Becoming an Extra in a Trash Game

Chapter 33

A bloody trap was planned as soon as I saw Ruby’s Trait.

Just in case, I had secretly prepared defenses with tower-made shields instead of Codex’s parts shields for areas that would be fatal if cut off, like the neck or body, without Kane and Luna knowing. It was also something I pushed forward with.

[Payan – Bloody Villain Adventurer]

Representative Traits: [Charm (A+)] [Amputation Preference (S)]

Hidden Traits: [Dominated (C)] [Pottery (E)]

To begin with, her name wasn’t even Ruby. Moreover, the charm, no matter how you think about it, was Ruby’s doing not only for the party members traveling together but also for that swamp troll, according to my gut feeling.

Still, it was a trait fitting for a secret dungeon, so I pushed it a bit.

If Ruby didn’t have the amputation preference, I would have had to plan around blade traps and such, which would have been quite troublesome.

Considering the benefits, it was worth the adventure. However,

‘I knew she would cut, but I didn’t expect her to quickly cut off a leg.’

I grumbled inwardly while lying crumpled on the ground.

Thanks to the numbing potion I drank in advance, there’s no severe pain, but there’s still a slight lingering sensation, and above all.

‘Of all places, the amputation site is large.’

Since I lost almost the entire leg from below the knee, the rate at which blood is flowing out now seems insane.

Actually, I had anticipated this to some extent, but I thought she would cut off a hand at most to subdue me and satisfy her preference, while also hindering my magic casting.

‘Hmm. This won’t do. I need to drink a potion.’

I’m sorry to Luna and Kane, but I was planning to show them a bit of ‘mild’ shock therapy by pretending to faint and suffer.

If I pretend to faint now, there’s a real chance of a bad ending due to excessive blood loss, so I’ll pass on that.

Since I’m lying down with my back to Kane and Luna, I don’t know if they’re looking at me now or not, but just in case, I carefully act out taking out a potion with trembling hands and drink it while slightly raising my body.

Seeing my leg that flew far away makes it feel even more unreal.

If I try to reattach it with a potion, the nerves, and everything will be a mess, so I’ll just crawl over and retrieve it for now…

“Haah…”

There’s no pain, but I pretend to be in agony.

I groan with furrowed brows and separate the living metal I had combined with my robe with trembling hands.

I guess I’m lucky in a way. I get to use something I prepared just in case.

I place the separated living metal against my severed leg and transform it into a prosthetic shape.

The metal moves and adheres like a slime.

After tightly binding the lower part to stop the bleeding, I raise my head to see Luna running towards me while Kane is blocking the homunculus.

“Young, Young Master. Hueeeng!”

Luna is crying terribly.

Ugh, my conscience… My conscience hurts.

But I swear I’m not doing this lightly, so please forgive me, really… If I don’t do this bit by bit from now on, I don’t know what will happen later, I…

I grab Luna’s hands, which are touching my body here and there while sobbing, to stop her.

“Luna. I’m fine.”

At my words, she glares at me with pink eyes that have turned red from crying so much.

“How are you fine! You’re not fine at all! I… I will kill all those people later.”

Wait, wait. This isn’t the sound of rage building up, is it? Right?

Feeling creeped out, I shake my head while pretending to be in more pain, and Luna, whose eyes were bloodshot, hugs me again while crying loudly.

“First, first let’s get out of here, Young Master. Didn’t you say the door was locked earlier? Then I’ll quickly take care of that and get the blood to open the door. Please wait a little. Okay?”

Angry Luna speaks without hesitation.

I felt a sense of déjà vu as I watched Luna earnestly instructing me while placing a potion with its cap already removed in my hand.

‘This sounds like what my sister used to say to her nephew…’

But for now, I say I understand while showing plenty of signs of pain, and Luna runs off again with a determined expression.

I sip the potion to replenish some of the blood I’ve lost while watching Luna distract the homunculus’s vision and Kane finally cuts off its head.

And the moment my eyes meet with the blood-covered Kane.

‘I can’t help but avert my gaze…’

I close my eyes tightly while pretending to be in more pain, leaning against the wall in a sitting position.

Given the situation, I don’t think I’ll be caught, but just in case Kane becomes suspicious, I need to be careful with my actions.

“We need to go to the temple first! Young Master, please hang on a little longer.”

“Before that, we need to…”

As Luna and Kane seem to be hurrying to retreat immediately because of me, I open my mouth urgently while pretending to be in pain.

Before I could even give a subtle hint, Kane takes care of the blood needed to open the door by retrieving the homunculus’s head, and at the same time, Luna picks me up in her arms.

Oh my.

Being carried like this by Luna, not Kane, is causing some mental damage…

“We’ll go quickly. Please, Young Master… You’ll be alright…”

Luna cries like a child and runs at such a speed that I hear a buzzing wind sound in my ears.

For the success of the operation, I abandon my male pride and allow myself to be crumpled in Luna’s arms, who is smaller than me.

‘But Luna. We can’t leave yet…’

We have to clear the secret dungeon.

Kane and Luna even killed the ragged homunculus at the cost of my leg, and we’re leaving without much gain?

‘My gamer instinct won’t allow it.’

“We’ve arrived! Kane, we need to open the door quickly.”

They ran so fast that we reached the door in no time, even though it would have taken at least an hour if we had moved slowly while killing monsters.

I smiled faintly without Kane and Luna noticing.

Now we have gathered all the materials needed to open the secret dungeon.

This is where you use the phrase ‘It’s meant to be.’

A party of two or more, the head of a homunculus, and the time when we haven’t received the normal dungeon reward yet.

As I lay in Luna’s arms with a pale complexion, Kane also hurriedly brings the homunculus’s head to the door and lets the still-wet blood drip onto the floor.

Matching that timing, I pretend to groan and, instead of typing like in the game, I roll the name of the creator of this experimental dungeon on the tip of my tongue in a low voice.

“Aish…”

* * *

“That rabbit bitch looked like her eyes were about to pop out.”

“Thanks to that, we got time to mine the attribute stones.”

Karl, who mainly used daggers, and Hals, who wore gauntlets, had now thrown off their masks of being good adventurers and were laughing excitedly as they started mining the attribute stones buried at the end of the dungeon with the tools they had brought.

“Yeah, right? The sight of her screaming in panic!”

“Ah, it’s thrilling.”

Watching the two of them, Ruby, no, Payan, giggled.

The black-haired man. And the golden-haired man.

Both had faces she wanted to possess from the moment she first saw them. How pretty would it be to cut off just their heads and decorate with them later?

‘Well, it was a bit strange though.’

She knew that her charm trait usually doesn’t work on women, but those two men were strange too.

Usually, low-intelligence monsters fall for it immediately, but for humans or Ain race, it only creates a slight fondness like with Karl or Hals, which can be manipulated indirectly by rolling with it.

But those two weren’t like that.

The golden-haired man who acted as if he felt nothing even when she subtly made eye contact and smiled, and the black-haired man who seemed emotionless.

Payan felt bad that her trait didn’t work on them, and judging by their appearance, they seemed to have quite a bit of money or items, so she had planned to clean them up with a troll when there weren’t many people around, but their unexpectedly good skills became a variable that changed the plan.

“Well, isn’t it easier with ambiguously strong beginner adventurers?”

They think they’re good enough and end up getting caught and eaten, right?

If they had no skills to begin with, it would be different, but since they were quite good, she believed they would at least grab the ankle of that annoying lump monster.

And sure enough!

By the time Payan and the men finish mining the attribute stones and leave this place, that lump monster would have already eaten them and gone into its cage with a full stomach.

“I wonder how much we’ll get if we sell these to the magic tower today?”

“And we’ll have a drink and look for new sacrifices!”

The moment Payan laughed while twirling her rose-scented red hair up,

Grrrr―

“Huh?”

“What! The attribute stones…!”

With a sound like the dungeon was about to collapse, the floor shook and the attribute stones that hadn’t been mined yet were sucked into the dungeon walls.

Karl and Hals hit the walls with their weapons, but only sparks flew, and with the increased vibration, Karl, Hals, Payan, and Joby all tumbled down.

“Is, is it collapsing?”

As Payan pulled Joby onto herself while shouting sharply, the vibration stopped with a buzzing wave sound, and someone appeared in the air as if to illuminate the slightly dark dungeon.

―I am the master of this dungeon.

A figure floating leisurely in the air with the fingers of both hands pressed together.

A blurry appearance, like a magical body created without substance or recorded in an artifact and played from somewhere. Moreover, a magician wearing a prosthetic hand made entirely of metal on one of the fingers pressed together.

Payan with her hair all disheveled and Hals with his face dirtied, who had tumbled down, opened their mouths at this strange sight.

“Dungeon… Master?”

“Uh, please spare us! We’ll leave all the mined attribute stones behind!”

Whether he was really the dungeon master or not, it was right to prostrate themselves before someone strong enough to shake this large dungeon.

‘There was still a master left in the hidden dungeon?’

These incompetent dungeon manager!

Payan gritted her teeth, remembering the face of the one who ate only the bribes she had given without giving a single discount despite being under her charm.

If she could just get out by any means, she would take back all the money she had given.

―Although it’s a grievous act to enter my dungeon like rats, I’ll tell you a few ways to survive since you’ve dealt with the failures I hadn’t fully processed yet.

“What… Are those?”

As one corner of his mouth curled up eerily even in the blurry appearance, Payan raised her gaze with an ominous look.

―First.

The dungeon master spread one metal finger and opened his mouth.

―Become my test subject and endure for a year, and I’ll let you out.

“Crazy.”

The curse word that Hals muttered quietly stung Payan’s ears.

And then another silver finger spread out.

―Second. Offer a part of your body on the hand I spread. If you do so, I’ll give you one-tenth of that weight in magic stones.

Magic stones?

At those three words, Karl’s, Hals’, and Payan’s eyes glittered.

Even if they got just a 1kg magic stone, their lives would change.

The three’s gazes began to urgently exchange with each other.

* * *

―Second. Offer a part of your body on the hand I spread. If you do so, I’ll give you one-tenth of that weight in magic stones.

Who are you trying to fool with just that?

I snorted after gesturing to be put down from Luna’s arms.

Even if you get a 1kg one, it would be lighter than the magic stone I crushed and ate in front of Kane last time.

‘Trying to bribe with money, huh.’

I forcibly composed my face that was becoming indifferent.

I quickly moved my lips before Kane, who was looking at Luna and me with a grim face, could finish speaking.

“I’ll, for a year…”

“Are there no other proposals?”

“Young Master! What careless words are those? We need to get out right now. I’d rather offer my ears and tail…”

No, what are you saying? I startled and made a clattering sound as I stepped on the floor with my prosthetic leg, then reached out to cover Luna’s mouth.

Does she think I woke that guy up for this?

I slightly moved only my eyeballs to meet gazes with Aish’s hologram-like image.

―It could vary depending on how much, or which part you offer.

In the game, when forming a party with ordinary people to open this dungeon, one party member would return missing or…

‘They came back with permanently reduced HP.’

But it was different in the case of sending just one NPC named Camel, the one-armed swordsman.

Not only did all party members return, but their HP remained the same, and even the item I was trying to obtain was added as well.

‘Probably the reason is.’

After answering, I slowly separated the living metal from my leg and placed it on Aish’s hand, which was still smiling unpleasantly with just the corner of his mouth raised.

‘Because the official name of this dungeon is the Dungeon of Loss.’