My Demons

Lost in my thoughts about the equipment, Ellen suddenly spoke up.

“How about we scout around the stairs?”

“Huh? Why the sudden focus on the stairs?”

Ah, right. We were debating whether to continue exploring or not.

“Just around the stairs?”

“…”

With that said, Ellen took out what looked like a folded greaseproof paper from her sling bag.

“Give me the map.”

“Huh? Oh, here it is.”

She took the map of the second floor, covered it with greaseproof paper, and marked the locations of the stairs using charcoal.

Then, she pointed to the marked spots with her finger and explained.

“Now, these are the locations of the stairs on the third floor, right? Even if we just investigate the area around the stairs, we can greatly improve the accuracy of the map.”

“Hmm. Since we’re heading to the third floor anyway, it’s a good idea to familiarize ourselves with the terrain in advance and be prepared.”

“Exactly.”

Oh, this…

It’s a common strategy in Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup, or DCSS for short, a venerable game that offers infinite gameplay possibilities with numerous races, gods, ever-changing dungeon layouts, and complete freedom to enjoy.

I quite like this approach.

Ellen brushed off the charcoal dust with a huff, folded the greaseproof paper, and put it in her pocket. She added,

“And there might be creatures like Ratmen appearing further down. We could earn some money from them.”

“Great. Let’s take a slow and careful look around the stairs.”

“Okay.”

So we decided to explore the area around the stairs on the third floor.

There were a total of four staircases connecting the second basement to the third. It wasn’t surprising since there were also four stairs leading from the first basement to the second.

What was slightly different was that unlike the stairs from the first to the second floor, which were located to the north, south, east, and west, the stairs from the second to the third floor were rotated about 45 degrees clockwise.

While this method of exploring around the stairs required crossing the second floor multiple times, making the route longer, it turned out to be a wise choice. Along the way, we stumbled upon and eliminated a pair of aimlessly wandering zombies.

After dealing with them, Ellen pouted, tallying up the slingshots she had lost.

“Ugh, annoying zombies. I lost slingshots for nothing.”

As she grumbled with a regretful expression, I shrugged my shoulders and reassured her.

“You still have plenty left, right? And when you run out, you can buy more from the armory.”

“If you keep spending recklessly, you’ll run out of money soon.”

…What does she mean by “run out of money”?

She had already spent most of the money she earned from selling a moonstone silver ring to buy a six-pence crossbow.

By now, she probably had… one pence? No, probably less than that.

Well, being broke is a common condition in youth. Let’s not say anything.

I silently teased her, and Ellen seemed quite content with my silence.

“So, we should just avoid zombies like these. It’s a waste of time and energy.”

“That’s not possible. You never know when we might have to escape from the third floor. It’s crucial to secure a retreat route.”

At my firm refusal, Ellen pouted with a sulky expression.

I understood her complaint, but from my perspective, even small amounts of experience were valuable, not to mention the importance of securing a retreat route.

I was particularly concerned about experience because, despite leveling up after defeating the pirates on the ship, I remained at level 11.

Even in a hardcore mode game, neglecting experience farming could delay scenario progression and greatly increase the risk of death.

After all, isn’t this like reality? In this cutthroat world, survival chances were undoubtedly linked to one’s level. So, I had no choice but to care.

But the frustrating part was that I couldn’t accurately gauge my current experience level. The dream only showed the character sheet and provided no information about required experience, inventory, or equipment.

Phew, is this mode even more intense than hardcore?

Well, at least being able to allocate stats and skills was something. It’s just that some information was concealed.

And I could roughly estimate the required experience. I’ve been playing Dark World for several years, so I should be able to do that.

First, let’s think about the experience table needed for leveling up…

The experience required at level 11 was 4500, or wait, was it 3600?

There was no way to know the exact amount of experience when I arrived in South Harbor, so let’s assume it was around 0.

I don’t remember the experience gained from the naked pirates very well. It’s probably similar to the highwaymen. Let’s say 15.

As for the Iron Mask, the warrior wearing one, the experience gained was 50.

So, the experience earned at the dock was… a little less than 1000.

The zombies provided 7 experience, and the dung beetles… around 5? So, roughly speaking, today I gained about 410 experience.

No, considering the crossbow stand and the party, it’s reduced by 40%, so around 250.

Oh, the reason I predicted that I would be in a party with Ellen was because of the dream.

Next to the I-tab that showed my character sheet, there was an H-tab that displayed Ellen’s sheet.

It might not be definitive to say we were in a party… perhaps it’s more accurate to say we were linked? Either way, it seemed to be in that state.

So, if I calculate it like that, my current experience is about 1,250.

This is precisely why I’m willing to defeat creatures like zombies and dung beetles.

Dark World has always been challenging to level up in, but now that it’s become reality, it feels even more difficult.

Game characters can fight tirelessly by clicking a mouse and keyboard, but I can’t do that.

So, when it’s safe and leisurely, I need to defeat as many mobs as possible and farm experience.

If I repeat what I’ve hunted so far about ten times, I can level up.

…Just thinking about spending a while rolling around with dung beetles makes me sigh involuntarily.

The third floor of the basement wasn’t much different from the second, as expected.

The dark passage stretched long with a sewer in the middle, just like the second floor. The hubs dividing the path into four directions were also the same.

The monsters inhabiting the hubs were identical as well. Zombies and dung beetles. I was already sick and tired of them.

When would the Ratmen appear? These creatures that don’t even yield any money are becoming boring.

Of course, whether it’s boring or not, it still grants experience. So, I relentlessly killed each one.

If rolling around in a dung field would increase my chances of survival even the slightest bit, then I had no choice but to do it, right?

Ellen and I started by going down the stairs in the 7 o’clock direction. There was no particular reason for choosing that direction; it was simply the closest.

After descending the stairs and moving along the straight corridor, we cleared the first hub we encountered and then returned.

We proceeded to explore the 5 o’clock and 2 o’clock directions in a similar manner, and little by little, the map of the third floor that Ellen was drawing began to take shape.

It was about time to head to the final set of stairs in the 11 o’clock direction.

I noticed that Ellen’s leather shoes were starting to drag, so I asked her,

“Are you tired?”

“Mind your own business.”

She responded grumpily, but there were a few beads of sweat hanging from her chin.

Well, it must be tough. Exploring the stone dungeon-like environment, or even just preliminarily investigating the area around the stairs on the third floor, was more challenging than we had expected.

Fighting enemies was manageable, but the continuous walking was taking its toll. The sewer was a vast structure, almost as expansive as South Harbor itself, which only exacerbated our fatigue.

Granted, the sewer had well-maintained flagstones. Originally built for water management, it was naturally designed for easy navigation.

However, years of neglect had left many obstacles on the floor, and numerous blocked or collapsed sections forced us to take lengthy detours. On top of that, the constant appearance of monsters provided no respite from the tension.

Even my legs were beginning to feel heavy.

It was odd if Ellen, who was smaller in size, didn’t feel tired while carrying a backpack larger than her body.

“Do you want me to carry the backpack?”

“I told you, I’m fine.”

She was such a stubborn mule.

Her bag contained all sorts of miscellaneous items: bandages, oil bottles, empty bottles, four sulfur torches, rope, antidotes, hemostatics, ointments, rations, a leather water bottle, glass bottles for collecting samples, and more.

On top of that, she also had a sling bag with her personal items like iron bullets and an hourglass.

If you added up all that weight, it must easily be around 15 kilograms.

So, what was I carrying?

Well, let’s see… I was armed, of course.

And I had a bag tied around me containing a whetstone, tinderbox, a small amount of antidote, hemostatic, and some rations.

Oh, and I also had a half-empty leather water bottle tied to my waist.

Considering my superhuman strength of 23, it was as if I were carrying no load at all.

…Saying this makes me feel a bit guilty, but there’s a reason for everything I carry.

If the enemy suddenly appeared up close, I needed to react immediately and engage in close combat. I couldn’t rely solely on the weakened crossbow stand, could I?

The truly surprising thing was that the one who proposed this uneven distribution of weight was not me, but Ellen.

Honestly, it was a bit unexpected, but I felt grateful to see her determination not to become a burden.

However, watching her struggle, I couldn’t help but feel sorry. Even though we took breaks here and there, it had already been 9 hours.

“Give it to me. We’re almost done. Let me carry it.”

“…I told you, I’m fine.”

“Hey, are you afraid I might tease you? I promise I won’t, just give it to me. I won’t tease you at all.”

With my assurance, Ellen’s blue eyes wavered for a moment, but she quickly closed her mouth tightly and vigorously shook her head.

“No, I said I don’t need it. Are you deaf?”

“…Alright, judging by your expression, it seems you still have some energy left.”

As we continued our conversation, we arrived at the stairs leading to the 11 o’clock direction.

Once we descended here and found the first hub, our work for the day would be complete.

As we made our way down the stairs, illuminated by a bullseye lantern, something caught my attention when we reached the third floor.

“Huh? Hey, take a look at that.”

“…Is that water?”

As Ellen murmured, I realized she was right. It appeared that the central waterway had overflowed, and the stairs were surrounded by water.

“What’s going on?”

“Either the downstream is blocked, or the upstream has opened. It could be one or both.”

Listening to her mumble, I fell into deep thought.

The surface of the sewer… Did the ancient empire’s sewer system have such points?

As far as I could recall, the ancient empire’s sewer was just a monotonously long structure with a regular layout.

The unexpected environment naturally heightened our tension.

The instincts that had dulled while dealing with dung beetles and zombies suddenly sharpened.

“……What should we do?”

At Ellen’s question, I found myself lost in thought.

It’s just a slight water overflow. Is there really a need to be overly nervous?

Although we’ve gained plenty of experience, we haven’t earned a single penny. Don’t we deserve to gain something from this?

Besides, we’re only on the third basement level. At most, we might encounter Ratmen. Plus, we have an exit secured right behind us.

After a brief moment of hesitation, I made up my mind.

“Let’s just check up to the hub and then leave.”

Upon hearing my words, Ellen set down her heavy backpack on the stairs. It would be better to travel light since we would be returning here later.

After confirming that she had reloaded her crossbow, I continued down the passageway.

It took about five minutes of cautious walking to reach the hub… but damn, it was a disappointment.

“Ah, how frustrating. The hub area is only ankle-deep water, nothing else.”

As I grumbled in disappointment, Ellen furrowed her brow and murmured.

“…Something doesn’t seem right.”

“What do you mean?”

“Look. There’s literally nothing here. No corpses, no trash.”

“Huh?”

As she pointed it out, I realized she was correct. There was nothing noteworthy in this hub. If I had to point out something, there was a collapsed wall in one corner with soil flowing out of it?

But even that was a common sight in the sewer.

Wait a minute, but that…

Something in the middle of the soil caught my eye. As I carefully approached to examine it…

‘What is this?’

“Ellen, come take a look at this.”

“What is it?”

As I sifted through the soil, clusters of fist-sized spheres came into view.

The white spheres, covered in dirt and speckled with brown, were slightly elongated as if they had been pressed from the side.

“… Eggs.”

Ellen, who had come to my side, studied the speckled eggs for a moment.

Then, her face quickly turned pale, and she said,

“… Phoenix, we need to run.”