My Demons

Chapter 24

Chapter 24

My fury surged through every strand of my hair as the helmet, armor, and sturdy leather boots were effortlessly brushed off by a perfectly aimed blow. A roar of anger escaped my lips.

You insane!

I-I apologize!

Before the girl could finish her apology, the dung beetle emitted an eerie noise and raised its body. Its mouth, filled with razor-sharp teeth, widened right before my eyes.

Ugh.

While I knelt on one knee, recovering from the blow of an iron, I thrust my sword with all the strength in my arm. Though my stance was unstable, the thrust was fueled by my boiling rage.

Pwoof!

Ugh!

With a powerful impact, fluids splattered across my face.

The thrust had accurately pierced the creatures mouth.

Squeak, squeal!

Even with the sword tip obliquely lodged in its throat, protruding into the air, the dung beetle squirmed as if it hadnt lost its vitality. It wriggled madly, resembling a worm set ablaze.

The strength of its movements caused my upper body to sway.

Ugh, its creepy!

I swung my sword with a grunt.

As the creature fell to the ground, spewing fluids, I swiftly rose, tightly shut my eyes, and stomped on its head.

Crunch.

Ugh, f@ck.

A disturbing sound reverberated, and a vivid sensation traveled up my leg.

Ugh, my body trembles involuntarily.

But a greater problem lay ahead. The dung beetle wasnt alone.

The hub we stumbled upon was littered not only with the corpse of the person we had seen but also with the bodies of rat men and cats, large and small. As many dung beetles as there were bodies were reveling in their feast, and they all pounced on me once I killed one of their kin.

However, I had already surmounted the immense wall of disgust. They were no match for me.

I regained my composure and dispatched them one by one

Eeek, its disgusting!

What composure? I momentarily lost my sanity and unleashed my rage. I couldnt tell if it was an outburst of youthful energy or an instinctual response.

Ah! You vile creatures!

I cleaved them in half with the edge of my shield, crushed them underfoot, slashed with my sword, kicked them into the wall, and obliterated them

After eliminating countless dung beetles, I hurriedly pulled a water bottle from my waistband and cleansed away the fluids they had sprayed.

As the dung beetle fluids washed off, I couldnt help but grimace.

Ohohoh

Ah, Im still weak. Ive slain dozens of humans in the arena without batting an eye, yet I tremble at the sight of mere bugs!

Ugh, its creepy. Oh, right. You there.

As I brushed off my shoulder and turned around

What what is it?

Ellen stood still, a large bag hanging from her back, her lips pressed tightly together. Tears welled up in her eyes

Ah, thats the expression my sister wears just before she gets scolded.

I havent even said anything yet.

Ah, is this the legendary tactic of first to cry wins?

Regardless, my anger was diluted by the repulsive disgust.

I could feel a bruise forming on my buttock, but thankfully, it seemed the bone was unharmed.

Wait. So, did this girl accurately strike between the bones? Even in that chaotic and dark situation?

Hey, thats a talent in itself. How do you manage to hit so precisely? Were you aiming for that?Fịndd new updates at novelhall.com

Uhh Im sorry.

For heavens sake, when you apologize, you shouldnt say Uhh Im sorry, you should say I apologize!'

Ellen rubbed her eyes and furrowed her brows, saying,

I did apologize, didnt I?

When?

Right after you got hit.

Did you?

It seemed like she did.

Ellen bit her lower lip for a moment before speaking softly, Anyway, Im sorry. I was a bit nervous and made a mistake.

Hmm. Its uncommon for her to apologize so readily.

Well, I should graciously accept it like an adult.

Alright, thats enough. Just be careful not to aim too close to me. It was fortunate this time, but in a more urgent situation, it could have been a fatal mistake.

Yeah, I understand. Ill be more cautious with my shots.

After receiving Ellens assurance, we continued our search of the hub.

She doesnt even know proper table manners.

I refrained from saying anything for fear of sounding like an old man. Its not right to force her to eat when she doesnt want to.

Besides, theres no concept of lunch here in the first place. You have breakfast and dinner, maybe nibble on an onion if you get hungry in between?

Ha, I was shocked when I saw the innkeeper munching on a raw onion like an apple. Isnt it spicy?

Anyway, carrying a heavy backpack and wandering in the dark sewers would definitely burn more calories than usual

Yeah, shes in her prime, right? Skipping a meal wont do any harm.

But for me, its a different story.

I chewed my food slowly until the last crumb and rinsed my mouth with water. Regardless of the taste, my stomach was satisfied.

Phoenixs body seems to require several times more food than Kim Seung-soos. Of course, considering the vast difference in physical abilities, its not an unreasonable ratio.

Well, lets consider our next move. Ellen glanced at a peculiar hourglass to measure the time, and six hours had passed since we entered the sewer.

We encountered a significant number of dung beetles and zombies, but we dispatched them much faster than expected since they were relatively easy opponents.

So How are you feeling? Not too exhausted?

What do you take me for? Im not that tired.

I see you as a crossbow holder, you goof. You were groaning just yesterday.

And if youre not tired, theres no need to exaggerate!

I barely suppressed the urge to punch her in the face and asked with a calm expression, Thats good to hear. Should we head back the way we came? What do you think?

Well, weve achieved our initial goal, so we should head back, but

Ellen, who had been refilling the oil lamp, trailed off with a pensive look.

I could easily guess why she responded that way. The problem we faced was we had no earnings whatsoever.

Ha, all weve done is clean the sewers.

I sighed and began putting my gloves back on when my attention was drawn to the rings on my hand.

The ring on my left hand resembled jade, a magic item. I couldnt recall the exact enchantment it possessed. It might have been magic resistance or attribute resistance. It was just a common item, insignificant whether I wore it or not.

Now that I think about it, how do we obtain magic items or rare items?

In the game, when you defeated dung beetles or zombies, they would often drop money and various items abundantly.

But this disappointing reality was far from that.

Monsters, when slain, only left behind their lifeless bodies. They werent generous entities that randomly spewed out items.

So, in reality, acquiring items meant scavenging equipment dropped by defeated enemies or collecting by-products from their bodies.

Yet, all we had encountered while wandering the second floor were repulsive dung beetles and nearly naked zombies. There were no equipment or by-products to speak of.

As I pondered about equipment, my gaze naturally shifted to my right hand.

A thick ring made of an unfamiliar material with a crimson aura. In fact, it was so sizable that it would be more fitting to call it a finger guard than a ring.

And regardless of its appearance, this ring far surpassed the jade ring on my left hand.

I inherited it from PkApplyMemo

Is it something like an inheritance?

The name of the ring is Seal of the Dragon Slaughterer, or in other words, The Seal of the Dragon Slayer.

It was a unique item I obtained by chance when I defeated a black dragon while playing the expeditiona dimension-traveling content enjoyed with a character who had cleared the campaign.

The ring boasted remarkable enchantments: a 30% increase in fire and poison resistance, a 15% boost in accuracy, and a 3-point increase in agility and strength.

By the way, the increase of 3 points in strength and agility was a fixed enhancement. Truly a cheat-level enchantment.

If youre wondering whats so great about just a 3-point increase youll understand once you review the stat system of Dark World.

To put it simply, the higher the stat number, the more stat points you need to increase it.

For example, PkApplyMemo had a strength stat of 50 and an agility stat of 52.

Both stats were in the 50s, requiring 6 stat points for an increase. In other words, even if you invested all 5 points earned through leveling up, you couldnt raise it by 1.

But what happens when you wear the Dragon Slayers Ring?

Strength and agility both reached 53 and 55!

In other words, the rings two enchantments alone had the same effect as investing a staggering 36 stat points.

36 stat points. Thats an amount that cant be obtained even after leveling up seven times.

Because of this, options that fix stats at certain values shine brighter as the equipped characters stats increase.

However, despite the presence of such a cheat-level enchantment, the final enchantment of the main characters ring was too detrimental to use regularly. It was kept as a backup item for specific situations rather than being worn consistently.

But it was precisely because of that final enchantment that this ring became a scam item.

The sixth enchantment of the ring was none other than wear restriction relaxation.

And it was an incredibly potent wear restriction relaxation, to the extent that even a low-level warrior like NeuclearWarStarter could benefit greatly from it.

Ah, the saying Dont trust humans in anything is so true. Just looking at this enchantment alone while playing the game would bring tears to my eyes.

If the wear restriction relaxation had been life steal or increased critical hit chance, it would undoubtedly have been a top-tier ring. Its disappointing to think otherwise.

Wait a moment.

After the PvP ended, didnt the Trickster old man return all the equipment items?

The armor, shoes, belt, and the six accessories. No, except for the Dragon Slayers Ring that Im currently wearingfive in total.

I distinctly remember carefully placing them all in the characters inventory for NuclearWarStarter

Where could they have possibly gone?