I Became the Strongest With The Failure Frame 02

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  My level still didn’t rise.

  Although I had already expected it, the amount of experience that I get here seems to be low.

  No, it’s probably just the monsters in the Disposal Ruins give out too many experience points.

  I promptly left the place.

  A little later, I felt presences from my back as they approached and their voices called out to me.

  [O- Over there! That’s where that Kogyuuki went! We’ll leave it to you!]

  [Yeah, leave it to me!]

  [Damn it! This is why I don’t like raiding a ruin after a new floor were just discovered!]

  [We can’t help it! After the discovery of a new floor, new monsters who reside in that floor would come out after a while!]

  [Though you said that, only those who get in there first would have higher chance to obtain the treasures! Thank you for your help here, but we’re going in first–!

  I turned to a corner without worrying about them.

  Those several presences stopped behind the corner, near where I had left the Kogyuuki’s corpse.

  [I- It’s already dead…]]

  [It looks like other mercenaries has already defeated it.]

  [How should I say this… There’s no wound on its body though? Did he defeat it by using a technique? I can’t find anything that had changed from this corpse…]

  [Don’t you feel that its skin is subtly discolored?]

  [No way… Don’t tell me that’s the rumored sorcery that I heard recently?]

  [No, wait. If you look at it closely, there is a wound in here.]

  [This wound, I think it’s from a dagger…?]

  [Wow!? It’s just one stab from a dagger!? Against a Kogyuuki!? How skillful is he!?]

  It didn’t die from the stab of a dagger though.

  [………]

  I decided to quickly descend to the next floor.

  Chapter 53

  Reunion in the Ruins

  I have recently got another “eye” looking at my back.

  Is it so different than just me looking behind me?

  It’s just the same caution towards the thing that might happen behind my back.

  Back in the Disposal Ruins, my nerves were intensely sensitive to what’s happening behind me.

  [Pii, pii, pii!]

  “I’ll make sure that we’re completely safe!”

  It’s as if Pigimaru was saying something like that.

  The protrusion peeking out from the side of my neck is repeatedly flashing green.

  It seems to be a signal that there’s no abnormality at all.

  Thanks to Pigimaru, I can concentrate on the front and to my sides.

  The raid in the ruins is going well.

  I was secretly given the map of Mills Ruins by the officer that I had met earlier.

  It seems that this was originally bought with money.

  Thanks to this, it has become easier for me to navigate through the floors that had already been mapped out before.

  It seems that I would face no particular trouble until I get to that new floor.

  He also gave me a pen and some ink together with the map.

  When I have finally entered the new floor, I would just have to fill in the blank area.

  If I could map out the new floor well enough, the map could be sold.

  I should be grateful to that officer.

  The monsters that I had encountered were no obstacles either.

  It’s just the first monster that I had encountered were different from the rest.

  It’s just that… there is a wide difference between monsters here and those monsters from the Disposal Ruins.

  To put it shortly, they’re weak.

  I could even defeat some of them with just the dagger in my hand.

  It seems that I still received some benefits from my status correction.

  All the monsters that I’m fighting now have golden eyes.

  Are those golden eyes just found on the monsters in the ruins?

  Now that we’re talking about monsters, I’ve encountered two types of monsters in this ruins.

  Monsters that would never move from the floor they were on.

  And monsters that would ascend the ruins.

  Of course, not all of the monsters that we’re climbing up the ruins were just weak monsters.

  There were also some strong monsters that climb up.

  If we were to put it differently, there would be a great difference if the monster was unable to move up the stairs or not.

  However, the Mills Ruins are different.

  Now that I think about it, there were some strong monsters that had resided in the upper floors of the Disposal Ruins.

  Therefore, the exploration can’t proceed if such a strong monster stays in the upper floors.

  That’s why, those strong monsters would usually be destroyed by well-known mercenaries.

  There seems to be some cases where they were only recruited to defeat those monsters that resided in the upper floors.

  Exploring through the ruins is troublesome, but they can still do a trip for a day if it’s just for a battle.

  This is how some mercenaries earn their money.

  Besides, weak monsters would usually have a strong ability to reproduce.

  In addition, these weak monsters may have been ignored when the mercenaries were exploring.

  Because the materials that you could get from them were dirt-cheap.

  As a result, the weak monsters that were in the upper floors have been increasing.

  However, these are just what the people on the Marquis’ side thinks.

  I don’t know how far from the truth they were.

  I avoided contact with the other mercenaries as much as possible.

  I sill don’t know how the magic system of this world works yet.

  It would be troublesome if they see my abnormal state skills and annoyingly pursue what they think would be rare magic.

  I also have Pigimaru with me.

  If Pigimaru would be found by them, it will be really troublesome.

  [Well then—]

  I descend down a set of stairs.

  [This should be the 6th floor, huh…]

  The newly discovered floor was said to be the 15th floor.

  I still have a long way to go, so I continued walking further.

  […………]

  This is no good.

  I can’t help but compare this place to the Disposal Ruins.

  Is it because I feel that the difficulty level of this place is too low?

  I feel like the only troublesome thing I found was the progress of descending through this place.

  No— it’s not that i’ts a bad thing but…

  I just can’t make sense of this place.

  I can’t understand at what level this ruins is.

  [Shhiggyyaaahhhh!]

  A monster has attacked.

  []

  [ogguueee—eehh…?]

  []

  I picked up the poisoned monster and left it somewhere hidden.

  This is to avoid contact with the other mercenaries.

  I chewed on some dried meat as I look after the poisoned monster.

  I also drank some water from my canteen.

  [Fuuu…]

  [Guugiiieeee—]

  The poisoned monster finally died.

  The monsters back in the Disposal Ruins.

  The Soul Eater.

  The four-person group, White Walker.

  I immediately understood that those four-person group were strong immediately after I had met them.

  They were strong enough that I have to act just to make them drop their guard.

  However, I can’t feel any sense of crisis from the monsters in here.

  [Hmmm?]

  The presence of people.

  I lean back against a wall.

  I str
ained my ears at their direction…

  …and tried to listen in their conversation.

  [—Huh? Aren’t you that guy who tried to make a ruckus in the plaza before?]

  [The cause of that ruckus was isn’t me. It’s that rude woman’s fault.]

  I peek a little and watched over them.

  One of them was the man who have tried to make trouble with Mist in the plaza.

  If I remember it right, he called himself Monk before.

  I listen in to the low voice of the large man he’s talking to.

  [And? Do you need something from us?]

  [In fact, I have something to tell you.]

  He’s talking to a duo of a baldy and a beardy.

  Those duo looked at each other.

  The baldy grinned and turned towards the slender macho.

  [You’ve seen what happened earlier, right? You— your strength isn’t normal, huh? Those three Ghoul Wolves were done by you without even a scratch on you. I didn’t notice it at that time when you’re making a ruckus in the plaza, are you some powerful warrior from somewhere?]

  [That’s obvious. I’m the “Flash”, Monk Dorogetti!]

  The beardy looked at him like he’s appraising him.

  [I think I’ve heard of that name before. That name’s unheard of in Urza, but you’re fairly famous around Bakuos. I don’t think the others who gathered here would know you, especially since you’re in a rural city just like this.]

  ……………

  Those people that had gathered in a “rural city just like this”, you’re one of them, you know?

  [Heee? You’ve heard of me, huh? Funnn… you two were just as I expected. You’re different compared to those ignorant mercenaries.]

  [Of course. Those people could only see things from their side. Don’t group those idiots together with us. So? What do you want to talk to us about?]

  [Yeah. Actually, I have a request for you two after seeing that you both were such a talented people. I’ve prepared sufficient remuneration for this request.]

  [Well, we’re going to be paid so we would be interested. So, what are we going to do?]

  Kishishi~!

  Monk widely smiled that you could even see all of his teeth.

  [I want that woman who had insulted me earlier in that plaza to regret that she was born in this world.]

  Chapter 54

  Bait

  The duo tilted their heads.

  [What exactly do you mean? Are we supposed to kill her?]

  [Yeah, you’re going to kill her.]

  [Funnn…]

  It looks like the duo was still estimating something.

  But when Monk has told them that they would be getting a reward upon completion,

  The colors in the duo’s eyes changed.

  [Let’s continue this conversation.]

  [Yeah. So as I was saying, teach that woman a lesson. But if she begs for her life, in the case where she truly regrets the attitude that she had towards me, then don’t kill her immediately.]

  [Can I have some…”fun” before I kill her?]

  [Of course. If you were able to catch her alive, then feel free to ravish her all you want.]

  [Oh, it’s okay!?]

  [That’s a matter of course. She dared to step on my pride!? She had shredded my pride twice! That’s why I gave you two the responsibility of handling her! You’re completely free to ravish her all you want!]

  The baldy wiped the saliva dripping from his mouth with his sleeves.

  [Well then, I’m really motivated on doing this request now… our target is a significantly good looking woman after all.]

  [I can see it even through her clothes, you know? She has one devilishly gorgeous body. I would certainly capture her alive. Ah, I can see it… her face which was slowly warping and turning disheveled as she cries and scream in pain… I can’t wait to see it ♪. ]

  The beardy tilted his head.

  [But, isn’t that woman a travelling warrior too? How good is she in a fight?]

  [She was pretty good when it comes to battles. However, she should be pretty exhausted right now. If you were to look closely in her eyes, you could see some bags under them. I just caught a glimpse of her on the upper floors, but she looks like she’s staggering. However, the problem is that I’m still not sure if I could win against her— I was just thinking about what I should do if that were to really be the case, but that’s when I heard your voices earlier. I want to make sure that she’s to be killed right here.]

  Bunnn…

  The baldy swung his ax around as if he’s showing of to him.

  [Anyway, there are no woman in this world that could defeat me! Well, that’s aside from that goddess Vysis!]

  Is it easier to swing an axe compared to a sword around some of the pathways?

  In this ruins, the sword would sometimes becomes a hindrance when you’re somewhere narrow.

  Putting that aside— the name of that f*cking goddess was mentioned here too.

  Is she some considerably famous god?

  Monk replied to him filled with confidence.

  [That woman… looks like she’s quite in a hurry to descend. I’m certain that she’s also aiming for that Dragon Eye Sakazuki. Anyway, that woman is currently in dire need of money.]

  [I’m sure she’s one of those vulgar money-loving women. If it’s for money, she would do anything you ask of her.]

  [She would? Why don’t we find that Dragon Eye Sakazuki first, then show it to her. We would pretend that we’re willing to give it to her if she does something.]

  [Oh, that’s a great idea! Are you actually a genius!?]

  [And, if she were to beg for her life— Why don’t we just make her our slave then!?]

  [Yeah! And when we’re already tired of her, we would just sell her to the brothels! Even if she’s somewhat lower in quality since she’s already used goods, she would still definitely get a good price!]

  The duo became excited.

  [H- Hey hey!]

  Monk became a bit dissatisfied as he cut off their excitement.

  [Didn’t I say that the top priority is to kill that woman without fail? Do you even understand what I had said?]

  [Yeah. You said that you really hate that woman, right?]

  [That’s a foolish question! I seriously hate her too much… Just thinking about that idiotic woman still breathing, living in this world… Moreover, her continuing to calmly live through her life without even remembering what she had done! My heart is boiling with anger and I want to tear this feeling off my chest!!!]

  Monk spat out as his voice got distorted with rage.

  [T- That unruffled face of her kept on driving me into despair time and time again everywhere I look— I can’t even peacefully sleep anymore! She treated me as if I don’t exist twice! This me!? It even happened twice already! If you won’t kill her, then I’ll just use that pretty looks and body of hers as a bait… For monsters to eat her!!!]

  The duo quickly pulled away from the idea they had earlier.

  [W- We really don’t care if that’s how you want for that woman to end up… But is it fine if we both play with her first before killing her? It’s such a waste to just kill her without doing anything…]

  [After that then, we would turn that woman into monster bait… Bait… Baitbaitbait~!!!]

  The smiles on the duo’s faces is twitching a bit.

  “He’s lost it…” or so their expressions look like what it’s saying.

  Monk pointed towards a pathway opposite to where I was hiding.

  [Listen carefully, okay? Ambush that woman somewhere below as she is about to descend the stairs. I looked around there before and I saw a place there hidden in the shadows that is good for surprise attacks.]

  Monk said that he had seen Mist at the upper floors.

  Probably, Mist is about to come down to this floor soon.

  I was silently watching the situatio
n as I got out from where I was hiding.

  The baldy noticed me when I have just come out.

  [Huh…? Who the heck are you? Are you eavesdropping on our conversation before?]

  [I wonder what you lot are trying to do.]

  Monk’s eyes became bloodshot as he glared at me.

  [Ha… Hahahha!? This works pretty well for me now that you appeared here, brat! I’ll kill you! Ah, I know, I know! I’ll thoroughly destroy whatever human dignity you have and use you as monster bait!]

  How indiscreet of them.

  The duo also readied their weapons.

  [Kek! I thought who would suddenly have the gall to appear before us, but it’s just a pretentious sh*tty brat! Let’s just quickly kill this inexperienced brat and get him out of the way.]

  [Kukiki! It’s normal for people to die in the ruins, you know!? Oh~! I came up with a great idea! Let’s cut off his limbs and let him live. Let him live as he’s being eaten by monsters!]

  I extend out the palm of my hand in their direction.

  [Wait a minute.]

  [Huh? What’s that!?]

  [I’m sorry if I had intruded. But I beg of you, please help me get out of here.]

  [Pfuwahh!? I’m thinking what in the world you’re about to say, but you’re just actually begging for your life!? You certainly are on of a kind, you f*cking brat! But you know, I can’t just swallow my words now that I had already spat out earlier—]

  []

  Pikki~

  Pishi—

  [W- wh… at the… heck… did you?]

  [What… happened…? I can’t… move…?]

  Now that I had tried to confront these three, I understood.

  The strength of that four-person group that I had met in the forest and these guys were quite different.

  There are so many gaps that I could exploit from these guys.

  They are so full of gaps that I don’t think that a surprise attack is even necessary.

  [Why… are… you…?]

  Monk looks confused as his eyes were wide open.

  [What the… heck did we… do to you?]

  [I wonder. Well, enough about that—]

  I walked in front of the paralyzed Monk.

  Approaching nearby his ear, I whispered.

  [Who are you going to kill again?]

  [Hiii–!]

  Monk let out a short shriek.

  It seems that his body is filled with fear.

  [Wha— What… the heck… are you…? You sud… denly feel… like a dif… ferent person…]