Chapter 404: Elite! The Cannibal Who Cooks Soup!

——

【Congratulations, you have won a battle——

Your 【Gold Coin】 has increased by 21,800! (Pickpocketing +9%)

You have obtained the equipment 【Shambler Sculpture (Orange)】.】 【Shambler Sculpture (Orange)】

【Max HP +25%】

【Damage +15%】

【Critical Hit +8%】

【Immune to effects such as 【Stun】, 【Blind】, and 【Displacement】.】

【Stress accumulation rate +15%】

【Passive Skill: From the Abyss】

【When the equipment bearer's HP reaches zero, the Shambler Sculpture will devour their flesh and blood, and summon a true Shambler.】

【Note: The skill's activation condition is HP reaching zero, not entering the 【Near Death】 state.】

【"He is watching me. I can feel it, no—don't come over!" ——The Butcher.】

Twenty thousand Gold Coins, and a piece of Legendary quality equipment!

After seeing the orange light left behind where the monster had vanished, Yun Mu felt a sudden surge of spirit; however, when she picked it up, her face revealed a somewhat complicated expression—how should she put it?

This was a piece of equipment with very simple and brutal effects.

As long as it was carried, it provided a massive boost to attribute values.

Twenty-five percent Max HP, fifteen percent damage, eight percent critical hit, and it could even grant immunity to negative effects like Stun, Blind, and Displacement.

But... without a doubt, this was a double-edged sword.

While providing super-high attributes, it also brought corresponding side effects to the user.

The fifteen percent increase in stress accumulation rate was nothing; compared to the attributes the equipment provided, it wasn't even worth mentioning.

The important part was the passive skill 【From the Abyss】.

As long as HP reached zero, the user would be devoured by the sculpture, thereby summoning a true Shambler.

The description of this skill effect was exactly the same as when Yun Mu had just defeated the Butcher.

In other words, was this sculpture something the Butcher had been carrying? Being devoured when HP reached zero, rather than being devoured after death—the difference between the two was quite significant.

Even Yun Mu herself could not guarantee the ability to always keep her HP above zero.

But then again... the game required HP to be above zero, but what about the real world? The real world didn't have a concept like HP.

Could it be Near Death, weakness, or something of that sort?

The sculpture would specifically choose a special moment to devour the user's physical body and then summon a true Shambler from the Abyss.

Or perhaps, this sculpture was actually the true form of the Shambler?

Yun Mu held the Shambler Sculpture up in front of her.

This thing looked very small and exquisite; the shriveled deep purple skin and dark green pustules looked lifelike.

Even the interlocking canine teeth inside that gaping mouth could be seen clearly.

"Looking at it this way, this guy is actually quite cute." Yun Mu held the iron chain behind the Shambler Sculpture and shook it gently, saying half-jokingly.

"Mm... it really is quite cute." After hearing Yun Mu say this, Brenna leaned in close to the Shambler Sculpture and observed it carefully.

"Don't, don't do that." Yun Mu was somewhat frightened by her words; she hurriedly put the sculpture away and said, "I was just joking."

"I know that, of course." Brenna covered her mouth and chuckled twice.

"Stop chatting over there." Lucy spoke up at this moment to remind the two: "We are here to save people."

"Oh, right!"

Having previously been pulled into that dark purple void by the Shambler, Yun Mu's brain, affected by the Abyss, had been a bit sluggish.

Only after Lucy's reminder did she remember that the Dwarf recruit was still tied to the operating table.

As for the Butcher and his subordinates—those demon imps and pig-man slaves and such.

They had all disappeared after the battle ended.

Judging from the extra combat memories in her mind, it seemed that after the Butcher was devoured by the Shambler Sculpture, they had been scared away from the room.

It seemed to be an effect of having seen the Shambler's appearance with their own eyes.

It was understandable; after all, when the battle first began, Yun Mu and the others had also been forced into a state of Chaos, and even their stress attributes had increased quite a bit.

That seemed to be a unique characteristic of the Abyss; after the Shambler was defeated, when Yun Mu looked at the Shambler Sculpture again, she no longer had that strange feeling.

However, when she tried to recall the memory of the previous battle with the Shambler, its image seemed to be blocked by a layer of mist, and she couldn't see it clearly no matter what.

Only when she looked at the Shambler Sculpture could she recall it clearly.

How truly strange.

Shaking her head, Yun Mu hung the Shambler Sculpture at her waist.

At least in this Dungeon, she didn't think there were any enemies capable of draining her HP to zero.

After simply tidying up the loot, the three of them came to the operating table.

The Dwarf recruit seemed to have fainted; at this moment, he was even snoring.

His condition didn't look very good, yet after Lucy gave him a rough check, she discovered that he hadn't actually suffered any very serious injuries.

Most of the damage from the bear trap had been absorbed by the armor on his legs, and as for his teeth... well, there was nothing to be done about that.

Yun Mu and the others didn't really understand why the Butcher had pulled the Dwarf recruit's teeth.

Lucy guessed it might be a personal hobby of that Butcher; the pig-man slaves and pig-man gladiators they had encountered earlier were also toothless.

It was highly probable that they had been pulled out by the Butcher.

However, there was another possibility, one so terrifying that Lucy didn't say it out loud.

That is, those pig-men were perhaps ordinary humans and Dwarves transformed by some sort of special Ritual.

And pulling out their teeth was just one step of that process.

However, there was no point in saying this right now, so she would just let herself hide this thought in the bottom of her heart.

The three of them rescued the Dwarf recruit from the filthy operating table and gave him some simple treatment.

Afterward, Yun Mu tossed him onto Liliya's back.

"It seems a bit noisy outside?" After finishing these things, Yun Mu looked toward the direction they had come from with some confusion.

Relying on the hearing of a Transcendental, she heard what sounded like battle cries coming from outside the Gate in the distance.

Among them were no shortage of familiar guys.

"The Dwarves must have come," Lucy judged.

Laidun and the Dwarves led by him certainly wouldn't just wait around over there while letting Yun Mu and the others come to them.

They had many people, and it was not easy to pass through the dense forest filled with traps, so their speed was much slower.

At this moment, they arrived outside the Gate of the hidden area 【Rotten Meat Cellar】 and collided head-on with the demon imps and pig-man servants.

"Let's hurry over there too," Yun Mu said.

"Mm." Lucy and Brenna both nodded.

"Bang!!"

The War Hammer collided with the pig-man gladiator's skull, emitting a dull sound.

Laidun casually wiped the bits of flesh that had splashed onto his helmet, not letting his guard down.

Creatures infected by the Abyss have extremely strong vitality; even if their skulls are crushed, there is still a possibility of faking death.

He had to confirm that the enemy had no movement left before looking for the next target.

Furthermore, after the battle ended, these corpses all had to be gathered together for incineration.

Otherwise, there was no guarantee that there weren't guys among them who weren't dead yet.

"Block the exit here for me, don't let a single monster get past!"

After confirming that the guy in front of him was dead, Laidun shouted loudly.

"Oh!!"

The surrounding Dwarves responded one after another.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Yun Mu and the others also encountered pig-men and demon imps that had fallen into Chaos.

However, before a battle could even be triggered, these guys were so scared by the Shambler Sculpture hanging from Yun Mu's waist that they scattered and fled in all directions.

Yun Mu had originally wanted to chase these guys down to earn some Gold Coins, but the information popping up on the Game Panel made her abandon this idea.

【【Pig-man Servant】 fled in panic after seeing you; from the corridor the opponent passed through while fleeing, you picked up 3052 Gold Coins (Pickpocketing +9%)】【Laughing Imp】 fled in panic after seeing you; from the corridor the opponent passed through while fleeing, you picked up 3216 Gold Coins (Pickpocketing +9%)】【Pig-man Gladiator】 fled in panic after seeing you; from the corridor the opponent passed through while fleeing, you picked up 3052 Gold Coins (Pickpocketing +9%)】 A large amount of escape information refreshed on the Game Panel; Yun Mu looked at the Gold Coins constantly rising in her inventory and opened her mouth in surprise.

No, why does every monster drop Gold Coins when they flee?

And what does this have to do with 【Pickpocketing】? At least before, it would give a memory of picking Gold Coins off the monster, but now it's not even pretending anymore, right! But it doesn't matter, she likes it.

Yun Mu was so happy she couldn't close her mouth; she just led Lucy and Brenna all the way toward the direction of the exit.

And it was only after about half an hour had passed that this battle finally came to an end.

Laidun, who had been at the very front since the start of the battle, constantly performing a Hammer Swing until the end, let out a long sigh of relief, rested the top of his hammer on the ground, and leaned his body weight onto it.

"Those who still have strength, gather the corpses!" he commanded.

As soon as he finished speaking, he turned his head to look into the deep Gate.

He saw Yun Mu and the other two walking out from within, carrying the Dwarf recruit.

They had been waiting in front of the exit for a while; it wasn't that they didn't want to help.

It was just, how to put it, it was as if they had entered a cutscene, and they could only watch as Laidun and the others killed all the fleeing pig-men and imps.

And for Yun Mu and the others, that half-hour of time was only a short half-minute affair.

It was like finishing an exquisite CG; thinking back on it now, it was still very spectacular.

And Laidun and the others didn't seem to feel that anything was strange; upon seeing Yun Mu and the others return with the Dwarf recruit, they happily greeted them.

"The newcomer looks fine, geez, sleeping like a pig."

"Can you not say pig? We've already killed enough pigs just now."

"Hahaha, that's true." The Dwarves joked with each other while dealing with the corpses on the ground.

Laidun then came before Yun Mu and the others: "Thank you for your hard work, leave him to me." Laidun looked at the Dwarf recruit lying on Liliya's back and said.

"Of course."

Yun Mu naturally had no objections to this, and soon, the injured Dwarf recruit was taken away by Laidun.

"Whoosh!"

As slippery grease was spread over the mountain of corpses, a torch instantly ignited the entire mountain of bodies.

"That will do it." Laidun, having dropped the torch, looked at the raging fire burning before him and said.

Under the scorching heat of the high-temperature flames, even if there were guys who weren't dead yet, it was absolutely impossible for them to survive.

Although that was indeed the case, Laidun still prepared to wait until the fire went out to confirm there were no problems before leaving this place.

Beneath a rough exterior, Dwarves have a delicate and earnest heart; this is also the reason why the items forged by Dwarf craftsmen are fine and durable.

Of course, birds of a feather flock together, and not all Dwarves have this kind of patience.

After the great fire had burned itself out, Laidun and Yun Mu and the others continued to advance toward the depths of the Beast Cave.

Midway, the Dwarf recruit woke up from his coma, but because the injury on his leg had not yet healed, he was still placed on the supply wagon.

The other party expressed his gratitude to Yun Mu.

This guy's luck was truly quite good; he had already fallen into a coma before the Shambler was summoned, so he wasn't frightened by it.

Yun Mu chatted with him briefly, and after confirming he had no problems, she set her mind at ease.

At the same time, new branching path options appeared before her.

【Suiji Shijian】 and—

【Blacksmith Shop!】

It's a Blacksmith Shop!

Yun Mu's gaze lingered on the 【Suiji Shijian】 option for a moment, then she chose to go right without hesitation. Huh, has she been choosing the right side a bit too often lately? Whatever, who cares.

She currently had a full 188,995 Gold Coins on her, a massive fortune of one hundred and eighty-eight thousand!

She happened to feel that her current equipment was failing to keep up with her progress, so it was time to perform some enhancements.

Thinking this, a familiar—well, not that familiar—building appeared before the group.

It seemed the appearance of the Blacksmith Shop changed in every Dungeon; what appeared before Yun Mu and the others now was a square building built of stone bricks, embedded entirely into the mountainside.

The forge furnace radiated a scorching heat, and at the whetstone nearby, Guleiya, with her short black hair, was sharpening a dagger.

"Great, there's actually a Blacksmith Shop here!" Laidun said excitedly upon seeing the building before them, completely failing to notice anything amiss.

The other Dwarves in the party were the same.

Fine, it seemed Yun Mu didn't need to worry about them noticing anything unusual.

"Long time no see, Miss Yun!" Upon hearing footsteps, Guleiya looked up, saw Yun Mu and the others, and immediately waved at her happily.

"Long time no see, Guleiya." Yun Mu nodded in response: "How long ago was it that I was last here?"

"This..." Guleiya looked up, appearing somewhat bewildered. She pondered for quite a while before answering uncertainly: "It should be over a month ago... maybe around forty days?"

Around forty days, huh? It seems it really is about the same as the time in reality.

Yun Mu had asked this question when she last came to the Blacksmith Shop, and combining the results of both times, the time Guleiya experienced should be the same as it was for her in the real world.

As for what use there was in reaching this conclusion?

Hmm... it seems there really isn't any use.

Not in a rush to enhance her equipment, Yun Mu first chatted with Guleiya for a few moments.

For instance, what the other had been doing during this time, and about that former shopkeeper the other had mentioned when they last met.

Besides that, Yun Mu also tried inviting Guleiya to see if she could recruit her as her Partner.

(End of chapter)