=====
Dagger Throwing Lv. Max
– Attack Power +50% and Accuracy +30% when throwing daggers.
– Accuracy +25% when throwing any object.
– The trajectory of the projectile can be precisely adjusted.
=====
‘It’s the first time my skill has reached Max. 50%… that’s amazing. I wonder how much it has improved!’
[Fireball]
[Dagger Throwing]
Whoosh—
Boom—!
Thanks to Dagger Throwing hitting max, I felt the previously unstable Fireball much more stable now.
It’s like pinpointing exactly where I wanted it to go.
[······!]
Did those guys sense the change in my skills? Their eyes flared sharply for a moment.
[Undathree—!]
‘I don’t know what you’re saying, but you’re too slow!’
Two Skeleton Knights lunged at me at the same time, but I easily dodged with [Phantom Dash].
[······?!]
The Skeleton Knights looked shocked to see me using their own signature skills.
They staggered back, spreading out to either side.
‘Using it just feels right, especially with [Blessing of Pitp]!’
=====
Blessing of Pitp
– The heritage left by the great warrior of the Lizard race, Pitp.
– Health recovery speed increases as combat time lengthens (up to 50%).
=====
The [Blessing of Pitp] I got from defeating the Lizardman had been giving me some unnoticeable assist all along.
I was already well beyond five hours into combat, reaping the max effect of the blessing.
This meant I could recover the health lost from [Phantom Dash] pretty quickly.
[Crooooh—]
Were they frustrated by their misses? The Skeleton Knights re-positioned themselves and unleashed a rather rough style of swordsmanship to pressure me.
‘Definitely… looks like their swordsmanship is poor since they haven’t awakened.’
It’s not like I was better than them, but coming straight from witnessing ‘Natalan Jackman’s’ swordsmanship in the hidden dungeon, I couldn’t help but see the difference.
Clang-cling—!
‘Thanks to the training (?) from ‘Natalan Jackman’, it felt far easier to respond to their attacks.’
Swish-swish-swish—!
‘Tch—! Arrows are a nuisance.’
But with the attacks from the Skeleton Knights and those pesky ranged shots, I couldn’t avoid the onslaught of ten of them.
My defense over 200 let me brush off the minor attacks, but the series of blows pushed me back like a massive hammer, making it increasingly difficult to appropriately respond to the Skeleton Knights’ assaults.
[Swosh—!]
‘Here they come!’
They aimed their signature jab at me the moment they found an opening.
No matter how high my defense was, I couldn’t ignore that attack, especially since the wound from the cave had still not fully healed, making it a definite no-go.
Clatter-clang—
‘Damn it—’
Then the remains of the Skeleton monsters that exploded from my bomb gathered around a few spots, starting to form the shape of a Giant Skeleton Soldier.
Whooooosh—
I hurled a Fireball at the reviving Giant Skeleton Soldier, but Nargul deflected my spell’s trajectory with [Arcane Deflection]. Damn guy.
I didn’t know how long I’d been frantically defeating them.
‘Huff— this is really tough! How many have I taken down?’
Counting was pointless. They just kept combining into a stronger monster.
Fewer in numbers but tougher in quality.
Not a pleasant outcome for us.
Ultimately, I backed away, bristling with thorns.
– Movement speed increased by 30%.
Thanks to the tactical knee pads I got, it became so much easier to create distance.
(Whew—)
I was so fast that ‘Ran’, who had been riding on my shoulder, flew back with one touch.
Even with quite some distance between us, they started to follow me in a formation led by the central Skeleton Knight. Their determination was relentless.
‘Let’s save the Skeleton Knight for later. That guy is the priority!’
I decided to eliminate the biggest problem first.
I retreated until I was exactly out of Nargul’s detection range and activated Stealth to leap into the sky.
The two Skeleton Knights chasing closely looked around for a moment, but realizing something was off, they turned back. But it was too late.
[High-speed Flight]
Leaping over those pushing me down, I quickly backtracked my path.
Though my mana and health drained significantly with repeated maneuvers, I knew that if I missed this chance, the Skull Knight would not give me another opening.
Soon, I spotted the head of Nargul moving amidst a crowd of monsters.
Damn guy, he looked so relaxed while I was struggling!
Nargul had his special abilities, but in the end, he also shared the weaknesses typical of a wizard.
‘A mage fights at close quarters!’
Wham—! Wham—!
With gravity supporting my increased speed, just before Nargul could fully utilize his wand’s detection abilities, my concentrated mana strike connected with him.
Boom—!
Ddung-i’s club smashed cleanly across his face. The sickening sound of something splitting echoed, and soon Nargul’s defeat message appeared.
“Clap, Clap, Clap—!”
‘One hit! That punk’s body is really weak!’
– Failed to steal the Trait!
Don’t show that failure message, dammit! It kills the mood!
Though I felt a bit annoyed at the frustration, my excitement returned with the next message.
– Acquired Barrier Stone (Detection Type)!
Barrier Stone (Detection Type)
– Detects within a radius of 20M from the stone.
– This item must be equipped on a weapon with a socket to take effect.
‘Wow! This is a valuable item! It dropped from the staff.’
I got lucky with the gem that’s usually harder to find than the notoriously low drop rate equipment.
I didn’t have any weapon with a socket yet, but someday it might come in handy.
Anyway, it’s not needed for me since I have [Sense]. I can just give it to Yeon-hee.
[Swosh—!]
‘Oh, have they arrived? Friends.’
Already having obtained Nargul’s item, the late-joining Skeleton Knights looked furious, radiating a frightening aura.
‘I know you guys never got along, so stop pretending you’re so chummy!’
Swoosh—!
They charged at me, thrusting their jabs, but hey, I began to recognize their patterns and could dodge it with ease.
‘Unless it’s an attack like Natalan Jackman’s, I won’t get hit by that!’
Of course, I still had to retreat after a brief skirmish due to the thousands of monsters, but for someone like me who wasn’t affected by stamina, this guerilla warfare was actually fun.
Just like when fighting bats, I wasn’t being cornered.
Also, they could no longer see through my Stealth, allowing me to accumulate [Flame Cut] from time to time.
Twenty minutes later.
Boom—!
Along with [Flame Explosion], the two Skeleton Knights completely disintegrated.
‘This is really freaking strong!’
Is this the might of ignoring defense damage?
Once you get hit, it’s game over.
‘There was no need to lure them to the swamp.’
The hunters I saw earlier in the swamp were still battling with the minor guys, about three hundred meters away, gathered in a tight formation, too busy keeping watch with the massive black flames rising up.
‘Hmm… Let’s head back for now.’
I had been gone too long. Time to return.
– Defeated a Skeleton Knight!
– Trait [Thievery] activates.
– Randomly steals a Skeleton Knight’s trait.
– Acquired Trait [Superior Commander]!
– Achievement [Pioneer] activates.
– All Attributes +1
Well, I managed to steal a trait from one of the two Skeleton Knights. That was some luck.
‘Alright. Not immediately useful, but…’
=====
[Superior Commander]
– You can proficiently command subordinate troops.
=====
‘… The description is very straightforward, huh?’
I expected there to be buffs or something, but maybe it only activates at higher levels. It was a bit ambiguous.
– Achievement [Pioneer] activates!
And gaining a new trait meant that all my attributes also went up by 1.
I satisfiedly nodded as I headed back to the main base where I had been absent for some time.
“Wow, you’re back!”
“Shhh—! Quiet!”
When I arrived, the few people who had been awake greeted me warmly.
It seemed that while I was gone, minor monsters had attacked, but seeing as I noticed it wasn’t a significant number, I left it be. Apparently, just the fact that they were attacked made them uneasy.
‘Am I causing people to lose their potential just by being around?’
Yeon-hee and others shouldn’t become too reliant on me. I was worried about that.
But at the same time, I couldn’t just ignore safer and more efficient methods.
‘It’s not easy.’
I positioned myself in the middle of the bridge alongside my summoned creatures, fending off monster attacks for a while.
Coming back to face off against the big monster trio and the leftover hooligans after taking down over two thousand; I felt a bit overwhelmed.
But if my summoned creatures died, Yeon-hee would wake from her deep slumber, so I had no choice.
It had been a long time since the hunters had lost much health, but they were still asleep. However, as I could see the mana glow slowly radiating from their bodies, they would wake up soon.
I distributed food to the awake ones and provided additional water for Irmana.
‘Did we find a good spot, or is something else happening?’
Spending quite a few hours this way, no massive troop movements came through the area.
The exhausted hunters eventually woke up, and some of them must have gained enlightenment, causing significant upticks in their attributes.
They certainly deserved their rewards for having struggled to their limits.
Yeon-hee was in a similar state.
Unlike others, she kept operating the summoned creatures guarding the bridge, so she hadn’t had a proper rest. She had even maintained her summons while sleeping…
I must have seen her shine a light numerous times during those intense sessions. The number of accumulated summon orders was bound to exceed ten.
While I had only leveled up twice during this time, I reached level 58.
The stats gained as rewards were again invested in Agility, Wisdom, and Sense. Finally, my Sense passed 100. Specifically, it hit 101.
Once it exceeded 100, my sensing range expanded beyond 1km, but that wasn’t the end of it.
‘Bring on the achievement!’
– Acquired Achievement [Master of Sense]!
[Master of Sense]
– The effects of Sense are doubled.
This was an achievement I had gained once in my previous life, and its effects were incredible.
My sensing range instantly stretched to 2km, causing a momentary sense of loss.
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