Chapter 175
After taking care of the two demons and continuing to walk, I came upon a small door .
There was a single number written on the door .
[7]
I didn't know what the number was indicating, and my curiosity didn't go away as I opened the door .
As soon as I opened the door, a small room appeared .
If I were to tell you how small it was, it was about as small as the single room apartment I used to live in .
And in that narrow room, twelve demons were gathered and facing each other .
It was an entertaining scene .
The demons were divided into two crowds, and each of the demons was carrying a weapon; they were thrusting their weapons forward and at the edge of confrontation .
One side had five and the other side had seven .
It seemed like I had opened the door and come in at the moment a fight would break out .
The agitated demons' gazes gradually centered on me .
"Ah, don't worry about me, and keep doing what you were doing . I'll wait a bit . "
Based on what the two demons had previously told me, the rules of this event are similar to a battle royale .
You have to kill a thousand demons and take their tokens in order to pass the preliminaries .
However, the two demons had said that most demons were already forming their groups and within these groups, there were large groups that fought intensely amongst themselves .
If that's the case, how should I analyze the conflict in this tiny room?
There was a lot I was curious about .
Therefore, rather than meddling in their fight, I decided that I would take a step back and watch .
I'll be able to more or less sate my curiosity if I were to ask about this and that to the victor after the fighting is over .
With that in mind, I closed the door and leaned on it .
The twelve demons were still staring at me idiotically .
Perhaps there's a rule that states that an outsider can't watch while they're fighting .
"Why aren't you guys fighting?"
I'd prefer if they started fighting immediately .
I wasn't just curious about this place; I was also curious about the demons' strength .
Of course, I had easily beat up the two demons from before, but since they were roaming around the entrance, they might've just been nobodies .
Both the demons I had met prior to the 31st floor and the ones I had just met had considerable mana .
But I didn't feel a chaotic spirit or a wicked demonic energy .
I was also curious as to why I couldn't feel that from the demons .
At that moment, one of the demons spoke to me .
"Please help us!"
Among the demons with red skin, the demon with blue skin spoke out .
It was a delicate blue-violet color skin .
The demon was wearing a skull necklace around her neck .
Amongst the demons here, she was the shortest and also the only woman .
She was part of the larger one of the two groups .
In other words, she was part of the group that held the advantage .
Thus, when she spoke, I couldn't immediately understand the situation .
"Why?"
"I-I'll give you a token!"
I wanted to ask why she had such a desperate expression when she had the advantage, but it seemed like the girl was under the impression that I'd ask for compensation to help .
I briefly thought about it .
Is giving me a token synonymous to dying for me?
Probably not .
She'll give me a stone piece that she's keeping, so she's asking me to fight with them .
At that moment, the group of demons that the girl's group was confronting yelled .
Their voices overflowed with composure, unlike the desperate-looking girl .
"You actually came from that direction . Are you perhaps a newcomer? Or are you one of those lousy demons who were thrown out to the entrance? Regardless of which, stay out of this, if you don't want to die with them . "
I was right; the demons that I had met nearby the entrance were lousy, as expected .
[These demons don't look much different from those demons before,] Seregia said .
I agree .
Even if there were, they'd be minute differences .
That small difference looked a little suspicious to me .
I felt like it was the difference between a normal person who trained in a training hall, and a normal person who hated exercising .
The demon that threatened me looked displeased when he saw how I didn't respond to him .
"You should choose well . We have an alliance with the Kraagor group . If you defy us, you'll have to pay the price . No, that's not it . If you chase these guys out and capture this room with us, I'll also give you a position . This room can accommodate seven people anyway . "
Kraagor group . Room . Accommodating members .
They are keywords for information that can satisfy my curiosity .
I would decide my next move, and would then enact that move .
It seemed like the silent holy sword realized that, and started droning, emitting a vibrating sound .
And that vibrating briefly stopped .
[Warrior, may I try it? As a performance test . Yes? Please . Teehee . ]
This bastard always readily makes a "cute expression" mixed with a nasally voice .
Aside from his manner of speaking, he had the voice of a middle-aged man’s, so I feel goosebumps whenever I hear it .
I wanted to shove him into my inventory immediately, but I also agreed that I needed to test its performance, so I let it go .
Right before entering the 30th floor, Kiri Kiri had told me that I could now buy the items that were locked .
In the meantime, I had gathered a lot of points, so I bought several items .
The first things I bought were books regarding magic .
Aside from that, I bought elixirs, liquid medicine, and basic gear .
Finally, I bought a weapon enhancement scroll .
It wasn't a scroll that would strengthen a normal sword's sharpness or durability .
When I thought about the holy sword's performance, I didn't think that I needed to strengthen those .
Instead, the scrolls that I had bought were all scrolls that would endow an exclusive magic onto an living sword .
I had applied two of those scrolls onto the holy sword .
They were the fly magic and the blink magic .
Since both of them were high-rank magic, the holy sword hadn't been able to use those skills himself; using the scrolls, I had increased the abilities of the holy sword .
I had already used it in a test run on the 30th floor residential district, and all that was left was a field-test of its performance .
"Fine, try it . "
[Yes . Hoo . Hoo . Hoo . You know I love you, Warrior, right? Yes . I also know that you love me too . You're so shy, acting like you’ve never met me!]
The holy sword activated the magic as he spoke some nauseating phrases .
When I clear this floor, I have to find a scroll that can apply silence .
While I was thinking that, the holy sword applied the fly magic, and slid out of the sheath all on its own .
And said dismally .
[I can kill them all, right? Hoo . Hoo . Hoo . ]
"Eh, nope . Only kill the five on that side, the ones that said something or another about a group such and such . "
[I'm sorry? But that side has fewer people!]
"Yeah, the smaller group . "
The demons momentarily stiffened .
It was way too easy to tell that they were terrified and tense .
When the demons saw the sword leave the sheath by itself and fly into the air, the demons simply shook .
Their composed attitude just a little while ago disappeared .
That's strange .
[Holy sword Ahoubuch, taking off!]
The holy sword that had been drifting in the air suddenly accelerated and flew towards the demons .
Even to me, his speed was quite fast .
The first demon he targeted was somehow able to react to the holy sword's speed .
The demon raised his shield and brought it before the holy sword's path .
However, the holy sword used the enchanted magic .
Blink .
The holy sword leaped over the shield, piercing cleanly through the demon's neck .
The demon's endurance or mana hadn't been a problem at all .
The holy sword's aura was flowing .
As soon as the first target toppled to the floor, his comrades turned around and started to run away .
However, they couldn't shake the holy sword's pursuit, and he hunted them down, one-by-one .
The holy sword had completely changed his stabbing pattern, and even suddenly stopped in the midst of flying and slashed at them using the hilt as a pivotal point .
The performance test was a success .
It didn't even take the holy sword thirty seconds for it to take care of the five demons .
[Hoo . Hoo . Hoo . Demon's blood! I need more warm demon's blood!]
This insane holy sword had used magic, and unlike usual, loudly yelled out with his voice .
Because of that, the remaining seven demons could also hear his voice and were soon struck with fear and began shaking .
"Stop it, you crazy bastard . "
I grabbed and retrieved the holy sword that was acting like a blowfly that had eaten mosquito repellant (flying in the air and emitting light)
* * * * * *
"If it's that important, you don't really need to give it to me . "
"No, we'll give it to you! Please let us give it to you!"
'Please let us give it to you!' was what came out of the desperate demon girl's mouth .
With this, I've gotten a total of eight tokens .
If I add the token I had from the beginning, I have a total of nine .
Among the six tokens that I had received, I stored five of them into my pocket .
The tokens disappeared immediately after I put them in my pocket .
I put the remaining token into my subspace bag .
Based on the demon girl's explanation, there were a couple of rules regarding the tokens .
1 . The tokens will be automatically set to the location that you first stored your tokens .
2 . The set tokens cannot be removed until you die .
In my case, my pocket in my pants is that set location .
It didn't matter whether I needed to store a thousand or even ten-thousand tokens; my pants pocket have become able to store an indefinite amount of tokens .
And they can't be retrieved until I'm killed and they drop .
Therefore, if I want to exchange them or sell them, I have to store the tokens somewhere else .
The final rule regarding tokens was . . .
"I also said this before, but the value of the tokens is tremendous . You must take up our request without fail . . . "
"I get it . I said I heard you . "
The demon girl kept repeating those words .
She says that the tokens have tremendous value .
If you're in a life-threatening scenario, she says that if you give a token to your enemy, in most cases, you can beg your enemy for mercy and come out alive .
It's not official, but it seemed to be an unspoken rule .
By giving up a single token, you treat a difficult matter as if it never happened . It felt something like that .
It actually is worth your life .
The tokens that the demon girl had passed to me was also dropped by someone they had killed .
"Then you didn't think to give your tokens to those guys back there?"
"Yes . "
"Can I ask why?"
"It's because those guys would've just come back later . Or they would've sent their other comrades . If you lose your tokens like that, you'll ultimately be left with nothing . "
That's true .
I had already heard why they were fighting in the first place .
As there are rules regarding the tokens here, there are also rules regarding the 'rooms . '
Each room has a limited amount of people it can accommodate .
Just like it said on the door, this room can accommodate seven people .
Next, a minimum number of people are guaranteed to live .
You won't feel hungry and you won't use up your stamina .
You don't even need to sleep .
That means that the activities that sustain your life are unnecessary .
It unexpectedly seemed to have the same effects as the waiting room .
Though, it was different in that it didn't have a healing function .
In this place without light, crops, or even animals, meekly shutting yourself inside these rooms is the most surefire way to survive .
That's why the demons fight over the rooms .
"But you managed to obtain a pretty good room," I said without thinking much .
The demons gathered inside the room weren't very strong .
Honestly, they were really weak .
It didn’t matter if their bodies were durable, if they had sharp senses, or if they had an overflowing amount of mana that was characteristic of their race .
They were ordinary people .
Before the event had started, they said that they were demons who were involved in business .
The seven demons gathered here said that they were from the same town .
Demons running a business? It feels like something's out of focus .
I could understand the reason that they had shrunk before their enemies, despite them having a numbers advantage and not suffering from an immense level difference .
Thus, I was surprised that they had actually occupied a room .
It looked like it was in quite a good location too; I wonder how they took possession of this room?
"We paid the rental fee… with tokens . "
"Is there perhaps no rental service for guards?"
The demon girl pointed at the sprawled corpses on the ground and spoke .
"These demons work under the guy who leased the room . "
I didn't understand immediately .
Only after the demon girl had elaborated on her explanation could I understand .
The demons that had died over there had leased the room to these guys but returned to launch a surprise attack .
If they didn't want to die, they would have to leave the room, or continue to give them tokens .
It was a really effective way of collecting tokens .
If you're given a token, you have to either let them go on their way, or you have to reimburse them for its value . As long as they don't break either of these rules, it was a method that enabled them to scrape up and gather all of their remaining tokens .
I stood up .
The demons' eyes reflected terror at my sudden movement .
Despite helping them, they were afraid of me .
It felt strange .
The fact that demons look at me and feel afraid in itself felt strange to me .
And it also felt unfortunate .
"Do you have a map by any chance?"
They had one .
I received a map that detailed the rooms, as well as the passageway that connected these rooms .
"And tell me where the group that that guy was talking about is . "
The demon girl looked at me quizzically and marked their location on the map .
I checked the location, took out the token that I had put in my subspace bag, and returned it to the girl .
I left the room after telling the flustered demon girl that it was the price of her map and information .
[Where are you going?]
"Where the groups are . "
The groups stockpiled several tokens in order to advance together with their comrades .
Plus, the tokens are used for trading and can be used as a method of bail for one’s life .
Even the groups who had no interest of advancing were stockpiling the tokens .
The bigger and more powerful the group was, the more tokens they'd have .
A little while ago, the tokens that I could acquire from that small room was seven at the minimum .
At most, it would be ten, maybe twenty .
I didn't want to gather a thousand tokens that way .
It was tiresome and it would take a long time .
I have to rob from those who had hundreds of them from the start .
I told Seregia and the holy sword my idea .
Seregia was momentarily silent and asked me .
[Is that really the only reason?]
I wanted to know the reason why she asked .
It's already been three months since I've started traveling with Seregia .
She always stayed together with me .
That was plenty of time to know me by now .
That's why I responded honestly .
"I don't want to attack people who aren't my enemies . "
[Among the enemies up till now, there have been some who have begged for mercy, Warrior . ]
Of course, I killed them without thinking .
[There were also a lot of people who turned their backs and ran away . ]
I obviously chased and killed them .
[There were also people who would die just from being grazed by your sword winds . ]
I didn't concern myself with their weakness .
[I want to know what the difference is between those demons and the others . ]
If I look back, I feel like I've been like this .
Seregia always wanted to learn more about me .
Therefore, after listening to the reason behind my decision, she should use that reason to infer my aim and my personality .
Maybe that's her habit .
"Enemies are people who try to kill me, attack me, try to steal from me, or get in my way . I haven’t considered the circumstances of my enemies in the past and that's how it’ll continue to be . "
A person who appears as my enemy even once, or members of that group, had all been considered my enemies .
And I've never compromised with my enemies .
Even after an interrogation, I would always kill them .
It wasn't an issue of morality .
This was a an issue of survival .
This is the Hell difficulty, where even the smallest weakness can lead to a life-threatening consequences .
Being merciful to those who were my enemies, or those who have the possibility of becoming my enemies, is too dangerous .
[I see . I understand . ]
After finishing our conversation, I started walking again .
As I walked and walked some more, I started to doubt my own answer .
There was an exception .
The people I had met on the 16th floor .
Though they were definitely my enemies, I reconciled with them and spent time with them in peace .
Even though one of them was a doppelganger who had hidden itself .
It was confusing .
That line that I had drawn wasn't as clear as I had originally thought .
I looked inside for any hidden reasons .
Rather than reflecting on my thoughts, it felt like I was inferring the principle behind my own conduct .
A little bit later, I had to correct my thoughts .
This was a problem of morality, but at the same time it was a method of survival .
I did this to keep myself sane .
After what happened on the 18th floor, I wanted to minimize the harm to people who weren’t hostile .
The things that happened that day had traumatized me .
Therefore, I divided people into two groups: those who are enemies and those who weren't .
And I was even more ruthless to my enemies, in exchange for not hurting people who weren't my enemies .
Due to those hidden reasons, I didn't pursue the, at minimum, seven tokens that were right before my eyes, and just left .
I even returned one of those tokens in exchange for their information .
It got deeper and deeper the more I thought about it .
This will definitely become a weakness .
Do I have to deal with this newly found issue, or ignore it?
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