Shouldn't Have Tried to Stop It.
Night had fallen on the desert dungeon, its Rank still unknown.
With the sun gone, the unbearable heat disappeared, but in its place, a creeping cold began to rise.
So it was true what they say—the desert is really cold at night.
Fortunately, thanks to watching docuntaries, I already knew this and had gathered materials to survive the night.
So branches from small trees that grew near the temple. Dry grass.
I put them all together, getting ready to make a fire.
The thod of generating frictional heat by rotating a stick with my hands—yes, I learned that too from survival docuntaries.
"Ughhhrrrk!"
But fire didn't light as easily as I'd thought. Strange. The survival experts made it look so easy.
Squelch.
No matter how much I spun the stick, the fire wouldn't catch, and frustration set in. At that mont, z-Avava stepped onto the pile of dry leaves.
Is it trying to use that as a bed? Just as I wondered, sothing began to rise from between the dry leaves.
Smoke?
"Ou, ou-ho!"
Upon seeing the smoke rise, an orangutan-like call escaped before I knew it.
Quickly, I blew air onto the smoking leaves, coaxing the ember to life. Once it took, I transferred it to the dry branches, and gradually, a small fla started to grow.
"Ou-ho! Ou-ho!"
Is this how early humanity felt when they first discovered fire? The orangutan call, imprinted deep in my genes, sprang forth automatically.
"Z-Avava, well done!"
This guy.
So slis can do things like this too?
Overco with emotion, I grabbed Z-Avava in my hands, and a wave of heat surged, just like when sunlight had struck in the desert.
Could it have actually stored the morning sunlight in its body? If so, what an unbelievable creature.
Warming myself by the fire, I watched Z-Avava wiggle at my side.
I was certain the original had died, so how could it split off like this?
Did the fragnt of 'Z-Avava' I scattered at the end gain control once the main body vanished?
Well, it helped , so I decided not to dwell on it.
"What happened to your god?"
I asked Z-Avava, but it just rolled its 'core' back and forth, as if not understanding.
Haaa.
As if talking to you would get anywhere.
I stacked up so straw and made a bed-like thing, laying myself down on top.
Tomorrow I'd have to traverse the blazing heat again to get out of here. Besides, I felt myself growing hungrier with each passing mont.
If I wanted to move again tomorrow, I'd need to conserve my stamina.
With that thought, I closed my eyes.
* * *
When I opened my eyes again, I saw a familiar grassland.
I turned my head to see the giant rotten tree that had sucked in standing behind .
But this ti, there was less fog, and no burial shroud was hanging on the branches.
There was no parade of black-robed figures, no fearful atmosphere—just calm and peace.
Anyone born here must see this kind of scenery all the ti. Such thoughts crossed my mind.
"Is this an Inner World?"
It was the place 《Dungeon God》 players use to talk with gods. Surely, this was related to 'Mortis'.
But why was I here, even though I never worshipped 'Mortis'?
Just then, sothing began to glow inside my coat.
Right Eye of the Ascendant Maiden.
A divine item of Mortis.
"Don't stare too much. It's embarrassing."
A sudden voice startled , and I turned to see the sa woman I'd t before.
My eyes darted between the 'right eye' and the woman. The item's na was the Right Eye of the Ascendant Maiden, yet the woman still had both eyes.
"Did you really think I plucked out my real eye and gave it to you?"
Yikes.
Looks like she read my mind.
That's the problem with the Inner World. There's no privacy before gods.
"Why do you keep coming to ?"
I asked her, wondering why she kept appearing.
I appreciated her saving , but showing up like a nosy neighbor—there had to be a reason.
"Does the god of necromancers need a reason to visit a necromancer?"
Once again, Mortis's voice. Sohow, she felt quite different from all my previous impressions.
"Gods exist by faith. Necromancers who believe in think of as their 'mother,' so I manifested this way."
Mortis spoke fluently. Unlike before, when she'd hug and babble nonsense, she gave off a completely different vibe.
So is this flippant attitude how I imagine 'Mortis' based on my own image of her?
"This is my true personality. Since there are no believers in this Inner World, I can be myself."
Mortis pointed to herself, pride in her voice.
It makes sense—I'm not a follower of 'Mortis'. It seems her personality is uninfluenced by worshipers here.
Wait.
Then why did Thrag turn out the way it did?
Wasn't that crazy bastard shaped like that because of the barbarians?
I looked back at Mortis.
For the 'god of necromancers,' she seed a bit too lively.
Necromancer types are supposed to be gloomy, living with corpses, and so their gods should be sinister as well—or so I thought.
"What a rude assumption."
"I'll ask again. Why did you co seeking ?"
Just in case, I grabbed the handle of the 'Blood-Colored Awl' hidden in my coat.
Even in the Inner World, a divine item like the 'Blood-Colored Awl' still works.
I can swing it.
If it cos to it, I can even summon Thrag here.
"Don't get mad. I'm just here to talk."
Honestly, I was a bit disoriented. eting a god from 《Dungeon God》 face-to-face was amazing, and the fact she spoke like a real person amazed even more.
And she said she ca here just to talk with ?
"I don't want to listen."
I declined.
Who knows what kind of penalty I'd get just from talking to an evil god?
Thrag would raise hell for sure.
"It'll benefit you too."
Benefit or not, I said I don't want to listen.
"You don't have anywhere to learn necromancy, do you?"
At her words, my head started spinning. Just how much did she know?
"I'll teach you. I'm the god of necromancers. I can tell you all kinds of things."
Tsk.
I clicked my tongue lightly.
Worried about what she'd say, but curiosity slowly won over.
Necromancer magic.
I'd struggled so much to learn necromancy up to now.
And she was offering to teach herself.
How could I not want that?
"So, how about it? Ready to listen—?"
Squelch.
What was that?
Suddenly, sothing slimy dropped onto my head.
Running my hand through my hair, it turned out to be green sli. What the heck.
When I looked up to see where it ca from, I saw a huge green shape falling toward .
Shit.
Panicked, I looked at Mortis. Did you do this?
"Uh, uh..."
She looked just as confused.
So you don't know either, huh?
* * *
"Gah, gah-ak!"
It was none other than Z-Avava that jolted my neurons awake.
The creature had climbed onto my face while I slept. I managed to barely breathe and shove Z-Avava off.
"What are you doing, z-Avava?!"
I thought, with the imprinting effect, it thought of as its mother, but maybe not?
But sothing was weird about Z-Avava. It didn't seem to an harm, or plan to attack again.
"So why did you wake ?"
If there was a reason, I wanted to know. So I asked, and it started bouncing up and down.
Then, as if telling to follow, it dashed out of the temple.
Had it stayed up all night watching outside?
With that thought, I got up and followed.
But the dream lingered in my mind.
The dream shown to by the 'Right Eye of the Ascendant Maiden.' Could I see it again?
Up until now, I've been hunting necromancers to get necromancer magic, but if a god would teach directly, it's a whole different story.
I'll get to dream it again. With that hope, I went outside after Z-Avava without regret.
And then I saw just why it made such a fuss.
"Oh!"
Far out in the night desert,
A flickering light moved.
It was surely a torch, carried to cut through the dark desert night.
People!
And judging from seeing it inside this dungeon, they must be adventurers.
Moreover, it wasn't just one torch. Several lights flickered up and down—likely a caravan of wagons.
They must have co well prepared, knowing it was the desert.
"Here!"
I quickly grabbed a torch from the temple, waving it and shouting at the top of my lungs.
Please, look over here!
"Over here!"
I put all my might into waving the torch, but it wasn't clear if the caravan noticed.
Then, the wagons stopped.
Did they see ? I shouted even louder.
"Right here!!!"
Did they hear?
They did! One wagon turned in my direction!
If they were adventurers who entered this dungeon, they must know where the entrance is. If I can just find the direction, I can leave too.
I grinned at Z-Avava. Looks like I was wrong about it not having intelligence.
For the first ti in my life, I felt grateful to a sli as I waved my torch at the approaching wagons.
They drew closer. I could start to see the silhouettes of people.
Huh.
As they got closer, I realized sothing was odd about the wagons.
A normal wagon wouldn't look like this. It was covered in all kinds of spikes and crude markings.
Still, if it "rolls, it's good enough!" was the attitude behind it.
"Krk."
At the sa ti, I finally saw the faces of the adventurers leading the wagons.
Not human—dark brown or green skin.
Protruding tusks like wild boars sticking out from their mouths.
I knew what these creatures were.
"Human, human."
Orcs. Orcs.
Realizing the truth behind the caravan, I felt a cold sweat run down my back.
With no blood, I couldn't even summon the skeleton exoskeleton, and there was nowhere to run in the desert.
It was the perfect definition of a desperate crisis, and I knew just what to say.
I'm screwed.
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