Chapter 22: At the Lowest Level ○
After defeating the Ogre and Goblins, I re-evaluated the situation. Eric was still down, unable to move, but his face was turned towards me, indicating he was conscious.
Thomas remained motionless on the ground, not even twitching. Helen, next to him, was still huddled, muttering something to herself. Mary, clutching one arm, stared at me in a daze.
For now, I headed towards Mary, who seemed the most likely to be able to communicate. Well, not that I could actually talk.
Mary showed a brief sign of alarm, but the movement seemed to cause a sharp pain in her injured arm. She crouched down, watching me approach with a look of despair. So, this is how the absolute villains are always looked at…
I stopped in front of Mary and took out a medicinal herb from my Item Box. The herb suddenly appeared in front of Mary, landing on the ground with a soft thud. Mary stared at it with a puzzled expression. That’s about all I can do, but fortunately, Helen, who can use healing magic, survived unscathed. She’s a bit out of it mentally, but once she calms down, she should be able to heal everyone.
There was nothing more I could do, so I silently left the area and went to look for the stairs leading further down.
~Side: Mary~
The silver Beetle that had effortlessly overwhelmed the Goblins and Ogre that had left us in critical condition was slowly walking towards us. I tried to brace myself, but the movement sent a sharp pain through my injured arm, causing me to crouch down.
On second thought, there was no way I could win against that Beetle, even if I braced myself. It would only delay my death, and our annihilation was inevitable. I think my eyes were probably filled with despair at that moment.
However, the silver Beetle, which had displayed overwhelming power, stopped in front of me and stared at me without attacking.
Then, suddenly, a green lump appeared in the air and fell to the ground. I was surprised by the sudden event, and the silver Beetle turned its back and disappeared into the depths of the Underground Labyrinth, as if its role was over.
I hurriedly checked the green lump on the ground and found that it was a medicinal herb that was very effective for injuries. It wasn’t that valuable, but it was as fresh as if it had just been picked, and I thought it would help heal my companions’ wounds if used properly. Looking back, everything was strange, but at that time, I was so anxious to leave this place that I didn’t think deeply about it, and I quickly grabbed the herb and rushed to my companions.
First, I slapped Helen, who was still muttering prayers, on the cheek to bring her back to her senses. I slapped her a little too hard, and she ended up with a red mark on her cheek, but that’s a secret. Helen, realizing that there were no more monsters around, gradually calmed down and began to treat Eric, who was the most seriously injured.
Eric was spitting blood and his leg was bent in an unnatural direction, but thanks to Helen’s desperate treatment, he managed to survive and recovered to the point where he could walk with support. However, Helen seemed to have used up all her mana just by treating Eric.
Fortunately, Thomas had only lost consciousness and wasn’t seriously injured, so he regained consciousness quickly. His whole body was covered in bruises, so I dissolved the medicinal herb I got from the Beetle in water and made him drink it. I drank it with him, and then I wet the remaining herb and applied it to my injured arm. The effect was immediate, and both Thomas and I recovered enough to walk. This herb was indeed fresh and of good quality.
Perhaps that Beetle knew that Helen alone wouldn’t be able to heal us and gave us this herb.
As soon as we were able to move, we moved to the stairs. We didn’t want to waste the lives we had been given.
Once we reached the stairs, we took a break and checked our surroundings. The corpses of Goblins and Ogres were scattered in front of us. I thought they would eventually be absorbed into the Underground Labyrinth, but I didn’t feel like scavenging them. That’s what caused us to end up like this in the first place.
However, we did pick up the magic stones that remained unabsorbed. We had thrown away most of our equipment while escaping, and our weapons and armor were badly damaged. In order to get out of here, we needed something that could be exchanged for money, otherwise, even if other Adventurers came this far, we wouldn’t be able to get them to escort us to the exit.
Then, Thomas went to check the 11th floor above. If monsters came here, we would have to escape upwards, so we had him check the situation above. Fortunately, there were no monsters on the 11th floor either, so we were able to secure our safety for the time being and breathed a sigh of relief.
Then, while waiting for an Adventurer to pass by, we naturally started talking about what had happened. Of course, we were still wary of monsters.
At first, we were grateful that we hadn’t died here, and the four of us vowed that if we could return alive, we would become proper Adventurers this time. Then, we told Thomas, who had immediately lost consciousness, and Helen, who had immediately lost her mind, what had happened.
Even as I was telling the story, the content seemed so unrealistic that I couldn’t help but look at Eric. But when I saw Eric nodding silently, I reaffirmed that it had actually happened and continued the story.
That Beetle had clearly come down from the 11th floor and saved us. It had defeated the other monsters. It had easily overturned the two major principles of monsters living in the Underground Labyrinth and saved us. Was it really a monster?
Helen even went so far as to say that the silver Beetle was a divine entity after hearing this story. That it was watching over us from Myra’s village.
Huh? From Myra’s village? Come to think of it, the children there were making a fuss. Something about a silver Beetle being there. Let’s see, it saved me when I was about to be eaten by a Poison Spider, right? Could it be the same Beetle?
The three of us, except for Helen, who was praying to the gods, looked at each other. No way, right?
How long had we waited? Just when we were running out of food and were about to talk about going back on our own, the C-Rank party that had been following us returned.
Eric honestly told them what we had done, and we were scolded. But they understood that we were reflecting on our actions and forgave us. They didn’t believe the story about the silver Beetle though…
Then, they agreed to escort us in exchange for the Ogre’s magic stone. And seeing our tattered equipment, they told us that we were free to take the materials from the monsters they defeated on the way back. I was truly grateful. I reflected once again on what we had done, taking advantage of such people.
Then, it took us two days to return to the entrance of the Underground Labyrinth. At that time, I thought I would never see the light of day again, but I had to be grateful that we were able to return like this. The four of us decided not to tell the Adventurer Guild about the silver Beetle. We didn’t want them to become interested in it and make our savior, no, our savior monster, a target for subjugation.
It would still be a while before we would become a well-known Adventurer Party in the Royal Capital as a result of our renewed efforts.
~~~
After parting ways with Eric’s party, I had spent a full day reaching the 15th floor, the lowest level. Around here, C-Rank Ogres were wandering around as a matter of course, and occasionally higher-ranking Red Ogres and Blue Ogres would appear. There were also C-Rank Blood Snakes, and B-Rank Drakes and Wyverns. I panicked when about 10 Blood Snakes appeared at the same time, but I managed to defeat them, so I guess it was okay.
However, fighting against higher-ranked enemies was good for experience points, and after two days of leveling up, my level finally reached 60.
Race: Magic Beetle (Mutant)
Name: None
Rank: D
Level: 60 Evolution Available
HP: 174/218
MP: 227/335
Attack Power: 206
Defense Power: 205
Magic Attack Power: 341
Magic Defense Power: 313
Agility: 242
Skills:
Special Evolution
Language Comprehension
Chant Annulment
Item Box Lv16
Appraisal Lv15
Thought Acceleration Lv15
Life Detection Lv16
Magic Detection Lv16
Hostile Detection Lv15
Danger Detection Lv9
Auto HP Recovery Lv13
Mana Auto-Recovery Lv16
Light Magic Lv15
Water Magic Lv18
Wind Magic Lv9
Earth Magic Lv9
Space-Time Magic Lv8
Gravity Magic Lv8
Deadly Poison Generation Lv15
Paralysis Poison Generation Lv11
Sleep Poison Generation Lv11
Confusion Poison Generation Lv11
Pain Resistance Lv11
Deadly Poison Resistance Lv15
Paralysis Resistance Lv11
Sleep Resistance Lv11
Confusion Resistance Lv11
Bewitchment Resistance Lv5
Miasma Resistance Lv11
Flight Lv9
Hardening Lv9
Titles
Reincarnator
Skill Collector
Evolver
Giant Killing
Assassin
Kin Slayer
Oh! I can finally evolve! It was quite a struggle to level up, being only Rank D, so this is truly moving.
Let’s see, I’ll just take a look at the evolution options.
□Please select an evolution path
・Fire Beetle
・Wind Beetle
・Water Beetle
・Ice Beetle
・Earth Beetle
・Thunder Beetle
Hmm, so from here on, I’ll become a more specialized individual with a specific attribute. I guess each name corresponds to an attribute. That means I can exclude Water, Wind, and Earth, which I’ve already learned. And since Fire seems relatively easy to acquire, that leaves me with a choice between Ice Beetle and Thunder Beetle. Either way, my level will reset to 1 after evolving, so it’s too dangerous to evolve here. I should be able to handle anything around Rank D, so instead of going all the way back to the entrance, I’ll head back to the 10th floor. I’ll decide which one to choose in the meantime, and with that, I flew towards the stairs to return to the upper floors.