WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: DereKimchi

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

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

Chapter 46: 046

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“Hot, hot!”

He lowered his senses even further and wrapped thick leather around his hands. Even so, the heat was intense enough to burn him.

‘Getting this over with quickly was the right call.’

The mineral in question was not all that it appeared to be. From afar, it had looked like something sitting on top, but up close, something far larger was hidden beneath it.

“This is what they mean by the tip of the iceberg.”

The massive mineral was nearly several hundred Blocks in size.

Fortunately, his Subspace was far larger, so he could put the whole thing inside.

The problem came after he removed it.

Like pulling a cork from a wine bottle, a pssh sound was followed by the ground beginning to tremble.

“It’s hot.”

Even with his senses already lowered drastically, he could clearly feel the heat. Naturally, his burns worsened, and he looked at the altar, now left with a gaping hole where the ore had been.

Below that hole.

A crimson liquid, like lava, slowly began to fill it.

“Hmm.”

He stepped back.

Both Avatars did.

“I think I may have done something very big.”

The heat seemed capable of melting his skin.

After confirming the Avatar waiting aboveground, Seo Hajin hurriedly evacuated the ones underground into the Subspace.

He had also given Black orders beforehand, so Shovel No. 1 through No. 3, still working in the distance, could be retrieved in time.

‘They return automatically if they die, but still.’

Something really was happening.

The Boss Wild Boar’s condition changed immediately. The creature that had been lying flat against the ground suddenly rose and began thrashing around.

“The ground’s getting soft.”

Normally, it would have simply stomped around and kicked up dust. Now, the earth sank under its feet, and white steam rose from the gaps.

The Boss Wild Boar jumped in surprise and quickly moved aside.

Unfortunately for it, that direction led toward the trap Seo Hajin had prepared beforehand.

Walking over it should have been fine, and it was at first. But soon, the ground there began acting strangely too, before suddenly collapsing beneath it.

The earth crumbled.

The land melted like chocolate.

Crimson lava appeared from within.

“Uh... Hmm.”

Watching from afar, Seo Hajin could not even consider approaching to attack the Boss Mob caught in the trap.

His original plan had been to drop it into the pit and attack from above. But seeing it flail in that scorching lava, he could not get close.

‘Looks like it doesn’t have fire resistance.’

It traveled with Flame Boars as subordinates, but the Boss itself did not have a burning tail or anything similar.

It was simply huge and possessed strength to match.

Grrrraaaah!

This was not hot-spring swimming, but the death throes of an animal burning alive in real time.

Boom! Kaboom!

The subordinate Wild Boars around it had already burned or melted to death as well. The explosions he heard were Flame Boars bursting apart as they died.

How much time passed like that?

Eventually, a message appeared.

[The Giant Boar that rams into anything in Thorn Wasteland, Area 6, has been defeated.]

[The region's level increases by 1.]

The Boss had been defeated.

Items spilled out in a shower, but he could not collect them. As if it were natural, they sank into the burning lava.

‘What a waste.’

Seo Hajin watched wistfully as the lava field gradually spread.

‘How far is it going to spread?’

It was over a kilometer away, so he doubted it would reach him. Still, it felt like the temperature was steadily rising.

What in the world had been underground?

He looked at the huge red ore now taking up one side of his Subspace.

‘Ah. It stopped.’

The lava field spreading outward from where the Boss had been stopped expanding at roughly five hundred meters in diameter.

Melted earth.

Crimson lava and heat.

Then he noticed the Mobs, more numerous than before, perhaps because the Area Level had risen. Some even spawned as Flame Boars from the beginning.

‘Did it change permanently?’

This happened because he had pulled something out from underground.

It was impossible to seal it back up. Would this Area now have lava flowing from one side permanently?

‘Let’s wait and see.’

He decided to stay another day.

The Boss had been defeated, but it did not feel like he had defeated it. He had not obtained any items either.

If the Boss respawned tomorrow, he planned to hunt it in a way that would let him collect the loot properly.

‘Just in case, I should move farther away.’

After relocating to a suitable spot, he entered the Subspace Rest Area and helped with the construction underway there.

The Subspace had already exceeded ten thousand Blocks.

He could designate one-hundredth of its total space as an area without a stay-time limit, and the Rest Area currently occupied roughly that much space.

Since it had been awkwardly cramped before, he had postponed various tasks. Now he built walls to block drafts and installed bunk beds.

He had already secured the materials, so installation did not take long. Once he set everything up in place, the space clearly seemed less affected by the outside temperature.

‘There’s no cold in this field, so I can’t tell, but it seems to block the hot wind coming from over there pretty well.’

Then he lay down.

He did not set a night watch. That was thanks to a phone from someone’s Personal Effects, which felt similar to, yet different from, an Earth phone.

‘The alarm function is great.’

He could set the time and sleep soundly.

There was no one outside the Subspace anyway, so there was no danger.

‘The inside... I separated the sections, so there shouldn’t be any problems.’

He made sure no one except No. 1 and No. 2 touched important equipment like the Recycler. Naturally, Sangun and the rabbits were forbidden from approaching.

‘It’d be a disaster if the rabbits wandered in by mistake, and Sangun... Like any cat, Sangun pokes at everything.’

Still, Sangun understood his orders, so at least Sangun stayed away from places he had been told not to go.

“Ah, this is nice.”

After washing in hot water in the Subspace bathroom, lying down on the now quite spacious bed felt even better.

“No one in this world is living as luxuriously as I am.”

Some people might have built fairly cozy and sturdy shelters, depending on the circumstances. But were there really others who could sleep so comfortably inside a Subspace?

‘There seem to be others with Subspaces, though. They come from chests, so maybe more will show up.’

Still, even if everyone began at the same starting point, there was a tremendous difference in their speed.

No one could have hunted as quickly as he had.

‘I should get back before it’s too late.’

He had not abandoned his goal of making one full circuit, but he had no intention of settling down in one place or wasting time.

After sleeping soundly for a day, he opened his eyes.

He woke before the alarm, but he felt so refreshed that there was no need to lie back down.

“My burns have healed too.”

Fortunately, even the skin that had nearly been cooked by the underground heat had returned to normal as if nothing had happened.

It was fortunate that the damage had not been permanent. Still, he might experience something similar today, so he needed to be careful.

‘Let’s see. No one nearby.’

He slowly swept his aerial view through a full circle, checking both nearby and distant areas.

A few users had approached during the night, but each time, they saw the lava field and turned back.

And now.

The Boss Wild Boar respawned in the distance.

The sight that followed gave Seo Hajin a lot to think about.

‘Is it absorbing it?’

The Giant Boar approached the edge of the lava field.

It looked as though it were sucking in all the heat in the area. The perimeter of the lava field, which had stopped expanding and remained in place, gradually began shrinking inward.

‘That seems right.’

Neither fast nor slow, it moved inward one step at a time, reducing the lava field’s radius.

Eventually, after the lava completely disappeared from sight, it lay flat on its belly at the center.

‘Ah.’

Only then did he remember the posture it had taken yesterday.

That position was exactly where it was now.

‘They’re definitely related.’

The lava pouring from underground.

The Giant Boar’s ability to absorb and suppress it, sealing it from above.

Had it died yesterday because it fell into the lava suddenly instead of controlling it slowly from the edge?

‘If that’s the case, then the trap worked perfectly.’

Still, he would not use the same method.

Defeating the Boss was one thing, but he would not get any loot.

“The heat’s gone down.”

Juggernaut emerged from the Subspace.

The surrounding temperature against his skin was clearly different from yesterday. Perhaps the lava underground was gradually cooling and hardening.

‘What does the underground cavern look like? Could that red rock I took be lava that hardened that way?’

The red ore that had blocked the underground.

It did not look as though it had simply formed from hardened lava, but the lava he saw now did not feel ordinary either.

“No one’s coming yet.”

The community board had become somewhat noisy.

The Field Boss had been defeated for the first time. A lava field that had not existed before had appeared. The Mob population had increased.

But opinions were divided over who had defeated it. There had just been talk about the Expedition Force, so some wondered if they had regrouped instead of completely falling apart and tried again.

Meanwhile, people who had been part of the Expedition Force said that was impossible. Juggernaut was mentioned briefly as well, but it did not gain much traction.

‘There were no witnesses.’

In other words, people would come today out of curiosity alone.

If he wanted to do anything, he had to move now.

“It might have been weaker than I thought.”

Thinking back to when it burned to death in the lava, he could roughly estimate how much defense its hide possessed.

An average user would struggle, but his Avatars could deal meaningful damage.

‘The problem is the underlings...’

There were dozens of subordinate Wild Boars in sight alone. More than yesterday.

“The Field Level went up, so the Boss Level must have risen too... and the number of subordinates it brings around has increased as well.”

After considering it briefly, he decided to move.

This time, he brought Black, whom he had not summoned yesterday.

‘Hmm.’

He did not summon Sangun because normal Mobs fled when Sangun appeared.

‘The Boss Mob’s subordinates might be different, but I don’t need unexpected variables.’

Besides, Black was faster than Sangun and the others when it came to pure speed.

If they were only going to strike marked targets and withdraw, Black was the clear choice.

“Only hit the Flame Boars and pull back. If it gets iffy, enter the Subspace immediately.”

“Don’t worry.”

Black, who had been in human form, transformed into a Black Leopard and immediately kicked off the ground.

Seo Hajin watched Black disappear into the distance in an instant, then moved Juggernaut and ran after them at a similar pace.

The distance was considerable, and explosions began sounding before he had even covered half of it.

Black had already begun intercepting Flame Boars upon arriving at the scene.

“Just as expected.”

By the time Juggernaut arrived, many Mobs aside from the Boss Mob had already disappeared.

They had been caught in the explosions and killed.

Grrroooar!

The Boss Mob that had been lying down was already on its feet.

But it could not properly identify the attacker. It only glared around wildly and spun in place.

“Until the lava underground cools and hardens completely, I should assume it can’t move far from that spot.”

He did not know how it worked, but it was clear that the Boss Mob was suppressing the underground lava.

It might have been different until yesterday, when it had already been sealed off, but now, while it had not completely cooled, there was a good chance the lava would burst out again if the creature left its position.

In other words, it could barely move.

It was somewhat of a leap, but he intended to find out whether it was true.

“This distance should be enough.”

He lightly picked up a stone and a club.

Other Avatars had already taken up positions beside him, prepared in a way similar to when they had struck a wooden wall in Logging Forest.

“Let’s give it a few taps first.”

He did not think a mere stone could deal significant damage.

Even with Heavy Attack, it was the same.

If he used Heavy Attack too forcefully, the stone would break. He also needed to control his strength, and his goal was to find out how far the creature could move from that spot.

And so, the stone provocation began.

His accuracy was still questionable, but the target was so enormous that he landed over half of them.

The Giant Boar looked furious, but as expected, it could not move farther than a certain distance from the critical spot.

“It would’ve been useful if we had magic or something.”

The previous Expedition Force had chosen the wrong approach.

They should have started by bringing far more people and clearing the lesser Mobs first.

“Oops.”

It was obviously dangerous to let his attention wander, even briefly.

The creature could not leave the area entirely, but it seemed able to move out and return for short periods without issue.

“Still, this definitely makes the hunt easier.”

He spread the Avatars, who had been clustered together, across different positions. He left Black entirely in charge of handling the lesser Mobs and took out the large crossbow he had not used since hunting Sangun.

That was the key to this hunt.

There was no need to unleash a barrage in a short time as he had against Sangun. It would be enough to accumulate damage with one accurate shot at a time from different directions.

No matter where the Wild Boar moved, it had to return to one point.

That made it obvious where to aim.

‘It’s not much different from a stationary target.’

The shooting began.

There were a few trials, errors, and misjudgments, but around seven out of ten shots struck where he wanted.

Naturally, the arrows were heavily coated in poison. But perhaps because it was as big as an elephant, it seemed to endure better than Sangun had.

“No... It might be burning off the poison.”

Perhaps it used some of the heat it absorbed underground for that purpose. Whenever it exhaled, some of the poison seemed to escape with its breath.

Still, the arrows themselves steadily accumulated damage.

Quite a few arrows designed to cause bleeding had lodged in it as well, and the blood it spilled had already formed a pool.

For a moment, he felt sorry for it.

It had simply existed, yet it had to be hunted down and killed like this.

But the same was true from humanity’s perspective.

This was a world where humans could be hunted instead, depending on the circumstances.

‘The outside world wasn’t any different.’

It was only more civilized.

And the methods of hunting were a little different.

The strong preyed on the weak. Survival of the fittest.

That had never changed.

Grrrrraaaah!

The Giant Boar began to stagger.

Unable to charge in either direction anymore, it lowered its huge body onto ground that seemed hotter than before.

Labored breathing.

Hot breath pouring from its nostrils.

The smell of blood.

The sound of a life fading away.

There was no need to hesitate any longer.

Juggernaut approached, ignored the creature’s body as it still twitched with some remaining strength, climbed onto its head, and swung his club down with all his might.

Bam!

The blow sounded like striking stone, and the top of the creature’s head caved in deeply.

[The Giant Boar that rams into anything in Thorn Wasteland, Area 6, has been defeated.]

[The region's level increases by 1.]

It was the same notification he had seen yesterday.

But today was different.

For one thing, the ground around him was still intact.

‘Still, I need to hurry.’

Almost as the Boss Wild Boar’s corpse vanished, intense heat began rising from underground.

He hurriedly collected the items scattered around him.

Thanks to Black moving in advance, it did not take long.

‘Oops.’

Everyone except Stone, who had moved ahead of time, quickly entered the Subspace.

Various groups were running in from the distance. Some had only two or three people, while others had around ten.

Perhaps they remembered roughly when the Boss had been defeated yesterday. Or perhaps they had been nearby, seen the system message, and moved right away.

After confirming them from the sky, Seo Hajin summoned Sangun, climbed aboard, and rode in the opposite direction.

“Hmm.”

He had hunted it properly.

He had been too busy collecting the loot to inspect every item, but he remembered getting a chest, tusks, hide, and meat.

“I think I got everything worth getting.”

The underground lava would erupt again.

It would probably spread to a certain point and stop.

When the Boss appeared tomorrow, it would suppress the lava and sink it underground again.

“There’s no reason to stay any longer.”

He turned Sangun around.

Taking a wide route away from the scene, he set off west.

“It’ll get cold again.”

Maybe he would miss this place.

But he was not worried.

He had made plenty of heat-generating thermal underwear, and the Rest Area was cozier than before.

‘They say there are lots of snakes in the Swamp.’

He had seen on the community board that there were many venomous snakes as well.

They could not be very active in winter, but perhaps he could collect quite a few new poisons.

‘The Boss there has already been defeated, so it shouldn’t be difficult.’

Sangun crossed the Wasteland.

Stone rode on Sangun’s back.

People who spotted them from afar made posts on the community board, and only then did talk that Juggernaut’s party had defeated the Boss truly begin to spread.

-Is he really making a full circuit?

ㄴSeems like it.

ㄴSwamp next, then.

-Isn’t half the Expedition Force still in the Swamp?

ㄴYeah, they’re controlling the Boss.

ㄴControlling it, my ass lol.

ㄴThey’ll get wiped like the Logging Forest Villains.

The community users were excited.

Winter was boring enough already.

It was a time when there was little to enjoy besides hearing that fights had broken out somewhere.

-But the Expedition Force has a few big names, right? Even Juggernaut might have a hard time.

ㄴYeah, guess we’ll have to see.

-Juggernaut, don’t die.

ㄴDon’t die, and sell some Firewood.

ㄴFor real.

“Ah. Did everything I listed sell out?”

Watching the board, he entered the marketplace and set up the sales page again.

-Juggernaut, you bastard.

ㄴWhat now?

ㄴHe’s bundling stones with the Firewood.

ㄴ?

ㄴSays they’re flint.

-No, fucking stones are crossing the line.

ㄴFlint with Firewood? That’s basically a lighter.

ㄴIt isn’t even flint in the first place.

ㄴReally? Hahahahaha.

-But it’s cheap.

ㄴYeah, why did he add stones?

ㄴHe’s probably trying to clear Inventory space.

ㄴJust throw them away lol.

“Gotta manage my image.”

Selling only Firewood felt like something was missing.

He thought that if he acted too nice, people might see him as a pushover, so he bundled in stones he seemed to have collected too many of.

The reactions were exactly as expected.

All kinds of insults flew around, while others defended him by saying the price was cheap anyway, so people could just buy it and throw away the stones.

-A man who drives both fans and haters crazy.

ㄴHe has fans and haters?

ㄴNo such thing.

ㄴHe just drives people crazy.

ㄴHahaha.

There were all sorts of comments, but they eventually led to the same conclusion.

Before long, the Swamp field would become noisy.

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