Chapter 59

It took a while for me to get away from the scene of two fake dragons running wild .

Because their bodies were so huge, no matter how far I got from them, I could still see them clearly as if I was right next to them .

I was able to get away from the scene of violent battle after running for a long while through the bushes .

When I thought that I was finally and definitely out of danger, I sat while leaning on a tree .

“Ugh . ”

What should I do now?

This really feels hopeless .

I wouldn’t be feeling this way if I could just open the inventory . No, if I had the basic sword and shield at least, I wouldn’t feel so hopeless right now .

First, since I can’t bring out food or water, I need to worry about food .

This place is a lush jungle .

Since there are grasses and trees everywhere, I think I’ll be able to find edible fruits or vegetables .

However, if I carelessly pick and eat fruits out of hunger and get poisoned, that would be a serious trouble .

I don’t know when or where unexpected danger might come at me . If I get poisoned by chance, I cannot even bring out antidote potion .

Since the situation came to this, it was really fortunate that I got the Great Poison Resistance Skill after clearing the 11th Floor .

I should gather fruits when I see them . After securing minimum safety, I should eat them only when I feel like I’m dying from hunger .

The food that seems the safest to eat are meat…

If I could find raw meat and roast it on fire to eat, I probably won’t need to worry about poison .

Poisonous animals usually have the venom gland at the mouth, so I just need to cut off their heads instead of going through the difficult process of eliminating poison from the meat .

It is not perfect, but I think that should be enough as the bare minimum safety against the poison .

I am not going to do further measures against poison since I don’t know anything else .

Thinking about procuring food made me think about the two fake dragons that I ran into earlier .

They had humongous bodies .

If I can get even just a part of their meat, I probably won’t have to worry about food for a while .

The fight is probably over by now?

Um…

No . Let’s not get distracted by the thought .

Even if one of them is dead, the other one must be still there .

If I approach it carelessly, and if it attacks me because I am bothering it while it is eating, that would be a big trouble for me .

Also, there are probably other scavengers who are thinking the same thing I am .

Would I be the only one who is interested in that giant dinosaur’s dead body?

Probably not all of the living beings in this jungle are as big as those dinosaurs .

There probably are ones that are a lot smaller .

Maybe there are also ones as small as me .

To me, the smaller-sized enemies could be more dangerous than the giant ones .

Enemies like that are going to be hanging around the dead body . I shouldn’t even try to put myself in danger by butting in there .

Actually, I should get further away before such bastards show up .

Let’s move again .

* * *

Having walked inside this tightly packed jungle for so long, and then for a little longer again, the sense of alertness I had initially had become dull . Instead, all I was left with was frustration .

It’s hot . Also, it’s too humid .

The grass that’s sticking to my skin… The grass that’s blocking my field of view… I hate them all .

I hate the bugs flying around near me even more .

Fuck .

After entering the 12th Floor, what I have seen so far are the two dinosaurs, ridiculous amount of trees, grass, and bugs . Those are all .

This environment is provoking extreme discomfort .

[Lee Hyung-jin, 3rd Floor: Big Bro, are you busy right now?]

It is a message .

… Since a message came, I might as well rest for a bit .

I’m pretty far from the starting point . Also, let alone any danger, I don’t see any organisms besides bugs around me .

[Lee Ho-jae, 12th Floor: No, not yet . I’ll get busy soon . ]

[Lee Hyung-jin, 3rd Floor: You are at 12th Floor . How is it?]

I thought hard about how to tell him and then decided to just be honest .

Afterall, Lee Hyun-jin is also in Hell Difficulty .

[Lee Ho-jae, 12th Floor: It is a real bitch . The Inventory Window is closed . ]

[Lee Hyung-jin, 3rd Floor: Inventory Window is?]

I explained my situation in detail to satisfy his curiosity .

Lee Hyung-jin didn’t send any response for a while .

[Lee Hyung-jin, 3rd Floor: … I think I shouldn’t get that far, Big Bro . Actually, I guess it is just that I cannot get that far . ]

Um…

Actually, I was expecting a response like ‘As I thought, the difficulty is insane . Keep working hard, Big Bro . ’ Because of that, I explained with exaggeration . However…

Lee Hyung-jin was also a challenger in the Hell Difficulty . It seemed I took this fact too lightly .

It looks like this kid’s mental game is about to develop a crack .

Let’s divert the topic .

[Lee Ho-jae, 12th Floor: How are the newbies?]

[Lee Hyung-jin, 3rd Floor: They are doing okay . They seem frustrated because they are not able to get past the First Floor, but what could they do . If they carelessly rush the stage, they will die . ]

This guy is not usually gloomy like this . Usually, he has a bright personality . He laughs even at the smallest things .

[Lee Ho-jae, 12th Floor: What about you?]

[Lee Hyung-jin, 3rd Floor: I am thinking about postponing challenging the Third Floor boss room until the next round . Unlike you, it will be hard for me to not fall on the cloud bridge . Also, I don’t have any information about what’s below it, so I don’t want to challenge it when I don’t feel comfortable . ]

Could it be that he lost confidence when he gave up the Third Floor boss room?

[Lee Hyung-jin, 3rd Floor: For now, I am going to wait until I grow strong enough to have the confidence in getting through the floor . ]

[Lee Ho-jae, 12th Floor: All right . That’s safe . Well then, keep up the good work . ]

[Lee Hyung-jin, 3rd Floor: Okay, Big Bro . ]

Lee Hyung-jin had bubbly personality when it came to dealing with people . However, when it came to the stages, he was very calm and safety-oriented .

His play style was very meticulous and calm .

He thinks about a lot of things and makes the move after checking them .

To base it off of video games, I guess I could explain him as a thief or assassin class .

He was still at the Third Floor, so he had not had a real combat yet, but his tendency was like that .

He was the first challenger besides myself that got past the Second Floor in the Hell Difficulty, so that proved his abilities .

I asked why he entered the Hell Difficulty when he is so careful like that . He also said he was drunk at the moment and selected the Hell Difficulty out of whim under influence of the alcohol .

As I thought, alcohol is the cause of all evil and wrong .

Still, because he has a warm personality, he likes talking to people . Other people also likes talking to him .

Also, because he is very thorough and careful, he is taking care of all lower floor challengers, who were all at the First Floor, giving them advices and counsel .

Most of the advices he is giving are coming from me, but it is far better for them to come through Lee Hyung-jin than from me directly .

People are more comfortable with that, and Lee Hyung-jin is good at leveling the eyes with others when explaining things to them .

When it comes to psychological counseling, he is far better than me .

He is a friend I am thinking highly of in many ways .

He is a few years younger than me, but there are a lot I could learn from him as well .

Seeing a guy like that getting depressed is bugging me .

Now that I think about it, I’ve heard that there is going to be the day of the great harmony at the end of this round .

I should meet Lee Hyung-jin and talk to him for a bit .

If possible, I should ask Kim Min-huk to join us in the conversation .

Honestly, I am not confident at all about making someone feel better through a conversation .

With Kim Min-huk tagging along, he should be able to console Lee Hyung-jin by himself .

I realized Kim Min-huk was busy lately . Although the thought zapped through my mind, I ignored it .

Now, let’s focus on my own situation .

First, I need to find a place that could be used as my camp .

Since the clear condition is surviving here for a long time, I desperately need a camp site where I could rest and be safe .

I should gradually expand my territory with my camp as the main site .

The camp site candidates I can think of right now are…

Next to the river .

Cave .

Above a giant tree .

Are they all?

The area near the river has high likelihood of already being the predators’ territories . As for a cave, it would be hard to find .

That leaves above a giant tree as a camp site .

I should look for a tree that is significantly bigger and taller than others, one that’s big enough for me to make a tent above it and reside .

How do I find it?

… Do I need to walk around aimlessly until I find it?

Through this jungle?

If possible, I wish I could look around the area .

My field of view is too limited because of tightly packed trees growing everywhere .

The stage… . No, even if it is just the landscape nearby, I would like to confirm it with my own eyes .

To see my current position and the landscape around me, the easiest thing I can do is just flying up .

However, if I do, I’ll be exposed in midair .

If there are enemies who include the sky as the attack range, I’ll be attacked right away .

When I was concerned about my visual range, I could hear steps nearby .

It was a really, really quiet sound .

However, it was not the kind made by small bugs causing the leaves to swing .

They were footsteps .

They were sounds of intentionally cautious and quiet steps .

The feline predators at the Eighth Floor had this kind of footstep sounds .

I kept my pose steady and moved only my eyes to look around .

There is nothing .

I looked around at the direction where the footstep sounds came from, but I don’t see the cause .

Did I get the wrong direction?

No .

Although I am at the jungle with the sounds of leaves waving in the air and chirping of birds and bugs chaotically mixed in, there is no way my senses could be wrong .

The footstep sounds definitely came from my left .

[Battle Focus]

That means I just cannot see the opponent .

Everything was slowed down because of the Battle Focus . In that slowed down world, I patiently waited until the opponent showed up .

This is the first time for me to fight an assassin type .

Against an assassin, it’s probably the surprise attack that I should be cautious about .

However, if I know where it is before it happens, I will be the one who will deal the surprise attack .

There it is .

With the invisible enemy coming closer, I can feel its presence more clearly .

The sounds of quiet footsteps are coming toward me too .

Little by little . . .

I used the Mana Circuit to circulate the mana inside my body and focused a part of it on my left hand .

I swung my hand to the left side as soon as I became certain the invisible enemy was within my range .

The mana was focused on the tip of my hand like a sharp edge . I felt something was cut with it .

Slice…

[Kiiiiiaaaaak!]

“Now I can see you . Hello?”

The enemy in front of me was a monster that resembled the appearance of a long armed orangutan .

I thought this environment was like the Jurassic period, but this place even has mammals .

I called that bastard a monster instead of just orangutan because it had gigantic scythes below its shoulders instead of arms .

They were like arms of a mantis .

Also, its mouth was a playful mix of a bird’s beak and sabretooth’s dental structure .

For the sake of convenience, let’s just call it an orangutan monster .

The orangutan monster was bleeding around its neck .

As I thought, my attack was dealt correctly .

I felt a little bit of satisfaction from having confirmed that .

It seemed the orangutan monster panicked from realizing it could understand my words . Perhaps it panicked because I attacked it when it knew it was invisible . Although I could not be certain why, it was hesitating to do anything .

“I’m so glad I met you . I wish we could chat for a while . I have a lot of things I would like to hear, you see?”

[Ki… . Kiiiaaaaack! Kiiiiack!]

“Why are you acting like you cannot understand me . I know you can understand me just fine . ”

The knowledge before the time of Babel was merciless .

Nobody can escape its effect, not the one possesses the skill nor the opponent in the front .

[Kuuurururu… Kuruoooaaaaa . ]

Anyway, this bastard is too incorporative .

It seems there are plants that mesmerize other animals and eat them .

Is it like the ultimate evolution version of the venus fly trap?

“Why don’t you calm down a little instead? If the conversation goes well, I might let you live, you get it?”

[Kuuuuooooaaa!]

I don’t think this will work . Hostility is only deepening after each time I try to talk to him .

It cannot be helped .

They said the best medicine for those that don’t understand words is a good beating .

Let’s try talking to it a bit later .

I took a step in, and the orangutan monster charged in after another beastly roar .

It has invisibility cloaking, which is a cheat-like ability . However, its abilities are so-so besides that one thing .

Although it is completely visible now, it is just charging at me without any plan . I don’t feel so threatened by it .

It does have many violent looking things attached to it, but it is only on par with ordinary wild animals .

I blocked the swung scythe with the hand covered in mana . I swung my other hand and cut its shoulder .

The mana-covered hand could be shield or sword .

Of course, mana-covered shield and sword are far more powerful .

The difference in reach is substantial, and they are safer too .

The orangutan monster screamed in pain . I kicked its lower body to knock it over . I stepped on its chest so it could not move .

However, even in that state, the monster continued to struggle and resist .

To stop the scythe being swung at me, I cut off its other shoulder . Also, to stop it from struggling, I struck its stomach a few times .

Finally, the monster stopped for a moment .

I think I can finally interrogate it .

“Does it hurt? See? Wouldn’t it have been better if you acted like a gentleman from the beginning? If you answer my questions from now on, I will…”

Ah… I don’t have any potions .

In that case, I think this bastard is going to die before long .

I was going to ask the monster before it stopped breathing so I could get some information even if it was going to be only a little bit . However, the monster opened its mouth first .

And then…

[Kiiiiaaaaaak! Kuuuuuaaaaaak!]

It roared loudly .

This is not good .

It spoke a simple language of wild beasts, so the meaning was not as detailed as beings of higher intelligence .

However, the beastly roar that it just screamed had one clear meaning .

Revenge .

[Kiiiiaaaaak!]

[Kiiiiaaaaaaaaak!]

I can hear similar kinds of roars from the distance .

They are not coming from just a few .

Ones I can hear are in order of several dozens .

I turned my head and looked at the monster crushed below me .

The monster already had stopped breathing . It was dead .

The situation is getting twisted in a really annoying way .

I thought about things as I listened violent sounds of footsteps from the distance .

I don’t know the enemies’ strength .

I don’t know their number either .

I don’t know the situation in this place either .

I don’t know the landscape .

I’m at a disadvantage on everything .

I should run for now