Chapter 70 – Floor 11. I Don’t Feel Good

The week’s reprieve passed quickly as I recovered from the physical fatigue accumulated in the dungeon and organized my brain, which had learned an utterly confusing truth.

Since I knew from the beginning that this was a temporary return, I had no particular attachments.

Looking at the empty bottle of strong liquor rolling on the floor, I could only lick my lips in regret, wishing I could drink more.

Tack-

As the clock’s second hand pointed to the hour, I had been suppressing the instinct encoded at the genetic level that one should not wear shoes inside the house, but somehow I was now standing on a smooth stone floor.

Tack! Tack!

As I deliberately stamped my boots hard on the ground and looked around, I found myself in a dark cave.

The walls had arch-shaped iron pillars regularly installed to support the cave, with torches for visibility, and on the floor were rails for mine carts like something you’d see in cartoons.

The typical appearance of a mine for extracting ore.

But with no sign of miners or the sound of pickaxes, this quiet, gloomy place was an abandoned mine.

“I should have brought a mask. Need to be careful of respiratory diseases these days.”

Scratching my head, I slowly entered the dark abandoned mine.

Thanks to a week of recovery spent watching Netflix while gorging on late-night snacks and alcohol, there was no major problem moving with armor that made clank- sounds.

A normal person would have surely died, but I admired my body’s performance while keeping conscious of the flanged mace and dagger at my waist, ready to draw at any moment.

I had given the cumbersome White-Winged Greatsword to Albert, who had been forced to become a dagger user, so these were all the weapons I had.

Of course, this was appropriate since I didn’t have the skill to wildly swing a long greatsword in such a narrow passage.

‘This place is rather uncomfortable though…’

I took a deep breath, swallowing my uneasy feeling along with the air.

It wasn’t particularly because of the fact that I was undergoing regression. Honestly, if my memories and body were being reset, then the current me was effectively dying anyway.

Since it couldn’t even be called regression, I just accepted it as the obvious fact that people die.

The problem I was referring to was that the typical enemies in this abandoned mine area were extremely uncomfortable to deal with.

Pitter-patter─!

Between the flickering torchlight illuminating the darkness, a dark-colored robe appeared and disappeared repeatedly, fluttering.

Even without looking closely, its ominous eyes that didn’t look like those of a normal person and the sharp dagger in its hand gleamed momentarily in the darkness.

Speak of the devil and he shall appear, as they say.

I rolled my eyes in disbelief that one appeared right before my eyes just as I was thinking about it.

“Ah, stop shining that light, it hurts my eyes.”

The thought of doing the mirror-reflecting-sunlight trick I used to do when bored in class with some deranged, smelly man in this damp, dusty hole made my face wrinkle instinctively.

『Apostate』Level: 18

Health: 97/97 ■■■■■■■■■■

【An impious one who believes in a heteromorphic god hidden in this dark abandoned mine. They throw themselves into an idol whose name they don’t even know without hesitation.】

The criminals in the sewers weren’t many in number, so I rarely encountered them, plus they had formed an organization led by Albert and there was no need to confront them.

The orcs in the rainforest were close to humans, but there was still the shield of them being a different race, and I quickly descended through the floors without having to fight.

The apostates in the abandoned mine, unlike the previous areas, were enemies I had to face continuously while descending through the floors.

This was also why I had desperately learned how to fight from Albert, and the reason for the discomfort I was feeling now.

No matter how diligently I learned swordsmanship, with the soft sensibilities of a 21st century Republic of Korea citizen, killing a person was an act that inflicted great damage on the psyche.

[You have learned about the Apostate.]

‘I didn’t particularly want to know.’

Thud.

As I threw my backpack on the ground, the items inside collided, making a heavy sound.

Shring─

The sound of sharp metal ringing. Seeing the apostate’s dagger with its flame-like curved blade pointing at me, I drew the mace and dagger from my waist.

Chang─ At the high metallic sound, the apostate lowered his body as if on guard.

Coming out of the narrow, ant-hole-like passage of the abandoned mine, the apostate in the dark robe and I faced each other, taking our stances.

‘This really sucks… Should I just use Onahole Creation?’

After receiving combat training from Albert and Blue Tongue, and gaining experience through practical exercises with the lizard followers, I honestly had the confidence to handle a single apostate now.

At most, his only weapon was a dagger, so my reach was much longer too.

“Can we talk this…”

Swish!

The sharp tip of the dagger flew toward my neck as he coiled his body like a snake in the darkness.

“Ah, shit!”

My right arm was pulled back then shot forward like a bowstring, swinging the mace diagonally to deflect the dagger. With a sharp clang- sound, sparks like fireflies lit up the dark mine briefly before disappearing.

The apostate lost his grip on the dagger due to the overwhelming difference in mass.

He screamed, holding his index and middle fingers that were twisted unnaturally and burst after being grazed by the mace.

“AAAARGHH!!!”

The apostate screamed at the top of his lungs, having lost his weapon.

I had to cover my ears as his scream, which somehow had the qualities of an opera singer, threatened to burst my eardrums.

“This fucking..! What sound is…”

That’s when I felt a chilling sensation.

Opening my eyes, I saw a spear of blood right in front of me.

“Kuk..!”

I turned my head as if my neck would break, just grazing the flying bloody spear blade.

Rip- As if to match the wound made by shaving with an axe on the opposite side, my other cheek was torn and blood flowed, but it wasn’t a deep wound, so I charged forward and kicked the apostate in the chest.

Thwack!

“Kek!”

I felt the sensation of ribs being crushed through the sole of my boot, but it couldn’t be helped to prevent being attacked again.

Following the apostate rolling on the stone floor with a clatter, I raised the dagger in my hand and brought it down toward his neck.

As the dagger shot out like lightning, he held out his palm as if to block it, but the sharply honed dagger cut through his skin, muscle, and bone in one breath, and with the full weight behind it, the hand he used to block was pushed aside, failing in his attempt to protect his neck.

Crunch- gurgle, gurgle.

The sound of blood boiling in his throat.

Red foam rose through his lips, and his bloodshot pupils slowly rolled back. I could see his remaining hand grabbing and trying to remove my hand holding the dagger, but it was impossible as he couldn’t properly exert force.

Crack─

Finding it too burdensome to keep watching, I immediately twisted the dagger, severing his neck bone, and his hand slid down limply.

“Haaah…”

[You have defeated the Apostate.]

Looking at the mechanically appearing log, I pulled out the dagger, lightly wiped it with an oiled cloth, and put it back in its sheath.

I had killed.

It was a reflexive movement that had come from repetition enough for my body to remember, but I didn’t expect it to come out so smoothly.

This wasn’t wrong. If my body had not moved due to aversion, I would have been attacked by the 『Blood Magic』 used by the apostates and found myself in a dangerous situation.

Additionally, I knew these apostates kidnapped and killed people, using them as living sacrifices, no different from the Aztecs that the isekai hero Cortés had subjugated.

Moreover, I had killed in self-defense.

However, despite these defense mechanisms operating, it felt extremely dirty.

“Ah shit. I was going to save this.”

Clink-

Unlike last time when I stocked up on sprays, I pulled out a bottle filled with a lustrous colored liquid nestled among the onaholes in my backpack.

Johnnie Walker GREEN.

As I uncorked the rectangular bottle with a narrow bottom, there was a pop- sound, and a sharp alcohol scent mixed with smoky wood and rich vanilla aromas rose up.

I had originally brought it for a different purpose, but since I had extras, it should be fine.

Glug glug glug glug-

Far from savoring the aroma, I simply poured it down my esophagus, erasing the dirty sensation remaining on my fingertips with the feeling of my esophagus and stomach burning and the haziness provided by the alcohol.

With the bottle almost half empty in an instant, a warm sensation was exhaled through my nose.

“Ugh… shit, feeling a bit better now.”

I wiped my mouth and understood why mercenaries and pirates were always drinking day in and day out.

***

Superhuman recovery ability beyond human limits. This meant that even liver detoxification ability was at a superhuman level.

The amount of alcohol I had just downed was equivalent to consuming 3-4 bottles of soju at once, but the tipsy feeling disappeared in less than 5 minutes, proving this.

‘From now on, I’ll dominate drinking games.’

Having become the ultimate victor who could survive until the end even after repeatedly pulling the “black knight” move, I somehow felt that drinking games would be boring, and understood the feelings of a certain bald man wearing a cape.

As I continued moving along the mine cart track, I discovered a room with tables and chairs that seemed to have been used as a resting area for miners.

They appeared to have been there for a long time, showing obvious signs of age, and I casually kicked the wooden table and chairs with the tip of my foot.

Crash.

“Hmm.”

After looking at the piles of wood that had been a table and chairs, I turned my gaze away.

Should have bought them from IKEA.

As I turned my head, the room’s scenery stretched like a panorama.

Whoosh─ Chang!

The dagger I immediately threw scraped a wooden box and bounced into the air.

[You have dealt 19 damage to the Mimic.]

Clank!

As the box opened, a hidden red mucous membrane like the inside of a mouth appeared, and the mimic began to rampage.

Thump thump- Using the shell of the heavy chest as momentum, it opened and closed the lid like a jaw, jumping toward me with sharp teeth to bite me.

This was the first mimic I had seen since entering the dungeon. Looking at its wide-open interior, I came up with a pretty good idea.

“I’ve thought of something I’d like to experiment on, so please cooperate.”

Let’s subdue it first.

The mace that had somehow appeared in my hand gleamed.