Chapter 9 – Floor 2. Traps Are Too Strong

Having better equipment doesn’t mean you can let your guard down.

[Spike trap activated!]

[You took 11 damage.]

[Blood begins to flow from your wound.]

CLANG! THUD—

“Oh fuck!”

I collapsed to the floor from the sensation of thick iron spikes deeply penetrating my calves and thighs, and the burning pain of the lacerations.

Dirty sewer water entered my nose and mouth, but I had no mind to care about such things with the searing pain of the wounds.

“Blrg— pffft. AAAAARGH!!!”

The moss-tinged green water began to turn red with blood flowing from my wounds.

Pain that made me dizzy.

In this death-filled dungeon, it wasn’t just the countless enemies that threatened my life.

Traps in unexpected places.

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Health: 46/60 ■■■■■■■■□□
Magic: 11/34 ■■■■□□□□□□
Hunger: 87/100 ■■■■■■■■■□
Thirst: 90/100 ■■■■■■■■■□
Temperature: ◀■■■■■■□□□□▷
Status: Minor Bleeding(29T)

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“Fuck… fuuuck… it hurts so damn much..!”

Good equipment and efficient movement enable you to kill enemies, but it’s potions and herbs that help you deal with traps like this.

Unfortunately, the herbs and potions I’d found so far were few and far between.

I had no items that would be useful in the current situation.

That left only two solutions: somehow enduring the 29 turns of bleeding or finding and using a hemostatic herb or hemostatic potion within those 29 turns.

‘At least it’s only minor bleeding. If it were regular bleeding, I’d be dead.’

Minor bleeding is a status effect that causes 2 bleeding damage for the duration of its turns.

Calculating, that’s 58 bleeding damage total, but with hunger and thirst above 70, natural healing has a 50% chance to recover 1 Health each turn, so I might barely survive by relying on that.

‘Though it’s a waste, I do have a healing potion… but…’

Floor 1 was essentially a tutorial level. The real dangers start from Floor 2.

What worried me wasn’t the bleeding status effect but the actual wound gushing blood.

Moving caused excruciating pain like iron spikes randomly poking through my muscles, hindering movement, and above all, in this environment, wounds risk infection status effects.

Having already exposed the wound to the dirty sewer water when I rolled on the floor after being caught in the trap, I was concerned.

“It would be nice if it were just indicated as a status effect, but seeing real blood flowing from the bleeding, I probably can’t hope for that…”

For now, although it was a waste, I washed the wound with water from my bottle and tore up clothes I’d taken from a dead criminal’s corpse encountered on the way here to make cloth bandages, tightly binding the wounded area.

It was a makeshift treatment, but better than nothing.

“Ah… I wish a healing spring would appear.”

I needed to get used to such sudden depletion caused by trap activations.

I had become complacent due to having a deranged magic that just lets me make onaholes and masturbate.

The first rule of D.D. is to never let your guard down.

You are never safe.

The wound hurt too much to consider it merely the price for forgetting that lesson, but I couldn’t whine to anyone, so I had no choice but to bite my lip and walk again.

That’s the fate of a player trapped in this insane dungeon.

***

“Mother-fucker.”

Even though I could cheese the Specter of the Past event, Floor 2 was much tougher than Floor 1.

The 29 turns of minor bleeding from the spike trap could be barely endured through natural healing, but the number of Giant Rats and Plague Rats charging at me recklessly was no joke.

If this were still a game, I would have lured them into a narrow path to deal with them, but the pain from my wounds hadn’t subsided, making rapid movement impossible.

‘Still, bleeding being covered by natural healing… I don’t think this is my original body.’

SQUEAK— SQUEAK! SQUEAK— SQUEEEAK!

“Want me to introduce you to a friend? He can provide you with the dark, damp, warm studio apartment you guys like, and his pet has a pretty long body.”

HISS— HISS— When I imitated a python sticking out its tongue, the Plague Rat at the front of the standoff charged at me, perhaps realizing I was mocking them.

SLASH—

The silver longsword I swung with all my might traced a silver arc through the air, splitting the charging Plague Rat’s head and scattering its brains and brain fragments into the air.

It was an unbearably horrific sight, but I had become so accustomed to it that I didn’t think much of it anymore.

SQUEAK— SQUEAK SQUEAK— SQUEAK. SQUEAKSQUEAKSQUEAK!

I began to feel uneasy as the rats squeaked noisily, as if devising some strategy among themselves.

‘Remaining health is 20. Four Giant Rats and one Plague Rat left. Both Slime and Wraith have no fuel… can I cover this with the healing potion?’

I briefly entertained the vain thought that if I had a Chain Lightning scroll, I could have wiped them all out at once, but quickly shook my head.

Nothing is more meaningless than wishing for items you don’t have.

‘There’s no choice. There are too many of these rats. I have to use that.’

I took out a piece of tasty meat from my bag and threw it far away.

Like a boomerang, the four-legged meat spun as it flew over the rats’ heads, changing their attention to the meat flying in the sky.

Some beast-type or insect-type enemies with low intelligence tend to prioritize certain items over the player.

Players spent countless runs compiling which items each enemy preferred to create efficient strategies—baiting.

And the bait that Giant Rats and Plague Rats respond to is any item with the food tag.

“Hng..!”

I felt strong pressure as the muscles in my tightly bandaged thigh tensed, but if not for this moment, it could be my neck being chewed instead of my leg.

The sword, swung with the sole determination to survive, flew toward the Plague Rat distracted by the meat.

CRUNCH—

[Critical hit!]

[You defeated the Plague Rat.]

The Plague Rat’s disgusting innards flying around, separated from its body due to the momentum of its upper and lower halves being split.

Without delay, I rotated the sword like rowing an oar, delivering an upward slash to the front.

There was strain on my arm as I forcibly changed the sword’s path with strength, but reducing the number of enemies by even one was important now.

With time seeming to stretch, I felt the satisfaction of cutting through leather at the sword’s tip.

[You dealt 18 damage to the Giant Rat.]

[You defeated the Giant Rat.]

The Giant Rat collapsed into the sewer, spilling its innards, never to rise again.

“Ha— fuck… are you angry? So what can you do to me? All you can do is come at me and die!”

One bait for the strongest Plague Rat and one Giant Rat.

An excellent exchange, though I wasn’t sure how I managed it even as I did it.

Three Giant Rats remained.

“Ah~ I’m dying~ Ah~ sex~”

The pile of rat corpses scattered around emitted a stench that made me want to hold my nose, but I didn’t have the strength to move a finger.

I was on the verge of collapsing, but I barely stood using the sword as a cane.

I didn’t want to lie down in a place like this.

“These things don’t even drop good items, why did I fight them…”

Items dropped by rats include tasty meat and occasionally unknown herbs or seeds.

Even the tasty meat from Plague Rats was poisonous and inedible.

Still, I mustered my strength to search, but as expected, the only harvest was a few unknown herbs.

I didn’t collect the tasty meat since I already had enough for today’s meals and had gathered three emergency rations.

“Can’t be helped…”

Spending time on things that won’t change is just a waste.

In my position, needing to clear to the lowest floor and return quickly, lingering out of regret would only be a loss.

I soon turned my eyes away from the pile of rat corpses and entered a passage not yet marked on the map.

[You have learned the structure of the current floor.]

[You have leveled up.]

It seems this room guarded by the rat pack was the last room on Floor 2.

An old wooden chest in the center of the room.

Plus I even leveled up from the experience of filling in the complete map, so I couldn’t say there was no harvest at all.

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Name: aaaa
Level: 05
Health: 64/64 ■■■■■■■■■■
Magic: 36/36 ■■■■■■■■■■
Hunger: 66/100 ■■■■■■■□□□
Thirst: 61/100 ■■■■■■□□□□
Temperature: ◀■■■■■□□□□□▷
Strength 10(+0) | Dexterity 13(+0) | Constitution 08(+0)
Mental 08(+0) | Perception 09(+0) | Charm 12(+0)
Available Points: 2
GOLD: 758

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I invested all my points into Dexterity.

That’s because there’s a skill available at Dexterity 15 that greatly helps with survival.

Thief’s Luck.

A passive skill that affects the evasion rate coefficient, which simply increases, and provides a bonus when being ambushed.

Though it wouldn’t create a revolutionary change on its own, it was efficient enough that even melee characters with a warrior concept would invest in Dexterity 15 if their base Dexterity was high.

[You have learned a new skill.]

The chest… I hope it’s not a mimic.

I picked up a nearby stone and threw it at the chest.

[The chest took 7 damage.]

Guess not.