Chapter 2: The Zorat Dungeon(Part 1)

"Oii... Why aren't you collecting the monster cores?"

I was woken up from reverie by the voice of the leader of the Raid team I was in the dungeon with.

"I will do the job right away." I bowed down towards the group of awakeners(Adventurers) in front of me before going towards the pile of monsters that were brutally miamed by them.

Blegh....

It was nauseating and disgusting to work as a Labourer who collected the monster cores as I had to poke the bodies of these slimy monsters whenever I entered this specific dungeon with any raid teams that I was contracted with. 

Yes, I am talking about Slimes, the lowest-ranked monsters in any fantasy setting. But the slimes in real life aren't some cute-looking blob of liquid that only has the ability to jiggle its blob-like body, attracting anyone who sees them. 

The ones I am supposed to work with are different breeds coined as "Mucus Slimes" and are literally composed of monsters' mucus instead of water. They are also skilled in stealthy attacks( making the already slippery floor even more slippery), utilizing the slippery terrain of this corridor of the dungeon we are currently located in. The nauseating stench of the monster's excretions always gives me goosebumps as their bodies also have several traces of excreta bubbling inside their mucus body.

And the worst part of my job, I was supposed to take the tiny pea-sized monster core out of their disgusting body. Also, Their bodies composed of monster mucus were a valuable resource for any alchemist to determine the structure of the dungeon and the monsters that habituated the given dungeon.

As a result, I was forced to do the job against my will because I wasn't awakened and couldn't sense the mana in the surroundings as they did. It also was the reason I couldn't become an adventurer although I had experience on raiding the dungeons.

"Also, Help us collect the sample from one of the slimes. Hmm... That one, the one with the most amount of dump will do the job." Another one in the group pointed towards the slime while mocking me.

I nearly threw everything I had eaten today by looking at the blob of dump he had pointed at.

I might have been experienced, but there are some things even the experienced me couldn't handle. One of those things was the slimes from this dungeon.

I wanted to retort and kick that bastard's ass, but I couldn't as he has already transcended the mortal limitations. Ahem, all of them had transcended the mortal limitations the day they were able to awaken themselves while sensing mana in the surroundings. And, having the ability to sense mana made them eligible to become 'adventurers' giving them the right to raid the dungeon as per the rank of their party in the Adventurers guild.

As for me, I was some filthy mortal labor they could change at any time. They could laugh at me, mock me, torture me, or even have me killed inside the dungeon and face no repercussions once outside the dungeon as they were awakeners while I was a mortal, the person hated by the world itself.

Well, Even I wouldn't have faced any repercussions if the whole raid team died anyway. Just the aftermath of handling the situation for being the solo person to leave the dungeon alive would have given me some headache, cause I was mortal and others were awakeners.

So, I could only bottle up the frustration in my heart and collect the 'Sample' from the slime they wanted to collect the sample from.

 Actually, the sample collection process was easy, I just had to use the 'sampling device' that every raid team/party would be provided by the guild before entering the dungeon. It was done in order to learn about the situation within the dungeon by examining the mucus and the feces from the slimes within the dungeon.

However, the time needed by the sampling device to collect the sample was what caused problems. It was damn too slow as it would scan the body of slime before finally vacuuming a little portion of mucus from its body as a sample. Just scanning the slime takes about 10 minutes and 3 minutes extra for the device to vacuum the required amount of mucus from its body.

I was forced to intake the nauseating stench of mucus and feces because these idiots were feeling cocky by killing the lowest-leveled monsters in the dungeon. As somebody regularly entering this dungeon who knows the dangers that we could face at any time, I silently collected the sample while also cursing the nine generations of the one who wanted to sample the very slime I was standing in front of.

I was pale from extreme nausea by the time the device had completed its job of collecting the sample. I glanced at the cocky grin plastered over that idiot's face before bowing down towards them and returning to my position, at the back of the team without anyone to protect me if any monsters attacked me. The only protection I had on me was the pair of rusty but trusty iron daggers in both hands. I was also looking at the corridor we were walking on with great vigilance. 

Looking at the ignorant bunch of adventurers who hadn't even sensed the presence of several creatures in the dark, I could only sigh my head in disappointment. I was even praying to the stars, feeling as though my curse was about to become a reality today, especially as I looked at the youngsters who were completely negligent about the environment they were in.

We had crossed the area occupied by slimes, the weakest of the monsters in this specific dungeon, and entered the territory of 'Zombified Rats'('Zorats' in short form) which are also the main monsters found in this dungeon.

I could already see several white sclera looking towards us, my senses already ready to pick on any movements in the surroundings. I wasn't going to leave my life in their hands as I didn't have any confidence in this team leaving this dungeon without leaving several of their members in the dungeon today. 

Just a few seconds later.

SQUEAK.....

"Here It Comes." 

I turned back and ran towards the corridor where slimes lived, as it was the most protected area in this dungeon, in terms of protection from these Zorats. This corridor was also an effective and risk-free method to kill these unnecessarily difficult low-ranked monsters.

It was slippery and the Zorats were slow and couldn't coordinate the movement of their little bodies properly leading them to be unable to do anything to us once we entered the corridor housed by Slimes. They would basically become fish in the chopping board once they entered the slippery corridors. They would slip and fall in the same place, stuck like fish in the land without water.

I didn't forget to shout at the ignorant adventurers, asking them to follow me to the slippery corridors from before but no one listened to me.

I could even hear some unbridled laughter from the group behind me who still didn't have any idea about the danger they were neglecting and were literally leaping towards their deaths by not listening to me, an expert at raiding almost all the low-leveled dungeons with several dozens of raid parties till now. I was already a veteran in this field with enough experience to become an expert guide for new awakeners who wanted to raid the dungeon for the first time. Just being unable to awaken and sense mana was the reason I was forced to work as low-level labor with the skills of an expert-level Dungeon guide who earned thousands of times more than I was without doing anything at all. I really envy these damned awakeners... I really do.

"Why were they in danger when clearing a low-level dungeon, you say?"

Because of the monsters residing in this dungeon, the Zombie rats. They might be low-ranked, even braindead, but are equally hard nuts to crack if you can't destroy their bodies into smithereens in one hit, killing them in the process. 

And, I don't think this party has that ability.

Heck, I don't even think any of these will be able to gather enough courage to try and attack the Zorats after looking at the horde of monsters surrounding them from all four sides.

Ahhhh.....

Yup, That was it.

As I had guessed. They were screaming and running haphazardly without even trying to attack the Zorats, breaking the formation taught to them by the guild they were registered to in the process. The already low-level formation became useless before even killing a single Zorat.

"Freaking bastards, Why are you breaking the formation?" I yelled at them in order to distract them and look towards me but to no avail. The scene was getting even more chaotic as time went by since the number of Zorats kept increasing while those idiots were busy crying and praying to gods.

The noise they made had the opposite effect; instead of scaring the monsters away, it was attracting even more Zorats to the area. Zorats are zombies characterized by poor eyesight but heightened senses, causing them to follow sound or movement rather than avoiding noise like other lower-ranked monsters would.

And the amount of noise these idiots were producing was giving every Zorats in the area an open invitation to rush toward them rather than away from them.