I stared blankly at the light radiating from my party members’ bodies.
Yeon-hee shone for a moment, but Helen and Jin-kyeong continued to glow for quite a while. It seemed like they had leveled up at least three times from taking down the boss monster.
All three of them opened their mouths and stared into space, probably reading about the new achievement they just earned.
‘Damn…’
I wondered if there was anything I could grab, extending my senses around me aimlessly.
‘Huh?’
– The dungeon restrictions placed on the summoner have been lifted.
– The restrictions on summoned creatures will also be lifted upon re-summoning!
‘What? Was the achievement related to dungeon restrictions shared?’
I wasn’t expecting any benefits since I didn’t gain any from the combat achievements that level up stats like the 100-person combat achievement, but it seemed like this kind of thing was shared.
It felt like a random stroke of luck, but I didn’t mind.
‘This will definitely make things much easier for a while. My income might increase by at least 20%, right?’
The income from a round in the Lizardman dungeon was around 900,000 won, excluding runes. Even if we split it among four people, it was better than other dungeons thanks to the Lizardman’s leather.
If I considered selling all the runes we acquire, the income would double.
900,000 won a day! It felt like just yesterday I was barely making 100,000 won in the Goblin dungeon…
Kick-
‘If someone saw this, they’d think I was really successful.’
I snapped back to reality as I assigned the stats I gained from jumping up two levels into agility, wisdom, and sense like last time.
Hmm…
‘But can I keep going like this…?’
As soon as I assigned the stats, the unease I had momentarily set aside resurfaced.
Crack- Creak-
I curled my fingers and opened them. The collection of fragile bones creaked with a dull sound.
‘So weak…’
I still vividly recalled blocking Noh Ha-yoon’s attack, and that unsteady arm flashed before my eyes. Soon after, the image of a man with snake-like eyes laughing at me emerged.
I suddenly questioned myself.
‘Have I ever seen Jo Gi-man going all out?’
…
No, never. Not even once.
Even when he sparred with Kang Yeon-su, he didn’t even show half his power.
He might claim he went all out, but no matter how he deceived others, he couldn’t fool my senses.
‘If I consider that time as 40%… then 100% of that guy’s power is… damn… I can’t even gauge it.’
After being summoned by Yeon-hee, the first thing I thought about was surviving Jo Gi-man.
I believed the answer was to prepare a powerful hit against his attacks, and luckily, I was able to make a job change close to the ability I wished for.
The Skeleton Bombardier was a job with destructive power capable of taking down the ‘Teeth’ and Lizardman Champion in one blow.
Strong. If I continue like this, that monstrous guy won’t be able to ignore my attacks either. Of course, that’s possible only if I can land a powerful hit on him… but I can think about that after getting ‘Ghost’.
The Skeleton Bomb is strong. Very strong, but… something always feels lacking.
There are times in life when one suddenly sees oneself objectively. I refocused my gaze and saw Yeon-hee faintly smiling, along with Helen and Jin-kyeong, who had grown closer. And even the invisible summoned creatures after the summoning was released.
‘Companions…’
Thinking about how I had companions now, a gap began to form in my heart to accept them. There was nothing I could do about the gap that was already there.
‘Time to pull myself together…’
One thing was clear: I had become softer than I was at the beginning.
I remembered when Kang Yeon-su appeared on a popular show and talked about the secret to her strength.
“When you start to think, ‘If I keep going like this, that’s enough, I’m doing okay’… that’s when you should whip yourself harder. Because at that moment, you’re already falling behind without realizing it.”
Hmm…
‘After finishing today’s dungeon, I need to organize my thoughts in the Dark Space.’
With that compromise with myself, I focused on the new sense stat I had gained.
Vroom-
As my sense rose by 6, the distance I could be from Yeon-hee surpassed 100 meters. The efficiency of my senses was increasing more and more.
I wanted to whip myself, but there was no need to belittle the rapidly rising stats.
The fact that the range of my senses was the same as the distance I could be from Yeon-hee was evidence of our strong connection, but also a binding that shackled me.
No matter how I increased my sense, I couldn’t distance myself enough to sever my connection with Yeon-hee, but the increased range of activity was significant for me in many ways.
If I went forward to scout even a little, I could warn my party members behind me in advance.
‘At least the numbers are rising fast enough that it’s motivating.’
====
[Skeleton Bombardier Il-wol – Lv.33]
Strength: 104(+20) Agility: 117(+26)
Health: 105(+20) Wisdom: 85(+6)
Magic Power: 110(+20) Resistance: 7
Sense: 48(+6) Recovery: 43(+20)
(* Irmana’s blessing applied: Strength, Agility, Health, Magic, Recovery +20)
Traits: Calm, Protection, Thievery, 97 Lives, Adhesion, Pain Resistance, Obeys’ Blessing*, Irmana’s Blessing, Blessing of Pitp
Skills: Slam, Stealth, Dagger Throw, Acid Spray, Basic Transformation, Reckless Charge, Corrupt Breath, Skeleton Bomb*
Equipment: Philosopher Arhen’s Dagger for Self-Defense, Iron Chainmail
=====
‘Okay, I’ve leveled up one each on traits and skills.’
As the level of Obeys’ Blessing and Skeleton Bomb increased by one, the damage rose by 10%, and the number of bombs I held also increased to 58.
‘Skeleton Bomb levels up pretty well. [Stealth] doesn’t seem to budge even if I use it constantly. I didn’t level it up even during my Hunter days, so it’s no surprise…’
“Now that we’ve got everything we need, let’s head back,” Helen suggested, noticing the grim atmosphere of the battlefield had returned while I was lost in thought.
I sensed a total of 5 runes from the Champion’s body.
Since I brought back 3 of them, I figured they’d be busy searching for the real culprit behind the smaller number of runes than usual and the mysterious explosion. They’d likely pinpoint one suspicious group, and whether they were the real culprits or not wouldn’t matter much.
I didn’t care to alert anyone since I secretly snuck them out, but since I brought back our share, I wasn’t worried about any trouble later.
“Let’s go. Staying any longer would just cause unnecessary commotion.”
After hoping for Song Jin-kyeong to return as well, we hastily finished our preparations and moved towards the entrance and exit.
– Huh? Why are those people leaving right away? They should be among the top contributors?
– They might be leaving after just getting their achievements. That person over there is from the Vision Guild!
– I heard there was some rumor about her being a bit psycho?
– Ah… I see… it makes sense now…
– Really?
– I don’t know, but even if she’s psycho, as long as she’s pretty… Tsk… Noh Ha-yoon really is gorgeous… Heh-
– Wipe your drool. A loser like you will never have such a connection.
‘Noh Ha-yoon is beautiful? I don’t know anymore. Heh Heh-‘
I could hear other Hunters’ voices.
– Their summoned creatures were insane… I think they could even compete with top-tier D-Class hunters, that summoner.
– It was definitely terrifying. They even had an unusually large one. If their summoned creatures also level up, isn’t that pretty broken? I feel a sense of deprivation just from someone relying on sheer skills.
As we exited the swamp, the passing Hunters couldn’t help but comment.
Even though we were a suspicious party not searching the Champion’s body, having Noh Ha-yoon around provided a good enough reason to convince people. I guess that’s the benefit of being in a major guild.
.
.
.
“Ugh-huh hum hum~”
The atmosphere on the way back was quite cheerful. Ever since Noh Ha-yoon caused a scene, she had been quietly handling things.
We managed to secure two additional runes during the battle on our way to the exit. That’s why Jin-kyeong was humming a cheerful tune.
‘It’s oddly easy to get runes…’
Even though runes had a higher drop rate in this dungeon than others, our party’s drop rate was abnormally high.
As I walked, I pondered this strange phenomenon.
‘Could it be because of the Lizard Squad?’
Is there an invisible buff that increases rune drop rates for each Lizardman belonging to our party?
It was a far-fetched thought, but it seemed to have some plausibility.
In any case, the two lower-rank runes we just acquired were given to Helen and Jin-kyeong, and they were overjoyed.
The price of a lower-rank rune was higher than their income for fifteen days, so it made sense of their excitement. The Rune of Giants was quite versatile and sold for a decent price as well.
As we neared the exit, without fail, the Helen duo’s eyes sparkled as they looked at Yeon-hee. Now that they were growing alongside us and massively increasing their income, they probably wanted to keep partying together.
Of course, they didn’t spare a glance for Noh Ha-yoon, but instead, she seized the opportunity and opened her mouth.
“Um…”
The party members momentarily tensed.
“I’m sorry for today. And… I learned a lot, thanks to you all.”
“…Huh? What did you learn?”
Helen questioned with surprise, wondering what she could learn from us when there was a clear skill gap.
Noh Ha-yoon gave a meaningful smile in response to Helen’s question, but didn’t elaborate further. This left us feeling quite uneasy.
But no matter what we were thinking, she was far too excited to care.
‘Hehe, no one will ever know the identity of the Skeleton Soldier…’
Noh Ha-yoon was startled awake when she was left carrying Lizardman 2 due to mana exhaustion, with the message that popped into her mind.
– You have acquired the achievement [Provoker of Anger].
Provoker of Anger
– You have made ???, who was never supposed to lose their composure, feel anger for the first time.
– You will be able to think more rationally during battles with monsters.
It was an unprecedented achievement she had never heard of before. The ability to think more rationally during battles with monsters? Depending on how one considers it, it could be a tremendous advantage.
And what caught Noh Ha-yoon’s attention was the hidden word in the achievement description.
She knew best who it referred to based on her personal experience.
‘Even though Lee Yeon-hee shows emotion, there’s no way she could earn such an achievement. The angry being definitely refers to that Skeleton!’
In truth, it was based on flimsy evidence, simply projecting what she wanted to believe.
Yet, what she was sure of was that she had never heard of accomplishments being described in such a manner—traits, skills, achievements, or artifacts.
But one thing was certain: it meant that the entity had some special status. Isn’t that how she received the achievement?
‘I want to know… I’m curious! I want to see more! How can I… hmm…’
After thinking for a moment, Noh Ha-yoon couldn’t come up with anything to do in her current disliked state.
‘Damn…’
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