Chapter 160: Still on top of Buddha’s palm (1)  

It was pretty much a cliff that was over 100 meters in height.

‘He’s saying that something is over there?’

However, I noticed an extremely rough path following the side of the cliff.

Of course I would have no issues going through it, but it would be impossible for Eruni or Shione. No, it would be dangerous for the magician Bernard and the regular soldiers as well.

“Is there no other path?”

“Caw. This is it.”

Then I guess there was no other choice.

I do remember something like this during the game. I remembered getting to a point where the weaker soldiers were unable to move forward.

We had no choice but to divide the team into two. And then we arrived at the Demons’ Mine almost instantly.

This seemed to be that moment.

That should mean that we weren’t very far from our destination.

“How much farther to the Demons’ Mine?”

“Once we climb this cliff, caw! We can get there in one month.”

Did it take a whole month last time?

I didn’t have a very good sense of time because I experienced it during the game.

But it seemed that I had no choice right now.

“Why don’t we do it like this? I will follow Chief on my own. Everybody else can wait here.”

Harrison’s group and the Dwarves all seemed shocked by my suggestion.

“You’re going to go alone?”

“Won’t it be dangerous?”

Of course it would be dangerous.

But it was nothing to worry about. I already know what dangers await me once I get up there. I also know how to handle that dangerous situation.

In fact, I was more worried about the people who will have to wait here for me. We sacrificed a lot to get here.

A lot of people were lost along the way. The 100 soldiers were reduced to 71 and we even lost a Dwarf.

The strong monsters played a part, however, the most dangerous issue were the Red Snakes. They would silently crawl up from the boulders while we were resting or sleeping, and it was instant death once you were bitten.

We couldn’t afford to lose any more people. They were all people who would be extremely helpful to me in the future.

“I shouldn’t be in much danger because I have the Unicorn’s Horn Flute with me. I will open a portal at a good location.”

I purchased 10 two-door portals before we left from Titan Valley. All ten were the ones that allowed an unlimited number of people to go through a distance within 50 kilometers.

I already used six of them, but that meant I still had four left. Weren’t these the kind of reasons I bought them for?

Harrison and Goonto nodded their heads.

“Then it should be fine.”

“Don’t be stubborn and immediately open a portal if you end up in a dangerous situation.”

“Sure.”

I casually responded and started to climb the cliff with Chief.

Chief was an expert at cliff climbing. This punk didn’t have much agility, but he was walking up this cliff as if he was walking over a flat plain.

Of course, I was able to keep up with him.

We almost instantly climbed the 100 meter tall cliff. I saw an unexpectedly beautiful sight once I got up there.

‘Wow! It’s like paradise!’

There was a pretty wide grassland on top of the cliff.

There were all sorts of colorful flowers, as well as delicious looking fruits that made me want to run over and eat them.

I didn’t expect to see such a beautiful sight in this rough Western District.

You would never dream of something like this being here when you were looking up from the bottom of the cliff.

“Caw! You cannot eat the fruits! All of them are poisonous!”

I had some knowledge about that as well. I had studied a lot about the Western District through the draft plan.

The majority of the fruits here would give good results if you turned them into alcohol, however, your life could be in danger if you ate them raw.

“Alright, let’s hurry up. Lead the way! Stop dilly-dallying and let’s go.”

Chief started to run as fast as he could.

However, he was not as fast on this flat plain as he had been on the cliff. Well, it’s not that Chief was slow, but that I am fast.

There was another large cliff on the other side of the grassland. It was extremely tall and steep. This cliff was one that I wouldn’t be able to climb even if my agility was at 100.

But Chief led me to a small cave entrance at the bottom of that cliff.

‘This is that place!’

I remembered this place from the Royal Roader game. It was something that happened long ago and was not as fresh in my mind because it had happened during the game, however, I still remembered it clearly.

That was how memorable the Western District was even during the game. That was especially the case for what happens after this cave.

I followed Chief into the cave.

‘There should be a submerged path soon.’

And it was just as I expected. Chief suddenly stopped walking in shock.

“Caw. The path is submerged in water. We need to pass through the bottom in order to get to the other side of the cave. Caw.”

I could feel that the water was flowing gently. However, the water will be flowing much faster once I get to the bottom.

“Then we will need to dive in. Chief, can you dive?”

“Chief hates water. Caw!”

The Kobbit race hated water. They especially felt significant fear for their entire body being submerged under water.

I was able to easily take care of this issue during the game. I was able to summon and unsummon him.

I just unsummoned Chief and passed through the submerged path.

However, it is not possible to unsummon a slave in this real-world Royal Roader.

Then how would I get through this spot?

Wouldn’t it be great if there was a magic bag that you could put humans, monsters, or slaves inside? Then I could carry the slaves in the bag and call them out when I needed them.

But such a bag did not exist.

That was why I prepared something in advance since I knew this would happen.

I took a sack out of my magic bag.

“Then go in here.”

This sack did not have any magical properties. It was just a sack that was large enough for Chief to fit inside. He won’t get wet if he is inside here, and would be able to have some air as well.

“Caw!”

Chief stepped back as if he was scared. He could easily imagine what would happen once he went inside the bag.

“Chief. Don’t you trust me?”

“Caw! But I still hate water!”

His fear of water really was significant. He continued to step backward even with me glaring at him.

Then I guess there was no other choice.

Forced entry!

Chief’s stats weren’t that high. He was someone I could hunt when I was not even level 10.

Chief tried to run, but I easily grabbed him and put him inside the sack.

“Caw! Please don’t kill me.”

Chief flailed around to get out, but it was not possible. I used my strength to put Chief completely inside the sack.

“Don’t flail around. Water will get in if you rip the sack. You could die if that happens.”

“Caw! Someone save Chief!”

I gave him one last warning before I tied the sack up.

“Take a deep breath.”

Chief finally seemed to give up. He took a couple breaths so that he could hold his breath for a longer duration of time.

“Hua. Hua. Hua.”

“Now take a deep breath.”

Chief’s eyes were full of fear.

“Huaaaaaaa!”

“Don’t worry punk. You won’t die.”

I then tied the bag up. I grabbed the sack with Chief and dived into the water. I then reached the deepest part of the water as quickly as possible.

It was extremely deep. It continued to go down even though I felt as if I had already gone at least 10 meters underwater. However, I suddenly felt something sweep me away.

It was the current. There was an extremely fast current deep underwater.

‘Aaah!’

I quickly started to be swept away as if I was on an express train made of water. It was so fast that I couldn’t even see where I was going.

I had to work hard in order to make sure that I didn’t lose the sack with Chief inside.

‘But this is too fast!’

It seemed to be moving over 10 meters per second. The shock from hitting the cave wall every so often was intense as well.

The more worrisome thing was that there seemed to be no end to this cave. It had been over three minutes already, but all I saw was this dark cave.

‘Just how long does it go?’

Another three minutes went by.

Now I was running out of breath. I was able to hold my breath for over ten minutes here because my physical traits were much better than in the real world, however, it was hard to do that when I was placed in a dangerous situation like this.

I don’t think I will be able to hold my breath for ten minutes. I felt like I would suffocate if I did not take a breath right now.

I also became envious of the sack Chief was inside. Chief should be able to take some breaths with the air left inside the sack.

Should I open up the sack and try to breathe with that air?

However, the current was so fast that I didn’t even think I could do that. I continued to lose air as I thought about that. I could feel my mind starting to fade away.

‘Please hurry!’

I was almost praying for it to end.

My surroundings suddenly lit up at that moment. That extremely strong current disappeared as well.

That wasn’t it. It felt as if my body was floating in air.

‘......Huh? What the...?’

I turned my head to look around.

I felt my heart sink as I did that.

‘Right! The end of the submerged cave!’

There was an extremely high waterfall at the end of that cave. I couldn’t tell the exact height because it was in the game, however, there was an extremely painful impact when I fell even though my stats were extremely high.

‘I’m going to fall soon!’

A long time passed since I had that thought. Well, I’m sure it was actually a short period of time, but it felt like a long time to me.

Anyway, the only thing I was sure of was that it was an extremely tall waterfall. The amount of water flowing through was also so much that the noise of the water crashing at the bottom was loud as well.

Crash, crash, crash-

I then felt a sudden shock throughout my entire body.

Boom-

It didn’t seem like I had died since I could hear a message in my head.

However, I could not think about anything else. The stun state was removed and my life quickly recovered thanks to mana suction, but my mind was unable to handle the shock of losing 698 HP at once.

I blacked out like that.

Shake shake.

What the...?’

I opened my eyes just slightly after feeling something weird.

The world seemed to be flipped over. No, I was hanging upside down. My body was shaking left and right while being upside down.

I was able to figure out the reason as I stealthily peeked out.

Around eight Kobbits had tied me up against a log and were carrying the log on their shoulders.

They looked like Kobbit Indians who had hunted a hog in the field.

‘These bastards are treating me like a pig?’

I heard a familiar voice at that moment.

“Caw! Kirookookoorookoo!”

It was hard to understand, but the voice definitely belonged to that bastard.

I turned my head slightly to the side. It was an awkward movement because my entire body was tied up, but I could see him.

‘Chief!’

I was certain of it. My slave Chief seemed scared as he was urging the other Kobbits.

‘Status Window Open!’

I quickly tried to open up Chief’s status window. However, nothing happened.

There was only one thing that could mean. Chief’s loyalty had fallen under 50 and he had betrayed me. That meant that he was no longer my slave and had returned to the unique monster that he used to be in the past.

I wasn’t anxious. This was going as I had expected.

It was going just the way it happened in the game.

However, I could not think about anything else. I felt something prick my butt before my mind became blurry again.

‘Damn it, poison!’

I had a pretty high poison resistance level now. I could even survive the extremely strong poison of a Death Snake.

But that poison resistance seemed to be useless against the Kobbits’ poison. Just how strong of a poison did they use that my mind was blanking out this quickly?