Chapter 37 – Floor 6. There’s Always a Way to Survive… Hopefully

Crack!

I smashed the skull of the Alligator-Toothed Fish that had bitten my arm with the blunt hammer part of my axe, and vigorously shook my leg to dislodge the one that had bitten it underwater.

But as if refusing to let go, it clenched its jaws even harder, and I could see the water gradually turning reddish as my wound tore open.

‘I need to get out first…!’

Staying in the water would only turn me into a karaoke bar owner providing snacks to the Toothed Fish that would rush in after smelling blood.

I ran toward land, splashing and flailing my arms.

But the water holding my body back made my progress excruciatingly slow, as if telling me not to move forward.

[You received 16 damage.]

“Nngh…!”

I had to survive. With that single thought, I gritted my teeth through the pain of my leg muscles tearing and forced my legs to move.

I wanted to crush the Toothed Fish that was happily chomping on my leg as quickly as possible, but my health was getting dangerously low.

‘Status, brief.’

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Health: 19/96 ■■□□□□□□□□

Magic: 48/48 ■■■■■■■■■■

Hunger: 76/110 ■■■■■■■■□□|□​

Thirst: 63/110 ■■■■■■□□□□|□​

Temperature: ◀■■■■■■■□□□▷

Status: Minor Bleeding (7T)

===========================================

My health, which had been completely full just three minutes ago, had somehow dwindled to a precarious level.

‘Right. This is fu-cking roguelike.’

A genre for masochists where you can fall into the abyss in an instant no matter how well-prepared you are.

The land was still about 5 meters away.

And then…

Crack—

“Nngh…!”

[You received 17 damage.]

[Your right leg has been fractured.]

With that log, I felt a pain that shot directly into my nerves, impossible to conceal even by biting my tongue. My eyes widened, and I felt cold sweat streaming down.

“Se-Severa! Ice Spear!”

Whoosh———

The water froze solid.

The cold air it released created a not-so-refreshing moisture as it met the hot air.

“Huff… hah… fuck…”

Having barely made it to land, all I could do was clutch my seemingly cracked leg, gasping for breath and barely managing to curse.

The Ice Spear had stopped the approaching Toothed Fish, but my condition was already too serious.

With my health fallen to a single digit, bleeding, and the compound status effect of a fracture, I looked like a player destined to be ejected back to Floor 1, helplessly awaiting death.

“Fuck… I have to… have to survive…”

I frantically rummaged through my backpack, searching for something to turn the situation around. Despite the bag being full of items, what I really needed wasn’t visible.

Potions? The healing potion I used to fix my damaged arm against the King of the Sewers was the last one.

Scrolls? I had used all my scrolls with the teleportation scroll earlier.

A desperate situation.

Grasping at a thread of hope, I found disinfectant, bandages, and a splint in the first aid kit and wrapped them around my leg with hands trembling from the fear that was gradually creeping in.

I applied the stinging disinfectant liberally, set the splint, and tightly bound the bandage.

Each step was painful, but I couldn’t leave it untreated.

“Huff… hah… no… it’s not enough…”

My vision was becoming increasingly blurry. Whether from the fear of approaching death or just from the cold rising from the water frozen by the Ice Spear, my jaw trembled, causing my teeth to chatter.

The bandage was soaked with blood.

I shook out my backpack, now completely soaked with water, and dumped the contents on the ground.

Please. Please.

Something that could turn this situation around…

And then I spotted an unknown yellow herb that had been at the very bottom of the backpack.

“Unknown” literally meant it hadn’t been appraised, so its effects were unknown, but without thinking of the consequences, I stuffed the herb into my mouth and chewed.

Chomp – Chomp – The bitter, grassy taste of the herb spreading in my mouth was so strong it made my teeth ache, but I kept my mouth tightly shut and chewed thoroughly, as if eating it would save me.

[You felt your strength returning.]

Fortunately, that wish came true.

‘Ah… I shouldn’t sleep here…’

Feeling my vision slowly darkening, I lost consciousness on the grass.

***

“Gaah!”

Upon opening my eyes, I frantically felt my chest and looked around.

Feeling my damp clothes and seeing the still-dark prison of vegetation, I sighed deeply in relief that wasn’t quite relief.

“Damn… I really almost died. Teleportation scrolls are officially out of service..!”

I thought I heard someone say “Eh? Really?!” from somewhere, but it was probably an auditory hallucination from my weakened mental state.

I decided to open my status window to check my current condition precisely.

===========================================

Health: 3/96 □□□□□□□□□□

Magic: 48/48 ■■■■■■■■■■

Hunger: 36/110 ■■■■□□□□□□|□​

Thirst: 12/110 ■□□□□□□□□□|□​

Temperature: ◀■■■□□□□□□□▷

Status: Minor Fracture (Stabilized)

===========================================

Looking at the hologram text that appeared before me, I could fully grasp just how dangerous my situation had been.

My hunger and thirst had significantly decreased, indicating quite some time had passed, yet my health was still near death.

If that yellow herb hadn’t been a healing herb, I wouldn’t even have that much left and would have died right there.

Moreover, with the minor fracture status still attached, I couldn’t help but sigh again in frustration.

The splint and bandages I applied would allow it to heal thanks to this body’s incredible regenerative ability if I waited, but there would be significant limitations on my actions until it fully healed.

Above all, the biggest problem was experiencing this on the first day of Floor 6, which was just a taste of the tropical rainforest area.

‘I sensed a bit of unfairness, but I should have expected this kind of thing to happen regularly…’

Perhaps I had become complacent after clearing the underground waterway, as I stepped on a trap despite knowing I should be careful.

“Ah… let’s rest for now.”

The truly fortunate thing was that I hadn’t been ambushed by enemies despite being unconscious for quite a while.

If I had been, I wouldn’t even be able to have these thoughts, but it meant this place was safe as long as I didn’t enter the water.

Let’s set up camp.

***

The lighter I had kept in my pocket for easy access was soaked, but fortunately it lit up after I shook out the water and waited.

Otherwise, I would have had to struggle like hell to start a fire in my current state.

It took quite some time to clear away the grass covering the ground to prevent the fire from spreading, but it was still much faster and easier than twirling wooden sticks.

Flare – Good, strong flames flickered as they gradually consumed the firewood.

I looked at my burning leg, took a spoonful of warmed canned food, looked at my throbbing leg again, and repeated this several times.

After forcing down all the canned food that didn’t go down easily, I wiped my mouth.

“What kind of fish has that much strength…”

Even if it looks a bit vicious, it’s still just a fish—how could a bite break bones?

Even if it makes sense, I wish it didn’t.

“Today, I’m actually missing those rat bastards… Even those yellow-toothed, fierce beasts couldn’t break bones…”

Though they were creatures I didn’t want to share a table with, at least they didn’t attack cowardly from underwater, making them angel-like compared to the Toothed Fish.

Disgusting as they were.

‘If I weren’t a hero, I would have died. I should prioritize Constitution to 15 first.’

The utility of the Constitution stat includes increasing Health points and reducing physical damage, but it also increases the chance to resist physical status effects.

That’s why there’s a strategy for beginners to build up Constitution first and push forward as much as possible.

However, if you distribute your stats that way, you’ll quickly reach a limit unless you have a means to accumulate powerful damage despite low Strength or Mental stats.

‘My current stats are already a mix anyway…’

Dexterity and Charm at 15, Strength at 11, and Constitution at 8.

If I were to focus on efficiency, I should invest the rest in Strength to reach 15, but without the benefits of Constitution, it would be difficult to endure unfair situations like this.

It seems I’ll have to live a mixed stat life for quite some time.

For some reason, I couldn’t fall asleep. I probably got enough sleep while I was unconscious.

I checked my map, occasionally stirring the fire to keep it from going out.

The revealed part of the map was about 10-20%.

And the yellow dot indicating my current position was far away from the revealed terrain.

I might have come almost to the opposite end.

‘If only the Suspicious Merchant or Sad Ghost were nearby so I could buy something.’

Only now did I realize that the items I brought from reality were mostly for convenience and not many were truly helpful for survival.

What I needed were magical items like herbs, seeds, potions, and scrolls.

Even if it meant tighter GOLD calculations, actively using the Suspicious Merchant would be much more helpful for immediate survival.

“I should have just brought out Severa right away.”

If I had prepared myself for burns and quickly incinerated the room with fire magic, this wouldn’t have happened.

Deciding to take it as a lesson that you have to give what needs to be given, I lay down on the grass using my backpack as a pillow to catch some sleep.

Wheeeeee–

The tiny sound of wings entering my ear canal. That minute sound, normally inaudible, gradually approached, irritatingly, in the silence.

Toss.

I turned to the opposite side, and the sound faded.

Wheeeeeeeeng—

“…”

Buzz – Wheeeeeeeeeng—

Finally sitting up again, I glared into the darkness where the creature was flying with a face full of anger.

‘Should I wipe them ALL out?’

‘I could slaughter them so they can’t even make a squeak.’

If they didn’t want to lose their habitat, they should know not to mess with me, but this mosquito seemed unaware of that, simply landing on my arm, sucking my blood with a slurp, and flying away leisurely.

***

I was tempted all night to turn Floor 6 into a park with three skulls, but I decided to endure with superhuman mental strength.

As someone who loves nature, I couldn’t engage in such destructive acts.

After sleeping, the pain had subsided quite a bit, but since the fracture status effect still hadn’t disappeared, I made a staff I could lean on by breaking off a branch from a tree that formed part of the wall using my axe. Then I set off again to explore Floor 6.

Part of me wanted to wait until I was completely healed, but the longer I dragged it out, the more disadvantageous it would be for me.

“Oh.”

“Customer, it’s been a while. You’re still alive. Though you don’t look so good.”

And in the first room I encountered after passing through the corridor, a merchant wearing a suspiciously suspicious mask was waiting for me, stroking a headless beast.

“You look like you need some items.”

As the Suspicious Merchant slightly opened his display, I forced an awkward laugh.

Take my money right now!