I had to carry the woman contorted in pain to a safer rear.
“Ah… it hurts! Ugh…!”
*Clap, Clap, Clap!*
“Uh-! Is this Il-wol…? Ugh!”
By now, my name was familiar to other party hunters as well.
I remembered that this woman had introduced herself briefly during our break.
Her name was Shim Yoo-jung, and she joked that all her traits were tilted toward archery since she had practiced it until middle school.
Somehow, she felt familiar, perhaps someone I brushed past in my past life.
“Ugh… Ah, it’s itchy.”
*Scratch, scratch!*
As the lake water from Irmana began healing her burnt arm, she couldn’t resist the itch and scratched at it.
If she was bursting blisters with her filthy hands after battling fiercely, she might infect herself with some unidentified dungeon germs and end up needing a severed limb.
I shook my head with her scratching arm in my grip, and she tilted her head back and bit her lip.
“Ugh… ah…!”
She was trying her best to hold back, but honestly, few sensations are as hard to endure as itchiness.
I finally set her down in a place completely unrelated to battle and poured some more water from the brown potion bottles.
Then, I bound her arms with Big Boar leather to prevent her from scratching.
‘I really didn’t have to go this far…’
But I absolutely hated the thought of someone getting hurt because of me, so this brought me peace of mind.
“Ah… th-thank you?”
*Nod.*
I opened her mouth, which was stuck due to her bound arms, and poured a low-rank potion into it.
“Umph- gulp- gulp-”
I hurriedly poured it, causing some liquid to spill down her cheek, but this wasn’t the time to dawdle. After wrapping her arm with a towel soaked in Irmana’s water, I flew back to the battlefield.
“Uh, uh, wait-!”
She seemed like she wanted to say something, but we no longer had time to chat.
[High-speed Flight]
Now I couldn’t turn the tide with a Fireball. All I could do was engage in hand-to-hand combat.
I spread spikes around my body like a hedgehog, trying to thrust outward as much as possible.
And while charging, I started running toward where the monsters were clustered together.
*Fwoosh- Whoooosh-*
The effect of [Fierce Claws] activated in succession, temporarily paralyzing the monsters I attacked.
Since quite a few monsters fell victim to my onslaught, my surrounding companions began targeting the stiffened monsters left behind.
‘That’s right. They’re sharp little ones.’
Once I got used to flailing around everywhere, I also swung my dagger and club.
I didn’t even need to worry about aiming.
Just swinging left and right while identifying friend from foe with sense waves led to easy splattering.
The sensation I felt from bashing the Skeleton Knight was quite satisfying.
Truly, skeletons should be smacked with heavy objects to taste their demise.
While I turned the battlefield into chaos, I was also simultaneously crafting a [Skeleton Bomb] wrapped up in bone like a cloth at my chest. It was exhilarating to realize dream-like thoughts now materializing.
‘Hmm… I might have some talent?’
Of course, it was an ability I gained from killing a Giant Skeleton, but sometimes it’s necessary to boost one’s enthusiasm with a little self-praise.
I stored the created Skeleton Bomb in my inventory and continued crafting in a loop.
While the time it took was less than when manually crafting, it was a handy way to stock bombs during combat thanks to the increase in my proficiency.
As time passed and the battle moved into the mid-game, the clashes between the Hunter-skeleton knight alliance and Nargul’s forces began tipping dramatically to one side.
“We’re almost there! Just a bit more!”
Since Nargul’s monster forces passed through the portal, they depleted significantly passing through the exit.
Thanks to that, we could fight from a position of advantage.
‘Let’s moderate the reduction of our forces, too.’
There were now barely 300 Skeleton Soldiers left.
This was all part of my subtle coordination in the middle.
Even with the skeleton knights losing many of their underlings to my hands, they merely waited for opportunities to lunge at Nargul.
Just how deep was their grudge that they could fight even after death? It’s strange they could even remember it, to begin with.
‘What are they planning to do when the portal closes while crossing? They’ll shatter if trapped in space.’
Though I knew Skeleton Knights were quite intelligent, it seemed their rationality was currently blinded by rage.
But even with this madness, they eagerly stepped into the portal.
‘Are they really trying to enter the portal? Can they handle three Narguls alone?’
No matter how strong a skeleton knight might be, that would be a tough ask.
And it was impossible for me too.
I didn’t know the situation outside the hidden dungeon, but skeleton knights were rare monsters to encounter.
‘Give me your skill, you jerk!’
The ability he showed with his swift moves during our fight might not have been a skill, yet the coveted traits of [Advanced Commander] and [Forgotten Ancient Swordsmanship] were irresistible. Especially swordsmanship! I wanted to snatch and gobble it up!
I stealthily approached the skeleton knight crossing the passage.
[Flame Cut]
*Crack- Snap- Thud!*
Caught in his distractions, the skeleton knight took [Flame Cut] three times without evading it.
*Whoooooo?!*
‘Whatever the reason, I won’t let you go unassisted!’
I seized the skeleton knight, who now bore five flames’ marks, and tossed him over the portal gate, directly toward Nargul!
It didn’t show when casually exchanging swords, but my strength surpassed that of the skeleton knight significantly, sending the all-bone creature flying toward Nargul.
‘Time to scram!’
I quickly exited the portal.
“Natalan—!”
The three Narguls screamed in dismay upon seeing the skeleton knight.
They tried to distance themselves from the skeleton knight, but it was already too late.
At that moment, the flying skeleton knight’s eyes met mine.
*Gleeful grin*
‘-?!’
It seemed like he smiled faintly at me. Was it just my imagination?
I harnessed my magic as a shiver ran down my spine.
*Fizzleooooom─────*
As my magic boiled, an explosive sound tore through the air and scattered in all directions.
Echoing this energy were the flaming marks clustering around the skeleton knight’s body, blossoming in splendor.
Then…
[Flame Explosion]
*BOOOOM──!*
The darkness-like jet-black flame engulfed both the skeleton knight and Nargul, shooting them to the ceiling.
‘Yikes- that’s incredible!’
In fact, it seemed far more powerful than the explosion I used against the golden werewolf.
– You have defeated the ruler of [Hidden Dungeon – Corrupted Knight’s Hideout], ‘Natalan Jackman’!
– The trait [Thievery] is activated.
– Random skill of the Skeleton Knight has been stolen!
– You have obtained the skill [Phantom Dash]!
– Experience points have increased significantly!
– Your level has risen!
‘Ah, so it was a skill after all.’
====
[Phantom Dash]
– Consumes 10 health to increase movement speed by 20% for 5 seconds.
====
‘Hmm… The exchange ratio might be a bit… dubious, but it should help hit that Flame Cut more effectively.’
It was quite a useful skill.
While it was unfortunate not to have stolen the trait, it couldn’t be helped.
‘Health should increase a bit once I acquire the artifact.’
– You have acquired a new skill. Achievement [Pioneer] has been activated!
– All attributes have increased by 1!
‘Yay! That’s great!’
I even still had one more gift left to obtain.
– You have defeated the dungeon ruler ‘Nargul’!
– The trait [Thievery] is activated.
– Random skill of Nargul has been stolen!
– You have obtained the skill [Arcane Deflection]!
– Experience points have increased significantly!
– Your level has risen!
‘Oh! Arcane Deflection! Does this mean I can deflect magic now?’
– Achievement [Pioneer] has been activated!
– All attributes have increased by 1!
*Zing-*
‘Hoo- all my attributes went up by +1 in a row! This is exhilarating! But did I only take down one Nargul? No way, could two survive that explosion? Is that even possible?’
It seemed that they hadn’t completely entered the explosion range and thus only one fell to my attacks.
The portal had vanished quickly, so I couldn’t see the state of the remaining Narguls.
====
[Skeleton Mage Il-wol – Lv.56]
Strength: 242 (+2) Agility: 244 (+10)
Health: 208 (+2) Wisdom: 222 (+10)
Magic Power: 206 (+2) Resistance: 80 (+2)
Sense: 126 (+10) Recovery: 100 (+2)
====
With Irmana’s blessing and Nargul’s dungeon buff fully applied, the achievement [Pioneer] gave me a +2 to all attributes. Adding my level-up stats made a considerable difference.
‘Phew─ At this point, I could take on a skeleton knight in pure power without breaking a sweat.’
Unfortunately, the skeleton knight was far away now, so I had to hope for next time.
“Uh? What about the skeleton knight?”
“He jumped into the portal and suddenly exploded!”
“It’s thanks to Skeleton Soldier Il-wol’s charge that he got shoved in!”
“Huh? Wasn’t he sliced and then tossed?”
The hunters, amidst combat, managed to detect my actions, but only a few understood precisely what I did.
“What was that powerful explosion? Did it come from the Narguls?”
“Did they possess such power…? That was absurdly strong!”
“With three gathered together, it wouldn’t be strange for [Arcane Deflection] to activate along with other attack spells.”
“But thanks to that, the portal closed! Let’s quickly wrap up the remaining ones! Something about this doesn’t feel right!”
It seemed some perceptive hunters were already sensing the oddity.
‘The aftermath of the flame explosion has finally arrived.’
*Rumble… rumble…*
Suddenly, there was a colossal tremor as if an earthquake struck the cave, and cracks began appearing everywhere on the walls.
Since it was an explosion from a distance, the shock wave likely traveled with a delay. The hunters poured every ounce of energy they had left to eliminate the remaining monsters.
The clearly disoriented monsters, having lost two significant threats in the skeleton knight and Nargul, were stumbling helplessly. Moreover, with all buffs lost, mopping them up was a piece of cake.
The incredible power that made these rabble appear as trained soldiers was astonishing in hindsight.
– You have defeated all monsters in the area!
– The trait [Obsession] frantically gathers mana stones scattered on the battlefield.
– You have acquired the 766th Intermediate Mana Stone from this dungeon!
‘Phew… Is it finally over?’
Even so, with the undead taken down in the end, I earned over 20 million won just from the mana stones. Thanks to my accompanying spikes seasoning things, I would have had to earn over a thousand normally. Such a shame.
*Clatter… bangs!*
After defeating all the monsters, a gigantic staircase made of stone fell from the furthest corner of our shared space.
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