Whooooosh—
One minute later, I felt my mind blanking out before I was transported to another space.
And the place I arrived at was exactly—
“Clap, Clap, Clap!”
‘This is the hidden area of the Lizard Swamp, right?!’
It was where a swirling black hole-shaped portal existed.
The straight hallway looked very familiar. Of course, it makes sense since I’ve been here three times.
And right in front of me was a dangerously swirling portal.
‘Ugh… Is it going to kill me if I step in?’
It definitely had an ominous vibe.
Is this the channel to another dimension?
‘There are a few more black holes like this one.’
Several dungeons from my memory came vividly to mind.
‘The last time I saw something like this was at the Black Wyvern’s Nest. That place looked really dangerous.’
So does that mean I’ll have to keep doing quests like this?
‘What an idiotic situation…’
I had a strong instinct that it wouldn’t be easy.
Shuuuu—
‘Huh?!’
While I was lost in thought in front of the ‘Channel to Another Dimension’, suddenly, black smoke erupted from the swirling portal and engulfed me.
*
‘Kuhhh… Did I lose consciousness for a moment?’
Where I ended up after being swept into the vortex was a desolate place that resembled a desert.
Not a single patch of green grass could easily grow in this barren environment.
—Kraaaaahh!
And just then, I heard the roar of a monster.
Shivers ran down my spine—
That one roar made my whole body quiver, enough for me to gauge just how powerful the monster was.
‘No way… How am I supposed to take that down? Damned system.’
With my senses having grown, I could clearly gauge the combat power of my opponent.
I was barely at C-rank, yet here I was, facing a monster that was clearly at A-rank. Why was I having to deal with this?
‘This is an obvious balance breakdown. How about adjusting the quest settings?’
– ……
But the system was silent.
‘Damn it, damn it.’
Eventually, I trudged towards the source of the roar.
[Stealth]
Of course, I made sure not to forget to hide my presence.
After moving about 500 meters, I arrived at a spot where a horrifying monster stood, roaring proudly on two legs, about 5 meters tall.
It had a body close to blackish navy, with grotesquely twisted sharp fingers.
Its lower jaw seemed to have been lost somewhere, replaced by a thick tongue dripping black saliva.
Thick horns grew on either side of its firmly muscled neck, reminding me somewhat of Ham Eun-young’s hand mirror demon.
—Hraaaaaah!
‘Ugh…!’
Even from a distance of about 70 meters, that intimidating presence penetrated to my bones.
The monster was proudly standing in the middle of a decent-sized village, and many of the houses were already in ruins.
The villagers were desperately fleeing as far away from the monster as they could, and it was impressive to see even the seemingly ordinary 5-6 year old children with considerable magical power.
‘Huh?!’
Even more surprising was that there were people fighting ‘Residue of Chaos’. As I got closer, their exotic appearances became clearer.
‘Blue-eyed, Reddish-haired…’
Considering their prominent noses, one might mistake them for being from somewhere in Europe, but seeing dozens of them over two meters tall, I could tell that this was definitely not the world I used to live in.
“······!!”
They were fighting the monster desperately, constantly communicating to maintain their formation.
I didn’t know what they were saying, but it was clear they were doing their utmost to turn the tide in their favor.
‘Their formation looks military-like.’
However, the monster easily shattered the soldiers’ defensive formation by firing off powerful energy blasts from its mouth.
But, merely enduring the attacks from a monster that harbored immense magical power gave me a sense of their combat abilities.
If I had changed jobs to [Dreadnought Vanguard], I thought I might have been fighting like them.
The monster must’ve figured that simple ranged attacks wouldn’t suffice as it began attacking the soldiers physically.
Its strikes were incredibly fast, so much so that I barely managed to follow with my eyes, catching multiple soldiers in its claws and swallowing them whole just like that.
Crunch—Crack—
—·····!!
The sight of the soldiers screaming in madness over their comrades being killed was pitiful.
‘Even if we fight together, this feels hopeless.’
It was that powerful.
Right after changing jobs, it was utterly absurd.
I even noticed that I had a time limit of 29 minutes remaining. Setting such a time limit shows how ruthless it is.
– ‘Residue of Chaos’ recognizes your presence.
‘What? It has detection abilities?!’
I had approached in an enhanced [Stealth] state, yet it seemed I couldn’t fool its eyes.
‘Combat power is around low A-rank. I guess I’d fight with Maeng Seong-yong, huh.’
If that’s the case, then it meant I’d find it tough to fool an A-rank opponent with even enhanced stealth. Not every one of them, but I had to assume so and act accordingly.
The good news was that the monster hadn’t precisely pinpointed my location.
Kraaahhhh—
‘Whoa!’
The energy blast that erupted from its mouth created a large crater around me. I quickly dodged out of shock.
The monster tilted its head momentarily before roaring in my direction again.
Kraaahhh—
‘Ugh!’
The sheer magical power was enough to send me backward.
To unleash this much magical power with just one roar… I was really curious how big its mana pool was.
– ‘Residue of Chaos’ senses the anomalous magical flow in a certain area.
– You are now fully recognized!
‘Huh!’
It seemed it had sensed the moment I dodged and used magic. Although it looked clumsy, it had a remarkable intellect.
-·····??
The people fighting the monster suddenly turned around, looking curiously at the creature attacking the empty space behind them.
‘Just attack instead of staring!’
I understood that in the heat of battle, reacting immediately to such irregular behavior wasn’t simple, but it showed me they weren’t that clever.
‘Combat mode.’
Crackle—Crackle—
My smooth body transformed into a rough bone armor form.
Using [Reckless Charge], [Phantom Dash], and the newly acknowledged skill [Lightning Step], I charged straight at the monster.
Crackle—
‘Ugh!’
With an incredible speed that compressed the air, my head snapped back. It seemed the efficiency of [Lightning Step] had significantly improved since it was acknowledged as a skill.
However, the description merely mentioned moving like lightning using magical power, and no stats were listed. It was a skill that depended on my efforts?
In any case, I quickly closed the gap to its body.
Perhaps my speed momentarily exceeded the monster’s perception. It only reacted when I got within 20 meters of it.
—GRAHHHHH!!
Chills ran through me—
As the monster turned to roar at me, I immediately had to slow down.
‘Whoa! Can I even stick to it? If not, let’s at least try to bind it first!’
“Clap, Clap, Clap!”
I made sure not to forget to enhance my strength with [Warrior’s Roar].
[Chain of Flame]
Swoosh—
A massive flame chain coiled its gigantic body, tightening around it.
—KRAAAAH!!
The monster roared in shock at being suddenly restrained and thrashed about.
Flames shot up around its waist, and it looked agonizing as it twisted its already horrifying face even more.
Swoosh—
Yet, after a few of its wild thrashes, the Chain of Flame was instantly broken.
‘Wow, I didn’t even get to enjoy my first attempt.’
I had high hopes for my newly acquired skill, but it seemed it wasn’t a good first opponent.
‘It seems its strength and resistance are insane.’
If I can’t bind it…
‘Just touch it once…!’
If I land even one hit with [Skeleton Bomb], [Stagnant Sneaky Drain], or [Fierce Claws], I could control its movements for a moment with the ‘Paralysis’ effect.
Then I’d stack it with the slow effect of [Special Strong Acid], followed by [Flame Cut] in succession—
Swoosh—
‘Huh?!’
While jumping in with various combos in mind, the monster’s form suddenly vanished from my sight.
And then.
—Grrr—
Chills—
‘When did it get behind me?!’
Boom—!
I quickly dodged, releasing thorns from my back but was still hit in the side by its fist, sending me flying to where the village looked tiny far below.
Health: 277/349
‘What insane attack power!’
It was a mentally deranged attack that broke through my significantly enhanced defenses.
Even with both Flame Armor and Chain Armor boosting my defense, it was tough to fully withstand an attack from a monster two ranks above me.
– Your health has dropped below 20%, activating [Gray Fungal Poison]!
– Kweeek?! Cough—Gahh—
Fortunately, as the trait [Gray Fungal Poison] activated, it inhaled the ‘Slow’ component from my body, and I instantly felt my movements slow down drastically.
‘What just happened? Was that some sort of teleportation?’
No matter how excellent its physical abilities were, it shouldn’t have come in without passing through the wave of my senses.
The residue of magical energy lingered in the place where I had stood, resembling the flow of the portal I had come through.
‘Can it move anywhere in an instant? I need to change my evaluation on this.’
It had the ability to analyze my position by perceiving [Stealth], along with a skill to catch me from behind in an instant.
Of course, considering how much its mana dropped after using that ability, it didn’t seem like it was one it could regularly use.
‘Wow—how the heck do I break this?’
I felt like pulling my hair out if I had any. The monster, seemingly unaware of my turmoil, was charging right at me.
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