I requested help from Lizardman 1.
“Churhap?”
‘Be a practice opponent for my minions. You can kill them if needed.’
“Keuhung!”
Even though I asked for help softly, Lizardman 1 shrugged and snorted, likely thinking that I, the leader of the summoned creatures, had proposed a battle instead.
The other summoned creatures seemed to be in a climate of admiration, raising Lizardman 1 on a pedestal.
“Woooh?!”
The front yard became lively all of a sudden since the morning.
The summoned creatures that had been summoned threw down their prayers and rushed out, and soon enough, all eyes were on us.
After asking them to wait a moment, I summoned ’40 large and powerful Hook Bats.’
Parararararak──
“Woooh!”
Even with only 40 of them, which came up to my knee, they looked quite threatening. From the reactions of the summoned creatures, they seemed to feel the same way.
– The trait [Advanced Commander] has been activated.
With 40 of them, the command-type traits that had occasionally activated when giving orders to the summoned creatures were now fully engaged.
‘Good. Gori 1, you’re the leader.’
“Bee, beee…!”
‘Don’t feel too burdened.’
“Bee!”
The atmosphere surrounding Gori 1 clearly changed compared to when it had summoned just one.
Its eyes, which sparkled excessively from the burden, now recognized the target distinctly, and its wings, which had been flapping vigorously, had settled down calmly.
‘Perhaps the Commander trait effect plays a part, but it seems like the individuality of each entity diminishes as the numbers increase.’
Still, my commands seemed to have left a mark because soon enough, the other bats lined up in two rows behind Gori 1.
‘Go- attack that Lizardman!’
The most straightforward command, nothing added or taken away.
At that moment, the 40 bats rushed toward Lizardman 1’s torso all at once.
Chwarararak─
Lizardman 1 swelled up to 4 meters, having merged together.
Its strengthened hide was a point of pride, and even from the attacks of the Hook Bats, it stood firm without a flinch.
Kwakakakakak!
But this was Gori, who had even scratched my armor.
“Churak?!”
Lizardman 1, hit by a whopping 40 Hook Bats, looked significantly flustered upon seeing the considerable tears in its hide.
‘The attack power is definitely acceptable.’
The Gori Squad, having dealt meaningful damage in the first wave, circled in the air drawing a semicircle before diving back at Lizardman 1.
“Keuhung─!”
‘It’s too simple! Turn back!’
But despite my command, the bats didn’t change direction, and Lizardman 1, summoning a giant axe, swung down hard at the flying squad of bats.
Purfurfurfeng─!
– Minion has died…
– Minion has died…
– Minion has died…
‘Che, as expected. They simply crashed directly even after watching me pull out an axe.’
After trying this a few more times, the outcome remained similar.
“Churahararak!!”
“Woooh…!”
Having won multiple times against my minion, Lizardman 1 showed off its bulging muscles, while the previously stiff Werewolf pack glared at me, radiating their desire to challenge.
‘Having enthusiasm isn’t something to complain about.’
Nevertheless, the difference between Yeon-hee’s summoned creatures and my minions was unmistakable.
Minions made through gathered information sorely lack their own ability to judge and act.
Especially when the first orders are given, adding further commands later seems to work poorly.
This is a severe disadvantage on a battlefield where one must react to situations in the moment.
Yeon-hee’s summoned creatures, while sometimes not conforming to her wishes, clearly show their ability to react to momentary circumstances based on their own judgment.
‘It seems like the tendency becomes even more pronounced as the numbers grow.’
It seems I need to develop a mindset of training an army that moves in unison like ants.
‘Am I a queen ant…?’
I decided to hold off on changing the Gori Squad’s behavior patterns for a bit and tried something different.
‘I feel like… I could go into stealth.’
My instincts turned out to be correct.
Maintaining the sensation of activating Stealth while summoning ‘Gori’ showed they could hold the [Stealth] state for about 20 seconds.
Only after a while did the bats reveal themselves from the sky, and I nodded in approval.
‘This might come in handy… Alright, I should primarily focus on this for a while.’
“Il-wol fighting~! You’re doing great too, 1!”
Having finished preparing to go out, Yeon-hee came outside with Wang-wang tucked in her arms, cheerfully watching the battle and unexpectedly cheering.
Wang-wang, whose legs dangled in the air while being held by Yeon-hee, was just too cute.
“Il-wol commanding bats, that’s awesome~! But Il-wol? Those guys’ movements are way too linear. Is it okay?”
“Tap, tap, tap…”
Yeon-hee seemed to be concerned about their simplicity. Indeed, this was an issue.
‘Hmm… Let’s improve step by step.’
I called all my minions back and, with an eager Yeon-hee, headed straight to the new dungeon.
We were about to enter the lush green Dire Wolf dungeon, leaving behind the irritating swamp.
The main feature of this dungeon was undoubtedly wolves.
They were a step above the Lesser Dire Wolves I had fought in the D-rank dungeon.
Even Yeon-hee’s summons, the five King’s Ears, exhibited considerable agility and attack power.
Their characteristic of moving in packs remained the same, and the appearance of the Red Goblins as a variable could become quite troublesome.
Of course, I was speaking of the usual party scenario.
“Yo! Another day at work!”
“Hehe— I’m still not used to saying I’m going to work…”
“Dungeons are our workplaces, not a playground, right?”
Work, workplace, playground.
It feels odd to link such words with “dungeon” in this way.
But hunters have lived like this for decades.
Yeon-hee, scratching the back of her head, sharpened her expression when all party members had gathered and it was time to enter the dungeon.
‘How splendid… the summoner of Jaan.’
I fall for Yeon-hee multiple times a day.
Just looking at her sends shivers of excitement through me.
As we exited the gate, a vast meadow filled our vision, welcoming us warmly.
The fresh greenery and the sweet scent of countless unknown flowers spread like a painting across the field.
The temperature, sunlight, and wind—
It felt like the very embodiment of a beautiful spring day.
“Wow─ so pretty.”
“Wow— just look at the air. This is the stuff!”
Considering the closed nature of a “dungeon,” this was a clearly alien space.
Perhaps places like Frog Folk or Nargul are the most dungeon-like.
Anyway, even I felt a strong sense of “another world” in this place, and I couldn’t help but feel giddy.
However, getting swept away by this atmosphere could lead to hunters becoming wolf food under the warm sun.
The same goes for our grown party members.
If we accidentally get caught by the wolves, we would instantly get torn apart.
We absolutely couldn’t let our guard down. This was undeniably a C-rank dungeon.
Moreover, there were monsters we had never encountered before.
Especially the one known as “Centipede Hell” posed the most danger.
Stretching nearly 5 meters, it burrows underground like an ant hell, pulling passing creatures down to suffocate and drink their bodily fluids.
It even adorns its tail with grass and flowers above ground, cleverly disguising itself so as not to alert others to its traps.
“With me here, no worries about centipedes; and recently, the dungeon’s unstable, so the Red Goblins enticing the wolves might be more of a hassle.”
“That could be true.”
Red Goblins blowing horned flutes to provoke Dire Wolves and creating chaos.
Seeing those creatures flaunting their bright red color, many hunters choose to avoid them altogether because of the danger they present.
“But still, this is nice~”
“Can we roast some Hanjaring for lunch?”
“Maybe we should? I have a few with me, Il-wol.”
But already, my companions’ heads were filled with thoughts of flower fields.
With the dazzlingly beautiful scenery, it’s hard to stay tense. The environment could be frightening in that way.
With a distinctly buoyant atmosphere, we began moving forward.
After about 20 minutes of walking.
Since no monsters had appeared yet, everyone was moving almost leisurely, chatting away.
‘Hmm… why are those guys following us?’
There was a group trailing behind us.
At a distance of 1km, they were following us in perfect formation.
They were making an effort to keep enough distance to avoid detection, but the path I was taking was one that no one else had walked before.
Just maintaining their distance while following us made it clear they had some intention.
Could they really think they wouldn’t be caught while coming from 1km away?
‘There are two Pathfinding traits… it’s a dead giveaway.’
It was obviously to gather information on us.
I immediately informed my party members of this fact.
(Just how far is their detection range? Can’t they share at least that much info with us?)
Yeon-hee pondered for a moment before turning her head toward me.
I casually mentioned around 5km. In reality, it was a few hundred meters wider than that.
(5km, huh…)
Once Yeon-hee carefully spoke of my ability, the party members recoiled in shock, creating distance from me.
(Wh-what?! Even 1km is nonsense, but 5km? Are you kidding? You’re clearly a combat type, right? But at the level of a top-tier pathfinder…? No way.)
(Didn’t it used to be less than that?)
(Well, it’s… growing strength…)
Seeing the party members react more violently than I expected, Yeon-hee seemed rather flustered.
(Anyway, as long as I’m with Il-wol, we won’t get blindsided.)
(That’s for sure. Yeon-hee, I’d really like it if you could share such information as soon as possible. It completely changes the story. I’d been keeping my guard up, but now that won’t be necessary.)
(Oh… I’m sorry. I’ll do that from now on.)
Anyway, the party members continued to converse, trying to keep a low profile.
For important discussions, they took out paper and communicated by writing.
Watching their conversation closely, Ah-rin, with an adorably cute handwriting, voiced her opinion.
(I think it’s likely Ilseom’s doing.)
(Again? What’s your basis?)
(Before we fought against the Apex Guild, there was similar talk. They suggested tagging along to gather intel beforehand.)
(That guild is really a bunch of nuts?)
(…)
No Ha-yoon’s comment made Ah-rin wear a slightly guilty expression.
In essence, Il-seom is a more closed-off group compared to other guilds.
They even reportedly prohibit phone use during training periods, which may explain why their information-gathering capabilities often lag behind other guilds.
Though they had attached trackers from outside, it seems they hoped to gain additional intel regarding combat capabilities.
If those bastards really did assign tracking agents, it was clear what we had to do.
There were suggestions to hide our abilities and bluff, but—
(That kind of thing doesn’t sit right with my personality. Like I said before, I’m used to being anxious and can’t afford to be at ease with a tracker on me.)
With Noh Ha-yoon asserting strongly, we were about to have our first battle against hunters before even facing monsters.
We agreed that killing was excessive, but we would confiscate all their runes and equipment.
“Tap, tap, tap.”
“Huh? You want to test the bats?”
“Are you really going to take on those cute bats with just one of them? How do you plan to face them?”
As Bae Joo-ah looked at me, asking for some belief, I pointed to the sky with my hand.
“What…? There are a LOT of bats in the sky?!”
“When did you summon that many?”
The bats I had been sending to the sky one by one since entering the dungeon were now trailing us from above at quite a height.
It seemed Joo-ah was a bit late to realize, as I had summoned them in a stealthy manner and kept them at a distance, perhaps due to her apparent aversion to bats.
I moved to a spot away from my party members and waved my hand, causing the bats to swarm around me, flying in circles.
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