Chapter 26
#26. Layer Upon Layer of Misfortune
People instinctively scream when startled.
Even I, who had been sound asleep and suddenly got shanked, was no different—except for one thing.
“Kuh, kahk!”
I tried to make a sound on reflex, but the blood forced back up by the blade just boiled over.
In pain, I quickly grabbed the knife embedded in my neck and forcefully kicked the person on top of me away.
-WHAM!
The unidentified attacker flew several meters and rolled, and I took the chance to pull the blade out of my neck and stand up.
-drip-drip!
It was a short dagger. Either it wasn’t that good a weapon, or maybe because of my defense, it hadn’t gone in deep enough to be fatal.
But, damn. I’m bleeding like crazy. Was I even supposed to pull this thing out?
Keeping my hand over the punctured part of my neck as much as possible, I looked around. Soon the attacker’s identity became clear.
“Damn it... that idiot couldn’t even do that one thing right!”
I had more or less expected it once I got stabbed by something dagger-like, but the attacker wasn’t a monster.
The expedition party NPCs stood there with tense expressions, weapons in hand. The one sprawled far away was the same kind of NPC.
“Kahk, you fucking bastards...”
I thought their attitude was a little off, but I never imagined they’d be preparing to backstab me.
I’d heard on the community that depending on the quest route, you could end up hostile to specific NPCs.
But I’d never heard of NPCs pretending to be friendly and then trying to assassinate the challenger.
“Hey, sorry about this. Still, don’t blame us too much, will you?”
Sticking a knife into a sleeping person’s neck and then telling them not to resent you—that's nonsense my common sense can't process.
“You’re too strong for us to handle. We couldn’t help but worry about the possibility of you stealing the treasure.”
Windsor was talkative even in a situation like this. But most of the muttered drivel wasn’t worth listening to.
These guys assumed that any adventurer would naturally be greedy for treasure.
On top of that, they thought that if I slaughtered the expedition members and took the treasure for myself, they wouldn’t be able to stop me.
To be honest, they weren’t completely wrong. I was interested in that lightning-wielding weapon, after all.
“Besides, what kind of adventurer travels through a place like this alone? Truthfully, isn’t there a better chance you’re a wanted robber?”
It was absurd, but hearing it, it did make a kind of sense.
In the end, it was my being a solo player that was the problem again.
If I hadn’t been a solo player, I wouldn’t have gotten strong enough to make these guys wary in the first place.
“If you’d just fallen for a trap before getting this far, we wouldn’t have had to do this... and now there aren’t any traps left either.”
Oh, is that so.
So that’s why there were so many traps. They’d been triggering every trap in the place as they went along.
I’ve heard enough. I took my hand off my neck and drew my sword.
[Combat Healing Lv.1]
A passive skill I learned after nearly dying in the second-floor boss fight: Combat Healing.
Its effect was a passive HP regeneration that stayed active at all times.
While Windsor was rattling on, the neck wound from the dagger had mostly healed.
Yep, that bastard really does talk too much.
**
Before I could move after taking my hand off my neck, someone else moved first.
“B-burst!”
One NPC threw something like a black stone. I don’t know what it was, but it looked like it was meant to blow up.
The supposed bomb hit the wall behind me and, with a bang, burst into flames.
It seemed less like a bomb and more like a Molotov cocktail. Even if it had hit me, it probably wouldn’t have been much of a problem.
“Hyah!”
Seeing that my neck wound was closing up, they must have gauged the situation somehow, because the NPCs all rushed me at once.
Come to think of it, when the lizardmen appeared, each of them had grabbed a weapon and prepared for battle.
Since they were preparing to fight rather than flee, they must have been confident they could take down at least one lizardman.
If they couldn’t even do that much, they never would have been able to set up camp in lizardman territory in the first place.
-CRACK!
I knocked over the NPC swinging an axe and then smacked the jaw of another one charging in right after him.
I didn’t even hit that hard, but something sounded like it was shattering.
Maybe because I only ever fight lizardmen, but NPC bodies feel like brittle crackers, snapping apart.
The axe-wielder who’d fallen got back up, picked up a rock, and charged me with his bare hands.
“What kind of bullshit is this.”
-WHACK!
My carelessly swung sword sank deep into the NPC’s forearm. Red blood splattered down.
Come to think of it, this was my first time fighting an enemy that looked human.
Goblins and kobolds, of course, and even werewolves and lizardmen don’t really look human.
In the first place, none of the monsters I’d fought so far had been about the same size as a human.
Goblins were too small, kobolds were rather tiny, and lizardmen were the closest to human, but...
Even they were a race whose average height was 2 meters, so it felt like I was fighting an entirely different kind of creature.
“Aaaagh!”
Watching the NPC scream while bleeding red made my feelings a little complicated.
How is killing these guys any different from murder?
It was the perfect chance to finish him off, but the moment I thought that, my hand stopped.
And as if they’d been waiting for that exact moment, another NPC charged at me with a dagger.
Come to think of it, this was the guy who had been knocked sprawling by my first hit.
“Just lie there already.”
-CRUNCH!
I kicked the charging NPC in the pit of the stomach.
Then the NPC spewed something from his mouth. I hurriedly covered my face with my shield and backed away.
No matter how I looked at it, that wasn’t spit, and there was no way he’d be spitting water in this situation, so it was probably poison or something.
Wait, poison?
Come to think of it, the edge of my vision had been wavering slightly since a little while ago.
If he was the type to use poison, it wouldn’t be strange at all if he’d smeared it on the dagger before stabbing me.
Come to think of it, the fact that I’d fallen asleep so quickly after eating the meat soup already seemed suspicious, so they must’ve put something in that too.
“Shit, fuck.”
There’s no antidote in my inventory. Normal potions only heal wounds.
I don’t know how strong the poison is, but if this drags on, who knows what’ll happen.
What was I hesitating for just because they looked human? These bastards are all just NPCs anyway.
I should sort through the complicated thoughts after I’ve secured my safety.
For now, kill them all.
**
Maybe it was because I had no idea whether I’d live or die right then and there.
Even after killing six human-shaped enemies, I surprisingly didn’t feel much of anything.
And there was one more unexpected thing.
[Searching for the Ruins' Treasure - Expedition Captain Windsor]
[Quest Objectives]
1. Join the expedition (Complete).
2. Explore the ruins (Complete).
3. Find out what the treasure is.
Even after killing the NPC who gave the quest, the quest was still progressing.
Come to think of it, there wasn’t any part of the quest objectives that checked whether Windsor lived or died.
Since the ruins exploration also showed as complete, it looks like if I go a little farther through this cavern, I’ll reach wherever the treasure is.
But now isn’t the time to be doing the quest.
“Hoo...”
I’d been drenched in cold sweat nonstop for a while now. That dagger was definitely coated with poison.
The area around my healed neck was burning hot, like I’d been scalded.
I don’t know if it’s a lethal poison, but there’s no way I can fight the ruins boss in this state.
Windsor said there were no traps left in the ruins.
Then getting back to the village shouldn’t be that hard. For now, I’ll head back and buy an antidote or something.
-thud, thud, thud.
If I moved too quickly, the poison might spread faster, so I kept a moderate pace as I walked.
But even so, the poison slowly began to spread through my body.
My fingertips started to tingle little by little, and if it had some kind of paralysis effect, my movements were getting stiff.
On top of that, my head gradually started to feel hot, then a headache set in, and my stomach started hurting like I’d eaten something bad.
I drank recovery potions regularly, hoping they’d help even a little, but there wasn’t any noticeable improvement.
Damn, this is my first time being poisoned... and it’s way more fucked up than I expected.
The pain itself wasn’t all that bad, but the fact that my condition kept getting worse over time was the worst part.
“Hoo, fuck.”
As I mulled over how fucked up this was while walking at a brisk pace, before I knew it, the entrance to the ruins came into view.
But from that direction, I could hear some sort of noisy commotion. Had other expedition members arrived?
Just in case, I gripped my sword and shield and approached the entrance. Then the source of the commotion became clear right away.
-Keurk, keurk!
Outside the ruins, dozens of lizardmen were arrayed in formation.
What’s more, unlike the lizardmen I’d fought until now, every one of them was armed in a way that looked downright ominous.
Their weapons all gleamed with a cold, razor-sharp light, and many of them were wearing metal armor.
The bands on their shoulders were blue.
According to the lizardman rank system Windsor had told me about, that meant all of them were intermediate warriors.
And the number of stripes wasn’t just one; there were plenty with two or even three.
Mixed in with them were a few high-ranking warrior lizardmen wearing red bands.
“Fuck my life.”
In other words, I’m totally fucked.