I Raided the Demon’s Treasury

Chapter 89

By the time Se-woon discovered the man, he had already lost consciousness and collapsed.

His clothes were in tatters, and his entire body was covered in bites and scratches from wolves.

Se-woon hurriedly attempted to use healing magic, but…

“The injuries are more severe than I thought.”

The man’s condition was worse than Se-woon anticipated.

Although Se-woon managed the wounds inflicted by the wolves somehow, the man’s body was filled with wounds that had festered due to being neglected for so long.

If Se-woon had found him a little later, he surely would have become wolf fodder.

Due to this, Se-woon carried the man on his back and ran towards the Diablo Clan’s base.

He considered using the Power of Greed, but everything available was unsuitable for the man’s condition at that moment.

Since the contract with Mammon ended with the retrieval of Durandal, Se-woon couldn’t use the Power of Greed (True) to retrieve potions and the like.

“If only I had four circles, I could have done something.”

Currently, Se-woon’s mana circles are numbered three.

This was extraordinarily high for a player on the first floor who had just created circles during the Tutorial, but it was slightly below average when viewed on a larger scale throughout the Tower.

“I need to raise my circles before the next battle.”

Anyway, he thought there was about a month left on the first floor.

He had filled his circles’ mana almost entirely through the Power of Gluttony, so he anticipated being able to create the next circle within the month.

For now, getting the man to the base was the priority.

“I think I need to pick up the pace.”

The sound of the man’s breathing from behind grew fainter.

When running alone, he never noticed, but carrying someone on his back made foot techniques difficult, and the rocky path was bothersome, hindering his speed.

After a brief contemplation, Se-woon acted immediately, stirring the Power of Greed.

– Opened the Treasury of Greed.

[ Hoof of the Peak Mountain Goat ]

– The sturdy hooves of a mountain goat residing in the Peak Mountain, known for its sky-high peaks.

The Power of the treasure imbued Se-woon’s legs.

The thick legs and pointed toes typical of a mountain goat overlapped, causing strength to surge in his legs.

Perhaps due to sensing the goat’s power, the stigma that seemed entirely unrelated to the current situation gleamed as if in delight.

Bang!

The sound of his steps on stone changed entirely.

It felt like he was kicking off the rock with something hard, not his feet. As if he himself had transformed into a mountain goat, he felt like he was kicking off the rock with tough hooves.

“With this, I should arrive in time.”

The legs of the mountain goat had evolved to move well over mountains, rocks, and cliffs. As a result, even with a person on his back, Se-woon’s speed was faster than before.

“Hyung! Wait for me, please!”

Ignoring the complaint from Park Jung-pil that came from behind, Se-woon, now accustomed to this hardened hooved running, picked up more speed.

* * *

“Hyung’s here! Open the gate!”

With Park Jung-pil’s shout, a clan member stationed at the watchtower noticed Se-woon and opened the gate.

Without stopping, Se-woon ran to the infirmary he’d been shown when introduced to the base the previous day.

Inside, Lee Ha-neul, who was in the middle of crafting something on a broad table, looked at him in surprise.

“Clan leader?”

“We have a patient. Please treat him.”

“Can’t the clan leader use recovery magic too? There’s no need to come to me specifically…”

“It’s beyond my ability.”

“Pardon?”

Believing it would be better to show rather than explain, Se-woon laid the man on the bed.

The man, limp like a corpse, breathed so faintly one could only sense it by pressing their ear to his mouth.

If he had been discovered any later, he would have died on Se-woon’s back.

Realizing the urgency in Se-woon’s voice, Lee Ha-neul quickly assessed the man’s condition, and her expression hardened.

“Now I see why the clan leader said it was too much.”

Lifting the clothing revealed wounds festering beyond just infection.

The left foot was bruised and purplish; the right knee was grotesquely swollen.

There were various other injuries, but the most severe was on the abdomen.

Around the clear claw marks likely from a beast, the surrounding area looked hideously rotten.

“I’ll start the treatment now.”

Lee Ha-neul pulled out tools Se-woon hadn’t seen before.

A scalpel sharper than most swords. With it, she unhesitatingly cut away the man’s decaying flesh.

“AAARRRGGH!”

The dying man’s screams filled the infirmary.

Though the wound was so rotten it was hard to believe he had any sensation left, he still felt pain.

Lee Ha-neul then placed the hand not holding the scalpel on the man’s forehead.

“Please bear with it a little longer.”

“Ugh… Aahh…”

The man’s screams gradually diminished.

It seemed that through the power of the Constellation, she had administered some form of anesthesia.

– The Constellation, ‘Blood-stained Lion,’ urges you to act more decisively, stating that there is no time to waste.

“I understand.”

Swish, swish.

Lee Ha-neul wielded the scalpel without hesitation.

Having treated countless patients during the tutorial, she had already become an exceptional healer, both in skill and mindset.

She removed the rotten skin and cut away parts of the festering internal organs without hesitation.

The wounds were so severe that treatment with Earth’s modern medicine would seem questionable.

However, this place held forces far superior to modern medicine.

Woong!

A red aura shimmered from her hands.

The Power of the 5th-ranked Demon Lord, Marbas.

That power rapidly healed the man’s severed wounds.

Simultaneously, the man, who had been groaning with a pale face, also showed rapid improvement.

His breath evened out, and his groaning ceased.

Finally, she bandaged the treated areas and wiped the sweat from her forehead, sighing in relief.

“The immediate crisis is over. The other injuries are severe too, but they aren’t life-threatening, so I can treat them gradually.”

“You did well. Your healing skills have improved a lot.”

“I haven’t just been idle.”

Her treatment was difficult to view as solely magical power.

Initially, her approach to removing diseased areas was something rarely seen among the Tower’s healers, who avoided bloody work.

“Probably using a mix of modern medical knowledge and Constellation powers.”

Even with a Constellation’s power, it wasn’t all-powerful.

Healing deteriorated areas without removal carried the risk of worsening the injury.

She compensated for those limitations with knowledge from modern medicine.

“You seemed quite adept with the scalpel.”

“Originally, I was a nurse. I often went into surgery rooms, so I knew how to handle a scalpel.”

A nurse.

Even if she had been in surgery, she likely hadn’t handled a scalpel herself.

Such treatment was now possible due to numerous practices based on memories.

She was indeed a talent Marbas took a liking to.

“When do you think he’ll recover?”

“His physical recovery can be completed in two days, but I can’t guarantee when he’ll wake up.”

Lee Ha-neul replied as she spread a thick liquid over the man’s wounds.

It didn’t seem like a potion; it looked like a kind of ointment made by grinding herbs.

That was probably what she had been crafting at the table.

“I see, the shock must have been significant.”

“Since there won’t be any battles or other patients now, I’ll take care of him until he wakes up.”

“Thank you.”

“No worries. I’ve been feeling restless without patients.”

The man was a key figure who knew about an event happening a month later.

Although crucial, Se-woon couldn’t keep monitoring him indefinitely.

With her volunteering to look after the man, it was a welcome relief for Se-woon.

“Was there anything you needed? You seemed to be making medicine.”

“Oh, I thought it was a good time to research local herbs since we lack patients. If you’re okay with it…”

“You need some herbs gathered. Is that right?”

“Yes. I can’t always follow everyone around, so I thought it would be useful to have some emergency medicine prepared.”

Se-woon wanted to borrow real treasures from Mammon using the Treasury of Greed (True), but the contract had ended with the return of Durandal.

That was the nature of the original agreement.

Of course, he could purchase potions through the Merit Points Shop, but the potions from there were surprisingly expensive.

This wasn’t a game.

Potions were precious and expensive enough to be called a second life.

A basic medicinal herb ointment wouldn’t be as effective as a potion, but it would suffice for first aid when a healer wasn’t present.

“Come to think of it, there’s a hill where herbs might be plenty.”

Se-woon’s mind conjured an area on the first floor’s fields.

Since he stayed on the first floor until his last moments before regression, he wandered various regions via the Guidepost of the Journey.

The place he recalled now was one such region.

“It’d be one of the best places to gather mana, too.”

To create a fourth circle, not only excellent training methods but also a suitable place for training was necessary.

The requirements for a first circle weren’t exceptionally high, so it could be done at the base. However, what Se-woon now intended to challenge was the fourth circle.

A place with abundant mana, akin to the Forgotten Hero’s Training Ground, would exponentially enhance training results.

In this respect, the area Se-woon recalled could be the finest training ground on the first floor.

“Alright, I’ll gather the herbs.”

“Really? Ah, in that case, maybe you should go with someone…”

“No. Being alone is more convenient.”

“Hmm, considering the clan leader’s strength, we might end up getting in your way.”

“It’s not quite that, just there are things I need to do.”

“Things to do?”

“It’s nothing you need to worry about. If things go smoothly, it’ll take just a few days, but it could take up to two weeks.”

“That long?”

“It’s not about distance, more about the task I mentioned.”

“Oh…”

Although he downplayed it, reaching the fourth circle was no trivial task.

Someone without talent in magic might never achieve it during a lifetime, and even those with talent might require decades depending on their abilities.

Sometimes, individuals called geniuses might form circles in just a few years, but that was literally a rare case for geniuses.

Se-woon relied on three things.

Mammon’s treasures, a superb training ground, and the mana control he had managed just to survive in his past life.

These reasons allowed him to confidently claim it would take no more than half a month.

“Let Yoo Seo-ah know if anything happens. You can still use the communication stone here.”

“Got it. I’ll take full responsibility for the patient.”

“Then, I’ll leave it to you.”

Se-woon had been slightly out of breath from desperately sprinting with a man on his back, but during his conversation with Lee Ha-neul, his breathing notably stabilized.

Though she offered him some rest, Se-woon wouldn’t comply.

“Within this month. Not only do I need to enhance my combat power, but I also intend to find all the hidden pieces on the first floor.”

To Se-woon, a month wasn’t a long time.