‘Why so serious? What’s the request?’
– ‘For two days, guard the unstable dimensional passage!’
‘Expected as much. What’s the reward?’
– ‘Upon quest completion, you’ll return to your original dimension!’
‘…Is that it? No artifacts or anything else?’
– ‘…’
‘Wait… If I take down those black creatures, you’ll give me runes, right?’
– ‘…’
‘What about mana stones? You’re not saying I won’t get any experience, are you?’
– ‘Mana stones and experience points will accumulate in some way.’
‘Why are you so lukewarm? Hey, archaeologist! Don’t tell me that’s all for our troubles?’
“Fihihit?”
The archaeologist stared blankly at the sky while flipping a whale.
‘That bastard, pretending to be clueless, huh?’
I threatened not to accept the quest, and the archaeologist warned that I might not be able to leave.
‘Aih, come on! Can’t you just let us go? Isn’t the kid lying there sad?’
I pointed to Liu Xiao-Wo, but he just scoffed.
“Phitphitphit!!”
He said the trapped test subjects were far worse off. What a funny guy, considering he brought them in himself.
In any case, he said letting us go would be difficult. Since we barged in here, we needed to pay the corresponding price to get out. This was also the directive from the manager of the balance.
‘Aoh…! When has that manager been so fair!’
I almost wanted to slice him just once.
“Fihihihihit!”
The archaeologist stood firm.
Even if I killed him, that wouldn’t change. Did he have the ability to read minds or something? He had a knack for making me flinch.
‘Thanks to that damn Dnarr, I’m in this mess.’
I said I’d deal with him next time.
‘You better watch out, Dnarr. Next time we meet, I’ll be sure to take you down!’
I had a sense of my own growth.
At this rate, by the next time I meet Dnarr, I’d surely be able to give him a good hit. Maybe that would be the day we clash for the first and last time.
Anyway, I had no choice but to follow the archaeologist back to the door.
Inside the towering door, horrifyingly grotesque monsters were still trampling and gnawing at the heads of other demon beasts, looking for their chance.
“Ohhh…”
Was this a lucky timing?
Just as I was about to swing at a monster peeking out the door, Liu Xiao-Wo finally regained her consciousness.
‘Where is this- Ahhhh! It hurts…’
[Camouflage]
To alleviate her bewildering mental shock, I activated camouflage.
“Fihihit?!”
‘Back off, you! We don’t plan on becoming test subjects.’
I moved to Liu Xiao-Wo’s side, leaving the spitting archaeologist behind, and calmly began explaining the current situation to her.
“Haha… No way. Did I move to another dimension? How did we end up together- cough-!”
She coughed up a mouthful of blood and hastily gathered her magic power.
Fwoooosh───
Then, the black cat, which had vanished before, reappeared, followed by a gray cat flickering and forming its shape.
“Peekaahihihit?!!”
Upon seeing the cats, the archaeologist trembled as if he’d been electrocuted.
‘Don’t come near. The quest only requires us to hold off those monsters. I won’t let you mess with our kids.’
“Fihihit?!”
The archaeologist looked at me in shock as if asking how I could say that.
At that moment, the forming cat vanished again, and the archaeologist, seemingly losing interest, began examining ‘Jim,’ who had been glaring at him.
Whatever, I set up the [Sanctuary of Vigilance] around Liu Xiao-Wo, and warned the archaeologist again.
‘You too, and that kobold wandering around, don’t even think about showing up nearby. Unless you want all your research data to go up in smoke.’
“──?!!”
The archaeologist, completely caught off guard by my threat, raised his tiny arms to the sky and took a step back.
“Fihihit!!”
“I’m going to follow through with the quest, so don’t worry about that.”
“Fihit…”
After sending off the seemingly resigned archaeologist, I turned back to Liu Xiao-Wo.
“While you’re in here, keep drinking this water and splash it on your body whenever you get the chance. Don’t recklessly draw on your magic since you’re not in top shape.”
I dug up the ground, laid stones, and created a small pond filled with Irmana’s water, guiding her to step in.
“Th-there…”
I only held her for a moment, yet Liu Xiao-Wo turned as red as a tomato.
“Ahh… My body is dirty…”
“What’s dirty? As long as you’re in here, you’ll recover to some extent.”
Even as she shed tears and looked at me with gratitude,
‘Once she recovers a bit, I should demand an artifact as a reward. Hehe-‘
Such thoughts filled my mind.
I had to at least secure a minimum reward! The continuity of relationships comes from balance, after all!
Resolutely thinking so, I approached the gigantic dimensional door.
“C-careful! If it comes to it, I’ll resort to using the power of the cats…”
I knew she had no strength left for that.
“Don’t worry. I’ll be back soon.”
Leaving her guarded by Ainz and his traces, I stood confidently before the dimensional door with my minions.
WooOOoooom──
– You have entered the unbalanced Dreadful Land of Chaos!
‘Huh?!’
I was planning to shoot off some ranged skills and gain experience before slipping through, but it seems I had already stepped inside.
‘Damn archaeologist!’
Did he trick me?
‘If I go out and beat him to a pulp, I’ll find out. We’ll see.’
As soon as I entered, an oppressive feeling choked my breath.
The terrifying sight of all the demon beasts that had been clustered at the entrance turning to look at me.
‘…Did I come in too boldly?’
Entering without even using stealth was quite audacious. Of course, even if I justified it, those monsters wouldn’t listen.
HooOOooo──
Maybe they were surprised to see me, as they didn’t react quickly.
No one launched a preemptive strike while I created distance with movement skills.
I extended my senses and carefully scanned the surroundings.
It was truly a void with nothing present. Only the sleek black beasts drooling and glowing were there.
‘…Thank goodness there are no Great Beasts. Still, I can spot some monsters that could swallow me whole. What is this place, exactly? Whether I can hold them off or even survive is a real concern.’
– ‘Residue of Chaos’ recognizes you!
The residue clearly defined me as an enemy, somehow noticing my presence.
“Huh?! You too? This is the realm of chaos, huh? Alright! Let’s see what you’ve got!”
Fighting off the Great Beasts had filled me with confidence.
I released my camouflage and restored my fallen stats.
The pitch-black darkness swallowed me as I distanced from the door.
What would happen if I ventured deeper inside? That’s what I was curious about.
Kyaaaa───!!
“Ughhh!!”
In the distance, the chaotic residue let out a monstrous scream and charged at me.
Hundreds of them tangled and rushed in a terrifying climax right out of a horror film.
‘Why are you all struggling to come out? If you were born in chaos, why don’t you just stay there instead of bothering us?’
‘Hmm… Come at me!’
I had planned to stand my ground confidently, but after a few seconds, I had to change my strategy.
It wasn’t only due to hundreds of chaotic residues rushing at me.
The black demon beasts, who had fixated their attention on me, started hot on my heels.
The weakest among them was at a high B-rank level.
Moreover, the chaos residues were a whole different level from what I had previously encountered.
Perhaps because this was their home ground, the overwhelming pressure I felt was completely different.
‘This turns into a ground battle using the [Dreadful Land of Chaos].’
I cast wide area debuffs and poisoned them, slowly draining their health.
It might take a lot of time to defeat them, but so long as I focused on evasion and defense, this was my best possible response for now.
With ‘Jim’s’ provocation, my countless traits and skills, and the help of achievements,
‘I can do this.’
It’s just two days.
After two days, hopefully, I can reunite with Yeon-hee. That thought kept my movements brisk.
* * *
‘How long has it been? I’m starting to get tired.’
According to my perception, the two days I was supposed to guard had likely passed, yet I wasn’t seeing any quest completion message.
‘The system shouldn’t mess up! This place is different from any I’ve been before, and I’ve lost contact with Yeon-hee. Damn!’
[Water Ball]
Fwoosh!!
‘I feel like I’m going to die from this headache.’
The sound of experience points accumulating rang painfully in my head.
What made it worse was that despite the two days of working like a dog, I had only gone up by one level.
Considering I’d jumped two levels when I defeated Necrosquall, this growth rate was outrageous.
However, I did have some unexpected gains.
After defeating the cluster of chaotic residues, I received a reward of one extra life.
‘Haha, I used to get one for taking down just one. A little disappointing, but hey, it’s something!’
Even the archaeologist probably never imagined I’d get a reward like this.
Thanks to that, after two days of battling two clusters, I was able to recover my life count to 80. I was excited and searched the area, but there were no more clusters in sight.
If one appeared each day, I’d have stumbled upon a very unexpected life source. Of course, it would only be useful if I could come back here.
‘I accrued a ton of mana stones. Each one is of good quality.’
The basics were all top-grade mana stones, and there were many larger than those in regular dungeons.
‘I could invest the mana stones in the Sanctuary of Vigilance or trade them for money. The more, the better!’
Over the two days, I accumulated over 20,000 mana stones.
In monetary terms, that’s a staggering amount, at least 8-90 billion.
‘It’s pretty good, but when are you going to let me out?!’
Going to the exit just brought up the message that I couldn’t go out.
But taking down the monstrous beasts blocking the door to collapse the space and return with Liu Xiao-Wo and the archaeologist would be too risky.
If those bastards followed me through the door, then all my hard work would go down the drain.
[Meteor]
Boom!!
Surprisingly, I could summon ‘the stone imbued with magic’ even in this space.
Hundreds of black beasts erupted into pieces, but I no longer felt the thrill of mass hunting.
That was because I had used the meteor spell over a hundred times in this spatial realm.
It turned into a monotonous cycle where I mostly used area skills, waiting for my magic to recharge, and repeating that endlessly.
What was most annoying was that killing these beasts didn’t trigger [Loot Thief].
I had no idea why.
It just left a bitter feeling as I sensed an emptiness when defeating them.
HooOOooo──!!
I had become adept at dodging the coordinated attacks of the crazed monsters chasing me.
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