Extra's Revenge: Reincarnated As A Slave-Chapter 43: Dungeon Trap (Part 3)

Chaos Dwellers

These are monstrous creatures said to be born from Chaos itself, a perversion of existence.

Essentially, they are monsters.

There exist 10 Tiers of these creatures; from Tier 9 to Tier 0. Tier 9 is the weakest, and Tier 0 is the strongest.

Tier 9 Chaos Dwellers can be defeated by ordinary people. Tier 5 Chaos Dwellers and above cannot be defeated by ordinary denizens of the True Realm, no matter how powerful these people are.

They simply dwell in the realm of Angels and Devils.

As for Tier 0 Chaos Dwellers... they are considered nigh invincible. Such abominations can only be defeated by an Archangel or Archduke.

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"Huu..."

Rey let out turbid air as he let the streams of dirty, sticky blood cascade from his blade and strands of his hair.

He felt some of the thick ichor stick to his skin, but he didn’t let it bother him.

Instead, he cast his gaze on his vicinity.

Several monstrous corpses lined his sight, all of them sliced apart by him alone. Some of them had their entrails exposed, their innards scattered in multiple directions.

A pungent stench of gore filled the air, but he felt no repulsion. Instead, he basked in it.

Then, he walked forward.

As he marched ahead, he analyzed his just concluded battle on the second floor.

’Every Floor has the same number of rooms as the floor number. On my first floor, I only encountered one room. It resembled a narrow passage and I faced a Tier 9 Chaos Dweller. I advanced and found the stairs leading to the Second Floor not too long after...’ He sighed, splattering the leftover blood on his sword on the nearby wall as he tightly held his shield.

’The Second Floor’s first room was relatively simple, and I only had to fight a few Tier 9 Chaos Dwellers. They were no threat, but everything changed in this second room. If I had underestimated them, I would have secured heavy injuries.’

Tier 9 Chaos Dwellers were largely regarded as weak—only slightly stronger than wild animals.

Some were even weaker.

Normal people could beat them with sufficient training, so it was no surprise that Rey found them easy to deal with in the Second Floor’s first room.

But—

’They charged at me in hordes the moment I entered the second room. Those bugs... It appears their strength lies in numbers.’ He gritted his teeth in mild annoyance. ’If I wasn’t careful...’

Of course, he still won.

However, he still felt a sense of frustration and defeat coursing through him.

’I wasted too much Ether, not to mention my stamina. There’s also the time I have to look out for. I still have over two hours and thirty minutes left, but if I am to consider the challenges up ahead, there might not be enough time to continue should I continue at this pace.’

Even though he thought this, Rey didn’t advance in a hurry.

No, that would be suicide.

’I have to regain my stamina. I think I understand things better now. It’s not necessary for me to kill all the Chaos Dwellers I run into. The goal is to survive the Dungeon and make it to the top. I can ignore energy wasters like these and only fight when necessary.’ He told himself emphatically.

This was what it meant to be astute.

Wisdom didn’t dwell in the absence of error, but simply learning from mistakes and becoming better as a result of failure.

This experience had opened Rey’s eyes to the reality of his circumstances and exposed a flaw in his reasoning. It caused him to grow in real-time, and he felt even more confident in his survival as he advanced.

WHOOSH!

Rey instantly twisted his body, shifting his shield to the side to block a few arrows while swinging his blade to divert a dagger headed his way.

Fortunately, he was able to stop all of them from reaching him.

’Projectile traps, huh?’ He noticed black-like liquid tainting the edges of all the projectile weapons and a deeper frown formed on his face.

’And they have poison. This will be difficult.’

Fortunately, he had a few Potions with him.

How else would he be able to combat something as deadly as poison?

’I don’t have any Technique that counters it. I’ll have to be careful not to fall into any traps moving forward.’

Right as he was having these thoughts, he found the stairs that led to the upper floor.

It was behind a rather inconspicuous door.

If he wasn’t paying close attention to his surroundings, he would have missed it.

’I see...’ He smirked. ’A reckless participant who ran away from the Chaos Dwellers might not easily notice the door in their panicked state. They might run past it or frantically search while the Chaos Dwellers catch up to them.’

These were all interesting tricks to Rey, but none of them were effective on someone of his level.

He ascended the stairs and found himself in the 3rd Floor. At that point, another participant’s death was announced, followed by the time everyone had left.

Just as Rey estimated, he still had over two hours and thirty minutes.

He wasn’t thinking about that, though.

’There has been a sudden spike in the number of deaths announced since I advanced to the second floor. Is this because of the increased difficulty?’

While Rey speculated this, he found a rather surprising sight in the first room of the second floor.

Corpses.

There were corpses of Chaos Dwellers—one at Tier 8 and several at Tier 9.

He also found the dead body of a participant.

It was one of the first people who were announced to have died; a girl by the name of White Silk.

’I remember this one took a different path from the one I took. Does that mean it doesn’t matter which door you choose at the start? The paths are interconnected and you can end up in the room of another path? That makes sense, I suppose. Making it random like this ensures the game is fair.’

Rey did not hesitate to approach the girl’s corpse. He helped himself to her leftover supplies, ignoring her half-eaten naked body that remained exposed for him to see.

Although she had fair, delicate skin and a voluptuous chest which remained intact, the sight did not move him at all.

What caught his attention was the dark vein that covered her face and her whitened eyes.

’So she died due to poison, huh? I really have to be careful...’

Right as he finished getting supplies, he heard the death of another player announced.

This was rather troubling.

’The challenges ahead must be really difficult.’ Rey braced himself, proceeding to the second room on the third floor.

There, he faced one Tier 8 Chaos Dweller and several Tier 9 Chaos Dwellers, while also avoiding a lot of traps in the process. Even for him, it was slightly problematic dodging so many projectiles while facing off against the monsters.

But he quickly acclimated.

He used the Traps to eliminate most of the Chaos Dwellers in his way and executed the Tier 8 Chaos Dweller in one swift move before advancing.

Just as he previously determined, he didn’t kill all the enemies, but was satisfied with fleeing after ensuring they wouldn’t be future threats to him.

A similar occurrence happened in the third room, but this time he fought many more Tier 9 Chaos Dwellers and two Tier 8 Chaos Dwellers.

"Once again... I emerge victorious... hehe!"

Rey chuckled to himself as he finished ascending the stairs to the fourth floor.

The moment he stepped into the room, the door closed—locking itself tight. The sudden noise alerted him.

But... It also alerted something else.

Something in the room.

The thing stared at Rey with a deep glare, its vacant eyes showing nothing but an instinctive drive for hunger and destruction.

It was five meters tall.

Three heads, six arms, and a long tail that slithered like a serpent.

Its purple skin had several dark spikes jugging out of them, and its dripping saliva sizzled on the ground like corrosive acid.

Just as it recognized Rey, he too could recognize this monstrous entity.

’N-no way! They had something like this?!’

He was nearly paralyzed as he felt the attention of the Tier 7 Chaos Dweller that stood before him

’Can I win?!’