The Kobold Ddung-i stood there dumbly after hearing my words, then pulled out another stone hammer, giving me a total of two.
(It feels like there’s one more inside?)
Hehehe~
Ddung-i, with a bright smile, quickly hid the bag behind his back and kept an eye on me.
“Interesting. Every time he summons, there’s a stone hammer in that bag.”
I don’t know where he’s getting them from, but as long as I get the gear for free, I didn’t mind at all.
Then Ddung-i suddenly remembered something and handed over a few Mana Stones to Yeon-hee.
“Wow?! There’s a Low-Rank Mana Stone too!”
Hehehe~
Seeing Yeon-hee smile widely, he began to hop up and down in place.
Hooorrrr!
But as soon as he sensed the aura of the Ent, everyone, including Ddung-i, quickly resumed their cautious stance and started to move carefully.
Did Yeon-hee level up? A faint glow shimmered around her, then vanished.
Rustle-
“Three of them… this might be a bit tough.”
The monsters that had been chasing us began to overlap their paths, and three of them were now crawling along the ground behind us.
However, when Yeon-hee caught my signal, she nodded, looking confident that we could handle it.
“I’ll call Ran.”
It felt a bit premature, but I didn’t want to waste a good opportunity.
Swishhh—
A massive Ent was slowly but steadily crawling toward us. Its dark brown, withered branches and near-dead leaves created a sufficiently eerie atmosphere.
Pitter-patter!
But as a spirit of pale blue light erupted from the quietly blooming flower bud, it seemed to disperse the surrounding despair, brightening everything. Soon, the spirit landed lightly on Yeon-hee’s shoulder, spreading magic power as a refreshing breeze wrapped around her.
– Agility +5
Whoooosh!!
The three Ents, as if they had made a promise, swung dozens of thorny vines at Yeon-hee the moment they halted. Yeon-hee, buffed with [Acceleration], dodged their attacks with a smirk and began summoning her creatures one by one.
The Lizardmen summoned behind the Ents immediately charged in to attack, and as they paused, a fireball I tossed was already fiercely burning the trees.
“Just as I thought—my skills don’t harm my summoned companions unless I intend them to.”
Honestly, it’s something that modern science can’t explain, but I hadn’t cared about that for as long as I could remember.
Anyway, having confirmed that the flames didn’t harm the Lizardmen, I summoned fireballs with all the magic power I had left. They were so big that there was no need to correct the hit rate with a dagger-throwing skill.
Whoosh—
Pwoosh—Bam! Bam! Bam!
Buffed with [Acceleration], Yeon-hee moved across the battlefield with an excited face I had never seen before, drawing an invisible bowstring.
“Whooaaah!! I’m so fast!!”
(Hahaha! Master, it brings me great joy to see you so pleased with my abilities!! Your graceful movements are like witnessing the wind goddess ‘Bahr’!)
(I am always ready to showcase my skills to you, so please call on me often!!)
“So we have a loyal subject now.”
But seeing Yeon-hee’s joyful expression also filled me with deep satisfaction, as if my non-existent lips were curling upward.
The Kobold, surrounded by a slime and carrying an iron beetle, dashed around to draw aggro, while I and the two Lizardmen each tackled an Ent, allowing us to overpower them sooner than expected.
“No need to use the Corrupted Breath.”
Thud—
Thud—
Boom—
– Defeated an Ent…
– Helped in defeating an Ent…
– An Ent…
“Tch… couldn’t steal the trait.”
After we killed three and gathered the loot, we decided to take a moment to catch our breath, moving in the direction I led until we reached the Ent’s grave.
“Hah~ Whew… This has some after-effects.”
“Hmm? What after-effects?”
When I tilted my head in confusion, Yeon-hee weakly laughed and replied.
“This [Acceleration] buff… After using it, my body feels slightly burdened. I already feel sore all over.”
“Clap…”
“I didn’t feel that at all; so it’s tough on living beings, huh?”
(Yes, I indeed worried about that! That’s why I decided to test it on that Il-wol!)
Seeing the spirit Ran, which was slowly becoming faint, unable to contain its anxiety over Yeon-hee’s struggle.
“No, Ran. You really worked hard. Let’s meet a bit longer next time.”
(Cough… Master. I, Ran, can only be speechless from your consideration…)
Ran could no longer finish its sentence and was released from its summoning, leaving Yeon-hee to stroke the spot where Ran had been, taking a sip of water to catch her breath.
“Whew… But that momentary burst of stats is amazing. My agility almost went up by more than 30%. I need to practice more to adapt to it.”
“Clap clap clap!!”
Kyaaaa…
“The Lizardmen look pretty exhausted.”
Not just the Lizardmen, all of the summoned creatures, except for the slimes found in this dungeon, were wobbling weakly. They had been exposed to the lingering [Corrupted Breath] for far too long, so they were struggling.
“You guys should go in and rest a bit.”
Now that my magic seemed drained, all the summons were released, and I sat down side by side with her, resting her head on my shoulder.
As I smelled her unique refreshing scent, I began to scan the area around the hidden location that had come into my sensory range.
‘Nothing. Thank goodness.’
It seemed there weren’t any monsters stationed nearby, and if we could shake off or defeat the other chasing Ents, we would obtain another decent artifact.
Magic Power: 34/55 (-10)
I used 10 magic to conjure a fireball to store in my inventory and gently stroked Yeon-hee’s head as she was catching her breath.
“… Keep doing it…”
After stroking her head a few times, she kept asking for more while I stayed alert.
Swoosh- Swoosh-
“Hehehe…”
‘A truly incomprehensible child.’
Anyway, all I had to do was give her what she asked for. It was a simple request without a hint of worry.
Magic Power: 35/55 (+1)
After resting for about 10 minutes, as soon as my magic power recovered by 1, she shook off her seat and stood up.
‘Yeon-hee’s magic has recovered already. The artifact effect is really good.’
Though she probably had more magic than I did, a significant portion of it would be spent on summoning her creatures, so she would feel like she was still lacking.
“Shall we go again?”
Nod-
We started moving again, and fortunately, I didn’t detect any movements from the creatures chasing us.
After a while, my faint sense of smell picked up an awful stench, and Yeon-hee exclaimed.
“Wuueeeek!”
Despite wearing a mask, she couldn’t hold on as the awful odor seeped through, resulting in her vomiting.
Chunks of wilted and charred wood scattered about, creating small hills as if burnt by fire.
“Cough cough… Wh-what in the world is this? Is this the Ents’ grave…?”
Nod-
“Ugh… this smell is something I’ve never encountered before—Gag-”
She was gagging but slowly summoned her creatures. Whatever emerged from this aura had the ominous feel of something nasty.
‘Logically, it should be the Ents coming out, but…’
In reality, the creatures often found here were human-type zombies. Of course, their fighting power was nowhere near that of the Ents, but they were just as annoying since they wouldn’t retreat when attacked.
Chop— Chop—
Lizardman 1 and 2 stepped forward confidently, their chests puffed up.
‘When I re-summoned them, they were completely recovered. Of course, it would consume a lot of magic to summon them, but it’s still incredible.’
Seeing the Lizardmen, who had previously been wobbling, now walking around briskly sparked my awe at the summoner’s abilities.
Then, about halfway through the grave, we finally reached the center.
‘Here.’
I spotted the second hidden location. The problem was that it was located beneath a pile of Ent corpses…
“Eh? Il-wol, why?”
I pointed between her necklace and the ground, and Yeon-hee widened her eyes in surprise and asked.
“Are you, are you saying there’s another artifact?!”
Nod-nod-
“Is this reality? Or a dream…”
Her awe caused my shoulders to rise a bit, but that wasn’t the issue now. I gestured to express my thoughts about extracting something.
“Are you telling me to dig in the ground? Aah… you want me to call Wang-wang?”
“Clap-clap-clap!!”
It was impossible to clear away this mountain of corpses. All we needed to do was dig at an angle and pull the box underneath.
Yeon-hee quickly summoned Wang-wang, and as he landed in a place he had never seen, he seemed startled and let his tail droop. He must have sensed something strange in the air, as he kept coughing.
Cough! Cough!
“Sorry, sorry—Wang-wang, can you dig down there for me?”
‘I need to kill a few more Earth Puppies when I see them next, so I can gain the digging trait… I can do it when Yeon-hee isn’t watching.’
As I was pondering such thoughts, Wang-wang’s eyes lit up as he dug straight into the ground without hesitation.
Having recently fed him continuously, he had grown considerably since when I first summoned him, so the amount of dirt he could remove in one go was substantial.
Paar Paar Paar Pah! Pah Pah!!
‘Whoa, he’s fast…’
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