Chapter 38 – 38. The Stinking Gutter

“Haa.. Fuck.. Again..”

This time, I woke up unconscious. I pinched my philtrum to quickly come to my senses.

“Ugh..”

When I pinch my philtrum, I come to my senses.

I quickly stood up. There are a total of seven killers, including me, roaming around here right now. If you relax even a little, it’s over.

I quickly looked around to see if anyone was nearby.

“…”

Fortunately or unfortunately, there seemed to be no one nearby.

But here… Unlike the twisted basement, this place was really closer to some kind of maze.

There seem to be endless paths leading to the underground waterway, with no distinction between left and right.

“Of course it’s impossible to find the exit…”

It seems quite difficult to catch and kill only seven targets here.

If this doesn’t work, we’ll have to make a loud noise and invite the enemies.

“Can I go out today?”

Even that cannot be estimated.

It took at least 4 hours to conquer the last Twisted Basement, but if it is a larger and more expansive space than that, you may have to wander around it all day.

For your reference, farming the Twisted Basement takes more time, but if you go without farming, you can overcome it in 4 hours.

“Ha.. Fuck. It smells like shit…”

An incredible rotten smell rising from the trickling excrement stings my nose. If I stay here for a long time, I feel like I’ll be covered in the sewage-specific filth.

I already have a bad look, and if it smells weird, women won’t like it…

“Why should I put it in a place like this… Wow…”

I continued to mutter to myself non-stop, pulled the machete out of its black leather sheath, and moved forward.

Anyway, not only is escape not the goal and I don’t even know where the road is, so if I just wander around looking for traces of humans, I might be able to find something.

As I walked with that thought in mind, I really discovered something.

“Is this… A corpse?”

Unidentified bodies lying around.

Corruption was already quite advanced. Also, the cause of death could not be determined even by observing traces, as the person had been dead for at least a week.

It hasn’t even been a week since the disaster began. What on earth are these corpses?

Is he a human who came here long before I did? I don’t know. The corpse was infested with maggots and all kinds of disgusting bugs.

‘Bag… ‘

Normally I would have been so disgusted that I wouldn’t have come close, but I was quite interested in the bag the corpse was carrying.

Since this is a labyrinth, that bag might contain something to farm.

I cautiously approached the corpse.

“Wow…”

“Ugh..!”

As I got closer, the corpse reached out its hand towards me.

It appears that it was not just a dead body, but a zombie. That would mean that this is a being created by this labyrinth.

If you kill him, he’ll drop a magic stone, right?

“Ugh..!”

I cut the zombie’s head in two with one blow as it tried to stand up, dripping with bugs.

Like a zombie slayer’s machete, its power is enormous.

-Pusssss…

Yellow spores spewed out from the torn zombie’s head.

I felt like I was going to get really fucked up if I breathed that in, so I quickly covered my mouth and nose with my sleeve.

Soon, the unpleasant spores that spewed out from the corpse’s head scattered into the air and flew away, and the dead body also disappeared.

It was similar to the twisted mechanical dolls I encountered last time in the twisted basement. If you kill it, it disappears. And in that place…

[Lowest grade magicite: Used as a material or fuel for various items.]

The lowest grade magic gem remains. I picked up the lowest grade magic stone. I also opened the worn-out bag left behind by the zombie and checked its contents.

“Oh.. Oh my..”

It was all rotten or spoiled food. Also, as soon as I opened the bag, bugs crawled out of the rainwater and I quickly threw the bag away.

-Clatter..

At that time, the contents of the bag poured out and a small wooden box also popped out.

“This is…”

I hit the wooden box with a machete to shake off rotten food residue, maggots, and other miscellaneous bugs that were stuck to the box. Then I gently picked it up and checked the contents.

“Fuck.. This is it..”

[Unidentified ring: Effect unknown. Discern with the Eye of Discernment, or appraise using the Runestone of Discernment. Or, you can see the effect when you wear it.]

A silver ring worn on a severed finger. It is an unconfirmed ring with unknown effects. This was a pretty cool find. I got a rune stone of identification last time, so I can use that.

‘If you wear it all the time and it becomes a cursed item, you’re done..’

I searched through my bag and took out an identification rune stone with a strange character engraved on it.

“How do I use it? Can I just bring it to you?”

I held the rune stone to the unidentified ring. Then the runestone split and turned into dust and disappeared.

[Ring of Perception Inhibition: Diminishes the wearer’s presence. It becomes difficult to notice the wearer. 1 lowest grade magic stone is consumed for 1 hour of use.]

This performance is likely to drop from a reward box. It’s amazing that it lowers your presence.

‘I just happened to get a magic stone… ‘

Now all you have to do is find people through trace observation. Then, I think I can make a surprise attack while lowering my presence.

******

“Ugh… “

Somewhere in a stinking gutter, Seo Jun-gu, a man with dyed blonde hair, opened his eyes. He was a survivor from Busan, and he was an awakened person who realized the ability of ‘hand blade slash’, which requires self-harming instead of turning both hands into blades.

Thanks to his abilities, he was able to quickly kill zombies and was expanding his sphere of influence by catching and killing local gangsters. Then I found the gate and thought it was worth a try, so I came in…

‘It smells like shit. I should have come in wearing a dust mask.’

He stood up, frowning at the rotten insides of the unpleasant gutter.

Fortunately, there seemed to be no one around.

‘Isn’t that fortunate?’

Maybe it’s not fortunate. That’s because if you’re far away, you’ll have to wander around for a while to find people to kill.

‘If it takes more than a day, it’s a big problem.. Do you have food to eat right now?’

Kang In-ho brought in the bag that Yoo Sae-yeon had packed the day before in preparation for an emergency, but Seo Jun-gu only had cigarettes and a lighter. If the strategy took longer, it would have been a big problem.

‘I guess I should kill whoever I come across and take everything I have…’

There must be someone who brought food. If you kill that person and take their food, you will be able to survive a little longer.

‘Looking at it, the environment itself is dirty and unclean.. If you drink even a drop of water because you can’t stand starvation after being locked up here for a long time, you’re out. This is a fight to hold on..’

He said with a remorseful smile that he was quite confident that he could endure it. Because he grew up so disadvantaged, hunger always followed him from childhood, and thanks to that, he was able to grow into a human being with a high hunger tolerance who was not affected by not eating for a few days.

‘But for now, I’ll try to kill as much as I can while I can still move.’

Seo Jun-gu tried to go on a human hunt with the hammer he had brought with him. At that time, a sound of something breathing was heard in his ear. For a moment, Seo Jun-gu couldn’t move. Because the sound of breathing came from right behind me. He didn’t even realize until a little while ago that he had been caught.

-Haa.. Haa.. Haa…

The sound of heavy breathing ringing in my ears. It was like the breath of an excited beast.

Seo Jun-gu quickly rolled forward and tried to widen the distance. However, the moment Seo Jun-gu tried to move, the figure standing behind him pierced his back.

-Puhwaak!!

Seo Jun-gu’s heart was held in the large hand that protruded from his chest.

‘Uh..? Why is this… Out there…?’

Seo Jun-gu looked at his heart pounding and wondered why it was out there. Seo Jun-gu could not understand why his heart, which should have been inside his chest, was pulled out and pounding. This was a problem that was already beyond the realm of understanding.

-Whoa..!

Soon Seo Jun-gu’s heart burst. The being holding his heart gave strength to his hand and burst it.

“Shit.. Fuck… Kuheook..”

Seo Jun-gu, who was suddenly attacked and whose heart exploded, looked down at his empty chest in disbelief.

His chest was pierced. As if someone had been hit with a shotgun.

Also, blood was pouring out of his mouth without stopping.

There is no way for this. Seo Jun-gu collapsed as he saw the pieces of his heart his thrown out among the filth.

-Sharp..!

He died with his head stuck in dirty wastewater.

-Notice! One of the survivors has died! Six people left!

As soon as Seo Jun-gu was stabbed through the chest and died, a warning sound rang out throughout his stinking gutter.

“Haa..”

Hearing the notification, the man wearing the mustang let out a hot sigh. He casually walked over and searched Seo Jun-gu’s pocket, which had a hole in it. The only things in my pocket were cigarettes and a lighter.

“Whoa…”

The man took a deep breath and hid himself again in the darkness of the gutter.

He went to find new prey.

If you kill all the humans who enter this labyrinth, you can cross the gate faster than other members of your race.

Before the red gate opens and the full-scale blood festival begins, you can enter a world full of humans in advance.

The man smiled.

Even though most of his abilities were sealed and he was half dragged in, he still felt good.

Even when his abilities were sealed, he was strong.

Yes. Unfortunately, this additional person was not human.