Sword of Gluttony Queen - Chapter 2 - Left Behind

Chapter 2 : Left Behind

We arrived at the demon underground labyrinth’s 2nd floor of 《Den of the Battle Rat》.

It was a dark, and suffocating place. No matter how many times I came here, I couldn’t bring myself to get used to this place. And when I say suffocating, it wasn’t a metaphor. By nature, the air density between the demon underground labyrinth and the surface was very different.

Thanks to this environmental change the body of a Pure Human was weakened, save for a few chosen high levelled people. It will become even harder to breathe in the underground 3rd floor, one had to be extremely meticulous and careful of preserving their own life starting from the underground 5th floor and beyond. A party would need an environmental specialist to purify the air with their magic.

I pondered about this while I took out my mana lamp.

…. How strange.

Normally, the demon beast called Rookhead didn’t move around restlessly. Rookhead was a type of flying demon with bat-like wings and a goat-like head. They were the lowest tier of E-rank demon beasts, weak enough that Gilbert can kill them in one hit. Normally, one would meet them once or twice on the underground 2nd floor, and yet…

「Still alive, Dean-ku~n? This is already the third time you see. One more time and I’m gonna cut your payment by 1000 Temis you know? 」

「S-Sorry…」

I ran after Gilbert and the others in a hurry.

But I couldn’t set aside this unpleasant feeling of mine.

「Oo, if it isn’t the corpse of battle rat! 」

Gilbert said with a happy tone in his voice.

I pinched my nose upon smelling the decayed flesh and drying blood and went towards Gilbert. Despite the mangled remnants of the corpse whose head got smashed in, there was no mistake that it was the corpse of a Battle Rat.

「It’s your tu~rn Dean-ku~n. Come and check whether there’s battle bone remaining in that corpse.」

「Uhm, Gilbert.」

「You, porter should just follow our orders.」

Gilbert glared at me as he bared his teeth.

「… Gilbert-san, this corpse has several remnants of being bitten. Maybe there’s no battle bone left in it…. 」

Battle Bone was a bone that resided in every animal, it has the power to convert Odo into fighting spirit, in short – it was the life force of the animal itself. Fighting spirit was something that circulated in one’s body. It could increase the toughness of one’s muscle, physical strength, or even become an explosive force.

The reason why someone with higher amounts of Odo has better physical abilities and firmer muscles was because of this fighting spirit and battle bone. For this reason, both animal and demon beast have battle bone. But it is still not yet clear what the differences are between the two.

Normally, any animal whose level surpassed 【5】 in accordance with 《Imu》, they were not safe for humans, they were called demon beasts.

Battle bone was normally located in the abdomen, around the tip of the spinal column.

「Because the demon beasts were also eating this corpse for its battle bone… I doubt there’s any left when it has been bitten on so many times like that.」

「You fool have no right to talk back to me. What are you going to do if there’s battle bone left in that corpse? The battle bone of D-Rank magic beast like Battle Rats could become a fairly good magical tool. Even if you only find a little bit of it fell onto your feet, it would fetch 4000 Temis.」

… although harsh it is as he said. Well, what he said was reasonable since we could barely scramble for 2000 Temis even if we brought the meat, the skin, and the claws of the Battle Rat, its thumb-sized battle bone could fetch as much as 4000 Temis.

The same goes for the other demon beast, its battle bone was their most valued part. Though there are few rare exceptions, it’s stayed true for the most. For this reason, a majority of adventurers only gathered the battle bone and discarded everything else. I could understand Gilbert and why he wanted to confirm the existence of battle bone as soon as he found the corpse of a demon beast.

I mean 4000 Temis amounted to one half of a month of my total income. But, the one who rummaged through this less desirable corpse was me. This would take some time due to my lack of skill and physical strength. …I also didn’t wish to do this kind of job because even if I found, with a 1 in 10,000 chance, battle bone in this corpse, it was bound to end up in Gilbert’s pocket.

However, I wasn’t strong enough to go against Gilbert.

I gave up trying to argue with him, so I took my dismantling knife from my bag and touched the worm filled Battle Rat corpse with my hand. I sliced open its decayed abdomen, pried open its meat, and pulled out its internal organs.

Thus, after 20 minutes of trouble, I finally managed to pull out the lower base of the Battle Rat spinal column.

「… Look, the tail bone has been crushed, and the battle bone is gone too.」

「I see, as expected. Well, I’m not expecting it from the very beginning.」

Gilbert said with a nonchalant voice. Naturally, he wasn’t interested with the Battle Rat corpse anymore. Then he pinched his nose and said, 「You stink」.

After I was done with the corpse, I rubbed my hands on the wall and wiped my knife with a cloth.

「Let’s continue to hunt Battle Rats.」

The reason for Gilbert to adventure into this 《Den of the Battle Rat》 was to find their battle bone. Though we didn’t meet any of them in the underground 1st floor, they appeared here and there from the underground 2nd floor and below.

Although the encounter rate rose even further as we ventured into the underground 3rd floor, we would be doomed if we were to meet several of them at once with our bodies weakened by the air in the labyrinth.

Seeing that only Gilbert and Morgan could fight properly, going down to the 3rd floor was suicide. For this reason, they decided to play it safe by hunting a single Battle Rat in the UG 2nd Floor. (ED: Underground shortened to UG)

Though Gilbert said that his goal was four 《Battle Bone of Battle Rat》, I guess that it could only go as far as gaining three battle bone in the best situation.

「Eh…….? 」

I felt uneasy and turned around to look at the corpse of the Battle Rat. The wounds on its body are way too horrible.

「Get yer ass here quickly, Dean-kun. And I cut your payment by 1000 Temis since it’s already the 4th time.」

Feeling unsure I finally spoke after being warned, 「Just what… kind of being defeated this Battle Rat? 」

「Yes? 」Gilbert replied with a puzzled look on his face.

「The Battle Rat is the most powerful demon beast up till the UG 3rd floor of 《Den of the Battle Rat》. So, what kind of demon could defeat it? 」

「The hell with that! Don’t ya hear from the guild and the armies that there’s an outbreak in the gathering spot in 《Den of Battle Rat》?!」

Gilbert replied so with a dumbfounded look on his face. I panicked at his calm demeanour and argued.

「Don’t you think that Its strange with just a glance! Isn’t it strange that we didn’t see any Rookhead! 」

「That’s just your paranoia. Only a fool will believe in such vague signs. Especially for you, a porter who can’t even follow my orders. You just got scared of becoming the food of those Battle Rat right? 」

「That’s not true! Those bite wounds are obviously done after the battle! Battle Rat aren’t cannibalistic by nature! But they might eat their own in case there is an abnormal outbreak of Battle Rat occurred! T-That’s it! There was no Rookhead flying around is because of this abnormal outbreak of Battle Rats! 」

「Stop spouting such nonsense! 」

Gilbert shouted at me.

「Are you a fool? Think carefully about the preparation cost before we came down here! We basically return empty handed if we turned back now! Do you think you can spare your living expenses?! 」

「Can you get back your life? You’re going to die sooner or later if you keep going with such an attitude you know! 」

「What kind of adventurer are you for fearing death? Is it your half-baked resolution the reason why you’re still a porter even after such a long time? I’ve already become a full-fledged adventurer when I was 13 years old! 」

「The current situation has nothing to do with that! 」

After being glared at by Gilbert for a while, he continued.

「Fine then, let’s go back. But then, since we are retreating without confirming the gathering spot of the demon beasts, the cost for this entire trip will come from your pocket! 」

「Haaa! ? 」

「That’s just natural right? Yer can’t afford that right, Dean-ku~n! You think you can do as you please with other people’s money huh! Well, enough with this useless chit-chat, let’s get going! And that’s another 3000 Temis gone from your payment this time! 」

Gilbert raised his voice.

I’ve got no choice. I must follow them even deeper into the demon labyrinth. I kept following them with my head hanging down.

A while later, I heard the sound of something chewing on meat.

「Just right when they’re in the middle of their meal! Let’s kill’em up! Illuminate ’em properly? 」

After he told me so, Gilbert went ahead along with Morgan.

I followed behind them.

Five Battle Rats were feasting on a corpse of a Battle Rat right at the next corner.

In a normal situation, we would rarely meet a group of Battle Rats on upper level floors. That’s why it’s generally impossible for Battle Rats to form in a group of five on this floor. Moreover, I couldn’t think about anything other than the Battle Rats on the lower floor were driven up to the upper floors because they had trouble with finding food.

「T-This is bad, run…….! 」

When I turned around, three Battle Rats had been waiting ahead. It seems they were gathered in this place due to the mana lamp.

「IT’S DEMON BEAST GATHERING SPOOOOOOOOOOOT! ! 」

Morgan roared in a loud voice.

「T-These numbers are too much! E-Eight Battle Rats at once! 」

Gilbert was flustered.

I was about to turn off my mana lamp but, such actions were meaningless now. Those eight aside, I felt more of them were eyeing us from the darkness.

We were at a complete disadvantage.

「I’VE SAID IT BEFORE RIGHT! W-WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO NOW! 」

I placed the mana lamp and luggage on the ground and looked around frantically with 《Poor’s Blade Popo》.

「N-N-Nice prediction you got there…! 」

Gilbert looked at me with a cramped smile on his face.

「W-What are we going to do now? 」

「D-DIE FOR ME! 」

Gilbert pointed his magical sword, 《Bewitchment Sword》 towards me. The confusion gem on his blade let out an ominous purple light.

「《Decoy》！ 」

Gilbert cast his magic on me.

This magic attracted the surrounding eyes, it was mainly used so that one would be attracting weak demon beast.

「O-Oi, you… Don’t tell me…」

「You can’t save yourself with your level anyway so… die a useful dead for us.」

As he said so, he swiped at my feet. Unprepared, I fell onto the ground. And then, he ran quickly towards the exit.

「G-GILBEEERT」

「HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA! EVERYONE WILL DO THE SAME YOU KNOW? SO, DON’T THINK TOO BADLY OF ME! IT’S STILL BETTER THAN DYING ALONG WITH YOU! I JUST CHOOSE A CORRECT CHOICE! IF YOU WANT TO CURSE SOMEONE CURSE YOUR OWN WEAK SELF, DEAN! 」

Morgan hurriedly followed suit after that.

The Battle Rats whose attention was focused on me ignored Gilbert and Morgan who ran past their side. Although they noticed those two a moment later, both were faster than the two Battle Rats in front of me. They gave up on them and completely focused on me.

「L-Lie….」

The mana lamp and all of the food was carried by me. But… they could still use low-ranked magic like 《Torch》 even without their magical sword tool, and they could raise ration money by selling the magical sword tool.

「GILBERT YOU BASTAAAAAARD! 」

My scream resounded in the labyrinth.

I am sure that Gilbert and Morgan might be able to hear my scream now. But there was no way they would come back to save me.