My Refrigerator Turned Into A Dungeon

Chapter 214:

Dungeon Stampede 2.0 Lodging

The strange dream of another world continued.

Sometimes, when you indulge in a rare long weekend, you might continue a dream, but this one seems unusually long this time…

"I'm considered handsome… but Ridis is a much better-looking guy, right?"

"Aww, come on! That's a nice thing to say! But, coming from you, it just sounds like sarcasm, Salt."

Ridis half-jokingly responds to me, but in the latter half, he slightly seriously warns me, ‘Don't say such sarcastic things.' Hmm, does this mean that the standards of beauty in this world and my original world are different?

"But seriously, what about the scar-faced guy and the buck-toothed shorty, Hylo? Are they considered good-looking too?"

Thinking it would be rude to talk only to Ridis, I ask Hylo this time.

"Hmm…? Well, about them… they have distinctive… no, unique features."

"Though, they were once serious adventurers who completed requests properly, despite their current appearance…"

(Did you really have to dig that up…?)

Hylo, the head of the Adventurers' Guild Business Department, begins to talk about their past.

According to him, they were once diligent adventurers, but after suffering serious injuries from a monster, the fear took root in them, and they couldn't take on subjugation requests anymore.

"So, those facial scars are from back then…?"

"Yes, and since then, their personalities have twisted. When newcomers like you join the guild, they tend to hassle them like today. Well, I let it slide because it helps in training overly excited newbies…"

I see, everyone has their history. That scar-faced guy has such a background… Although I get it, being hassled is still quite a nuisance.

"Well, so it's a monster phobia. But hey, there's magic, right? Why not use that to solve the problem?"

"Huh, what are you talking about…?"

"Because ‘spoken words have various effects,' right? Then, why not face a mirror every morning and night and keep saying ‘I'm not afraid of monsters!' to yourself? Wouldn't that be effective?"

"Wha- what…!?"

"Using magic on oneself… Hylo! Salt's come up with something amazing!"

"Ah, this is a blind spot!"

What… so far, you've only used the word spirit magic on others?

Things like ‘I can do it!' or ‘I can handle this!'—self-help books usually have similar stuff written in them…

"Moreover… if I cast a spell on myself saying ‘I'm handsome,' wouldn't I become handsome!?"

"Oh, that’s it! Indeed…!!"

Judging by Ridis and Hylo's reactions, it seems using the word spirit magic on oneself has never been done before. Well, considering its effectiveness, it might have been considered dangerous to meddle with oneself and was forgotten over time, becoming lost magic.

"Hey Ridis, lend me that plate!"

"No, wait! I’m first!"

Two grown men are trying to take a metal plate from each other to use it as a mirror and cast spells on themselves.

Well, to me, they’re both strikingly handsome. If they walked around Shibuya together, they'd definitely get photographed.

Also, it's common in otherworldly settings for magic to be advanced while science and technology lag behind. But forgetting such concepts is a bit rare.

Anyway, it seems like I won't be handed over to the guards anytime soon with this situation…

…

Upon waking up, I immediately feel intense pain in every part of my body…

But, compared to before I lost consciousness, it's much better. I see three people lying on a large bed in their combat suits, and spirits watching over them protectively.

"""…"""

"Sorry, even though you're not fully recovered either."

The Pixie Queen was also somewhat affected by the high-load life energy absorption. However, since the load was distributed among four of us and they were originally monsters, they were in a much better state than me.

"Phew… But it was lucky that we found such a convenient place at the right time…"

Taking off my mask and looking around, I saw a large bed in a Western-style room. The place we had fled to looked like a castle… a building with a castle-like exterior in the middle of the city.

Yes, this place allowed for rest and lodging depending on the fee, with blocked windows and narrow corridors.

Thus, large monsters couldn't enter the building, making it a perfect place to hide and hold out. Incidentally, this was my first time in such a place. Damn, if it wasn't during such a situation, I would have enjoyed it more…

Anyway, I unsteadily got up and went to check on Sekirai, who was in the worst condition.

"Suu… suu…"

(Thank goodness…)

Traces of wiped blood remained around her nose and mouth. But her breathing was stable, which was a relief. I was worried because I didn't know if recovery potions would work for the damage from excessive life energy intake.

"…Mmm"

"…Suu"

Yes, Ruu and Nina-san also had tired faces, but as long as their bodies adjusted to the life energy while they slept, there shouldn't be any problems. The most important thing now was to let their bodies rest.

When I checked the time, it was 4 AM. Apparently, twelve hours had passed since we entered this hotel. I opened the room's refrigerator and took a sip of bottled water to quench my thirst.

"…Ah"

As the cold water flowed down my throat, I felt somewhat calmer.

I had experienced intense life energy before. But fighting an opponent who could easily kill me, despite being unscathed, had drained my nerves considerably. That's probably why I slept so much despite being cautious.

"Ah. I'm okay now, so you can go back."

When I spoke to the spirits, the Pixie Queen and Sal Taro turned into light and returned to my chest. Following them, the Red Slime also returned to my left prosthetic leg.

"Now, what state are we in… what the heck!?"

Current Previous

Level 19 15

RaceHuman?

OccupationTeacher

Attributes

Strength 568 380

Endurance 573 375

Intelligence 603 388

Spirit 612 377

Agility 546 392

Luck 666 496

Futility 282 462

Blessing

[Salt Spirit] Kiyomikami, [Pixie Queen] Sachi no Mitama, [Red Viscous Creature] Junki Mitama

Skill

[Strong Acid 2], [Agility 2], [Disease Resistance 7], [Usurpation], [Mucus 7], [Space 6], [Good Luck 1.4], [Footwork], [Meditation], [Salt 5], [Craftsmanship], [Maggot 2], [Woman], [Martial Arts 6], [Paralysis 4], [Jump 9], [Strudy 8], [Charm]

Title

[Bug King], [Salt Mate], [Salty Guy], [Bug Queen], [Woman Killer], [Bug Friends]

Even with the 1/4 distribution, my level went up by 4!

And my attributes, which should have been capped at the human limit of 500, have easily surpassed that! What… seriously? And there's a question mark next to ‘Human' for my race… How vague can these stats be!?

And no new skill acquisitions… Well, I expected that. But it's a good sign.

It's better to keep growing rather than hitting a ceiling. Though the ‘Race: Human?' part is concerning…

Still, my attributes have entered the unknown 600s, folks!

It's probably premature to hope for ‘unlimited growth,' but it seems feasible to expect to reach around 1000.

And then there's the greatly decreased ‘Futility' and the maxed-out ‘Luck.'

Is this because we combined our efforts to deliver the final blow to the giant black spider, which is typical of team heroes, thus significantly lowering my loneliness score?

"And ‘Luck'… luck has been on my side lately…"

We managed to defeat both the giant red scorpion and the giant black spider, despite everything. Moreover, we were almost unscathed. Given this streak of luck, it makes sense for my luck stat to rise.

As I pondered these things, I wet a towel with bottled water and wiped the faces of the three sleeping companions.

Now, I'm really looking forward to asking them about their levels and skills when they wake up…