novelraw Chapter 61 : Shouldn't Have Tried to Stop It.
Chapter 61 : Shouldn't Have Tried to Stop It.
Shouldn't Have Tried to Stop It.
Night had fallen on the desert dungeon, its Rank still unknown.
With the sun gone, the unbearable heat disappeared, but in its place, a creeping cold began to rise.
So it was true what they say—the desert is really cold at night.
Fortunately, thanks to watching documentaries, I already knew this and had gathered materials to survive the night.
Some branches from small trees that grew near the temple. Dry grass.
I put them all together, getting ready to make a fire.
The method of generating frictional heat by rotating a stick with my hands—yes, I learned that too from survival documentaries.
"Ughhhrrrk!"
But fire didn't light as easily as I'd thought. Strange. The survival experts made it look so easy.
Squelch.
No matter how much I spun the stick, the fire wouldn't catch, and frustration set in. At that moment, z-Avava stepped onto the pile of dry leaves.
Is it trying to use that as a bed? Just as I wondered, something began to rise from between the dry leaves.
Smoke?
"Ou, ou-ho!"
Upon seeing the smoke rise, an orangutan-like call escaped me before I knew it.
Quickly, I blew air onto the smoking leaves, coaxing the ember to life. Once it took, I transferred it to the dry branches, and gradually, a small flame started to grow.
"Ou-ho! Ou-ho!"
Is this how early humanity felt when they first discovered fire? The orangutan call, imprinted deep in my genes, sprang forth automatically.
"Z-Avava, well done!"
This guy.
So slimes can do things like this too?
Overcome with emotion, I grabbed Z-Avava in my hands, and a wave of heat surged, just like when sunlight had struck me in the desert.
Could it have actually stored the morning sunlight in its body? If so, what an unbelievable creature.
Warming myself by the fire, I watched Z-Avava wiggle at my side.
I was certain the original had died, so how could it split off like this?
Did the fragment of 'Z-Avava' I scattered at the end gain control once the main body vanished?
Well, it helped me, so I decided not to dwell on it.
"What happened to your god?"
I asked Z-Avava, but it just rolled its 'core' back and forth, as if not understanding.
Haaa.
As if talking to you would get me anywhere.
I stacked up some straw and made a bed-like thing, laying myself down on top.
Tomorrow I'd have to traverse the blazing heat again to get out of here. Besides, I felt myself growing hungrier with each passing moment.
If I wanted to move again tomorrow, I'd need to conserve my stamina.
With that thought, I closed my eyes.
* * *
When I opened my eyes again, I saw a familiar grassland.
I turned my head to see the giant rotten tree that had sucked me in standing behind me.
But this time, there was less fog, and no burial shroud was hanging on the branches.
There was no parade of black-robed figures, no fearful atmosphere—just calm and peace.
Anyone born here must see this kind of scenery all the time. Such thoughts crossed my mind.
"Is this an Inner World?"
It was the place 《Dungeon God》 players use to talk with gods. Surely, this was related to 'Mortis'.
But why was I here, even though I never worshipped 'Mortis'?
Just then, something began to glow inside my coat.
Right Eye of the Ascendant Maiden.
A divine item of Mortis.
"Don't stare too much. It's embarrassing."
A sudden voice startled me, and I turned to see the same woman I'd met before.
My eyes darted between the 'right eye' and the woman. The item's name was the Right Eye of the Ascendant Maiden, yet the woman still had both eyes.
"Did you really think I plucked out my real eye and gave it to you?"
Yikes.
Looks like she read my mind.
That's the problem with the Inner World. There's no privacy before gods.
"Why do you keep coming to me?"
I asked her, wondering why she kept appearing.
I appreciated her saving me, but showing up like a nosy neighbor—there had to be a reason.
"Does the god of necromancers need a reason to visit a necromancer?"
Once again, Mortis's voice. Somehow, she felt quite different from all my previous impressions.
"Gods exist by faith. Necromancers who believe in me think of me as their 'mother,' so I manifested this way."
Mortis spoke fluently. Unlike before, when she'd hug me and babble nonsense, she gave off a completely different vibe.
So is this flippant attitude how I imagine 'Mortis' based on my own image of her?
"This is my true personality. Since there are no believers in this Inner World, I can be myself."
Mortis pointed to herself, pride in her voice.
It makes sense—I'm not a follower of 'Mortis'. It seems her personality is uninfluenced by worshipers here.
Wait.
Then why did Thrag turn out the way it did?
Wasn't that crazy bastard shaped like that because of the barbarians?
I looked back at Mortis.
For the 'god of necromancers,' she seemed a bit too lively.
Necromancer types are supposed to be gloomy, living with corpses, and so their gods should be sinister as well—or so I thought.
"What a rude assumption."
"I'll ask again. Why did you come seeking me?"
Just in case, I grabbed the handle of the 'Blood-Colored Awl' hidden in my coat.
Even in the Inner World, a divine item like the 'Blood-Colored Awl' still works.
I can swing it.
If it comes to it, I can even summon Thrag here.
"Don't get mad. I'm just here to talk."
Honestly, I was a bit disoriented. Meeting a god from 《Dungeon God》 face-to-face was amazing, and the fact she spoke like a real person amazed me even more.
And she said she came here just to talk with me?
"I don't want to listen."
I declined.
Who knows what kind of penalty I'd get just from talking to an evil god?
Thrag would raise hell for sure.
"It'll benefit you too."
Benefit or not, I said I don't want to listen.
"You don't have anywhere to learn necromancy, do you?"
At her words, my head started spinning. Just how much did she know?
"I'll teach you. I'm the god of necromancers. I can tell you all kinds of things."
Tsk.
I clicked my tongue lightly.
Worried about what she'd say, but curiosity slowly won over.
Necromancer magic.
I'd struggled so much to learn necromancy up to now.
And she was offering to teach me herself.
How could I not want that?
"So, how about it? Ready to listen—?"
Squelch.
What was that?
Suddenly, something slimy dropped onto my head.
Running my hand through my hair, it turned out to be green slime. What the heck.
When I looked up to see where it came from, I saw a huge green shape falling toward me.
Shit.
Panicked, I looked at Mortis. Did you do this?
"Uh, uh..."
She looked just as confused.
So you don't know either, huh?
* * *
"Gah, gah-ak!"
It was none other than Z-Avava that jolted my neurons awake.
The creature had climbed onto my face while I slept. I managed to barely breathe and shove Z-Avava off.
"What are you doing, z-Avava?!"
I thought, with the imprinting effect, it thought of me as its mother, but maybe not?
But something was weird about Z-Avava. It didn't seem to mean harm, or plan to attack again.
"So why did you wake me?"
If there was a reason, I wanted to know. So I asked, and it started bouncing up and down.
Then, as if telling me to follow, it dashed out of the temple.
Had it stayed up all night watching outside?
With that thought, I got up and followed.
But the dream lingered in my mind.
The dream shown to me by the 'Right Eye of the Ascendant Maiden.' Could I see it again?
Up until now, I've been hunting necromancers to get necromancer magic, but if a god would teach me directly, it's a whole different story.
I'll get to dream it again. With that hope, I went outside after Z-Avava without regret.
And then I saw just why it made such a fuss.
"Oh!"
Far out in the night desert,
A flickering light moved.
It was surely a torch, carried to cut through the dark desert night.
People!
And judging from seeing it inside this dungeon, they must be adventurers.
Moreover, it wasn't just one torch. Several lights flickered up and down—likely a caravan of wagons.
They must have come well prepared, knowing it was the desert.
"Here!"
I quickly grabbed a torch from the temple, waving it and shouting at the top of my lungs.
Please, look over here!
"Over here!"
I put all my might into waving the torch, but it wasn't clear if the caravan noticed.
Then, the wagons stopped.
Did they see me? I shouted even louder.
"Right here!!!"
Did they hear?
They did! One wagon turned in my direction!
If they were adventurers who entered this dungeon, they must know where the entrance is. If I can just find the direction, I can leave too.
I grinned at Z-Avava. Looks like I was wrong about it not having intelligence.
For the first time in my life, I felt grateful to a slime as I waved my torch at the approaching wagons.
They drew closer. I could start to see the silhouettes of people.
Huh.
As they got closer, I realized something was odd about the wagons.
A normal wagon wouldn't look like this. It was covered in all kinds of spikes and crude markings.
Still, if it "rolls, it's good enough!" was the attitude behind it.
"Krk."
At the same time, I finally saw the faces of the adventurers leading the wagons.
Not human—dark brown or green skin.
Protruding tusks like wild boars sticking out from their mouths.
I knew what these creatures were.
"Human, human."
Orcs. Orcs.
Realizing the truth behind the caravan, I felt a cold sweat run down my back.
With no blood, I couldn't even summon the skeleton exoskeleton, and there was nowhere to run in the desert.
It was the perfect definition of a desperate crisis, and I knew just what to say.
I'm screwed.
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