I gave the Rune of Thorns to the Armored Bug, and since it showed some effectiveness, I guess I can keep giving it to that guy for now.
Whoosh—
“The Ent moves slowly, so it’ll actually be easier to deal with. It’s a good thing I’ve learned Fire Bomb now… The change in order turned out to be helpful.”
I started to think that going through the dungeon in the order Yeon-hee determined might not be a bad idea.
“Let’s check out the hidden area of the Fire Monkey Dungeon as soon as the entrance restriction is lifted.”
Whoosh—
And now there’s a new worry today.
“What should I change my job to? Well, I’ve already decided, though.”
If Yeon-hee continues to recruit allies focused on the tanking Lizardmen, it makes sense to bolster our lacking attack power.
Of course, I can’t neglect investing in health to protect Yeon-hee, but changing to Bombardier would clearly shift the battle dynamics from what we’ve experienced so far.
“For now, I’ll keep reaping the benefits of the experience bonus from Skeleton Soldiers, and when we head to a higher dungeon, that’ll be the time to change jobs. I’ll manage to hold off until we get to the Swamp or Hop Goblin Dungeon.”
Even the Ent Forest we’d be visiting next would definitely be manageable with the current strength, so I couldn’t ignore efficiency.
“Let’s decide when we’re about to leave the low-level dungeon.”
Whoosh—
And the next day.
As I was summoned from Dark Space, I definitely felt that this environment was abnormal and quickly looked around.
“Ugh… The air here really is as bad as they said… Weyak—”
Yeon-hee kept retching and pulled out an Ent Forest-specific mask from her inventory to put it on. The mask, made from ground up byproducts of Ent shells, has the effect of resisting the toxic substances released in forests occupied by Ents.
Since their breath has a mild paralysis effect, continuously breathing it in would leave you unable to move at some point.
And while the Ents are slow-moving, their kinship awareness is strong. If even one dies, a Mark of the Dead will be automatically placed, causing an endless pursuit until we exit the dungeon.
“Ugh— This is way more tense than the Fire Monkey…”
The other team at the entrance seemed to be in a similar state, unable to move easily.
A mist that obscured visibility was thickly spread everywhere.
Even an Ent’s sluggish thorn attack would become surprisingly hard to avoid in this environment.
“Let’s go, Il-wol.”
Nod—
Step-step—
‘There’s quite a distance to cover for now…’
Across the world, dungeons called Ent Forests appear and disappear repeatedly, each one with vastly different structures.
Yet, I could guess my location because the environments with hidden spaces are almost all similar.
Like the hills by the lake that I found in the Big Boar Dungeon.
‘There’s one at the Ents’ grave in the center of the forest, and another beneath where the Ent champion resides at the very end of the dungeon.’
For now, my target was the grave. Of course, I planned to lead them slowly in that direction. Yeon-hee, after moving a bit away from the entrance, summoned the Armored Bug and Slime.
Summoning these two creatures allows me to maintain my mana since their recovery speed is faster than the mana consumed.
Of course, that’s thanks to an artifact. The Slime quickly wrapped around her arm as it was summoned, while the Armored Bug busily crawled on the ground, following us.
About what felt like 20 minutes later.
Wohhh—
When the unsettling wind whooshed past my ear as it passed through the trees, I nudged Yeon-hee’s hand, signaling her.
(Two of them?)
Nod—
In this dungeon, while I occasionally encounter Slimes and Zombies, they are mostly Ents. The toxic mist they exude completely excludes other species.
Low-level Fire Bomb: 10/10
I carefully grabbed a handful of the Fire Bombs that were kept in advance and slowly approached.
Sahara—
‘They noticed me.’
The spindly vines that were scattered across the ground shot upward toward the sky.
“Ugh! Even if I evade with my senses, it’ll be tough for the others!”
Fwoosh—
Boom boom boom boom boom!!
I fed the Fire Bombs to the monsters.
The thick brown tree trunk, over 5 meters high, suddenly lifted and furiously shook off its burning body. Simultaneously, the thorny vines lashed at us like whips.
Swish swish swish—
“Rizard!! Kobold!!”
But the two summoned Lizardmen and the Kobold gave up dodging the incoming thorny vines and chose to just take the hits instead, engaging in a grapple with their bare hands.
Another Ent seemed to focus its aggro on the Armored Bug, repeatedly striking it with its vines.
Thud—
But due to the reflected damage from the Rune of Thorns, the vine’s casing was shattering.
I charged into the burning torso of the creature that was grappling with the others and slammed it forcefully.
Bam—!!
Although it couldn’t make any noise, I could tell the unique sound of the Ent was echoing through the forest.
As my impact caused it to collide with another, fire began to spread widely across both of their bodies, and all we had to do was defend against the striking vines.
Of course, the summoned creatures, except for me, were taking hits as their visibility was obscured.
‘Well, this first battle is going smoothly… And Fire Bomb really does seem like a great skill. If I hadn’t had it, I would’ve had to bring a bunch of one-time firebombs, which would have cost me more to prepare.’
Whoosh—
Whoosh—
The attacks of those slow creatures lost their purpose as they fought fire and just swatted wildly around.
‘The acid won’t work as effectively. In the end, it’s all about grinding.’
Thump— Thump—
Bam!!
Yeon-hee also tried firing a few arrows, but it didn’t look that entertaining.
“I really don’t seem to deal significant damage!”
I couldn’t afford to buy expensive igniting solutions to coat the arrowheads, after all.
Fwoosh—
Wohhh—
Leaving the defense to the other summoned creatures, I stuck close to the burning Ents and crazily struck down at their centers.
Crash! Crack! Crackle!!
“Die, die!!”
And a moment later.
Boom—
– You have defeated an Ent!
– You have gained a small amount of experience.
– You have obtained a Low-Rank Mana Stone. The mana stone has been transferred to the Summoner’s inventory.
– Trait [Thievery] has activated.
– You randomly steal the Ent’s skill.
– You have acquired the skill [Contaminated Breath].
Contaminated Breath
– Spreads contaminated breath with poison/paralysis effects in a radius of 30m around the user.
– The longer the exposure time, the stronger the effects become.
– You can choose only one of the poison or paralysis effects.
‘Well, as expected.’
I wasn’t aware that I could only choose one of poison or paralysis, but the rest is something that every Hunter knows.
Swoosh—
“Ugh!”
Dodging the blind thorny attack, I lunged at the remaining one and slammed into it.
Thud!!
—!!
After a few strikes with my hammer, it soon collapsed lifelessly to the ground. Perhaps because I had leveled up by running through a similar-level Fire Monkey dungeon, dealing with them felt quite easy.
– You have defeated an Ent!
“Yap!! Quickly, quickly!!”
With a cheer, Yeon-hee seemed to remember we needed to leave quickly and hurried over to the fallen Ent to snatch one of its thorns.
Each Ent has slightly different thorn compounds, so even taking just one can be used to verify a hunting token.
I also grabbed a thorn from the one I took down and stuffed it in my pocket, then started sprinting.
Woosh—
Shortly after, a vibrating sound resonated throughout the forest. And it wasn’t just our side; vibrations came from all around.
It was likely that the Hunters who entered with us were also successfully hunting around the same time.
“Indeed, the wisdom of the sages!!”
When alone in the Ent Forest, surviving becomes quite challenging. Thus, starting at the common gathering point ensures that we distribute the attention we’re gaining as targets.
“Hah— Hah— But they should be catching up, right?”
Nod nod—
If we only hunt once and head home, it’s a straightforward matter to return to the exit, but we were just getting started.
The more Ents we kill, the greater the number of monsters that will follow us. If we dawdle, we’d struggle to find a way out at some point.
Woosh—
The number of times I sensed their breath resonating increased.
‘While it’s convenient that I don’t have to search for them as much…’
“Tap tap!!”
“Where? Ah!!”
Before I knew it, one of those things appeared to block our path from the direction we were trying to escape.
I threw three of the Fire Bombs I had stashed away, then charged in with the Lizardmen, together tackling it and unleashing a group beatdown.
‘Where do you think you’re going, facing me alone?’
It took mere moments for us to take down a creature I could handle alone when a group surrounded it.
Boom—
– Your level has increased.
I quickly pulled out the thorn and made a quick escape while raising my stats.
‘They said there’d be limits on strength increases after job change… so I have to raise my strength until then.’
=====
[ Skeleton Soldier Il-wol – Lv.21 ]
Strength: 69(+3) Agility: 65(+3) Health: 58
Intelligence: 24 Magic Power: 67(+3) Resistance: 1
Sense: 21 Recovery: 5
Traits: Calm, Protection, Thievery, 98 lives, Adsorption, Obez’s Blessing
Skills: Slam, Stealth, Dagger Throw, Acid Spray, Basic Transformation, Reckless Charge, Low-level Fire Bomb, Contaminated Breath
Equipment: Kobold’s crude stone hammer, Big Boar leather armor
=====
After raising my Agility and Magic Power, I held up the tattered stone hammer to show Yeon-hee.
“Ah! Ddung-i! Do you have any more stone hammers you could give to Il-wol?”
The Kobold, who had been in trouble once before, nodded innocently as if nothing had happened.
(Hey Ddung-i, show me all the stone hammers you’ve got.)
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