“Shall we go again?”
“Clap, Clap, Clap.”
I settled down in the middle of the ship, tied up in metal chains, and began dismantling the Assault Turtle.
The meat of the Assault Turtle might not be as delicious as Big Boar or Hanjaring, but its unique chewy texture and rich nutrients made it worthwhile.
Once the battle ended, the ship would move on its own, so my companions naturally gathered around me as I was dissecting the leftovers.
“First, we need to remove the innards; I heard the shell only sells for 20,000 won to the management office, so it’s better to hand it over to the alchemists.”
Ha-yoon lightly tapped on the shell of the Assault Turtle while recalling this information.
“Do we have to remove the long red strands between the shell and the flesh, too?”
Joo-ah asked, pinching her nose slightly, apparently a bit queasy.
“Clap, Clap, Clap.”
“Yes. Il-wol said those are poison glands.”
“Huh? I’ve never heard the Assault Turtle was poisonous.”
“Il-wol said they use it when making nests to protect their breeding areas.”
Joo-ah nodded at Yeon-hee’s words, then suddenly wondered aloud.
“…I see. But how does Il-wol know that?”
“What? Uh… I heard it’s just knowledge that’s left.”
“Wow… I guess there must have been those kinds of monsters in the world Il-wol originally lived in?”
Noh Ha-yoon suddenly looked surprised and asked.
“Wait, Il-wol lived in another world?”
“Uh… usually… wouldn’t that be the case? Right, Yeon-hee?”
“…Well, I guess so.”
Yeon-hee mumbled and brushed it off, while the others shifted their gaze back to my work, somewhat detached.
I mean, who really cares about the past of a monster anyway?
Swoosh—swoosh—
Despite being a massive turtle, once I removed all the inedible parts, only about a third of its original size remained.
Even so, there was a staggering amount of meat. I’d say roughly 150-200kg, which would be more than enough for even the hungriest of hunters to last a few days.
Especially, the tail, known as a delicacy, yielded enough meat to match the size of an adult male’s forearm. By the end of this battle, I figured I’d chop it up nicely to grill it on skewers.
“Hehe, let’s finish the boss battle quickly and eat something delicious!”
“Sounds great!”
But, this dungeon wasn’t going to make it that easy.
Individually, the monsters didn’t seem that impressive.
However, the unique environment of the swamps would continue to challenge us.
And this became quite evident after the fights with the herd of Assault Turtles and the loud cries from my companions.
“Ugh—seriously. I’m starting to feel dizzy. I might throw up.”
“I think this is similar to motion sickness. Just like I heard.”
“They say there’s no medicine either. We have to tough it out. Ugh—”
It was more exhausting to experience the strength of the monsters rather than the actual battle.
Despite slowly drifting down the river, the strange phenomenon of seasickness made it incredibly difficult to keep it together.
Thus opened the suffering path for my companions, and after a while.
We could finally encounter the second monster in this dungeon.
“Clap, Clap, Clap.”
“Hamari-shu—whoo.”
Ah-rin perked up her ears and warned us that enemies were approaching.
Of course, I had sensed it beforehand, but as they began to move into the water, it sounded like a massive wave was crashing, which is why Ah-rin quickly caught on.
“This is tough…”
“This dizziness is hard to get used to.”
The expressions of my companions darkened; clearly, they were struggling with serious motion sickness.
Swoosh—swoosh—
The sound of monsters approaching grew louder.
Hamari-shu resembled a horse with the head of a horse, while its body had the feel of an alligator.
They didn’t have legs but possessed arms, using them to clap and shoot powerful blades of water as an attack.
Otherwise, there wasn’t much to be tense about; it just meant we couldn’t let our guards down against this strong monster with such a powerful skill.
‘If I think about it differently, it means I’ll soon steal that skill. Heh… water elemental attack skills? Exciting!’
They were not as good at swimming as the Assault Turtles, but their tail-twitching movements allowed them to dodge quickly, making it hard to land a hit.
Gliding through the crystal-clear river like a galloping stallion, they approached at an astonishing speed.
“O, Sword Dragon!!”
Kwooooshh—
With Yeon-hee’s shout, the Shadow Drake’s breath beautifully sliced through the river.
But maybe due to its shadow element, it dove into the water, drastically changing the attack’s trajectory.
“Heeeyyy—”
Thanks to that, the Hamari-shu easily dodged the breath attack and peeked out, mocking Sword Dragon.
[…!!]
Seeing this, Sword Dragon seemed furious, diving closer to the water without even Yeon-hee’s command and wildly swung its forelegs at them.
It dropped like it was going to plunge into the water at an incredible speed.
“Heeeyyy?!”
The Hamari-shu narrowly dodged Sword Dragon’s attack.
It seemed they were surprised by the dragon’s flight speed as they disappeared deeper underwater.
“To dodge both the breath and follow-up attacks…!”
Yeon-hee was taken aback since it was something that had never happened before.
Then came a brief silence.
I signaled that there were 15 Hamari-shus, and Joo-ah swiftly scattered rocks around our ship to block their attacks.
They always reveal themselves at the water’s edge when using the blade of water.
One by one, the creatures uneasily surfaced, only to quickly retreat after using their skills.
With splashes, crescent-shaped water blades continuously struck against the rocks Joo-ah had summoned.
“Wah—what the— It seems like the rocks are being sliced too?”
“Those guys’ skills are super sharp! More importantly, keep your mind focused! The rocks don’t look right!”
“Ugh… it’s not that easy to do what you say—”
As my companions fired skills each time the critters showed their faces, the Hamari-shu cleverly dodged the attacks as if they knew where they were coming from.
Once again, they looked smugly, screeching their unique cries.
“Kihihihinhinh—!”
“Oh… are those bastards mocking us?”
Angry, Ha-yoon activated Ice Field, but the Hamari-shu had already escaped its range.
However, they had weaknesses as well.
‘Just fast but nothing else.’
Since my companions had tasted the type of these monsters, it was time to start taking them down.
– Zzzt!!
– Kyaaaak!!
As Yeon-hee called Ddak-ddak-i and Dotted One to provoke the Hamari-shu, they all popped up above the surface of the water as if they had made a deal.
They were already distracted by the provocation.
With Eun-young’s song added, the effects of the provocation peaked, causing the monster to turn towards us in an honest manner.
They were monsters that were very sensitive to sound and reeled in by the provocation.
“Beeeee—!!”
“Kihh?!”
Then came the ultrasonic waves from the Hook Bats, causing the charging Hamari-shu to twist and contort like dried squid getting grilled.
Kwooooshh!!
As the monsters writhed in panic, about a hundred of the ‘Gori’ squad flew past, turning them into rags and painting the river in crimson.
Their prized water-based blade attack couldn’t do much against the summoned creatures descending from above, and even the survivors unleashed their skills at our ship, but all that was cut was Joo-ah’s Rock Barrier.
“Boulder Slam!”
Boom!! Boom!!
Joo-ah waved her hand in the air, summoning stones that showered down like a storm, battering the monsters.
I seized the opportunity and unleashed [Thunderhorn].
With the thunder strikes sizzling the Hamari-shu, one by one, they began to float up to the surface.
“Hahaha—I really like this dungeon!!”
With a clean finish, Joo-ah struck a proud pose, leaving us smiling.
For her, who was optimized for defense, this dungeon must have felt perfect.
Also, unlike us, she gain confidence from the struggles of other parties.
The other parties, about a hundred meters apart, looked to be in quite a mess, screamed nonstop.
– Waaahhh!!
– My durability has already dropped by 2,000!! Are we really clearing this today? What about just giving up?
– Instead of whining, use your skills—
– Aahhk!! My finger fell into the water, damn it!!
Throughout the area, those suffering from the skills of the Hamari-shu came into view.
Right now, only one type of monster was appearing, but later they’ll be swarming with Assault Turtles, and it might be best to leave early if they wanted to give up.
– The first party to defeat a Hamari-shu!
– Trait [Thievery] activated.
– Stealing the traits and skills of Hamari-shu at random.
– Acquired trait [Gaze of Water]!
– Achievement [Pioneer] activated.
– All attributes increase by 1.
‘Oooh?! Finally, a water-based trait!’
[Gaze of Water]
– Activated only in water.
– Allows for predicting the trajectory of an opponent’s movement by sensing their movements beforehand.
‘Aha—this is why I dodged the attacks so well.’
This trait might not be of much use outside this dungeon for a while, but it would definitely come in handy someday.
Next up was the skill I had stolen from the Hamari-shu.
– Acquired skill [Sikallerin]!
– Achievement [Pioneer] activated.
– All attributes increase by 1.
[Sikallerin]
– Can only be used when there is water nearby.
– Quickly shoots out a crescent-shaped water blade towards enemies.
‘Wow—water elemental attack skill!’
I wanted to try using the skill right away, but I could feel Azra’s gaze piercing through me, so I had to exercise patience.
(Guess I stole again.)
‘…… Shh—be quiet.’
Azra scratched her neck nonchalantly with her front leg while keeping a close watch on me.
She seemed entertained by watching me.
After easily overpowering the second monster group, the ship began to move again, as if waiting for us.
In the distance, one party getting butchered by Hamari-shu had vanished.
“I guess they gave up?”
“They got two fingers cut off, after all.”
“They seemed rather unprepared for this dungeon; their courage is commendable, but jumping in without caution isn’t wise.”
It seemed a few reckless folks overestimated their abilities and attempted to tackle higher dungeons.
‘Unless you have multiple lives like me, that’s just…’
“It’s normal to struggle like that once, right? We’re a bit too abnormal.”
“Our party is doing well.”
I half-listened to my companions’ chatter while beginning to dissect the Hamari-shu.
Unlike the Assault Turtle, the Hamari-shu had absolutely nothing edible.
The long spinal bones were usable as materials for Skeleton Bombs, but even then, there wasn’t enough for even one complete unit.
Although my companions questioned why I was dissecting something we couldn’t even eat, I reached inside its body and pulled out a tiny orb.
“Huh? What’s that?”
“Isn’t that organ thingy kind of useless and usually discarded?”
I thought so too, but this was a material included in the recipe for ‘Killbard.’
‘Hamari-shu’s small orb… I need to gather as many of these as I can.’
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