Chapter 28: Rank F Dungeon (2)
After dispatching the 23 zombies I first encountered at the compound gate, I proceeded cautiously deeper into the dungeon. It didn't take long for me to come across more zombies wandering the streets. They walked around with no sense of purpose or direction, merely shambling in different directions but remained around the same vicinity.
I wasn't willing to risk any injuries, no matter how low level the zombies were, in frontal confrontation. While I was confident my Gamer's Body would prevent any real injuries, I was slightly concerned about any possible viral infection from zombie bites.
So I maintained my distance at about mid-range with the kusari-gama being my main mode of attack. I switched between using the heavy weight to crush skulls and swinging the sickle to cut off heads, just to get myself comfortable with using both ends of the weapon.
Once, a zombie that had been out of sight almost snuck up on me when I was dealing with a few of the undead that were closing the distance. If not for my enhanced peripheral vision that the Sharingan granted me, the creature might have taken a large bite out of me before I noticed.
But I managed to catch it before it reached me and vivisected the zombie using the sickle from groin to neck – a large spray of blackened blood and gore had showered me, but the moment the corpse collapsed into black smoke, so too did the blood on me.
Which was why despite going through dozens of zombies by now, there was not a speck of blood or viscera on me or my weapons.
After that one close call, I decided against walking down on the ground. Instead, I traversed across roof tops and other vantage points to give me a better look from the high ground. Periodically I would strike the zombies ambling about on ground level with the spiked weight.
I tried not to use any kunai or shuriken as I didn't want to take the time nor the risk to retrieve them after the battle was over. But after a while I realized that I was going to have to descend to pick up the dropped loot anyways, so I began using my throwing weapons liberally. It was a good opportunity to practice my shurikenjutsu on moving targets anyways.
I was racking hundreds, and soon thousands of EXP points from slaughtering the zombies. If I had access to the [Uchiha Natural Dungeon] when I was at a lower level, I wouldn't have needed to rely so much on daily quests to accumulate EXP.
It had only been roughly half an hour since I entered the dungeon, which I could tell due to a timer that was counting down the time limit in the corner of my peripheral vision; but already I had garnered over 2000 EXP from killing the zombies, and around 15,000 ryo… in just 30 minutes of work. It was ridiculously efficient. Although my dreams of opening a second hand clothing store might not come to pass as articles of clothing were not the only items dropped by the zombies.
I had assumed that the zombies would drop stuff that they had been wearing at the time of their death; makes sense right? Nope. They dropped random ass miscellaneous items like a fork, toilet paper, candy. Sometimes I would also pick up items with more value such as a ring or earrings. But they weren't made of any precious metals nor did they have any gems embedded in them, so still pretty worthless.
If this were the standard of items dropped with the double loot effect from the system, I could only imagine what would be dropped without it. Used wads of tissues? Scrap fabric?
But the money was good though, so I couldn't complain.
Clearing the streets of the Uchiha Clan compound of zombies was a tedious but rewarding work. My initial hesitation over killing the undead civilians had all but vanished after some time. It was distasteful yes, but I knew it was something that had to be done no matter what. Plus, as it turns out, grinding my skills on actual enemies and killing them with it was way more rewarding than to do so with static targets.
Already, my [Myriad Armament Fiend] skill levelled up by one, which raised its physical damage bonus to 20%, as well as levelling up my [Sharingan] skill once as well.
I was initially unsure how I would go about levelling up the [Myriad Armament Fiend] skill when I first got it. Could I only gain skill EXP when I frequently used different weapons? Turns out, wielding a weapon using the knowledge implanted by the skill was sufficient enough to level it up. Which possibly meant that in the future if I ever learned any other sword art for instance, it wouldn't increase my proficiency with [Myriad Armament Fiend].
It was also possible that the double EXP buff also applied to skill growth EXP, so it was probably a combination of the two that allowed my skills to level up so quickly.
As I proceeded along the Uchiha main street, clearing whatever zombies I encountered, I mentally wondered about the 'clear conditions' – I had to eliminate the dungeon boss in order to clear the dungeon. But first I had to locate it before the time limit was up, and secondly, I had to determine whether the zombies would infinitely spawn until the boss has been killed or if there was only a limited number of zombies that would spawn and stay dead if killed.
The first meant that it would be most beneficial for me to hold off on killing the boss monster since I could exploit the infinite spawn and accumulate EXP that way. The latter meant I had to carefully make sure I get every single zombie before going after the boss since I would lose out on the precious EXP if I missed some. Either way, however, I had to find the boss first before making any decisions.
With that in mind, I continued making my way to the compound centre while periodically taking out zombies and swooping down to collect the loot and retrieving my thrown weapons. At the same time I was internally making a mental map of the surroundings. Becoming more familiar with the layout of the area would be helpful on future dungeon runs.
It didn't take long as I reached what I could only assume to be the 'town square' of the Uchiha clan compound. While I was on my way here, I had tried entering the houses in the dungeon, curious to see if I could. Unfortunately, it seemed like the houses or any other structures appeared to be nothing more than decorations. The door knob couldn't be turned, windows were blacked out and impervious to any damage. Even knocking on the window pane didn't give off the sound of hitting glass, but rather it sounded like I was knocking on concrete instead.
I could only assume that the buildings in the dungeon merely acted as decorations and I could only explore the open streets. It was an oddly 'game-like' feature that seemed out of place amongst the visceral and realistic setting of this world.
The mini town square was crowded with shambling zombies, more than any I've encountered in any one place. A brief count told me there was a little over 50 of them here. I grinned. I was only a few hundred EXP away from my next level up and the undead below me would net me over a thousand.
From my perch atop the roof of a neighbouring house that overlooked the square, I used [Observe] on the zombies below me. Some of them were too far for the skill, but the ones that were I identified as ranging from level 5 – 7. There even a few 8s and 9s sprinkled in, as well as one burly looking zombie at level 10.
I had to be smart about my approach. There were too many of them for me to go buck wild and swinging, but they were also too far apart for me to burn them with the Great Fireball technique in one go. I thought for a bit before an idea struck me.
Summoning the inventory screen, I browsed through it briefly before reaching in and retrieving two mugs and one porcelain bowl that had been dropped by the zombies earlier. If what I've been taught by zombies were accurate, these things were attracted to sound.
I cocked back an arm holding on to a ceramic mug, angling it upwards. I adjusted my aim and gauged the amount of strength I would need to lob it near the center of the square. Once I was satisfied, I quietly threw it and it flew through the air, landing on the ground with a resounding crash as it splintered into a hundred tiny shards.
My plan seemed to have worked as the loud sound drew the attention of every zombie in the square as they simultaneously turned their heads towards the source of the sound. But only the ones closest to the shattered mug was starting to move towards it, the rest only stopped and stared in the direction of the mug.
Good thing I prepared more loud, fragile things to throw then. Quickly, I aimed and threw another of the mugs which accurately landed near where the first one did, again delivering a resounding crash that echoed throughout the square. This time, even the zombies at the periphery of the mini town square started moving towards the center.
I just needed one more for good measure but decided to wait until they were relatively closer to where I wanted them first before throwing. Once I was satisfied, I threw the last of the tableware; the porcelain bowl nearly struck a zombie's head but safely hit the ground instead. The zombies shambled faster towards the broken bowl, at which point I felt was a good time to unleash fiery wrath.
From my vantage point, I systematically went through the handseals and sent forth a raging fire ball, pumped in with 500 CP. "Katon: Gokakyuu no jutsu!"
The flaming sphere flew through the air and landed dead centre on the crowd of zombies that had gathered where I threw the tableware. The blast from the detonation sent several of the zombies near the edge flying backwards. Some died on impact, others remained alive(?) with just a sliver of HP left.
The ones in ground zero roared in anguish for just a brief moment before vanishing into black smoke. The magnificence of the explosion need not be stated, but the fire quickly died down as the fuel for their flames, the zombies, quickly dissipated.
[You have levelled up!]
There only several that still remained in the aftermath, which I promptly dispatched with a swish and flick of my wrist that buried some shuriken in various places of their body. Once I made sure nothing else remained on the square except the glowing orbs, I jumped down to collect my loot. The ground was blackened by soot and some parts were still smouldering with embers.
However, one loot orb was different than the rest. While most of them glowed a white light, one was a conspicuous green in colour. Titling my head at the difference, I approached the orb and grabbed it.
[Loot gained:]
+1420 ryo
Fingerless Gloves (Uncommon)
Ah, I get it. The green colour represented Uncommon quality loot. I took a moment to check the effects of my newly acquired equipment. They were pure black without any designs whatsoever. Just from its appearance alone, I wouldn't have guessed that it was an Uncommon grade equipment.
[Fingerless Gloves – Grade: Uncommon]
A pair of well-made fingerless gloves.
Durability: 10/10
DEX +3
It had a surprising boost to my DEX, so I immediately equipped it. Just as I was about to go around collecting more loot, ominous growls caught my attention. From the several different entrances, more zombies were streaming in, looking directly at me.
Fuck. I cursed at my own stupidity and carelessness. I should've known the explosion from the fireball would have attracted the attention of the other undead in the surrounding proximity. I looked towards my vantage point from before but found that the path to it was now closed off by the horde of zombies slowly surrounding me.
Some panic was starting to form but the Gamer's Mind ruthlessly squashed it, and what was left was calm of mind and a rapidly forming plan. I ran towards the vantage point and formed the handseals needed for the Great Fireball technique. I wasn't exactly low on chakra right now, the earlier jutsu only took up an eight of my total chakra reserves, so it wasn't time to use them sparingly.
Launching the fireball with just enough CP to clear a path for me, the zombies blocking my way were blown apart from the impact before the fire quickly dissipated, not having enough CP to sustain the flames for a longer period of time. I started running through the opening but was caught off guard when even more zombies took their place. There were now maybe a hundred that surrounded me.
Sure I could just spam [Katon: Gokakyuu no jutsu] and turn the town square into a sea of flames, but ideally I wanted to preserve my CP for when the boss appears. But there was an alternate method for dealing 'AOE' damage there wasn't as chakra intensive.
This was something I hadn't experimented with yet, but if it worked, it would be ridiculously powerful. If it didn't then plan B would be spewing out fireballs until I was the only one left in the square.
Retrieving Jinchu-Maru from my inventory, I began channelling chakra into the metal. As expected, there was little resistance to the inflow of chakra due to the alloyed chakra metal the chain-sickle was made from. Under the chakra sight effects of my Sharingan, I could see the weapon glowing a faint iridescent blue.
I resisted the urge to smirk at the successful experiment as I started swinging the sickle end of the kusari-gama above me. I slowly loosened my grip and watched the spinning chain grow longer with wider revolutions. Once it got wide enough to cover a wide area and long distance, I stepped forward and let loose the rotating chains strengthened with chakra at the surrounding zombies.
When the sickle made first contact with the zombies' flesh, it tore them apart with terrifying ease with barely any resistance impeding the sickle. The zombie physiology was soft and mushy to begin with, lacking the natural vitality of a living, breathing body that would've reinforced their bodies. The sickle without the fortification of chakra could already cut into them effortlessly. With chakra being channelled into the sickle, it was simplicity itself to carve the undead into pieces.
With every revolution of the spinning chain, a dozen or more of the undead would be bisected, beheaded or just mangled beyond recognition. And unlike creatures that were alive, the zombies held no fear nor any instinct for self-preservation. When their undead compatriots fell before them, they would simply continue moving forward without any regard for their own safety. Which was their downfall as the sickle indiscriminately dismembered any that came within its reach.
From an aerial view, the sight would have looked like a lawn mower cutting down grass that was moving towards the blades.
It didn't take long before an eerie silence befell the square, with the only exception being the steady swooshing of the whirling sickle of death. I slowly let the inertia of the chain die down before pulling it back in a single motion and catching the handle of the sickle in mid-air.
The only thing left in the square were over a hundred spheres of white light, with a few green ones littered amongst the abundance of white loot orbs.
Letting out a breath that I did not know I was holding; I raised a hand to wipe off the singular bead of sweat that marred my forehead. That single drop of sweat was representative of how much, or how little effort it took me to decimate roughly a hundred zombies that surrounded me.
Granted, the circumstances were exceedingly advantageous for me – the zombies were a mindless horde that had absolutely zero concern for their own lives; I was in a wide open area with nothing impeding the path of the chain; the zombies were not smart enough to simply crawl underneath the chain, and many more factors that contributed to the simple feat. But all in all, after checking my status, I could see that the entire endeavour only took 200 CP to accomplish. That was factoring in the usage of Sharingan and chakra being channelled into Jinchu-Maru
Now I just needed to pick up all the loot. All of which totalled up to 57,750 ryo, over a hundred miscellaneous items and several Uncommon items:
[Silver Ring – Grade: Uncommon]
A well-made silver ring.
Durability: 15/15
VIT +2
HP Regen +1%
[Berserker's Eyepatch – Grade: Uncommon]
Durability: 5/5
An eyepatch once worn by a berserker to seal his own powers.
All Stats -50%
[Inferior Strength Elixir – Grade: Uncommon]
A substandard concoction that is poorly made.
When consumed, permanent +1 to STR
[Indestructible Underwear – Grade: Uncommon]
Durability: infinite
A cotton-blend pair of tighty-whities that is indestructible through normal means.
However, it is only indestructible if user equips only the underwear and nothing else.
Negates all physical damage done to areas covered by the underwear.
Ignoring the two obviously useless items, which was the underwear that was only effective if I was a single article of clothing away from being fully nude, and the eyepatch that sounded oddly familiar to me but functionally halved my stats, the other two were at the very least decent.
Especially the [Inferior Strength Elixir] which gave a permanent increase to my STR stat, which I drank immediately after checking its effects. The liquid was thick like milk but tasted like sweetened coffee. I also equipped the ring that was strangely enough a perfect fit on my left index finger.
Additionally, there were a few notifications that had appeared during the battle.
[You have levelled up!]
[Through repeated actions, you have created a new skill!]
[Chakra Flow] has been added to your skill page!
[Chakra Flow] (Active) LVL: 1
CP Cost: 125 per minute
When chakra is channelled into an object, the physical properties of the object is enhanced.
Improved proficiency in the ability increases the extent of the reinforcement.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone