If those guys are running away from me, that’s a serious problem.
“No! Our experience points!”
I reactivated my [Stealth] skill, and the assault turtle that was fleeing turned its head back toward us.
“…”
“…”
A tense standoff ensued for a moment.
The assault turtle peered at us suspiciously, its eyes peeking over the water.
Then it tilted its head and snorted, quickly swimming towards us.
“Oh, it’s coming!”
“Hey! Now even the turtles are launching surprise attacks!!”
“Phew… Thank goodness. I’ll have to stay in stealth mode when monsters are detected.”
The ability to instill intimidation was still more of a nuisance than anything, but I believed that one day it would be helpful.
My companions, whose skills were canceled as they watched the turtle run away, were a bit flustered when it suddenly charged at them again, and they ended up giving the initiative to it.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Fortunately, Joo-ah’s rock barrier was set up just in time to protect the wandering ship, but the number of assault turtles clinging to the bottom of the ship was hard to ignore.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
“Ugh… The rocks…!”
“Just get them off!”
“Nefie, Black Bird! Draw the attention of Ddak-ddak-i and Dotted One!”
My companions faced a somewhat urgent situation.
I stood by quietly, watching them.
At that moment, as Yeon-hee was trying to divert attention with provocation, a massive booming sound broke out from below the ship, as if a giant sewer had burst open.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Then, the turtles that had been clinging tightly were launched far away, crashing under the river!
Splash—
When dozens of assault turtles emerged from the surface, everyone was bewildered but soon realized that it was the Water Spirit, Fibryn, who had helped.
“Wow, awesome.”
“They seem to be in a stunned state! Catch them!”
“Kill them!!”
Seeing this as the perfect opportunity, my companions unleashed their skills as I released my stealth and switched to [Combat Type] Flame Armor.
“I wanted to try this ability first.”
I checked how the ability, which dealt damage with just my gaze, worked.
I focused the image of ignition on the first assault turtle that caught my eye.
Suddenly, flames erupted from the trapped turtle’s body, engulfing it in horrific fire.
“Kyahhh!!”
The assault turtle regained its senses after taking fire damage, but surprisingly, it couldn’t escape the droplets it was trapped in.
“Oh… It’s not just an ordinary droplet, is it? Impressive.”
(What a cooperative attack with the Master! What a heartwarming event…!)
‘……’
It looked cute on the outside, but it was definitely not to be underestimated.
Nonetheless, the process of summoning flames with my gaze occurred in the blink of an eye, so I could only nod in satisfaction.
‘The destructive power is comparable to a Fireball with 250 magic power… much better than I expected?’
I tried to use this amazing ability again, but unfortunately, it was on cooldown.
I didn’t get any messages about it, so I could only figure it out from experience. I know there are sometimes some unfriendly skills like this.
‘I hope I can use it more than once a day? I’ll have to try at regular intervals.’
The count was a bit disappointing, but having a means of attack without any signs was satisfying.
Our boat, which easily subdued the group of assault turtles with Fibryn’s ability, set sail again.
I began gathering the corpses of the assault turtles and got to work on disassembly.
“Is this how I cover it?”
“Clap, clap, clap.”
I spread out a tent made from the Big Boar’s skin that I had stitched together over my working space.
I figured it would be hard to keep my stealth activated while working, so I thought I’d hide myself like this.
“Here they come again!!”
“Why are those coming after us not attacking? Are they looking down on us because we’re all women!!”
‘…… I wish you would put down that sword stained with the blood of your kind before saying that.’
I wanted to say that to Ah-rin, but in reality, the monsters were approaching more aggressively and in larger numbers compared to yesterday.
I only called upon the “Gori” squad for support, focusing the rest of my time on cleaning up the monster corpses.
After finishing one round, the next monster corpses flooded into my workspace.
‘Let’s get this done quickly.’
I thought of disassembling the corpses as training; I knew I couldn’t just slack off.
So, I focused on my work as diligently as possible.
‘By the time I’m done with the Big Boar and the assault turtles, I’ll have over a thousand by tomorrow.’
The food supply was steadily increasing.
I was continuously filling up on dried goods and ready-made meals like ramen and dumplings bought in bulk.
‘I hope there isn’t a day when all of that has to be consumed.’
While I was sorting through the byproducts, whenever I got a bit bored, I practiced summoning flames in my palm to throw them into simple symbols.
I tried creating circles, triangles, squares, stars, and even more complex patterns.
I also tested how far I could stretch the flames, like a rope, to see how far I could extend them.
‘Managing fire is much easier now. I think I understand what it means for the boundary between Fireball and Wall of Fire to blur… just a matter of time to grasp it a little better.’
Ultimately, the process of manipulating the elemental source was essentially similar, so there was no need to divide it.
‘So things like this are possible.’
I cast [Chain of Flame] onto a Hamari-shu that was beyond Ah-rin’s attack range.
─!
Then I made elongated flames to wrap around it multiple times on top of that.
“Eeeeeek!!”
It writhed in agony trying to escape, but the several layers of bindings kept it from moving.
‘Good. I can enhance the power of my bindings like this.’
It could also be launched in the form of an arrow.
If I sharpened the ends more and applied my magic power to maintain its force while flying,
‘This is Fire Arrow, after all.’
Swoosh—thud!
The Hamari-shu with its head pierced by the fire arrow collapsed beneath the surface.
– You have defeated a Hamari-shu!
– You have obtained a High-grade Mana Stone!
– You have obtained the skill [Fire Arrow]!
– The achievement [Pioneer] has been activated.
– All attributes have risen by 1.
‘Haha…? Is this really happening?’
If so, that must mean other things are possible too?
I vividly envisioned the fire magic that came to mind and tried to implement it as closely as possible.
I tossed the accumulating assault turtles and Hamari-shu into the spatial area.
After several hours of intense effort, right before the boss battle, I was able to acquire yet another new fire magic.
– You have obtained the skill [Flame Thrower]!
‘Hahaha! I can do it!’
– The achievement [Pioneer] has been activated.
– All attributes have risen by 1.
It was a magic that sprayed fire over a wide area like a flamethrower, effective against multiple enemies in close range.
‘Hahaha, this is fun. Balancing sword training with this isn’t a bad idea either.’
Although I could only implement simple logical magic right now, it would definitely just be a matter of time.
True understanding is said not to be known by the head but to react through the body.
I felt that my understanding of fire was steadily reaching that level.
‘This is ridiculous. Just a few months have passed.’
This was only possible because I was connected to a great being.
‘Hmm… What if such a being were to demand my life? I wonder how appetizing it would be for them… my life.’
That thought filled me with dread.
It may be unnecessary to worry about such things in advance, but this world is full of anomalies.
Moreover, nothing is free in the world; if I receive greatly, a day will surely come when I must repay it.
‘For now, I should refrain from invoking the fragments to resolve issues as much as possible.’
I nodded and gazed at the golden pastiche soaring high above the surface.
I was curious if my intimidation would work on a boss as well, so I had released my stealth, and when the boss looked at me, it seemed to panic and retreated quite a bit.
‘It seems to work on even boss-tier beings.’
However, despite being a boss, it strived to counter my intimidation. When I expressed my will to lessen my imposing aura, it seemed to forget the scared situation from a moment ago and regained its bravado.
‘You forget my presence in just a few seconds? Is it fish intelligence?’
“This time, we’ll handle it without Il-wol!”
“Great, let’s do it!”
Ah-rin answered cheerfully, but there were many limitations to her actions.
She couldn’t be away from the ship for too long, so she had to quickly engage the enemy and return, which did not align with her abilities at all.
So, once again, we set up our defense from the boat in a constrained space, but the frustration was clearly visible on her face.
‘It must be frustrating. But there’s no help for it in this dungeon—’
Suddenly, a small water vortex spiraled up beside Ah-rin.
“Huh? What’s this?”
Initially puzzled, Ah-rin tilted her head, then read something that floated in the air and gave a thumbs up to the ‘Fibryn’ that peeked above the river.
‘Huh? What’s this?’
It didn’t feel like a message that popped into my mind, but after reading it, Ah-rin threw herself into the little vortex without hesitation.
And surprisingly, from the river beside the golden pastiche that was the dungeon’s master, a small vortex formed, and she shot up high into the air using it like an elevator.
“Eeeek!!”
Fibryn created a little gate connecting the water to the water.
Thanks to that, Baek Ah-rin could now travel between the base of the ‘Wandering Ship’ and the golden pastiche, participating in the battle.
With the Sword Dragon and the residue of chaos, and now a spirit too.
Spatial movement abilities are very rare, yet she was entangled with such beings.
‘Hmm, well, that’s a good thing. It seems like the limit is about 30 meters, but it’s still impressive.’
“Clap, clap, clap, clap!!”
I performed a joy clap towards Fibryn, and it bashfully nodded and clapped back.
The sense shown when she activated her skill at the moment we were surrounded by the assault turtles and her ability to move others in short distances deserved applause.
Splash—
Before long, the golden pastiche collapsed into the river.
I had not engaged in combat other than summoning the “Gori” squad, yet there was not that much difference from yesterday’s clearing time.
It seemed that just like I controlled my power, my companions also did not reveal all of theirs.
And soon, as the golden pastiche sank beneath the river, a massive explosion erupted.
It was the firework signaling the end of the second golden pastiche dungeon.
‘Hmm…’
Even without me, the dungeon was overwhelmingly subdued, and now it was starting to push me away.
‘Should I explore the next dungeon alone?’
The next C-rank dungeon and the B-rank dungeon housing monsters with psychokinetic powers were very close together.
Less than 7 kilometers apart, so I could try entering a different dungeon at the same time while being separated from Yeon-hee.
‘I think it might work.’
I had restrictions only on how far I could be from Yeon-hee within sensory range.
However, I had recently experienced being completely separated from her multiple times.
It was the same when capturing the Great Evil One Bin Chi-seung, and in a sense, the job change quest was like that too.
And,
‘When I was moved to the world of Irmana’s quest, there was no phenomenon where my body moved towards Yeon-hee.’
So, what binds me would not apply when undertaking other missions that the system allows or when crossing into a completely different world.
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