CHAPTER 11: The world outside the dungeon

I shine the light towards the wall where a small stream of water is leaking out of its cracks. The water travels down the ground accumulating enough to be called a small puddle. Luro probably put some thought in this as the ground was dug up for the sole purpose of filling up with water.

“This might be my way out!” I shout as I touch the wall and the water travels down towards my elbow. I place my ear towards the wall but I only hear the sound of water.

“Ok…ok calm down. Relax. Don’t get too excited. There might not be anything on the other side…. always anticipate the worst in this world Yasu.” I say to myself. “Item bag.”

I took out the sword I used to cut up the gatekeeper and pointed it at the wall. “Sharpen!”

I pushed the sword through and it went all the way in up to the hilt. I pushed the sword down up to the base of the wall and pulled out the sword. I went back to the same position where I started and stabbed it again. This time, I kept the swords sharp edge pointed towards the right. I noticed the skill disappeared and I called it back out before dragging the sword to the right. I pulled it out and stabbed it the same position where I left off pointing the sharp edge towards the ground and dragged the sword to the bottom. I called out my sharpen skill again and stabbed the bottom and dragged the sword to the left creating a rectangle shape on the wall. I took out the sword and lodge it in the top. I pushed the sword up trying to pry open the wall but it wouldn’t budge. I kept pushing up and my sword snapped in half. I took out another sword and tried again but to no avail, the wall wouldn’t budge as my second sword snapped in half.

“Fuck!” I shouted in frustration as I felt the wall didn't even move an inch. I put my face near the wall and check if it got pulled out a bit, it wasn’t and anger just got the best of me. I took out two more swords and this time I activated my skill as I starting slashing the wall non-stop. I went in all direction creating marks everywhere and after two to three swings; my sword would break upon impact. I took out a few more swords and have managed to create so much damage to the wall it looks like it will crumble any minute.

"One final push," I whisper as I step back all the way to the end of the room. I sprint towards the wall with my left shoulder in front of me ready to tackle it hoping it will break in place. I ran straight to the wall and the impact almost felt like I dislocated my shoulder. I fell to the ground as the pain intensifies and it took a while for my breathing to go back to normal. I placed my ear near the cracks and no doubt about it; it’s hollow on the other side. As I pull away from the wall, all of a sudden water came pouring down on top of me. I ran out of the puddle as the water that hit me was too cold to even shower in.

“Fucking hell,” I whisper as I look at myself wet from head to toe. As I look up to see where the water came from, I noticed a piece of the wall came off as water came gushing through the hole. It was right above where I was attacking before. A section close to the ceiling. “Don't tell me…”

I slowly got near studying the wall and I can see the section I’m probably trying to break is the foundation and the hollow space is at a higher point.

"No wonder this section doesn't break," I whisper to myself defeated by a stupid wall. “Ok, I fucking got this. I have to get out of here.”

Using a dagger, I stabbed at the lower part to create a foothold. I took out a sword and using it with my skill activated, I aimed at the area surrounding the hole and sliced around it. As soon as I completed the circle, the water pushed the wall out almost dropping on top of me. More water came in as it filled the floor of the room traveling out towards the hallway. The water came in strong but slowly weakened up until it hugged the wall as it travels to the puddle. I felt the wind come through and the smell of nature entered my nose making me excited even more.

“There’s wind…there’s wind! hahaha!” I laughed as I close my eyes to feel a cold breeze coming through.

inhale*

“Mom! I’m coming home!” I shouted and it echoed into the darkness beyond the hole. “Ok Yasu, don’t just blindly run in there.”

I turn around to head back out to the statue room. I’m going to need to pack stuff I need. I don’t know how far the exit is. I’m too tired from attacking the wall and knocking myself out so I decided to sleep and rest before leaving. I closed the door leading to Hiroko’s room since I don’t know what’s beyond that darkness and I don't want to get attacked in my sleep. This also helped stopped the water from traveling any further.

“I should do inventory check while I can," I say as I take out items inside my bag. "Ok, I got a couple of torches, five swords, a good amount of cooked gatekeeper, my spatula, the beat up frying pan, and my apron. Maybe I should collect the stalactites."

I left the safe room and headed towards the cave where the corpse of gatekeeper is at. I haven’t opened the door on the other side of the undead Skeletons for a while now. I stopped keeping track of days because I didn’t need to. At first, we all had trouble opening the door but now, I can do it easily by myself. This just shows that gaining physical strength in this world and earth is a lot different. "Status Window," I say as I continued walking.

Status Window

Name

Yasu

Class

BLADE

Level

13

Guild

Diamond

Skills

Skill level

Grill

7

Fry

11

Boil

2

Steam

1

Bake

1

Bartender

1

Sharpen

25

Passive Skills

Passive skill description

Chef's Soul

Gives you a Chef's natural abilities.

Purify

Whatever you cook is automatically purified making it safe to eat.

Midas Touch

All food and beverages you create taste better.

Mind Break

Upon immediate extreme danger, you will lose all sanity and limits.

Chef's Knife

Gives you the ability to wield blades of all types.

As I study my status page, I noticed I leveled up to 13 by cooking the rotting carcass of the gatekeeper.

"The hell, I cooked both its legs and I'm only level 13?" I whisper confused. Cooking such a high-level monster should have at least spiked my level up a few but I only managed to level up three times. I decided to ignore it for now and focus on getting what I need so I can rest. I didn’t want to stay in the dungeon any longer. I walked towards the dark hallway that leads where the gatekeeper is and even when I have the door closed, the pungent odor coming from the decaying carcass was enough to make me gag. I could have cooked the whole gatekeeper but seeing as how it didn’t level me up a lot, it’s a pointless task now. I continued to walk forward and as I reach the other side of the dark hallway, the smell got stronger and stronger as I got closer to the end of the hallway.

“Ack! Fuck that smells bad!” I say in a muffled voice as my hand covers my nose and mouth. Once I reached the end and out the hallway, I see the gatekeeper is starting to decay in some parts as the skin seems to sag. The smell coming from it was so strong that it also affected my eyes making me tear up. I started collecting stalactites off the ground picking up the largest ones I could find. Since the smell was too strong, I couldn't hold it in anymore as run out towards the dark hallway. I kept running until I reached the skeleton room, but I wasn't able to hold it as I vomited all over the ground. The smell was so strong, it stuck around my nose and I couldn't get rid of it even when splashing my face with the water in Hiroko's room. After a while of trying to remove the odor around my body, I gave up and went to the statue room and leaned my back on the pedestal of the statue. I placed a torch in front of me to help speed the process of drying my clothes and somehow I fell asleep in the process.

.

.

.

Mom. No, don’t walk away from me, mom! Mom! Don't leave me!

"Guah!” I suddenly woke up panting from a nightmare. “what the hell..."

I rest my arms on top of my eyes trying to erase the image of my mother leaving me behind. Even though she never said anything, I somehow knew she wasn't coming back in the nightmare. I begged and begged but she kept walking. I tried chasing her but my legs were chained to the ground.

“Stupid dream," I whisper as I stand up and walk towards Hiroko’s room to wash my face. I ate and drank boiled water as much as I can. I don’t have any container to put water in to drink so I have to take a chance later on using the stream. I stood in front of the hole and stared at the dark that goes beyond as far as my eyes can see.

“Ok, this is it. All or nothing.” I take a deep breath and I climb into the hole exiting the other side.

You're leaving the 'Safe Zone'

I ignore the notification kept on walking till I disappeared into the dark.

Yasu, let’s never ever return here again. I say in my mind as I push forward into the unknown without looking back.

It’s been a while since I left the dungeon safe room and as I continue to walk forward, I notice this place is like a tunnel. Cave walls form a round structure toward the ceiling. I don't know how long it goes. All I did is followed the water stream hoping it will eventually lead me to freedom. I continued walking until my legs felt tired and took quick breaks here and there eating a piece of meat to replenish my energy. As I follow the stream further into the dark, I notice the stream of water will turn left, turn right, goes up, and turn some more. A very unpredictable way of traveling but I had no option as I walk through the dark with limited view. Even if this place is like a maze, the more I move, the closer I can be towards my ticket out of here. I started using the stalactites as the light source. It shines brighter than the torch and illuminated a larger area enabling me to see around me a lot better. It was so dark in there when my torch suddenly went out due, I couldn’t see where my bag landed after I called it out to take a stalactite. I had to call it a few times till it landed on my hands stretched outwards towards the darkness.

I kept on following the stream and I noticed changes in the surrounding as the stream reverted into a straight line as the floor goes on an incline. As I move, I notice that the rocky formation is getting steeper and steeper. Not only that, the water got stronger and stronger. I kept following the stream until I reached an even ground. I kept walking up until I felt a cold water beneath me.

"What the fuck," I whisper as I look below me on a shallow water. I kept walking forwards while keeping my gaze down and I noticed it never got any deeper. When I got to the other side, the feeling of relief substituted for my worries as I see a waterfall.

“How am supposed to climb that?” I whisper as I inspect the area for any place I can climb to get to the top. The cave wall all around the area is vertical but then curves towards the ceiling of the cave. The only way I know is the wall near the left side of the waterfall. It does still curve towards the wall but its more vertical than the rest of the formation in the area. I have no choice, I have to try and climb it.

"Item bag," I whisper and took out a sword. I placed the stalactite in my mouth and used the sword to try and climb the wall. I was halfway up the wall when I decided to look down. Even though it didn’t look high from the bottom, this looks pretty fucking high. But not as high when the gatekeeper dropped me.

Whew, ok Yasu you got this, just keep going and don’t look down. I whisper in my mind trying to calm my nerves then I continued climbing. My sword suddenly snapped and I almost lost my grip on the other sword. I lost the stalactite as it fell below me but it was still bright enough to dimly illuminate where I’m.

“Fuck!” I curse in frustration as I held onto the last sword. But the weight on one sword is slowly pulling it out of the cave wall. “Oh shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Item bag!”

I called my dimensional bag and caught it before it fell to the ground. I used my mouth to hold it as I use my remaining hand to take out a word. Making any sudden move might pull out the sword from the wall so I moved slowly and carefully until I was able to take out a sword.

"Sharpen," I whisper and I felt the sword vibrate. I stabbed the sword in the wall and in the nick of time, the other sword came off due to my skill. While it's still activated, I stabbed the sword downwards below me to use as a foothold. "Whew."

I relax for a bit letting my heart calm down. Even if I have ways to heal myself in case, I fell off the wall and get hurt, I rather avoid it all together and get out of this dungeon as fast as I can. After resting for a bit, I called my bag again and caught it on time before it fell to the ground. I took out the smallest stalactite I have and placed it in my mouth to help illuminate the wall better. I continue to climb until I reached a point where it started to curve towards the ceiling of the cave. Using the swords, I stabbed it downwards as I moved my way towards the ledge.

Fuck. I’m stupid. I whisper in my mind as I started climbing sideways. I could have climbed closer to the ledge, why the hell did I climb this far from it.

Once I got closer to the ledge, I used the sword on my right hand and jammed it on top of the ledge. I followed the same process with the sword on my left hand and sing all of my upper strength, I pull myself up the ledge. Once I got on top, I laid flat on my back and relaxed to get my breathing back to normal. I could feel the heartbeat in my arms and relaxing it felt good.

“hah…..hah….. finally…” I say between breaths. After I have regained my breathing, I took out a couple of wolf gatekeeper meat and ate them. I didn’t have any container, so I had to take a risk of drinking the stream from inside the cave. Upon drinking it, it tasted much better than the boiled ones I do inside the safe room. I didn’t get sick after resting for a while, so I guess the water is fine and decided to push further. It felt like I’ve walked for miles and miles and I don’t think I’m reaching the exit anytime soon. I did a couple of camps resting every now and then to rest but not fall asleep.

The whole place gave an ambient yet eerie feeling in my gut as if anything will pop out the dark at any moment. No noise except the faint whistle of the wind and my own breathing. The area is still pitch black and the only light source that comes from the whole place is my stalactite. After resting for a while, I kept walking but now I’m getting more anxious as the wind felt stronger and stronger.

“I'm getting out of here, I’m getting out of here!” I shout as I run through the dark. I kept running up until I saw a faint light at a distance and the thought of seeing light and nature felt warm in my heart and I ran faster from excitement. But all the feeling faded as soon as I reached the end.

A wall. A wall that had huge cracks in it. Water came down from a tiny hole in the ceiling of the cave and a couple of broken stalactites was scattered on the ground dimly lighting up the center. The wind I felt was coming from the other holes on the ceiling.

“No…No! Fuck!” I shout in frustration as I hit a dead end. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!”

This cave is the end. I couldn't climb to the ceiling and exit from there. Even if I do, I don't know how long those holes go by looking at it, it's not the same size as my body. I won't fit.

“this can’t be. This fucking can’t be it! God dammit!!!” I kept shouting and my voice echoed inside and resonated throughout the darkness. On my rage rampage, I started grabbing stalactites on the ground and beaned it at the cave wall."I! Will! Not! End! Here! Item bag!” I called my dimensional bag and took out the two swords I used to climb. “Sharpen!”

Using the wall to ease my anger, I bombarded the cave wall slicing it as much as I can. My anger got the best of me and I broke my swords hitting the wall with it. But I didn’t stop. I stabbed and stabbed the wall until I fell to the ground on my knees crying. "no…please…let me out of here!” I shout, and I feel like my throat is ripping apart. Right at that moment, I heard noises from around me similar to tapping shoes. Multiple of the ran around the dark and I slowly listen as the sound got closer.

“I slowly turn around expecting Luro but it caught me in surprise. what the fu-“ I jumped to the side as it tried to stab me. Its claws were sharp enough to go through the wall in one swift motion pulled out its claws destroying parts of the wall with it.

“A crab rat?” I asked confused. It snapped it's crab-like claws as it moved side to side. It was a monster that had the upper body of a rat, but its lower body is of a crab. As it got closer, I managed to get a glimpse of its name before it ran back to the dark.

CENTAURUS CRABIUS RATUS LVL 30

HP: 200,000 / 200,000

“Pfft~Ha..hahahahahaha!” I started laughing at it. It was by far the weirdest monster I have seen. As I was laughing, it screamed at very high pitch noise in the dark and it felt like my ears would explode along with my head. “Argh, shut the fuck up!”

“Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!” It screamed some more, and I couldn’t even stand as my vision vibrates. It suddenly stopped, and my vision became stable again. I heard the tapping sounds in the dark as it moved around, and I tried to follow it with my eyes. It suddenly jumped out the dark with its claws coming straight for me. I jump to the side and its attack destroyed the ground in an instant. After it pulled it out, it looked right at me before retreating into the dark. I quickly took out two more swords and got myself ready for its next attack.

“Sharpen Ok you rat bastard. Do that shit again-“ The crab rat came jumping out of the shadows again and this time, towards my left with its claws wide open trying to snap me in half. “Fuck!”

I tried to jump forward and cut it using my sword but it too fast as it quickly disappeared in the dark.

This is no good. I’m at a disadvantage. My back is wide open, and I can’t see where it is.I run towards the wall where it attacked earlier and placed my back against it. This way, the crab rat can only attack me from the front. I decided to wait for it to come out of the dark. When it does, I’ll dodge it and let the crab rat crash into the wall behind me. Hoping his claws get stuck, I'll slice him off the face of the earth.

“Oh come on out you ugly vermin~” I sang towards the dark beyond. As I anticipated, the crab rat came rushing out the front coming towards me at high speed. Once it got close, I jumped to the side and the crab rat came crashing down on the cracked wall. In a split second the crab was sent back by the gushing water that came out of the broken wall.

“Oh fuck!” I scream jumping to the side trying to dodge the water and the crab rat. The whole wall erupted, and a tidal wave of water came rushing in. “Fuck.”

The water hit me blasting my consciousness to oblivion.

*chirp

*chirp

*chirp

“huh?” I whisper to myself as I slowly open my eyes to a white bright light.

*chirp

*chirp

Once my vision focused, the light faded into a ball flowing above the sky. The sun was glaring down at my face and it felt hot upon touching it. I was laid on my back and I can feel a cool liquid submerging my legs. When I looked at the weight in my chest, I see a bluebird looking at me chirping. The minute we lock eyes, it flew away into the distance towards the sun making it harder to see where it flew. As I slowly push myself up into sitting position, my vision was staring at trees from a distance and there is a clear blue water between me and the trees.

I stared at the lake in disbelief. It was clear as a crystal and glistened under the sunlight. I feel my feet being tickled and as I look down, different types of fishes were swimming around making it look like an aquarium. As the water gets deeper and deeper, it gets darker up until its pitch black at the center of the lake.

“I’m—I-I’m…I’m outside!” I shouted with a smile on my face and laugh as happiness filled me. To be able to feel the sunlight, feel the wind, and see daytime, it’s like a whole new world. A much better one than what I was in. I look up to see the clear blue sky and that’s when I notice. Earth. Tears came rushing out my face from disbelief. I’m finally one step closer to go home. I cried to my heart’s content as I stare at the planet from a distance. The plant in the sky. My goal. The place where my mother is. The place I called, home.

"Beautiful isn't it? Oh, will you stop crying so loud? My ears are going to break jeez~" The voice behind me interrupted my emotional moment. As I look back to see who it is that needs to receive my fist, my happiness quickly turned into anger.

“Luro," I say calling out his name.

"You, you're not like the others. Every time you see me you don't try to attack me. Why? Didn't I say that you need to kill me so you can go home." He asked me as he leans towards a tree and the bluebird lands on his shoulder. I know I'm not strong enough. I barely made it out of the cave alive and if I attack him now, I might die so I held myself back from attacking out of fury.

"Shut the fuck up. What do you want?" I snarl to him.

"Well at first let me congratulate you on beating my expectations! Bravo! Bravo!” Luro claps his hands with a smile on his face that makes it more punchable than before. “I thought you would die but, you survived and ended up clearing the dungeon!”

"Stick to small talk you fuck," I say to him with authority.

"Whoa there little baby relaaaaax~ Now…I’m here because I want to tell you a story as a congratulatory gift. Say, do you want to know what happened to your friends? If they died or not? You’re going to want to hear this~” He sings as he says the last line. He looks at me with one of his eyebrow raised. And an expression that says he's waiting for my answer. Like a puppy waiting for a treat. I want to strangle this puppy till its eyes pop out of its socket. I sit back down the grass to relax. Then I look up to him as he stands over me. His red pupil tells me his excitement and I gave him a smirk.

"Go on, I'm listening," I tell him and he gives me a smile.