Noh Ha-yoon’s glare, which clenched her canine teeth tightly, had a distant, dreamy look, as if she were gazing at something surreal.
‘Oh great, she’s looking at me again… Do I need to get my hands checked one more time to get her to stop paying attention to me…?’
She was hypersensitive to every little gesture I made, as if she were trying to pierce through me with her gaze.
‘That witch must be getting direct reports, right?’
It was only a matter of time before Jo Gi-man and those monsters like the ‘witch’ got the information, but now, I was at a loss.
‘What can I do? There are too many variables, and nothing is going according to plan. Whatever will be, will be.’
One glimmer of hope was that I was growing much faster than expected.
“Il-wol, fighting…!”
“The skeleton’s doing great!! Finish him off!!”
“Uwaaaah! Go, Il-wol!!”
Phew—
Hearing my party’s cheers made me feel a bit lighter. It’s a strange feeling.
And I was thoroughly toying with the Orc Warrior.
[Acid Spray]
Swoosh—!
“Krwaaaah—!”
Even after getting drenched in my acid, it shook off its face a few times and started searching for me again.
‘Its resistance is high, so the effect of the acid is halved. There’s no need to use bombs… this will be a long battle.’
As I predicted, the duel dragged on endlessly.
Thanks to that, the Orcs’ cheers began to fade, and a glimmer of hope blossomed on the hunters’ faces.
The Orc Warrior had fingers half severed, lying on the ground, and the heavy breathing monster had no energy left to roar.
Yet, its perseverance was commendable for a proud warrior species.
Though the duel was nearing its end, I was getting a bit impatient. No matter how much time I intended to buy, I had to kill it before the Orc High-Rank Warrior arrived, and one minute felt like an hour.
“Uwooooh!!”
The creature gathered all its remaining strength and raised its spear high into the sky.
‘It’s out of its mind. It’s exposing its weak spot.’
Swoosh—!
“Guhh—”
After seven minutes of a marathon duel, I finally plunged my dagger into its neck and twisted it upward with all my might.
Crack—
I infused magic into the dagger, which increased its mana consumption but also its destructive power. However, it was likely not enough to split the sturdy skull of an Orc in two.
[Penetration]
It was definitely giving me a nice boost.
Boom—!
The Orc, with its skull split in two from the long fight, collapsed to the ground, and the arena was enveloped in a silence reminiscent of dawn.
Penetration Level 3
– Your swing gains 3% penetration.
‘Wow, it really didn’t rise annoying enough.’
I drew a large X in the air with the dagger that penetrated its neck.
Whoooosh—
‘Hmm, I guess I’ll have to test it out to know for sure.’
Mana: 67/117
Being in a constant state of stealth and wrapping mana around the dagger consumed quite a bit.
‘Phew— that took longer than expected; I didn’t think catching just one would be this hard.’
Of course, that one was a strong opponent, reaching the end of rank D, and it was through utilizing stealth for guerilla-style combat.
Originally, I thought I could handle about ten Orc Warriors by myself to buy some time.
– You have defeated a powerful enemy!
– Experience points have increased significantly!
– Rune of Absorption (Intermediate) obtained.
– Your level has increased. Choose three stats to increase.
Rune of Absorption (Intermediate)
– Recover 3 mana upon defeating an enemy.
‘Okay.’
I immediately swapped the Rune of Giants (Low) with the Rune of Absorption (Intermediate). It was the lowest grade of the intermediate level, only offering a mere effect of 3, but considering the situation, there was nothing as useful as this rune.
“You coward!!”
“Dirty humans!!”
“Elf-like scum!!”
“My deputy is dead. We’re leaving immediately.”
“I will duel!”
“Me!! I’m stronger!!”
While I felt somewhat pleased to be the hot topic among the Orcs, we had to prepare to escape immediately.
A monster speeding up just 100 meters ahead had been detected.
‘We can’t win against that right now.’
It wasn’t something like the Tooth Monster that could self-destruct after diving into my body. Its unbelievably tough body had endured my strongest bomb and was still walking around like nothing happened.
I quickly stuffed the dead body of the spearman Orc named Cahulann into my inventory and signaled to the others.
“Clap, clap, clap, clap!!”
As the Orcs saw me trying to escape with a comrade’s body, their morale instantly surged like flames.
“Cahulann!!”
“They’re just like elves!! They’re dirty scum!!”
‘Why do they suddenly keep calling us elves? What did those filthy elves do?’
Did they realize that among the ones who called them here, there are elves? It was truly baffling.
“Ma, magic!!”
Helen shouted in panic while fleeing, and as if responding to her, the rock-type mage raised four stone pillars at once to block the monsters’ path.
“Wow!! Amazing!! That’s so wizardly!!”
‘Phew— I have to acknowledge that. Did we pull this hidden potential out because of the crisis?’
“Huh-huh— hey, someone help me—”
Thud—
“Kyahhh!! A, a skeleton! Uuugh…”
I awkwardly picked up the stumbling rock mage, who had slipped and turned around. Her childlike face paled in shock when she saw my face, and she ended up fainting.
‘Damn… well, that’s a typical reaction, but it feels a bit weird.’
“Rizard No.2! Please!”
“Chu-rararak!!”
Yeon-hee was in charge of No.2, the Iron Armored Bug ‘Ddak-ddak-i,’ and she bolted into the forest in the opposite direction from us.
Swoosh—!
“Krk? That way?”
“Change direction! It’s over there!”
“That’s not it!”
“These idiots are clueless! They’re falling for it!”
Dozens of Orcs, drawn toward Ddak-ddak-i, turned left, allowing us to smoothly escape through the icy path created by Noh Ha-yoon’s Ice Field over the river behind us.
“Il-wol! Bomb!”
‘I already threw it.’
Whoosh— Boom!!
The moment we all slipped past the river, we detonated the skeleton bomb, shattering the icy path.
The Orcs hurriedly leaped into the vicious current and began to swim across the river.
“Ha, we’re good! It’ll take them a while to cross? Hahaha.”
The man who had lost his arm seemed even more energetic than before. Looking back, he clenched his fists and waved them at the Orcs, showing a bit of confidence.
‘With this distance, we should be okay… Huh?!’
Phew—
‘What the hell! When did that happen?!’
“Oh? Suddenly it’s getting dark—”
A thick shadow loomed over the hopeful footfalls of Guitar No.3, and soon something enormous fell.
Boom—!!
I hurriedly hurled a bomb into the air to explode it, but it barely altered the trajectory of the incoming object.
Splat—
“Gagghh!!”
“Uwaaaah!! Sang-cheol!!”
A massive boulder, as big as a portable public restroom, crashed onto the back of Guitar No.3 named Sang-cheol. Thankfully, I managed to hit it with the bomb, so instead of his head and abdomen being crushed, only his lower half was pinned.
“Uugaah!! Quickly, let’s get this rock off!!”
All eight of us joined forces to finally push the boulder, underneath which lay a man with severely twisted and critical lower body injuries, twitching as if his breath was about to leave him.
‘That massive rock inscribed with mana… The Orc High-Rank Warrior.’
If it had been an ordinary rock, no matter its size, it wouldn’t have been able to injure a warrior-class hunter this badly.
“P-Potion!!”
“D-Divine Touch!!”
Wooooosh—
Fortunately, Guitar No.2 had recovered enough mana to cast a healing spell. Amazingly, the man named Sang-cheol had a severely broken leg but hadn’t sustained injuries severe enough to disable him completely.
“How did you survive?! You damn bastard!!”
Guitar No.2 shouted with red eyes at Sang-cheol.
“This sticky stuff… is it slime? Yeon-hee must have thrown it for him?”
“Yeah… I didn’t realize at that moment…”
“To have that sense in such a short time? You’re amazing, our Yeon-hee!!”
Just before the boulder fell, Yeon-hee had thrown slime at the man while running beside him. Had she not, his lower half would have been completely flattened.
‘Wow… as expected…’
Yeon-hee scratched the back of her head, pulling her robe deeply over her. I wanted to pinch her blushing cheeks; she’s so cute even in this mess. Amazing.
“Clap, clap, clap, clap!!”
“Oh! I’ll carry Sang-cheol!!”
Despite not being in perfect shape herself, she showed resolute will, so I entrusted Sang-cheol to Guitar No.2. I could have entrusted him to the Lizardmen, but those guys should help buy time in the back.
“Isn’t it going to fly over again?”
“Once was enough; it won’t happen twice. Don’t worry, just go!”
Even as we felt a shiver of fear at the back of our heads, we ran hard, believing the words of the rock-type mage.
Spreading the waves of perception, I observed my surroundings, avoiding monsters, checking for other hazards, and ensuring my party members were keeping up. There were a lot of things to pay attention to while running.
But even amidst all that, I could glance at one of the job change choices.
This choice was a bit easier than the previous two, so my mind felt a bit more at ease.
=====
Skeleton Assassin
– The path you walk has no color or scent. No one can see you or comprehend your existence. This presents a new possibility for you, who is constructing an exceptionally discreet and quiet world of your own.
– This job includes a quest for the next job change. Choose carefully in your decision.
– The existing capabilities of the Bombardier are retained, but you can no longer grow abilities related to bombs.
• You will embark on a path toward becoming a Shadow Lord.
• You will step onto the path of the Death Knight.
• You will completely escape the path toward the Destructive Bomber.
• You will completely depart from the path of the Great Sorcerer who dreams of immortality.
• You will step onto the path of becoming the King of the Immortals.
– Your attack power increases by 100% while in stealth.
– The restrictions on stealth are lifted.
– You acquire the skill [Blink].
– The probability of inflicting critical damage increases by 20%.
– There will be restrictions on mana growth.
– Agility +65
– Strength +35
– Sense +30
– Resistance +20
Special Ability: +75% damage on successful hits with dagger-type attacks.
• Job Change Quest
– Eliminate 20,000 enemies while in stealth.
=====
‘Hehehe, this is getting ridiculous. 20,000?! You’ve got to be kidding me!!’
Upon seeing the quest completion conditions, I lost my sanity for a moment before rethinking.
‘No, this might be easier than the Fire Sorcerer quest. As long as I’m in stealth, it means I can use whatever weapon I want to kill, right?’
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