[Low-Rank Flame Bomb]
Whoosh—
Boom!
Kekek!
I took down one of the fleeing monsters with a flame bomb and slowly walked over to finish off the burning one.
“Oh, as expected, the flame bomb has gotten much stronger with [Ovez’s Blessing]. Incinerating them in one shot is impressive.”
“Ah, I let four get away, what a pity.”
“No, Su-ran. Why are you spamming skills over there?”
“Ugh, seriously. Even asking for help is a pain!”
“Let’s move to a safer spot; the reinforcements might come.”
When no other hunters were watching, I secretly stuffed a few Fire Monkey corpses into my inventory.
“That damn Wang-wang, this is how I feel about you.”
The real reason was my curiosity about the potential of the beginner transformation skill, but I hoped my efforts would be recognized just a little.
We moved a bit and found a spot by the stream, washing away the congealed blood and flesh.
“No, Yeon-hee. You did an amazing job. I didn’t expect you to summon two Lizardmen at once!”
“Really? Oh… yes, yes…”
When Han Man-woo suddenly switched to praise mode, Yeon-hee became flustered and just stared at the ground as she replied.
“But can you handle the magic? I saw you summoned an Iron Armor Bug and a Slime earlier. Wow— honestly, I was surprised. Is the starting class really that different?”
“Yeon-hee, just join our party!”
“Do you want to join our party?”
“Un-cheol, Su-ran… You can’t just throw out such proposals so suddenly… Please, think before you speak. Sigh…”
Han Man-woo was trying to gain favor very slowly, but his close friends were oblivious to his plans and were derailing them.
Nevertheless, Han Man-woo shows promise as a good leader, and Un-cheol, though a bit clumsy, displayed solid defense.
‘Even though Su-ran is slightly lagging behind, overall it’s not bad.’
Nodding in satisfaction, I looked at the sorceress. She had casually pushed back the hood of her robe and was drinking water, looking quite beautiful. If Yeon-hee was like a flower yet to bloom, Yu Dal-ri’s beauty was already near completion.
‘With her abilities and looks being top-notch, I assume she’s received many scout offers. Why hasn’t she joined a team yet?’
It could be that there were no satisfactory people or perhaps she was just more comfortable battling alone like Yeon-hee.
‘Her total magic power seems a bit lacking, but, hmm—’
Anyway, enough worrying about others; it was time to check my own status.
“Let’s take a five-minute break and head out again. Yeon-hee, could you keep an eye on the summoned creatures?”
“Yes…”
“Wow— love having a summoner.”
Feeling a bit burdened by the compliment, I lightly wiped the sweat from Yeon-hee’s forehead, which was sticking close to me, and recalled the message I had previously dismissed. As I read down the familiar script, it felt like a hammer hit my head when I reached the last paragraph.
– Your level has increased. Choose three stats to increase.
– You have obtained a Low-Rank Mana Stone. It will be transferred to the summoner’s inventory.
– Choose a class to change to after distributing stats!
‘What the? Really? You can also change classes? Then…’
It implies that just summoning using a summoning scroll isn’t everything. But in my memory, I never saw her manipulate monsters that were higher versions of skeleton soldiers.
‘What? Hmm… I’ll just think about that later.’
=====
[Skeleton Soldier Il-wol – Lv.20]
Strength: 66(+5) Agility: 62 Health: 58(+5)
Intelligence: 24 Magic Power: 64(+5) Resistance: 1
Sense: 21 Recovery: 5
Trait: Cold, Protection, Thievery, 98 Lives, Adhesion, Ovez’s Blessing
Skill: Slam, Stealth, Dagger Toss, Acid Spray, Beginner Transformation, Reckless Charge, Low-Rank Flame Bomb
Equipment: Kobold’s Crude Stone Hammer, Big Boar Leather Armor
=====
After placing three points into Strength, Health, and Magic, I waited for a change. Then a message appeared that I had never seen before.
=====
Skeleton Soldier
– One of the most basic forms of the Undead type. Initial stats are incredibly low, but if you manage to survive the early stages, you can rapidly grow into a powerful warrior.
Trait: Growth Experience Requirement -20% (+10%)
Skeleton Intermediate Soldier
– The most solid defense and high health in the Undead type. Possesses the ability to predict where enemies will attack, making it a strong guardian that protects its allies. If they have means to compensate for their low attack power and speed, this would be the best choice.
Trait: Basic defense increases with level. (+20)
Skeleton Bombardier
– Considered the most unique class in the melee-focused Undead type, leading charges based on magic bombs. Extremely high attack power, receiving positive boosts to all magic-related abilities. However, there are restrictions on strength increases.
Trait: +30% damage when attacking an enemy successfully.
=====
‘Wow… What the heck is this?’
For a moment, my head went blank, and I couldn’t even shake off the confusion caused by the [Cold] trait.
‘*Sigh… Phew— let’s calm down and read it again.*’
With a sigh that didn’t come out, I examined the Skeleton Soldier first.
‘The growth experience requirement was low. It had this trait from the beginning, so it makes sense that leveling up was fast! How could I know this without being told!!’
I had no major complaints after living as a Skeleton Soldier for a few days, so I thought this wasn’t a bad choice. An advantage of being able to level up 20% faster? That’s not something I can easily give up.
‘Let’s keep this one… Next is the Skeleton Intermediate Soldier.’
Indeed, the most attractive part was the trait. Gaining one defense for every level up and being able to anticipate enemy movements; this would be perfect for protecting Yeon-hee.
‘Based solely on the description, this would be the choice for a tank. But given the low attack power and speed, there’s likely a hidden drawback related to that.
I didn’t even know such traits existed, so I knew that any mentioned disadvantages would probably be regrets that would hit me later.
‘This one is the most ambiguous. The Skeleton Bombardier…’
Honestly, I was surprised to read the description. It was similar to the powers I wanted to acquire in Nargul’s dungeon.
‘I wonder if I reflect that desire for those abilities? But it feels too coincidental…’
A sudden headache hit me, but I would have to make a choice eventually. Considering the current situation of protecting Yeon-hee in a dungeon filled with many enemies, the Intermediate Soldier made sense.
Yet if Lizardmen who were tank-type were to appear one after another, the position of the Intermediate Soldier would become awkward.
‘How will I block Jo Gi-man? Can predicting his attacks really change the outcome?’
As I recalled his movements for a moment, I couldn’t help shaking my head. He was the type to thrust a knife into Yeon-hee’s neck at the point he predicted while looking at me mockingly.
‘No… such a passive approach won’t work…’
I had originally wanted to land a powerful blow, and my heart began to lean more towards the Bombardier.
‘Hmm— I guess I should go home and change my class.’
Changing classes in front of other hunters is practically a death wish.
“Are we ready to get up? How’s your magic power looking, sorceress?”
“Not even 30% yet. Please refrain from large-scale battles for now. It’ll take over an hour to cast spells like before.”
“An hour, huh… Okay.”
Trying to recover my magic for an hour might only yield under 10%, but I’d need at least 2 hours to really participate.
Glancing at Yeon-hee, her lips seemed to slightly curve upwards. She was likely feeling the rapid increase of her magic power, which would give her a sense of satisfaction.
And before five minutes had passed, we stumbled upon traces of other monsters.
“Sniff-sniff— there’s a rotten smell vibrating from inside the cave. The likelihood of multiple Slimes is high.”
We found evidence of monsters in a medium-sized cave we passed.
‘So Su-ran’s the type with enhanced sense of smell. At least she has some utility.’
Rethinking Su-ran’s value, I felt my difference with the other two guys narrowing.
We strode confidently into the cave, pulling out torches charged with magic.
‘There are so many… way too many… they’re all hanging from the ceiling.’
Crack—
“There are too many of those. There must be over 40. What on earth have they been eating here?”
That question was soon answered. There were three corpses of people, half-bones left, along with scattered Kobold corpses all over the floor.
‘How clueless do you have to be to chase into a cave and get attacked by Slimes?’
An E-grade versus an F-grade is just paper-thin difference, so it can definitely happen here, but the instinctive repulsion I felt at seeing human corpses twisted my brow.
“Let’s clean these damned things up so we can get through easily.”
I wanted to get it over with quickly, but with that many, it forced caution.
“But I have my ultimate skill for Slimes, heh heh…”
Low-Rank Flame Bomb has a magic cost of just 1, and I could prepare and store them in advance, making it super handy.
Whoosh—
Bang! Boom!!
Once I tossed all 10 flame bombs I had prepared, the monsters from the ceiling fell helplessly to the floor under the flames.
“Did the Skeleton Soldier have that skill?”
“Weren’t we just using it? It’s seriously awesome.”
‘Well— I had it coming. I was prepared for such things when I entered the Fire Monkey dungeon.’
It had shown its ability sooner than I expected, but the bombs were already thrown, so there was nothing to be done. It was quite easy to deal with the Slimes that fell to the ground after setting the ceiling ablaze.
In the end, we took out all 40 Slimes, collected the cores, distributed the loot, and resumed our journey.
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