Stagnant Water of Apocalypse

It’s really quiet around here now.
Seems like it was due to the fact that people who just left had told the people outside that they had met ghosts upon entering.
Even so, let’s keep still on our toes.

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After successfully blocking the entrance with the portal, I entered the dungeon to explore.
The structure of this dungeon was mostly the same.
The problem was, if someone doesn’t know the structure very well, it’s easy for them to get confused and get lost.

And what made it worse was that there were traps which confused people’s sense of direction at certain points.

“Let’s see…” Since Hyun-woo and his party had also entered this dungeon, I couldn’t use my flashlight.
It was quite a pity, as I had confirmed that these kinds of dungeons and labyrinths are located in the same dimension as my shelter, which means the corrosive disease can’t reach this place.

“Well, I can just use something else.” Afterall, I will do anything to survive.
I checked my gear, checked the footage on my laptop, and picked up some glowstone from my storage.
Even though I said that it’s hard to use it, since the dungeon was not very large, there was a high probability that I wouldn’t meet Hyun-woo and his party right at the bat.
So, I probably would have a chance to use it.

“Let’s find the smell…” Monster cages have a distinctive smell.
It was quite similar to the smell of a truck that carries cattle and pigs.
The difference was, since this place was a cave, the smell would be leagues above.

“Let’s put on a filter mask…” In Survival Life, the bad smell was also a kind of debuff, so wearing a mask will relieve it.
Of course, a regular mask would have no effect.

After I armed myself quite heavily, I summoned Dingo and set out to find the cage.

“You can’t bark, okay?” Being a clever guy, he immediately recognized the environment of the cave and stepped out in front of me.

As we were walking down the narrow hallway, both Dingo and I heard footsteps at the same time.
It was thanks to my Perception stat, which had grown to the point of being comparable to Dingo’s sense.
Of course, I still couldn’t keep up with his sense of smell.

After quickly hiding in the portal and waiting, Hyun-woo and his party, whom we saw earlier, passed by.

“It’s another intersection… Why is this dungeon so complicated…”

“I don’t think the dungeon will be that big… but how come we lost our way… I lost my sense of direction already.”

“Didn’t I already leave some mark behind? We should be okay.”

“Oh, well done, So-yoon.”

Is that girl’s name So-yoon?

She smiled and put her hands on her waist.
As she scans the walls of the cave, she accidentally knocks on the door of my portal.

“Huh?”

She probably feels that it’s weird.

I immediately closed the portal.
She probably won’t even notice that I was spying on her.
When I opened the portal again after a few minutes, Hyun-woo and his party had already left.

I quickly leave the portal again with Dingo.
After walking for a few moments,we arrived at an intersection.
At that moment, Dingo’s eyes stood as he lowered his posture and made a guttural growl.

Something is here…

I took an adamantine arrow from my bag and notched it to the longbow’s string.
Then moments later, the shadow of a monster could be seen in the darkness.

I threw a glowstone in front of us.
As its soft light shone on the face of the approaching monster,

“It’s a troll, huh?” 

To think I would meet a troll here…

It is a monster similar in size to an orc, but with longer arms and thorns all over its body.
In other games, they were nothing but ordinary mobs, but in Survival Life, they were considered as a very dangerous monster.

“Those thorns are no joke…”

Those thorns would be shot out to all directions if the troll ever judged that they were in a dangerous position.
It’s not poisonous, but it was still painful if you were hit by it.
On top of it, their unique skills, explosive strength and super regeneration, make hand-to-hand combat extremely dangerous.

Back in the days, I could deal with it.
I can deal with it only by running away several times while kiting and baiting him to several traps though.

“But now it’s different.” Because I could attack it unilaterally since it was inside the cage.
Upon release, the adamantine arrows mercilessly pierced the troll’s tough skin.

Kuoooohhhh-!!

The troll’s cries echoed through the narrow cave.
I must deal with it and run away before Hyun-woo and his party arrive.

After shooting several arrows at the troll, it finally died with an arrow I aimed at its head.
However, instead of being elated by the fact that I had killed an orc,  I was frightened due to the fact that arrows embedded in its body were being pushed out.

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“It should have come out by now…”

「You have earned 50 points」

「You have acquired Ferocity skill」

Ah… the skill is a bit disappointing.
Ferocity is similar to the Fighting Instinct skill; it raises stats in times of crisis.
Though, It had the advantage that I don’t need to exude killing intent and to activate it.
But the effect was just that.

“The Explosive Strength skill should have come out.” Even though it didn’t really fit my fighting style, It wouldn’t be a bad skill to have as an insurance.

“Well, this skill is not bad either.”

It’s a pity that the Life Tracking skill is gone, but now that the result is like this, there’s nothing I can do about it.
Let’s just think positively.

I quickly shot other monsters and got a total of 95 points in total, including the one I got from the troll.

Then a loud sound of footsteps echoed through the cave.

“What was that noise!”

“Let’s go there quickly!”

“Wait…”

You guys seem to be busy, so I should quietly leave for the next place.

I summoned Dingo from the portal and let him smell the old book.
As it is an alchemist’s dungeon, there were a lot of old books and tools.
Of course, to get there, we would have to overcome a lot of traps and monsters first.
Fortunately, the experience I had accumulated and the combat power I had steadily accumulated should be able to get me there.

And after several battles, we finally reached the deepest part of the dungeon: the alchemist’s room.
We stagnant waters often referred to it as The Residence.

When we went inside, a few desks, boxes, furniture, etc, covered in dust greeted us.

“Is this place really ownerless…”

I have never seen a human-like creature in this dimension.
But I was certain that they existed.
After all, who would have made these books and household items if they didn’t exist?

By the way, since the portal which I used to block the entrance was gone, people must have entered the dungeon by now.
I’m sure they would be mad once they know someone already got whatever lay here.

But it doesn’t matter.
Very few people know who I am.

Even though I planned to block the entrance again later and make a fuss for others, it’s not like there was no other way to escape from the people outside unnoticed without it.
It’s not like I’m new to these kinds of things.

“Let’s start with taking care of all of these things.”

I opened the portal and shoved everything inside.
As I put it in, 2 shabby and old-looking scroll caught my eye.
Most of the things here were written in a language I did not understand, but the two items were different.

「Item box expansion ticket: The item box will be expanded by 1 slot.
1,000 points required.」

「Skill slot extension ticket: The skill slot will be expanded by 1 slot.
1,000 points required.」

“This is it!” I grabbed the scroll and tore it apart.
A message promptly popped up and a thousand points disappeared at every notice.

「The number of items you can use has been expanded to 6」

「The number of skill you can have has been expanded to 11」

It would be great if it came out before killing the troll….
However, given the structure of the dungeon, it couldn’t be helped that I had to kill the troll first.

I threw every single piece of paper and even a pen in the residence into the portal and closed it.

Now it’s time for me to return to the entrance.
Of course, there will be a few people waiting to curse me.

Well, it’s not like it’s the first time…

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Several groups were tangled in the narrow dungeon.
Afterall, It’s simply impossible to forget everything which had happened between them before entering the dungeon.
Thanks to that, the inside of the dungeon was full of tension.
Whenever they encountered each other, they often bowed their heads and just quietly passed by.

However, amidst that, a fight still broke out and someone was injured because of that.
The victim collapsed on the floor and shout a bloody murder.

“I’ll fucking kill you and become a murderer, you bastard!”

“Kill me! Kill me if you dare!”

“I clearly remembered you hit me with an arrow earlier! Did you think I would just let you go?”

At that moment, two people intervened when it seemed that a murder was imminent.

“Hey! Let’s stop!”

“Please be patient”

People didn’t just stop it because they pity the victim or because they were afraid of the assailant, It was simply because of the nature of the dungeon; you never know when the monsters will pop out.

Of course, most of the monsters had already been dealt by Seongho, but they did not know about it.

That occurrence happened all over the dungeon.
Fortunately, murderer did not appear because of it.
Though, It would be a pity for Seongho, who was looking for a way to escape unnoticed.

Meanwhile, Hyun-woo and his party finally reached the deepest part of the dungeon.
Of course… it was empty because Seongho had swept it clean.

“I think that man took them all.”

“It would have been difficult to put in one backpack…”

“Wow, if he really swept away leaving nothing behind, can he at least take some dust with him too?”

So-yoon grumbled and closed the drawer.
At the same time, Hyun-woo, who was looking around the residence, found something.
It was a hinge of the door.

“I don’t think there’s corrosive disease here…?”

“Ah… It’s true…”

The three of them were surprised when they checked the hinge.
In Seoul, even if you scour through the entire city to look for good metal, you wouldn’t be able to find it.
There were rumors that the government shelter had stored a lot of metal, but it was only a rumor so far.

The three of them walked away from the residence while trying to swallow their disappointment.
At that moment, a shuffling sound of footsteps could be heard and several people blocked the residence.

“Are you going to leave after robbing everything?”

“Wah… What a pity, we don’t get anything.”

It seems that from one point of time, the people in front of Hyun-woo’s group had decided to work together.
Two of them were the two who fought earlier.

So-yoon stepped in front of Hyun-woo, who was nervous.

“I’m sorry, but we didn’t get anything.
It was already gone when we arrived.”

“Haha, who would believe that?”

“Someone got in before us.
You can just take our backpack and check it out.”

Dae-ho, noticing his sister’s thoughts, said cautiously.

“Isn’t it a bit iffy to fight with people who also didn’t get anything? Let’s just move on.”

“…aren’t you already hiding it?”

“Is it really possible to hide something in this cave? It will be found easily since people will come in and scour through it.”

However, even after that explanation, the three men still decide to check Hyun-woo and his party’s backpack.
After opening it, disappointment was apparent on their faces since they found really nothing inside.
On top of it, since they couldn’t even bring up the words of searching through their body, they could only kick the wall and grumble.

“Shit…”

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“Then, did someone else rob this place?”

“Who the hell?”

“I don’t know who they are, but they should be running towards the entrance by now.”

When So-yoon hinted, the three of them suddenly changed their expressions and started running without saying goodbye or sorry.

“It has become difficult to go out.”

“Yeah.
That person will have a hard time going out.”

When Dae-ho spoke, her younger sister So-yoon took offense.

“Now is not the time to worry about him!”

“What I mean is…”

At that moment, some people came towards them again.
Hyun-woo and his party had to once again let them check their backpack to avoid a fight.
So-yoon clenched her fist tightly at the people, but when her brother stopped her, she barely held it in.
At the same time, she grinds her teeth in anger towards the guy who entered the dungeon first and swept all the things away.

But when she recalled the monsters, which were shot to death in their respective cages, she had a thought.
‘That guy must not be an ordinary person…’

He shouldn’t have been here for long, so how can he act so quickly?

Is he perhaps a stagnant water?

Meanwhile, rumors spread amongst the people inside the dungeon that the one which took everything was still in the dungeon.
Naturally, what happened to Hyun-woo and his party also spread.
When they heard it, people turned towards the entrance and ran.

“Block the entrance! Don’t let the guy escape.”

“If we block the entrance, that guy will be unable to do anything.”

It was a fair point.
There’s only one entrance to this dungeon, so naturally there’s also one exit.
So, when it was blocked, the guy would have no choice but to get his backpack robbed.

At about the same time, change started to occur in the dungeon.
People start to greet each other while questioning those who walked around alone without a group.

Hyun-woo couldn’t help but smile bitterly when he saw all this.
Just before, they were shooting arrows at each other in order to prevent people from entering the dungeon.
But now, they are dancing to the same tune.

‘If they had done so earlier, they could have shared the rewards…’

But greed devoured everything.
Now people gathered at the entrance, waiting for someone to show up.

However, even after waiting for a long time, the one they were waiting for didn’t show up.

“Where the fuck is that guy?”

“How about sending a search party?”

“I’ve looked around just now, I can’t find anyone.”

“Are you sure you are really looking? Not just joking around?”

“Then you go.”

“Let’s not talk rudely, okay? You know it’s not easy to search around the area.”

The longer the people wait, the bigger their dissatisfaction grows.

Meanwhile, the culprit of the whole situation, Seongho, was looking through the items he just looted at his comfortable shelter.

 

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“It’s time to get annoyed.”

When I opened the portal, I could hear the people bickering loudly.

Keep fighting!

It would take quite some time before the dungeon to disappear, so I thought I’d take it easy.
After all, I’m not in a hurry.

By the way…

“Of all things, why is this thing the one that got turned into an item?” 

I caught a troll, but the one which got itemized was an old scarf.

「Old Scarf: Vitality +2, Cold Resistance Increase」

“The cold resistance will be worth so much in the winter.”

Since the item slot has been expanded to 6, I could equip one more item.
If I ate the winter strawberry that I had picked before and put on this scarf, then, the freezing air would change to normal.

“The effect is killer!” It seemed like this scarf would be enough to survive the upcoming cold winter.
Summer was hard in the apocalypse, but winter was even more so.
Everyone was running out of food and was busy moving to another hideout to avoid monsters.
When winter comes in earnest, there will be a real fierce battle for survival.

Of course, all of that had nothing to do with me.
Because when everyone is shivering in the cold, I will spend time in the warm forest.

I fumbled through the pile of old books.

“What is written on it, I wonder?”

It seemed to be explaining something about plants, but I couldn’t understand any of them.
As I quickly turned the page, a strange map caught my eye.

Isn’t this the mountain in the north?

It’s covered in ice caps and there’s a lake underneath, so it should be right.

“Is the place written on it really that mountain?”

Seems like I needed to check it out.
I showed it towards the scarabs just in case, but they didn’t pay any attention to it.

Are they actually scarabs that got possessed by a wandering soul?

Then, they were now nothing but an ordinary scarab.

“I hide my identity, and you also hide yours, huh?”

The scarabs working next to me were startled and looked at me.

What’s the matter, I wonder?

I opened the portal and looked outside.

A few people held the glowstone and completely blocked the entrance.
Thanks to them, there was no way out for me.

“Grudgeful bastards.”

In fact, I am the most grudgeful bastard around here since I was trying to figure out how to fuck those bastards and get out of this place.

“If I just wait for the dungeon to disappear, what will happen to the portal, I wonder…” My guess was that I would also return to Yangjae-daero but i couldn’t be sure.

The best was to run away from them.

“There must be some people outside…” After much deliberation, I found a good way.
At first I wanted to turn on a heartbeat sound loudly, but those people must have been immune to hearing those sounds since they just heard a ghost sound earlier.

“Seems like I would have to use that this time.”

Let’s see how long they can hold on.