WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: DereKimchi

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◈ The Protagonist Doesn't Want to Leave the First Floor ◈

Chapter 41: 041

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‘Wow. He made something like that.’

A massive mass of corpses.

He had considered the possibility to some extent.

He had thought about the various things a necromancer could do with corpses, and something like that had been one of them.

Still, imagining it and seeing it in person were quite different, so he hesitated for a moment.

Of course, that changed nothing.

He still had plenty of rocks he had picked up along the way, and he had learned that the Heavy Attack skill did not deal much damage to the weapon he swung.

‘Still, it doesn’t seem completely unaffected.’

If only the other side broke when you hit something while your own weapon remained fine, something was wrong. It was only natural for your own weapon to wear down the more you struck.

There seemed to be some protective effect, but he had made plenty of clubs while preparing Firewood, just in case they broke quickly.

But batting rocks from far away would only drag things out. There were still plenty of corpses, and the mass repaired its damage quickly.

‘The curse is the problem.’

What it spread through the air by consuming some of the corpses was a curse.

Its effect was similar to poison, draining health in real time. But since it was not actually poison, his Toxic Adaptation effect did not apply.

Fortunately, most of it seemed to have dissipated in the air due to the distance, leaving only a small amount to reach him, so its effect was greatly reduced. But if he approached and tried to attack it directly, he would certainly be exposed to a full-strength curse.

Did he have no choice but to wait for the necromancer’s corpses to be used up through boring, time-consuming clubbing?

Fortunately, he did not need to.

That was thanks to something he had prepared before arriving here.

‘If I’d missed that video, I couldn’t have tried this.’

A video uploaded by someone in Rabbit Field.

He did not know whether it was a tamed rabbit or a wild one, but it showed a rabbit digging into frozen ground at a surprisingly fast pace.

He had encountered sayings about rabbits digging burrows before, so that part was not strange. What he got from the video was a different possible use.

If they dug this well, would they not dig even better if he raised their levels and evolved them?

Then perhaps, instead of logging trees later, he could secure them by digging around them and exposing their roots.

There were rabbits in this field too.

They just were not as common as the ones in the far western field, enough to give Australia a run for its money.

He could not exactly tame them immediately, and he did not have the relevant items. But that was not a problem.

There were plenty of people selling tamed rabbits in the marketplace.

‘They tamed them because they were cute, then listed them when they couldn’t keep up with feeding them.’

Apparently, if a pet did not eat properly, its health gradually declined until it entered something like a work-stoppage state.

It would stop listening to its owner’s commands properly, and eventually return to the Inventory entirely.

During winter, when even users struggled to secure food, people naturally could not easily afford to go outside just to feed rabbits.

As a result, many rabbits that had returned to their owners’ Inventories had ended up in the marketplace. They were not especially expensive either, so he bought around ten.

Of course, he did not plan to activate all of them. There was food in Subspace, but it was mostly meat, and there was relatively little that rabbits could eat.

Still, he thought he could handle around three. Since they could be renamed after changing owners, he gave them names and fed them experience.

At first, they were unbelievably stupid. But after he raised their levels and evolved them once, they changed dramatically.

‘They weren’t refusing to listen. They just couldn’t understand.’

[Large Rabbit]

[Name: Shovel No. 1]

[Level: 20]

They had simply become Large Rabbits from ordinary rabbits.

He did not know whether there were originally no other routes or whether they had not appeared yet, but there was only one evolution path.

Until they evolved, the three rabbits from Shovel No. 1 to Shovel No. 3 did not seem to understand the concept of cooperation. But after evolving and reaching Level 20, they threw themselves at wherever he told them to go, digging together.

They could even handle logging.

Just as he had planned, once they went underground, dug out the soil around the roots, and cut through the smaller roots, he could loot the tree into Subspace.

But they were rather slow at getting that far. He thought it would take at least ten rabbits working on a single tree for it to be reasonably worthwhile.

There was a difference between theory and reality.

Still, he had not wasted the Keys.

There were quite a few things underground that he had not considered.

When he first found a thick, large thing that looked like a cross between a sweet potato and kudzu root, he thought it was an unusually shaped tree root.

But it was an edible plant.

It even had a slight sweetness to it.

‘Apparently, some Rabbit Field users have tamed rabbits that bring them food this way.’

They did not do it all the time.

Apparently, they would occasionally take something out of their Inventory and eat it.

There was even a rumor that a rabbit’s affinity decreased if its owner took out and ate food from its Inventory.

‘That’s because they starve them normally.’

Raise them properly, and anything would do its share.

Those who could not do that were the ones abandoning them in the marketplace. Seo Hajin could more than afford to take care of them.

In any case, before he began battering the wooden wall with rocks, the rabbits had already dug into the nearby ground and were advancing at great speed.

Their destination was naturally inside the wall, deep within the Villains and necromancer’s formation.

‘If I could open Subspace from this side, I wouldn’t have to struggle with digging a tunnel.’

His viewpoint looking down from the sky.

In some ways, that viewpoint felt more like Seo Hajin’s real body. But he could not operate Subspace in that state.

It made sense.

He could only see. He did not have arms or legs. At least he could use system windows with his thoughts.

‘They’re almost there.’

He had not only sent Shovel Nos. 1 to 3.

No matter how much smarter they had become, they were not smart on a human level. Someone needed to relay instructions and adjust their direction from time to time.

That was why Black had entered the tunnel with them.

He had originally considered sending Companion No. 1 or Companion No. 2, but they were still short on hands in Subspace while managing various things.

He decided to send Black, who usually loafed around before doing a reasonable amount of work. Black hesitated a little at the thought of going underground, but did not refuse the order.

‘It’s a good thing I raised three.’

If there had only been one, they could not have reached this speed. It would not have been easy to dig a tunnel wide enough for the Black Leopard to follow either.

But three evolved Level 20 rabbits managed it easily.

Seo Hajin kept checking their positions on the map from above, then nodded at one point.

‘Now.’

He could not open Subspace over there.

But Black’s Inventory was still connected to his, and he could signal Black by placing something inside it. They had discussed that method beforehand.

‘Yes. There.’

Black must have been watching the Inventory as well. The rabbits and Black soon stopped advancing.

They were slightly off from the best possible location, but it was still a fairly good spot.

‘Time to get ready.’

After sending Juggernaut, Vulcan, and Stone into Subspace, he emerged through the entrance Black briefly opened there.

The scenery around him changed suddenly.

But he had been watching from above the entire time, so he had no trouble adjusting.

“What?”

“It’s Juggernaut!”

“Where did he come from all of a sudden?”

People were startled.

Their eyes were fixed on a small hole in the frozen ground.

Black and the rabbits had already completed their task and returned to Subspace, so they could not properly grasp how that had happened.

Crunch!

They did not have time to figure out the cause either.

Juggernaut and the two warriors began rampaging like beasts, and the nearby Villains were literally smashed apart first.

Human bodies. Bodies they had believed had surpassed the limits of humanity.

They broke, crumpled, and split in half with ease.

It was not much different from what they had done to weaker users until now. But perhaps because they were now on the weaker side, it seemed to feel very different.

“Don’t retreat! Fight them!”

“Then you go fight them.”

“Where do you think you’re going, you bastards!”

Some openly turned and fled.

Others tried to stop them.

But among those shouting for everyone to fight, no one stepped forward to face Juggernaut directly.

A few glanced toward the necromancer, but he was surrounded and guarded by dozens of Villains. He seemed quite busy himself.

‘Handling corpses must not be easy.’

Seo Hajin watched the distant corpse giant somehow turn around and start trudging toward them.

He thought it might have been faster if it had been made round like a ball and rolled over.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Meanwhile, arrows, daggers, throwing spears, axes, and similar weapons flew at him.

But from their owners’ perspectives, it was absurd.

Juggernaut and the others dodged, blocked, or deflected them without any trouble.

They blocked, dodged, and knocked them away without even looking. One person who had just been about to nock another arrow froze blankly.

Thud!

“I got him!”

Someone did succeed.

An arrow embedded in Stone’s shoulder.

It was even coated with fairly strong Paralysis Poison.

“He’s paralyzed! Kill him!”

Perhaps encouraged by Stone’s slightly slowed movements, those who had been hesitating at a distance around him charged forward with murderous intent in their eyes.

But absurdly, Stone vanished right before their eyes. Someone in similar clothes but with a completely different appearance sprang out instead.

“Who the hell is this guy?”

“Argh!”

A reserve who had been waiting in the Rest Area.

After switching with Stone, Typhoon took his place and skillfully wielded two Glaives, turning five or six people into corpses in an instant.

‘It’s better not to bring everyone out from the start.’

The reason he had not deployed all his Avatars was that the enemy had many people. They could eventually grow tired.

That was why he had prepared replacements in advance. When a problem arose like this, he could switch them out immediately.

Meanwhile, Stone entered the Rest Area, pulled out the Poison Arrow, and replenished his health with a mana-infused shake to accelerate his recovery.

He was not ready to be deployed again immediately.

If another problem arose, Brown, who was still waiting, should come out instead of Stone.

‘If things get worse after that, I’ll have to deploy Companion No. 1 and Companion No. 2.’

He could have released them now.

But because of the corpse-consuming curse from earlier, and because he did not know who might use what unusual skill, he was testing the waters by sending in the Avatars first.

Yet it seemed that none of the Villains possessed skills or magic capable of posing a real threat.

The necromancer at least seemed to be doing his part. But everyone else mostly had Attack skills that supported strikes or corrected accuracy.

‘A strike only works if you come over and hit someone directly.’

But it was obvious they would die if they got close, so everyone kept their distance and held back.

Only occasional ranged attacks continued.

Boom!

Juggernaut swung his club at the person in front of him. Their body burst apart, sending bones, flesh, and their head flying backward.

The nearest people became drenched in blood as if they had been hit by buckshot and screamed.

Some had the dead person’s broken ribs embedded in their bodies. One unlucky person was struck directly in the head and lost theirs in the same manner.

‘That works pretty well too.’

From the sky, he could clearly see the effect.

The results were good for the health spent, so Seo Hajin had the other two Avatars put away their Glaives and take out clubs as well.

The carnage began from there.

Bright red blood, bones, and flesh flew across the frozen ground.

One person’s scream layered over another’s. Then it would fall quiet, only for another scream to follow.

The number of people guarding the necromancer steadily decreased.

Some died while trying to stop Juggernaut’s group, but quite a few gradually slipped toward the outskirts and quietly escaped.

“...”

The necromancer gripped a wooden staff with someone’s skull impaled on it. His hand trembled as he looked at the massive corpse mass still trudging toward them.

It was so slow that he had also sent separately raised corpses forward. But Juggernaut immediately smashed them away, as though setting off newly issued Claymores.

The problem was that the corpses that burst apart, as well as the corpses of allies killed by those attacks or the follow-up blows, all disappeared.

Only then did he realize that there was someone running around in clothes similar to his allies, but who was not actually one of them.

But they were too fast to catch properly.

“Don’t you think we should run?”

He heard someone nearby whisper to the person beside them.

The necromancer turned his head.

He looked in a direction other than the voice’s source. There sat the leader of this Clan, seated in a solid wooden chair lined with leather.

“Hmm.”

Unlike the Master of the other Villain Clan, he had no intention of abandoning his base, fleeing, and dying pathetically.

So he had made thorough preparations.

Based on the combat strength Juggernaut’s group had displayed until now, he had deployed more than enough people.

He had a plan too.

Wear them down at the wooden wall, drain their health, then use the corpses to inflict additional damage.

And if possible, disable or kill Juggernaut’s party members to reduce their numbers.

According to the plan, by the time they reached this inner center where the necromancer and Master were located, Juggernaut’s party should have suffered repeated losses and had less than a quarter of its fighting strength remaining.

In some ways, it was a simple plan.

But that was why it was straightforward and reliable.

“Where did it go wrong?”

In truth, he already knew.

Things had begun to go wrong when Juggernaut started breaking the wooden wall with strange rocks.

It was a problem that they had deployed the corpse giant earlier than planned. It was also a problem that even it had failed to demonstrate its power properly.

The necromancer had been tied down.

Juggernaut had suddenly appeared in the center of the base instead of outside the wooden wall.

“A tunnel.”

Could it be that whenever they had wondered where he disappeared to over the past few days, he had been digging a tunnel here in advance?

He looked like a barbarian warrior, so they had never imagined he could do something so cunning. They had thought he would simply charge in without thinking.

“That bastard should act the way he looks, why...”

“You should leave.”

Someone spoke.

The Master looked at his subordinates still dying around him. He knew there was no answer to the situation either, but he still could not let go.

‘Why isn’t he getting tired?’

No matter how high someone’s level was, physical fatigue did not disappear entirely.

Juggernaut would eventually grow tired. That had been what he was waiting for.

“Hmm?”

Then he caught sight of something.

Juggernaut, who had devastated the area around him, was lifting something shaped vaguely like a tumbler and gulping it down.

“A potion?”

But that was not how one used a potion.

Besides, it could heal injuries, but it could not recover fatigue.

Then what was that?

He did not know its identity, but one thing was certain. Juggernaut was recovering his stamina with it.

“Let’s retreat for now.”

Only then did the Master speak quietly.

The Clan executives nearby subtly breathed sighs of relief. Then an unfamiliar voice interrupted.

“Who says you’re going anywhere?”

Slice.

At the sharp cutting sound that made their skin crawl without even seeing it, everyone there hurriedly turned toward its source.

“Gasp!”

But what they saw was a naked body that had been half-rising from its chair before slumping back down, its head gone and blood spraying from the severed neck.

“Who was that?”

“It sounded like a woman’s voice.”

Behind the Master was a wooden post.

It was where they tied slaves when they rebelled, whipping them or hanging them upside down.

He always stayed where his back was blocked because he did not know who might attack from behind. But now, because of that, they could not find the culprit.

The closest person had been standing a little in front of him, and they claimed that when they turned around, it had already happened.

“Was it you?”

“No, look at the distance.”

They panicked.

Even then, some eyes swept the ground around them, checking whether the Personal Effects Bag the Master dropped was nearby.

But just as the Master’s head was gone, his Personal Effects Bag was nowhere to be seen. The killer had clearly taken it.

“It must have been Juggernaut’s party.”

“...”

“Let’s get out of here.”

There was no loyalty among them.

This was not the Middle Ages. Modern people in a game-like world would not have such things. And it was even more natural in a place filled with Villains.

The gathered people scattered in every direction.

Watching them, the necromancer seemed to come to a decision. He consumed the enormous corpse mass he had worked so hard to bring over, spreading an equally enormous curse in all directions.

“You crazy bastard!”

“Are you trying to kill your own allies too?”

It had actually been prepared as a last resort.

With the Master dead, they could already be considered defeated. But he still had his own reason for using it.

‘At least I’m immune.’

The curse spread without distinguishing friend from foe.

Those nearby began choking and clutching their throats or chests. Some even vomited dark red blood.

Tap tap tap!

The necromancer hurriedly ran.

Juggernaut was surely not far from the center of the curse. Even if it did not kill him, it would slow him down to some extent.

But there was something he had not expected.

‘What is this? Why is it so quiet?’

People had definitely fled before him.

No matter how fast they were, he should have heard something. Those who had run off slightly before him could not have gone far.

Yet the outer edge of the base was strangely quiet.

He repeatedly listened as he approached a secret side door between the wooden walls, but he could not hear anything.

That made it even stranger.

He felt like the protagonist of a horror movie.

The kind of feeling that made his spine tingle because he was somewhere he should not be.

‘I need to get out quickly.’

He hurriedly opened the side door and stepped outside.

Faint footprints from someone who had run out earlier remained on the ground.

Footprints leading toward the forest.

He headed that way too, but then seemed to think of something and changed direction.

‘Something happened.’

He began circling the wooden wall to take another route.

Screams still continued from deep inside the wall.

Then, something mixed with those sounds.

It came from the opposite direction, not from within the wall.

Grrr.

A low sound.

The instinctive warning that it was not human flashed through his mind. He turned toward something spreading wide at the edge of his vision.

“Ah.”

There was a Tiger.

So that was why everyone was quiet.

No, why they had become quiet.

“I was wondering why I couldn’t see anyone.”

He muttered as he finally grasped the situation. But by the time he extended his staff forward, the Tiger already had his head in its mouth.

Crunch.

It did not end in one bite.

Only after chewing two or three times did the head separate from the body.

The body that had been twitching weakly finally collapsed onto the ground. It convulsed for a moment, then soon stopped.

After chewing up the necromancer’s head, Sangun placed the remaining corpse and the Personal Effects Bag beside it into his Inventory, then pricked up his ears.

Someone else was coming out through the wooden wall.

He headed toward them.

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