The Return of the Iron-blood Sword Hound
chapter-320

Chapter 320: Surplus Human (7)

[ Ke kek? Why are you acting like this? ]

The fairy stuttered and stumbled.

Vikir looked down at the fairy’s face, showing a puzzled expression as if he truly couldn’t understand English.

‘Disgusting.’

Fairies are inherently deceivers.

Not only do they try to leech off the achievements of participants in the survival competition inside the tower, but they also frequently steal their rewards.

The most common type is the so-called ‘scam’ is embezzlement.

Often, these scammers manipulate things in the middle so that struggling newbie participants who clear difficult missions end up not receiving proper rewards.

They often make excuses like fees or commissions for more than half of the rewards, and sometimes boldly steal the entire reward list secretly.

The main pattern is to appear in front of challengers whose judgment is clouded right after clearing a difficult mission, lure them with an appropriate reward, then disguise the real rewards as leftovers, scraps, by-products, or even garbage, exclude them from the reward list, and quietly take them away.

According to regulations, fairies must show all the rewards obtained by challengers in front of them, so they cannot completely hide them.

Therefore, challengers have to carefully scrutinize everything.

The rewards left behind by challengers who haven’t chosen are naturally claimed by the fairies.

‘So, if it sees a rare item, of course, it’ll try to steal it.’

Vikir tightly gripped the candy bag in the fairy’s hand and immediately snatched it away.

[ Ah ah ah… ]

The fairy let out a disappointed sound.

Well, of course.

The pouch Vikir now held is a highly rare hidden piece that is almost impossible to find even inside the tower, and even the fairies themselves don’t know how to obtain it.

– Strange Candy Bag ‘Transformation Bug’ / Exchange / S

Ultra-small bug that livea within the body of a small animal. Although it resembles a sack, it is an parasite’s egg.

It poses no threat to its host and feeds primarily on ‘strange candy’. If it does not eat more than a certain amount of candy on a regular basis, it will die naturally.

The amount of excretion is as much as the amount consumed, and it is said that the excrement has subtly different properties from the food consumed.

– Candy Transformation (Special)

※ This creature consumes 100 candies of the same type and expels one candy of a different color.

※ The color of the excreted candy is random.

‘…A lottery.’

Vikir broke the sack. Indeed, he found tiny parasite inside.

A small creature infected with this parasite has no health issues, but it does possess an unusual ability.

It refers to the ability to eat and digest candies.

For example, if Vikir feeds the parasite 100 red candies to boost its strength stat, the parasite will spit out a randomly colored candy.

It could be a golden candy that raises levels, a silver candy that enhances reflexes, a black candy that boosts physical resistance, a green candy that increases agility, or a blue candy that enhances stamina.

As you progress to the later stages of the tower, you can acquire many strange candies, and if you utilize these bugs well, it’s even possible to turn the most common red candies into the most precious golden ones.

If luck is on your side, that is.

“…In my past life, Camus must have obtained this.”

Before regression, Camus had focused all her efforts on obtaining white candies that raised magic resistance stat using the transformation bug.

As a result, she gained an incredible magic resistance stat, which allowed her to ignore mana explosions and glide through many dangerous breakthroughs.

“But even that was obtained at the end of the journey, near the end of the tower.”

Vikir himself didn’t expect such remarkable achievements to be accomplished on just the 3rd floor.

Vikir turned his head to look at Baby Madam sitting on his shoulder.

‘…Finding a trustworthy pet is also a difficult task, so I’m lucky to have you. I’d like to be your host if I could, but it’s impossible due to my size, so let’s make a deal.’

[Hak hak hak-]

As Vikir petted her, Baby Madam seemed to be in a good mood and patted his hand.

Eventually, a harmless parasite attached itself to Baby madam’s body. It settled under her chin.

Baby madam scratched herself here and there, feeling a bit uncomfortable, but soon forgot about it as if it had never happened.

Indeed, as stated in the description, it seems to have no effect on the host.

“From now on, I’ll give you the stats I obtain.”

Baby madam who will eat the candies will also grow rapidly.

Eating and excreting are separate matters, of course.

Vikir turned his head just in case, but all the candies that had been piled up behind had already been collected.

It seemed like the fairy hurriedly collected the remaining candies after it was deprived of the real reward.

Perhaps that was it’s entire fortune.

Nevertheless, candies were still scattered here and there, so Vikir deliberately walked around, kicking them with all his might toward the flower.

“We should be grateful even for scraps.”

Vikir picked up the candies that were embedded throughout Bloodsoaked Jade Flower’s body.

At times like this, Flower’s teeth, which were oddly shaped and protruding messily, were very helpful.

Recovering the candies stuck between it’s teeth, he found quite a few of them.

15 red candies, 6 green candies, 11 blue candies.

But there wasn’t a single golden candy.

Since it was valuable, it seemed like someone had cleverly picked them up first.

…Pook!

Vikir pierced flower’s body with Beelzebub.

After a long climb through the popped eyeballs, he was finally able to see through the hole in the back of the Daylily flower.

When Vikir emerged, covered in nectar, there were gasps all around.

“Unbelievable! He was really alive!”

“He caught a cannibalistic flower! A S-rank monster!”

“And that too with a body weakened a hundredfold!”

“What in the world is that guy…!”

All the students of the Colosseo Academy were shouting in joyous excitement. However, none could get close to Vikir. This was because the hunting dog, which had just finished a bloody fight, still emitted a menacing aura that hadn’t fully dissipated.

Only Granola approached Vikir and tended to various matters. But Vikir paid little attention to the gazes around him. As soon as Vikir emerged from the Bloodsoaked Jade flower, he did one thing: he took out two items.

– [Sunflower Seed Rat’s Tooth Hoe] / Farming Tool / D

A hoe made from the tooth of a large seed rat. It’s suitable for digging up plant seeds, if nothing else.

– [Water-Resistant Greaseproof Paper Pouch] / Pouch / D

A pouch made from quite durable, water-resistant greaseproof paper. It has the power to repel moisture, making it suitable for storing items.

Vikir held the hoe made from the tooth of a seed rat and approached the flower’s head. As expected, the seemingly smooth surface of the flower’s center was densely packed with sharp seeds.

Vikir used the tooth hoe to carefully dig out each incredibly tough and hard seed. …Thunk! …Thunk! …Thunk! …Thunk! …Thunk!

Though the seeds didn’t come out even with Vikir’s Aura-infused sword strikes, they came out relatively easily with the hoe made from the tooth of a seed rat.

As soon as he extracted the seeds, Vikir stored them in the water-resistant greaseproof paper pouch. Since it effectively blocks moisture, the seeds shouldn’t absorb moisture and sprout.

As they watched his silent actions, the students felt a shiver of unease.

“Level 1… catching an S-rank monster with a body weakened a hundredfold makes sense?”

“How strong must he have been before entering the tower?”

“They say he was more than a Swordmaster… is that possible at his age?”

“We’ll only know when we see it.”

“So, he’s been hiding his strength all this time? Why?”

“I don’t know. How can we know what’s in the Master’s heart?”

Amidst the sounds of countless chickens clucking, Vikir paid no attention whatsoever.

Right at that moment, the fairy reappeared. It seemed agitated, as if caught red-handed in it’s attempt to deceive Vikir, which was embarrassing and irritating. Simultaneously, a status window announcing the completion of the mission appeared.

[Mission] – Survive in the ruins for 1-68 days!

※ Avoid ‘Bloodsoaked Jade Flower’!

Since the flower was dead, surviving for 68 days by gnawing on the giant plant’s corpse seemed easy enough. Knowing this, the fairy seemed to have simply forced the mission to end.

[Now, this will put me in a tight spot, won’t it? I suppose there are some more challenging missions waiting for everyone on the next floor.]

After finishing it’s sentence, the fairy snapped its fingers into the air. Suddenly, something like a rope descended from the sky.

[I’ll help you all move quickly to the next floor, alright?]

As the fairy pulled down the rope from the sky…

*Kururururur!* With a sound like the flush of a toilet being pulled, a powerful torrent rushed down from the ruins on the other side.

“Eek! What’s this?”

“It’s a tsunami! Run, everyone!”

“Over there! The gate to the lower floor is open!”

“What!? But it’s for one person!”

“Hurry! Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!”

The students ran madly, avoiding the approaching tsunami that swept everything in its path.

It seemed that when they descended to the lower floor, everyone would be scattered.

[Well then, farewell.]

As they heard the fairy’s voice spinning around their ears, all 68 survivors leaped into the gate.

It was a leap to the 4th underground floor.