laulau20

Chapter 95: Dungeon

Added 2025-07-11 13:51:12 +0000 UTC

“Can I have my human head back—but without the fur?” James asked. He figured that if he could cover his orcish body with a robe or something, he might pass as a hulking human.

[Yes. However, if Survivor James chooses to remove the firefur from the head, another monster head will be required to reapply it.]

“Can I do this with other body parts too? Like arms?”

[Yes. Survivor James may freely change the skin of any individual body part.]

“And can I get the firefur back later?”

[Yes. As long as the skin on the torso remains unchanged, Survivor James may reapply the firefur when swapping back to eligible parts.]

“I see. So let’s say I have a human arm with firefur. If I replace it with a normal human arm, I’ll lose the fur on that arm. But if I swap it again with another compatible arm, I can get the firefur back?”

[Correct.]

“Good. Let’s change the head and sell the armor and sword this knight had.”
James had decided. He needed to pass for a human here. He had realized the townspeople and guards targeted him because of his monster appearance.

[Head replaced. Cost: 50 coins. You now have 2,350 coins remaining.]
[Knight’s armor and sword sold: +100 coins]

“Hm… if I can set up an ambush and kill those knights, getting Chimera Level 3 isn’t a dream anymore. Chimera Level 3 costs ten thousand coins, right?”

[That is correct.]

“Better start saving.”

James looked around. “By the way… this was a well? More like a cave to me."

The place looked abandoned. The water only reached his ankles, and stone moss grew along the damp walls. More surprisingly, the well was connected to a wide underground cave.

With sword in hand, James started exploring. He glanced down at his body.

“Should I sell this Dustmail? It didn’t stop the knight’s sword…”

He knew he was being unreasonable. Armor didn’t block weapon skills. That was just how the system worked. Still, seeing the armor shredded again and again without resistance was frustrating.

Then, as if the system suddenly remembered that armor was repairable, a familiar prompt appeared.

[Would you like to repair Dustmail for 200 coins?]

“Fine!” James grumbled. Then he paused. “System, how much do I need to upgrade my sword skill to level 5?”

[Each upgrade costs 400 coins. You need to upgrade your sword skill 4 more times to reach level 5. That totals 1,600 coins.]

“I’ll get to it later,” James muttered, closing his eyes.
The offer was tempting. He needed the sword skill now—especially since he’d lost his axe and the sword had become his main weapon. But 1,600 coins were no small investment. He wondered if he should buy a flashbang or a frag grenade instead.

After pulling himself together, he ventured into the dark cavern. He expected it to end shortly—but it didn’t. The fire from his fur lit up the path ahead.

“What’s…” James whispered, spotting three shadows guarding a treasure chest.

Each of them was a humanoid monster, oozing with thick black liquid. The fluid sizzled and vaporized upon touching the ground, generating a dark miasma around them.

As soon as they noticed him, the shadows materialized black swords.
James instinctively reacted with a sword skill and launched the first strike. A golden arc slashed toward the humanoid—clean through it, like slicing through slime. His blade passed through the sticky figure without resistance.

One of them snapped with their sword. A dark glow, twisted with miasma, mirrored his sword skill and surged toward James. Even after being sliced in half, the monster remained standing—unharmed. The ooze stitched its body back together before it could fall.

James sidestepped the counterattack.

“Is it immune to sword skills?” he muttered in disbelief. “That’s impossible.“

Mind magic came next—but that didn’t work either. The monsters kept chasing him. It wasn’t until he unleashed his fire breath that he saw results. The flames scorched them, making them shriek. More of the oozing black fluid evaporated in the heat.

Seeing that it worked, James pushed forward.

The three monsters spread out and charged toward him. James lit his body on fire and met them head-on. With a roar, he punched two of them square in the face, flames bursting from his fists on impact.

“ARGH!!”
The three monsters collapsed to the ground after a futile wrestling match against James. Once the black ooze dried up, all that remained were the desiccated corpses of humans.

[You have been infected by parasitic ooze.]

“What’s that?” James asked aloud.
Some of the ooze had latched onto him—he could feel it writhing at the back of his neck.

[A parasitic ooze is a living disease that engulfs its host.
It can only be treated with fire.
Your current infection rate is 5%. If it reaches 100%, Survivor James will die and be replaced by a mutated ooze.]

James immediately lit himself on fire again.

“Shit,” he hissed, feeling the burn as his hand rubbed the itchy spot on his neck. Still, the infection rate fell. Slowly but surely, it reached zero, and the system's warning vanished.

“Thank God I have firefur... Shit. I knew it was a mistake.”

James was already regretting the decision to change his head back to a normal human’s.

As he turned to the treasure chest, a strange feeling hit him—something was missing. He didn’t receive coins or a level-up. The latter was understandable; maybe those three monsters didn’t give enough experience. After all, he had just leveled up after killing the knight.
But not getting coins?

“System. I just defeated three monsters. Why didn’t I receive any coins? Do I even get EXP?”

[If the infection rate reaches 100%, the host is considered dead. There will be no coins or EXP given. Otherwise, they will provide normal EXP and coins. Any infected body, regardless of the infection rate, cannot be looted by the Chimera skill, and their shop sale value is decreased by 100%.]

“That’s practically nothing!” James snapped.

The system didn’t respond.
Knowing it was useless to argue further, James turned back toward the treasure chest.

He was about to perform his usual ritual—opening it with a rope from afar—when he suddenly remembered.

“I lost my spinneret...”

He could no longer create rope to pull the chest open from a distance.

“Let’s do the usual check first.”

James fired an ice arrow at the chest. He didn’t expect much—he figured the spell would just bounce off. Even if there was a minuscule chance that a trap had been activated, he was over five meters away. That was enough distance for any arrow trap to fall short and enough time to flee if it released poison gas.

Little did he know, the chest was a monster.

It opened its lid, revealing several tentacle-like appendages writhing inside like a tongue. Serrated teeth lined the inner rim of the chest.

“Holy—!”

James leapt back, lighting himself on fire once again. He silently thanked his reflexes for saving him. Never in his wildest dreams had he thought a treasure chest could leap at him. It wasn’t a chest. It was a mimic.

After quickly regaining his bearings, James lunged forward. His sword skill, Vorpal Slash, bisected the mimic cleanly in two.
Unlike the oozing monsters from earlier, this one properly died. No need to finish it off with fire.

[Congratulations. You have defeated a Living Chest.
You have acquired 1500 coins.
You have obtained an EXP scroll.
You have leveled up to Level 54.
Your Attacker class has leveled up to Level 35.
Your Sword Mastery has leveled up to Novice Level 2.]

“At least the prize was nice,” James muttered.

After some more exploring, he encountered two more infected oozes. Taking care not to get too close, he scorched them from a distance while slowing their movements with ice magic. A few minutes later, he came across something new: two infected orcs guarding another treasure chest. They weren’t fully infected yet.

How did he know?

The ooze hadn’t fully engulfed their bodies. One had ooze crawling up to its shoulder, while the other had it coating only the lower half of its body.

“This will bring EXP, right?”

[That is correct.]

James drew his bow. Golden motes of light gathered at the tip of the arrow. As the energy coalesced, he loosed it toward one of the orcs. The arrow shot clean through its head.

He readied another.

The second orc charged at him, but James was faster. His Homing Shot skill activated, tracing a golden path toward the orc’s forehead.

“What the heck?” James muttered as the orc raised its infected hand in defense. The arrow struck, but instead of piercing its skull, the golden light fizzled out after hitting the arm. The shot veered off slightly and buried itself in the orc’s shoulder.

The severed hand, now writhing on the ground, twitched. Moments later, it reattached itself like it was made of memory foam, reforming the limb as if nothing had happened.

The orc was now too close for comfort.

James retreated, unleashing his Fire Breath to roast the creature alive.

“That was weird,” he said, frowning.

[Infected Ooze will attempt to preserve the host’s limbs and bodily functions. Even if severed, the limbs will reform and reattach as if molded from memory foam. The only way to nullify Infected Ooze is through acid or fire. Conventional weapons will not work on infected creatures.]

“Thanks,” James replied, then turned toward the nearby treasure chest.

This time, he kept his sword at the ready and cast an Ice Arrow from a safer distance.

The spell hit the chest, but a familiar purple shield shimmered around it. System protection. No trap was triggered.

James cautiously approached.

“Should I use the sword to pry it open from afar, or go around and open it from the back?” he muttered to himself, weighing his options. Treasure chests could be valuable—but also deadly.

In the end, he circled around and opened the lid from behind, hoping that any trap would be deflected by the chest itself.

No trap triggered.

Inside lay a crimson blade.

[The Sword of Khine
Forged from the eternal fire of Khine Mountain.
All sword skills performed with this weapon are imbued with fire, converting physical damage into fire damage.]

“Great! Just what I need!” James exclaimed. “Would’ve been better if they placed this at the entrance of the dungeon! You know, just in case.”

He sighed. “How are people without fire or acid supposed to beat those ooze things? Sword skills don’t even work…”

The situation reminded him of that meme—buying a pair of scissors sealed in impossible plastic packaging that also needed scissors to open. A classic catch-22. You needed fire to beat the ooze guarding the sword… but the flaming sword was locked in a chest behind them.

With a resigned sigh, James pressed forward. After some more exploring, he finally found the cave’s exit.

[Name: James]
Age: 35
Sex: Male
Level: 54
Coins: 3800
Merit: 10

Stats

STR: 168 (↑3)
DEX: 164 (↑2)
MAGIC: 125 (↑3)
MANA: 1140 (↑20)

Skills

Novice Axe Mastery Level 5 (Powerstrike, V-slash, Boomerang)
Novice Sword Mastery Level 2 (Hurricane, Vorpal Lunge)
Novice Bow Mastery Level 1 (Quickshot, Homing Shot)
Beginner Dagger Mastery Level 1

Magic

Mind Flay
Sense Alteration
Mana Sonar

Class

Attacker (Level 35) (↑1)

+1 STR, +1 DEX per level
+10% bonus when attacking

Shop (Level 2)

Health Potion (100 coins)
Hematonic Potion (50 coins)
High Potion (300 coins)
Antidote (50 coins)
Bullets (10 coins/round)
Grenades / Flashbang (50 coins/piece)
Arrow (50 coins/dozen)
Metal Pocket Arrow (100 coins/dozen)
Poison Dart (10 coins/round)
Merit Shop (10 merit/skill)
Sell / Repair Function

Unique Skill – Chimera Level 2 (1 extra slot available)

Stomach Slot: Goblin Stomach (Iron Guts)
Right Eye Slot: Eyes of Mana (Mana Sense)
Right Arm Slot: Golem Arm of Valhalla (STR +30%, Physical Resistance +30%, Mana -200, Repairable)
Leg Slot: Ratking’s Legs (STR +25%)
Lung Slot: Flaming Tiger’s Fire Lung (Fire Breathing, Mana -100, Magic -10)
Heart Slot: Golem Core (Poison Resistance, Mana -250, Magic -10, Repairable)
Torso Slot: Orc’s Torso
Head Slot: Orc’s Head
Mouth Slot: Shadow Snake Fang (Intermediate Life Leeching)
Skin Slot: Flaming Tiger Lord’s Firefur (Fire Cloak, Fire Resistance, Physical Resistance +15%, Mana -100, Magic -10)
Ear Slot: Land Shark’s Ear (Echolocation: 10m)
Extra Slot: Mana Core (Water Spells: Ice Spear, Water Manipulation, Magic +60, Mana +1000)
Extra Slot 3: Quetzalcoatl Horn (Lightning Shot: 20 Mana/shot)
Extra Slot 4: Mana Core (Wind Spells: Wind Gust, Wind Wall, Magic +20, Mana +300)