“You should drink it soon. It doesn’t just give experience points, you know.”

As described in the flavor text, it also has a hidden effect where it sometimes imprints a random skill.

The problem is…

‘The incomplete tag gets attached and penalties apply.’

I don’t know the exact formula, but for example, a skill like Vampirism—which steals HP with a certain probability when making melee attacks against nearby creatures—would be downgraded to affect only specific enemy types like humanoids or animals, and other skills would gain conditional requirements or reduced performance.

‘Plus, drinking the potion gave me nausea status for 100 turns.’

It wasn’t a particularly dangerous status effect, but such tricks are quite mischievous in a roguelike.

“Hehe, just say if you’re jealous.”

“…”

I wanted to kick that smirking face, but I decided to let it go.

We have a long way ahead of us.

17th Floor.

“Keck!”

“Ughh..!”

“…The smell of death is thick.”

The three of us, with superhuman stamina, had descended for nearly 10 minutes at our pace down seemingly endless stairs before finally reaching the second domain of the Infinite Gallery of Knowledge.

As soon as we stepped off the final stair, the sight that filled our vision and the stench that made us want to twist our noses caused us to simultaneously exclaim in disgust.

Unlike the 16th floor, there were no bookshelves packed with books or glass cases preserving animals or plants for explanation.

Instead, the walls—which could only be presumed to have once been pristine white—were now soiled with rotten discharge and blood, and serving as decorations on this vast canvas were paintings framed in picture frames.

In front of these were broken statues depicting various figures, with torsos strewn about.

“It feels like we’ve been invited to an exhibition hosted by a demon.”

Albert, seemingly uncomfortable with the scene, tugged somewhat roughly at his mustache before glaring around.

Simultaneously, his sword was drawn without hesitation from his waist, flashing through the air.

Slash— Splat—

The refreshing sound of a sharp blade easily cutting through something was followed by the unpleasant sound of something viscous and heavy falling to the floor, drawing the attention of both Blue Tongue and myself to the source.

“And even if the host isn’t a demon, I can tell it’s something similar.”

Splash—

A corpse with flesh so rotten it was nearly dissolved, revealing bone, had been precisely cut in half at the waist and now lay face down on the floor.

Albert, who had sliced it in one blow, shook the foreign matter from his sword into the air, then resheathed it before raising his foot toward the halved corpse that was still trying to move, lifting its head despite being split in two.

Crack!

“Ugh. Is this for real?”

I couldn’t help but retch at the undead’s hideous end, crushed under the heavy iron boots with the force of Albert’s blow.

The sight was appalling, but above all, the smell was the worst torment.

“For the sake of my mental health, we should leave this floor quickly.”

“I quite agree.”

“I don’t want to stay here long either, human.”

Rarely in agreement, we raised our weapons without prompting, having exchanged glances.

“Old man, take the left path; Blue Tongue, the right path. If you encounter something you can’t handle, retreat immediately.”

In single-player mode that had been shattered, more companions meant faster exploration.

Although it would be more dangerous than traveling as a party, they were both warriors who could certainly take care of themselves, so I wasn’t worried.

The Noto…whatever squirrel also scurried down from my head and climbed onto Blue Tongue, completing our preparations to split up.

Having a conversation partner who understood him would be better than staying with me, who couldn’t understand a word.

‘Come to think of it, aren’t squirrels reptile food?’

I briefly watched Blue Tongue habitually flicking her tongue in and out, then buried my concern deep down, thinking she surely wouldn’t eat him.

“Shout if you find an exit. I’ll come right away.”

“Understood. I’m not particularly worried, but do be careful yourself. For your honor’s sake, at least.”

“If you don’t want those few remaining hairs to disappear, just go.”

I shook my fist at him, then Blue Tongue cracked her neck with a loud pop-pop.

“If I find this Necromancer first, may I hunt him, human?”

“You’ll ignore me anyway.”

I put my hand to my forehead, seeing her repeatedly gripping and releasing her spear shaft as if eager to try out her new weapon.

“Remember, this is absolutely not an opponent to underestimate.”

“Don’t worry, I have a place to return to here.”

Pop—

With that brief farewell, they both disappeared beyond the walls with nimble movements before I could tell who went first.

The fact that there wasn’t even a clanking sound despite Albert wearing heavy armor made me wonder whether it was due to the dwarves’ fine craftsmanship or the impressive skills of the two.

“Hmm…”

Left alone in the gloomy corridor, despite the same artificial bright light shining down as on the 16th floor, it seemed darker due to the filth coating the walls. I contemplated whether there were any artifacts worth collecting on this floor.

I could feel eyes staring directly at me as I casually examined the paintings hanging on the walls, leisurely walking down the corridor.