Chapter 28: The Price of Carelessness
I descended from the dinosaur floor and returned to the floor where the Apes were.
It happened so quickly that all my worrying seemed foolish.
On this floor, they’re small fry because one shot to the head takes them out.
Deciding to swiftly annihilate them and move on, I went down the stairs, quickly shot two of them dead, and lay down in a spot where I could see down the passage.
I kept shooting down the surging Apes, but the Giant Magic Stones were also depleting at an incredible rate.
The dinosaurs were fine because there weren’t many of them, but there are a lot of Apes.
As expected, I felt it was too wasteful, so I switched my method.
I returned to my initial method and resumed. This time, knowing it was safe, I proceeded straight through the room. Regardless of any branching paths, I created a high platform and made a sound to lure them.
The first room had three passages.
However, I knew one of them led to a nearby room and was a dead end there.
Since no sound came from that direction, there was only one path for enemies to approach from.
Thinking this was easy, I made a sound, lured them, annihilated them, and moved on.
The next room had four passages extending from it.
One was the way I came.
Another quickly became a dead end, so monsters would actually come from two passages.
Thinking that much wouldn’t be too difficult, I continued to shoot down the approaching Apes. However, three monsters entered at the same time, overlapping, and I missed one.
The Ape that entered the room looked at me, its hostility palpable.
It seemed it had noticed me even though I was completely hidden.
Well, of course. I was firing my gun right in front of it, after all.
In the brief moment I tried to instantly kill it by shooting its head with the gun before it could jump, white breath was exhaled from the Ape’s mouth.
Its attack was interrupted when its head was pierced, and it fell immediately. But an unknown attack sent a chill down my spine, and I doubled the thickness of my wall to block the white breath.
I also completely sealed the slight gaps around the gun, so nothing got inside.
“That was close. Good thing it was a slow attack…”
The moment I said it, I heard a crackling sound, felt a sharp pain, and looked down to see my leg frozen solid.
Huh?
I didn’t get hit, did I?!
As I thought that, I looked around and saw that the defensive wall was frozen white up to my chest.
It’s a double wall, so why?!
I was thrown into confusion, but the Ape from before wasn’t the last one.
Hearing the sound of one more approaching, I ignored my frozen leg and aimed at it.
Fortunately, perhaps because it was ice, the pain was minimal.
If so, I’d be fine if I dealt with it after shooting this one dead.
I told myself that and shot the last one.
With a loud BANG, I braced myself against the familiar impact.
Alright, I got it.
Now, if I warm up my leg and thaw it, healing magic will fully cure it.
The moment I thought that, I fell on my butt.
The ground below was also frozen, so my butt hurt.
The hand I’d used to break my fall felt like it was about to freeze too.
I turned my gaze to my leg, thinking I had to thaw it quickly, and an unbelievable sight spread before my eyes.
From the knee down, it wasn’t attached.
My… leg…
“~~~~~h!?!!”
My thoughts wouldn’t come together, and a voiceless sound escaped me.
When I slowly turned my eyes to where I had been standing, my frozen leg remained there.
“Uwa… uwa… uwaaaaaah!!!”
Overcome by such terror, I flailed my legs and scooted back. As I did, the calf part of the detached leg, which had slammed onto the ground, chipped.
“D-d-don’t screw with me!!!”
When I hurriedly picked it up and tried to attach it, it unexpectedly stuck on perfectly.
Then, an idea came to mind.
If I attach it cleanly and cast healing magic, won’t it reattach?
I was fairly confident about this guess.
In my previous life, there should have been a method of preserving limbs by freezing them and then reattaching them with sutures.
Even so, the cold sweat wouldn’t stop, but I somehow managed to move my trembling body.
I created a handhold, lifted my body using only my arms, and slowly attached my leg.
Then, continuing to support my body with only my arm strength, I formed and activated a Healing Magic Circle. While healing, I kept warming the frozen leg with a minuscule Firestorm Magic Circle, and the ice melted away surprisingly quickly.
The healing speed wasn’t that fast, so blood flowed, but fortunately, the pain was still numb for now. I focused on treatment and kept casting magic.
After continuing to cast healing magic for a while, it looked completely healed externally, so I tried moving my toes.
Clench and release.
Alright!
It moved!!
It moved!!!
“Hah… hah… hah… hah…”
The unpleasant sweat still hadn’t stopped, but my heart calmed down a little.
Next was the ankle. I moved it slowly, and there seemed to be no problem.
Is it healed…?
I slowly put weight on it, but I didn’t feel any particular discomfort.
I tried walking, and still, there was no problem.
“Thank goodness… it’s properly attached…”
I squatted down, clutched my leg, and tears spilled out.
“Ugh… ugh… uuh… ugh…”
After crying silently for a while, as my tears began to subside, anger at my own stupidity started to well up within me.
What an idiot I am!
The monsters on the floor above this one spat flames that filled the room; there’s no way the monsters here would just be small fry…
I got too carried away because I could defeat them thanks to the gun.
From now on, I’ll ignore consumption and shoot them dead from a distance.
When I decided I couldn’t afford to conserve anymore and shot all approaching enemies from a distance, I learned something even more troublesome.
The shots weren’t effective on the parts covered in white fur.
I belatedly learned the fact that they couldn’t be defeated unless I hit their furless faces, the parts of their heads where the fur was extremely thin, or their Magic Stones.
Fortunately, it seems I had been hitting their weak spots from the beginning.
Well, the head is a place one would aim for first anyway.
Having rethought things even further due to all this, I carefully considered securing sniping positions and swiftly subjugated them, ignoring consumption.
By the time I reached the place where I first fell, I was down to fifteen Giant Magic Stones.
They decreased at an incredible rate, but I have no regrets.
However, I hesitated to absorb the remaining fifteen by letting their magical power dissipate.
That said, it would be troublesome if they were found if I took them all the way to school.
Then maybe I don’t need to force myself to take them.
I learned painfully well that my strength was still far from enough.
I don’t want to come here anymore, but there are two reasons why I absolutely have to.
The first is Magical Power Sclerosis.
It’s a disease where those who absorb magical power exceeding their vessel’s capacity have the magical power in their body solidify, leading to death.
Subjugating monsters is essential for the growth of that vessel, and moreover, the current amount cannot even be measured.
This is the disease Mother-san suffered from.
Seeing the magical power recovery from Giant Magic Stones, if I stop subjugating monsters now, I’ll probably develop it too.
I think I’ll be fine as long as I don’t stop subjugating, as there’s a fair amount of time before onset, but if things go badly, my vessel’s growth might not keep up unless I’m fighting monsters at this floor’s level.
The second, of course, is the war.
If I stand on a battlefield as weak as I am now, I’ll definitely die.
I don’t want to go through what I just did again, but even if I decide not to come here, the probability of dying is high.
That death isn’t just about me. Yuri’s life is also at stake.
Yeah, I’ve already absorbed over forty of them.
Fifteen more won’t drastically increase my magical power that much.
There’s also the sclerosis to consider.
For now, let’s leave them here.
I only need to take the dinosaur meat and Ape pelts.
Even so, the thought of absolutely not wanting to come back here again made me extremely reluctant to leave, but I told myself I should keep the Magic Stones as insurance. I extended rods from my back, modeled after spider legs, and pierced them into both walls.
When I slowly lifted my body, I was able to lift myself here without any problems.
As I thought, it seems I can make it by piercing from both sides and climbing.
Alright! I can climb properly even on this floor!
With this, I can really go home!
But, rushing won’t do any good.
Carefully. Carefully.
Let’s climb safely.
I moved my ten legs like an insect, stabbing them firmly into the walls and lifting my body.
Even climbing safely, I’m ascending at a pretty good pace.
Just like this, just like this.
Alright! I can do this!
There’s no sensation of slipping at all!
I can go home. I can really go home!
While tears almost spilled from joy, I continued to climb for a long time and finally reached the place where I fell.
It took a considerable amount of time, but I made it back.
“I survived!” I thought, clenching my fist.
No, this is still the dungeon.
Right now, I need to get out of here as quickly as possible!
By the time I thought that, I was already running.
I instantly killed any monsters I encountered, ignored their Magic Stones, and ran past.
After running at full speed, I soon saw the light from outside.
Fortunately, the sun was still out, and the gate was open.
I was driven by the desire to return to my room as quickly as possible, but since I had materials, I had to go show them.
I entered the Dismantling Yard, showed the meat and pelts to an available man, and told him the meat was for consumption and the pelts were to be used as cushions, so I just had him record it.
I hurried back to the dorm, and upon returning to my room, I collapsed onto the floor, drained from relief.
After a while, I put the Dinosaur Meat I’d brought back into the refrigerator, placed the Ape’s fur on the floor, and though I was feeling restless, I decided to take a bath for the time being.
I wanted to relax in the bath since it had been a while, but knowing I couldn’t, I quickly got out and left my room again.
And so, for starters, I visited Akito’s room.
“Hey, Akito! You in there?”
“Eh? That voice, could it be Rui?!”
The door flew open with a bang, making a loud noise.
“Um, I don’t want to attract any attention until I understand the situation.
Can I come in for now?”
“Ah, of course. I’m glad you’re safe.”
Now then, I wonder what they’ve been told about me since then…
Anyone caught in that Firestorm would be seriously injured at best; it wouldn’t be strange if they were dead.
But it’s hard to imagine Listol would talk about me, accepting the risk of his murder attempt being exposed.
Or rather, before that, I hope Akito knows what’s going on.
Thinking this, I asked him.
“Listol tried to kill me, but do you know what the school has been told?”
“S-So that incident back then really did have consequences… Rui, you’re so unlucky.
At school, Rui, you’re officially considered dead in the Dungeon. He’s not implicated, you know.”
According to what Akito told me, on the day I disappeared, it was discovered I hadn’t returned from the Dungeon thanks to the usual wooden tags at the gate, and a search party was dispatched.
However, they couldn’t find me even after searching up to the lowest accessible Floor, so the search was called off, and I was declared dead, apparently.
“After that happened, Yuri-chan got really worked up.
She beat Listol to a pulp, withdrew from the tournament, and went back to her family home.”
From that, Akito apparently suspected that Listol might have been involved.
“Huh?! Yuri went back to her family home?!
No way, it’s only been seven days, right?”
“Yeah. The day before yesterday. For about five days, the school was in constant turmoil.”
Seriously…? In that case, what am I supposed to do now?
As long as that Listol guy is around, is it dangerous for me to stay at school?
“Hmm, I’m just a commoner, so I wouldn’t know about that.
Come to think of it, Rui, weren’t you on good terms with Randall-san?”
Akito advised that it would be faster to ask her.
“Isn’t Riana-san competing in the tournament right now?”
“Ah, yeah. It was close, but she lost in the qualifying finals, so her tournament is already over.”
Oh, right. Because Yuri didn’t participate…
If that’s the case, maybe I’ll go to the girls’ dorm and ask.
There’s no danger of running into Listol there.
“Got it. Thanks for telling me all this.”
“Eh? Ah, yeah. Um… I can’t really help you, but be careful.”
I thanked Akito, who looked apologetic, once more and left.
I went straight to the girls’ dorm and had the dorm mother tell Riana-san that I wanted to talk to her, and she came out right away.
“Rui-san! You, you’re alive?!”
“Yeah. Though I almost died several times because of Listol.”
“—?! This isn’t something to discuss out here. It can’t be helped. We’re going to a room.”
As I followed her lead, she stopped in front of a room and knocked.
The moment the door opened, she went inside, leaving me outside, but I was immediately pulled in by the arm.
“R-Rui-san?!”
“Sorry for barging in. It seemed like we were about to have a rather suspicious conversation, so please lend us your room for a bit.”
“I see. We certainly can’t let you into Ojou-sama’s room. Understood.”
As expected, the owner of the room was Yukina-san.
I was guided to the Platform, and as soon as tea was served, the conversation began.
“So, what happened?”
“Yeah, well, about that—”
Recalling that time, I explained everything to Riana-san, my irritation unconcealed.
That said, about what happened after I fell, I only told her that I was dropped to a lower Floor, wandered around, and eventually found a way to climb back up and returned.
If I mentioned things like the Giant Magic Stone, she probably wouldn’t believe me anyway.
No one would normally believe that a Magic Stone about the size of a human head just happened to be where I fell, or that I used a secret weapon to defeat a ton of Monsters that had Magic Stones as big as a fist.
It’s such an unbelievable story that I think even Yuri would doubt it.
When I finished my story, Riana-san let out a deep sigh.
“That guy, he’s real scum, isn’t he?”
“Indeed. He’s beyond saving.”
Judging by their current reactions, it seems they didn’t know anything.
If they, who should have been nearby during the tournament, don’t know, does that mean it hasn’t reached the school?
“So… should I run away?”
It’s infuriating, but when I think about it carefully, confronting a noble head-on is too risky.
Honestly, I hate him enough to want to kill him, but there’s no point in a suicide attack if I know I’ll die.
“That’s true. I also feel responsible for recommending the tournament to you…
Alright. I’ll lend you a hand this time.”
She said, smiling as she toyed with her vertical roll hair.