Chapter 87 – Floor 13: No Confidence

Strong wind slapping my face.

My skin felt pushed back as the air rushed coolly into my mouth. Of course, it wasn’t the refreshing air of a highway but the musty air of an abandoned mine, so it wasn’t particularly pleasant.

Plus I was about to die, which made it even worse.

“Do something to stop this!!!”

“There are many things in this world that don’t go as you wish. Consider this a learning opportunity.”

This fucking—!

I kicked the useless old knight aside and tried to reinsert the broken lever.

Clang-! Clang-!

But the rusty lever wouldn’t fit back in the slot, repeatedly slipping out.

“Just go in!!!”

“Oh my goodness.”

I shot an irritated look at Albert, who made a clear, refreshing sound while I was busy trying to fix things.

But Albert, regardless of my attitude, firmly gripped the cart and stared ahead.

“You might want to grab onto something!”

“What’s that supposed to mean…”

Whoom─

With a crashing impact, I felt a sensation of flying through the air.

That feeling wasn’t an illusion—the device where the lever should have been inserted was getting farther away.

“Uh… uhh!”

CRAAAAAAAAASH─

A sound of something large and solid being scraped away, but I had no time to check what it was before throwing the lever aside and grabbing the cart to avoid flying off.

The reaction force on my arms was enough to tear them off, but better to have crippled arms than to die by letting go!

“KYAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”

CRAAAAASH─!!

The wheels must have twisted, as they made a scraping sound and the cart shook violently.

My body, flying through the air, was thrown around wildly. Up ahead, something was blocking the path—huddles of something familiar.

Familiar dark robes, each holding a strangely shaped dagger.

We’d seen many of them before.

“KYAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”

“Wha-what?!”

“Dodge! Move to the si—”

CRUNCH─ CRUNCH─ SQUISH─ SPLAT─

Albert and I were thrown into the air.

A wheel covered in what looked like the remains of compressed tomato juice flew past my face, and my vision flipped with each blink.

A chaotically spinning reality.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!”

But one thing was certain—I was about to hit the ground! At this speed, it was 100% fatal!

I’m not from the motorcycle gallery!

As I was about to crash into the floor at a speed that would make a wheelchair my best-case scenario, I called out one name. The only name that could save me in this situation.

“Save me! Emergency Fall Prevention Mat!”

Squish─

A large golden cushion appeared.

CRASH─!!! BOOM, CRACK! BANG!!!

The wildly speeding mine cart shattered against the stone floor, shooting fragments forward like bullets.

The wheels that had been running on the rails accelerated even further, disappearing into the darkness, while the iron parts of the lever scraped against the mine walls, generating a shower of stone fragments as they twisted, broke, and rolled across the floor.

The remains, which resembled compressed tomato paste, painted the floor, ceiling, and walls red as if coated with paint.

Finally, Albert and I who had been riding it…

“Blgrblblbl-”

“Ubrbrbrbr-”

Were now stuck upside down in Slime’s body, attempting to communicate through unintelligible bubbling.

Pop-!

The first to break through Slime’s surface and end the submersion was me.

“Huff! Ugh… I almost died…”

My stomach churned and I felt like vomiting, but I covered my mouth and managed to swallow what was rising.

My stomach acid burned as it traveled back down my esophagus, but what else could I do?

“Kah, ahem, hrm… Well, as you said, we nearly died. Had we actually died, there could hardly be a death less fitting for a hero’s narrative.”

“Just shut up.”

“How harsh…”

After barely extracting our bodies, drenched in Slime’s secretions, I closed my mouth at the horrible scene spread before us.

And a pair of eyes staring at us.

Sunken, completely black eyes with no visible whites, withered flesh like a mummy with no visible fat, and a shabby robe adorned with high-quality decorations—an old man.

“Who are you…”

“Urp… uweeeeeeeeeeeh!”

I couldn’t hold back my vomit when the stench of rotting intestines hit my nose.

Squirm?!

As vomit poured onto the floor, Slime hurriedly wriggled away from me. After throwing up the rainbow-colored mess for a while, I wiped my mouth and looked at the old man.

“Ah, sorry. Continue what you were saying.”

“Reveal your ident…”

“I’ve done similar things in my prime, but it’s not something to do at my age.”

Albert, who had just walked out of Slime with a clanking sound, also spewed a rainbow-colored waterfall from his mouth when he finally smelled the intensified odor mixed with the smell of vomit.

“Bweeeeeeeeh..!”

“Ah, go to the side to throw up. You’re disgusting, really.”

I scolded Albert for his lack of etiquette, comparable to using the urinal right next to someone in a public bathroom, and stepped sideways to avoid the flowing vomit.

After a brief display of inner contents, Albert, who finally stopped vomiting, wiped his mouth and looked at the old man.

“Ah, excuse our rudeness. Please continue.”

“Therefore…”

“Uweeeeeeeeh─”

“Bweeeeeeeeh─”

The smell was too horrible to bear.

Sorry!

“You filthy bastards..!”

The old man, clearly angry, heavily stamped his staff on the stone floor with a thud- thud-, showing his displeasure as he glared at Albert and me with fiery eyes.

I wondered if we’d vomited too much, but what could we do about an upset stomach? If he didn’t want to be interrupted, he should have had the sense to prepare some digestive medicine. This cult psycho probably hadn’t learned such basic courtesy despite living so long.

“Look, I said I’m sorry. You’re being petty.”

“How dare..! How dare you! Do you know who I am…”

“I know. The head of mental ward inmates who, having nothing to worship, serve tentacle-eyes as if it were a god.”

More accurately, I should say he’s the leader of the apostates who have taken refuge in this abandoned mine, but the old man didn’t seem inclined to deny it, just staring at me with wide eyes.

“Mimic. Just get me a bottle of alcohol.”

Clank! Clank!

Ptui─

Tap- A whiskey bottle sticky with mimic saliva.

When I pulled the cork, a satisfying pop- sound and excellent aroma spread around, but I had no intention of enjoying it, so I jammed it into my mouth and glug-glug-glug- filled my mouth with alcohol.

The strong liquor made my mouth tingle, masking the vile smell of vomit.

“Ptui- Ah, that’s better now.”

The slight sourness in my mouth was completely washed away after gargling a few times with the alcohol and spitting it out.

“Give me some too.”

“Here.”

Throwing the bottle to Albert, he gargled with alcohol as I did and spat it on the floor. Then, without hiding it, he took a few gulps.

The old man looked at us with disbelief.

This old man’s identity was the leader of the apostates, the mini-boss of Floor 14, and the NPC who summoned the mini-boss of Floor 13.

“Is that the end of your preparations before death?”

“I have about 3,900 items on my bucket list. Want to wait?”

“No. Just die.”

Thud!

When the apostate leader slammed down his staff, an unpleasant magical power spread, and the apostates’ corpses that had become compressed tomato remains began to twitch and slowly gather.

Magical power far exceeding his frail appearance.

Albert must have felt it too, as he erased his glib expression and tensed his entire body.

“Your corpses will labor without rest for eternity, and your souls will suffer forever under the gaze of the great being!”

RUMBLE─!

The abandoned mine shook as if hit by a high-intensity earthquake. The apostates’ intestines, flesh, and crushed bones gathered and slowly formed a shape.

Albert seemed ready to rush forward and cut off the apostate leader’s neck, but I stopped him.

“Why stop me?”

“The timing isn’t right yet. We need to make it more desperate.”

“Hmm… understood.”

Massive arms and legs dripping blood.

A form that mimicked a human by forcibly stitching together scattered flesh fragments.

【Flesh Colossus】Level: 20☆

Health: 608/608 ■■■■■■■■■■

【A powerful amalgamation of the dead created with high-level necromancy using dozens of corpses. No one can ignore the immense strength emanating from its massive form.】

I needed to destroy the Flesh Colossus—the apostate leader’s strongest hand—and push him to the edge with nowhere to retreat before he would use the Spirit Method.

It was the same process as summoning the Bell of the End inside the Wanderer in the sewers.

‘Looking at it again, these specs are ridiculous.’

With nearly twice the Health of Arachne, who was among the top-tier enemies encountered so far, and Strength exceeding 25.

Ability values so questionable that I wondered if the common builds in D.D were meant to defeat this.

In D.D, not many builds could handle the Flesh Colossus at this point.

Even a well-prepared Martial Art Spam build with about six martial arts techniques had only a 30-40% success rate against the Flesh Colossus, which says it all.

The problem might be that I was even less prepared than that.

“I don’t have confidence…”

“Heh heh… Has your fighting spirit vanished after witnessing this magnificent creation? If you kneel now and become slaves, I’ll at least spare your lives.”

The apostate leader let out an unpleasant laugh, seemingly misunderstanding my thoughts.

“I meant I don’t have confidence in losing, you psycho.”

I raised my middle finger, lifting the corner of my mouth.