Chapter 3 – Floor 1. First Use

AAAAAAARGH!!!

After hiding nearby and waiting for a while, the booming voice that had been wildly swinging an axe and slaughtering rats returned as a scream.

As expected, no matter how good your specs, there’s no surviving a group beatdown.

What could he do when surrounded and attacked in turns?

Of course, in this game, you could escape comfortably with the right items or artifacts.

Whether those would drop was another matter entirely.

Hoping the criminal had either cleared all the enemies before dying or that the enemies had moved elsewhere, I headed back to where the criminal had been hunting.

The pungent smell that intensified as I approached mixed with the damp air of the sewers, making me think it would soon turn into the stench of decay.

As I got closer, the water flowing through the sewers ran red, as if someone had poured red dye into it.

Gulp.

“Brutal… fuck, at least if it were a cutesy pixel paradise, it would’ve been somewhat better.”

Four Giant Rat corpses with their heads split in half.

One Sewer Spider corpse with its head separated from its body.

A criminal lying on the ground with chunks of flesh torn out all over.

Squeak squeak—

And finally, one last Giant Rat, eagerly moving its snout as it clung to the criminal’s corpse.

‘…Fuck.’

The Giant Rat was frantically tearing at the criminal’s corpse.

The flavor text that said it would eat anything edible wasn’t just background lore.

This disgustingly large and creepy rat was a harmful creature that would run to eat any item tagged as food that fell to the ground.

That’s why, even when scavenging, I’d given up on emergency rations or unknown herbs and only aimed for money and water.

But even though it was classified as an enemy, watching a rat tear at a human-shaped corpse was quite distressing.

Unconsciously, my grip tightened on the dagger.

『Giant Rat』Level: 01
Health: 6/19 ■■■□□□□□□□

‘Let’s kill it. I can do this. Just one stab.’

The last remaining Giant Rat didn’t seem to be in good shape, perhaps having been hit once by the criminal.

Its health was low enough that I could definitely kill it with one stab.

It’s not that I suddenly felt righteous. Even if I killed this rat now, eventually another rat would come and continue tearing at the corpse.

I just wanted to kill it because it was interfering with my item farming.

Though physiological disgust welled up at the thought of approaching that yellow-toothed beast, I had to descend through this dungeon.

I didn’t know if I could return once I cleared the dungeon, but even so, I had no choice. If I backed away, I’d fall off a cliff and end up like that criminal, my corpse being torn apart by enemies.

Steeling myself, I took a step forward.

My pounding heartbeat felt unusually loud, but the rat was still too preoccupied with tearing at the criminal’s flesh to notice me.

‘To clear the dungeon I’ll have to kill so many enemies, how could I survive if I can’t even kill one little rat… I’ll… I’ll do it!’

As I raised the dagger high to strike, there was just one more step until it would connect.

Thud, roll-roll-roll.

Squeak—?

“Oh shit…!”

In the darkness, I hadn’t noticed a small stone on the ground, which my foot knocked, causing it to clatter across the stone floor.

[The Giant Rat has spotted you.]

“Oh for fuck’s sake! I’ll stick my long, pointy thing in you! Die, beast of ill omen!”

Once discovered, it was all or nothing. Though the Giant Rat moved nimbly, I had the advantage since I had already started to swing my dagger down.

In pathetic fights like this, whoever moves first has the advantage.

The flash of the dagger cutting through the damp, cold air.

Ah- this is iron. Teeth are nothing compared to iron.

CRUNCH— CRACK.

The dagger, swung down with all my weight behind it, shattered the Giant Rat’s yellow teeth with a terrifying sound and split its snout in half.

[You dealt 11 damage to the Giant Rat.]

[You defeated the Giant Rat.]

SPLASH!

That was good, but as its head split in half, the creature’s filthy blood splattered all over me.

“KYEEEEEEEEK!!! DISGUSTING!!! TAKE THIS INHUMANE GAME OFF THE PLATFORM RIGHT NOW!!!”

Blood was really warm.

***

“I want to take a shower…”

By now, the dark red scabs had dried and I was scraping them off with my fingernails, but the feeling of filthiness wouldn’t go away.

Still, apart from being covered in the dirty rat’s blood, I’d gained quite a lot.

[You have obtained Emergency Ration.]

[You have obtained Water Bottle.]

[You have obtained Tasty Meat.]

[You have obtained GOLD 56.]

[You have obtained Tasty Meat…

I dismissed the log window that filled my vision to the point where it was difficult to see.

I considered washing off the blood with the ankle-deep water, but that water was equally suspicious.

“How the hell am I supposed to survive in a place like this? What crime did I commit to be locked up here!”

Locking up a law-abiding citizen like me in a dungeon.

The people outside the dungeon must undoubtedly be demons who torture the innocent.

Still, since leaving the dirty state unattended would increase the risk of disease, I tore my tattered clothes to make cloth scraps.

They had practically no defensive capability anyway, so there was little resistance to tearing them.

Although they provided Level 1 warmth, that was a problem that could be solved by lighting a campfire when body temperature was low.

Splash splash splash.

I wet the cloth with precious water from my bottle and wiped the blood from my body.

The feeling of the damp cloth brushing against my skin wasn’t pleasant, but it couldn’t be helped.

“Phew… that’s a bit better now.”

Although I now looked like a pervert roaming the dungeon half-naked, it was still much better than getting sick.

Let’s think of it as desperate measures for survival.

“You anonymous bastard. If I meet you, I’ll tie you up and throw you into the dungeon.”

Anyway, having thoroughly looted the criminal who had fought bloody battles with six enemies, I had no more business here.

My hands were still trembling from the memory of splitting the rat’s head, but if I stayed in this bloody place any longer, I’d be ambushed.

I needed to find a room where I could light a campfire before nightfall.

As I trudged through the splashing water looking for a room or secret room, something wriggling was shaking its body ahead of me.

Wriggle wriggle.

An amorphous creature with a transparent blue body.

The moment I confirmed its appearance from a distance, I got a headache.

The iconic enemy of the sewer section.

『Blue Slime』Level: 05
Health: 21/21 ■■■■■■■■■■
【An amorphous predatory life form composed of sticky, slippery liquid. Though its dull senses make it less aggressive, swords don’t cut it well.】

The appearance of the Blue Slime, which halves all physical damage and is known as the graveyard of early melee characters.

[You have learned about the Blue Slime.]

“Ah… this is annoying, how do I kill it.”

It didn’t cause the same physiological disgust as the Giant Rat that made it hard to stab with a knife—it just looked like a plastic bag filled with water—but its properties were the problem.

My weapons were a dagger and a club, both capable of only physical attacks.

Its unique ability to halve all damage was essentially doubling its attack opportunities.

Conversely, it took double damage from magic attacks, but I didn’t have a magic wand or scroll at the moment.

‘At least it’s slow, so I could run away…’

According to the map, there was only a single path with no branching routes from where the criminal had fought to where I had encountered the slime.

I had walked quite a distance, so going back would waste a lot of time and movement.

Wriggle wriggle.

[The Blue Slime has spotted you.]

While I was thinking about what to do, it seemed the creature, which had been moving randomly, had spotted me.

“No! Add a feature where time doesn’t pass if you stand still! It was originally turn-based!”

Real-time D.D.

Whoever thought of this was truly terrible.

The Blue Slime, wriggling its soft body as it approached, seemed to recognize me as easy prey and bounced up and down.

“Damn… wait. I have magic.”

Come to think of it, I did have magic. Of course, it was an extremely embarrassing magic, but better than nothing.

Wouldn’t a creature that takes double damage from magic be an appropriate target for a test run?

Moreover, there didn’t seem to be any other enemies near the slime, so even if I failed, I could manage somehow.

“A slime onahole…”

Given that it was a demanding spell requiring 25 MP, I needed to properly understand its performance to use it effectively.

“Whatever comes out, it’s got to be better than a rat onahole.”

Thinking about a rat onahole, which would make me want to commit suicide on the spot, made the slime look like a goddess.

Wriggle wriggle.

“You little… HYAH!”

I ran toward the Blue Slime as if charging its chest and kicked like a tiger.

Naturally, the impact against the creature, which reduced physical attacks, felt extremely soft, and I even questioned if it had taken any damage.

“ONAHOLE CREATIOOOOOON!!!”

SPLASH—

As I thrust my fist into its body, it sank deep inside with a squishing sound, like punching jelly.

The soft, sticky interior felt somewhat strange.

Twitch.

The slime’s body, which had been wriggling as if trying to dissolve my arm inside it, suddenly hesitated and stopped, its movement disappearing.

Simultaneously, I felt a peculiar weakness as all the strength drained from my body.

“Oh? Ohh? Ohhhhh—?”

That strange feeling brushed past, as if I should be sticking out my tongue cutely and showing the whites of my eyes.

Fortunately, I didn’t end up making such an unseemly expression.

Because immediately after, with a POP! sound, the Blue Slime burst into smoke.

[You used Onahole Creation on the Blue Slime.]

[The Blue Slime has full health.]

[The Blue Slime deflected Onahole Creation…]

[The Blue Slime was vulnerable to magic.]

[The Blue Slime became an onahole.]

[You defeated the Blue Slime.]

[You have learned about the Blue Slime.]

PLOP.

[You have obtained Slime Onahole.]

As the smoke dispersed, what remained where the slime had been was a transparent, bluish, teardrop-shaped object about half its original size.

“Oh.”