Chapter 49 – Floor 8. Chicken Game

Crack—

At the impact of the concentrated force that flew at high speed, the small goblin’s neck bent in a grotesque direction with a sound that should never come from a living creature, and flew through the air.

After the red trajectory that scattered blood passed by, the obstacle that was stepping on my wrist had long disappeared.

I forced myself to crawl again, open my backpack, find a bottle containing green liquid, open the lid, and drink it without looking back.

Gulp – Gulp – Gulp–

Along with the sound of liquid passing through my esophagus, the foul-tasting grassy liquid went down smoothly.

But fearing that even a single drop might remain, I shook the bottle thoroughly and sucked at its mouth.

After pushing about 300ml of bitter potion down my throat without even breathing, nausea rose, but I swallowed that too, and only then did vitality begin to return to my body, which had been weakening from blood loss.

“Whew—! I really almost died! Do Shock Wave and Advanced Excavation have any conscience at all?”

The combo of canceling all actions with Shock Wave and then inflicting fall damage with Advanced Excavation was a combo that made me want to ask about the level of home education someone had received.

I’d never even seen an advanced scroll before!

At this point, it seemed like someone had brought the guy a truckload of scrolls just to screw me over.

“Kali? That rare hair color and that rusty but heavy-to-lift sword, could it be Kali!”

“…”

When I finally managed to stagger to my feet, the Orc Warrior Chief was shaking the Wanderer with surprised eyes.

[You have discovered the Wanderer’s forgotten name.]

[You have grown.]

‘What?’

A line of log appeared after the Orc Warrior Chief’s words to the Wanderer.

After checking that log, I could only look back and forth between the Orc Warrior Chief and the Wanderer with a face full of questions.

In D.D., there was never anything like the Wanderer’s name, nor had I ever seen text about the Orc Warrior Chief knowing the Wanderer…

‘No, naturally, since there’d be no reason to bring the Wanderer to the tropical rainforest area in the first place.’

『aaaa’s Onahole: Wanderer, Kali』Level: 10☆ [Status: Subjugated]

Health: 168/168 ■■■■■■■■■■

Fuel: 13/15 ■■■■■■■■■□

【An onahole carrying the servant race of an evil god within its body. Its essence can no longer be considered human.】

Seeing that the name Kali was inscribed in the Wanderer’s description, I could tell it was indeed the name the Wanderer had when she was human.

Of course, since the parasite now had control, not to mention memories from the Kali era, it didn’t seem to have much significance now.

“Do humans not age? The last time I saw you was decades ago, but you’re exactly the same!”

“It’s useless to shake her like that. She’s not who you knew.”

I grabbed Kali’s shoulder, which was being held by the Orc Warrior Chief, and pulled her away.

Without resistance, Kali followed my gesture, breaking away from the Orc Warrior Chief and clinging to my side. The Orc Great Warrior closed his mouth for a moment, then looked at me with a solemn expression.

“I am Sgal, one who holds the position of Warrior Chief. Human, who are you? And why did you fall into the village with that Shailock?”

I was secretly impressed by his much more natural command of language compared to the Orc Search Party.

So not all orcs made sounds like “Tsuik-” “Buhit-“!

In fact, the Search Party didn’t either, so it wasn’t surprising, but the damage from Korea’s rote education isn’t shallowly implanted enough to be corrected with just one or two examples.

So this is a rightful surprise.

“Hmm… more importantly, shouldn’t we finish off that damn goblin first? I don’t think he’s dead yet.”

Normally, having a broken neck that’s dangling would mean death, but a log indicating I had killed him didn’t appear.

That means I still hadn’t completely depleted his Health gauge, so I hadn’t finished him off for sure.

“We can talk after that—”

『Chain Lightning』

As I turned around, a vivid spark flew right in front of my eyes.

As it lodged in my collarbone, electricity coursed through my internal organs and nerves, searching for nearby prey, along with a reflexive action that made all my nerves contract.

After me was Kali, who was sticking close.

“..!”

Even the End Species, which had only moved by conditioned reflexes and commands, seemed to take damage from the electricity penetrating inside, as it stretched its body greatly and shook violently.

Next was the defenseless Orc Warrior Chief.

The Warrior Chief curled up, drooling and offering no resistance despite his thick muscles.

“AAAAAARGH!!!”

How long had I been unconscious?

I didn’t think it was that long in terms of time, but in combat, it might have been too long.

With my whole body feeling like it was being torn apart and my bloodshot eyes forcibly turning, I saw that the Wanderer was gone, probably reverse-summoned because I had fainted, and the Warrior Chief was kneeling with his eyes rolled back.

“Haah!”

“I’ll drop that dangling head of yours!”

“Avenge our leader!”

When I turned my vision toward the direction of the sounds, I saw the Search Party wildly swinging their weapons to catch the Thief Goblin whose neck was dangling.

But they weren’t in good condition.

Perhaps due to the fall damage, they were all covered in blood, and the Search Party leader was dead with his neck severed.

‘Fuck… how is he still alive like that.’

Chain Lightning.

An advanced magic of the electric type. Though not the highest-tier magic like Firestorm, it was still extremely powerful in that it could inflict chain damage and cause the shocked status.

The problem was that the goblin had fired it again.

‘How many of those precious scrolls does he have?’

With Advanced Excavation and Chain Lightning alone, that’s two advanced magics.

I couldn’t tell how many more scrolls would be torn, and if I was unlucky, there might even be top-tier magic scrolls.

‘If I get sponsored by that “God” guy, can I also spam magic scrolls? Fuck, tentacle monster! Take me!’

***

It hurts.

I thought I was already accustomed to physical pain from the violence my tribesmen inflicted on me daily, but I didn’t know there was even greater pain in the world.

What I feared was only the pain of having my soul and mind eaten away when I saw God.

Ka-ka-ka-ka-kak──

Even though I’m still alive with my neck dangling, I feel the pain of flesh tearing with every movement.

This too is God’s power.

“Huff, hah… why won’t he die! He was definitely weak!”

“Ke,.. kehk… kek.”

I wanted to sneer at the stupid tribesmen now looking at me with fearful eyes, but I couldn’t make proper sounds with my dangling neck.

But it doesn’t matter.

It doesn’t matter at all if I kill all these tribesmen like that big stupid one.

The power God gave me, the weapons God gave me, the opportunity God gave me.

I am practically God now!

The strength entering my body is stronger than when my neck was intact.

If I had this strength from the beginning, would my tribesmen not have ignored me?

No! These idiots would never! They just hated me!

God, oh God.

Please take this life—!

***

Rumble───

The ground shakes.

“Fuck… what now.”

The Thief Goblin, spraying blood everywhere as he faces the Orc Search Party.

Inevitably, his blood flows abundantly, soaking the ground. But the amount is abnormal.

It seems like enough blood to drain dozens of goblins his size without leaving a single drop.

Yet despite shedding that much blood, he moved perfectly fine, even more violently, to kill the Orc Search Party.

‘…Magic circle?’

The blood-soaked ground began to move subtly and started drawing a pattern on the ground.

Its shape resembled the magic circle that appears in the air when Severa uses magic.

“GRAAAAAAAARGH!!!”

The goblin suddenly shouted incomprehensible words.

I had a bad feeling, and such premonitions never miss their mark.

CRASH──!!!

As if in response, a massive black creature broke through the wall, snapping trees as thick as two people with outstretched arms could barely encircle, as if they were reeds.

The beast’s appearance was incredibly grotesque.

An elephant’s trunk, a tiger’s hind legs, primate arms, a bear’s face, parrot wings, leopard skin…

The beast, which looked like a mishmash of all kinds of animals, roared loudly and shook this green desert.

“Oh… shit!”

I immediately grabbed my backpack.

This is no time to worry about the others! Facing that thing and the goblin together would be tantamount to suicide!

『Fusion Beast』Level: 15☆

Health: 418/418 ■■■■■■■■■■

【A beast with the appearance of various mixed creatures. Such a monstrous thing could never be born in nature.】

It was the appearance of the Fusion Beast, the mini-boss of Floor 8.

The Fusion Beast. A deranged enemy that boasts specs similar to the King of the Sewers, who is both a mini-boss of the tropical rainforest and the boss of the underground waterway.

Naturally, you didn’t have to face it unconditionally; it usually appeared only when specific conditions were met, but somehow it had suddenly invaded.

And in the Orc Village, which was supposed to be a safe zone!

I could roughly guess that the cause was probably the magic circle drawn with the goblin’s blood.

I was utterly bewildered.

‘No, fuck. This wasn’t supposed to happen…!’

The Thief Goblin didn’t go into a desperate awakening, nor did such an event occasionally occur to make the Fusion Beast appear when dropping to Floor 8.

In the end, this happened due to circumstances I wasn’t aware of, which was incredibly unfair.

Crack—! Argh—!

Judging by the screams coming from behind me, the orcs were probably being torn apart by the Fusion Beast.

My facial muscles twitched, but I couldn’t recklessly charge in there.

At the very least, the Thief Goblin should die before facing the Fusion Beast. At least I wouldn’t have to worry about blind magic flying around. Even so, it’s an uneasy gamble since I’m not in perfect condition.

“Urgh… Human! Kill Shailock! I will face this hideous creature!”

Finally free from the electrocution, the Warrior Chief, with a pained face, raised his greatsword and charged toward the Fusion Beast with those final words.

Indeed, the title of Warrior Chief isn’t given to just anyone. No trace of fear was visible on his face.

‘Thief Goblin…’

The goblin was swinging his dagger even more violently than before.

He was burning brightly, as if consuming his final life force.

And then I saw it. His backpack, lying about 10 meters away.

Hmm, with that, this might be doable.