Chapter 75

75. Evil Without Malice

I needed something called Breathing Bamboo, so I went to get it.

Skipping over everything that happened in between, I ended up making bombs out of the bamboo.

While we were fighting the pandas that had attacked us, one of their attacks struck the bombs and caused them to explode. The explosion spread to the bamboo forest, turning the entire forest into one gigantic bomb.

And just like that, the whole bamboo forest went...

Boom!

“Please believe me! It’s true! I’m telling you, it really happened!”

Thanks to that explosion, everyone in the party died except for me and Modagi, since the two of us were immune to flames.

On the bright side, all the pandas died as well. I gained three whole levels and finally reached Level 40.

The users fighting on the front lines were already close to Level 130, so I had caught up to about one-third of their level.

Ah, that wasn’t what mattered right now!

I, Kim In-Gwang, was currently being chased by the villagers whose village had been half-destroyed and whose bamboo forest had completely disappeared.

“True or not, this whole disaster happened because you made those bombs!”

“Seriously! Why do you keep saying things that are completely right?! Yes! You’re right, but...! Just let it go this once! It’s not like I did it on purpose! Do you really think I meant for this to happen?!”

How was I supposed to perfectly defend against pandas flying through a bamboo forest?

It was impossible!

Damn it. If I had managed to finish turning them into proper bombs and brought them back to the village, I could have made an incredible amount of money!

I could have even given this little village a new specialty product called Bamboo Bombs!

But now the entire bamboo forest had burned to the ground, and every single bomb had exploded.

At this point, my only option was to sell the bamboo I had collected, roots and all, and make a profit from that!

Which meant I believed the village itself should stop these people from chasing me out or trying to kill me!

Never cut open the belly of the goose that lays golden eggs!

“My house! What are you going to do about my house?!”

“That one... I’m sorry about that!”

“Catch him!”

Ah, this was bad.

I needed to hurry and revive the others.

But if I simply ran away right now, my infamy would shoot through the roof. If that kept happening, there would eventually be nowhere left in this world where I could safely stand.

...There was a saying that if there were no witnesses, even a massacre could be considered an assassination.

Couldn’t I cover up my evil deeds by putting that saying into practice here?

No, wait!

I had already built up karma that way several times, and I had been forced to face the consequences!

Calm down, Kim In-Gwang!

You are already a man burdened with far too many sins!

In that case...

In that case...

Right!

There was only one answer.

Run away!

To the underwater dungeon!

Here’s a toast to my foresight in preparing a dozen pieces of bamboo in advance!

“Huh? That bastard’s running away!”

“You let your guard down, foolish villagers! You thought you had driven me into a corner, didn’t you?! But the place you drove me to is right in front of the sea! This is my escape route!”

“C-Catch him! We won’t be able to catch him once he enters the dungeon!”

“Come and find me! I’ll leave everything I own in the underwater dungeon!”

I summoned Modagi separately, asked him to revive the others, and sent him somewhere else.

Then I dove into the sea.

Heh.

My first and oldest skill.

Now was the time to show them the power of Sea Swimming.

From what I had heard, the underwater dungeon was located deep beneath the distant sea.

To be honest, even I didn’t know whether I could swim all the way there.

Still, compared to the sea where I had repeatedly drowned while swimming during my days as a tester, this place was practically a windless, peaceful lake.

On top of that, according to the game’s setting, the sea was the source of all power.

If I read the currents, followed their flow, and swam along with them, I could move so quickly that the villagers stubbornly chasing me in boats soon became tiny specks in the distance.

However, the description of Sea Swimming said that I had “reached the level of adapting to the ocean environment.”

I had no idea how I was supposed to interpret that.

What kind of game wrote skill descriptions like this?

Was this a card game or something?

Was I supposed to use the skill first and only realize I had made a mistake after it failed?!

“Hahaha! Farewell, my poor victims! I’ll definitely atone for this crime someday! Just get ready to receive compensation!”

“Then stop running away! Hey! Get back here!”

“I hate clingy men! Farewell!”

I dove deeper into the sea.

There was almost no resistance as I swam. It felt as though I were flying through the high sky where the air was thin.

It was uncomfortable, yet strangely relaxing.

The seawater was cold, so I was a little worried about suffering an abnormal status condition. But it wasn’t cold enough to damage my body, so I decided it was probably fine.

Breathing, however, might become a problem.

I placed a piece of bamboo between my teeth and bit down on it with all my strength.

The material was surprisingly soft for bamboo, so I easily made a hole in it, allowing air to flow into my mouth.

I had already experimented with it in various ways while making the bombs, so I knew how it was supposed to be used.

This probably wasn’t its intended purpose, so each piece would only last around twenty minutes.

Still, if I carefully rationed the bamboo I had brought, I could remain underwater for an entire day.

For now, I’ll wait down there. Modagi will revive the others, and they’ll somehow deal with the villagers.

If I had thought of this a little earlier, I could have simply let myself get caught and wasted some time.

I really was an idiot.

Down and down I went.

I kept swimming deeper in a slightly dazed state. The light shining from above gradually weakened until the sea around me became completely dark.

I tried to take out my chains and light a flame, but since I was underwater, all I managed to produce was a stream of hot, bubbling air.

It startled me.

Moving through absolute darkness, unable to tell whether my kicking feet were carrying me upward or downward, was terrifying.

How far had I descended?

Just as my mind became filled with repentance and regret over why everything I did always ended in disaster, I noticed a faint light in the darkness below.

Is that it?

I increased my speed and swam farther down.

The light gradually grew brighter, and the underwater dungeon finally revealed itself.

Glowing coral reefs surrounded a gigantic castle covered in a chaotic mixture of colors that seemed to match the coral. Jellyfish glittered as they reflected the light, while enormous fish freely swam between the buildings.

As expected of creatures living at the bottom of the sea, those fish looked incredibly... unique.

I didn’t want to stare at them for very long.

...What am I supposed to do now?

I had been swept away by my emotions and ended up coming all the way down here.

Naturally, I hadn’t thought about what I would do afterward.

I considered trying to clear the dungeon, but if I couldn’t breathe inside, even that would be impossible.

If that happens, I’ll just die!

I fired a chain toward the dazzling, multicolored castle in the distance and rapidly pulled myself toward its outer wall.

Perhaps because I was underwater, I felt considerable resistance this time.

If Sea Swimming reached a higher level, would even this resistance disappear?

Maybe I would eventually be able to breathe underwater as well.

Using the flow that I had become familiar with, I searched for a relatively weak section of the wall.

Then I struck it with all my strength.

Thud.

Hmm.

As expected, it didn’t work.

I hadn’t faced much resistance, so my strength hadn’t decreased by much. Yet there wasn’t even a scratch on the wall.

It seemed the castle walls were incredibly sturdy.

Then it was time to use the flow!

The flow was practically a cheat skill!

Hahaha!

I would abuse it as much as possible before the balance patch arrived!

I read the flow within the castle wall.

I wanted to break it quietly and carefully, but my proficiency wasn’t high enough for that. Instead, I violently disrupted the flow across an area large enough for me to pass through.

Thanks to my experience in the underground kingdom, I had become somewhat familiar with this technique.

It shouldn’t be too difficult.

Ruuuumble!

Crash!

A small section of the wall rippled like a wave before cracks spread across its surface.

After that, I didn’t even need to use more strength. The water pressure naturally widened the cracks until a massive hole opened in the wall.

Judging by how the water was being sucked inside, the interior of the castle must have been filled with air.

Wait.

Did I make another mistake?

Unable to resist the rushing current, I was sucked through the hole and thrown into a brightly illuminated corridor.

I didn’t land gracefully.

The tremendous water pressure slammed me into the opposite wall, and I was battered by the torrent for quite some time before finally falling to the floor.

My life really wasn’t easy.

“Ptooey! Pwah! Good heavens! So this is what happens when the water pressure is that strong?”

I pulled myself away from the stream of water that was striking the opposite wall with an ear-splitting roar powerful enough to make it seem like the whole world was collapsing.

Then I looked around.

I saw lightly armed fishman soldiers panicking over the destroyed wall.

An octopus magician wearing sticky-looking clothes was also rushing toward us.

Were those clothes made from scales?

Their glossy surface almost looked like silk.

“A-An intruder!”

“You idiot! Shouldn’t we block the hole first?! If you try to catch the intruder, the whole place will collapse! Hurry!”

“Yes!”

“Huh? I-I wasn’t talking to you.”

Before they could hate me any more than they already did, I pulled out my chains, connected the shattered pieces of the wall, and pressed them tightly against the hole!

Naturally, that wasn’t enough to seal it completely.

Still, the opening where the water was pouring through became noticeably smaller, giving the soldiers and magician some breathing room.

“I blocked the hole!”

“Huh? Oh! Y-Yes, good!”

“...But wasn’t that human the one who made the hole?”

“I don’t know. He seems to be working far too hard for someone who did that. Besides, he looks a little too stupid to be plotting something.”

I had never imagined I would hear something like that from a fish head.

Still, holes appearing in the walls apparently weren’t completely unprecedented.

Since I was visibly unarmed and actively helping them seal the opening, the fishman soldiers didn’t react too harshly toward me.

A short while later, the octopus magician completely sealed the hole with magic.

He then gathered the water covering the floor and placed it inside a huge bag brought by the soldiers.

With that, the incident came to an end.

“Thanks to you, our work became much easier, human. I would like to offer you a small reward. Do you have a moment?”

“Hahaha, there’s no need! It’s not like I did this expecting a reward. How could I possibly accept something for such a small favor?”

“Hahaha! You’re surprisingly free of greed for an outsider. Still, I must report this incident. Would you come with me?”

Hmm.

Usually, there were two ways a scene like this could continue.

Either he would laugh heartily and give me a small gift...

Or he would suddenly shout, “Did you think I was stupid enough not to realize you were the one who made the hole?!”

Considering how unlucky I had been today, I doubted I would receive particularly good treatment.

Still, the atmosphere wasn’t right for me to suddenly attack them.

“Well, if you insist.”

If things went badly, I could pull on the chains still mixed into the wall and collapse it again.

Of course, these fishmen lived underwater, so they would survive while I died alone.

But I could still destroy the castle, so it was fine!

That small hole probably wasn’t enough to cause serious damage, though.

As we walked, I stayed close to the walls and spread my chains along the entire route like blood vessels.

Let’s make this problem even bigger!

Hehehe...

The deeper they brought me into the castle, the tighter they were wrapping a rope around their own necks!

They had better not underestimate me!

After walking deep into the castle for some time, I arrived in a fairly large chamber.

Unlike the other areas, pale blue light passed through a glass-covered ceiling and softly illuminated the circular altar in the center.

The entire room had a blue atmosphere.

It felt like a chamber used for rituals.

Was I the only one getting that impression?

Had I ended up somewhere I definitely wasn’t supposed to be?

There was no other choice.

I had to prepare my chains so I could collapse the castle whenever I wanted.

Even a brief distraction should give me enough time to escape.

“Excuse me, but where are we?”

“This is where the leader of our magicians resides. She will arrive shortly.”

While I was secretly preparing to bring down the castle, the area that looked like a round altar began to ripple.

With a magnificent splash of water, the leader of the fishman magicians appeared.

“Welcome, human. I am the superior of the one who guided you here. My name is Spotco Oxytopoda. I heard you helped seal the hole in our castle?”

She was a somewhat humanoid fishman.

She wore something resembling a jellyfish upside down on her head like a hat. Her skin was blue, glossy, and difficult to see against the blue room, while her clothes looked slick and sticky.

All the fishmen I had seen on the way here had looked like monsters.

She was probably a higher-ranking species.

She fixed her unusual eyes on me and moved slightly closer.

Long, thick, octopus-like tentacles crawled out from beneath the altar, suggesting that her lower body was shaped like an octopus.

“What could I give you that would satisfy an outsider such as yourself?”

“You really don’t need to give me anything.”

Apparently, she didn’t intend to come any closer.

She remained at the edge of what I had thought was an altar, but which now seemed more like the entrance to a fish tank, and stared intently at me.

By fishman standards, she was quite beautiful. Players with certain tastes would probably cheer upon meeting an NPC like her.

For me, though, she was a little overwhelming.

“I cannot allow that... Ah, yes. We have a sword made from an old pillar that was recently removed. It was forged deep beneath the ocean, where the water pressure is strong enough to crush a human body.”

“Hmm. I don’t think I did anything impressive enough to deserve something that valuable.”

“It is a weapon humans cannot use once they leave the water anyway. If you know someone who wields the power of water, you may give it to them. But before that...”

Splash!

A massive spray of water erupted above me.

What I had thought was a glass ceiling shattered as a huge, whale-like fishman dropped onto me and instantly pinned me down!

“If you are innocent, then I will gladly give it to you.”

Ugh.

So my fears had been right after all!

With a casual wave of her hand, the leader pulled a sword from the water.

It was a two-handed sword with a purple blade, glowing blue lines of power, and golden patterns engraved across it.

As a gamer, I desperately wanted it.

If swords had been my main weapon, I might have immediately thrown myself at her feet and begged her to give it to me.

“I received the report. A human suddenly entered through the broken wall and then helped seal the hole.”

“Yes, I did that!”

The whale-like fishman was pressing down on me so tightly that I could barely breathe, let alone speak.

Hmm.

First, I needed to get these guys off me.

Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to collapse the castle or escape.

If they remained stuck to me like this, they would catch me again before I got very far!

They were sea creatures. Their swimming speed had to be ridiculously fast!

“However, no matter how much I think about it, there does not seem to be anyone other than you who could have created that hole. Because of that, we cannot understand what you were thinking.”

Depending on my answer and her judgment, I could either receive a reward or be punished.

Then what was the best thing I could possibly say to escape this situation?

“Actually... it’s true that I made the hole.”

“I see. Then I cannot give you the reward. However, I believe you have more to say.”

“I-I wasn’t trying to harm you or your people. A ridiculous misunderstanding on the surface caused people to chase me. While trying to escape, I ended up drifting all the way here, Leader.”

“Please call me Spotty, overly honest outsider. Are you asking me to overlook this because of your circumstances?”

I silently nodded.

I wanted to describe the villagers as the worst villains imaginable and disguise myself as their pitiful victim.

However, the last remaining piece of my conscience refused to let me do that.

I had already caused trouble everywhere I went.

Trying to take advantage of them on top of that would mean I wasn’t even human anymore...

“However, your actions threw our soldiers into confusion. One of my subordinates, who should have been performing his duties elsewhere, was forced to rush to the damaged area because of you. Naturally, both I and the two who restrained you are also suffering losses because of your actions.”

“Ugh... I’m truly sorry about that.”

Seriously, what was this?

This place was supposed to be an underwater dungeon.

Why was it inhabited by fishmen who could communicate so reasonably?

Why were monsters living in a dungeon talking about things with such common sense?

Boom!

Crash!

My worries were interrupted by a loud noise, followed by powerful vibrations traveling through the floor.

What was that?

Another intruder?

D-Don’t tell me the villagers had chased me all the way down here!

“What is happening?!”

“A-An intruder! An outsider carrying a fishing rod has entered the castle!”

“...Kang Tae-Gong! Mobilize the troops immediately and evacuate the residents! We will postpone this human’s trial!”

Kang Tae-Gong?

Judging by the name, he was probably a player who spent all his time fishing.

Apparently, he had been blacklisted here.

Had he fished up countless members of their species or something?

The whale-like fishman handed me over to the soldiers before quickly leaving.

Meanwhile, heavy crashing noises continued echoing from outside.

The user called Kang Tae-Gong seemed to be attacking the same area where I had entered.

Even the soldiers holding me were completely focused on what was happening outside.

Which meant...

Was this an opportunity?

I immediately pulled my chains with all my strength and collapsed the section of the castle Kang Tae-Gong was attacking.

This was why the Radar skill was so useful, everyone!

Being able to tell exactly where someone was and what they were doing was seriously insane!

“The wall has collapsed!”

“Impossible! Already?! I will enter the battle myself! Go ahead and stop him immediately!”

“Wait! Um... Spot? Ty? I can help you!”

“Silence! You and that man are both outsiders! What nonsense are you trying to spout?!”

“No! The truth is, I was being chased by the people who sent Kang Tae-Gong! In other words, Kang Tae-Gong is my enemy!”

“What?”

“I’m not asking you to become my friend until the day I die! I’m proposing a temporary alliance! From your reaction, it looks like you’d rather die than bow your head and do whatever he demands! And it doesn’t seem like you can defeat him easily either!”

“...”

With a casual gesture, Spotty ordered the soldiers holding me to step away.

Then she motioned for me to come closer.

“You are confident, aren’t you?”

“Always.”

I wasn’t.

Still, something would probably work out.

And if it looked like things were truly hopeless, I would wait for an opening, collapse the castle, and run away.