Chapter 55 – Floor 9. The Backpack Expedition

Our interests—mine, the merchant’s, and the Great Warrior’s—aligned, and thus the Treasure Bag Expedition Team was formed.

“Customer, there’s no benefit for me in this.”

The merchant, who seemed to have regained their energy after getting back their backpack full of items, objected, but who actually wants to do group projects willingly?

“You need to come along anyway if you want to find that Hairyson or whatever body you’re looking for.”

“It’s Headless, not Hairyson. Please don’t make the child bald, customer.”

I couldn’t understand the difference between having no head and having no hair, but seeing the merchant’s insistence, I just nodded.

Quickly acknowledging one’s mistake before a fist is clenched is extremely important for survival.

And since I was still in my most vulnerable state without a single piece of clothing, I especially didn’t want to get hit by the merchant.

“So I get that you don’t wear clothes, but don’t you have any armor that humans occasionally leave behind or lose when they come and go?”

Even if the entire Lizard race were nudists, wouldn’t it be better to wear armor?

But the Great Warrior, as the party concerned, seemed to have no particular thoughts on the matter, simply shaking his head while flexing the muscles hidden beneath thick scales.

“Human armor doesn’t fit us in size, and fundamentally, our skeletal structure is different, so we can’t wear it. Besides, our scales can block most attacks, so I don’t feel much need for it.”

“My goodness…”

I couldn’t help but newly realize the fact that humans wear clothes and use tools because, bare-handed, we’re more pathetic than even a sunfish.

Damn race-spoon bastards. [Note: This is a play on the Korean concept of “gold spoon,” similar to “born with a silver spoon” but referring to inherent racial advantages here]

Whether aware of my thoughts or not, the Great Warrior flicked his long, thick blue tongue and led the way through the swamp, looking around.

“Customer.”

Poke. Poke.

As the merchant poked my back with their finger, I turned around to see them holding a gleaming piece of armor that looked like something you’d wear in the late 20s floors, looking at me with expectant eyes.

Well, I couldn’t tell if their eyes were expectant since they wore a mask, but I could sense the merchant’s energy of having found a sucker to force-sell items to.

“Blessed Star Breastplate +10. With this child, customer, you could instantly become a warrior blessed by the stars.”

“Price?”

“Special price of 39,990 GOLD.”

Without hesitation, I turned back around and continued following the Great Warrior.

I was tempted to give 500 head slaps for daring to recommend such a thing, but since my waist might fold in half, I decided to counter the merchant’s outrage with a boycott.

Besides, that thing wouldn’t even cover my lower half.

***

Splash- Splash- Splash-

Floor 9, with its identical trees lined up in rows, was the perfect environment for getting lost, befitting its name “The Labyrinth of Osiris.”

However, I had a map that marked the path I had taken, and the straight-line map created during my escape precisely indicated where my backpack was.

The problem was that I had run so far that the distance was considerable. It would take several hours to proceed while carefully scanning for potential dangers.

Additionally, while the occasional enemies that attacked would be fatally dangerous to me in my current state, I had the Lizard Great Warrior as an escort—someone who couldn’t match a mini-boss but could certainly handle common enemies that I absolutely couldn’t face.

As long as we didn’t encounter Alraune on the way, it shouldn’t be too dangerous.

As the tension eased, the few hours heading back to camp became annoyingly boring.

“Great Warrior?”

“Hmm. Call me Blue Tongue. While Great Warrior is a proud title, it probably isn’t for humans.”

Blue Tongue turned his head briefly at my call and directed his cold gaze at me.

Feeling my spine tingle from that gaze that made my body shiver just by looking at it, I forcibly raised the corners of my mouth.

“Right, Blue Tongue. I have something I’d like to ask, if that’s okay?”

“…Hmm. If it’s something I can answer. We’re not out hunting, so there’s no need to be so quiet anyway.”

Blue Tongue nodded readily, once again flicked his blue tongue and then put it back in, and slowly began moving his legs.

“Do you know a name called Kali by any chance?”

From what I heard from the Orc warrior chief, it was quite a long time ago, but it seemed unlikely that Kali, who appeared to have entered and exited the Labyrinth of Osiris multiple times, wouldn’t have stopped by the Lizard village.

Moreover, this place must be above ground rather than being an underground ant colony, so the normal entrance would likely be at the lowest floor, Floor 10.

If that’s the case, I thought that even if she hadn’t entered the Lizard village, which was closer to the entrance than the Orc village, she might have at least shown her face.

Besides, the Lizard Great Warrior, Blue Tongue, also seemed to have lived quite a long time from his stories.

At my question, Blue Tongue momentarily stopped his advancing feet, blinked as if retrieving a memory, and then seemed to recall something, turning his head with an “Ah!” sound.

“Kali. That was the name of the warrior who came with the human wizard who created the Guardian.”

“Oh?”

I didn’t expect this connection.

By the way, to be accompanying a wizard capable of creating a magical creature of mini-boss level, was she truly a hero as I had thought?

Blue Tongue’s story continued.

“They weren’t just the two of them; they had many companions. Initially, thirteen powerful humans came, stayed in the village, and helped with village matters in exchange for being allowed to rest.”

Thirteen. That was more than I expected.

“Of course, their numbers decreased each time they visited, but the human warrior named Kali remained until the end.”

“That’s the story of the 13 Heroes, customer.”

The Suspicious Merchant interjected into the conversation.

“A hero group formed by gathering warriors, each called the strongest in their respective countries, when the disappearance of the divinity that descended to the earth was felt as a crisis. But they all died or disappeared in less than two years. This much I can tell you without charging, customer.”

“Hmm. To be honest, I couldn’t say we were close, so I didn’t know that much, but I see.”

Blue Tongue scratched his chin as if he had learned something new, and the Suspicious Merchant very proudly said they wouldn’t charge GOLD for this information.

Oh my, Merchant-nim, loyal loyal.

So Kali was indeed a human called a hero. To place two such figures in an underground sewer is quite vicious.

Of course, with the Bell of the End completely dominating her body, it wouldn’t be her full ability in life, but considering she’s still one of my strongest assets, even more so.

I imagined what it would be like if I could revive Kali’s consciousness.

She could regain her lifetime skills, I’d gain an experienced frontliner, and I could learn swordsmanship like from the Orc warrior chief.

And diving freely into those large breasts to see her reaction would also…

Bulge-

“Customer, I can understand your preferences.”

“I heard humans are in heat year-round, and it seems true. By the way, what a strange shape. Why is there only one?”

“Where are you looking! What’s the show for!”

The two pairs of eyes from the Suspicious Merchant and Blue Tongue were fixedly observing my lower body, which had stood at attention due to momentary distraction.

Getting an erection was a cute mistake, but this is visual rape!

“And what preferences? I’m just a normal, healthy male!”

“Yes, you do look healthy.”

“It sways with the pulse. How fascinating.”

With no apparent intention of looking away, Blue Tongue even turned around completely to look down, and the Suspicious Merchant crouched down to knee level. I hastily adopted a pose like a heroine in a Japanese manga about to throw a shampoo bottle at the protagonist who barged into the bathroom, and had no choice but to cover myself.

“No! What are you looking at! Why are you looking! Stop looking!”

“This is the first time I’ve seen a human male’s thing up close, so I apologize for the rudeness. It was interesting. The human’s is larger than I expected.”

It was extremely frightening to hear Blue Tongue flicking his blue tongue as he spoke.

“You’re a male too! Why are you curious about a cock!”

This fucking gay bastard. My fist trembles with indignation.

But at the next words, I couldn’t close my jaw.

“Hmm? I am female. Ah, it might have been difficult for humans to distinguish. I lacked consideration. I apologize.”

“…”

***

Having realized a terrible truth I didn’t particularly want to know, I silently guided Blue Tongue to the tree room where I had slept.

Somehow I felt an intense gaze from behind, but I decided to ignore it. There was only the Suspicious Merchant behind me.

As we proceeded forward, the path, completely destroyed by the crazed Alraune, had sharp wooden fragments floating around, and there was some contact with Blue Tongue carrying me across, but this was simply an unavoidable measure to avoid injury, with no other emotions mixed in.

“It should be around here somewhere…”

Looking around, there was a backpack floating in the corner and traces of burnt charcoal.

“Were you a peddler or something? You had more than I expected, human.”

And clearing away the debris where the tree room had been, I found Severa still bound in turtle-binding and Kali, naked, kneeling and seemingly holding something in her hand.

Fortunately, they were buried under debris and hadn’t been discovered by other creatures.

Checking the Fuel level, Kali’s was at 0, but Severa’s was fully charged.

‘Since I was sleeping, I didn’t recall them.’

Scratching my head, I recovered the two, retrieved the goblin’s backpack floating on the water and my own deeply buried backpack, and only then could I wipe the sweat from my forehead.

“Some potion bottles… are broken.”

Unfortunately, it seemed the impact exceeded what could be withstood, and the backpack was wet from potion spilled from broken glass bottles.

Fortunately, there were no flame potions that could burn all items or precious potions that could permanently increase abilities, but it was still regrettable.

Still, I decided to consider it fortunate that I had recovered them.

“Are the mediums there, human?”

“Ah, wait. Let me look.”

At Blue Tongue’s urging that wasn’t quite urging, I emptied the backpack completely and pulled out a potion that was the color of Powerade from the very bottom, along with the golden statue I had put in the goblin’s backpack. Blue Tongue flicked her tongue once and nodded.

“That’s the potion we lost and the statue of that wizard. It really seems like we can summon the Guardian again.”

“Yahooo!”

I wanted to do a backflip, but first, I decided to put on armor. I didn’t want to get attacked by Alraune again and have to run naked again.

Clink- Clink- With each sound of connecting joints, securing straps, and metal plates clashing, my body felt more secure.

Although I had given most of the goblin’s hidden treasures to the Orcs, I had kept enough to change my equipment, thinking I shouldn’t be using Tier 1 armor when the tropical rainforest boss was so close.

Thanks to that, I was now in the state of a plate knight like Albert from the underground sewers, having changed into Tier 3 armor.

Now no one can stop me! I am a human tank!

Wait for me, green plant bitch..! I’ll eat you raw..!

“KAHAHAHAT!”

I burst into an evil laugh.