Dungeon Hunter - Chapter 130

Chapter 130: Episode 39. The Underworld (1)

My body felt heavy. My whole body was hot, and my heart felt like it would rupture. I sweated ceaselessly, and I was unable to maintain control of my thoughts.

“He’s alive.”

“My goodness… you say he’s alive? His heart is racing and he’s bleeding, though?”

“Listen. Do you hear something?”

Something rattled and moved around me. Then I felt someone’s clammy hand touching me.

“It’s true! He’s really alive! He’s alive! It’s crazy!”

“What should we do? Would it be good to let this news get to the village?”

“Nah. Why are you saying that as if you don’t know the Elder’s personality? He’s always obsessed with safety first. Let’s just keep this between us for now.”

“But his condition is really bad. His fever seems really severe.”

“Just a minute. What’s the best thing to do in this situation? I seem to remember… Torium, do you remember?”

“He should get better if we soak a cloth in cold water and place it on his forehead.”

“Aah, that’s right. That was it. I guess I forgot because it’s been so long. Just wait here. I’ll grab it and come back.”

“Jeff, there’s no time. The patient is weak.”

“I know that!”

Torium and Jeff.

The one called Jeff got up and left.

I felt stuffy.

But I couldn’t spare the time to pay attention to what was happening around me. My chest was tight. It seemed like something was just weighing down on it. Perhaps… the starting point of this pain was my heart. My heart was jolting so much I thought I would go crazy. It was so awful I thought it would be better for it to just stop.

“Ha, he’s a survivor. A survivor in the Underworld, the world of the dead…”

Thump! Thump! Thump!

The sound of my heartbeat rang in my ears so loudly I was surprised it didn’t explode.

How much time could have passed?

My mind, which had been distant, was steadily getting back into place.

It was still difficult to move my body, but I could hear some of the noises around me.

“Torium. If you’re tired, should we take turns? You have to make up a story, too.”

“I can make up a story from here, too. In any case, the lord doesn’t like my stories that much. He just listens to them to kill time since he has nothing to do.”

“Come on. Your stories are so interesting, Torium! I’m jealous of your talent. I bet you see so many beautiful and fun things at the lord’s manor, don’t you?

“That is nice, but… I see lots more things that are hard to watch. And hear things that are hard to hear. They say war broke out in the central region again.”

“Whew, aren’t you afraid? Wars start so easily. Why would it be bad if we tried to get along among those of us who are already dead?”

It was a commander who had maintained his neutrality so far, so it doesn’t seem like it’ll end easily this time. There was a rumor that he’d disappeared, but they say he suddenly came back and unsheathed his sword. It could be that this is indeed the time when the central district is conquered.”

“It won’t work. There’s no one who can undo this eternal curse. Their legitimacy is jack shit. They’re all the same. Just full of selfish self-interest… and you know that weak people like us are always the ones who suffer.”

“That may be true, but… the commanders who were so boastful are now freaking out. They might start drafting people from our village.”

“Hey~ But we’re in the southern district, not the central district, right?”

“There’s actually also a rumor that the warfront will be the southern district.”

“Why?”

“They’re forcing people to rally together. They’re going to prey on the easygoing southern district, build up their power, and then take on the others, that’s what they’re saying. There’s a rumor that their forces are already moving down here.”

“They’re coming to the central district because the war is so tedious… I guess there’s no place that’s safe.”

“Is it okay for a soldier worth a hundred men to feel bored?”

“Shut up. Let’s stop talking about such chaotic things now. How long do you think our cutie over here will be asleep for, anyway?”

“His fever seems to have gone down. And the rate of his recovery is surprisingly fast. In this state, he should soon… huh?”

“His finger! His finger moved! I saw it!”

“Jeff, stop making such a big fuss. He’s moving again right now.”

“He’s writing something on the ground?”

“Is that… a character?”

“Torium how would I know something that you don’t?”

“Aah, they’re characters. His handwriting is really bad. Anyway…”

“And?”

“He’s asking ‘where is this?’ ”

“The place that exists under the earth. The world of the dead!”

“And we’re Undead. I’m Torium, and the loud guy next to you is Jeff.”

“Right, that’s right.”

“And who are you?”

“He’s writing something else!”

“Just sit still a bit. Alright, let’s see, he says he’s ‘Randalf Bruciel.’ ”

“Randalf Bruciel! Ask him where he came from. Also, how he got here alive.”

“You heard him, right? Your response, please. We have a lot of things we’re wondering about, you know.”

“…He’s not moving?”

“Um, it looks like he fainted again.”

“He’s a wimp, you know.”

“Because his wounds were so large. It’s amazing that he even healed such big wounds, and he’s already moved. Jeff, go to my room and bring back the ‘Jellim’ if you would.”

“That rare stuff?”

“Quickly.”

“Man, you’re driving me hard. Just wait here.”

My body gradually stabilized. My heart that had been racing so hotly also slowed its pace.

My depleted mana also returned, and my complexion improved.

Not long after, I was able to open my eyes.

“They’re really Undead.”

I was inside a cave.

There were four eyes looking in my direction.

They were completely bald, had grey-purple skin, and something like mold sprouting all over their bodies. They were Undead, alright.

I had a memory of moving my fingers and asking a few questions. Because my mind wasn’t all there in that situation, I couldn’t remember everything, but I could remember as much as the fact that this was a place called the Underworld and that the two people looking at me were Undead.

“The problem is… I don’t know where the Underworld is.”

The flow of mana was different. An exceedingly strange and yet somehow familiar-feeling mana was circling around the area. As it was, this feeling was completely new to me, enough to make me nervous.

This wasn’t the world or a dungeon, or even the World of the Spirits.

I would only figure out if I got out of here, but wherever it was, it was far away from anywhere I was accustomed to.

“My body’s in the worst possible condition.”

I quietly examined my body, and as a result my head automatically shook.

It couldn’t get worse than this. It was so bad I couldn’t even have properly disposed of one low monster.

My muscles had almost all withered away, and my mana had all but been depleted. I didn’t even have the extra strength to summon the Lightning God.

“What’s he looking at that way?”

I grabbed the wall, stood up, and opened my mouth.

“He talked!”

“It seems like he’s full of surprises.”

Had he said his name was Jeff?

It seemed he was making a big fuss out of things.

In any case… I felt it was true that they had saved me. I had no idea about the sequence of events, but this one thing was certain. While I had lost consciousness, I had heard their voices from time to time.

“Where did you come from?”

“Are you Torium?”

“That’s right.”

“Torium. I’ll ask you a question first. Is this really the place called the Underworld?”

“It is.”

“Not Devildom, or middle earth, either?”

“Strictly speaking, you can look at it as a place that exists between them.”

“I find that hard to believe.”

I grabbed at the wall and walked out. Torium followed after me and tried to help me up, but I held him back.

Soon after I had emerged outside the cave, I ended up scoffing with a snort.

Below the cave was a cliff, and I could glance out and identify a fairly wide area.

“It’s more dreadful than Devildom.”

It was a place full of death.

No, a place that had nothing but death!

Everything was different. It was similar to the feeling when I entered the earth from Devildom, and also from the earth to the World of the Spirits.

“What happened after I confronted Contegnome again?”

My brows furrowed.

I remembered up until my faceoff with Contegnome.

But there was a vacuum in my memory after that.

“I see my communication with Lyhee doesn’t work, and my status window isn’t appearing.”

Everything that was connected to me seemed to have been cut off. I quietly clicked my tongue.

“I’m not a being of this place.”

“That’s obvious. Since this is the world where only dead people live.”

Torium, who had come up next to me before I knew it, nodded his head.

“Do you know of a way for me to get back?”

“I don’t. Honestly, I still don’t believe it. As far as I know, this is the first time anyone has come to the Underworld alive.”

“Someone else might know, then.”

“That may be so, but… how about taking a rest? You look really bad.”

What he said was right.

Though it was important to figure out the situation around me, recovering my body was more important.

I wouldn’t be able to go back easily in this state.

“Even one orc would be too much for me to handle.”

This was the worst of the worst. Why was my body like this?

The horns and wings that had sprouted when I used the skill of Depravity had disappeared. And since my status window also wouldn’t appear… I closed and opened my fist. I could see my emaciated bones and blue veins at a glance.

“Do you happen to have something to eat and some water?”

Torium let out a labored breath, as if the Undead could still express emotion, seeming to say he was at a loss.

“You’re truly shameless.”

“I’m not thinking of getting something for free. I’ll relieve your curiosity a little bit.”

Looking at them, Jeff and Torium seemed to have a great many things they were wondering about me. If that was the case, I had nothing to do but take advantage of this to achieve the things I hoped for.

“It is something that might be a bit hard for the living to eat.”

“I don’t care.”

I slightly shook my head.

I would be satisfied just to be able to eat.

A porridge made by crushing the branches of a tree that was called “Jellim” and some odd-smelling water. This was all they had for food… but it was better than nothing.

“I am a storyteller. Every seven days I tell the story I’ve created to the lord in exchange for Jellim tree branches. Jellim is incredibly important in the Underworld. It has the ability to increase the ‘shelf life’ of our rotting bodies.”

Torium was very patronizing.

And yet, I had never heard of Jellim before.

“So it’s some kind of preservative, then.”

“Preservative?”

“There is such a thing.”

“Hmm, it seems like some kind of item that’s in your world. At any rate, who are you? Are you not planning to tell us anything more than that your name is Randalf Bruciel and you’re not a resident of the Underworld?”

I had already received food and water.

These guys would be necessary if I planned to continue to get those things in the future.

The reason was, at the moment, I knew absolutely nothing about this place.

“I was running a dungeon.”

“A dungeon? The kind of dungeon that monsters come out of?”

“That’s right.”

“I heard that black magicians and rich guys run dungeons…”

“Let’s stop there for today.”

“Hey, wait! You have to tell your story to the end!”

“Let me tell you the rest of it tomorrow.”

I sat in my seat and closed my eyes.

First I needed to contemplate my inner body.

Then I needed to plan out my method for restoring my body and mana, which were both about half dead.

“Whew! Alright. I’ll come back tomorrow.”

“It’d be good if you bring something to eat and drink with you.”

“Jellim is rare!”

“That’s not my problem.”

“…”

Torium turned around abruptly and got out of the cave.

Jeff quickly followed behind him.

“It seems like you’ve picked up something useless?”

“Jeff, I’m a storyteller. I can’t stand wondering about things.”

“Should I scare him a bit, then?”

“Those eyes… that’s not the kind of person you can understand. He seems like he’s killed more than you.”

“What?”

“Damn it! Where did such a person come from? And what are preservatives? I’m so curious I’m just going to go back!”

“Your curiosity disease has relapsed. It seems like this is why you’re good at making up stories.”

“Just in case, lend me some of the Jellim you have. What I have will be insufficient.”

“Are you crazy?”

“I’m doing it because he has that much value. Someone who moves has appeared in the world that stands still. I’m thinking that this will have some great meaning.”

“Anyway Torium, I’ve known and lived with you for a long time but I still don’t really get you that well.”

Jeff breathed out a sigh.

I pulled out the magic pocket that was tied to my belt.

Luckily the pocket was safe. Since it recognized me as its owner, if someone who wasn’t me touched it, they wouldn’t be able to take anything out.

“Rage and the Sword of the Emperor are in there.”

Fortunately, the few items I needed were still securely contained in there.

After checking on the items stored in there I stood from my seat.

After that, I stretched out my arm.

I did so for about 30 seconds. My arm shook continuously throughout.

Walking was difficult, too.

My strength was a mess.

“I’ll have to start over from the beginning.”