Chapter 125 – 18th Floor. Killing Three Birds with One Stone

The Clump Lord, king of all mushrooms.

Though it had a grandiose yet somehow deflating name, as one of the mini-bosses ruling a layer, its strength was beyond question.

An irritating boss that, from the moment it appeared, spread poisonous spores in an area effect and inflicted corrosion that burned the terrain and endlessly ate away at health until you killed it.

In DunGal, if someone mentioned “that bastard,” nine times out of ten they meant this Clump Lord.

“Have fun playing house together, you two!”

Trumpet-shaped tubular mushrooms and slime mushrooms filled with mucus rose slowly, filling the Clump Lord like flesh and muscle, while fungi growing like a net wove it all together.

And I kicked it away without hesitation.

There stood Levand, ready to receive the Clump Lord like a bride, and soon the two were engaged in a sticky, passionate kiss!

Could there be a more joyous occasion?

It was so intense that my minor, cute grudge against that bastard Levand melted away like snow.

I wanted to applaud and bless the birth of dungeon couple number one, but the world is so cruel that I had no choice but to run back as the Clump Lord was turned into mushroom shreds.

“Grrrr..! YOU!!!”

“How many times are you going to say that, man! And who told you to blow up your lover!”

For some reason, I raised my middle finger to the indignant Levand and immediately flew through the air with the remaining effect of Superior Flight.

“As expected of a corpse-stuffer. I thought you just had to stop breathing, but you really only deal with dead things!”

“Ugh, uwaaaaaa!!!”

The eerie magical power following closely behind me.

He must be quite heated, as he now chased me howling like a beast rather than using proper sentences.

“Still, your girlfriend doesn’t seem to want to let you go? Don’t you see her clinging for an after?”

Behind the ominous magical power that would chill anyone who had reached the extreme of necromancy, a disgusting but lively magical power wrapped around it, emitting a revolting odor.

Just as Levand, the ruler of the 17th floor, was immortal, the Clump Lord of the 18th floor, though not immortal, had a similar ability.

Rather, while Levand only needed his Life Vessel destroyed, the Clump Lord didn’t even have that, making it even more troublesome in some ways.

He wouldn’t be able to catch up easily if he didn’t resolve this, as the Clump Lord would continue to interfere.

“I’ll go ahead then!”

“ARRRRGHHH!!! LET GO OF ME!!!”

Kwaaaaaaaang—

Perhaps he had used some great magic, as my hair fluttered in the shockwave that spread with a roar.

I’ll leave them to play on their own.

I twisted my mouth into a crooked smile and flew through the sky at top speed, using the remaining duration of flight to find that person.

An explosion of extreme heat comparable to the pillar of flame that rose at the end of the century.

I squinted my eyes inside my mask at the flash that could blind even from far away, but the brilliant light that still hurt my eyes didn’t disappear.

“…Headless, I think a guest will be arriving soon.”

Headless Nightmare Horse.

I stroked the neck of a friend who had watched the path of many who failed to become heroes over a long, long time, and walked slowly through the storm of noise that deafened the ears.

Headless still showed no particular reaction.

Of course, he was just an object that moved according to commands with his soul castrated, so that was natural.

But that’s why I felt affection for him.

After all, he was just like me, nothing more than a puppet on a string.

“I wonder if this guest will be able to end this shackle?”

I felt a sense of kinship with the guest as well.

Because it was a path we had walked hundreds of years ago.

Despite his dreadful appearance without a head, his soft fur felt under my fingertips, giving some comfort.

“Yes, I hope the guest could do that.”

Let’s have a little hope.

Guests who come this far are rare, after all.

“Right. And there’s never been a guest who rampages like that. It was truly incomprehensible human speech, but… I’ll believe it, pretending to be fooled.”

If so, he could kill me.

A faint curve formed on my lips inside the thick mask.

How many years has it been since even such a small smile?

And I imagined the appearance of the guest who would be my benefactor.

“…”

A frivolous attitude with who knows what confidence. The strangeness of exposing the lower body in that dangerous jungle. The lewdness that disregards others’ eyes.

And thinking about how the beings he drags around are used…

“Umm…”

Should I… trust him?

Before I knew it, the merchant had erased the faint smile from within the mask and made an ambiguous expression.

In the end, as always, I’ll leave regrets to my future self, but for now, that’s how it is.

“Urgh…”

Escaping from the clash of the two monsters, I check the ground and spill blood from my stomach that rises with a gulp onto the floor.

The effect of having four DoT damage stacks, including the corrosion received when summoning the Clump Lord, was tremendous.

‘Roughly 30 health decreases every 6 seconds.’

With current health just under 200, I can’t last even a minute at this rate.

It seems this kind of sustained damage status effect doesn’t get non-combat adjustment.

“Ugh..!”

Thud!

Due to the low blood pressure from rapid blood loss, my vision momentarily swayed, my sense of balance collapsed, and I rolled onto the floor.

My head felt cool, and I only felt like I’d rolled on the ground, so it didn’t hurt, but conversely, this meant my condition wasn’t good, so it wasn’t a reassuring sign.

“Grrrr..! Mimic… get out all the remaining potions!”

Rattle! Rattle!

Having a biological inventory that listens well is fortunate, if you can call it that.

Despite wasting so many while dealing with the mass of corpses, there were still quite a few potions left from what I’d frugally collected during exploration.

Of course, since those thrown then were attack potions, what I pulled out now were all healing potions.

I immediately stretched out my hand, pop opened the healing potion’s cap, and glug glug poured the liquid down my throat.

“Khaa! Feeling a bit better now!”

A refreshing sensation and coolness spreading from inside with effervescence.

Soon, my shaking, blurry vision returned to normal.

Of course, this was just a temporary measure until I found the Suspicious Merchant, as the four-piece ensemble of bleeding, poisoning, burning, and corrosion hadn’t been resolved.

Next, I drank a regeneration potion. Though slightly insufficient against DoT damage, it would slow the rate of decrease.

On top of that, I layered poison resistance and corrosion resistance potions, halving the DoT damage from poison and corrosion to buy more time.

‘Of course, the duration is lacking, but it can’t be helped.’

The poison was constantly refreshing from 99t, so without wearing a poison immunity potion or equipment, it couldn’t be escaped, and the other status effects were top-tier with 49t.

With bad luck, I might die even if I used all the remaining potions, but if I could handle two bosses of the highest tier difficulty at once, this kind of gamble was necessary, so I had no regrets.

‘Plus, it’s a chance to neutralize him.’

After looking at the mimic once, I hung it on my shoulder and flew into the sky again.

The potions were all gone.

I had a few scrolls left, but only ones like transference or mutation that wouldn’t help much in the current situation.

On the verge of being gloriously ejected to the 1st floor, I felt totally fucked in my heart.

‘No, fuck. It’s not appearing. It usually shows up at times like this.’

Actually, this is normal.

Though it’s walkable, considering it takes days to explore one floor completely, how could I find what I want right away after flying around for just a few minutes?

Drip—

As a warm sensation flowed from my nose, I wiped it casually, leaving a long streak of black, sticky paint on my sleeve.

With my health nearly depleted according to the log, I’d probably die soon after rolling a few more DoT damage resistances with zero health.

Faced with this fact, I had no choice but to use my ultimate secret technique.

“Fuck! Save me, Merchant! I’ll give you everything I have! Kyaaaaaaak!!!”

An ultrasonic scream for rescue so desperate that it would be impossible not to hear if nearby!

No one has ever pretended not to hear this!

Because I’ve never used it before!

“…Over here, customer.”

“Huh!”

Hearing the familiar distorted voice from behind me, I gasped and lowered my head to check behind me through my legs.

Through that gap, I saw the Suspicious Merchant and Headless hanging upside down from the ceiling!

“I’ll say it again, it’s Headless, not Hairless, customer.”

Ignoring the Suspicious Merchant’s correction of Headless’s name, I ran to the Suspicious Merchant on all fours like an animal.

An incredible speed that makes me wonder if humans were originally quadrupedal but were gaslighted into walking on two legs!

“Take my wallet!!!”

Thud!

Before the Suspicious Merchant could open their stall, I rushed to the carriage containing the goods and rummaged through them.

I immediately drank a healing potion to extinguish the fire, poured a purification elixir over my head to erase current status effects, and put on a Ring of Detoxification+2 that allows about 70% resistance to poison, stopping my health gauge from rapidly decreasing.

Of course, this alone wouldn’t recover the health that had already decreased, so I downed a Superior Healing Potion that looked as expensive as vodka after a bath.

“Khuerk! Blegh—”

“…It’s quite rude to use items before paying, customer.”

I ignored the Suspicious Merchant’s protest, which was incredibly commonsensical in this insane place.

Just as a two-eyed person would be a monster in a one-eyed village, shouldn’t one have insane thoughts in an insane place?

“Come on! Aren’t we close?”

While saying this, I didn’t forget to use the 『Vanguard Command』 primer that was coincidentally for sale.

A skill that buffs summons in the rear when you’re closer to the enemy than your summons, based on your charm stat—when used together with 『Battle Command』, it’s a key skill for a summoning build that makes even ordinary summons fairly strong.

“Whew… with this, I’ve become about 1.5 times stronger again. My growth is terrifying!”

“…”

And my hand didn’t stop there. No, there was no reason to stop.

It was perfect timing for resupply after completely emptying the mimic.

I took off my completely shattered armor, fitted new armor to my body, and roughly swept up potions, herbs, scrolls, and even the primers for sale despite having little use for them, stuffing them into the mimic.

I could distribute them later to Albert or Blue Tongue.

After that, all that remained on the Suspicious Merchant’s stall were bulky, useless, and heavy weapons.

“Customer, what you’ve picked up is close to 20,000 GOLD. As I said, I don’t accept credit.”

“Ah, don’t worry. Here! Suck it up!”

Since the Suspicious Merchant hadn’t appeared on the 15th floor, I had accumulated a mountain of GOLD, enough to easily cover that price.

The Suspicious Merchant looked at my extended arm somewhat suspiciously, but then hesitantly put their mouth to it after taking my hand.

‘The special event condition for the Suspicious Merchant is to spend over 10,000 GOLD with the Suspicious Merchant by the 24th floor.’

I had already offered about 8,000 GOLD to the Suspicious Merchant, so this was my last chance.

Since I’d easily exceeded 10,000 GOLD just by sweeping up all the items, the Suspicious Merchant would now reveal their true identity.

Sluuurp—

Though they were just lightly sucking, an ecstatic feeling as if my soul was being torn out washed over me, and the momentarily volatile pleasure made my body tremble uncontrollably for quite some time.

Simultaneously—

“…Thank you for everything until now, customer.”

Crack—

The mask worn by the Suspicious Merchant slowly began to split.

The thick robe, always tightly wrapped, tore and flowed down like wings resting on the back, with long black hair stretching to the floor.

Between the completely split mask appeared mysteriously entrancing eyes that glowed with a faint pink hue, and a pair of greatly curved horns rising above the head, signaling this was not human.

“Haha. Walking around with your stomach exposed will give you a cold?”

“My body isn’t that weak.”

Through the gaps between the minimal fabric, pale flesh briefly shone, and a fragrance flowed in that made my head feel like it would melt.

“Customer, let me introduce myself again. I am a demon of ecstatic dreams. Si—”

Pop—

I don’t care about that, so I casually walked behind the Suspicious Merchant, who seemed to be enjoying the dramatic entrance, and kicked them from behind.

In front of the Suspicious Merchant had been the mimic, its mouth wide open as if asking for more food.

As the Suspicious Merchant fell into the mimic’s mouth, inside was the Meat Flower waiting to become one with the mimic’s countless moist tentacles, ready to bloom its head flower and emit that sweet scent.

Clank!

The mimic’s mouth closed, and that was the end of it.

“Succubus cut!”

Carrying the mimic that hadn’t returned to its small state like a bag, I looked in the direction where the two idiots were still fighting.

It was time to wrap this up.