Chapter 43 – Floor 7. Freeze!

The strategy for the tropical rainforest area is somewhat different from other regions.

This is because the NPCs appearing from Floor 7 to Floor 9 are divided into factions, similar to package games or online games with various storylines.

Of course, as expected, it’s difficult to be too rigid in this genre, so the distinctions aren’t strictly enforced.

It’s more that you can progress through sub-quests of one faction in a chain format.

However, to join a faction, you must not kill enemies of the same race as the NPCs of that faction until you meet those NPCs.

That’s why when I immediately found these green lumps as soon as I descended to Floor 7, I jumped in at an appropriate timing.

‘What do these bastards have to eat around here that makes them so muscular?’

Rugged appearances with disgustingly bulging muscles on their arms and legs, hairstyles straight out of the post-apocalyptic era, and above all, their protective coloration-like green skin.

These four together were NPCs called the Orc Search Party, who could help me enter the Orc faction.

“HAH!!! I felt sorry for you cooking bugs, so I came to share meat with you! How dare you treat me like this!”

Those weapons in their hands.

Being hit by those crude but heavy iron clubs would hurt a lot.

I needed to persuade these blockheads to avoid being beaten to death.

“The meat is appreciated… but! Why is a human here!”

Fortunately, the largest Orc who looked like the leader wasn’t planning to immediately bring down the raised club, as he asked with an even uglier expression on his already rugged face.

Is that supposed to be threatening? I just thought he was hideously ugly, but I decided to let it slide.

Not everyone in the world can have a perfect and cool appearance like me! Even wearing this tacky conical hat, I looked cool!

“You eat everything I offer, then treat your guest like this! The elves of the Great Forest wouldn’t do this!”

“Great Forest? Elves? What are those!”

Ah. Is that not right?

Well, there have never been elves in D.D. I just mentioned them because orcs typically go with elves, but it seems that didn’t work.

It’s terrifying to meet orcs who don’t know what elves are, despite this being a typical fantasy.

“Uh… those are things, you fool! Anyway, I just want to escape this damn human-hating jungle. And while I’m at it, solve some of your problems too.”

At those words, the search party members glanced at each other’s faces.

***

Having successfully sat down with these incredibly threatening hammer-wielding orcs, I gave them the delicious meat from the box and heated up some canned food.

The guys were curious about the canned food, but after a glance, it seemed not to their taste, as they fought over the delicious roasted meat.

“Didn’t you steal my lizard tail! I’m the hungriest!”

“My build is the biggest, so naturally I should eat more to gain strength! The strongest warrior needs to store energy!”

“Let’s fight!”

“As you wish!”

Smack – Smack

As they started punching each other in the face while seated, making their already ugly faces even more entertaining, I ate spoonfuls of my warmed canned porridge.

‘Idiots.’

The winner was, of course, the largest orc who seemed to be the leader.

To begin with, the weight class difference between the leader and the others was considerable. Well, it makes sense that someone big and strong would be the leader of a dangerous search party.

Even so, he didn’t seem to underestimate the others completely, as he got a blue bruise around his eye, but he didn’t seem to care as he happily tore into a large piece of meat. Meanwhile, I put down my half-eaten can of food.

“I need to get out of this jungle. I’d appreciate your help.”

“Hmm… unfortunately, it’s difficult to offer much help. Recently, there was an incident where a human clad in iron attacked weak tribesmen, so everyone’s on edge.”

“…A human clad in iron?”

Somehow, I could picture who that might be.

A knight with a stern face and graying hair, Albert, seeming to make a V-sign with an irritated smile, flickering before my eyes.

“Fortunately, the tribesman didn’t die, but even though the Warrior Chief stepped in, he only managed to take one arm.”

Albert had apparently failed to enter the faction.

And he probably suffered a gore hit attack that resulted in the loss of a body part—in this case, the Warrior Chief’s arm.

“Is that knight… still alive?”

“Don’t know. But according to the Warrior Chief, he went down to the lower level after losing his arm. The lower level is completely the lizard guys’ territory, so he’s probably not alive. They’re sensitive to the smell of blood.”

When you suffer a gore hit, your stats are greatly reduced, and above all, if you don’t do something about the severe bleeding that follows a gore hit, you almost certainly die.

Add to that the reality adjustment of lizards with a keen sense of smell wandering around Floor 9, and it would be difficult to survive.

I don’t know exactly what crime he committed, but I didn’t feel sorry for his end, which was surely not a light offense.

I just felt a bit uneasy since we had briefly fought together.

‘He was strangely good at fighting, but I guess it couldn’t be helped.’

He might have survived if he was lucky enough to find a healing spring, but considering I haven’t seen a healing spring even once so far, that possibility is essentially nil.

Let’s pray for his rest.

“Still, I need to go down. Let’s make a deal. Do you have any troublesome issues in your village? I’ll solve them for you in exchange for some help.”

“Hmm… I think I could persuade the others with that much. There is something troublesome in the upper level.”

I secretly rejoiced at the appearance of a sub-quest start text. A sub-quest to subjugate the mini-boss of Floor 7, an absolutely trashy enemy.

After completing this quest and descending to Floor 8, I could enter the Orc village without being treated as hostile.

I was worried that since Albert had come first and happened to provoke the village orcs, the quest might not appear, but that seems to have been a needless concern.

“That guy is barely worthy to be called a tribesman! A disgrace who repaid the kindness of being raised with resentment! A disgrace who won’t become a warrior with pride even after death!”

The Orc Search Party spewed all kinds of abuse about him, each expressing grievances about what they had suffered.

One had his carefully maintained weapon stolen, another lost a shiny trinket he had picked up to give to his lover, another had his cherished honeycomb stolen, and yet another had the shaman’s loincloth he had secretly stolen, stolen from him…

The last Orc Search Party member was beaten to a pulp.

“Ahem! Not only that, he occasionally steals belongings from other races that visit this maze and runs away. He has surprisingly good hand skills.”

Unlike his tribesmen, he had a small build unsuited for a warrior.

Unlike his tribesmen, he had an unattractive pointed nose.

Unlike his tribesmen, he had a protruding belly not filled with muscle.

But if he’s so different, wasn’t he not a tribesman to begin with? I thought, though I already knew the truth.

These guys were orcs, and that one was a goblin.

The Thief Goblin, a mini-boss of Floor 7 and an enemy close to a map gimmick, like the Specter of the Past.

If you stay on the floor long enough, he appears, bumps into you, steals items from your bag, and runs away. Many players died after losing important scrolls or potions.

Moreover, since my onaholes were classified as items, they were at risk of being stolen by the Thief Goblin.

‘So I need to catch him for sure with this quest.’

Not only am I aiming for “Hero II,” but it would be a disaster if Severa or the Wanderer were stolen.

Plus, they take up a huge amount of space, so the probability of them being stolen might be higher.

Fortunately, if you receive the quest from the Orc Search Party, you can catch and kill the Thief Goblin who steals items and runs away, so most people in D.D. tended to undertake the Thief Goblin subjugation.

“Good. So I just need to kill that guy?”

The Orc leader nodded. He was trying to look dignified, as if to show a cool appearance, but he looked just foolish, not realizing he had glossy oil smeared around his mouth.

“He’s quick. It’s difficult to capture him alone. So I’ll help make sure he can’t escape.”

Thus began the alliance with the Orc Search Party.

Thinking about the reward that would be in the silver box possessed by the Thief Goblin, I licked my lips.

Rustle.

Just then, the sound of leaves brushing in the underbrush.

The search party and I all turned our heads in that direction at the same time—

Swish—

Feeling a force on my hand grasping the bag I had placed between my legs in case the Thief Goblin appeared.

To avoid having the bag snatched away by that force, I fell over, covering the bag with my body.

“He’s here! Die… my hammer!”

“No! My meat is gone! I only took one bite!”

“ARGH!! The bracelet Grasha gave me is gone!”

While the orcs fell into goblin reality shock, each shouting about their missing items, I turned my head toward where I sensed a presence.

About half my height.

Green skin like the orcs, a large hooked nose, and unlike the orcs who wore primitive clothing, he was dressed in clothes made of black cloth.

After throwing the items he had stolen from the orcs into the backpack he carried, the goblin snickered with an unpleasant laugh, as if amused.

“You guys never learn, even after getting robbed like this? That’s why you lose things!”

Though his sentences were even more awkward than those of the somewhat dim-witted orcs, there was mockery in them.

The Thief Goblin took his eyes off the confused orcs and glanced at me.

“Human has good instincts. I’ll steal from you next time.”

“Fuck off.”

『Sanctify』

Flare—

The hot, dark green hell was filled with brilliant sacred light.