Earth Dungeon 5.1

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Chapter 5.1. Remaining Life Skill

Three years ago. I was dying. I took a job that wasn't easy. I was asked to exterminate a horde of goblins that appeared in an abandoned town as casually as if they were coming for a snack and eating people. With hobgoblins in the mix, it was sure to be a hard fight.

At the time, I was overworking my body, which was covered with scars from more than a decade of fighting, and I defeated the goblins. I also could defeat hobgoblins by setting traps. I defeated them smoothly, but... 

There was one goblin with a different color from the others. It has the same size as the other goblins except for its red hat and clothes, and I didn't care that it was a goblin who happened to use the clothes of a human corpse.

It was a mistake. The monster moved like a leopard, faster than a hobgoblin, and its muscles could easily crush a concrete block like Styrofoam. It was a mutant, a rare monster.

Sakimori fought to the death. Using his mana and traps, he fought while deprived of one hand, and finally used the rough art of falling together from the roof of an abandoned building.

By using the goblin, which he later named Redcap, as a cushion, he fell to the ground, but his death was inevitable. His body is covered in blood, his arms are missing, and his legs are bent into strange shapes. With his fading consciousness, he looked blankly at the Redcap he had defeated, sighing that all his efforts had come to nothing. Then, he spotted the red glowing monster core of a defeated Redcap. It was the first core he had ever seen.

[And the Equivalent Exchange Store]

With all his remaining energy, he called up the Equivalent Exchange Store. He puts in the glowing red core, which must have been special. The letters turned blue so that he could exchange several items with just one.

[Rare E Monster Core has been put in. Limited items can be acquired]

I saw the message on the monitor and looked at the list with a trembling hand in my blurry vision. I wished I had a recovery item. I wished there was an item that could heal my dying body.

There were none. It was probably because it was E-rank, even if it was rare. But there was a skill.

[Limited 1: Remnant Skill MAX Increase your life].

Thinking this was it, I selected the leftover plane and lost consciousness as black particles enveloped me.

I thought it would be a sleep that I would no longer awaken.

The next time I woke up, there was a girl. I was in the girl's body, but I was also a ghost drifting around the periphery as if I had a bird's eye view.

The girl suddenly made eye contact with me in my astral body, as if she had just noticed. She was a girl with both cuteness and beauty.

"Ah, you're awake. It seems that the restoration of your physical body is progressing."

I was puzzled by the girl who spoke to me as if nothing was wrong. I wondered if I had become a floating spirit after my death.

I nodded, and she told me.

"You have acquired the residual skill. From now on, you and I need to die at the same time to be considered dead. If you are on standby, your body will be gradually get restored. If you die, please buy a revival potion from the store. You can use it to revive yourself. Your shredded arm, fingers bitten off by monsters in the past, and thighs gouged off will all be fully restored. The recovery time depends on the amount of damage. If it's you now. It will probably take about a week."

The girl smiles at me, and I can't help but admire her, even though I'm old enough. The girl smiled mischievously at me as if she had seen my expression.

"My name is ...... yes, Shizuku. A drop of life fell from the heavens. Let's call me Amano Shizuku. I'm looking forward to working with you from now on, Sakimori-san. ...Technically speaking, you might have been dead."

I was saved. I wondered if having more lives means sharing another person's life. But that doesn't change the fact that my life was saved.

"So, Shizuku-san? What are you eating right now?"

I looked around and saw that I was in my room. It was my living room in the penthouse.

"Chocolate is the best food. Please give me more."

A beautiful girl with a mouth full of chocolate bites down on a piece of chocolate. Her cuteness gets halved by the chocolate around her mouth.

"Give me more, wrong! It was for saving money. Why are you eating? Or how do you know where my hidden chocolate is?

"There was a large amount of silver paper trash scraps left on the table. This girl had mercilessly eaten her way through nearly 30 sheets of chocolate.

"I share Sakimori-san's memories. So I'm familiar with all kinds of hiding places, food, and even battle strategies. By the way, I'm also treated as a different person, so I acquired the status assignments and skills myself. Oh, don't worry, I threw away the old hentai books. And I love sweets. When I'm in standby mode, I don't even need food, but I have something called another stomach."

"That's not how you use 'another stomach'."

And so, Shizuku giggled, covered her mouth, and continued talking interestingly.

"And I know you're trying to be the world's savior. I'm impressed by your interesting way of doing it. So I'm sure I can be of service, right?"

Shizuku replied with a calm light in her eyes, but I couldn't tell what she was thinking.

And I've got a partner for life.