12 : Hungry Curse


“I relogged. Hmm, I have the weekend off tomorrow, so as long as login time isn’t regulated, I’ll continue to play.”
There’s still 4 hours left in the day which would translate to 12 hours in game.
Yep, there was still much more time for me to play.
Furthermore, the Poisonous Bite Rat’s remaining bones that I left in the safety area stayed as is.
It seems like I didn’t have to concern myself over decomposition or anything.

“The rebar with attached concrete…… It’s fine if I don’t bring it along right?”
I wielded the Poisonous Bite Rat’s Tooth Knife with reinforced poison damage in my hand and a Poisonous Bite Rat’s Fur Bag around my waist. I left the safety area, spending 3 minutes opening the metal door again.

“Now then……”
I’m faced with the same three pathways outside of the safety area.
The front passage is buried in rubble and cannot be accessed.
To the left was the previously explored office with something that could be seen moving discreetly behind one of the desks. It was most likely a spawn location for Poisonous Bite Rats.
The right path was collapsed in the middle, but beyond that was an office that was similar to the left side’s.

“Maybe I should check the right side passage once.”
I discovered that there was a path leading from the left office to the right office previously.
I also knew that there were a fair number of small rooms between the left and right offices.
That being the case, it may be better to check out a larger area first. If I make use of my insect wings, I’ll probably be able to float over the collapsed flooring and head to the office on the right.
On the way, it might be good to check out what was happening with the collapsed floor too.
For that reason, I turned and started moving towards the right path.

“Hm? A slope?”
When I reached the edge of the collapsed floor, what I saw on the lower level was an accumulation of debris arranged in a state comparable to a sloped road.
A part of the wall was crumbled as well. From there you could see the outside of the building I was currently in.

“I wonder if this was a place similar to some sort of wasteland city.”
Peering from the broken wall, I saw multiple tall concrete buildings and soil that was mainly dark brown.
Only, a majority of the buildings were broken down by the usual disintegration curse. The remaining buildings were probably also affected by the curse.
In some places, there were unnatural vacant lots and many buildings look as if they’re about to fall over.
Also, there might’ve been a subway or something along those lines as there was a portion of the wasteland that seemed to have caved in.

“Nn…… There’s quite a few variations of this fog.”
If you squinted hard and looked outside through the window, you could see the familiar blend of the red, black, and purple mist, yet there were areas where it was dense and areas where it was thin.
It wasn’t as if the fog obstructed your vision everywhere you looked, there was a definite difference.

“It might be better to take a look at the lower floor first.”
I looked over at the slope of debris once again.
The distance from here to the lower level appeared to be about 2 meters and a little over.
If it was from here to the ground this building was on top of…… It was perhaps around 50 meters. It’s just an estimate, but maybe I was at the 20th floor right now.
Supposing that you fell out of the building for some reason, if you started flapping your wings with all your strength at around the 2nd floor, you’d probably be able to avoid falling to your death.

“……”
If I flew over the slope and entered the office instead, presumably, there’d just be more Poisonous Bite Rats.
Yeah, there might’ve been various things I could find in there, but between the path going down or to the side, the bottom route would probably have more unknown aspects.

“Then, let’s go shall we?”
I jumped down to the slope at the bottom.
It was a big fall, but I was able to land securely by using my insect wings dexterously.

“Now, here is…… Hm?”
After landing, I instantly assessed the situation with my 13 eyes.
I make sure that there are no signs of enemies or anything that might be immediately dangerous.

“What is this feeling……”
That’s right, there shouldn’t have been any danger.
Yet, I could feel an unease or the kind of danger that would make my hair stand on end.

“Ngu!?”
Then, that sense was confirmed to be correct.
My throat felt like it was congested.
I was breathing but I couldn’t breathe.
No matter how deep my breaths were, I couldn’t take any of it into my body.
The status condition displayed was…… Curse Concentration Deficiency (4).

“Curse…… Concentration…… Deficiency?”
My HP bar was visibly decreasing fast.
At this rate, I’d only be able to endure 30 more seconds.
I fear it’s likely that my HP was being whittled away by 4% every second.

“The Tower of Mice…… It’s impossible……”
I felt a degree of dizziness, discomfort, and lethargy that bared resemblance to the severe poison that was incomparable before.
In this state, forget climbing back up the slope of rubble, it was impossible to even take a single step. It was impossible to return back to the Tower of Mice alive.
In other words, death was certain.

“Appraisal!”
If that’s the case, the correct answer was to obtain even a little bit of information before I die.
With my quivering hand, I used the『Appraisal Loupe』on the space in front of me.


△△△△△
S1 Desolate City


The countless skyscrapers reveal the former civilization’s prosperity.
However, it has now amounted to just an obelisk that solely gathers and amplifies curses.

Curse Concentration : 5
▽▽▽▽▽


≪S1 Desolate City has been discovered≫

“Curse Concentration…… 5……”
The appraisal results were acknowledged and my HP bar was emptied, sending me back to death.

≪Title, 『Insufficient Curse』, has been acquired≫

“So, a lot of things have become easier to understand.”
And this respawn posture…… Basically, I was organizing my newly gained information while lying spread eagle and floating.
In addition, the new title looks like this.


△△△△△
“Insufficient Curse”
Effect : It becomes easier to perceive how low the Curse Concentration is. (Normal)
Requirement : A death caused by Curse Concentration Deficiency.

The curses in this world are too sparse for me to live……
▽▽▽▽▽


Well, not bad, but I’ll leave it alone for now.

“First off, the Curse Concentration Deficiency was a lethal status condition. The result was death if left alone for seemingly 25 seconds.
Curse Concentration Deficiency dealt percent damage to your HP in relation to the number within the parentheses every second.
On top of that, it applied a dizziness that disabled your direct movements, a feeling of discomfort, exhaustion, and suffocation.
Therefore, you weren’t even allowed to just push through with a large number of recovery items.

“If the source of this occurrence was to be taken literally as a shortage in Curse Concentration, the number 4 in the parentheses displayed would mean that at the very minimum, It was lacking 4 wasn’t it.”
I remembered back to my title,『Spawn Of Jugemu』.
A title which was acquired from my initial abnormalities being at 16.
Perhaps, this initial abnormalities 16 was something that didn’t allow for survivability outside of the dungeon to an extent…… If that was the case, then when the area’s Curse Concentration was 11 or lower than one’s abnormalities, the Curse Concentration Deficiency may occur.
My abnormalities was at 19 and the Curse Concentration in the『Tower of Mice』was 10, so the difference resulted in 9. However, the Curse Concentration outside was 5, making the difference 14…… I was utterly stuck.
The parenthesized number being 4 balanced it out as well, so yeah, I couldn’t be too far off.

“To counter this…… There wasn’t any way for me to lower my abnormalities, thus the quickest way would be to possibly increase the Curse Concentration surrounding me.”
I was pretty fond of my current avatar, so I won’t be recreating it.
If so, then I’ve decided on the measures I should take.
It’ll be fine if I just make an item with that sort of ability.

“Alright, the most pressing matter right now was the exploration of the Tower of Mice. After that, let’s aim to be able to leave and live outside of the dungeon.”
I confirmed my current situation and left the safety area behind.

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