They seemed to have a lot of questions for us, but I pointed to the gate and expressed that we should just enter first.
‘If we leave too late, our speed will slow down.’
Given the terrain characteristics of stepping on floating slabs above the swamp, it was better to start quickly, which was also the reason why we arrived early.
It seemed they agreed with my opinion and immediately began to move. Yeon-hee and I stood in front of the gate.
“It’s huge. How big could an S-rank dungeon gate be? Is it really as tall as people say, reaching the sky?”
Yeon-hee asked me while sending the four-member party through the gate first, and honestly, I hadn’t even seen an S-rank dungeon myself, so I just kept fiddling with Yeon-hee’s earlobe.
“Keek! Ah, really. Don’t do that outside.”
Yeon-hee glanced around nervously, as if worried someone might see her, and her flushed cheeks looked like ripe peaches begging to be eaten—
Vrrrroooom—
Yeon-hee cleverly pulled me just in time as I had impolite thoughts for a skeleton, and we stepped into the C-rank dungeon.
“Whew…”
As soon as we entered the dungeon, Yeon-hee pressed her palms against her eyes a few times, trying to shake off the fatigue that rushed in.
‘It’s just as I remember.’
The scenery before us was something unimaginable for a modern person living their daily life.
Everywhere was sticky, muddy terrain, covered in nameless plants and the remains of animal corpses, making the view dizzying.
“Eww—! What kind of bugs are there so many of?”
Even in this dungeon environment, the insects swarming around were hardly different.
Among various obstacles lurking around, waiting to ambush us, this was truly a tiresome dungeon.
Fortunately, there were points resembling resting spots scattered in between, though small in size. Once inside, the creatures of this dungeon could not invade, making it a safe place to rest.
‘Without these safe zones, this dungeon might have been called the worst C-rank dungeon.’
“Let’s go. We cleared it once yesterday, but it’s our first time here. I’ll leave the pacing to you.”
The lean man named Jeok-a spoke to Yeon-hee, who nodded quietly.
“Most of them hide and attack from a distance. As long as we don’t fall for the Siren’s song, it won’t be too difficult.”
“Okay. I’m fine too. Let’s go.”
Since there were people waiting behind us, we moved forward immediately.
And ten minutes after starting.
Whoosh—
Something like a needle flew from somewhere; it was a poisoned dart shot from the dominant species of this dungeon, the Frog.
Since they lived in groups, three darts came flying at once, but our party members easily brushed aside or dodged their attacks.
Kugugugu—
Yeon-hee, after blocking the attack with the mysterious membrane wrapped around ‘Lime’, quickly drew her bow and counterattacked.
Thwip—
Swoosh—
The arrow flew straight into the Frog’s eye, which was peeking out to observe our status.
– Kkheeeeek!!
As it clutched the arrow piercing its eye and tried to escape into the swamp, two Harpies grabbed its head and arms, tossing it into a position where Yeon-hee could shoot easily.
Thuck—
The two Lizardmen, waiting to drop the Frog, immediately restrained its arms and legs as soon as it fell.
Puff—!
Yeon-hee unleashed a flurry of arrows into the immobilized Frog, making it easy to defeat.
‘Wow— Yeon-hee is starting to pay attention to the quest. She even matched the ambush pattern ahead of time?’
The seamless teamwork of our summoned creatures clearly showed the growth that came from battling against Maeng Seong-yong.
Though the pace might be a bit slow, at this rate, I could easily rack up over 50 kills a day.
‘In under ten days, I’ll be welcoming another unique summoned creature. I’m kinda excited!’
Having already figured out the value of the Shadow Drake, I couldn’t help but feel hopeful.
What could come after the Drake?
It wouldn’t be strange if something absurd like a Golden Goblin appeared in this world. I didn’t have the slightest inkling about it.
I casually turned my head to the side and saw the four-member team maintaining a decent tension while fighting.
‘Even after clearing yesterday, they’re keeping their guard up. Impressive.’
However, that tension came from their mindset over experience, and there didn’t seem to be much trouble in the fights themselves.
Flap— Flap—!
‘The four-member team seems relaxed. I don’t have to worry much.’
As long as I keep an eye out to prevent Yeon-hee from receiving any unexpected fatal injuries, we were pretty much safe.
Of course, thanks to the trait [Protection], as long as I didn’t die, there was almost no chance for Yeon-hee to die either, but still, I didn’t want her pretty face to get hurt by poison or anything.
‘No monsters in sight. Let’s see— if there are any bad guys around.’
I spread my senses and focused on detecting the presence of other hunters.
As the waves of my senses expanded, I detected quite a number of parties in a radius of over 4 kilometers around us.
They maintained a precise spacing as they advanced, and the higher the rank, the less conflict there was among parties, likely due to their skills level increasing.
‘Nothing particularly alarming around. Still, this place is just right for sneaking in with a chill method.’
Just pushing someone off the slab wouldn’t be hard at all. Even if I brought a guide, it wasn’t a place to wander around carelessly.
Rustle—!
I detonated Fireballs whenever the Frogs revealed their faces above the swamp, and when they were engulfed in flames, I gracefully flew in and severed their necks.
‘Individually, they’re really weak. As long as they have the defensive power to withstand attacks from groups, it should be a piece of cake.’
– You have defeated a ‘Frog Folk’!
– Trait [Thievery] has been activated.
– Stealing skills and traits from the Frog Folk randomly!
– Acquired Skill [Excellent Camouflage]!
– The skill [Stealth] is fused with [Excellent Camouflage], making [Stealth] even more secretive.
– Achievement [Pioneer] has been activated.
– All attributes increase by 1.
‘Hmm? Did I upgrade my stealth?’
I gained a skill that blends into surrounding objects and takes on their camouflage, and while I couldn’t check how much more stealthy it became immediately, I couldn’t wait to see.
‘Residue of Chaos… Can I deceive its detection ability too?’
But that was something I wouldn’t be able to confirm for a while. And with the special ability obtained from job changing, I could also definitively steal traits whenever I defeated new types of monsters.
– Acquired Trait [Swamp Affinity]!
– Achievement [Pioneer] has been activated.
– All attributes increase by 1.
– Experience points have increased.
‘Traits specialized for this environment are always welcomed.’
[Swamp Affinity]
– Activities in the swamp become much easier.
I stepped into the swamp right after acquiring the trait, and I could easily move my legs without resistance.
‘This is really good. [Thievery] is truly overpowered.’
Instantly stealing the abilities of monsters adapted to the dungeon, I benefited from their strengths without effort.
‘This might very well be more broken than having a trait [100].’
In any case, with these two new abilities acquired and the effect of the accomplishment [Pioneer], my stats had each increased by 2.
Now, the distance I could check with my senses easily exceeded 4 kilometers.
‘As I thought, I need to clear this dungeon thoroughly, even if it takes time.’
The steadily growing senses always thrilled me.
We smoothly continued to deal with the Frog swarm after our first battle.
Thanks to the camouflage, they were hard to see, but I quickly alerted my party to any that posed a more significant risk.
Moreover, they only had poison darts for long-range attacks, and tongue attacks for mid-range, so we adapted quickly.
However, if they gathered in sufficient numbers, events would occur, and a mutant would appear, which would be more troublesome.
Though it would be just a hassle. Just that much.
“Yes! Il-wol! I’ve already collected two resistance runes! They’re intermediate runes, though.”
“Clap, clap, clap!!”
Today was a fruitful day for rune collection, and Yeon-hee’s quest progress was going smoothly. Not a bad start at all.
Moreover, thanks to a 20% experience boost, even defeating Frogs granted us considerable experience. At this rate, just roaming around might even yield a level-up by tomorrow.
“Churrrrup—!”
The Lizard Squad summoned alongside the Harpies seemed to fly around quite freely in this familiar environment.
Seeing the leisure of the Lizardmen devouring the limbs of the Frogs whole was quite an interesting sight for the four-member party.
“… Twenty Lizardmen. The Summoner could handle them all alone! We might not even get enough experience ourselves.”
“Having summoned creatures that thrive in this terrain is a little enviable.”
“Exactly. It’s clear that Lizardmen are overpowered here.”
The Lizardmen, despite being in a different environment than the ‘Lizard Swamp,’ moved without significant constraints due to their excellent vision and greater viscosity.
They played around for a while before abandoning the method of moving on slabs and started to navigate through the swamp, guarding Yeon-hee.
Occasionally, they were attacked by Frogs sneaking up from below, but such instances were quite rare, and the Frogs couldn’t easily penetrate the Lizardmen’s defenses.
And that wasn’t solely due to the Lizard Squad’s growth but also significantly influenced by the effect of the mysterious membrane Yeon-hee created.
“They look relaxed, but since it’s our first time, let’s take a short break.”
“Yes.”
After an hour of moving and engaging in frequent battles, we finally approached a safe zone.
It resembled a small island shrouded in thick, dark fog, curiously preventing outside hunters from seeing inside the safe zone.
‘That’s dangerous, too.’
On the flip side, it meant that once inside, you could do anything without help from passersby outside.
Upon stepping in, I immediately sensed the fully independent space.
‘It feels much larger than what I experienced in my past life…’
What did it mean when the ends of the zone were barely visible? Was the dungeon itself expanding somehow?
After entering, we rested a bit apart from the four-member team.
Though a moment of tension was unavoidable, soon ‘Heuk-a’ began to stir.
“How is it? Is it doable?”
Heuk-a asked Yeon-hee in an awkward tone, neither informal nor formal.
“Yes, the slabs are bigger than I expected, and the support structure is stable, so it’s not that hard.”
“Hoo-hoo— That’s probably because your magic power is stable. Those slabs tend to shake when stepped on by hunters with unstable magic.”
“Yes. I’ve heard that, but is it really true? My summoned creatures stepped on them, and nothing happened, so I just thought they were non-functional.”
“That’s a sign that your orc and Lizardman levels are high. Yesterday, we thoroughly struggled due to those fools we partied with.”
The four were quite absorbed in talking about the two hunters who had become known as fools since yesterday.
‘They have more to say than I expected.’
While the large figures of Cheong-a and Hwang-a were quiet, Heuk-a and Jeok-a were quite chatty.
Thanks to that, we didn’t have a dull moment and got to learn about current issues among hunters.
“Did you hear? They say a C-rank hunter successfully entered the Lizard Swamp. Of course, it was a test conducted by the association.”
“Yeah? A C-rank entering an E-rank dungeon? Is that even possible…? Is the balance becoming that unstable?”
“Apparently so. There might come a day when high-rank hunters will enter low-rank dungeons. If that happens, it’d be truly terrifying.”
“Now, non-awakened ones will probably choose not to enter dungeons even if they awaken… It’s too dangerous, right?”
‘That’s… quite beneficial for us. On the other hand, it means lower-ranked hunters could also consider targeting the upper ranks.’
Though I’d think that no sane person would actually attempt it, my mind was already racing with thoughts of how I could secretly make such things happen.
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