Chapter 9 Part2 (1/2)
<chapter 9.=”” anti-skull=”” -=”” 2=””>
To cut to the point, the environment they were in wasn't great for running around and playing hide-and-seek. It was because whenever the King Slime moved, the drain pipes would split, crumble, and spill dirt, causing chaos. The Pauls, who hadn't yet gotten used to their skeleton bodies, flinched whenever that happened.
[Gureureureuaaaaaaaaaaah!]
”If I can properly see it, then there's nothing to worry about!”
Lee s.h.i.+n Woo moved his body, avoiding the King Slime's charge, and comforted the Pauls. However, the King Slime collided with the sewer drain pipes, causing the whole area to crumble, and by seeing this, the Pauls yelled out.
[If this goes on, the secret facilities will collapse too!]
”What?”
Certainly, the whole sewer could collapse at this rate. Honestly, it didn't really matter if a worthless sewer collapsed, but he couldn't allow all the facilities to collapse before he got a chance to look over the materials.
”I have no choice since it's come to this.”
Lee s.h.i.+n Woo stiffly nodded his head and retreated. The Pauls' attention remained completely fixed on him and followed him.
”I'll bring more reinforcements, so keep it busy!”
[We can't. That's impossible!]
”No, you guys can do it. I'll make it so you can.”
Pudding had pierced through the sewer pipes, became covered in dirt, and spread poison while in the process. Lee s.h.i.+n Woo took a short deep breath, and towards the Pauls, who sported expressions akin to young birds gazing at the mother bird (of course, skeletons are expressionless so one wouldn't be able to tell, but that's roughly the feeling), as well as Pudding... screamed with all his might.
”I'm really sorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry!”
[By using Low Rank Shriek of the Dead, you have caused your enemies to fall into a frenzied and fearful state.]
[You have succeeded in using a skill against an enemy a higher level than you! The Low Rank Shriek of the Dead skill has become Lv2.]
[Kurureureureureureureureu!]
[Ugh... Keuaaaaaaaaaahk!]
[Kihik...! I-It's an enemy!]
The four Poison Skeletons, that had for a time regained their reason, had once again completely lost their reasoning due to Lee s.h.i.+n Woo's shriek. It was such a heinous act that it wouldn't be strange if the Devil came and asked if he could take him as his older brother.
Of course, he had expected that it would work on the skeletons, but he hadn't expected that the skill would work on the level 4 King Slime! It might be because it hadn't been very long since it had evolved.
”Good. You're going to die anyway, so if you're going to die, you might as well shave off some of the slime's health!”
Lee s.h.i.+n Woo left a rotten farewell to the Pauls, and rather than say a farewell to the King Slime, which began to struggle in what seemed to be an overlapping frenzied and fearful state, he shot a Fire Bullet at it (catapulting his index finger + Flames of Revenge).
He wanted to see if it would self-destruct like a Great Slime, or if it would have a different response to the fire, but... was it because of the frenzied state? It didn't show any signs of self-destructing despite the fire spreading. Lee s.h.i.+n Woo was satisfied by that fact and retreated completely.
[You have run away from the target of your revenge twice. An Avenger can gladly bear the shame of running away twice. When you encounter your enemy again, all stats increase by an additional 15%. However, running away a third time is forbidden.]
[Quest failed.]
'I ran away from the target of the quest, so it's natural that I failed the quest, but... I didn't know the Avenger skill had this kind of option.'
The fact that running away a third time was forbidden meant that he couldn't just blindly run away from his enemy just because it was scary or else he may be penalized by the skill.
Well, he had thought that the performance of the skill greatly outweighed the risks, but he hadn't expected this kind of surprise hidden within the skill. He thought that there wouldn't be a case where he'd run away from the same enemy three times in a row, but there also wasn't a guarantee that it wouldn't happen, so it was truly a difficult situation.
'However, should I just meekly run away now?'
If he fought it right now, he was confident that he could win. However, he really wanted to collect all of the hidden materials in the sewers. Especially because he realized now that his Avenger skill overlapped and would increase his abilities even more, so it wouldn't be a loss if he just looked at the result.
'At best, I'm throwing away the navigator I'd gained into the jaws of death, and it's become a situation where I have to explore the sewers when I don't know when it'll collapse...'
However, since he'd gone through the hidden facilities' pattern twice already, he was just as confident in exploring the sewers. The sole problem right now was that he needed to find the hidden facilities before the sewers completely gave way...
'It was a good thing I chose to use Shriek of the Dead. It's become considerably quieter.'
Of course, the duration of his skill wasn't very long, so it should start going wild again soon, so... it was key that he found the facilities before then.
Lee s.h.i.+n Woo used his Combat Sprint to its utmost and started to dash. The Great Slime had cleaned the sewers of monsters, so it was completely barren, and if he excluded the dirt that occasionally dropped onto his head, there wasn't anything that got in his way.
”Found it.”
Within only 2 minutes, he found the third hidden facility, and thoughtlessly opened the door. Surprisingly, there were five skeletons waiting with bated breath!
[H-He opened the door.]
[You idiot...!]
[Who are you? Are you a member of the project? No, it doesn't matter who you are. There's a fearsome monster roaming around outside!]
This was unexpected. It seems like the catastrophe that befell the sewers after dozens of years of silence, the birth of the Great Slime, had caused them to independently regain their reason.
”So, you're planning on waiting until it collapses the entire sewer and then dying together? If you plan on burying the efforts of the General who struggled to stop the curse as well, then stay crouched there.”
[Ugh...!?]
[Who do you think you are, to say the General's name here!?]
”Does it matter who I am right now?”
He collected all the materials. Lee s.h.i.+n Woo gazed at them icily (that kind of feeling), and the skeletons glared sharply at him; and he exited the facility, as if there were no value in saying anything more.
”After I collect all the traces of our resistance, I'm going to fight that monster in order to open up our future. You guys can stay here, cuddle with your curse bound bones and disappear.”
[...]
[W-Wait a sec.]
One of the skeletons grabbed onto Lee s.h.i.+n Woo's arm bone. Lee s.h.i.+n Woo, who had felt a bit anxious that he hadn't been harsh enough, secretly felt relieved.