Chapter 72

After burning the monsters at the western edge of the stage, Idy and I had been aimlessly flying around the stage to pass the time .

As we flew around, we could occasionally find monsters that survived the fire .

We spent our time hunting down the survivors .

Now, Idy was completely used to flying . She didn’t completely hate the new daily routine .

It wasn’t that she liked flying . She didn’t like touching down on a barren ground .

I felt the same .

There were just black charcoals and white ashes . The desolate field was uncomfortable and an unpleasant environment to stay in . Also, it was icky from mental health perspective .

There was an old saying about how one who hurt others won’t be able to sleep, and the one who was hurt will be .

Those wise ancestors were completely right .

I was the one who caused the fire, and I couldn’t even walk around the ground without of feeling awkward and leery . On the other hand, the ones who were hurt were sleeping soundly .

Although technically, they were all sleeping because they were dead .

“Keruk . Captain, we don’t have water anymore . ”

I came to my senses at her alarming words .

Damn it .

The huge fire completely evaporated all streams and ponds that could be seen occasionally in the stage .

We don’t have water .

On the large lake on south west region, a bit of water was left . However, because of monsters who jumped into the water to escape the fire and drowned there, the water there was contaminated .

“Let’s try enduring it…”

“Keruk…”

We were no different from the stranded survivors .

Damn it . I gained substantial experience points from burning down the jungle, but what I lost was greater than what I gained from this .

We lost the vacation life and became stranded survivors .

We are also almost out of food .

To begin with, I didn’t bring a lot of food in the dimensional bag .

There were little bits of meat jerkies and spices that I placed in there long time ago .

After all, why would I pack any food when Idy cooked delicious meals every day?

Damn it all .

With everything burned away in the jungle, finding food was fucking difficult .

There were corpses of monsters everywhere . However, they were all burnt to black crisps .

There were other corpses in better conditions, but it already had been a while since they died .

Their flesh was rotting . It was impossible to cook anything out of that .

We occasionally found live monsters and obtained meat . However, it was incredibly rare .

It was hard to find a single living monster after flying around whole day .

Ah, I should have just continued training at that cave instead .

“Keruk . It’s too late to realize that now . ”

* * *

Idy disappeared .

The Dead Summon’s duration had expired .

Because I did not have the moment to spare to think about the duration at the time, we ended up parting ways before I even had the chance to properly say goodbye .

Should I summon her again?

Um…

Let’s do that next time .

I should summon her again if I need to challenge the 12th Floor again or when I need her in some other floor .

Even if I summoned her now, there is nothing she could do here; she wouldn’t like it here either .

With Idy gone, my life here became harder .

Even when I found a monster that was alive, I didn’t know how to carve its meat out . I didn’t know how to cook it either .

I figured I should know how to make a fire and roast the meat . However, I didn’t think it would taste this bad .

The barbeque that Idy cooked did not taste like dirt water .

Just what’s the difference between Idy and I?

While I spent days with Idy, my senses opened to delicious meals . This was coming to haunt me now .

In the past, just eating meat jerkies were more than enough for me . Now, I wanted to eat tasty meals .

Whenever I closed my eyes, I could see the cooking that Idy prepared .

UUUUUuuuuaaaaaaaaaa!

Like that, for the first time, I learned just how fearsome the desire for food was .

A new problem surfaced .

I no longer have anything to wipe my bottom with after taking a dump .

The leaves, which I had been using as toilet papers, were burnt away . All of them .

I don’t even have water .

Kuruk Kuruuuuk .

My stomach was making noises . I searched the inside of the dimensional space bag as I held my stomach .

Is there anything I can use to wipe?

Tissues… I don’t have any .

Papers… There isn’t any .

Armors… That’s not appropriate .

Ugh!

I felt a sudden pain . I urgently tightened my sphincter .

[PR Note: Sphincter is, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, an annular muscle surrounding and able to contract or close a bodily opening . In this case, he’s just clenching his ass super hard . ]

Ugh… This is crazy . I had been holding it for so long . I feel dizzy .

I want to go take a dump soon and relax .

Like that, I was searching the bag, and what I found was the muffler .

It was the handmade muffler that I knit for myself while I was at the 2nd Floor’s waiting room .

Looking at the fluffy fabric, I agonized over the idea .

Could I use this lovely muffler as toilet paper?

This is no ordinary muffler .

Back when I was mentally cornered, I made this muffler to find peace and comfort in my heart .

To me, this is no different from Wilson .

[TL: He is referencing Wilson, the volleyball, from the movie Cast Away . ]

Actually, this muffler even has a name .

Its name is Hororong .

For my convenience, could I sacrifice Hororong?

I really could not decide .

[Lee Ho-Jae, 12th Floor: Hey, between a human’s dignity and a precious memory, which one is more important?]

[Kim Min-huk, 30th Floor: I’m busy . ]

You heartless rascal .

Ugh… I cannot hold it anymore .

I have to make a decision now .

It was like Hororong was looking at me and crying . I tightly held the muffler in my hand and firmed my heart .

At Tutorial, 12th Floor, Hell Difficulty, Hororong was killed in action .

* * *

[Congratulations . You are the first one ever in the history to clear the 12th Floor Stage by conquering it . ]

I buried Hororong on the ground and even placed a partially burnt piece of wood that was a half-charcoal as a replacement for a tombstone . I was in middle of a prayer when the message appeared .

It was a conquest clear message .

Now?!

Why? All of sudden!

I just sacrificed Hororong and even made a grave!

If clear condition was met just 10 minutes sooner, Hororong didn’t have to die!

Damn it .

I can think of one thing as to why the conquest clear was accomplished now .

Despite the large fire that burned down the entire forest, there were quite a few monsters that survived .

They either had fire resistance skills or quick movement skills similar to flight . They were the extreme few that survived .

I thought such monsters were the last hindrances to the conquest clear, so I had been going around and hunting them down .

Just now, the last surviving monster died .

Although I was not the one who hunted it .

The life system inside the stage was completely decimated after the fire .

In the end, this jungle is just a stage inside the Tutorial .

It is a sealed environment surrounded by invisible walls .

Along with this special characteristic, the fire completely obliterated the life system inside .

Even I had been struggling to find food .

When I, the one who could fly around the entire stage, was struggling like this, how would the other monsters fare in this situation?

They didn’t even have meat jerkies packed inside a convenient dimensional space bag .

Considering the time frame, it is about time when all monsters would have died from starvation .

In the end, only Hororong suffered needlessly .

[You acquired Fire Element Resistance Lv . 1]

[Heat Resistance Lv . 6, Burn Resistance Lv . 12 were combined into Fire Element Resistance Lv . 1]

[You cleared 12th Floor, Hell Difficulty . ]

[All of your status abnormality and wounds will be healed . ]

[You acquired 3000 points as the clear reward . ]

[You acquired 3000 points for the best clear . ]

[Many gods are showing positive responses to you . You acquired 5100 points . ]

[Many gods are showing negative responses to you . You lost 4900 points . ]

[You will be given additional reward based on your play record . ]

[You acquired 4400 points . ]

Usually, that should have been the end of the messages . However, it was a little different this time .

Numerous messages continued to pop up .

[All gods in the White Holy Temple is watching you . ]

[God of Slowness is greatly satisfied . ]

[God of Duel is hating you . ]

[God of Death is showing interest in you . ]

[God of Life is looking at you negatively . ]

[God of Forest is criticizing you . ]

[God of Pain is smiling toward you . ]

[God of Devotion is looking at someone with saddened face . ]

[God of Games is entertained from watching you . ]

One by one, numerous messages about gods’ responses showed up .

There were exactly one hundred messages like that .

This was the first time for me to see something like this after clearing a stage .

I actually think the Sixth Floor’s clear was a more meaningful achievement than 12th Floor’s clear, yet this happened .

The number of gods who were interested in me steadily grew since .

Could it be that the number had grown to one hundred, resulting in such long list of notifications?

It might be that there are total of one hundred gods in the Tutorial .

I don’t think I can gain anything from this information .

For now, I should ask Kiri Kiri… . Actually I don’t think I can ask her .

Information about gods are expensive .

Let’s set my curiosity aside for later .

More importantly, I should check the rewards .

First, let’s look at the additional reward .

Instead of skills or items, I got points .

During the last round, I got the Poison Energy Skill even though I failed to clear the stage .

Because of that, I wondered if I could get more skills from here and even thought about repeatedly challenging the 12th Floor .

I cleared the stage in quite a grandeur way, yet I only got points .

As I thought, instead of repeating the stage, aiming for the conquest clear was the right choice because I honestly thought this might happen .

Now, regarding the Fire Element Resistance Skill that I got as the reward for the conquest clear…

When I was at the Second Floor, I got Mental Corruption Resistance Skill from the conquest clear . It could be considered as a high-level skill among all passive skills .

It was the only immunity skill that I had . Also, it was a great skill that affected my overall mentality .

Considering that I got it at the Second Floor, I could even say that it was like a cheat skill .

Because I had received such a great skill in the past for the conquest clear, I had high expectations for the reward .

[Fire Element Resistance (Lv . 1)]

Explanation: Provides resistance to fire element .

What is this?

Why is the explanation so short?

Resistance to fire element…

The skill is not limited to just heat or burn . This skill encompasses all afflictions related to fire element .

I think it is a pretty high-level skill in comparison to the Heat Resistance and Burn Resistance .

I had level 8 Heat Resistance and level 12 Burn Resistance, yet I only obtained level 1 Fire Element Resistance .

When I obtained the Great Poison Resistance, the level 4 Poison Resistance Skill was combined into the newly obtained skill, resulting in level 2 Great Poison Resistance . Considering how that played out…

I think I should check out its effectiveness when I get the time .

Now, it is time for me to go meet Kiri Kiri .

Hm Hm… I know this, but I am not a person with a great character .

Honestly, I am petty, and I hold grudges for a long time .

That’s how I am honestly .

I looked at the grave in front of me and thought about the vow I made when I entered the 12th Floor’s Stage .

For one last time, I paid respects to Hororong’s grave . Afterwards, I stepped into the portal .

Farewell… Hororong .

Goodbye . I’ll miss you .

I’ll definitely avenge your death .

“It’s been a long time! This time, it has been a very long time!”

As soon as I teleported through the portal, I could see the green field and Kiri Kiri .

Kiri Kiri was hopping and busily yapping away .

“Hooowwwjae… Are you not going to cry this time either? It’s all right if you cry! Ah hahat . ”

I didn’t say a word . I merely opened the store window and purchased a cake .

* * *

“Ahhhhang! Give me! Don’t take what I was eating!”

Kiri Kiri’s face was soaked in sorrowful tears . I looked at her face and put up devious smile .

You rascal . ‘Ah hahat’ you say?

“Hey! You should have at least told me to pack some toilet papers! Where’s your sense of common decency?”

“Ahhhang! It would have been no fun if I told you that!”

I, the judge, found no ground for mitigating factors, hence I shall execute the sentence .

To make sure Kiri Kiri could not chase me, I used the Talaria’s Wings and Blink to fly up to the sky .

Kiri Kiri hopped from her spot and raised her hands toward the cake that was flying away from her . Kiri Kiri shouted,

“NOOOOOOO! I am sorry! I was wrong! Please don’t fly away! Give me the cake and then fly away!