M E M O R I Z E - Chapter 58

Chapter 58 Dungeon of Alchemist (2)

“Oh… It hurts. It’s too much,” cried Sol while rubbing her butt. While Hyun was laughing like a fool, Sol, who was dissatisfied, turned away from the group. Hyun was shocked with this. She was rubbing her mouth and she entrusted herself to me.

“Why… why did you do this to me?”

“Hung.”

An Hyun came between me and a grieving An Sol, but his reaction was kind of calm and cold. Becoming a little frustrated again, I spoke in a stern voice.

“Sol-ah.”

“Why~?”

I don’t know if she had a lot of complaints against me, but she spoke with a rather challenging tone towards me, than the usual ‘pure’ one. After seeing my face go stern, she immediately put her head down and continued mumbling. And. Suddenly, a scream could be heard by everyone.

“Huaaaat?!”

…. It resounded throughout the entire forest. If I couldn’t make it, and I broke my nose, An Sol was a perfect partner to help me out.

“Calm down, calm down. It’s all good.”

If there was anything that I needed to go over, I wondered if I would have escaped from it skillfully with the help of Hyun in front of me. Even then, I was surprised looking at Sol whose tears were streaming down, and my whole body felt disturbed as I bent down to look at what she saw.

Hyun and Yoo-jung, who bent along with me, had a strange expression on their faces and they backed off immediately. The identity of what was laying below Sol was nothing other than the corpse of a user. A bizarrely twisted and grotesque corpse.

“Eu euk….!”

Yoo-Jung eventually couldn’t bear it anymore and puked. I couldn’t help but frown after looking at the corpse that was lying there. This one used to be one of the bad guys amongst the murder brigades in the past.

I saw a bow that was broken in half; I assumed that he was perhaps an archer(Affiliation : Ranger). It seemed like the roots of the bones were pulled out after spinning them round and round, and the face and neck were in quite the distressed position. In any case, for one to go from the dark forest to the dungeon and make it back, they are supposed to be skillful Caraban members. I can understand the reason for them being wiped out in the dungeon from this corpse.

“Stupid… you can’t even guide, yet you want to go to a dungeon? You’re completely crazy. Or your eyes are blinded by greed.”

Though the situation is a little humiliating, I stayed silent and chewed on my lip after listening to the private conversation. I knew that the atmosphere on the ground and in the underground would be complete opposite. This was a race against time from the very beginning. There was a sound of something being pounded hardly, so I slowly looked around.

It was literally a dark corridor. There was the direction to go forward as there was no way back. Firstly, from now on, there was no need to trace Caraban’s footsteps. I’m sorry for those dead guys who were found after a few months past the two years, yet it was something irrelevant to me. With the activation of my Third Eye, I am able to look into things very clearly, hence my thoughts were well lined up. There is supposed to be an alchemist who is also capable of doing the same kind of thing. The Dungeon Mastery is quite common yet the possibility of spitting out decent equipment is quite dense.

While I was calculating the situation inside, I looked at the kids who were filled with excitement. And spoke after looking at their faces. Right at the beginning, they saw the huge body of the victim, but all of a sudden, I was worried about it. After watching it, Yoo-Jung wanted to go back to the city; there was a moody atmosphere around her. Looking at that kind of atmosphere around the kids, I opened my mouth with a sharp voice.

“First time seeing a corpse. You didn’t know that these kind of things will appear in the Hall Plain? Don’t fuss over one corpse of a rogue.”

At my words, the kids began to move. And looking at their eyes, it seemed like there was still a bit of hesitation. This time, I spoke with a little more sternness in my voice.

“What is wrong guys? When I discovered a dungeon on our very first expedition, you guys were ecstatic. What am I supposed to do if you are being like this? Do you guys know how huge the reward is going to be once we come back from this expedition?”

“….”

This was the truth, even if it is seen as something vulgar. Seeing the kids in such a confused state, it gave me evidence that these kids still didn’t reach my level of mentality. I wasn’t the [modern person ] that they saw in the Hall Plain. Whatever aspect they looked at me, they should see a [ user ].

“This is the first expedition to a dungeon that we have discovered, and it is very meaningful to be undertaking it, but it seems like it’s meaningless to you. If you suffer this one time, how easy is it going to be for the future… What about the treasures in front of your eyes? Do you want to kick it away? Are we going to be satisfied with just the discovery and head back to the city?”

“No, no. Not at all. No, hyung. It isn’t like that.”

An Hyun was the first person to get himself together. He repeated his answer quite a few times after shaking his face vigorously and clapping his hands roughly as he got his senses back. Seeing this, it was a little frustrating to my heart, but it wasn’t a pathetic thing that he was doing. In the past, when I was under Han So-young and Yoo Hyun hyung, I just followed them. Of course, it cannot be compared to that but even then, I couldn’t help but feel a little irritated.

“You guys are the same. It is said that for those Carabans who went into the expedition, they would be wiped out inside the dungeon. So, they have no chances of making it out alive. Surely, even I want you guys to live. I have no thoughts of getting us annihilated. However, it is difficult to go by oneself. So, I need your help.”

“…..uhm. I’m sorry. I get it. Oppa, I’m sorry.”

Due to my continuous persuasion, they seemed to have retained their senses, and they had determined looks on their faces. Their legs were still trembling as they still didn’t recover from the terrible shock that they received from seeing the corpse, but it was much better than any other kind of behavior.

“… hyu. Any… way. We need to go to the centre. Yes, yes. Hmmm. It sounds good. Let’s start. Everyone, let’s get our composure back.”

At my words, the kids nodded their head, and seeing this, I released a huge sigh. From the back, Yoo-Jung spoke with a small voice, “Everyone loves only Sol,” and was muttering stuff. Even though I heard the voice, I didn’t know its reason.

Looking at this objectively. Subjectively. There was no mistake in what Yoo-Jung spoke.

*

We slowly arranged ourselves in a triangle formation and were ready to move forward. This was a little different from the triangle formation that we formed in the forest. The left and right boundaries were covered by Hyun and Yoo-Jung who were 45 degrees from my location. The inside was pretty dark. However, we could see to an extent with the use of the Light spell.

As it was dark in there, we were cautiously watching everywhere. Of course, we couldn’t detect any traps laid out by the monster till now. At times, there were monsters that were discovered who were turned into ashes and the traps were left open. And it seemed like the Caravans have handled most of the things. I am thankful to them for how unhindered we are moving at the moment.

The future will change for sure, and they wanted to get their share of rewards for coming into this expedition, but it didn’t matter to me. It was enough if the kids take them, as I can always take it back later. I heard something which seemed like it was coming from the users who came before us, yet I didn’t stop moving.

The light that was in my hand was a little unstable and the sphere of the light was also quite muddled. It wasn’t staying still while providing the light; it was constantly flickering – going off and coming back on. Yoo-Jung, pretty disgusted with her surroundings, remained around me as she was getting nervous. She softly moved to my side.

I couldn’t understand if she was having a mental breakdown. I was going to ask her about this, but first I expanded the detection range.

“Humm.”

How long have we been walking? All of a sudden, we stopped walking and the kids brought out their weapons as they felt nervous. I almost thought that I registered its shape and a little satisfaction rose in my heart. Sol also didn’t come out of her place and was mumbling some spells. With one hand, I spread out the boundaries that were needed. After relaxing, I opened my mouth.

“It feels like there’s something ahead. It feels a little weird. Whatever it is, let’s a take a closer look at it.”

At my signal to be alert, the kids held on tightly to what they were holding in their eyes. Looking at this, a faint laugh escaped out of my mouth. It was nice to look at this image of unity. Depending on the situation, the behavior of the kids also seemed to change drastically, just like mine. After sorting out my flow of thoughts, I perked up my ear to hear.

Though there was some distance left, the one approaching them by walk was not a monster but a user. Looking at the user, he seemed very huge but a small groan could be heard. I went towards the male user immediately after assessing the kids’ reactions.

“Uh, uh…”

As the distance started to close, it was definite that we were hearing the groans of a user. By any chance, were all the members of the Caraban destroyed? No, could it be this easy to wipe them out? What I’m supposed to do is to first confirm if the person’s life was worth saving or not. If that user is alive, I didn’t know how much information I could suck out.

“Haaaa… euhh….”

I saw it. Right in front of my eyes was a single user. After I ran there, I immediately knelt down. The kids who came later than me looked at the user lying down and their words faltered. Well, for starters, it was an archer. The user was wearing an uniform. The problem was that upper body and the lower body were separated and lying on the floor.

“…. he seems to be alive.”

It looked like a faint white light was coming from the user, and the user seemed desperate to get a cure. Firstly, to be aware of the status of the user, I used the Third Eye to check his status.

[Player Status]

Name: Park Nam Hyun (4 Years)

Class: Normal Priest Expert

Nation: Barbara

Clan: –

Nationality: Korean

Sex: Male (27)

Height – Weight: 177.8cm – 79.1kg

Alignment: Moderate (Lawful – Neutral)

[Strength 36]      [Resistance 57] [Agility 31]    [Vitality 47]      [Magic 81]   [Luck 41]

* There is a fatal wound.

* Recovery spell of a great treatment level is needed. Life needs to be saved.

* There is a need for a recovery elixir. Life needs to be saved.

Not worth saving. Four years of experience. It became clear the moment I checked his stats and other things. This male user painfully opened his eyes and watched us.

Only a person with the ability of a Priest will be capable of saving himself like this. If there is a self treatment spell or anything special, it seemed to be due to his potential. Even so, if one suffers such a fatal injury, there is no surety that they need to die, but….

“Us… User… how….”

“How did this happen? When did you enter into this dungeon? And what about your colleagues?”

“Such a… relief, good luck!”

“Oppa! First, let’s save him….”

He couldn’t be saved. We can benefit by extracting the information that’s in his possession without being sneaky. He was barely able to open his mouth a moment ago. I still need to be careful about what I ask. Sol had started to recite a curing spell, and Yoo-Jung was handing me the liquid medicines. The cure spell that was being recited was very weak, but I picked up the water and the liquid medicines to give.

“This is stupid. I came to the dungeon with some guidance to scour for a few things. Whatever, open your mouth.”

While being very careful, I held the male user’s face and poured the liquid medicine into his mouth. He drank a little in the beginning, but he started puking blood right after that. After seeing this, Sol lost her concentration and her spell got invalidated. She once again started to recite the spell, but the priest shook his head hard and refused. Knowing that he won’t make it, he looked like he was ready to accept his death.

At that moment, something felt dangerous. This guy who was readily accepting death, somehow managed to survive. It looked like he wanted to stay a little longer. So, seeing us, the user wanted to take a chance at life again. If that is so, it means that there is something that he wanted to say to us. We heard something.

From the male user’s blood-filled mouth.