Chapter 05 – Playing Dead.

In the blink of an eye, he had reached level nine after slaying just one human. The man emitted various strange noises as he was being stabbed, but eventually, it was over. Rusty felt quite pleased with himself, having instantly gained two levels by defeating a single enemy. What made it even better was that he didn’t suffer any damage, as he used one of his monster friends to absorb the brunt of the attacks.

His tactic of placing his helmet on the human while he was distracted had worked. Similar to the previous encounter with another human, this one couldn’t remove the helmet. While the man focused on his head and was blinded, Rusty began poking, and eventually, he bled out. There was one mishap during this tactic that he was examining closely.

The status he came equipped with had a log window that displayed all the recent system messages. It appeared that killing a person while absorbing their skill was a prohibited action, and he might have been too focused on stabbing the target to notice the issue. It was a finicky skill, and it seemed that he would need to either bind his next target or render them unconscious to some extent before attempting it again.

‘Oh, should I test it on this one?’

His body turned, emitting a loud screeching sound. There was still another human being in this dead-end corridor with him, and they were still stunned. Rusty approached the woman while holding his helmet under his metallic armpit. Uncertain of what to do but his status screen pointed towards only one option.

‘Ah… my special points went down because I activated the skill, so I can’t do it anymore, I’ll need for the cooldown to refresh…’

He placed the helmet back into its original spot as he realized that he couldn’t use the skill again. Before even looking at the new title he gained, his body moved forward. The sensation the leveling up had given him was strange, and he yearned for more of it. His gauntlet clenched tightly onto the corroded sword that was about to break from the previous chaotic stabbing. It aimed true at the groaning woman’s neck, but just as he was about to go through with it, something strange happened.

‘…?’

There was something inside him that made him stop; it wasn’t a voice or any skill from another opponent. It was as if he couldn’t bring himself to deliver the finishing blow to this injured woman. Rusty wondered what was wrong; it made no sense to him. This human was just a source of experience points, a means to make him stronger, but for some reason, he couldn’t bring himself to plunge his weapon into her neck.

‘Why?’

Rusty asked himself, but no one answered. The memories within his core seemed to be running wild, presenting him with random tales of enemies being spared, but also different ones where other creatures were shown no mercy. He couldn’t really understand why he should give up on this kill here, and soon the turmoil within him subsided. With newfound determination, he gripped his sword again, and this time around, he saw nothing stopping him from claiming this bundle of experience for himself. However, just as he was about to plunge it in various voices echoed from behind, people were coming and they were close.

‘Oh no!’

It seemed he had taken too long, and perhaps the humans were guided here by something similar to the voice he had. It was strange that this part of the dungeon, which had remained empty, now had so many visitors. Time was running out, and this was a dead end. Rusty knew that if he started running, his clunky body would give away his position, and he would likely be attacked. The humans were faster and had keen hearing; there wasn’t really any place to run.

‘What do I do? I don’t want to be slain again! What if I lose all these levels?’

While his skills didn’t seem to be affected by his deaths, he wasn’t so sure about his levels, which were abnormal for this dungeon floor. This uncertainty had triggered something akin to a survival instinct in him. Empowered by it, he devised safer battle tactics that aided him in reaching this ninth level. His gaze landed on the shattered body of his monster ally, eventually giving him an idea of navigating through this situation without the need for a direct confrontation.

*****

“Hey, there is some blood here, it’s still fresh! We need to hurry!”

“Don’t stop, we might be too late! Did that bastard really go through with it?”

Three people emerged at the entrance of the dead-end corridor, their footsteps echoing in the narrow space. Leading the way was a tall and muscular woman wielding a large two-handed sword, with an elvish man and a woman half his height following closely behind. The trio cautiously advanced, their eyes scanning the surroundings for any signs of danger.

“Hey Sylra, stop!”

“What, did you find something?”

The large woman stopped for a moment while the smaller one called out to her. She pointed to something on the ground before replying.

“Fresh blood… and monster tracks, we are close, get ready.”

All three nodded before tightening their grip on their weapons. The elven man wielded a bow, while the smaller companion carried double daggers that, at her shorter height, looked like regular longswords. The largest of the three took the front as they all moved slowly into the darkened corridor. Soon, they discovered the gruesome scene that had unfolded not long ago.

“Is he dead? Did he get killed by these low-level monsters?”

“Never mind that, look! It’s Layla, she’s alive!”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Blood was everywhere as the corpse of one man lay in the middle. He had multiple stab wounds in his legs and some that had slipped between parts of his armor. It was clear that he was dead, but it also seemed that their friend was alive. The smaller woman from the group quickly moved towards the person named Layla to aid her, while the two other people started looking around this dead-end corridor.

“Did he die to these monsters? Was he already injured beforehand?”

The elven man asked the large woman while looking at the stab wounds. It was clear that the weapon was a corroded sword that was near the scene.

“The idiot was probably too busy with something else… but still, Damaged Corroded Armors got him?”

The large woman pointed out the lack of any protection below his waistline. The two were confused by this scene, as the man should have been able to defeat these monsters. They were slow and loud, with a bad sense of balance. With a few pushes, their bodies fell apart, making their metallic bodies more of a weakness than a strength.

“Hey, you two stop babbling and help me!”

“Calm down Maeda, how is your friend?”

“She’s alive, just a few scratches and nicks here, and also this gash on the head. I think she will pull through.”
Maeda took out a small vial of red liquid and poured it over the head wounds that Layla had suffered. While the effect wasn’t instantaneous the wound started to heal at a rapid pace. After a moment she started regaining her consciousness but was still disoriented.

“Good, we need to get out of here before more monsters show up. Can she walk?”

“Layla, do you recognize me?

“Uh… Maeda? Is that you, what happened…”

“Give us a moment.”