Dungeon Refrigerator 103

Test

Stubborn Individual's Determination

It's a mess. Despite making thorough preparations and challenging the tenth floor of the underground...

[Clang, creaking sounds...]

The iron door, usually easy to open and close, now feels incredibly heavy.

"Ha... Ha... Damn it. Finally made it back..."

Even after escaping from the tenth floor underground, I couldn't walk, crawling back to the dungeon antechamber from the ninth floor. Moreover, the monsters gathered more than usual due to the smell of blood, and I faced near-death experiences multiple times.

Thanks to that, what would take 1 hour took 3 and a half.

[Squelch... Slurp...]

"Ah, damn it!... As I thought!!"

Throughout the return, there was constant unpleasant pain and discomfort.

My left leg got damaged by a giant maggot...

Hastily taking off the suit, I found that the calf tissue was melting. Suddenly, it collapsed, and I could see the bones. Moreover, even the leg bones were melting away before my eyes.

Is this some digestive enzyme rather than poison?

The affected area was covered with emergency pseudo-infiltration fluid, but it seemed ineffective against the invading digestive enzyme.

[Squelch... Slurp...]

Looking at the wound, the collapse of the tissue was spreading slowly. That's bad. It might get worse if left like this. Whipping my aching body, I crawled to the room, pulling tools and power sources.

[Whirring...! Scrape, grind, squeak...!!]

"Gu...!!"

Then, biting a towel, I cut off my left leg with a disk grinder. If I leisurely called an ambulance and went to the hospital now, I might lose everything up to my knees...

"Ha... Ha... Ha..., Guuuh...!!"

And thus, the left leg became strangely lighter. 

Lifting the left leg, I produced flames from the fire wand and cauterized the wound. For hemostasis, disinfection, and just in case there were remnants of the digestive enzyme that had penetrated the wound... And finally, I covered the affected area with newly created pseudo-infiltration fluid.

"...! It's done. Ha Ha Ha..."

Everything gets covered in blood...

All of it, my own spilled blood. Even on the cardboard. The floor of the antechamber. A disk grinder lies at the edge of my field of vision, covered in blood from cutting off my leg. I never thought I would use that for cutting off my foot.

Anyway, it hurts, I'm sleepy, and I'm overwhelmingly exhausted...

It's because there's not enough blood.

Just a little... maybe, I'll just sleep like this...

.....

"Cough! Cough...! Cough...!"

My throat was parched, and the dryness woke me up. My body felt incredibly heavy, and I had a fever. Did I catch a cold? I should have slept deeply enough so I didn't have a dream, yet I felt terribly nauseous. I'm sure I had the skill [Disease Resistance]... but it doesn't seem to be working.

"Ah..."

I propped myself up on my elbow, and I was immediately confronted with an unpleasant reality. Because I saw my left leg, the one I had cut off myself, rolling on the floor from the ankle down. The upper part had been dissolved by digestive enzymes, turning into a meaty liquid pooling on the floor.

Panicking, I quickly checked my remaining left leg, and thankfully, there was nothing abnormal, so I sighed in relief.

"Haah... But I finally suffered a physical loss..."

Even when I had a severe motorcycle accident, I only got away with injuries. The cut end of my severed left leg still throbbed, a burning sensation from the magical flames. Yet, I could feel pain all the way to where my toes used to be.

Looking at my right arm, left arm, right leg, and left leg.

"Yeah, not amusing. But I was prepared for this. Let's not dwell on it. (Snap!)"

I slapped myself to shake off the gloom, waking up my senses.

I've slaughtered countless monsters, everyone I killed. I've been taking lives all along.

That's the rule of the dungeon. Yet, when it was my turn, I shouldn't whine and act pathetic. It's beyond embarrassing.

Of course, it hurts. Both mentally and physically. But I won't cry.

Anyway, I need to clean myself up and eat! Everything starts from there.

"... (Water running! Scrub, scrub, scrub. Clang, scrub...)]"

After showering with one leg, I came from the bathroom, drying my head with a towel. I lost my left leg, but luckily, the right leg, which I sprained, had improved considerably during my nap.

"Now, what to eat... Well, all I have is cockroach limbs. (Bouncing, bouncing, bouncing...)"

Yes, I've always been a lonely, bullied otaku.

So, I'm used to difficult situations.

Yes, my stress resistance is absurdly high compared to ordinary people. No matter how tough it gets, I can spend a day as if nothing happened, with a blank expression. I've spent my school days like that, so this is nothing.

[Crunch... Scrape, scrape, scrape. Clack.]

"Nom nom nom... Yeah, cockroach limbs are delicious today too! Once you get used to the appearance, they're tasty. Yeah! It works, it works! (Gulp, gulp, gulp...)"

Sitting naked with a waist towel at the computer desk, I savored the roasted cockroach limb in my left hand and drank water from a PET bottle in my right hand.

"Phew..."

I'm still alive. And that's enough.

And considering it, I can say it's a relief that it was only my left leg. If it were an arm instead of a leg, I would be feeling considerably inconvenient by now. And if I had lost my arm, a significant decrease in combat ability would be inevitable. I would probably be more depressed and troubled than I am now.

But with a leg, I can get a high-performance prosthetic now.

Many athletes with prosthetic legs can run faster than able-bodied individuals. That's why.

"All right. Let's start by getting a good prosthetic. No, wait, maybe I can make my prosthetic like when I made the Insect King Suit..."

If I don't have a leg, I can make one. Legs are just decorations! The maintenance personnel also said that. Well, that was assuming we were talking about space combat.

Without thinking too much, let's keep it simple, especially at times like this.

I crawled into the refrigerator, dark and filled with King Cockroach exoskeletons, and searched for usable parts, knocking down a pile of exoskeletons.

(Mainly, I'll make an exoskeleton similar to the Insect King Suit, and I can put a frame like a sports prosthetic inside. Come to think of it, the tendons of the giant cockroach limbs might be useful for something. By filling the prosthetic with slime-like fluid and controlling it with magic, I might be able to move it like a normal foot...)

[Clatter... Poof, clatter...]

That's right, I haven't completely lost yet.

So no matter how painful it is, it's not over yet.

If it's not over, then I must not stop here.

.....