42 : Jugemu Jugemu

“Login”
“Chuchuu”
As usual, I logged into『CNP』.
The dangling meat fern flower in the safety area… had grown into a bud.
Only one plant was in that state.
Maybe there was some kind of rule that said that a singular dangling meat fern flower vine could only grow per certain area of moss or something.
Thinking back, the dangling meat fern flower vines that I saw on the 3rd and 4th floors had a decent amount of space between them and they strangely never grew together in clusters.
Well, I’ll just leave it as is and see how it goes when it finally blooms.

“Okay, let’s get started with some more 3rd floor exploration.”
I left the safety area and headed towards the 3rd floor through the 2nd one.
Except, I didn’t go to the place the maze was in, but rather, I re-visited an area that was particularly odd. The bottomless pit with dangling meat fern flowers vines extending down.

“…”
The reason as to why I wanted to look into it was simple. I figured, if the space was this distorted around here, there had to have been something worth checking.
I didn’t have the slightest clue over what I’d find but… it would likely be a lot more meaningful compared to blindly wandering through the labyrinth on the 3rd floor.

“Alright, it looks safe enough.”
“Chu… Chuu…”
The ivy I was clutching onto was rooted securely into the ceiling so it should be able to support my weight.
In that case, I loosened my grip, fluttered my wings, and vaguely clung onto the vine as I gradually descended down into the hole.

“Chuu Chuu”
“I wonder if there even is a bottom to this…”
Given that there were no buds seen yet, which only grew at the end of dangling meat fern flower vines and since I’ve gone down about 30 meters of the vine, this pit clearly reached over 30 meters in depth.
In some cases, it might actually be bottomless.
Despite that, as long as the vine continued and the curse concentration didn’t drop, it should still be possible for me to dive deeper.

“The light’s are out now.”
Barring the opening above, there were no signs of luminescence anywhere.
Before I knew it, my surroundings were pitch dark and I couldn’t even see the usual fog that I always do.

“No issues with the curse concentration.”
I didn’t spot anything strange going on with the curse concentration either.
If I disregard the warped space and only go by physical distance, I should technically be outside of the dungeon already. Though, because the space is all distorted, it’s probably pointless to think of it thst way.

“So this is where the vine cuts off”
My feet reached the end of the dangling meat fern flower vine.
The other vines also stopped growing past the same depth.
Which means…

“There’s something that acts as a border right around here.”
“Chu… Chuu…”
I glance down at the emptiness beyond my feet.
There’s a deep, profound darkness that manages to even succumb the discernible curse of the red, black, and purple fog.
The fact that the Poison Rat’s Pointed Hat felt rattled suggested that there was something dangerous ahead.

“…”
I ran a brief simulation in my head.
How many meters could I fall and would I be able to use my wings to get back up here?
Well, if I fumble it, it’s not like there’s a death penalty or anything so I’ll just respawn.
Though, it’ll probably be a bit scary and it might hurt a little too.

“Let’s go for it, I guess.”
With that said, I released my grip and plunged further down.
Then… I was immediately reminded.

“qkaj”
“t f d g d”
“dxzcz”
“3wkueq”
“itotisiti”
This wasn’t a place someone like me should be stepping into yet.
I couldn’t see it.
But it was there.
It has seen me, it has heard me, it has smelled me, it has felt me, it has tasted me.
These were the maws of Jugemu.

“…!?”
When I regained consciousness, I was already sprawled out on the floor of the safety area.
I didn’t even realize I had died.
That… was entirely on a different level.

“Before I even knew it…”
I was able to fight against the『Leader Of The Poison Rats』, Venomulard.
The other day, although I didn’t know of it’s capabilities in combat, the giant bird I saw was also clearly visible.
However, the enemy I was up against this time… All I could grasp was its presence.
I had completely no idea whether I was sliced up, crushed, stabbed, melted, cursed, or anything else.
The fight didn’t even have a chance to begin.

“Chu, chuuuu…”
“For now I’ll just… what is this, my body…”
I tried to get back up.
Yet, my whole body felt incredibly heavy to the point where I couldn’t get it to work the way I wanted it to. I wasn’t able to sit up, let alone stand up.
It was as if weights were chained on to every part of my body.

“Interference Reduction… 100!?”
When I turned my attention towards the upper left corner of my vision, I saw an unfamiliar text, written out as Interference Reduction.
It seems to be a status effect of some kind which lowered one of my stats, Interference, but… wasn’t 100 being a bit too extreme?
Though as I said that, it dropped to 99 just now.

“…”
Wait, if you take a second to think about it, the strangest thing was that the status effect persisted in spite of death.
Up until now, my HP would be restored along with Satiety and my status effects would be cleared every time I respawned.
My equipment also took a bit of damage, but that was easily repairable with the grudge table.
However, a status effect called Interference Reduction remained this time.
Or perhaps, it was applied onto me after I died.

“Ah, I see. So that’s the theory behind it.”
In『CNP』, there was no such thing as a death penalty.
On the other hand, a curse wasn’t something that you could always escape from through simply dying.
To put it in another way, there wasn’t a consistent death penalty across the board, but there were those who were able to inflict a curse that would continue through death, similar to the one who killed me this time.
Some might even be able to impose a permanent status condition instead of a temporary one.
This might be the truth to『CNP』. A hidden penalty for fools who get carried away and try to take advantage of the fact that the game has no specific death penalty.
Perhaps, you could also say that it was a punishment for disrespecting the unknown.
In any case, I guess I’d better be a bit more careful in the future.

“Until my body can move properly again, let’s just make a net out of the vines of the dangling meat fern flowers for the time being.”
I grabbed some dangling meat fern flower vines from the pile that was accumulating in the corner of the room and started to slowly knit.
After this, the Interference Reduction had completely ran its full course just right before I logged out.
It would appear that Interference Reduction was quite the long-lasting status effect.

TN: If you’re wondering what the name of the chapter meant – Jugemu is a saying/name from a folktale that roughly translates to having an everlasting life, but in this case, the author replaces the 寿(ju) in 寿限無(jugemu) with 呪(ju), the character for curse. I also “untranslated” her title to avoid confusion later on. If you’re feeling puzzled now, don’t worry, you’re not supposed to know what this is yet.